The 2021 Formula 1 season is set to get underway this weekend at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton returns looking for his eighth world championship, having won the last four in a row. He is the favorite in the Drivers’ Championship, but he is not the favorite to win this weekend, due to some issues in speed and handling that Mercedes had at preseason testing earlier in March in Bahrain. For this reason, Hamilton comes in as the second choice behind Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen. Let’s have a look at our preview for the 2021 Bahrain GP along with their Formula 1 odds.
Formula 1 News: Bahrain Grand Prix Preview
Driver Odds
- Max Verstappen 13/8
- Lewis Hamilton 23/12
- Sergio Perez 44/5
- Valtteri Bottas 23/2
- Daniel Ricciardo 33/1
- Lando Norris 50/1
- Pierre Gasly 84/1
- Charles Leclerc, Sebastian Vettel 100/1
- Lance Stroll 119/1
- Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz, Yuki Tsunoda 150/1
- Esteban Ocon 159/1
- George Russell 500/1
- Kimi Raikkonen, Antonio Giovinazzi 1000/1
- Nikita Mazepin, Nicholas Latifi, Mick Schumacher 5000/1
The top teams in testing were Red Bull, AlphaTauri and McLaren. This was a big boost for Red Bull, after having several different reliability issues take place in the 2020 round of testing. In the midfield, McLaren and AlphaTauri put up the best lap times.
Mercedes, as mentioned above, suffered problems during testing, primarily in the area of reliability. The car’s rear appeared unstable, which caused Hamilton to abandon his Mercedes by Turn 13. It remains to be seen whether the Mercedes engineering team will have made alterations to the car after pulling in this data, but it would be surprising to see the Silver Arrows come out without any improvements. Even so, Hamilton is the second choice for those reasons.
Another team that had difficulties in testing was Aston Martin, whose cars share multiple components with Mercedes, such as the gearbox — which caused issues for both squads. Aston Martin has added Sebastian Vettel this year, and he said after testing that the drivers still need to gain more familiarity with the car.
It is interesting to see the speed differential between Red Bull and Mercedes going into 2021. Mercedes has dominated qualifying runs, but Red Bull’s car comes into 2021 faster. Sergio Perez will join Max Verstappen as the top Red Bull drivers, and if either can snag the pole position, then the race (and the season) will likely be more competitive.
Fernando Alonso returns to F1 after two years away, and he is now one of the circuit’s oldest drivers. It is likely that there will be some rust to knock off in the early races, but he showed that he is ready to go in pre-season racing.
Ferrari has slid back to the midfield, and they may also be behind McLaren and AlphaTauri. This group of teams has become more competitive than in recent years. In fact, the midfield has edged closer to Red Bull and Mercedes as well. This could lead to McLaren and AlphaTauri challenging the teams above them, as well as a larger group of race winners in 2021, which will make the Drivers’ Championship and the Constructors’ Championship more intriguing. Yuki Tsunoda, a young driver for AlphaTauri, has made a swift rise to F1, and he resembles Verstappen in his facility for adapting to new situations and performing well right away. He should rock the midfield at Bahrain and could end up chasing the top teams as well.
One other interesting storyline is Valtteri Bottas, who appears to be heading into his last season with Mercedes. He hopes to challenge Hamilton for the Drivers’ Championship in 2021, even though similar hopes have been dashed each year since Bottas came to Mercedes in 2017. He seems to be tiring of his role as the supporting partner, but he has not shown that he is ready to be the top driver for Mercedes. If things go badly for Mercedes at Bahrain, Bottas could finish well down the standings.
