How Norris and Verstappen can progress in F1’s Bahrain GP

Held in searing temperatures, Formula 1’s Bahrain Grand Prix feels like it is being run on a completely different circuit compared to the one teams tested on eight weeks ago.

High track temperatures, allied with the Sakhir circuit’s notoriously rough Tarmac, are an explosive cocktail that chews through tyres. But the race’s slightly cooler night-time conditions might yet offer a reprieve.

Intriguingly, Pirelli has left plenty of strategy options on the table with a mixture of all three compounds. All signs point towards a two-stopper, but even a one-stop strategy can’t be ruled out.

“It could be an option, we are not excluding it at all,” Pirelli’s Simone Berra said. “Obviously, it’s very difficult and it will be very much dependent on drivers and team set-up. What is different from Friday is that we slightly reduced the starting pressure on the rear axle, which significantly reduced the thermal degradation.

“But thermal degradation is still there, and it’s difficult to manage on very long stints. So, the one-stop is a possibility but at the moment, on the simulation, the two stops are faster.”

This means the more conventional strategy is still a two-stopper. All three compounds are in play, not least because not every driver has new sets of each available.

“We have 11 drivers that kept two new mediums and one hard, so probably the best move on paper should be starting on the medium, switching to the hard and then using the medium at the end of the race,” Berra predicted.

“If you’re able to extend the stint on the hard a bit more, you can go with the soft with lower fuel load.

“Another possibility is using the soft at the start to exploit the extra grip that you have on the soft compound and then using the two medium compounds on the other two stints.

“For the drivers who have one [new] hard and one medium, if they are going for the two stops, they obviously need to use all the three compounds.

“All the three compounds are raceable and all the combinations for the two stops are on the same level, so the choice of the compounds will be very much team-dependent and driver-dependent.”

That is good news for F1 fans, because the variety of available strategies means it is possible to create a tyre life offset in order to get past the cars in front, either by using an undercut or overcut. Three powerful DRS zones also make a difference.

The chances of a repeat of Suzuka’s dull one-stopper with little degradation are non-existent.

“We know that here the undercut is very powerful, it’s one of the circuits where it’s most powerful in the championship, so it could be an idea to start on the soft and to get rid of it as soon as possible to try to overtake the car in front,” Berra said. “Then obviously you have to manage the second part of the race more, but you gain track position.”

It’s not just a tantalising prospect for action-starved fans, but also for drivers starting out of position, like Lando Norris and Max Verstappen. While he lamented his own qualifying performance that means he will line up sixth, Norris’s Friday long runs were impressive, and McLaren’s pace and tyre management will stand him in good stead.

“Hopefully we will be able to see that being gentle on the tyres will be something that our car can exploit – this is also why we went for a certain tyre allocation, limiting the number of softs and adopting other tyres that we hope will pay off in the race,” McLaren team boss Andrea Stella said, with both Norris and polesitter Oscar Piastri having two new sets of mediums and a set of hard tyres at their disposal.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Andrej Isakovic – AFP – Getty Images

Verstappen was rather pessimistic over his chances to move up as he and Yuki Tsunoda struggled in qualifying, but the Dutchman has two sets of hard tyres available – and one set of mediums – to try and do something different.

“Probably he could go with the medium and then hard-hard for the second part of the race,” Berra opined. “He could also take softs at the start for a shorter first stint and then going with the two hards.”

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko admitted getting Verstappen on the podium would be “very difficult”, but still felt the world champion should be able to move forward.

“If you watched the F2 sprint race [which featured lots of position changes], you saw what is possible,” he told Autosport.

“We didn’t see a proper long run yet, but we hope with this set-up and maybe by solving the brakes he should be in a position to move forward.”

The one wildcard is George Russell, who looked the best of the non-McLaren cars in practice. Russell has been demoted from second to third after a qualifying infringement by Mercedes, but he looked more impressive than the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc that will now line up alongside polesitter Piastri.

One weapon in Russell’s arsenal is Mercedes’ higher top speed, which may help him attack Leclerc and protect against threats from behind as Mercedes gravitated to a slightly lower downforce set-up. But Russell is still expecting Norris to come sailing through.

“I think, unlike the first three races of the season, this isn’t going to be necessarily a qualifying race,” Russell said. “I think this is going to be the race which is most biased to the lap times you do in the race.

“McLaren, they’re so far ahead of everybody. They can pit early, pit late — they’ll probably potentially overtake us on track. But nobody expected anyone but Lando and Oscar to be on the front row, so maybe there’s another surprise [in the race].”

Additional reporting by Ronald Vording