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When the sun goes down on the desert, the lights go up, and the sights and sounds of the first race of the Formula 1 2022 season permeate the air in Bahrain. The grandstands will finally be filled with joyous fans rooting for their favorite team and driver. This is an exciting time in Formula 1. The new generation of cars are finally here, and with great anticipation, we all wonder how each team will do this season.
The teams have had several weeks to prepare for the first race. The initial testing took place in Barcelona, where we saw the McLaren Formula 1 Team complete many laps. McLaren ran close to the top of the times in Barcelona. This should give McLaren some confidence when they run in tracks similar to Circuit De Barcelona-Catalunya.
The teams then moved onto Bahrain for a week of testing prior to the first race on the same track as the upcoming race. McLaren had some struggles with the brakes during the testing sessions. Then Daniel Ricciardo got Covid; which didn’t allow him to spend the time needed in the car to get familiar with the new set-up. These setbacks made it difficult for McLaren to capture the data they needed and the ability to focus on making the car faster for the race.
These setbacks and changes are a part of racing. It’s really difficult for teams to know how this brand new car is going to perform across an entire race when it hasn’t done it yet. Some people may look at the car and say that it doesn’t look that much different from last year's car, so why the struggles? Sure the wheels look different, but what else is different? My answer to that is literally everything is different.
The best way to see the differences in last year's car compared to this year's car is looking at the cars from a top view. By looking at the view from the top, you can see that the shapes of the car’s are much different. In the coming races, I’ll go over some of the differences and why these changes were made. We also hope to continue through the season to bring you Alteryx use cases from McLaren.
We believe Alteryx is giving McLaren an advantage when it comes to making adjustments and perfecting the car. Allowing McLaren to process the data quickly with Alteryx brings a new agility to the team. We hope Alteryx will help put them on the right path to a successful season.
Bahrain Grand Prix
This track is very unpredictable from an environmental perspective. Bahrain is an island in the Persian Gulf. The track is situated on the western side of the island and sometimes experiences dramatic wind and temperature changes due to proximity to the gulf. Drivers and teams monitor track conditions and the weather constantly. This is also the reason for having the race under the lights. The track is cooler and better for tyre wear. The highlight of this track is sector 2. It’s a very windy area of the track, and drivers must muscle their car around these windy turns to find the quickest way to the end of the section, which is turn 10. Turn 10 is a difficult turn for drivers to navigate. As a driver navigates through a quick turn 9, the driver is already on the brakes as they dip down to a left hand turn that is off-camber. The part that makes this turn so difficult is the off-camber part of the turn. Off-camber means that the inside of the turn is higher than the outside of a turn. From the driver's perspective, the inside line of the turn would be difficult to see, and since the inside is higher than the outside, the car would want to fall to the outside of the turn. This makes it difficult for the driver to time their turn into the corner correctly, as well as control the car, as it wants to slide away from the turn. Last fun bit about the track; there is typically a lot of passing in Bahrain due to the slow turns and precision needed to put in a fast lap. Hopefully with the new cars we’ll see even more passing.
Free Practice Recap
How to read: session #, best lap time, (time behind first place time) number of laps in session, best place finish in session.
Lando Norris #4
FP1 1m36.304s (+2.111s) 22 laps 16th
FP2 1m33.280s (+1.344s) 27 laps 11th
FP3 1m33.955s (+1.411s), 18 laps, 11th
Daniel Ricciardo #3
FP1 1m36.403s (+2.111s) 20 laps 17th
FP2 1m34.166s (+2.230s) 12 laps 18th
FP3 1m34.378s (+1.834s), 20 laps, 15th
Qualifying Recap
How to Read: session #, fastest lap time, best place finish in session.
Lando Norris #4
Q1 1m32.239s, Softs, 8th
Q2 1m32.008s, Softs, 13th
Daniel Ricciardo #3
Q1 1m32.945s, Softs, 18th
Race Recap:
A very exciting first race for the fans, and a lot of questions for all the teams, as they completed the race in Bahrain. McLaren, unfortunately did not get the time needed to adjust the car for the race. Due to a brake issue with the car, and Daniel Ricciardo having Covid, the team wasn’t able to put in the laps in testing or in practice to get the car where they needed. Both drivers started fairly well down to the first turn, but both were pushed out of position. This put both cars towards the back. Both drivers pushed as much as they could, but they just didn’t have the pace. The team tried to use a different tyre as the rest of the field to try and make up for some of the issues. Daniel finished 14th and Lando finished 15th.
On a real positive note, it seems that based on past interviews the team knows what they need to look at to improve the car. It is also positive news that the car finished the race considering the challenges they faced and the temporary solutions that were put in place. I think the biggest benefit was that the team was able to test all three sets of tyre compounds. The data that they’ll get from using all three tyre compounds will be extremely useful for the rest of the season.
It was a rough start to the season, but based on McLaren’s performance in the testing at Barcelona, they should feel positive knowing that the pace of the car is there. It’s just going to take some adjustments and tweaks to get them there.
|
Bahrain 2022 Podium |
Points |
Drivers Championship Points |
Points |
Constructor Championship Points |
Points |
|
Charles Leclerc |
26 |
Charles Leclerc |
26 |
Ferrari |
44 |
|
Carlos Sainz |
18 |
Carlos Sainz |
18 |
Mercedes |
27 |
|
Lewis Hamilton |
15 |
Lewis Hamilton |
15 |
Haas |
10 |
Next Race: Saudi Arabia Grand Prix
Date: Sunday, March 25, 2022
Track: Jeddah Corniche Circuit
