Five things we learnt from Bahrain GP 2015

Ferrari to only get faster with engine upgrades

Ferrari are already a threat to for Mercedes, and Mercedes have also acknowledged the threat. Ferrari have also slowly but surely revealed some weaknesses of the Mercedes. The Ferraris are already easier on the tyres, easier on fuel and are happier as a team on track between the drivers and in the garage when compared to the Mercedes team.

In Bahrain, if the race was 2 laps longer, it was sure that Raikkonen would have stolen that victory from Hamilton as both Mercedes cars were struggling with their overheated brakes while the Iceman calmly drove a brilliant race without a care in the world.

With such pace already, Ferrari have dumped in more money, which is probably equal to William’s entire budget for the year into further development on their engines. The updates will be brought for the first time to Canada for the 7^th round of the season which would make the scarlet red cars more prominent in the mirrors of the Mercedes, or maybe even leave the Mercedes in the Ferraris’ mirrors probably. Ferrari’s Achilles’ heel this year so far has been their lack of pace in qualifying. Ferrari would have liked to have the updates in Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix in 3 week’s time, but they have ruled it out as it seems unlikely. Taking the upgrades to Monaco wouldn’t make sense so Canada is a race to watch out for as it might even address the issue of qualifying for Ferrari.

Kimi Raikkonen still in form and interested in racing

After the 2015 season, Raikkonen’s contract with Ferrari is to run out. But with the state of recent affairs, the Finn seems to be smiling more often than he normally does. He says that it’s the happiest team he has ever been in.

Maurizio Arrivabene said that Raikkonen must perform if Ferrari is to strike a new contract with the Iceman, to extend his tenure with the team and will use that as leverage on the Finn to motivate him further. Raikkonen mentioned that even though he feels motivated, the ball is in the park of the team to decide if he is to stay. If Raikkonen continues to perform at this level, Raikkonen might just find himself strapped into a Ferrari in 2016 on the grid.

Vettel not priority for Ferrari

While commenting on the delay in signing a contract with Mercedes to extend his tenure with the team, Lewis Hamilton said that unlike other driver like “Michael” [Schumacher] or “Sebastian” [Vettel], he doesn’t ask for a number one driver position in the team in his contract. But after the events of Bahrain unfolded, it’s clearly visible, that that is not the case for Vettel in Ferrari. The Scuderia Ferrari team as a whole is distinctively the priority for Ferrari.

McLaren sweaty, but progressive with Honda engines

A match made in heaven from the past, seems to be a deal with the devil for McLaren currently. At Bahrain, Jenson Button parked his car on track due to an engine problem during free practice, and the same problem cropped up in qualifying which left the Brit to sit out the whole of qualifying and coming to race the next evening. The Brit was asked to relax when the team couldn’t solve the problem on the Honda engine’s ERS system and decided not to run the car in the race at all.

With only 4 engines available to each car for the entire year, and both McLarens are on their 3^rd engines, with the problems cropping up every now and then, it’s inevitable for the team to start taking penalties soon in the following round in the near future during the season when they exceed the designated number of engines and McLaren don’t seem to have a solution to it. But the faces may seem positive, inside they might be swimming in sweat. Though, McLaren do seem to be making progress with the Honda engines as Fernando Alonso finished 11^th in Bahrain just outside the points.