GP start: Lots of new and also tried and tested things

The official preview of Formula 1 gives an overview of the most important changes in the teams, technology and what else you should know before the season starts.

Never before in the modern era of Formula 1 has a GP season ended so late in Abu Dhabi on December 14, 2020. And the new one began as early as mid-March with the only tests in Bahrain, where the 2021 world championship opener will take place on Sunday.

The third-last and penultimate WRC rounds in 2020 already took place in Sakhir, albeit on two different track variants.

More or less new race cars
Long beforehand, the FIA, in consultation with the GP teams, took the decision to postpone the introduction of the new technical regulations planned for this year by one year. The current Formula 1 race cars, whose unladen weight will increase from 746 to 752 kilograms, are therefore further developments.

With the exception of McLaren, which switched from Renault to Mercedes powertrains, the constructors should have adopted more than half of their 2020 chassis in percentage terms. This is indicated, for example, by the type designations of Red BullRacing (RB16B) and Williams (FW43B), which are using quasi-B models.

The biggest changes are of an aerodynamic nature as a result of a new underbody, which should reduce downforce by around 10 percent and thus increase lap times. Whether this is the case will be seen on Saturday at the latest in qualifying at the Sakhir GP circuit.

Red Bull stronger than Mercedes?
The technology is therefore unlikely to change much in the hierarchy among the teams. In the tests, however, Red Bull Racing, which continues to run with Honda Power, made a better impression in terms of speed and reliability than defending champion Mercedes with its new W12.

Even the team boss admits that.

Toto Wolff: "All in all, it was a difficult three days of testing for us. The W12 wasn't as stable and predictable and didn't perform as well as some of our competitors' cars. Red Bull looked strong on both longer and shorter tests, but of course it's always true in testing that you don't really know the true performance."

Interesting driver changes
Some interesting castles in the driver lineup will certainly provide some variety. Only at Mercedes, Alfa Romeo and Williams are the regular pairings the same as last year.

Retired are Romain Grosjean from Geneva (only drives IndyCar), the Dane Kevin Magnussen, Alexander Albon and Daniil Kvyat. Making their GP debuts are controversial Russian Nikita Mazepin and Gland VD-born World Champion son Mick Schumacher at Haas, and Yuki Tsunoda at Alpha Tauri. The Japanese raced in Formula 3 with the Jenzer team in 2019.

Alpine with Alonso
In addition, Alpine F1 and Aston Martin Racing will be two new manufacturer teams in 2021. The French team emerged from Renault F1, which also resulted in a number of management changes.

All eyes at Alpine will be on GP returnee Fernando Alonso, who expects a lot - perhaps even too much - from the team and himself. We'll see.

Aston Martin with Vettel
Aston Martin Racing is also a known quantity in its own right. If the British company, with the renewed investment of the heavily wealthy Canadian Lawrence Stroll, whose son Lance drives alongside Sebastian Vettel, who came from Ferrari, continues where Racing Point left off in 2020 (1st GP victory with Sergio Perez, who switched to Red Bull), a lot can be expected.

Apart from the team's name, however, there's not much of this traditional brand in it. Like its pink predecessor, the AMR1 is powered by Mercedes.

Glimmers of hope from Sauber Motorsport and Alfa Romeo Racing
The Alfa Romeo Racing team from Hinwil, which is operationally managed by Sauber Motorsport, is starting the season with an unchanged lineup. Thanks to improvements in the Ferrari powertrain and in the C41 based on last year's model, the Swiss-Italian squad is hoping to at least retain eighth place in the World Championship (ahead of Haas and Williams).

The team boss is cautiously optimistic. However, the Frenchman is not making any predictions.

Frédéric Vasseur: "We're approaching the first race with confidence. We did a lot of laps in the tests, had no mechanical problems and received good feedback from Kimi and Antonio. Where we stand compared to our rivals, only the race can show. We just have to do our best and deliver a flawless weekend, then we will assess the situation and have a clearer idea of what to expect from the season. There's sure to be a close battle throughout the midfield and we know the gaps will be small, so we need to get everything out of our package."

SRF live there
Swiss television will broadcast the Bahrain GP live on Sunday, March 27, from 4.30 to 6.50 p.m.. First on SRF zwei, then on SRF info. Presenters are Michael Stäuble and Marc Surer.

Qualifying can also be followed directly on SRF zwei from 3:50 to 5:10 p.m. on Saturday.

f1.com