homepage Forums SimHQ Motorsports Sim Racing - General Formula 1

Ferrari again topping the time sheets. Red Bull looking strong. Merc looking off-song, but Russell just put up a good lap.

I think Ferrari are for real, and Alpha Tauri might surprise some people. One session left and then the season kicks off in anger.

The first race is going to be epic, and who can really say right now where the teams stand? Even Haas are looking pretty good right now.

Testing is over, and now it kicks off for real.

My analysis of every team at this stage, in order based on where I think they are at the moment

1. Red Bull. Probably a toss-up with Ferrari, but take top spot because they turned the fastest lap, which is the point right? They ran a lot of laps and turned the fastest time, while having few reliability issues. They progressed through their programmes like clockwork, and both drivers impressed. It could hardly have gone better. Red Bull were the most deceptive team in the run-up to the season, essentially hiding everything until the last moment. They sort of did the same by making big design changes overnight Friday. But what they did worked, and the RB18 looks like it has a title challenge in it. Red Bull look relaxed and confident.

2. Ferrari. I'd really put them at 1a, their pre-season has been that good. Even though Red Bull pipped them at the line for fastest lap, there no way to know if any team was running at maximum pace. And like Red Bull, Ferrari had a great testing phase, looking composed and quick. Like every team they suffered from the porpoising, maybe more than most, but seem to have gotten it under control. The F1-75 (75th anniversary) looks great, is quick and seems robust based on the pre-season. Both drivers seem quietly confident, while downplaying any hype. Like Red Bull, their programme could hardly have gone better once the hopping was solved. Ferrari look like genuine title contenders heading in to the first race at Sakhir.

3. Alpha Tauri. The top two spots seemed clear based on results so far. The rest is more muddled. But of those teams, Alpha Tauri seemed to have the best package in terms of pace, reliability and having everything go to plan. My gut tells me they won't be third at the end of the season, but they head in to the first race in good shape. in some ways as Ferrari goes, so goes AT. And those signs are bright. I think Gasly is underrated and set to turn some heads. That is counterbalanced by Tsunoda being the other driver. But all signs are that he is more focused and well aware of what he needs to improve to be a top driver. I wasn't impressed with his driving last year, he struggled to score most of the season. And he is a bit of a hot head. But he's the most refreshing interview in the paddock, and I expect a sharp improvement from him. So everything looks in place for the AT-03 to get a hot start. But can they maintain that as other teams get their acts together?

4. Alpine. Few are talking about Alpine, but they put both cars in the top six on the time sheets on the final day of testing. Both drivers seem optimistic. The A522 sounds great, is obviously quick and was sporting Racing Point's 2020 livery. What can go wrong? Alonso made me eat my words last year, and seems even more confident now. It wouldn't surprise me to see this team as 'best of the rest' come the end of the year. They will be happy about how things have gone so far.

5. Mercedes. They only sit fifth because of all the teams, none seem more off-balance than Merc. There's obviously pace in the W13, but surprisingly, Mercedes have been unable to unlock it. They ended testing with as many questions as answers, and are still suffering from porpoising with testing now over. Both drivers sound concerned, and Merc will start the season on the back foot to a degree. But this is Mercedes, and you don't win eight titles on the bounce unless you can engineer the sh!t out of it. And they looked out of sorts after testing last year too, and went on to win the first race. But because everyone has gotten a do-over, and it looks like the field is compressed as a result, a slow start for Merc would be more difficult to overcome.

6. Haas. Seriously. Haas basically mailed it in last year, declining to upgrade their car and spending all of their resources developing this year's VF-22. It looks to have paid off. The car looks to have genuine pace, and the team will be thrilled at their prospects of fighting for points this year, having finished last at every race last year. At a glance, the disastrous off-track events could seem dibilitating, but I think are a blessing in disguise. If Haas can sort their funding, then replacing Mazepin with Magnussen is a big upgrade. Schumi Jr will look to improve and I think we will be seeing Haas scoring on a regular basis this year.

7. Alfa Romeo. Heading in to Sakhir last year I was saying AR were the grid's most-improved team. That faded quickly and they ran the entire season just out of the points. This season they look better, the C42 has genuine pace based on testing times, although they suffered quite a bit from niggling reliability issues. Bottas shrugged it all off and will be looking to storm out of the gate. Zhou is an unknown, but didn't look out of place or awed by his new situation like Tsunoda and Mazepin did a year ago. If AR can get control over their mechanical reliability I think they will make some noise this year.

8. McLaren. The most disappointing team for me after testing. Little went right. Like other teams McLaren suffered from reliability issues, but theirs were not so niggling. Front axle and brake issues are more fundamental than leaks and that sort of thing. I think the MCL36 is probably quick, but they didn't really get a chance to show it. With Ricciardo missing Bahrain with Covid, McLaren will be hoping things improve in a hurry. I don't expect them to finish this far down, but they don't kick it off from a position of strength.

9. Aston Martin. Again, this is all sort of muddled, and AM could be third, or eighth, or anywhere. They quietly went about their business, but I don't think AMR22 has title pace in it at the moment. But it looks great, and Aston Martin have reason for optimism. Vettel was a better driver last year, but I'm not sold on him and Stroll making much noise this year. We will see.

10. Williams. When they revealed the FW22 it felt like maybe Williams was back. But the car doesn't look all that quick at this stage, and they had trouble with reliability. The pairing of Albon and Latifi doesn't inspire me and right now it just feels like WIlliams are the back markers. But these things can change quickly.

I think this season we will see every team scoring points, and maybe a six or seven car midfield, if you know what I mean. So much is still unknown, and Bahrain will show us more clearly where things stand. But right now, I'd predict a Red Bull and Ferrari battle for the title, especially if Merc don't get a handle on things straight away.

Bring it on!

I expect first half of season to be RB vs Ferrari vs Mercedes, with a very strong midfield that will score podiums, and Alfa/Haas/Williams to end up slowly but surely out of the points during the season. Midfield could either score more podiums on the second half, or less, depending on what potential chaos a pack of these cars bring.

If every car can attack the preceding one in every corner without killing the tyres early, I expect much chaos, therefore an even stronger midfield.

If despite the better ease to follow, passing is still hard, then the usual suspect will most likely kill the midifield past mid season.

Anyway, can't wait !

Yes sir, my conjecture is just that, partly based on what I saw during the two tests, and partly on intuition, what my gut is telling me.

But really, it's all up in the air. I love it. It's exciting. This first race is going to be something else. I always pay close attention to the practice sessions, but especially so this week.

It cannot come fast enough for me. F1 is back.

Vettel positive for Covid, Hulkenberg to stand in. Tough break, and unless the rules are changed, Covid could have a big impact on this year's standings.

I'm sure Lewis Hamilton is truly heartbroken......

He will be when Russell outqualifies him every weekend

If anyone is interested, I created a SimHQ F1 fantasy league at formula1.com

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/...w-changes-for.LEHt30paacQq7Pw2gN93Z.html

Use this code to join



I held the shift key down a beat too long so it appears as SImHQ and I don't see a way to edit it.

As of right now my team is Max, Bottas, Tsunoda and Magnussen. Team is Red Bull. Turbo driver is Gasly. I might tweak this as I learn more about how it works.

It gives you a spending cap of 100m, and well, standard fantasy stuff. Join me and give yourself more skin in the game, and more reasons to root for other drivers to do well. It's free.

Edit: I'm already chopping and changing. Changed team from Red Bull to McLaren, which freed up enough funds to replace Magnussen with Leclerc. I have 2m to play with so I'll keep tweaking.

I'm playing F1 2011 atm, and struggling in my Lotus

Also watching 1st season of DTS.

Now that I have forgotten much of that year's events, I can enjoy the fantasy drama and not cry at how fake it was

When I had tried at the time, I had to stop after 1st episode.

You can do this by signing up for my fantasy league!

Haha, I've been kicking around getting Netflix, checking in to it over the past couple of weeks. I might be the last human without Netflix, but I've held off so far because of manufactured drama, invented rivalries and that sort of thing in DTS. Not really interested in a 'reality TV' version of F1. Last season was so incredible no embellishment was needed, but they did it anyway. I know I would still like most of the show, the insider access, but I'm going to keep on without it for now.

What I am thinking about doing is signing up for F1 TV Pro. It's US$80 per year and streams it all. 20 car cameras, unlimited/unedited team radio, all sessions,and I can watch it whenever. Living in America and having a job means I miss a lot of the practice sessions and qualifying. I follow it on live timing, but not the same as watching. They have a free seven-day trial that I'm going to try.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/...n-from-every.4MeRGAKcWFPQLhJjwaGwr3.html

There's also a $30 per year version with less features. Pro is less than four dollars per race. That's a snap for everything you get.

P1 underway!

Lights out and away we go!

Here's my fantasy team at the mo

Max
Checo
Lando
Gasly
Tsunoda

Team: Alpine

You have the ability to make changes through the season, and driver prices are dynamic so it will need to be changed from time to time. Since I'm new to it I don't know if it is better to run lesser drivers and a better team? But anyway I suspect Alpine will be competitive this year. We shall see. So I've got most of my eggs in the Red Bull/Alpha Tauri basket. Plus Lando.

Friday practice is in the books, and I gotta say my predictions earlier don't seem far off at all, aside from Alpha Tauri lacking pace.

Max set fastest lap, but we don't know the full story yet, and we won't probably until Q2.

F1 Bahrain Grand Prix free practice 2 results
Cla Drive rChassis Time Gap
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1'31.936
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1'32.023 0.087
3 Carlos Sainz Jr Ferrari 1'32.520 0.584
4 George Russell Mercedes 1'32.529 0.593
5 Fernando Alonso Alpine 1'32.877 0.941
6 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1'32.951 1.015
7 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1'32.958 1.022
8 Mick Schumacher Haas 1'33.085 1.149
9 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1'33.144 1.208
10 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1'33.183 1.247
11 Lando Norris McLaren 1'33.280 1.344
12 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1'33.360 1.424
13 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1'33.621 1.685
14 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1'33.789 1.853
15 Guanyu Zhou Alfa Romeo 1'33.953 2.017
16 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1'33.958 2.022
17 Nico Hulkenberg Aston Martin 1'34.061 2.125
18 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1'34.166 2.230
19 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1'34.486 2.550
20 Alex Albon Williams 1'34.735 2.799
View full results

F1 Bahrain Grand Prix free practice 1 results
Cla Driver ChassisTime Gap
1 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1'34.193
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1'34.557 0.364
3 Carlos Sainz Jr Ferrari 1'34.611 0.418
4 George Russell Mercedes 1'34.629 0.436
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1'34.742 0.549
6 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1'34.814 0.621
7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1'34.943 0.750
8 Fernando Alonso Alpine 1'35.000 0.807
9 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1'35.028 0.835
10 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1'35.050 0.857
11 Guanyu Zhou Alfa Romeo 1'35.053 0.860
12 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1'35.151 0.958
13 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1'35.644 1.451
14 Nico Hulkenberg Aston Martin 1'35.815 1.622
15 Alex Albon Williams 1'35.923 1.730
16 Lando Norris McLaren 1'36.304 2.111
17 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1'36.402 2.209
18 Mick Schumacher Haas 1'36.536 2.343
19 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1'36.804 2.611
20 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo

FP3 is underway. This season the rule requiring the top ten in qualifying to start the race on the same compound is rescinded, giving free tire choice to all drivers, and should mean we will rarely see mediums in Q2 any more.

FP3 should help to clarify the running order a bit more, but qualifying will reveal all.

Come on Max!

I signed up for the seven-day trial for F1 TV Pro. I plan to watch the race on TV, but have the computer right there with timing screens and team radio. I can toggle through every in-car camera, watch replays and more. I don't intend to jinx Max here, but last year there were some races (like Styria and Zandvoort) where he was so far out in front that he stopped appearing on the broadcast. Not just Max but any driver that is way out in front (or way behind for that matter). This will allow me to split coverage between what the television broadcast is showing and any other car or part of the race. Watching later I can view the start from every car, or replay any incident from any car,

For $80 for the entire season that's pretty good and I expect it will make my viewing experience even better.


No one has joined the fantasy league. Two hours left to lock in.

Here's my fantasy team, final (I think)

Max
Leclerc
Norris
Bottas
Alonso

Team: Alpine

Alpine looked fast until today. Hopefully they were running some tests and FP3 wasn't representative. Max and Leclerc look like the two fastest on the grid, Norris is struggling but at least got in to the top ten in FP3. Bottas is flying in that Alfa (Poor Kimi retired one year too early) and Alonso is a threat, even if Alpine fell off in FP3. Choosing them to be my Constructors could be a big mistake, but there's only so much money to go around and they looked on top of it until today.

Max topped FP3 ahead of Leclerc and Perez. Merc looked better but still off the pace a little. Alfa and Haas looking good. On to qualifying.

Edit: Norris fell to 11th....

Edit 2 : Panic and indecision set in after FP3. New team

Verstappen
Perez
Leclerc
Sainz
Bottas

How's that for a lineup? Team is now Alfa, who are still cheap, allowing that star-studded driver lineup. This won't last if they have a good race here. They were 8th and 9th in FP3. Good result from Zhou who so far is looking the part.

I don't understand the principle of your fantasay team, but for me the outsiders to watch this year are sainz and kmag. Kmag will probably drop with Haas sooner or later ofc, so if you build your team with the potential 5 best in driver championship for the long run and have only 5, then I'd take VER/SAI/LEC/HAM/RUS.

Well, each driver has a price and you have a 100m cap, so you have to pick drivers that fit under the limit. Hamilton is the highest price for race one. So the team you proposed is not possible given the spending cap. Have a look at the link I provided and make a team. It's free. You will have missed race one, but so what.

Leclerc on pole, and congrats to him and Ferrari. Max has the pace, and sits on the front row so I'm not worried and I think at Bahrain will have the inside stall. Perez fourth after Sainz and Hamilton fifth. Everything shook out quite close to my earlier predictions.Should be a great race.

Yeah the link doesn't work, I don't know if it's because forum shrinked it or if I missed the time limit.

Strong lineup, probably the best for the first 6 to 10 races, and one of the best for the season.

For some reason I initially thought it was a F1 2021 game league, and I don't have the game.

Anyway you'll tell us of your endeavours during the season

Yes, I may need to as no one signed up for it haha.

If you're interested, this is the link to the page

https://fantasy.formula1.com/

The code to join SimHQ league is in spoilers above

You have to register but no fee. Would be great if someone joined. I've played fantasy football (both kinds), baseball and hockey. This is my first go with racing.

Fantasy sports involve picking a team within the rules, then you get points based on how your selections perform.

I could hardly have picked better, as my drivers all are looking good right now. I made Leclerc my 'turbo driver' who gets double points. You can make changes up until the start of qualifying each week, but moves are somewhat limited so you can swap out underperforming drivers, or adjust as their prices rise and fall through the season. Fantasy sports are fun, and give you that many more things to follow and root for throughout the year.

All set.

My turbo driver is sainz, I felt it was fair not to choose the same as yours. I still am a Leclerc fan

Otherwise I went full Ferrari, plus Perez, Bottas and gasly.

I hope selecting Ferrari as team will compensate for not having Max.