Our 5 lessons from the Bahrain Grand Prix

Aston Martin embarrasses the competition

If everyone in Formula One expected to see the team Aston Martin progressing in the hierarchy, no one would have imagined seeing her move into the dolphin chair. Not even the interested parties who had in focus Alpine et McLaren, and certainly not the top three in the championship. For the last two mentioned to which we can add Mercedes and Ferrari, it's the painful awakening of the aftermath of Grands Prix which goes to your head. Hangovers are severe enstone, Woking, Brackley and Maranello, and the situation is embarrassing to say the least. For Mercedes and Ferrari, that a team which was only seventh in the 2022 “Constructors” championship has overtaken them to become the main rival of Red Bull is not far from humiliating, even more so in the case of the German manufacturer since Aston Martin uses its technology. It is also a blow for the other top five teams who have continued to try in recent years to close the gap between themselves and the world title candidates. Why so many repeated failures Alpine and McLaren while Aston Martin achieved it in three seasons? This nagging question calls for answers.

Red Bull ready to win it all

Are we going to relive a season like in 1988? A blessed exercise among all for McLaren which had won all the Grands Prix that year except one, following a misunderstanding at Monza between the leader Senna and the Williams by Jean-Louis Schlesser who was being taken for a ride. Given the level of competitiveness of the RB19 which seems to evolve in another league, the reliability displayed by the whole and the efficiency of an organization never caught at fault, we can today fear it... Even worse since the 88 vintage had been saved from boredom by the sumptuous duel between the Brazilian pilot and Alain Prost. Conversely, this season, if Milton Keynes starts to win everything, Max Verstappen will only leave crumbs for Sergio Pérez. Even if the Mexican never seemed so close to his leader as in Bahrain – once freed from the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc he was on the same pace - it is hard to see him competing with the Dutch phenomenon at each Grand Prix. To find out if Red Bull's domination will be "total", however, let's wait for Jeddah and Melbourne. If the scenario is the same as last weekend, it will be flawless…

Mercedes assesses what can be saved

But what could have made the senior technical management of the Brackley-based team think that the concept it had difficulty making work last year was going to be that of a return to the top in 2023? ? Is this George's victory Russell in Brazil who was able to make them believe that the project had reached maturity and that after a year of effort the time had come for the rewards? But is it really useful to ask these questions given the urgency of the situation? The question is no longer whether we should start building a new car based on a new concept, but when? Also, if the project is launched quickly, will it be ready to do so much to save the 2023 financial year? Russell speaks of six Grands Prix to hope to fight for victory, but with which weapon: a deeply revised W14 or a W15 which would hide its name? In both cases, the problem of the capped budget will arise. In other times Mercedes would have opened the financial floodgates and mobilized all the resources of Brackley; which is no longer possible. More than ever, putting the right resources in the right places will be the key... But Red Bull risks already being far away!

No miracle in Maranello

It was obvious that the mere arrival of Frédéric Vasseur at the head of the Scuderia was not going to make Maranello the new garden of Eden for the F1. There is no “silver bullet” as people like to say Toto wolff in the queen discipline of motorsport, or magic wand. If, simple accidents along the way, the reliability concerns encountered in Bahrain will quickly belong to the past, the same is not true of the structural problems of the building. Reviewing the organization at Maranello will take a little time, even if it could go faster than expected if we rely on the speed with which Vasseur managed to bring about a new state of mind within the Scuderia . Last year, Leclerc's mishap would have been experienced as an absolute tragedy and sparked a lot of blame. This year, it is a lesson! If the Monegasque driver had crossed the line, the Aston Martin team would not have been perceived – or at least not yet – as the second force in the field. Proof to the contrary, it is the Scuderia which remains Red Bull's "big" rival this season, the concern residing in the amplitude that we place in the adjective.

Alpine misses his target

It is not so much the lack of relative competitiveness of the A523 which calls out about the team at A Fléché, but the impression of hesitation which emerges from this first Grand Prix of the season. Is it because the new car house does not yet fully meet expectations that we have the impression that the team does not operate with the degree of "niac" that its ambition to join the top three imposes. The momentum is not there, at least it wasn’t in Bahrain. Approximations, lack of direction, it's as if the team was still finding its feet when it should be in working order. It will undoubtedly close its ranks as the full potential of the A523 is revealed, but for the moment the comparison with the Silverstone Greens is hurting the Enstone Blues. What is expected ofAlpine During this season, Aston Martin was able to accomplish it from the first meeting. It’s probably all the harder for Laurent’s men to take Red that the humiliating blow was delivered by Fernando Alonso. Quite a symbol.

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