Red Bull and Haas Continue Surprising Form at Bahrain Grand Prix

Formula One is too predictable these days, right? That has been a common complaint over the last two-plus seasons of Mercedes domination.

And that may be true at the top of the grid, which looks pretty much as expected so far in 2016: Mercedes are out in front, and Ferrari (when their cars are running) are a bit behind but clearly second-best.

If you look at the constructors' standings following Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix, though, there are a couple surprises just below those top teams. Red Bull, expected to struggle with their TAG Heuer-badged Renault engines, are third and debutants Haas, the first brand-new team in six years, are fifth.

Given Red Bull's championship pedigree, Haas' performance is probably the bigger surprise.

Three new teams entered the sport in 2010 (only one, Manor, is left) and have combined for exactly one top-10 finish in the 117 grands prix since then. Romain Grosjean, in contrast, finished sixth for Haas on their debut at the Australian Grand Prix.

"This is a win for us!" he shouted over the team radio as the race ended. "This is a win!"

On Sunday in Bahrain, it would get even better. Grosjean parlayed a terrific start—where he jumped from ninth (or eighth, following Sebastian Vettel's parade lap breakdown) to sixth after the first corner—flawless strategy and some beautiful overtaking manoeuvres into a fifth-place finish.

"We've had two unbelievable races, but we have to keep our feet on earth," he said during a televised interview with Sky Sports after the chequered flag. "There is some more work we can do, but this is crazy."

Being an American team (more or less), there was plenty of hype surrounding Haas coming into the season. At the same time, expectations were tempered given the struggles of the last new teams to enter the sport.

But Haas arrived with a new approach: a close partnership with Ferrari that included purchasing as many parts as legally allowed from the Italian team. And "legal" is the key word there. Despite criticism from some corners of the paddock, Haas are just following the rules.

"The status of being a constructor has been gradually eroded," Williams technical director Pat Symonds recently told Autosport's Lawrence Barretto.

That is a valid concern, as Haas are skirting the line of constructor versus customer team, but also perhaps a bit of sour grapes. 

Despite the assistance from Ferrari, owner Gene Haas attempted to downplay expectations for his new team during pre-season testing. "If we got it in the top 10 once or twice that would be a realistic expectation," he told Jerome Pugmire of the Associated Press. "Most of the time we're going to be in that 10th or 15th position."

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Many observers, it seemed, agreed with that assessment. F1i.com's Chris Medland, for example, wrote, "The midfield may be a stretch early on as it needs to learn quickly, but with a strong driver pairing at least a point this year must be the target."

Now, though, expectations have surely changed. Yes, Grosjean benefitted from Kimi Raikkonen's retirement and the red flag in Australia. In Bahrain, he was helped by Vettel's blown engine, as well as Lewis Hamilton's first-corner misfortune.

But Haas' achievements cannot be diminished by what other teams and drivers do or don't do. The first two races have shown they are a legitimate midfield team. With a bit of rain or some bold strategy calls, perhaps Grosjean could even repeat the miraculous podium he scored for Lotus at Spa last year.

The other big surprise so far this season are Red Bull. In particular, Daniel Ricciardo has somehow managed two straight fourth-place finishes in a car that was reckoned to be maybe fifth- or sixth-best at the start of the year.

Ricciardo's excitement at qualifying fifth in Bahrain tells you everything you need to know about the team's relatively low expectations for 2016.

"I'm really happy with the result today," he said, per a team press release. "We came into qualifying thinking if all went well, maybe we would squeeze into Q3, and so to get into fifth is great."

For a team that won four drivers' and four constructors' titles from 2010 to 2013, it must seem weird to be "really happy" qualifying fifth. That is what Red Bull have been reduced to, though, as their engine supplier, Ren—sorry, TAG Heuer, have struggled since the introduction of the hybrid V6 power units in 2014.

In Bahrain, both Ricciardo and his team-mate, Daniil Kvyat, suffered damage to their front wings in separate incidents. Still, both cars looked competitive, and Kvyat finished seventh after a disappointing qualifying that saw him line up 15th on the starting grid.

Ricciardo passed Felipe Massa's Mercedes-powered Williams on the long start-finish straight early in the race. He was on softer tyres at the time, but the Renault power deficit does look smaller this year.

So, what is possible for Red Bull this year?

"It's going to be a season of evolution for us," said team principal Christian Horner in February, per JamesAllenOnF1.com's Alex Kalinauckas. "I think that it's probably going to be a season of two halves, the first half is going to be less competitive than the second but we're expecting to make significant progress during the year."

Red Bull don't have the pace to challenge Mercedes, or even Ferrari, and it's unlikely there will be a race where all four of those cars don't finish, so wins are probably still off the table. On the other hand, if this is the "less competitive" version of Red Bull, multiple podiums are definitely possible (Ricciardo and Kvyat combined for three in 2015).

If the racing at the front is too predictable for you (although, who had Nico Rosberg to win the first two races?), just look a bit further back and you'll find a few surprises. The midfield looks closer and more competitive than it has been in many years.

In Bahrain, the midfield battles were entertaining enough to almost make you forget about Rosberg running away with the race at the front. Almost.

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