Mercedes gave Lewis Hamilton the chance to win the Bahrain Grand Prix when they reacted quickly to the first pit stops happening behind him, and got him in the pits before race leader Max Verstappen.
Tyres degrade rapidly on the abrasive Bahrain International Circuit, and getting onto fresh tyre provides a powerful ‘undercut’ advantage. Hamilton gained a massive two-and-a-half seconds after switching to fresh rubber, and having been only 1.7s behind the race-leading Red Bull beforehand, he was guaranteed to put himself in a position to jump ahead at this point.Red Bull reacted the only way they could – by extending Verstappen’s first and second stints as long as they dared. With further degradation forcing Hamilton back into the pits for his second stop as early as lap 28 – half-distance, which suggested he would need to pit a third time – the plan seemed to be working.
Indeed, the strategists can be satisfied that, having arguably dropped the ball by letting Hamilton get ahead in the first place, they put Verstappen in a position where he was able to overtake the Mercedes for the lead with three laps to go. (The move didn’t stick, but that’s besides the point.)
Two things allowed Mercedes to be this aggressive with Hamilton’s strategy. The first was the presence of Valtteri Bottas. Once he was free of Charles Leclerc, Bottas was close enough to the leaders to be a factor, and Mercedes ran him closer to a conventional strategy, forcing Red Bull to cover both options. Unluckily for Bottas this was ruined by a slow second pit stop.
“I think, strategy-wise, we’ll have to analyse what we could have done better,” he said. “We didn’t have the tyres like they had so we didn’t really have a lot of flexibility in the strategy. So maybe also there we could have done better in choosing our tyres throughout the practice.
“Last year we would have been super-happy with this result and now we are disappointed so we definitely made a good step forward and of course it is still a very long season. We just have to get on with it and try to do better.”
Red Bull may have started the season with the quickest car, but the world champions seized this opportunity to prove they can with with tactical superiority as well as speed.
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2021 Bahrain Grand Prix lap chart
The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
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2021 Bahrain Grand Prix race chart
The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
Position change
Driver | Start position | Lap one position change | Race position change |
---|---|---|---|
Lewis Hamilton | 2 | 0 | 1 |
Valtteri Bottas | 3 | -1 | 0 |
Max Verstappen | 1 | 0 | -1 |
Sergio Perez | 11 | -8 | 6 |
Lando Norris | 7 | 1 | 3 |
Daniel Ricciardo | 6 | -1 | -1 |
Lance Stroll | 10 | 1 | 0 |
Sebastian Vettel | 20 | 6 | 5 |
Esteban Ocon | 16 | 3 | 3 |
Fernando Alonso | 9 | 1 | |
Charles Leclerc | 4 | 1 | -2 |
Carlos Sainz Jnr | 8 | -2 | 0 |
Pierre Gasly | 5 | 0 | -12 |
Yuki Tsunoda | 13 | -2 | 4 |
Kimi Raikkonen | 14 | 3 | 3 |
Antonio Giovinazzi | 12 | 0 | 0 |
Mick Schumacher | 18 | 0 | 2 |
Nikita Mazepin | 19 | ||
George Russell | 15 | -1 | 1 |
Nicholas Latifi | 17 | 0 | -1 |
2021 Bahrain Grand Prix lap times
All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:
2021 Bahrain Grand Prix fastest laps
Each driver’s fastest lap:
Rank | Driver | Car | Fastest lap | Gap | On lap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’32.090 | 56 | |
2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’33.228 | 1.138 | 41 |
3 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull-Honda | 1’33.970 | 1.880 | 44 |
4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’34.015 | 1.925 | 44 |
5 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’34.090 | 2.000 | 48 |
6 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’34.396 | 2.306 | 38 |
7 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 1’34.509 | 2.419 | 48 |
8 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’34.761 | 2.671 | 38 |
9 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’34.865 | 2.775 | 31 |
10 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’34.932 | 2.842 | 36 |
11 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’34.988 | 2.898 | 39 |
12 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’35.036 | 2.946 | 40 |
13 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’35.122 | 3.032 | 32 |
14 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’35.192 | 3.102 | 45 |
15 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1’35.250 | 3.160 | 33 |
16 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’35.566 | 3.476 | 26 |
17 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 1’36.063 | 3.973 | 31 |
18 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | 1’36.134 | 4.044 | 38 |
19 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’36.602 | 4.512 | 16 |
20 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas-Ferrari |
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2021 Bahrain Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
Stint 1 | Stint 2 | Stint 3 | Stint 4 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Lewis Hamilton | C3 (13) | C2 (15) | C2 (28) | |
Max Verstappen | C3 (17) | C3 (22) | C2 (17) | |
Valtteri Bottas | C3 (16) | C2 (14) | C2 (24) | C3 (2) |
Lando Norris | C4 (12) | C3 (21) | C2 (23) | |
Sergio Perez | C3 (2) | C3 (17) | C2 (19) | C3 (18) |
Charles Leclerc | C4 (12) | C3 (20) | C2 (24) | |
Daniel Ricciardo | C4 (13) | C3 (19) | C2 (24) | |
Carlos Sainz Jnr | C4 (15) | C3 (22) | C2 (19) | |
Yuki Tsunoda | C3 (15) | C2 (18) | C2 (23) | |
Lance Stroll | C4 (12) | C3 (16) | C2 (28) | |
Kimi Raikkonen | C3 (13) | C2 (16) | C3 (27) | |
Antonio Giovinazzi | C3 (12) | C2 (18) | C3 (25) | |
Esteban Ocon | C4 (13) | C3 (18) | C2 (24) | |
George Russell | C4 (13) | C3 (23) | C3 (19) | |
Sebastian Vettel | C3 (24) | C2 (31) | ||
Mick Schumacher | C3 (14) | C3 (19) | C2 (22) | |
Pierre Gasly | C3 (4) | C2 (15) | C3 (20) | C2 (13) |
Nicholas Latifi | C4 (14) | C3 (18) | C3 (19) | |
Fernando Alonso | C4 (11) | C3 (18) | C2 (3) | |
Nikita Mazepin |
2021 Bahrain Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
Driver | Team | Pit stop time | Gap | On lap | |
1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 23.848 | 39 | |
2 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 23.983 | 0.135 | 32 |
3 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 23.993 | 0.145 | 2 |
4 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | 24.046 | 0.198 | 29 |
5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 24.076 | 0.228 | 28 |
6 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 24.105 | 0.257 | 19 |
7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | 24.107 | 0.259 | 13 |
8 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 24.176 | 0.328 | 32 |
9 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 24.191 | 0.343 | 38 |
10 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 24.223 | 0.375 | 30 |
11 | George Russell | Williams | 24.248 | 0.400 | 36 |
12 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 24.262 | 0.414 | 16 |
13 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 24.317 | 0.469 | 19 |
14 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 24.328 | 0.480 | 33 |
15 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 24.341 | 0.493 | 37 |
16 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 24.353 | 0.505 | 15 |
17 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 24.373 | 0.525 | 11 |
18 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 24.471 | 0.623 | 31 |
19 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 24.566 | 0.718 | 54 |
20 | George Russell | Williams | 24.621 | 0.773 | 13 |
21 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 24.626 | 0.778 | 24 |
22 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 24.655 | 0.807 | 32 |
23 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 24.688 | 0.840 | 13 |
24 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 24.767 | 0.919 | 17 |
25 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 24.775 | 0.927 | 29 |
26 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 24.839 | 0.991 | 13 |
27 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 24.884 | 1.036 | 12 |
28 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 24.899 | 1.051 | 12 |
29 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 24.925 | 1.077 | 12 |
30 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 24.983 | 1.135 | 39 |
31 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 25.046 | 1.198 | 15 |
32 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 25.226 | 1.378 | 13 |
33 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | 25.343 | 1.495 | 33 |
34 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 25.525 | 1.677 | 28 |
35 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 25.640 | 1.792 | 33 |
36 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | 25.798 | 1.950 | 14 |
37 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 26.046 | 2.198 | 14 |
38 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 31.998 | 8.150 | 12 |
39 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 32.897 | 9.049 | 30 |
40 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 38.338 | 14.490 | 4 |
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Niefer (@niefer)
29th March 2021, 1:27
“Clearly faster”, huh, @f1osaurus? ;)
What a joke.
F1oSaurus (@)
29th March 2021, 7:44
@niefer Lol you are really going to try to deny that Verstappen had the fastest car?
What a joke indeed.
Niefer (@niefer)
29th March 2021, 8:07
@f1osaurus – go argue with the charts, if you can understand them. I give up on you.
F1oSaurus (@)
29th March 2021, 14:07
@niefer The charts clearly shows Verstappen was faster. How do you think he closed the gap to Hamilton? Or how he was on top of every session before the race?
The chart shows even Perez had a faster lap than Hamilton.
Is it that you don’t understand that Bottas taking a fresh set of medium tyre to set a single fastest lap is not representative?
You really should give up on commenting on F1 altogether.
mystic one (@mysticus)
29th March 2021, 14:41
@niefer
in the charts, you can see average speed of max is faster than lewis… overall…
RB made a mistake, despite undercut, they should have pitted, as i m quite sure, max would have gotten by mercedes much easier with fresher mediums… and continue to track position… they had the speed and pace… not sure why didnt they pursue it is beyond me… the only logical thing is they were afraid that lewis would pace up and make max waste the tyres sooner… but even then they could do the undercut themselves, and move on… not sure mercedes would answer to max’s pace… they were clearly faster in race pace… not sure why u both argue about the same thing.
Tim
29th March 2021, 3:42
Comparing Stroll and Vettel’s lap times, the gap between the two is the largest on the grid.
Vettel will likely not see out his contract at Aston Martin. I hope I’m wrong.
NS Biker (@rekibsn)
29th March 2021, 3:56
Seems Perez went from Pit Lane to 3rd in 17 laps, sets the 3rd fastest race lap, 2nd if you discount Bottas’s one-lap-wonder. Not bad for a “new guy on the team”.
Just can’t wait to see more action from both Red Bull drivers.
Wonder what he can do once he gets used to the car.?
MattDS (@mattds)
29th March 2021, 8:52
@rekibsn well, Albon on his first race for RBR did 17th to 5th. Perez pit to 5th, but the SC brought him back into play immediately so in the end both results are highly comparable.
Not saying Perez ultimately won’t do better but a lot of people seem to forget Albon had a comparable start for the team. The true measure is not seeing how he can get the best (or second best maybe in following races, we’ll see) car up to fifth from back of the grid – it’s seeing how he can consistently qualify it on first or second row of the grid, score podiums with it and make it a bit harder for Mercedes.
bosyber (@bosyber)
29th March 2021, 15:45
Good bit of context @mattds, indeed, let’s not forget why Albon was initially seen as a good try, and hopeful signing, if only he could keep improving on that a bit large deficit to Verstappen in quali, until he couldn’t.
I do think that Perez did well, and his confidence in his race and tyre-massaging probably helps them go for more advantagous strategies when he’s not quite there, but they will want him to get nearer soon.
Rik
5th April 2021, 22:32
Not that remarkable if you consider he rejoined at the back of the field on lap 4 after the safetycar went of.
On the freshest tires, in arguably the fastest car, and with almost the entire field pitting between lap 12 and 16.
Not saying it wasn’t a very good drive but lets not forget he still almost finished a minute behind Verstappen on what turned out to be a similar strategy.
I’ll concede he had to do alot of overtakes but on the restart he was only 5 to 6 seconds behind Verstappen.
Plus Verstappens car had diff issues and RBR revealed that they had to run his car on a lower engine setting because some sort of software issue.
I like Pérez and i hope he does well but i think his drive wasn’t as stellar as everyone makes it out to be.
AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
29th March 2021, 5:43
I thought Mercedes had overplayed their hand by pitting Hamilton after only 15 laps on a new set of hard tyres. Of course, he had to use the tyres hard initially to execute the undercut, but still I would have expected him to go a bit longer on those tyres (though his last lap before the pit stop was not good – I did not see if he had any traffic that lap). However, Max had closed to within 2 seconds, which I suppose is the undercut range. I don’t think Red Bull would have pitted Max at the first opportunity, but apparently Mercedes did not want to take the chance.
Note that Hamilton was not unlucky after the first pit stop. On the timing screens we could see Perez closing to within 0.3 seconds, so despite his pit lane start he almost did do the job Red Bull hired him to do.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
29th March 2021, 9:53
The graphs are so hard to follow now that majority of the field is a sea of blues
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
29th March 2021, 12:31
@eurobrun Yeah I’ll do some work on that to improve it. Remember you can select the driver’s name in the legend to highlight them, and of course switch off the drivers whose data you want to exclude.
Sumedh
29th March 2021, 13:46
One suggestion could be use of dashed and solid lines to show 2 drivers of same team. That would reduce your color requirement by half.
Fryewerk
29th March 2021, 15:35
These charts are wonderful. I love a good collection of data!
RekF1
31st March 2021, 21:16
Although RB appeared faster, Mercedes had to measure their pace, so on race pace they’re not separable currently. IF they stay closely matched, then I’d still call RB slight favourites because they can do sub 2 seconds stops whereas Mercedes still look ,erm… Let’s say rusty.