Grand Prix thread 2017 Bahrain Grand Prix Chat and Predictions

No need to be sorry.

 

Don't a worry, be appy

 

Ferrari again having the race pace over Mercedes, but it could swing back again at the next race. Will the title come down to reliability and driver mistakes?

A few people on here owe Stroll an apology............. Maldonado got slaughtered for doing what Sainz did a couple of years ago.

 

well, Vettel had it over Bottas for sure, but Hamilton had the best car, his third stint was mighty, over 1sec a lap faster than the whole field. In truth Hamilton lost the race in Q3 and the 2nd 100yards of the start, before the pit-stop and the penalty. It was such a slight mistake that really highlights how narrow the margins are in F1 between winning and losing.

 

He does seem to have carried over his start issues a bit from last year, not as bad, but still not getting them right. Not sure how much the last stint was down to having fresher tyres over Vettel and how much was pure pace.

If he hadn't mucked around with Ricciardo under the safety car, last few laps could have been great.

It does seem there is a genuine two-team battle for the championship. Max was unlucky with brake failure as RBR nearly made it a 3 way fight.

 

It was awesome with Red Bull on their coat tails for the first part of the race and let's hope they join the fight in Europe. I'm adamant that McLaren also have a good car that is underpowered but unlikely they will be in the fight for a year minimum.

Have to say I expect a Merc 1-2 in Russia though

 

I had a feeling Alonso retired the car himself as soon as he was overtaken by one of the bulls, he just took his foot off the pedal. It's as if he had enough for the night. I wouldn't put it past him.

 

I can't help but feel Red Bull were only in touch during the first stints because Bottas was setting a fairly sedate pace. I can't see them being as close under normal circumstances just yet.

I think a pattern might develop now with Merc having quali pace (they appeared to have their magic engine mode this weekend), but with Ferrari (well, Vettel) quicker in the race. Should lead to some good battles! A touch early to criticise I know, but I wish Kimi looked like challenging the Mercedes too.

 

Agreed. Bahrain seemed to downplay their weaknesses which brought them closer on race pace but as we saw, once the fast guys went past Bottas, Ricciardo had no answer.

Sounds like Spain is when we begin to see the Red Bull development.

I think Kimi has had enough time to prove himself- he has been woeful. The only defence i would accept is that his radio transmissions suggest he has had issues in the last two races- one with torque/power, one with vibrations. But he has to show pace soon as there are better drivers all around the grid.

The ones I feel for are Alonso (obvious), Hulkenberg (been outstanding so far at Renault and IMO would have been the Merc pick if he hadn't signed the contract with Renault), and Sainz (Toro Rosso down on power and unable to fight the big boys as a result).

 

Just noticed some Bahrain news, I'm not entirely sure how but it seems Verstappen managed to insult all of Brazil and has now apologised (well not really) on Facebook. He's definitely stepping on another drivers foot in mouth toes.....

 

I don't fully understand his insult. But then again he is Dutch.....

 

Something about complaining about Massa, and that theres no point trying to sort it out with him because "he is brazilian".

 

Good race, I think you can tell if someone has the fastest car of the weekend from where the number 2's finish. If Kimi is either on the podium, or 2nd, it means that Ferrari had the quicker car, and visa-versa. This weekend I think that the Merc was quicker, but they messed up there own race a little.

Secondly, have you seen Benson's latest love letter on the BBC...... A few years ago, I'm sure the BBC were up in arms about having team orders this early in the season, now they are demanding it. I really don't know how that guy keeps his job, it's embarrassing that the BBC has turned into a Hamilton fan site.

 

BBC and Sky Sports F1, I just thankful that Channel 4 has been around to help us avoid that.

 

Two things 1) Mercedes is totally lost when it comes to strategy. Why didn't they pit Bottas right after Vettel pitted and leave Hamilton out to do a longer stint seeing that Vettel would have had to come back in for another stop anyway? That would have even worked out better for Mercedes in the event of the safety car, because there would be no reason to double stack. 2) if you are going to as your drivers to swap places why waste laps and tyres...why not doing it immediately as soon as 2nd car catches up? If they knew Bottas had problems from early they could have brought in Hamilton first and get him after Vettel, because from the first few laps you could see Bottas wasn't going anywhere. I think Bottas is a bit like Kimi in that he likes everything perfect for him or he can't get the car driven. I would have loved to see Alonso in that second Mercedes.

 

It was an infringement but was it enough to give him a bigger penalty? Ricciardo still came out in front of hIm so that wasn't a big deal. I think Mercedes was at fault the idea of double stacking wouldn't work unless they could have gotten Bottas out before lewis got there.... I don't think lewis would have wanted his car sitting outside the box for a long time then to go pit... If anything the advantage was to Bottas because he got out in front of the two. So it was like Lewis did the deed but he didn't benefit, if anything he lost out because it cost him a chance to win. I don't think Vettel was cruising as some people said here...the team was hurrying him when they realized how fast Lewis was coming at him. Another thing. Don't compare Bottas and Rosberg yet . That's unfair....Rosberg was in the car several years ..this is Bottas third race.

 

Like I said, Lewis ****ed himself both ways with this penalty. The principle of 10 car lengths, and minimum speed (which are non negotiable rules) are there to prevent teams coordinating to benefit. The simple fact is that these were breached, and the only reason would be to anticipate an advantage. In doing so your infringement is pre meditated. Penalties should not be calculated to equal or balance out a perceived gain, that is a variable and an opinion) a rule is a rule and they are there for a reason. If he cost Ricc 20 seconds, as opposed to 2 seconds the rules broken are still the same, and that's why the stewards have to be very careful - a precedent has now been set. It's not an innocent mistake these are drivers calculating tenths over hours in race situations.

For me ANY driver who had done something that is deliberate or pre meditated should be treated harsher than a standard infringement. I've got a real issue with how the 5 or 10 sec penalty is used in general. For example, the previous race Hulk got a 5 sec and a 10 sec penalty for overtaking under the virtual Saftey car and the actual Saftey car. Those rules are there for the Saftey of Marshalls, competitors etc and apart from a red flag are commandments that should never be broken. In any other race category that is an exclusion, yet F1 feels that drive through and stop and go are too severe?

These 5 sec penalties are a way of the stewards saying "we've dealt with the infringement, without affecting the race". Like Nico last year, the penalty against Lewis for the contact was a joke. If they viewed him as being deliberate then that is surely worse than a time penalty, they excluded MSc for doing the same on JV.

In this cases Lewis broke 3 rules, 10 car lengths, minimum speed, and blocking in the pit lane, should he have got 3 x5 sec penalties? If we're not going to implement the rules then scrap them.

In circuit racing there is a code 60 flag (equivalent to a VSC so no overtaking), if a driver breaches that they are disqualified from the event, maximum car length stipulated) we are talking touring cars, GTs etc. F1 really needs to look at itself, and like Miggs has been bleating about for the last year or so, Certain drivers seem to be penalised worse than others.