The Official 2015 Bahrain Grand Prix Thread **Spoilers**

[Kaiser_Wull]

Dr Z said:

How did you get that? The race I saw, Ferrari pretty much attacked Merc all the way with both their drivers, sacrificing Vettel to take down Rosberg by Raikkonen (and how! spectacular!). Vettel played it great from a team perspective, if he hadn't tried the suboptimal (to Ferrari), aggressive undercut to Rosberg (twice!), who knows even Rosberg might have survived a scare. Let's not forget, Ferrari nearly managed to get two birds with one stone on the first stop with Hamilton's lead nearly down to nothing.

You are kidding, aren't you? If Ferrari wanted to favour Raikkonen then they'd have told Vettel to let him past when he closed up during the first stint. His tyres would have had less degradation (he was in Seb's dirty air for a few laps) and he might have been able to eke out the first stint a little longer whilst maintaining reasonable pace.

Seb was erratic today. Apart from a couple of minor 'offs', he was lucky to avoid beaching his car in the gravel at the start of the pit straight.

[Scuffers]

Ahonen said:

VolvoT5 said:

Scuffers said:

this!

Wrong fking tyre too. Wouldn't be surprised if Vettel breezes back past Raikkonen by the end here. WTF are Ferrari doing... soft tyres clearly not the tyre to be on.

I absolutely love this sort of comment, especially when you see it after the race.

know what you're getting at, BUT!

realistically, they left him out 2 laps too long, he lost a lot of time in the last two laps of his second stint.

then if they had put him on the medium's, his pace for the last 4-5 laps would have been stronger, and he might have been able to challenge Lewis, it's clear the last 4-5 laps, his times were dropping off pretty fast.

Yes it's all iff's and butt's, and I could be talking bks, but that's my take on it.

[London424]

Scuffers said:

know what you're getting at, BUT!

realistically, they left him out 2 laps too long, he lost a lot of time in the last two laps of his second stint.

then if they had put him on the medium's, his pace for the last 4-5 laps would have been stronger, and he might have been able to challenge Lewis, it's clear the last 4-5 laps, his times were dropping off pretty fast.

Yes it's all iff's and butt's, and I could be talking bks, but that's my take on it.

If they'd put him on mediums I don't think he'd have had the pace to catch Rosberg.

[Scuffers]

London424 said:

Scuffers said:

know what you're getting at, BUT!

realistically, they left him out 2 laps too long, he lost a lot of time in the last two laps of his second stint.

then if they had put him on the medium's, his pace for the last 4-5 laps would have been stronger, and he might have been able to challenge Lewis, it's clear the last 4-5 laps, his times were dropping off pretty fast.

Yes it's all iff's and butt's, and I could be talking bks, but that's my take on it.

If they'd put him on mediums I don't think he'd have had the pace to catch Rosberg.

think he would have, Vettel's best lap on the mediums was only 3 tenths slower

but they also held their times a lot longer

[007 VXR]

Scuffers said:

know what you're getting at, BUT!

realistically, they left him out 2 laps too long, he lost a lot of time in the last two laps of his second stint.

then if they had put him on the medium's, his pace for the last 4-5 laps would have been stronger, and he might have been able to challenge Lewis, it's clear the last 4-5 laps, his times were dropping off pretty fast.

Yes it's all iff's and butt's, and I could be talking bks, but that's my take on it.

If they had put him on those tyres 2 laps before, they would not have lasted to the end, is that they were thinking...

[thegreenhell]

Sf_Manta said:

And there goes another Renault Engine , adds to the fireworks!

Isn't that four engines in four races for Ricciardo, i.e. his entire allocation for the year? So I guess he'll be taking engine penalties from now on...

[Dr Z]

Kaiser_Wull said:

Dr Z said:

How did you get that? The race I saw, Ferrari pretty much attacked Merc all the way with both their drivers, sacrificing Vettel to take down Rosberg by Raikkonen (and how! spectacular!).

You are kidding, aren't you? If Ferrari wanted to favour Raikkonen then they'd have told Vettel to let him past when he closed up during the first stint. His tyres would have had less degradation (he was in Seb's dirty air for a few laps) and he might have been able to eke out the first stint a little longer whilst maintaining reasonable pace.

Seb was erratic today. Apart from a couple of minor 'offs', he was lucky to avoid beaching his car in the gravel at the start of the pit straight.

Nope, not kidding and not saying that Ferrari favoured Raikkonen. Ferrari used Vettel to attack the Mercs initially to get one of them in to doing a similar tyre strategy to them and succeeded in making Rosberg do so. Then, used Raikkonen in an alternate strategy as a back up plan to take down the Merc that was playing their own game--a compromised strategy if you like, when Vettel failed to put pressure on Rosberg due to his errors. It's just a case of, we'll get you one way or the other. And Rosberg was the victim. Superb!

[Crafty_]

thegreenhell said:

Isn't that four engines in four races for Ricciardo, i.e. his entire allocation for the year? So I guess he'll be taking engine penalties from now on...

The one that went pop was his third engine I believe.

Meanwhile...

ESPN said:

Set-up changes to the cars of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg aimed at making the Mercedes competitive against Ferrari contributed to the brake problems both cars faced at the end of Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix.

Rosberg lost second place to Kimi Raikkonen at the start of the penultimate lap after his brake-by-wire failed on the entrance to Turn 1. Rosberg outbraked himself and lost the position, putting an end to the chances of Mercedes taking a one-two.

"We saw it in Nico's system all race from lap one but it finally went wrong on the third last lap, so that's why he went long because the brake-by-wire system converted from active to passive where it's no longer a powered system," Mercedes technical boss Paddy Lowe explained. "Which is fine, you still have brakes, but it takes a bit of getting used to."

http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/12722283/merce...

[lbc]

ash73 said:

Getting very bored with Lewis winning all the time......Not the classic I was hoping for

I was bored with Vettel and Schumacher winning all the time in previous years, but Hamilton needs two more world titles before we get to the stage of being bored like in previous years.

[NRS]

Scuffers said:

London424 said:

Scuffers said:

know what you're getting at, BUT!

realistically, they left him out 2 laps too long, he lost a lot of time in the last two laps of his second stint.

then if they had put him on the medium's, his pace for the last 4-5 laps would have been stronger, and he might have been able to challenge Lewis, it's clear the last 4-5 laps, his times were dropping off pretty fast.

Yes it's all iff's and butt's, and I could be talking bks, but that's my take on it.

If they'd put him on mediums I don't think he'd have had the pace to catch Rosberg.

think he would have, Vettel's best lap on the mediums was only 3 tenths slower

but they also held their times a lot longer

You probably are talking bks, seeing how much people and extra data analysis Ferrari have working on the question, That said, if I was watching live I would have commented the same thing as I thought they had really screwed up, but they actually probably got it spot on. Can't see the mediums having the pace to catch up that quickly. As it was I'm not sure Kimi would have passed without the brake problem for Rosberg, the cars seem to be more difficult to pass again, after a short time of passing being very easy relatively.

ash73 said:

Bit disappointed with the race, I was hoping for a Ferrari victory but credit to them for trying everything. Nico and the two Ferraris had some good dices but it didn't quite meet expectations somehow, and we were stuck watching cars in the midfield for most of the race just because they were a bit closer together. Getting very bored with Lewis winning all the time and whenever he has some bad luck (going wide, wheel gun, brakes) he always gets away with it.

Not the classic I was hoping for

That's because you care less about who wins and more about Lewis losing,

More seriously, in some ways I get what you're meaning, but I thought it was a good race with something going on most of the way through. The Ferrari-Mercedes battle wasn't quite the same as predicted, but to be honest it never was going to be wheel to wheel action all the way through. The big difference seems to be how they use their tyres, so a lot of the "racing" between them will be strategy rather than wheel-to-wheel all the way through. Still make it very interesting at the end! Plus if you want to complain about Hamilton getting away with bad luck you could remember some other drivers who benefited from that previously (Vettel crashing but getting away with it for the WDC for one, ).

bern said:

Really enjoyed the race but was left frustrated by the BBC coverage. I could watch it on sky but choose to watch it on the BBC when they have a live race as I normally prefer their coverage but...

Yesterday they cut short the coverage at the end of quali, interviews etc to go to 22 boys kicking a pigs bladder and today they stopped short for mastermind WTF?

I'd suspect far more people were interested in watching people kick a pigs bladder than F1, let alone the end of it when there wasn't actually any competition. So not really an option to complain when it's everyone's money.

Overall I have to say I enjoyed that race, despite it making the WDC more boring. I think I've given up on that being very exciting this year unless Ferrari continue this improvement trend anyway, so it's more on the individual races and strategies.

[Scuffers]

007 VXR said:

Scuffers said:

know what you're getting at, BUT!

realistically, they left him out 2 laps too long, he lost a lot of time in the last two laps of his second stint.

then if they had put him on the medium's, his pace for the last 4-5 laps would have been stronger, and he might have been able to challenge Lewis, it's clear the last 4-5 laps, his times were dropping off pretty fast.

Yes it's all iff's and butt's, and I could be talking bks, but that's my take on it.

If they had put him on those tyres 2 laps before, they would not have lasted to the end, is that they were thinking...

the mediums (he wanted) would have, that's the point..

[007 VXR]

Scuffers said:

007 VXR said:

Scuffers said:

know what you're getting at, BUT!

realistically, they left him out 2 laps too long, he lost a lot of time in the last two laps of his second stint.

then if they had put him on the medium's, his pace for the last 4-5 laps would have been stronger, and he might have been able to challenge Lewis, it's clear the last 4-5 laps, his times were dropping off pretty fast.

Yes it's all iff's and butt's, and I could be talking bks, but that's my take on it.

If they had put him on those tyres 2 laps before, they would not have lasted to the end, is that they were thinking...

the mediums (he wanted) would have, that's the point..

But he made up 14 secs with the new tyres and they lasted, so wrong tyres ?
Just asking , not having a go

[Fire99]

Not the most amazing race but interesting..

Hamilton did a very measured drive even when under pressure after the 1st pitstop. A champions drive I'd say to maintain the lead.
Rosberg drove better and more aggressive and seemed less miserable after the race but I think he still needs up to move things up a bit more to seriously challenge his team mate.

Vettel had an odd race. Quite punchy but some strange errors.. A bit bland by his standards but he was pleasant enough after the race so I don't find him as annoying this season.

Raikkonen drove very well and had great pace on the hard tyre. Just wish the miserable bugger would be a bit more consistently enthusiastic in his drives. It seems hard to keep him on the boil. Still like his deadpan misery though.

McLaren Honda. Dear Honda, you need to ditch that stolen Toyota Prius engine and go for an F1 engine next time. It's woefully slow and utterly wastes a great driver and what looks a good chassis. This is no 80's heyday for them.. That is for sure..

[RichB]

NRS said:

ash73 said:

Bit disappointed with the race, I was hoping for a Ferrari victory but credit to them for trying everything. Nico and the two Ferraris had some good dices but it didn't quite meet expectations somehow, and we were stuck watching cars in the midfield for most of the race just because they were a bit closer together. Getting very bored with Lewis winning all the time and whenever he has some bad luck (going wide, wheel gun, brakes) he always gets away with it.

Not the classic I was hoping for

That's because you care less about who wins and more about Lewis losing,

More seriously, in some ways I get what you're meaning, but I thought it was a good race with something going on most of the way through. The Ferrari-Mercedes battle wasn't quite the same as predicted, but to be honest it never was going to be wheel to wheel action all the way through. The big difference seems to be how they use their tyres, so a lot of the "racing" between them will be strategy rather than wheel-to-wheel all the way through. Still make it very interesting at the end! Plus if you want to complain about Hamilton getting away with bad luck you could remember some other drivers who benefited from that previously (Vettel crashing but getting away with it for the WDC for one, ).

Of course Hamilton did indeed have his fair share of bad luck last season But more to the point, the reason he looks so under control, like in the first lap or when he had a BBW warning and re-set it, is because he is the best driver in the best car. I am looking forward to him, deservedly, winning his 3rd WDC.

[NRS]

Scuffers said:

the mediums (he wanted) would have, that's the point..

But they wouldn't have had the performance to catch up in the time available. Kimi on the Mediums was keeping pace with Hamilton when Hamilton was on the softs, not pulling back such a large gap (although he was slowly catching up with Vettel and Rosberg but not at 2 seconds a lap pace).

[lbc]

Fire99 said:

McLaren Honda. Dear Honda, you need to ditch that stolen Toyota Prius engine and go for an F1 engine next time. It's woefully slow and utterly wastes a great driver and what looks a good chassis. This is no 80's heyday for them.. That is for sure..

So far the Honda engine is probably as bad as the Peugeot engine from 1994. Will Honda pull out of F1 as Peugeot did?

[Inertiatic]

I don't think they initially thought Hamilton was within range for Kimi. If they pitted him earlier the tyres may have gone off with a lap to go and he may have lost the position back to Rosberg...hard to judge. Brilliant drive by Kimi though. Driver of the day.

Rosberg was punchy, but just not quick enough. Vettel surprisingly scrappy. Bottas is a star.

Grosjean is getting closer to Williams and Red Bull

Alonso getting a good result in a car that's clearly down on power. Getting out dragged by the Ferrari whilst in the tow with DRS... I get the idea it can give full power, as they have shown fast top speeds, but perhaps harvesting is a big problem - read that the MGU-K overheats which makes sense...

What's happened to Sauber?

Really good race

[007 VXR]

lbc said:

Fire99 said:

McLaren Honda. Dear Honda, you need to ditch that stolen Toyota Prius engine and go for an F1 engine next time. It's woefully slow and utterly wastes a great driver and what looks a good chassis. This is no 80's heyday for them.. That is for sure..

So far the Honda engine is probably as bad as the Peugeot engine from 1994. Will Honda pull out of F1 as Peugeot did?

They will catch up soon Just takes time to fix things imho.
They will not pull out after investing this much money, better to save face and fix it, than acted like a child and run away!

[Scuffers]

NRS said:

Scuffers said:

the mediums (he wanted) would have, that's the point..

But they wouldn't have had the performance to catch up in the time available. Kimi on the Mediums was keeping pace with Hamilton when Hamilton was on the softs, not pulling back such a large gap (although he was slowly catching up with Vettel and Rosberg but not at 2 seconds a lap pace).

I think over the stint, they would have

they were only 0.3 sec's a lap slower than his best lap on the softs, and the drop off was nothing like as dramatic

[NRS]

Scuffers said:

I think over the stint, they would have

they were only 0.3 sec's a lap slower than his best lap on the softs, and the drop off was nothing like as dramatic

0.3 seconds a lap slower? Where do you get that number from? His fastest lap on the hard tyre was 98.4 seconds, compared to 96.3 seconds on the soft tyres. So actually 2.1 seconds, although you also have the benefit of a ligher fuel load as part of that time. The again, most of his laps on the mediums were consistently around the 99.6 seconds a lap from lap 27 until they dropped off. Only 2 of his laps on softs were slower than his fastest lap on the mediums, and I think those were the result of traffic. So far more than a 0.3 second difference.