General
Derating' causes Mercedes to lose a lot of time in Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying
- GPblog.com
The season in Formula 1 kicked off with an exciting race between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. In the end the Brit won. But after qualifying, Hamilton complained that "the new rules were mainly about slowing down Mercedes."
At Motorsport.com they analysed this statement. They came to the conclusion that what Hamilton claimed was false. But compared to the lap times at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix, they found that Mercedes had to give up more than two seconds.
The same goes for Mercedes' factory teams. Williams and Aston Martin also lost more than two seconds compared to their 2020 qualifying times. Ferrari on the other hand experienced the least loss of all the teams, just 0.5 seconds per lap.
Derating
According to Toto Wolff, the loss of the Mercedes teams is due to 'derating'. At Motorsport.com they explain what that means exactly. "It simply means that the power from the ERS runs out too early on straights."