The sacrifice Mercedes made in Bahrain to find an extra edge for 2021

Unusually for the opening practice day of a grand prix, the two 90-minute sessions in Bahrain on Friday were lively from the off and the teams kept piling on the laps.

This was down to the mandatory running the teams were required to complete on the 2021 prototype tyres Pirelli has produced and brought along to the final races of the current campaign.

Every driver got two sets of the prototypes and had to complete a minimum of six laps on each set - with six laps mandated for FP2 (the teams could do what they liked in FP1 so long as the requirements for the day were fulfilled).

In FP2, the only truly representative running the teams will get ahead of the night race, there were two noticeable contra approaches to the 2021 tyre running.

Antonio Giovinazzi and Lando Norris emerged straightaway on the hard compound, using their allocation for the race weekend of the current tyre design, which meant they had to do their prototype testing later in the session. But it was Formula 1's champion squad that really did things differently, and in doing so it reinforced the virtuous circle Mercedes can access thanks to its current performance advantage.

While most teams called their cars back in to switch to their Bahrain GP tyres after 20 minutes in FP2, Mercedes had arranged its programme in such a way that Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas didn't do likewise until a further 10 minutes had passed by. It also conducted a different approach to the type of running it was doing, with both drivers setting times significantly off the pace in the early stages.

Essentially, Mercedes opted to run the prototype tyres for longer to gain comparisons compared to what it knows about the existing compounds - sacrificing time today with a programme dedicated to getting as much knowledge as possible that will help it when looking forward to 2021. This also meant it has so far done little set-up work to apply for the rest of this weekend.

This explains why both Hamilton and Bottas were not happy with the handling balance they had on their W11s today, despite Hamilton topping both sessions. The pair were finding they were understeering at the apex of the corners and then oversteering on the exit.

Overall fastest order

1. Mercedes (Hamilton) 1m28.971s
2. Red Bull (Verstappen, mediums) 1m29.318s
3. Racing Point (Perez) 1m29.403s
4. Renault (Ricciardo) 1m29.462s
5. AlphaTauri (Gasly) 1m29.551s
6. McLaren (Norris) 1m29.841s
7. Ferrari (Vettel) 1m30.110s
8. Alfa Romeo (Giovinazzi) 1m30.627s
9. Haas (Grosjean, in FP1) 1m30.849s
10. Williams (Latifi) 1m30.973s

Mercedes will know what it wants to change and still has all its tools and resources available to make the necessary set-up changes for the rest of the weekend. But it will have less time to validate that work on track, with only the 60-minute FP3 session remaining before qualifying.

The 2021 tyres are roughly 3kg heavier overall, and the C3 rubber tested today is a completely new compound that is designed to improve the structural integrity of the tyre - necessary because of the high-speeds generated by the ultra-high-downforce machines now competing in F1.

"One thing that really helps to have less and less vices in the car is the tyres have effectively been carried over" John Owen, Mercedes' chief designer

Hamilton and Bottas have painful memories (mainly for Bottas) of what can happen if the tyres can't cope with the speeds the cars can now reach - from the 2020 British GP - but it seems the changes for 2021 do come at a performance cost. This is presumably why the drivers weren't overly impressed with what they tried today.

"They've had two years now to develop a better tyre, and we've arrived with a tyre that's three kilos heavier," said Hamilton. "And it's like a second worse per lap.

"I know for the fans, that doesn't really make any difference, [but], from a driver point of view, we're working with brands and partners who are at the forefront of technology, and elevate the move forwards.

"If you're going back after two years of development, I mean, I don't know what's happening. So, it definitely doesn't feel good out there. And it's a worry, I mean, I prefer to just stay on these [current] tyres if that's all they've got, and that's the best they can do, which it clearly is. We'd be better just to stay with this tyre."

It's possible there is a bit of politicking going on here from Hamilton, as the W11 that has just carried him to a seventh world title, and is in essence going to stay in service next year, is perfected around the current tyres. This is because the rubber has not changed since 2019 as the compounds Pirelli produced last year in expectation of being used in 2020 were rejected by the drivers and then vetoed by the teams.

As Mercedes' chief designer, John Owen, told Autosport recently: "One thing that really helps to have less and less vices in the car is the tyres have effectively been carried over."

The W11 therefore has fewer issues to understand compared to its predecessor because it was designed in a way, and the team had a year of tyre data to fall back on from 2019, that means it can generally ace the tyres. This makes such a difference when it comes to succeeding in modern F1. Hamilton is also a master when it comes to finding the best of the current rubber, and it's just possible he's seeking to protect that advantage with his comments.

Focusing so long on the 2021 tyres is also why Mercedes did not do any long running on the Bahrain event mediums, which is the much better race tyre. There is also therefore a healthy incentive to save the three sets Hamilton and Bottas each have of the yellow-walled rubber for a strategic advantage in qualifying and the race.

Soft tyre order

1. Racing Point 1m34.894s 4 laps
2. Red Bull 1m35.309s 7 laps
3. Mercedes 1m35.802s 6 laps
4. McLaren 1m35.982s 6 laps
5. AlphaTauri 1m36.141s 9 laps
6. Alfa Romeo 1m36.143s 4 laps
7. Renault 1m36.768s 11 laps
8. Ferrari 1m37.710s 9 laps
Williams and Haas N/A

The softs, which are a step softer compound to F1's last visit to Bahrain in 2019, are apparently a pretty poor race tyre this weekend, giving up approximately half a second per lap in terms of degradation.

We should therefore treat the soft tyre run averages (above) with caution - given that the fastest time was set over the joint shortest run. Pirelli says it did not see any graining on the red-walled rubber in practice, but the drivers have to be careful not to overheat them - particularly on the rears - to keep them alive over a full lap.

But with that consideration on the softs applied, the long run averages in FP2 - delayed because of the two red flags - do look good for Mercedes' main rival: Red Bull. It also leads the way on the medium tyre run averages (below).

The lack of running on the best race tyre will give Mercedes important work to do overnight, but even with minimal running ahead of qualifying in Germany and Portugal it still won those two events with relative ease...

Today was a good day for Red Bull with Max Verstappen, who is gaining versus the Mercedes cars on the straights and in the low speed corners in Bahrain, with the W11s then gaining back time in the higher speed turns

Nevertheless, today was a good day for Red Bull with Max Verstappen, who is gaining versus the Mercedes cars on the straights and in the low speed corners in Bahrain, with the W11s then gaining back time in the higher speed turns. Not wanting to overheat the tyres on the abrasive track surface is part of the reason why Mercedes was seemingly slower in a straight line on Friday.

But there was disaster on the other side of the Red Bull garage, with Alex Albon's mid-FP2 crash. This was eerily similar to both his 2019 Chinese GP FP3 shunt for Toro Rosso, and the 2019 German GP FP2 crash that Pierre Gasly had in his final race for the senior Red Bull squad last year.

"It's a significant amount [of damage]," team boss Christian Horner said after the session. "Because the car has been pulled in to the barrier and it's done I think at least three corners - if not all four corners - and the rear wing, front wing, nose box. It's a significant amount."

Medium tyre order

1. Red Bull 1m35.548s 11 laps
2. AlphaTauri 1m35.810s 9 laps
3. Racing Point 1m35.925s 15 laps
4. Ferrari 1m35.952s 6 laps
5. McLaren 1m35.982s 6 laps
6. Alfa Romeo 1m36.068s 4 laps
7. Renault 1m36.100s 12 laps
8. Williams 1m37.380s 11 laps
9. Haas 1m37.401s 9 laps
Mercedes N/A

In the pack behind the top two, AlphaTauri should be very happy with the pace it showed on the mediums in FP2, bouncing back well from its unexpectedly poor showing in Turkey, although Racing Point did the longest run on this compound and so looks strong considering the degradation impact (although this is nowhere near as severe as on softs).

Ferrari can take heart by its pace on the mediums, especially compared to the softs (where it did complete a longer stint and so this will be impacted by the heavy degradation factor), but this was on a short stint. By the same logic, Renault shouldn't be too unimpressed by its place in the medium averages given its run on that tyre was long compared to others.

The performance of the soft tyre has opened up strategy options for the teams, and it will be critical which tyres drivers start the race on.

"There's pretty much every kind of strategy," said Carlos Sainz Jr. "I think the hard doesn't look too bad because it's the medium of last year. At the same time, you have a medium that is the soft of last year, which was a very good tyre. And the soft of this year - that has a lot of pace, but a lot of deg.

"So I don't know, it's gonna be a lot of strategy options for us on Sunday. And also going into qualifying with this track being such an important race - when being able to overtake - to see which tyres everyone picks for qualifying in the race."

Today in Bahrain, Mercedes was able to strike an early blow over its opposition for 2021, which reinforces how far it is ahead in 2020.

The team stopped developing the W11 a long time ago, and now it is openly looking to the future while the rest have to focus on securing 2020 constructors' championship places or picking up further 2020 glory.