Bahrain Grand Prix analysis: Has Formula 1’s brave new dawn been realised? It’s too early to say

Has Formula 1’s brave new dawn been realised? On the evidence of 57 laps of the Bahrain Grand Prix, it remains unclear.

Plus, there was a certain irony that 2022 should begin exactly as last season had ended, with a late safety car, albeit without anywhere near the same fallout.

Huge technical changes have been introduced in order to improve overtaking but also to close the gap from the front of the grid to the back.

There were glimmers that Formula 1 has gone in the right direction with a thrilling trio of laps – from 17 to 19 – as race winner Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen battled it out for the lead.

But the reality was that the safety car and the late retirements of Verstappen and Sergio Perez helped to draw attention away from the fact that much of the race at the front of the field was a procession either side of that Leclerc-Verstappen three-lap tussle.

Mercedes’ new signing George Russell hardly gave the most ringing of endorsements as he said things “didn’t feel massively different from within” and the new Pirelli tyres had not offered a huge improvement with his “still sliding around”. He did, however, counter that Bahrain can prove a false indicator of reality with its bumpy surface.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Formula 1 managing director of motorsport, Ross Brawn (essentially the key figure in the technical regulations overhaul), was quick to hail it a success albeit with the caveat that it is a sample size of just one race.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” he said. “But we see no negatives today.”

The key going forward is that, for the first time, the masterminds behind improving racing are now with the FIA rather than Formula 1 so have full access to every teams’ data. That will be pored over in the