57 laps of the 5.412-kilometre Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir 11th April Practice 1 12:30 - 13:30 12th April Practice 2 16:00 - 17:00 13th April Practice 3 13:30 - 14:30 13th April Qualifying 17:00 - 18:00 14th April Race 16:00 - 18:00 All times are UK times Poll closes before Quali.
Ferrari have brought some upgrades here - it may not solve all of their issues but seems like it’s a fair bit. Floor edge detail changes from the first few images emerging. Really big weekend for them
Practice quite hard to read especially with so many of the race drivers vacating their cars this morning. Nice to see Sainz up and around Albon though, hopefully he’s starting to come to terms with the Williams.
That’s a really interesting grid and much closer than I expected. The McLaren has such a long run advantage that I expect a 1-2 tomorrow, but Norris having to fight through should provide some entertainment. Nice to see the Merc show some pace to go with its consistency, Russell continues to do a great impression of Alain Prost and Antonelli seems to have gone up a level this weekend. Big surprise from Gasly and Alpine, although if you saw the videos of their wings in Japan, perhaps we should have predicted it. Tsunoda doing a good job too in what is clearly a very difficult RedBull here. Most importantly(!) Sainz outqualifies Hamilton for the first time this season - Vamos
Russel & Antonelli . Both given a one place grid penalty for the NEXT RACE . Is that Tomorrow ? or Saudi ? to me it seems tomorrow . Yes it’s tomorrow according to Autosport .
That's a bit harsh, surely that was a team issue as they released the cars? I was expecting Mec to get a decent fine.
I agree . Also it’s the first time this penalty has been applied ( it’s a new rule ) . I bet if it ever happens again , the penalty will be different .
Too early in my opinion and you could say the same, but more strongly about Piastri? I know Max seems close, but we’ve had a wet race and a track where the driver can make a big difference, he’ll slip back once things revert to the mean. If there’s a threat from outside McLaren (and I don’t think there is) I think it’s from Russell, who’s already a decent amount behind.
I am beginning to doubt Lewis in the Ferrari. I will give him till mid reason to get to grips with it, if not he himself may accept the inevitable. When you see how quick the new entrants are getting to grips with their cars Lewis needs to up his game.
"I am beginning to doubt Lewis in the Ferrari." I want to disagreee with you ,but I can`t .It looked like all the hype of Ferrari and Lewis was starting to look good after the sprint win in China,but nothing more than disappointment,especially in qualifying since.He admits himself that he`s simply not quick enough. Lewis never seemed to get to grips with ground effect cars and ever since his last two years at Mercedes it`s not been anything like his golden seasons. He`d dearly love that 8th title,and he thought maybe Ferrari could give him a car that was capeable of challenging for regular wins. Admittedly it's still early days for Lewis' time at Ferrari, but it's not living up to the hype yet.
That was definitely intended as a pro Sainz comment rather than an anti Hamilton one. Can I ask what your expectations were? I recall you said you live/lived in Italy? An Italian friend told me recently that the media have built this up as the second coming of Schumacher? That seems doomed to result in disappointment? Personally I’m expecting Hamilton to essentially be a much more marketable version of Sainz (this is why I’m rooting for Carlos - I don’t see a performance reason for him to have lost his drive). So he’ll beat Leclerc occasionally, be competitive with him quite often, but across a season be a small step behind and for me the signs are there that that’s what we’ll get. As you say it might take a little time for some of the weaker performances to be dialled out (e.g yesterday’s quali), but the baseline seems to be there.
I didn't have any expectations of him winning straight out of the box. I hoped he might be competitive with Charles by race 5 or 6. What I am seeing, that makes me doubt, are the mistakes. Yesterday the rear of the car crossed the blue lines which I would not have expected. Clearly he is trying hard, that was a good timed lap but for that error. He clearly is pushing hard and as I said 'beginning to doubt'. A few more races and we will likely know if this is just too early or more reflective of his now capability. Sainz seems to be getting to grips and last year I was very supportive of Sainz. Yes, I did live in Italy for some years, back in the 1980's close to Milan and Monza. Loved it after the initial adjustment.
Yeah, I rate Sainz Yeah, it's too early to tell, he's been there 4 races, Leclerc has been there 6 seasons, takes a bit of time to bed in with the team. People pointing at the rookies, but Antonelli has been involved with Merc for 10 years and Hadjar 3 years with RBR. I agree with your reasoning behind the swap, and add that as a 7 time WDC he's a great mentor for CLC.
