Poll: Bahrain Grand Prix 2022 - Race 1

[Mr Jack]

It didn't really make much difference to anything though did it?

I thought was a good race, but we've had plenty of those lately. I'm not sure what you're looking for and you appear resistant to actually saying what you want.

The triple DRS completely neutralised the difference the new rules made to overtaking since we just had the same DRS duels we've seen for the last few years; I sincerely hope they show a little more confidence in the new cars in future races. Instead, the interest mostly came from the teams not yet understanding the tyres. No-one was significantly out of place so we didn't get to watch anyone coming through the field, that's part of F1's setup: a fair qualifying puts the cars in roughly the same order they will be in the race and no change to the technical rules is going to change that. But they have achieved, in spades, what they set out to do - make it so F1 cars can follow each other closely.

F1 is still F1; it's not trying to be something else.

 

[Mr Jack]

For the front at least, it looks like Ferrari will be the new Merc and walk away with it to be honest.

Ferrari and Red Bull seemed close enough matched that which of them came first came down to the drivers. Thus Max was able to be ahead of Sainz.

 

[Mr Jack]

Upthread we talking about pit stop times, as a bit of a comparison here are the best times from this race:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1505688044904464390

I couldn't find comparable data from last year's race but here are the best times all season. Only at Sochi was the best time slower than the best on Sunday. Looks like it's probably 0.2-0.4s slower than last year; not a big deal in the scheme of things.

 

[Mr Jack]

Exactly, if it wasn’t for the safety car would they have ran out of fuel sooner, if the pump was struggling to get the last of the fuel out of the tank, were they running a light fuel load to try and keep up with the Ferrari and ahead of the Mercedes and it’s bit them. Is the RB car as strong as everyone thinks if it has to run a borderline fuel load

The explanation I have heard is that it is a problem with the shape of the fuel tank stopping the pump from efficiently getting the last of it out. It's not that they ran out of fuel; it's that the pump couldn't get it out.

 

[Mr Jack]

Hmmm, is the shape of the fuel tank something that can be changed quickly or is this going to be a problem this weekend I wonder

Depends on why it is that shape, I guess. But the teams usually don't run the tanks to capacity, so presumably they can put extra in to compensate at the cost a slightly heavier car.

 

[Mr Jack]

The cooling effect of ethanol is evaporation, where is it doing that in the engine?

 

[Mr Jack]

E10 combusts differently to “normal” fuel, so that hotter reaction will definitely catch people out this season.

Reading around, it seems that E10 has a lower combustion temperature than straight petrol but that differences in its combustion properties can cause overheating in some engines. This seems to be a problem only in engines that weren't designed for it, though, but on the other hand F1 engines are so extreme that maybe weird things happen. Who knows?

 

[Mr Jack]

Interesting video on what might have happened to Red Bull: