5 F1 Request A Bets to Look Out for in this Weekend’s Bahrain GP

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen will be expected to go toe to toe in this season’s World Driver’s Championship yet again.

Last season, Hamilton won at Bahrain having held onto a narrow lead to the Dutchman in the final few laps of the 2021 GP, as Verstappen was ordered to re-give first-place back following an illegal overtake off the track limits.

Meanwhile, McLaren will be hoping to have a good start to the season, especially having missed out on third place in the Constructor’s Championship to Ferrari last year. Both Lando Norris will be expected to score points here.

Sergio Perez debuted here for Red Bull last season, starting from the pitlane following a fault with his car on the formation lap, seeing the Mexican put in a sensational display, as he finished the race in fifth place.

Ferrari impressed throughout pre-season testing, with some claiming that they could be involved in the title fight this time around.

Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc showed their capabilities once again why they delivered the Maranello based team third-place in the Constructor's Championship, as they individually finished the season in fifth and seventh places.

Meanwhile, Norris managed to finish fourth in Bahrain last season, showing that he has the capability to finish high up the standings as the Brit looks to build on his sixth-place finish in the Driver’s Championship once again.

Pierre Gasly perhaps didn’t get as much recognition as he deserved last season, as the former Red Bull Racing driver delivered another superb season for his current team, Alphatauri, finishing ninth in the standings. Gasly had gearbox issues here last year after initially qualifying in fifth place and often overachieves his car’s overall performance, making a points finish a real possibility here.

Last season there was a safety car in Bahrain on lap one, as Nikita Mazepin spun his car and collided with the barriers at turn three.

2021 World Driver’s Championship winner Verstappen has set the quickest time of anybody in testing so far, managing a 1:31.720, over half a second quicker than any other driver so far and will be expected to challenge for the win at Bahrain.

As mentioned above, Ferrari have impressed throughout testing and a driver that is certainly capable of good results regardless of the capability of his car is Monegasque-born Leclerc who finished sixth here last season in what was thought to be a poor car prior to upgrades that had been made.

Leclerc managed just one podium last season, but, did finish fourth six times last time out and will be hoping to put on a good show in this weekend’s opener.

Last season, Lance Stroll finished 13th in the World Driver’s Championship having accumulated 34 points, including a 10th place finish in Bahrain last season.

The Canadian who is often given unfair criticism for his dad’s influence in his chances to become a racing driver finished nine points shy of Sebastian Vettel in 2021, which shows that he has good capabilities having finished relatively close to a four-time world champion.

As mentioned above, both Verstappen and Hamilton will be expected to go head to head here for the win even if Mercedes haven’t shown a lot of pace in testing.

It must be noted that Toto Wolff’s team have often been known for ‘sandbagging’ in pre-season tests, usually showing their true capability in qualifying and the races on previous opening weekends.

Leclerc will be hoping to put to use the pace of the Ferrari that has looked impressive during testing, whilst two-time world champion Fernando Alonso of Alpine posted the fourth quickest time in pre-season testing on day three using C4 tyres.

As mentioned above, we expect Norris and Sainz to be competitive once again due to their sixth and fifth-place finishes in last year’s championship.

Hamilton winning this race certainly isn’t out of question due to Mercedes historically hiding their car’s capabilities in testing.

The Stevenage-born driver will be determined to forget about last season’s finale at Abu Dhabi and go on to claim a record-breaking eighth World Driver’s Championship, having won here last season, a victory for the 37-year-old is a possibility.

George Russell has replaced Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes this season and has shown promise here in the past, although in a different track layout, as the 24-year-old from King’s Lynn lead the Sakhir GP in 2020 when he stood in for Hamilton, but, his race was ultimately ruined by a botched pit stop from Mercedes as they fitted on Bottas’ tyres.

Last season, Russell somehow managed 16 points with Williams who were on paper the second-slowest team on the grid, helping them to exceed expectations by finishing eighth in the Constructor’s Championship.
Norris was the ninth quickest driver in testing, although the Brit was using C2 tyres which are a hard compound which are predominantly used for durability, meaning that there could be a lot more potential to extract from the McLaren.

A driver we will welcome back to the grid this season is Alex Albon who is driving for Williams this season, having been demoted to Red Bull’s Test Driver for the 2021 season having struggled to fit in at Christian Horner’s team due to inconsistent results.

The Grove-based team could have another troubled season if their pre-season test results are anything to go by, although they will be hoping that former Red Bull driver Albon can add to the 197 career points total that he has accumulated when he make his debut at Bahrain.