CLICK HERE TO FOLLOW ltxcn.top's LIVE COVERAGE OF THE SEASON﷽-OPENINꩵG 2021 BAHRAIN G168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:P

The start of the 2021 Fౠormula 1 season is here as the Bahrain Grand Prix hosts the first race of the season.

The time for talking is finally over as F1 teams take to the track competitivel💧y for the first time since December’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Three days of pre-season testing took place at the Bahrain International Circuit earlier this month, so expect teams to get 🐲up to speed quickly.

Reflecting on pre-season testing, Red Bull enjoyed its best test in years as🧔 it had good reliability and a strong turn of pace. The h🧸andling of the RB16B looks assured, which has meant Max Verstappen is arguably favourite for the win this weekend.

Mercedes struggled for reliability and ill-handling, but given it has won the last seven drivers’ and constructors’ ꦗchampionships in a row, only a fool would rulꩲe out the German manufacturer this weekend in Bahrain.

McLaren appears to be top of the midfield with the likes of Ferrari, Alpine, A🃏lphaTauri and Aston Martin just behind.

Alfa Romeo looks to have closed the gap to the midfi𝐆eld, while Williams an๊d Haas are set to duel it out at the back.

For this season, practice sessions are now just 60 minute🀅s long, rather than 90 minutes.

What to expect from this weekend?

Lewis Hamilton has only won the season-opening round of a season twice in his career - 20💎08 and 2015, bo🅠th at Albert Park in Melbourne.

Valtteri Bottas hꦕas started the season w🗹ith victories in 2019 and 2020.

Red B🃏ull hasn’t won the first race of a new season since 2011 with Sebastian Vettel at🧸 the Australian Grand Prix.

Pirelli has nominated the C2, C3 an🦂d C4 tyre compounds for this weekend’s race.

Speaking 🔯ahead of the event, Pirelli’s head of F1, Mario Isola, said: “Just four months after having two races in Bahrain, and two weeks after three days of pre-season testing, we’re back there for th🌺e first race of the 2021 season. 

“During the test we saw many teams concentrated on the compounds nominated for the grand prix, but the conditions we experienced in testing might not be enไtirely representative of the race. The teams also ran a very wide variety of different programmes during just the one condensed session, whereas in the past, with two test sessions, th🦄e second session was usually more focussed on tyres.

“So it's har🐻d to draw many firm conclusions. With new specifications of cars and tyres, as well as the shortest pre-season in recent memory, the competition is wide open: especially given that the track characteristics of Bahrain have often resulted in interesting strategic battles, with a number of different tactics used.”