General
Grades | Red Bull forgets to finish the job, McLaren gets off to a good start
- GPblog.com
It was a spectacular opening to the season and a number of teams showed big improvements compared to 2020. Unfortunately, there were also a number of failures. Find out how each team did in Bahrain in these reviews.
Mercedes 9.0
They didn't lie. Mercedes are about on par with Red Bull Racing, if the Austrians haven't overtaken them. They did get the most out of the weekend though. No pole position, but a race win from Lewis Hamilton after good tactics. Valtteri Bottas had another poor pit stop, and then finished on P3. A 9.0 for the reigning champions.
Red Bull Racing 8.0
A perfect weekend up to and including Saturday. From Sunday onwards, Red Bull's performance was shaky. Sergio Perez stalled on the way to the grid and Max Verstappen immediately complained of a problem with his differential. The strategy wasn't perfectly through out for the Austrians either, causing Verstappen to lose out on the win.
McLaren 8.0
McLaren came out of the winter with a strong result. Lando Norris finished fourth and Daniel Ricciardo took points for his new team with seventh place.
Ferrari 7.0
The first steps have been made at Ferrari. Two cars in the points on a circuit where the team only scored one point last year. It looks like the Italians have really started the long road back to the top.
AlphaTauri 7.0
AlphaTauri looked fast all weekend and Pierre Gasly in particular seemed to have a great starting position with a fifth place on the grid. After a chaotic start he lost his front wing and entered a total of four times before failing to see the black-white checker. Yuki Tsunoda kept the honour high with a ninth place and two points.
Aston Martin 5.5
It was not the start Aston Martin was hoping for. Sebastian Vettel made a mess of things, leaving Lance Stroll to score points for the British brand. He did, but only one.
Alpine 5.0
Zero points back to Enstone for Alpine. Fernando Alonso retired with brake problems and Esteban Ocon, who was briefly torpedoed by Vettel, finished P13.
Alfa Romeo 6.5
A rather invisible race for the men from Switzerland. Both drivers didn't score any points, but they were close with an 11th and 12th place.
Haas 3.0
Where do we even start? Nikita Mazepin didn't even give himself a chance to show something with the VF21 and Mick Schumacher couldn't keep the Haas on track either. There is no speed for the Americans and it will be a long and hard season for them.
Williams 5.5
A pass for Williams, but just barely. Nicholas Latifi didn't see the finish and George Russell couldn't keep up with the Alfa Romeo's on Sunday. The British are still searching for their first point since Germany 2019.