Lando Norris of McLaren has a thin advantage at the brochure on the quadruple world champion Max Verstappen in front of the Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend. Let’s take a look at five scenarios before the fourth race of 24 in the Formula One 2025 season:
Momentum with Max?
Max Verstappen arrives at Bahrain Fresh from one of the best weekends in his life, at least on the track in Japan. After a sublime post last Saturday in Suzuka, he held the McLarens remotely with a controlled journey to transport a Red Bull car which has not yet reached its full potential on the line to move from a point behind Lando Norris in the World Championship. He won during the last two trips to Sakhir, with Red Bull displaying a 1-2 in the two races.
Although this could be a major challenge with Yuki Tsunoda in the face of a steep learning curve in this single second blow for Red Bull since the radical replacement of Liam Lawson, Verstappen is in a mood to launch a sandstorm in the Bahrain desert.
He conceded that he should still “push the car to the limit” but approach the weekend with a spring in his step. “Bahrain is generally somewhere we went well,” he said this week.
“I still like to go, so I can’t wait to see what this week brings and I hope we can maximize the performance of the car as best we can.”
Ferrari is looking for solutions
Far from being a springboard towards larger things, Ferrari has endured a delicate period since the inaugural victory of Lewis Hamilton for the Scuderia in the Shanghai sprint last month.
A double disqualification for the seven times champion and Charles Leclerc in the race in China was followed by a fourth place for Leclerc with Hamilton three places later last Sunday.
Ferrari’s goal is now to get each ounce of performance from the SF-25 in qualification and the race on Sunday.
“We are not where we want to be in terms of car performance, and we work hard in order to make solid progress. This will be our main objective in Sakhir,” said the boss of the Fred Vasseur team.
Kimi cutting a dashboard
Mercedes chief Toto Wolff has the right to feel sufficient. His bet to replace one of the legends of all time of sports, Hamilton, by an Italian teenager who did not successfully carry out his driving test in January fully justified. Until now, Kimi Antonelli has excelled in his three races so that the Arrows Silver are a remarkable fifth of the pilot table. Last weekend, he became the youngest driver in the history of F1 to lead a race, breaking a record held by Verstappen in 2016. He also became the youngest driver to claim a fastest round. However, to finish outside the Top 10, he opens the way to the six full -time recruits on the 2025 grid. Not bad for the 18 -year -old who always revises his school exams.
Next generation in progress
Friday’s opening cabinet will feature a multitude of teams giving a turn of the potential stars of the future. Among them is Dino Bedancevic, who holds Swedish and Bosnian nationality. Forrari Academy Formula Two’s driver takes the seat of Leclerc in “FP1”. “I really can’t wait for the weekend. I’m just going to take advantage of the moment, as well as to help the team as much as possible,” said the 21-year-old. The other presentations will be Dane Frederik Vesti for Mercedes and Ryo Hirakawa in Japan for Haas.
Red Bulls camels
Built on an old camel farm, the Red Bulls are now strutting on the site that welcomed its first Grand Prix – won by Michael Schumacher – in 2004. It can be surrounded by deserts, but unlike Zandvoort, sculpted in dunes on the Dutch coast, there is barely a soup grain on the track in the often boastful conditions. It is thanks to a special adhesive substance sprayed around the 5.412 km circuit to reduce the risk.
(This story has not been published by NDTV staff and is automatically generated from a unionized flow.)
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