2012 Gulf Air Bahrain GP Chat and Predictions Thread

And so, to Bahrain. In an atmosphere of unease, uncertainty and disbelief, the show, it seems, must go on.
Please refrain from posting in this thread any comments regarding the morality or legality of the FIA decision, or the politics or protests within Bahrain.
All such discussion belongs in the Bahrain in Doubt thread.

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The eighth Bahrain GP will be held at the Bahrain International Circuit on 22 April.
The original 5.412 km Grand Prix circuit was designed with the spectator in mind, with 50,000 grandstand seats, all providing excellent views. Spectators get to see the cars heading into the external desert area, before coming back into the oasis-styled infield. A revised 'endurance' track layout was used for the 2010 event, with an additional complex starting at Turn Four extending the lap to 23 corners and 6.299 km, but the event will return to the original track configuration for 2012.

2009 Pole Time: 1:33.431 (Trulli, Toyota)
2009 Fastest Lap: 1:34.556 (Trulli, Toyota)

2010 Pole Time: 1:54.101 (Vettel, Red Bull)
2010 Fastest Lap: 1:58.287 (Alonso, Ferrari)

2009 Race Edit:
[video=youtube;CFMwe61Umn4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFMwe61Umn4[/video]

Former Winners:
2010 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
2009 - Jenson Button (Brawn GP)
2008 - Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
2007 - Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
2006 - Fernando Alonso (Renault)
2005 - Fernando Alonso (Renault)
2004 - Michael Schumacher (Ferrari)​

Event Schedule:

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Practice sessions, qualifying and the race are live on Sky Sports F1.
Streams:
FirstRow Sports
VIPbox
SportLemon

Qualifying and race highlights are on BBC1.
Qualifying: 17:20, Sat 21 April
Race: 17:00, Sun 22 April​

Weather:

For updates check here.​

Tyre Allocations:

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​

Prediction Results:
[table="width: 320, align: center"]
[tr]
[td]Forum Member[/td]
[td]Points[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]genjigonzales[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Julius Caesar[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Mifune[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Paco Montoya[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Roadrunner[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Samurai[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Sportydan[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[/tr][/table]

Disclaimer: discussions originating in this thread, while continuing to be relevant to the Bahrain GP, have been duplicated elsewhere for convenience and relevance.​

 

I've voted Alonso.
Because A) He's getting a better car now. They were closer to the front in China than they were in 2010 (Where he won in Bahrain)
B) There's been a less than favourite race winner every race.
C) He is the Bahrain master, seeing his 3 wins is more than everyone by miles, except for Massa, who is on the descent now.
D) Ferrari have always been there or thereabouts in Bahrain.

 

the missing S in deScent totally turns the meaning around, I had t read it twice to make sure you weren't mad. I'm not sure which way to jump tbh, do I go McLaren or will the W-duct do the business on the three straights?

 

I've voted Sergio Perez, for no reason whatsoever. I've also gone for Sebastian Vettel to be killed by jihadists.

 

Alonso said this today: "This does not leave me very optimistic for Bahrain, on a track where traction and speed are vital, exactly the areas where we are weakest. Once again next week it will be mainly a case of damage limitation."

 

I dont think Mercedes will be too competitive here in the race, with the high temperatures, will there be high tyre degradation on that Mercedes ?

 

It remains to be seen but they say it's not a straight tyre degradation issue. They just have an extremely narrow operating window and if the temperature deviates even by a small amount then the tyres either don't work at all or burn out quickly. If that's true then the consistent temperatures in Bahrain should enable them to understand how to set up the car for the race.

 

If he means straight line speed he was 6th fastest in China with the other big players 14th or lower. Ferrari should be improving sooner or later.
In quali he was 0.7kph off the fastest McLaren so even then its not all bad.

 

Gone for Button but look at this pic in Bahrain.

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Yeah, I posted it earlier in the appropriate thread .

I've set the poll to expire on Friday night instead of Thursday night. Rookie mistake.

 

I dont know what you're talking about. I didn't spell anything wrong. Atleast not now.

 

Saw it just after I posted. Feel like a right tit.

 

Never mind. Let's just try to keep this thread focused on the grand prix, rather than the troubles.

 

If I say no one, will I win if they dont race?


Only if I'm allowed of course genji!

 

Shouldn't laugh really... But I almost snozzed all over my laptop!

 

No problem.

 

Logically, I suppose so.

 

I might throw my vote Massa's way just to get my prediction failure out of the way early.

 

Gone for Vettel. Don't really know why.

 

Gonna wait to see if rain is forcasted