Bahrain GP Chat and Predictions

Ferrari still waiting on medical report for mechanic. Hope he is better soon, looked very painful.

 

Bottas got 2nd which is better than the DNF he would've got if he'd 'tried' to make the move, like Verstappen, he just wasn't close enough when DRS opened. I don;t think Bottas' tyres were in that much better state at the end, coming through the chicaney turn 1-3 he seemed to be in as almost as much trouble as Vettel was when putting the power down, only merc and Ericsson managed more than 25 laps on the medium, Ericsson was dropping backwards and Hamilton was losing lots of time to Bottas at the end.
DotD is a hard one, Vettel for the tyre management, Gasly or Ericsson (what?!?!?)

 

Hopefully nothing too serious. Looked bloody painful though.

 

F1 2018 has some life

 

Broken leg for mechanic.

 

Gotta hope it keeps it!

 

Great drive by Vettel as he managed his tyres almost to perfection. I struggle with Bottas, he never seems to have that killer instinct, which the really best drivers have. Even after the race, before the awards, he stood there talking to Vettel like he didn't really care about coming second.

 

Marc Priestly said that in FP3. Ferrari had the same problem with one of Kimis wheels that Haas had in Oz .

 

Didn't really need a doctor to tell us that. If that's the extent of his injuries and it'll heal fully then it's the best possible scenario.

There'll need to be serious changes in response to 3 unsafe releases in two races. The current systems of one man pressing a button to indicate a tyre has been changed clearly is not enough.

 

big shouts today for Gasly and Ericsson (yes really!).

Gasly over half a minute ahead of a supposedly superior chassis with a supposedly superior engine. McLaren should be pretty embarrassed by that.

 

I agree that there have been too many unsafe releases.
C4 reported that the wheel gun reports green when the correct torque is reached!!!! So how the heck can a gun report correct torque when it should be trying to undo the nut!!!! Unless of course the mechanic pressed tighten the nut not loosen it!!

There needs to be a more reliable way to signal go to the driver. It might be getting towards a FIA minimum pit stop time before release. That would be sad as pit stops always make the race more interesting but not when they are cutting too many corners and putting people in more danger than necessary.

 

Well that was a surprisingly good race, Bahrain, who knew.

Excellent from Vettel today, how he kept that Ferrari going I don't know.

Verstappen..... 4 years in F1 now, he's not a rookie anymore and his start to the season has been clumsy and frankly pretty poor.

Brilliant from Gasly, Torro Honda ain't bad

 

Hamilton always gets lucky when he starts further down the grid with both red bulls had problems and kimis pit stop. Without that Hamilton would of been 6th at best.

 

He was taught by Uri Geller. He has these powers, it's what makes him so special.

 

RedBull is a works team and has a customer engine, Toro Rosso is their B team, and has a works engine, the wonderfully strange world of F1.

 

Or maybe it's just inevitable that if you start further down the grid, some cars ahead will drop out.

 

yep, and that's why Alonso is 4th in the WDC.

 

That's proper mental!

 

I agree , esp as at least one of the stops for Hass you could clearly see the Mechanic waving his hands indicating the wheel was not on properly .

 

TBH I think its disgraceful a position where death is a possibility that the risk assessment on the pit stop system seems to be badly lacking.

For exmaple

use torque to report when tyre is on.

possible failures

Driver leaves pits with gun still attached. - risk of death high, failing cable strikes mechanics head

Wheel nut goes on wrong. torque level is hit. - risk is wheel coming off in pits or in first corner.