Power Ranking the Formula 1 Teams After 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix
Mercedes and Nico Rosberg cruised to an easy victory at the 2016 Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix. The German team and driver leave the Middle East with 100 per cent records and healthy leads in the championships, having won both of 2016's races so far.
Ferrari were again the best of the rest; though Sebastian Vettel retired on the formation lap, Kimi Raikkonen had more than enough pace to finish second ahead of Lewis Hamilton's damaged Silver Arrow.
Daniel Ricciardo was again fourth for Red Bull, while Haas and Romain Grosjean continued their incredible start to the season by crossing the line in fifth—just over two seconds clear of Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen.
Further down the field, Mercedes customers Williams and Force India had disappointing races, and Sauber also struggled in Sakhir. But the weekend was kind to McLaren and Manor, both of whom had promising outings.
The teams and drivers will have a short break before heading back across Asia to the Shanghai International Circuit, which hosts the Chinese Grand Prix on April 17.
Until then, here's how the teams rank.
Note on F1 Team Power Rankings
F1 team power rankings ignore the points table and previous results and instead present a snapshot of where each team stands in relation to their competitors based on the three key factors of reliability, single-lap and long-run pace.
The rankings are based on how they would perform if racing in dry conditions on an "average circuit" that places equal emphasis on each area of the car.
All position changes are relative to those in the previous set of rankings, published after the Australian Grand Prix. You can find them here.
11. Sauber
1 of 11
Down One
Sauber have been a part of F1 since 1993, and it's hard to recall them ever being this close to the back.
Marcus Ericsson was on form in qualifying, setting the 17th-fastest time to beat his team-mate for the second time in two races. Felipe Nasr's time of one minute, 34.388 seconds was the slowest of the day, leaving the Brazilian to complain that there must be some sort of problem with his car.
When the red lights went out, neither Sauber got away well, but Nasr made up places in the opening laps. He ran close to the points in the first half of the race but slipped back as the evening wore on and lost more time with a late third stop. He finished 14th—behind Pascal Wehrlein's Manor.
Ericsson had similar pace early on but overtook Nasr early in the second stint and pulled out a small gap. But even he didn't have the pace to challenge the likes of McLaren and Renault, and only an excellent bit of defending in the closing stages kept Wehrlein behind.
Of the teams that had clean races, Sauber were—by a very small margin—the slowest.
They fall one place to 11th.
10. Manor
2 of 11
Up One
Manor enjoyed their second-best race since they entered F1.
Pascal Wehrlein was one of the stars of Saturday's qualifying session, producing a blistering lap of 1:32.806 to start 16th on the grid. Rio Haryanto fared less well, but he still beat a Sauber on his way to 21st position.
Both Manors made up places at the start, Haryanto making his way up to 17th. However, his pace for the remainder of the race was poor, and he slipped back into a distant last by the chequered flag.
Wehrlein was 13th after one lap and appeared comfortable fighting the Saubers and even Kevin Magnussen's Renault. His pace on the aggressive, three-stop strategy looked good enough for him to make it to 11th, but top-drawer defensive work by two-stopping Marcus Ericsson held the German back, and he ended up 13th.
Manor raced proper midfield cars on raw pace alone for the first time ever in Bahrain and looked to be a tiny bit ahead of Sauber.
They rise a spot to 10th.
9. Renault
3 of 11
Down One
Renault's weekend was effectively over before the race had even begun.
Kevin Magnussen put in the best qualifying lap of the team's two drivers, but he was only 19th-fastest—and as he'd missed the weighbridge during qualifying, he had to start from the pit lane. Jolyon Palmer was 20th but rose to 19th after his team-mate was erased from the grid.
However, Palmer didn't even make the start. A hydraulic issue forced the 2014 GP2 champion into the pits at the end of the formation lap, and he never came back out.
Magnussen's pit-lane start at least left him clear of the multiple contacts in the first few laps, and he made slow but steady progress through the field. Running three stints on the supersofts helped, but his car was never quick enough to get into serious points contention, and he finished the race in 11th.
Renault haven't yet had a "normal" weekend, so it's very hard to say exactly where they stand.
For now, they slip one place to ninth.
8. Force India
4 of 11
Down Two
Force India's Bahrain Grand Prix goes down as one of their worst races for years.
Nico Hulkenberg looked to have decent pace over a single lap, qualifying eighth on the grid with a time of 1:31.620. Sergio Perez appeared to be caught out by the elimination system, and he lined up down in 18th.
When the lights went out, Hulkenberg got an average start but arrived at Turn 1 as everyone was backing up, and contact with the rear of Romain Grosjean's Haas damaged his front wing. A Lap 1 pit stop for repairs put him out of sync and, though his pace was OK, it was only good enough to haul him back up to 14th.
Perez got around the opening lap without any issues, but on Lap 2, he hit the back of Carlos Sainz Jr. and also needed to stop for a new front wing. Like Hulkenberg, he spent the remainder of the race playing catch-up and finished in 15th.
Force India's true pace was not accurately reflected in the result, but they're certainly nowhere near as good as they looked at the end of 2015.
They slide two places to eighth.
7. McLaren
5 of 11
No Change
McLaren got an early point on the board despite losing their star driver to injury.
Stoffel Vandoorne stepped in after Fernando Alonso was forced to withdraw and kicked off his F1 career in style by taking 12th on the grid. Team-mate Jenson Button had a tough time in Q2 and ended up starting in 14th.
The Brit got the better start, moving up to 10th on the opening lap, but a power-unit issue saw him grind to a halt on Lap 7.
Vandoorne, who had made an average start but was beginning to fight back, inherited 10th from Button and enjoyed an action-packed, error-free debut race. He finished 10th to score the first point of his F1 career—and McLaren's first point of 2016.
McLaren had competitive straight-line speed, and they might have recorded an even better result had their two race drivers started and finished—but their reliability remains suspect.
They remain seventh.
6. Haas
6 of 11
Up Three
Haas enjoyed another stunning result as their great start to life in F1 continues.
Romain Grosjean set the ninth-fastest time in Saturday's qualifying session, missing out on a spot in Q3 by around a tenth-and-a-half. Esteban Gutierrez was just two-tenths slower, but the closeness of the field saw him start down in 13th.
Gutierrez got off the line as quickly as anyone and made the most of the first-corner chaos to rise to eighth by the end of the opening lap. Unfortunately, a brake problem forced him to retire after just nine tours of the circuit.
Grosjean also had a strong start, moving up to sixth. From that point on, he never completed a lap in a position lower than eighth, showing strong pace on the supersoft tyres during his opening three stints. A switch to softs for the run to the flag let Max Verstappen close up, but Grosjean held on to finish a fine fifth.
Haas have been far quicker at the first two races than their testing form suggested, and it's likely to be Grosjean making the difference. It'll be interesting to see how they fare in China.
They rise three spots to sixth—and are very close to fourth and fifth.
5. Williams
7 of 11
No Change
Williams had a wonderful 400 metres on Sunday—followed by 57 laps of disappointment.
Valtteri Bottas qualified sixth on the grid with a time of 1:31.153, beating team-mate Felipe Massa—who started seventh—by just two-thousandths of a second. Sebastian Vettel's formation-lap failure meant only four cars started ahead of the two FW38s.
When the lights went out, Bottas got off the line like a rocket but made a big error at the entry to Turn 1, hitting Lewis Hamilton. The impact damaged Bottas' front wing and earned him a drive-through penalty, and in the end he did well to salvage ninth.
Massa had a front-row seat to the drama at Turn 1 and emerged in second place with an undamaged car. However, his long-run pace was never particularly good, even taking into account the two-stop strategy Williams opted for. He ended up eighth at the chequered flag.
Williams look stronger over a single lap than they do over a race distance, but perhaps they'll be better on a different sort of track.
They remain fifth, in a very tight scrap with Haas and Toro Rosso.
4. Toro Rosso
8 of 11
Down One
Toro Rosso came close to getting the best result possible—but only with one of their cars.
Max Verstappen made it two from two by beating his team-mate in qualifying. The Dutchman started 10th with a time of 1:31.772, around one-tenth clear of 11th-placed Carlos Sainz Jr.
When the race got under way, Verstappen had a decent getaway and spent most of the race in and around the lower reaches of the points. A third stint on the medium tyres possibly cost him fifth, but sixth was a fine result and a good way to get over the disappointment of Australia.
Sainz Jr. had a less-enjoyable afternoon. Contact with Sergio Perez on the second lap gave him with a puncture, and the slow drive back to the pits left the Spaniard a lap down and with a damaged floor. The team retired his car soon after.
Toro Rosso should be quicker in China than they were here, but based on the opening two races, they look to have the fourth-best car.
They slip a spot to fourth.
3. Red Bull
9 of 11
Up One
Red Bull had another mixed weekend, with one car doing well and the other struggling.
Daniel Ricciardo was the team's star man over a single lap, setting the fifth-fastest time in Q3. Daniil Kvyat struggled in qualifying for the second weekend in a row; he ended up 15th on the grid.
Come race day, Ricciardo found an extra gear. Though unable to keep up with the Mercedes and Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari, he was quite comfortably the best of the rest and picked up another 12 points for coming home in fourth.
Kvyat looked to be making little progress early on, but as the race progressed, so too did the Russian. His two stints on the supersofts at the end saw him rise to seventh by the chequered flag, a reasonable recovery from his poor grid slot.
Red Bull are difficult to judge; Ricciardo is doing a sterling job, but Kvyat's struggles suggest the car might be tough to set up well.
They rise a spot to third.
2. Ferrari
10 of 11
No Change
Ferrari again lost a car to reliability troubles, but they did at least take one step up on the podium.
The two red cars qualified exactly where we would have expected, Sebastian Vettel edging out Kimi Raikkonen on the second row. Vettel's best time was around half a second down on Lewis Hamilton's pole time.
Unfortunately for Vettel, he was unable to take his place on the grid; an engine failure on the formation lap put him out before the race had even begun.
Left alone to carry the Ferrari standard, Raikkonen got a poor start but quickly fought his way up to second. It occasionally looked like he might close in on Nico Rosberg up ahead, but the Mercedes man always had him covered, and the Finn crossed the line in second.
Ferrari have lost a car to power-unit issues in both of the first two races, so finding reliability fixes has to be the number one priority for the Scuderia in the weeks ahead.
They remain second.
1. Mercedes
11 of 11
No Change
Mercedes' perfect start to the year came to an end in Bahrain—but not because of anything they did.
Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg locked out the front row once again, setting the two fastest-ever laps around the Bahrain International Circuit. Hamilton's time of 1:29.493 was the quickest, giving him his 51st career pole.
However, the reigning world champion got a poor start and was hit by Valtteri Bottas at Turn 1. The impact caused significant damage to the floor and front wing and, though Hamilton was able to fight his way up to third, the car had lost too much performance for him to climb higher.
Rosberg had an easier afternoon, largely thanks to a great start. He led into Turn 1 and drove a calm, controlled race thereafter. Kimi Raikkonen remained close enough to remind Rosberg there was a race going on, but the German was never really challenged as he cruised to his second win of the season.
Mercedes currently look to have enough pace to finish first and second in every race—providing both their drivers stay out of trouble.
They remain firmly in the top spot.
Session, timing and lap data used throughout sourced from the FIA, the official F1 website and F1 Fanatic's lap charts.
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