The Official 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix Thread **Spoilers**
Discussion
So Bahrain next...
Fri 01 – Sun 03 Apr 2016 (local times)
Practice 1 Fri 14:00 – 15:30 (2pm UK)
Practice 2 Fri 18:00 – 19:30 (4pm UK)
Practice 3 Sat 15:00 – 16:00 (1pm UK)
Qualifying Sat 18:00 – 19:00 (4pm UK)
Race Sun 18:00 – 20:00 (4pm UK)
Tyres: supersoft, soft, medium
Live on Channel 4, start time: 4pm
Fri 01 – Sun 03 Apr 2016 (local times)
Practice 1 Fri 14:00 – 15:30 (2pm UK)
Practice 2 Fri 18:00 – 19:30 (4pm UK)
Practice 3 Sat 15:00 – 16:00 (1pm UK)
Qualifying Sat 18:00 – 19:00 (4pm UK)
Race Sun 18:00 – 20:00 (4pm UK)
Tyres: supersoft, soft, medium
Live on Channel 4, start time: 4pm
Hey! I was waiting for the tyre choice allocations to be released! 
Anyhow, I'll offer you some nice tables and pictures, OP. Feel free to copy and paste in to the OP if you so wish!
The season opener lived up to its hype, and has given us a glimpse of how the season may turn out. Although, looking at the final race classification would suggest it is a two horse race for the 2016 Drivers' Championship, one look at how the race unfolded will paint a very different picture. More encouraging also was the competitiveness shown by Renault engines, suggesting that there is going to be an almighty fight in the upper mid field up to the last point scoring positions throughout the season. Having a Mercedes engine is no longer a straight ticket to good points in the midfield. Some teams may be very worried about this. So, it is with cautious optimism that we go to the next race in Bahrain.
The Bahrain Grand Prix was a little later in the calendar last year, and it is one where Ferrari were particularly competitive with a potentially bigger deficit than this year. Räikkönen's late blitz to disrupt a Mercedes 1-2 was particularly memorable, and these new tyre rules will hopefully consolidate what we saw in Australia. Roll on!
UK Broadcast Timings
This race is live on both Sky F1 and Channel 4. Huzzah!
Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir
Strangely, the official lap record is de la Rosa’s fastest lap set at the 2005 GP (L42; 1:31.447) on the FOM website. Can’t find a difference in the circuit configuration from 2004 to 2005, so a bit confusing.
2015 Race
Pole time: 1:32.571 (L. Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1)
Fastest Race Lap: 1:36.311 (L42; K. Räikkönen, Scuderia Ferrari)
Live timing for all sessions available here:
http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/f1-...
Weather forecast:
http://www.accuweather.com/en/bh/as-sakhir/1280465...
This is a night race, so lower temps are more relevant.
The tyre choices requested by the teams:
Anyhow, I'll offer you some nice tables and pictures, OP. Feel free to copy and paste in to the OP if you so wish!
The season opener lived up to its hype, and has given us a glimpse of how the season may turn out. Although, looking at the final race classification would suggest it is a two horse race for the 2016 Drivers' Championship, one look at how the race unfolded will paint a very different picture. More encouraging also was the competitiveness shown by Renault engines, suggesting that there is going to be an almighty fight in the upper mid field up to the last point scoring positions throughout the season. Having a Mercedes engine is no longer a straight ticket to good points in the midfield. Some teams may be very worried about this. So, it is with cautious optimism that we go to the next race in Bahrain.
The Bahrain Grand Prix was a little later in the calendar last year, and it is one where Ferrari were particularly competitive with a potentially bigger deficit than this year. Räikkönen's late blitz to disrupt a Mercedes 1-2 was particularly memorable, and these new tyre rules will hopefully consolidate what we saw in Australia. Roll on!
UK Broadcast Timings
This race is live on both Sky F1 and Channel 4. Huzzah!
| Session | Day | Sky F1 | Channel 4 | Session Start |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Practice 1 | Fri | 1145 | 1155 | 1200 |
| Practice 2 | Fri | 1545 | 1555 | 1600 |
| Practice 3 | Sat | 1245 | 1255 | 1300 |
| Qualifying | Sat | 1500 | 1500 | 1600 |
| Race | Sun | 1530 | 1500 | 1600 |
Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir
| Number of laps | 57 |
| Length of a lap | 5.412 km |
| Race distance | 308.238 km |
| Race lap record | 1:30.252 (L7; M. Schumacher, 2004) |
Strangely, the official lap record is de la Rosa’s fastest lap set at the 2005 GP (L42; 1:31.447) on the FOM website. Can’t find a difference in the circuit configuration from 2004 to 2005, so a bit confusing.
2015 Race
| P1 | L. Hamilton | Mercedes AMG F1 | 1:35:05.809 |
| P2 | K. Räikkönen | Scuderia Ferrari | +3.380 |
| P3 | N. Rosberg | Mercedes AMG F1 | +6.033 |
| P4 | V. Bottas | Williams Martini Racing | +42.957 |
| P5 | S. Vettel | Scuderia Ferrari | +43.989 |
| P6 | D. Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing | +1:01.751 |
Pole time: 1:32.571 (L. Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1)
Fastest Race Lap: 1:36.311 (L42; K. Räikkönen, Scuderia Ferrari)
Live timing for all sessions available here:
http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/f1-...
Weather forecast:
http://www.accuweather.com/en/bh/as-sakhir/1280465...
This is a night race, so lower temps are more relevant.
| High/Low (℃) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Fri | Periods of rain | 27/19 |
| Sat | Sunshine | 28/19 |
| Sun | Cloudy with a shower in spots | 28/19 |
The tyre choices requested by the teams:
Edited by Dr Z on Tuesday 22 March 13:19
Looking at the tyre choices, Williams are not very confident of their pace, are they? They've got an extra qualifying tyre but also stocking up on mediums. Probably looking to use their qualifying pace to go as high up the order as possible and do a boring 1-stop. Come on!
As for Mercedes/Ferrari strategy, Merc's strategy makes the most sense to me. They're most likely looking to deploy more of their potential given how aggressive Ferrari were last year in this race. Red/Yellow/Yellow would be my prediction, with the single Medium set as a back up like last race. Using the Softs as a race tyre makes sense due to it's high working range and the fact that during the race, track temp is going to come down as night falls.
Curious that Ferrari are having a few more medium sets. They'll probably do some running during FP2 to determine if it will be a viable race tyre given how Mercedes used it to win the race last year. If they do decide to use Medium as their main race tyre, I don't think they'll be able to get away with a 1-stop. Mercedes 1-2 would be more likely in that case. More viable strategy in my opinion would be Red/White/Red or Red/White/Yellow.
A lot would depend on the start. If Ferrari lead and able to make a good gap, going long on the mediums for the middle stint may be good, as long as they can deploy max pace from the Super soft in the final sprint. But SS is a low working range tyre and I have my doubts that Ferrari can work it well enough to deploy max pace consistently in the final stint to challenge Mercedes. May be they can, on lower fuel. Vettel had excellent pace on the Soft tyre last race. May be they'll split between Vettel and Raikkonen. May be the extra Mediums are there, so they can strategically react to Mercedes if needed. May be they'll do Red/Yellow/Yellow, after all. Or may be do Red/Red/Yellow!
Isn't this uncertainty great?!
All it needed was two front running teams, closely matched. Team mate equality? I don't care!
As for Mercedes/Ferrari strategy, Merc's strategy makes the most sense to me. They're most likely looking to deploy more of their potential given how aggressive Ferrari were last year in this race. Red/Yellow/Yellow would be my prediction, with the single Medium set as a back up like last race. Using the Softs as a race tyre makes sense due to it's high working range and the fact that during the race, track temp is going to come down as night falls.
Curious that Ferrari are having a few more medium sets. They'll probably do some running during FP2 to determine if it will be a viable race tyre given how Mercedes used it to win the race last year. If they do decide to use Medium as their main race tyre, I don't think they'll be able to get away with a 1-stop. Mercedes 1-2 would be more likely in that case. More viable strategy in my opinion would be Red/White/Red or Red/White/Yellow.
A lot would depend on the start. If Ferrari lead and able to make a good gap, going long on the mediums for the middle stint may be good, as long as they can deploy max pace from the Super soft in the final sprint. But SS is a low working range tyre and I have my doubts that Ferrari can work it well enough to deploy max pace consistently in the final stint to challenge Mercedes. May be they can, on lower fuel. Vettel had excellent pace on the Soft tyre last race. May be they'll split between Vettel and Raikkonen. May be the extra Mediums are there, so they can strategically react to Mercedes if needed. May be they'll do Red/Yellow/Yellow, after all. Or may be do Red/Red/Yellow!
Isn't this uncertainty great?!
All it needed was two front running teams, closely matched. Team mate equality? I don't care!
Bernie is saying that qualifying won't change for Bahrain, maybe after that it might
Bernie said:
"The outcome I think is that we are going to stay as we are," he told Reuters after a vote by the sport's Strategy Group that agrees what to put forward to the broader Formula One Commission.
"After Bahrain, we're going to have a look at it."
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/f1-qualifying-not-change..."After Bahrain, we're going to have a look at it."
When the teams voted, reverting to the old system was not on the table. It was either stay the same or stay the same but with Q3 back to before.
Apart from the first lap of Q1 I was not impressed with the new system at all therefore I imagine the teams voted to keep a completely broken system and fix it properly in April rather than patch it up and risk finding a proper fix falling down the order of priorities.
Apart from the first lap of Q1 I was not impressed with the new system at all therefore I imagine the teams voted to keep a completely broken system and fix it properly in April rather than patch it up and risk finding a proper fix falling down the order of priorities.
It's a shame they couldn't fix the qualifying format to at least have the older Q3 format. Given that they are persisting with the new format, I think we might see some cars lose out due to struggling to work the super soft in the lower temps? Bahrain had a shower today and forecast temperatures are even lower than anticipated. I won't be watching it though, as it will be a farce just as it was in Australia. I'll read about qualifying and wade in here for the race.
ETA: Previous rumour about Alonso's engine being salvaged is not true. ICE and other ancillaries were destroyed. New PU for Bahrain.
http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/alonso-will-need...
ETA: Previous rumour about Alonso's engine being salvaged is not true. ICE and other ancillaries were destroyed. New PU for Bahrain.
http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/alonso-will-need...
Edited by Dr Z on Tuesday 29th March 12:41
ZX10R NIN said:
That's exactly what was on the table Q1&2 new format Q3 old style, but you can thank Mclaren & Redbull for it not being in place as they vetoed it.
The problem wasnt just the anti-climax of Q3. The whole thing was a disgrace.Red Bull and McLaren quite rightly vetoed it as any qualy that still has any elements of the new format should be binned. Go back to 2015 format and leave it alone. Now that would get unanimous team support.
N0ddie said:
The problem wasnt just the anti-climax of Q3. The whole thing was a disgrace.
Red Bull and McLaren quite rightly vetoed it as any qualy that still has any elements of the new format should be binned. Go back to 2015 format and leave it alone. Now that would get unanimous team support.
I'm not sure that it would though. FI's Bob Fearnley is very keen on the new system. Because his cars are normally around p10-11, and he gets all new tyres. There'll always be somebody who vetoes something for their own tactical or political gain.Red Bull and McLaren quite rightly vetoed it as any qualy that still has any elements of the new format should be binned. Go back to 2015 format and leave it alone. Now that would get unanimous team support.
But you're right on all counts.
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