The next day everything is clearer.
After the Sunday sunset, predominantly tinged with red, the dawn of a new motoring week clears all thoughts, reuniting them towards a single, objective reality: Formula 1 is at the dawn of a new era.
If until yesterday, the assumptions regarding a total distortion of what we would have seen on the track were only distant assumptions, today we can say that they are a concrete reality.
Not exactly for the values expressed, seeing and considering that, apart from the usual surprises and disappointments, we will not see a team that is not sitting at the table of the three musketeers Ferrari, Redbull e Mercedes, fight for the title.
How much instead for a real and tangible possibility for all the single-seaters to interpret the races in a totally different way, both from a strategic point of view and from the action on the track.
Bahrain was the Giordano of the baptism of this new F1 era, in which the chasing cars can afford the luxury of remaining attached to the treads. A feature that yesterday left us speechless spectators of a repeated duel between two absolute champions.
The comparison on the track between Verstappen e Leclerc it is the concrete mirror of this new Formula 1 philosophy.
But let's analyze it point by point.
MANUAL DRIVERS
Braking, preparation, crossing, counter-overtaking.
The synthesis, as simple as possible, of three rounds of fire in which those two devils gave each other a thrashing.
Se Sundays it was clear when he announced that from this year the rider would make the difference, we had the confirmation yesterday with a battle on equal terms won by those who don't want to Max, was able to manage the hot moments with more intelligence and less irreverence. No counter between the two, no car a second faster, no slipstreaming. Only driving skills e talent which, at least for this time, have rewarded the Monegasque.
PIT-STOP
There's no two without three.
Accustomed to one-stop races, with short pit stops and sometimes only useful to allow the use of a second compound, we had forgotten the beauty of the confusing swirl of substitutions in the pits. The three stops yesterday gave us that extra pinch of uncertainty, which never hurts in an extreme sport.
Il stopwatch, then, did its part, with the mechanics called to improve themselves since, from what we have seen, from this year the details will weigh on the balance.
SIZES MATTER
Leaving aside the aesthetics and putting aside the "visibility" factor, these new tires for 18" they declared their essence in turn one.
Verstappen he tries, aggressively as always, his trademark. But if it is true that someone had defined le 13" too easy to ride and manage, so it is consequential that Max finds himself getting stuck and losing the apex with these diabolical 18″.
Logical? We wouldn't say so, considering that in recent years it was appropriate to see fearful braking facilitated by tires that increased cornering ability.
There's no escaping this year. We all figured it out a bit during the tests, but they had confirmation of it earlier Russell in qualifying, then Verstappen in competition.
If we add to this factor the ability of these tires to suffer less from dirty air, then from now on it will be better to prefer an 18-inch tire to a 38-carat ring.
TIME TRAVEL
Six-wheeled Tyrrell? Brabham BT46 with fan?
In the '70s and '80s it was appropriate for engineers to invent real new things for their single-seaters.
The cars were sometimes revolutionary and in search of extreme solutions. If this philosophy had drastically and nostalgically disappeared in the recent Formula 1, the same cannot be said for the 2022 revolution. Wide, narrow, non-existent bellies. Muzzles long, flattened, cut. Gills, not gills, grills.
In short, whoever has more, puts more.
Seeing all these aesthetic and technical solutions has made the dream of many nostalgics come true. Performance, aesthetics and solutions, radically different.
But are we sure that all this is good?
THE ONLY FLAW OF THE NEW ERA
If it is true Max e Charles they gave us a breathtaking head-to-head, it must also be said that the rest of the group melted away like snow in the sun.
The gaps, due to the many solutions and, consequently, to the performances, betrayed the predictions of the FIA, which expected a more compact and less frayed Formula 1 than in other years.
Data in hand, without Sixty Car, we almost risked seeing those two dub one of the Mercedes.
A Formula 1 with this potential cannot afford these gaps, which would negatively affect the show and the action on the track. The hope is that over time, starting as early as the 4th/5th GP, and then over the years, the single-seaters will level out, shortening the gaps and increasing the possibilities for action.
If it is true that this new era has brought tangible improvements, then it is clear that this Formula 1 has a lot to tell. And if he has so much to tell, allow us a quote: "Formula 1, do not disunite"
Because for a long, too long time, you have paid the price of being defined as a "boring", "old", "sleepy" sport.
Instead we feel like believing in this new era of Formula 1 which aims to unite, to excite, to involve.
A Formula 1 that does not disunite and channels its potential into a show real ed absolute.
And in the face of the veracity of this show, made up of men of flesh and blood, who risk their lives by overcoming all limits, there is no "Drive to Survive” that holds.
