1.Whether Red Bull's dominance can be sustained
On the first day of pre-season testing, Verstappen's RB20 looked very strong. It gives the impression that Red Bull Racing will continue to dominate the paddock this year.
It's hard to shake off the feeling, but we can still see some familiar riders in some of the long lap times, but the actual speed of everyone will only be seen for the first time in qualifying on Friday.
Although Leclerc set the fastest lap in Q2, Verstappen still took pole position in Q3. However, compared to Verstappen, both Ferrari and Mercedes performed better than expected in relative terms. Russell believes after the game that there is still a big gap between everyone and Red Bull.
2.The duel behind Red Bull is still fierce
If the results of the winter test and FP2 are any guide, then that doesn't mean that drivers other than Red Bull don't have much to look forward to.
In qualifying, the gap between the fastest Ferrari, Mercedes, Aston Martin and McLaren is just 0207 seconds. A year ago, only Aston Martin looked in a strong position, while the other three teams all had problems to overcome (not least McLaren).
But this time things were different, and Norris felt a mistake in the first stage had cost him the chance to start in the front row. He himself lost about 015 seconds of dissatisfaction, which shows that the top five teams are very close in strength.
3.Hulkenberg fights for points
With the exception of Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, Aston Martin and McLaren, the only driver to make it to Q3 is actually a familiar name, Hawkenberg.
Last season, Hawkenberg made eight Q3s. However, the performance in the main race was not satisfactory.
Given the amount of work that the Haas team did on high fuel consumption during testing, it's entirely possible that Hawkenberg will be battling for points on Saturday.
4.Ricardo will give it his all
Ricardo came out on top in the first practice, however, that practice session was held at a very different time of the day than qualifying and racing, so it was not representative.
Even more telling, though, is the long-distance stats of the second practice and the drivers' perception of the car, with Ricciardo believing that Red Bull's potential is certainly not as good as Red Bull's challengers. "Anything can happen after qualifying, and some people might be excited," he said. Some people may be nervous.
5.What kind of performance will Alpine perform in the race?
The mood of the Alpine team was more nervous than excited, as the team seemed to be the slowest in a difficult opening race of the season.
Alpine is already aware that they could have a challenging start and is ready for a difficult weekend in Bahrain, but it will be somewhat surprising to see the team that finished sixth last year and finished on the podium twice start out in such a way. Gasly thought he had a chance to qualify for Q2, but in the end he started at the back of the grid with team-mate O'Con.
But qualifying is one thing, pace is another. In the same way that Haas Racing has been trying to find a way to translate lap times into race results, Alpine will likely be more competitive when the lights are out.
If so, then there could be thrilling battles throughout the game. But if that's not the case, then Alpine knows how difficult the task is for them this season. In addition, they found some issues in the test that limited them to the A524's potential.
*: Daily racing.
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