Can Brawn GP Fight Back In the Bahrain Grand Prix?

For the second time already this season there are two races back to back. It’s been a fantastic season so far with three thrilling races. F1 2009 is providing us with plenty of surprises, and a completely different grid order.

This weekend Formula 1 goes to Bahrain, which is a track with different challenges and conditions, which should be the opposite of the cool and wet weather we saw in Shanghai.

Track History and Guide

Bahrain is another of F1’s modern facilities built by Hermann Tilke. The facilities here are state of the art and no expense has been spared. Bahrain signed the deal with Bernie to host the GP back in 2002.

The organisers then did a great job to build it in 2 years ready for the first race in 2004. All the organisers are extremely welcoming and provide exceptional hospitality for the F1 circus and all of the media.

Bahrain was the first F1 race to be held in the Middle East region. There were other countries from the same region hoping to brag that right, such as Egypt and Lebanon but Bahrain won the battle.

They have reaped the benefits since as they are now the centre of motorsport in the gulf and attract a host of other racing series including: Drag racing, GP2, Formula 3, GT Races and more recently the Australian V8 supercars.

Bahrain has been a relatively successful F1 event always providing interesting races, and in 2004 the track won the award for best-organized race of the year.

The track’s desert setting makes this track very unique. The sight of the track surrounded by sand makes it very nice to look it. The sand can be a problem but it is compacted down to minimize the amount of sand that comes onto the track.

This process costs the organisers thousands of pounds. However there is still always sand offline, so drivers will lose time if they lose their line in any of the corners.

The teams will be hoping that there won’t be a repeat of the sandstorms which struck in winter testing.

It is very hot in Bahrain but the humidity is nowhere near as bad as in Sepang. Therefore it is more bearable for the drivers.

The track itself is made out of 3 long straights, with a tight and twisty infield section in the middle. The track is also extremely wide.

The trickiest section on the circuit by far is turns 9 and 10. It starts off as a fast sweeping bend but suddenly gets tighter and tighter, and becomes a sharp left hand bend. It’s a very common site to see drivers lock-up and miss the apex here.

It’s important to brake accurately into turns 1, 4 and 13. It’s so easy to lock-up the brakes, and slide a little bit offline into the sand, which will lose the drivers time. On the plus side if you make a really bad error there is plenty of runoff.

The fact that the run-off areas are the size of football pitches is one of the biggest criticisms of the track. Many feel that drivers should be more heavily punished when they go off the track.

In terms of setup it’s important to achieve a good straight line speed down all the straights. The setup will need to be compromised slightly in order for the car to handle well in the twisty infield section of the track. Most time can be won in the slow corners. However engineers can’t focus on the infield section too much, otherwise speed will be lost down the long straights.

Bahrain is a big test on the cars. At the end of the each of the three long straights is a heavy braking zone. Time can be won and lost here. Therefore it’s crucial that the car’s brakes are working well. Over the race distance brake wear could be a big issue, so the drivers that don’t trash their brakes early on in the race will benefit later on.

Bahrain is also hard on the tyres. With the usual hot conditions the track temperature can go sky high. A boiling track will increase the rate of tyre wear. Drivers will have to look after their tyres well over the race stints. The heat also means keeping the cars as cool as possible will be another issue, just as it was in Sepang.

Bahrain is the one of the easiest tracks to overtake on in F1. With a slow corner leading onto the long pit straight, it is easy to stick to the car in front.

Then there is a heavy braking zone at the end. We will see plenty of moves there in the race.

Turn 4 is another heavy braking area after a long straight. Same applies to turn 14. So that’s at least 3 obvious places where passing is feasible.

Even in the last few seasons, where overtaking has been near impossible, we have still see overtaking at Bahrain. With the new 2009 aero regulations the racing should be even better.

We should see KERs being more of an advantage. With a much longer run down to turn 1 than in China, more metres can be gained off the line with the KERs system on board. Also the drivers with KERs will probably make full use of the system on the exits of all the corners leading onto a straight.

Overall Bahrain is a great track with the possibility of providing great wheel to wheel action. The main negatives are that the circuit lacks the atmosphere and soul of classic circuits such as Spa and Silverstone. The other big criticism as mentioned early is the huge areas of runoff, which arguably makes life too easy for the drivers than it should be.

Form Guide and Predictions?

Brawn GP started the season perfectly by dominating the first two races. However in China they suffered their first slight blip as Red Bull usurped them in the wet conditions. As Red Bull doesn’t yet have a new diffuser it was a particularly impressive victory for them. However a solid 3-4 finish still leaves Brawn GP dominating the standings, and is still very much the team to beat this weekend.

Jenson Button is also looking very strong in the drivers’ championship, having scored 21 points out of the first 25 available. That is great championship form. He is really stepping up to the plate now he finally has a great car.

He has beaten his team mate Rubens Barrichello in all three races so far. Barrichello has to up his game so that he doesn’t get stuck with the dreaded number 2 status again, that he suffered at Ferrari. It’s a very important weekend for the Brazilian.

Brawn GP still has the quickest car in dry conditions. In China Brawn GP were 1-2 in qualifying when you take the fuel loads into account and do the maths. Had the race been dry they would been able to demonstrate their superior race pace, as the car is very easy on its tyres. They ought to have won that race 1-2 once the strategies played out.

However in the wet conditions the Brawn wasn’t able to keep the heat in its tyres as well as the Red Bull did. This was key to how the Chinese GP unfolded. The wet weather demonstrated the team’s only real flaw so far.

This isn’t a huge surprise as the car had hardly done any running at all in the wet. Sepang was the only bit of wet running they have had. Jenson had that race won in the dry section of the race so the rain wasn’t a major issue there. They are still yet to find a good balance in the rain.

In Bahrain the expected hot temperatures should play into Brawn GP’s hands. The ability to look after the tyres in race stints will give them an advantage over their opponents in these tough conditions, particularly at the end of the stints. In dry race conditions Brawn GP’s advantage could still around 0.5 seconds per lap over their nearest rival.

In qualifying the gap isn’t as big. Red Bull, Toyota and Williams are all capable of threatening Brawn GP’s position on the front row of the grid. Any of their drivers could try and go light, or try a radical strategy so that they can try and mix it with the Brawns.

It will be interesting to see close Red Bull can be to Brawn GP in this race. However I don’t expect an even challenge between the pair until Red Bull get their new diffuser sorted out.

Toyota could play a major role this weekend. We have see glimpses of the pace that the car has. We haven’t really had a major indicator of where they are in race trim. In Australia they started at the back of the grid, and it has rained in the last two races.

Toyota was also one of the teams that came to Bahrain to do extensive testing. Therefore this may give them a bit of a head start. The design of the car was focused to be easy on its rear tyres, so this could also be play into their hands at Bahrain. They could be as big threat as Red Bull is to Brawn GP.

Williams too have shown some pace but haven’t yet utilised it. If they can get it together this weekend they there is no reason why they can’t join in the battle to catch Brawn GP.

Ferrari, Renault and BMW are all in need of a result this weekend. It’s been a terrible start to the season for all of them, especially as they were all touted as title contenders pre-season. Not much will change this weekend as a week between races isn’t enough time to put major upgrades on the car. All are just in need of getting some valuable points on the board.

Ferrari and BMW should be stronger this weekend. They both tested here along with Toyota in winter testing. Ferrari will be hoping that they can get their KERs system operating reliably again, as there is time to be gained from KERs around Bahrain. This group of teams will be hoping that they can start making in-roads on the group in front of them.

Mclaren have started to make improvements. In China the car looked much better than it did at the start of the season in Melbourne. The car now seems more driveable and Lewis seems happier. A solid double points finish in China was a great result for Mclaren.

I think their upward trend will continue in Bahrain. Another double points finish is a distinct possibility. Mclaren also appear to be the leader in terms of having the best KERs package so far this season.

It is reliable and is very well packaged so they don’t have a huge weight penalty because of it. They have made it work really well and appears to be giving them a useful advantage. The team are very happy with it. That’s at least one thing they nailed in 2009.

For all of these chasing teams this weekend is about getting as many points as possible. Spain is going to be pivotal for many down the pit lane. This is where we will be seeing huge upgrades, and possibly more “double decker” diffusers popping up. It’s a chance for teams like Ferrari and BMW to get back into the running in 2009.

Conclusion

It should be another exciting weekend at Bahrain with more great racing, and maybe a few more surprises throughout the grid. Brawn GP is most definitely the team to beat, unless we get a rare desert rain storm as the Moto GP riders suffered in Qatar a couple of weeks ago.

It will be a close battle between the chasing pack of Red Bull, Toyota and Williams. It will be interesting to see how hard they can fight Brawn GP. And could one of the underperforming giants behind go and join them?

Brawn should just edge this race but it won’t be easy at all.

My top 5 prediction

1.      Button

2.      Vettel

3.      Trulli

4.      Barrichello

5.      Webber