The Official 2017 Bahrain Grand Prix Thread **Spoilers**

[ZX10R NIN]

HustleRussell said:

ZX10R NIN in the China Thread said:

I kind of understand what you're saying in that the Ferrari looks more settled but I think the Mercedes has a bit more engine power & a more knife edge chassis which will mean it'll grab pole more often than not which means as long as they get away okay they'll control the races from the front & Ferraris more consistent pace is negated by dirty air & DRS stall.

It's difficult to analyse the finer points of the Ferrari vs Mercedes cars from a spectator's viewpoint, but what we can observe is how much better the Ferrari has been on tyre longevity in warm conditions so far this season.

I'd go as far to say that Ferrari look better on tyre management in general.

Correct me if I'm wrong but this is not a new pattern, throughout the hybrid era Ferrari have IIRC experienced fewer problems with getting their tyres 'into the window', fewer driver complaints through the graining phase and longer tyre life.

Ferrari have a few tenths to find in order to match the Mercedes on qualifying pace but as the new tyres are more understood and the strategies get more aggressive I wonder if we might see Ferrari successfully overcutting Mercedes on more occasions this season as they did in Australia (albeit with Verstappen's assistance)

It seems that Mercedes still have a slight edge on the Ferrari, well done Bottas on getting the job done Lewis won't be keen on that happening to often but I don't think he'll be to bothered this time round.

[Smollet]

ZX10R NIN said:

It seems that Mercedes still have a slight edge on the Ferrari, well done Bottas on getting the job done Lewis won't be keen on that happening to often but I don't think he'll be to bothered this time round.

3 out of the last 4 races have been won by second on the grid.

[London424]

Smollet said:

ZX10R NIN said:

It seems that Mercedes still have a slight edge on the Ferrari, well done Bottas on getting the job done Lewis won't be keen on that happening to often but I don't think he'll be to bothered this time round.

3 out of the last 4 races have been won by second on the grid.

I think Lewis is more set up for a race pace. At least that's what Paul D R alluded to in his analysis.

[Vaud]

HorneyMX5 said:

Watching in Italy while on holiday. I don't speak any Italian so the commentary is somewhat amusing.

You can sometimes listen to 5 live radio as a commentary feed when in Europe

Otherwise, download Tunnelbear and it will make your connection think it is in the U.K... though the free service is probably only enough for the audio commentary.

Otherwise, just creatively google "f1 streaming" and be careful on what you click on (never install apps/plugins).

[anonymous-user]

London424 said:

I think Lewis is more set up for a race pace. At least that's what Paul D R alluded to in his analysis.

Paul "give it a resta"

[Crafty_]

Thought this little clip was telling, obviously amused Symonds too: https://streamable.com/n8iyy

Apparently Alonso had a rather "animated, one sided" conversation with a Honda man. His MGU-H failed and the ICE is also scrap.

Vandoorne is on his 3rd turbo and MGU-H. More surprisingly Vettel is on his 2nd turbo, MGH-U and energy store.

Mclarens will be in to penalties on bits by Spain I think. Vettel quite likely to get some later in the season too I think, unless they can stretch current bits to do 6 races each.

[Dr Z]

Crafty_ said:

More surprisingly Vettel is on his 2nd turbo, MGH-U and energy store.

Perhaps Ferrari elected to not use their 'special' quali mode, as Kimi also took his second ICE, turbo and MGU-H yesterday. Would explain the sudden increase in gap to Merc in qualifying. Race pace is another matter, of course.

[Crafty_]

I think thats just because of Merc sandbagging and the session times here being out of sync with qualifying/race

[Derek Smith]

Dr Z said:

Perhaps Ferrari elected to not use their 'special' quali mode, as Kimi also took his second ICE, turbo and MGU-H yesterday. Would explain the sudden increase in gap to Merc in qualifying. Race pace is another matter, of course.

From what Wolfe said in interview, he thought the red cars are protecting their rear tyres. Does this mean a single stop for them and two for the Mercs?

And what is so 'special' about their qually mode? There seems to be a lot of implications without specifics.

It promises to be an exciting race, with the start being critical for the two Mercs. If Vettel, on the clean side, gets in front of Hamilton, then tyre strategy might cause some tactical changes.

I think the Red Bull battle should be worth watching as well. It might be the feature of the race.

I'm really looking forward to this one.

[oobster]

ELUSIVEJIM said:

London424 said:

I think Lewis is more set up for a race pace. At least that's what Paul D R alluded to in his analysis.

Paul "give it a resta"

In years gone past I would have disagreed with you re: Di Resta, but being off work due to the easter hols I've had the chance to watch all the free practice sessions and he is really annoying.

At one point Crofty was asking Di Resta something and it was obvious DR wasn't listening. The 'banter' between the two of them is like listening to nails down a chalkboard.

[Ahonen]

Crafty_ said:

Thought this little clip was telling, obviously amused Symonds too: https://streamable.com/n8iyy

Standard. Merc have had the Big Map since 2014, so everyone knows they'll have half a second to play with in Q3. The big teams also have a pretty good idea which map each car is using based on the GPS data from all the cars.

[Crafty_]

We know its been going on for some time, its just the barefaced cheek of it, someone forgot it was an open radio obviously !

[Eric Mc]

Is this thread unusually quiet?

[rdjohn]

Everyone is eating their Easter eggs.

[Derek Smith]

Eric Mc said:

Is this thread unusually quiet?

For one that's covered live on terrestrial TV, Yes.

For one where qualifying has set up an exciting first few laps, Yes.

Where tyre strategy might be critical, Yes.

Where competition between team mates, at least for Merc and RB, promises to be riveting, a bigger Yes.

I think this could be a cracker. It has all the right ingredients. We might not be able to predict the likely result until the final pit stops.

I like the circuit, although I'm not sure why. This could be fun.

I know there's no way of knowing if this is going to be a bore fest or not, but that's part of the attraction of the sport.

Let's hope it is not all over after the first corner.

[Dr Z]

Derek Smith said:

From what Wolfe said in interview, he thought the red cars are protecting their rear tyres. Does this mean a single stop for them and two for the Mercs?

And what is so 'special' about their qually mode? There seems to be a lot of implications without specifics.

Coz it's a Ferrari, innit.

It was rumoured that Ferrari too have developed an oil burning map for qualifying this year and that Merc have had it since the beginning.

I have the speed traces for the Merc and Ferrari cars from China, and I hope I can get hold of the data from Bahrain too for Ferrari and Merc. Should be able to work out what's going on from that.

[Zoobeef]

Did Hamilton make a mistake in the final quali run?

[Newscuttlepanel]

Eric Mc said:
Is this thread unusually quiet?

Possibly due to it looking like an interesting race? Bottas on Pole, Ferrari having strong race pace to negate the Merc front row slightly, it tends to put off the usual mob who like to constantly bang their chops about how boring and generally crap the sport is.

[LDN]

I can't wait; Bahrain can turn out a classic and everything is looking right for a real shindig.

[Crafty_]

Zoobeef said:

Did Hamilton make a mistake in the final quali run?

No big mistakes but he was slower than his first run. Vettel said on the radio after his second run (also slower than his first) that he had over driven a bit.

second F2 race at 12:15.

WEC race starts at 1pm.

F1 race at 4pm.

Busy afternoon!