See, Bianchi is so good that he lets a raindeer drive his car in FP1. Whoever has Bianchi in the sweeps though wont be too happy That is if Bianchi has been picked (1 number left) ahem....Bhaji, Migs, anyone <Plug> <Plug>
A wee slide show of teams getting ready for this weekend.. http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/...n-aus-der-wueste-6967172.html#fotoshow_item=0
I'd prefer to vote after free practice on Friday, and what I was going to do last week but found the poll had closed... Anyway Alonso for the win, but Kimi to get pole.
Does my vote make a difference? I've had a feeling about Fettel all week so I'm going to go with it; not that I'm actually much cop at this prediction lark. Needless to say, I hope I'm wrong
I think with the change in tyre compounds Red Bull may be in a much stronger position than previously - I'm still going for Alonso though!
Benson: There has been a bit of rain in Bahrain this afternoon, which has felt a bit weird, but the forecast is for a hot and dry weekend
Raikkonen 10 votes, I wonder how many he had for Bahrain last year, probably not 10. Please, please, please let us have a diffferent champion this year. Alonso, Raikkonen and Hamilton on the podium in that order was the perfect result for me as imo they are the 3 with the best chance of beating Vettel and in that very order. So please lets have the same podium this week.
http://motorsport.nextgen-auto.com/Video-Mark-Webber-hits-the-200-mark,59552.html Mark Webber will race his 200th GP Now, ###th grand prixs dont usually end well so what happens when you mix that with Unlucky Mark?
Surprise surprise Fernando Alonso insists Ferrari does not have the fastest car in the field despite his commanding victory in the Chinese Grand Prix. The Spaniard took his first win of the 2013 Formula 1 season - and the first since last year's German Grand Prix - with an emphatic drive from third on the grid last weekend. Alonso finished the race over 11 seconds ahead of his closest rival to move into third place in the standings, nine points behind Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel. Despite his win, the Ferrari driver feels Red Bull remains the team to beat, and reckons Vettel's pace in China was disguised by his decision to not fight for pole and start with the harder tyres. [HR][/HR] Vettel pointed to rival outfit Ferrari's strength in terms of tyre use, suggesting that his team needs to make a breakthrough in tyre management. "Certainly, they [Ferrari] do a good job on Sunday," said Vettel. "It was pretty clear in Australia that it worked well with the tyres and therefore had a very strong pace on Sunday. "I don't expect any difference here and expect them to be strong again."
Ferrari definitely do have the fastest car in my opinion. They're the only team who are quick in both quali and the race and their race pace is arguably strongest, I think Alonso would've won in Malaysia if he hadn't lost his wing. I think Red Bull are like Ferrari last year, in that the car works better in cool damp conditions. China was the first dry weekend and they were clearly fourth fastest and looked well off it in Malaysia until it rained. Even the Mercs looked faster in the dry before they ran out of fuel. Mercedes and Lotus are opposites. Merc have good raw speed but poor race pace, Lotus lack outright speed but have excellent tyre management. I'd much rather have the Lotus than the Merc. Really we have no idea though. This weekend will give a clearer indication, and then they'll update their cars for Spain and it will all change, then Monaco's a completely different track so it will change again, ditto Canada, ditto Silverstone. It don't think it will become clear who's fastest until about halfway through most races.
Williams bringing different FWs to test in Bahrain (spot the difference) please log in to view this image
hard to look past Alonso for Bahrain, but I don't think it will be long before RBR have closed the gap and I can go back to my default choice of Vettel
