Official 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***

Official 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***

Author
Discussion

Leithen

10,912 posts

268 months

Wednesday 24th March 2021
quotequote all
It's been a duller two years without Alonso. hehe

He is a generation too late. Would have loved to see him in the late 80's/90's.

gshughes

1,277 posts

256 months

Wednesday 24th March 2021
quotequote all
Bet he is regretting leaving McLaren, could have been on for a win this weekend otherwise.

TheDeuce

21,620 posts

67 months

Wednesday 24th March 2021
quotequote all
gshughes said:
Bet he is regretting leaving McLaren, could have been on for a win this weekend otherwise.
If he had remained at McLaren, I doubt they'd have the car they have for this season... Certainly not the PU.

Anyway, regardless of how good the Macca is this season, Fred is now back at the team that actually has the power to arrange a crash in order to assist his unique and unrivaled ability as a driver wink

gshughes

1,277 posts

256 months

Wednesday 24th March 2021
quotequote all
TheDeuce said:
If he had remained at McLaren, I doubt they'd have the car they have for this season... Certainly not the PU.

Anyway, regardless of how good the Macca is this season, Fred is now back at the team that actually has the power to arrange a crash in order to assist his unique and unrivaled ability as a driver wink
I thought it was Honda he alienated not Mercedes?

TheDeuce

21,620 posts

67 months

Wednesday 24th March 2021
quotequote all
gshughes said:
TheDeuce said:
If he had remained at McLaren, I doubt they'd have the car they have for this season... Certainly not the PU.

Anyway, regardless of how good the Macca is this season, Fred is now back at the team that actually has the power to arrange a crash in order to assist his unique and unrivaled ability as a driver wink
I thought it was Honda he alienated not Mercedes?
It was. But why would another PU supplier want to get in line for more of the same!? Other than Renault of course - who had at the time both a need to find new customers and also something of a history with Alonso - which they have of course now resurrected.

I really don't think Merc would opt to supply a team with Alonso in it after the comments he made regards Honda. It's not a massive deal as people make out, but Alonso has proven to be dangerously outspoken, and Merc simply don't need to go there do they?


honda_exige

6,027 posts

207 months

Wednesday 24th March 2021
quotequote all
TheDeuce said:
It was. But why would another PU supplier want to get in line for more of the same!? Other than Renault of course - who had at the time both a need to find new customers and also something of a history with Alonso - which they have of course now resurrected.

I really don't think Merc would opt to supply a team with Alonso in it after the comments he made regards Honda. It's not a massive deal as people make out, but Alonso has proven to be dangerously outspoken, and Merc simply don't need to go there do they?
Mercedes specifically didn't want to give engines to McL because of Alonso. HQ still harboured a grudge over spy gate and his antics which ultimately resulted in Mercedes paying most of the 100 million fine for McLaren.

aston80

264 posts

42 months

Thursday 25th March 2021
quotequote all
I heard somewhere F1 used the endurance circuit once but it was a disaster. Can anyone elaborate why?

Sandpit Steve

10,066 posts

75 months

Thursday 25th March 2021
quotequote all
aston80 said:
I heard somewhere F1 used the endurance circuit once but it was a disaster. Can anyone elaborate why?
They used it in 2010. It was slow and boring, no overtaking there and the spectators got fewer laps to see the cars.

They reverted to the standard GP layout in 2012, after the 2011 race was cancelled due to civil unrest.

“ The new section of the circuit used by Formula One for the first time also drew criticism from both drivers and fans alike, with most claiming the added corners offered little in the way of passing opportunities. For the next Bahrain Grand Prix in 2012, Formula One would revert to using the original Grand Prix Circuit.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Bahrain_Grand...

“ For 2012, F1 is going back to the 5.4km Grand Prix Circuit configuration as used in 2009, rather than the 6.3km Endurance Circuit on which it raced in 2010. The revision to the earlier layout cuts out a large slow-speed sector of the track, bringing down the number of corners to 15 from 24. ”
https://web.archive.org/web/20120423015835/http://...

gshughes

1,277 posts

256 months

Thursday 25th March 2021
quotequote all
honda_exige said:
TheDeuce said:
It was. But why would another PU supplier want to get in line for more of the same!? Other than Renault of course - who had at the time both a need to find new customers and also something of a history with Alonso - which they have of course now resurrected.

I really don't think Merc would opt to supply a team with Alonso in it after the comments he made regards Honda. It's not a massive deal as people make out, but Alonso has proven to be dangerously outspoken, and Merc simply don't need to go there do they?
Mercedes specifically didn't want to give engines to McL because of Alonso. HQ still harboured a grudge over spy gate and his antics which ultimately resulted in Mercedes paying most of the 100 million fine for McLaren.
Makes sense, thanks both.

TheDeuce

21,620 posts

67 months

Thursday 25th March 2021
quotequote all
honda_exige said:
Mercedes specifically didn't want to give engines to McL because of Alonso. HQ still harboured a grudge over spy gate and his antics which ultimately resulted in Mercedes paying most of the 100 million fine for McLaren.
The irony being that now he's back in the Renault (alpine..), able to stare at the back end of the Merc powered McLaren in front.

Funny how things turn out!

I guess that's my prediction for this weekends running in fact - Alpine to be less competitive than McLaren, by some margin.

JonChalk

6,469 posts

111 months

Thursday 25th March 2021
quotequote all
TheDeuce said:
honda_exige said:
Mercedes specifically didn't want to give engines to McL because of Alonso. HQ still harboured a grudge over spy gate and his antics which ultimately resulted in Mercedes paying most of the 100 million fine for McLaren.
The irony being that now he's back in the Renault (alpine..), able to stare at the back end of the Merc powered McLaren in front.

Funny how things turn out!

I guess that's my prediction for this weekends running in fact - Alpine to be less competitive than McLaren, by some margin.
...through the rear wings of AT and AM, probably...;)


Mr_Thyroid

1,995 posts

228 months

Thursday 25th March 2021
quotequote all
Sandpit Steve said:
aston80 said:
I heard somewhere F1 used the endurance circuit once but it was a disaster. Can anyone elaborate why?
They used it in 2010. It was slow and boring, no overtaking there and the spectators got fewer laps to see the cars.

They reverted to the standard GP layout in 2012, after the 2011 race was cancelled due to civil unrest.

“ The new section of the circuit used by Formula One for the first time also drew criticism from both drivers and fans alike, with most claiming the added corners offered little in the way of passing opportunities. For the next Bahrain Grand Prix in 2012, Formula One would revert to using the original Grand Prix Circuit.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Bahrain_Grand...

“ For 2012, F1 is going back to the 5.4km Grand Prix Circuit configuration as used in 2009, rather than the 6.3km Endurance Circuit on which it raced in 2010. The revision to the earlier layout cuts out a large slow-speed sector of the track, bringing down the number of corners to 15 from 24. ”
https://web.archive.org/web/20120423015835/http://...
I think it was also a victim of circumstance to an extent - it was the first race with new tyres and without refueling and the teams seemed completely inert, none of them seemed willing to take a risk, they just lapped longer and longer into the race waiting for someone make the first move so they could react. That's my memory anyway, I might be wrong.

TheDeuce

21,620 posts

67 months

Thursday 25th March 2021
quotequote all
JonChalk said:
TheDeuce said:
honda_exige said:
Mercedes specifically didn't want to give engines to McL because of Alonso. HQ still harboured a grudge over spy gate and his antics which ultimately resulted in Mercedes paying most of the 100 million fine for McLaren.
The irony being that now he's back in the Renault (alpine..), able to stare at the back end of the Merc powered McLaren in front.

Funny how things turn out!

I guess that's my prediction for this weekends running in fact - Alpine to be less competitive than McLaren, by some margin.
...through the rear wings of AT and AM, probably...;)
Yea, I expect so...

In fact the only interesting aspect of their performance this season is likely to be how Fred deals with it smile

Edited by TheDeuce on Thursday 25th March 09:07

angrymoby

2,613 posts

179 months

Thursday 25th March 2021
quotequote all
TwentyFive said:
The comments about not handling pressure make no sense to me. He has carried Red Bull hopes in the WCC for the past few seasons and picked up the slack from his under-performing teammates. Red Bull hopes sit squarely on his shoulders. You don't last very long in the Red Bull camp unless you can handle that pressure, let alone have them build the team around you.

When Max has a car capable of challenging for the title, he will be right there.
he's had no championship pressure ...he's always been the underdog with nothing to lose, which is completely different to the pressure of the favorite with everything to lose (that's not to say he can't cope with it, just that he's untested)

Derek Smith

45,672 posts

249 months

Thursday 25th March 2021
quotequote all
I went off Alonso after his behaviour in the enquiry into Stepneygate. He turned out to be the dishonest one, yet he got off all punishment, apart from that of other managers becoming less enamoured with him. So a few quid there I think.

He seemed to change a bit and his talent came forward, but he still seemed on course to irritate everyone who could help him. Every now and again he’d revert, but then that was seen as ‘just Alonso’.

For a bloke so talented, his singular lack of success in later F1 career was his own fault. He added spice to the circus, but not an awful lot of thrills.

I’m of the opinion that people only change when they have to/are forced into it. For those with talent, the imperatives lack a certain force and they can carry on doing what they do without regards to the effects on others and, in Alonso’s case, on himself.

Has he had his moment on the road to Bahrain? If not, then it will be back to his norm. As a previous poster said, he’s not been under particular WDC pressure since his split with McL. I think he likes it that way.

He will add to the sport, but perhaps in not a particularly productive way. He's taking up a seat that might have been more excitingly filled by someone younger and hungrier.

He'll be one to watch, which is a positive, but not for reasons of thrills I think.

Leithen

10,912 posts

268 months

Thursday 25th March 2021
quotequote all
If it is entertainment that is wanted then every sport needs it's villain.

As has been said so many times before, F1 isn't some kind of equal opportunity school fixture. If you can get a seat, let alone hold onto it? Two fingers to the rest of the world IMO.

Sandpit Steve

10,066 posts

75 months

Thursday 25th March 2021
quotequote all
Mr_Thyroid said:
I think it was also a victim of circumstance to an extent - it was the first race with new tyres and without refueling and the teams seemed completely inert, none of them seemed willing to take a risk, they just lapped longer and longer into the race waiting for someone make the first move so they could react. That's my memory anyway, I might be wrong.
Yes it was the first race after a number of changes, including the refuelling ban, new tyres, new points system and some car changes.

What’s definitely true is that the extended layout didn’t add any excitement or overtaking, so they reverted back to the GP layout they’ve used before and since - with the exception of the short Sakhir track last year.

Derek Smith

45,672 posts

249 months

Thursday 25th March 2021
quotequote all
Leithen said:
If it is entertainment that is wanted then every sport needs it's villain.

As has been said so many times before, F1 isn't some kind of equal opportunity school fixture. If you can get a seat, let alone hold onto it? Two fingers to the rest of the world IMO.
What, like Mosely?

Leithen

10,912 posts

268 months

Thursday 25th March 2021
quotequote all
Derek Smith said:
Leithen said:
If it is entertainment that is wanted then every sport needs it's villain.

As has been said so many times before, F1 isn't some kind of equal opportunity school fixture. If you can get a seat, let alone hold onto it? Two fingers to the rest of the world IMO.
What, like Mosely?
Those were the days. I'm going misty-eyed. hehe

HustleRussell

24,712 posts

161 months

Thursday 25th March 2021
quotequote all
Leithen said:
Derek Smith said:
Leithen said:
If it is entertainment that is wanted then every sport needs it's villain.

As has been said so many times before, F1 isn't some kind of equal opportunity school fixture. If you can get a seat, let alone hold onto it? Two fingers to the rest of the world IMO.
What, like Mosely?
Those were the days. I'm going misty-eyed. hehe
A thorough spanking will do that