Grand Prix 2017 Bahrain Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Have we all calmed down after China? After the rather dull opener in Australia Shanghai did show that the 2017 cars can overtake one another and without DRS. The question is did the damp conditions flatter to deceive? I suspect we won't see even a hit of rain in Bahrain.

It's a score draw between Hamilton and Vettel now in the championship. The Merc looks to have the edge over the Ferrari in qualifying trim but the cars are closer in the race. The decision to pit Vettel under the virtual safety car left him at a disadvantage as he tried to chase Hamilton down in China but Lewis always looked like he had something in reserve.

Behind the two front runners their team mates are looking like genuine No. 2 drivers, although this may be a little harsh on Bottas only two races in to his Mercedes career. Raikkonen's complete lack of enthusiasm to try and overtake Ricciardo in China was telling although he was complaining about having problems with the "energy" supply from his car. Red Bull are the clear third team and without changeable weather conditions I suspect they won't be as close to Mercedes and Ferrari as they were in China.

Behind the top three teams there is a real battle. Williams, Force India, Toro Rosso and Haas are all close with Renault not too far behind. McLaren were even in the mix in China with Fernando "The Animal" Alonso putting the Woking car in places it probably has no right to be. We have yet to see what Vandoorne can offer.

Will Werhlein be back in the Sauber in Bahrain? Will Sauber be able to glue all the bits of car Giovinazzi left them with after China to give him a car?

I'm trying to think of anything outstanding about the circuit in Bahrain but little springs to mind. It doesn't have a silly underground pit exit like Yas Marina. It's usually run in daylight hours. The only two things which do come to mind are the piss poor human rights record of the regime which means there will be a huge security operation and the drivers will have to spray rose water rather than Champagne on the podium as it's a strict Muslim country.

Only a week to wait. The teams will be furiously packing up in Shanghai as I write this to get everything on to a plane to ship out to the Gulf. Fingers crossed for an exciting race as Hamilton and Vettel resume battle.
 
Really liked the race that 2 quite enjoyable races we've had now. Better than some of the races we had in 15 & 16. Pre safety car i cant remember the last time on lap 10 we still had the top 5 all nose to tail within 3 secs. Normally the engineers are nagging the drivers to drop back. End of the race that could been good with lewis vettel toe to toe in final was ruined by lewis brain fade during safety car what was he thinking

Another 1 in the what was he thinking category Carlos Sainz he can have no complaints with 3 place grid penalty. He was miles behind coming out of the pits, why he stuck 1 up the inside is beyond me its what i would expect stroll not sainz

But great drive from vettel he made the strategy work like in other 2 races winners got bit lucky but they still deserving winners. Mercedes have got to improve on strategy because that was 1 of their few chinks in dominant 2014-16 era
 
Interesting race. We have clear number 1 drivers and a one on one title battle in play now.

Drivers green room was interesting. Vettel and Hamilton are known for their banter after the race whatever the result but Lewis was not interested today. Guess the reality of the Ferrari pace has hit home. Still think it'll stay fairly friendly though. Vettel doesn't get under Hamilton's skin the same way Rosberg did. They Don't have the history.
 
Yes, I am a Hamilton fan, he deserved the penalty.... even though I was shouting a lot as it happened. :bawl:

But Merc need to sort out their strategies if they want to beat Vettel this year. They no longer have the luxury of big performance advantage. They do have a small advantage, one of the fastest drivers , and the front two grid slots. They should have won this.
 
I do think the Ferrari whilst not having the ultimate speed of the Merc is a better race car in managing its tyres and it just seems they have extra in reserve in Vettel's hands.

We have not seen a Ferrari lead from the start so we don't know their true pace but what is clear Mercedes are just about hanging on

Already they need to back Hamilton unless Bottas starts showing he can be a match for Vettel even Toto is now put into an awkward position he never had to deal with when he had Hamilton and Rosberg

At Ferrari - its clear to see Kimi is a definite No 2 driver and back to 2015 Kimi
 
Bill Boddy All teams know that and unless the stewards start being assertive about it ,,, teams will make sure drivers get away with minimal . The worst case was Alonso stuck on the grid in 2014 and a marshall had to risk his life to make sure all other cars were aware of this and all he got was 5 seconds penalty when his penalty should have been more severe
 
Read somewhere Bottas had "generator trouble" which slowed his pace in the race. Is it the cynic in me that thinks this is just bluff by Mercedes as Valterri simply wasn't fast enough?
 
No I don't think so because they have all the hi tech equipment to realise what the tyre pressure they wanted and apparently due to the faulty equipment the tyres did not set correctly

Had he won the race then they would not make a big issue of it
 
What on earth was Hamilton playing at. Is he being a bit of a Prima Donna ?
If you're talking about slowing at the pit entrance, I watched the replays and it appears that Lewis dove into the pits but Bottas was in front of him so he slowed down earlier than necessary so he could roll right into his pit stop instead of having to stop then go then stop again in his pit box. I'm not sure he even realized Ricciardo was even behind him because Ricciardo appeared to be continuing onto another lap then suddenly followed Lewis in. If Ricciardo had not been behind Lewis, we wouldn't be talking about this, right? So, it wasn't Lewis intentionally balking Daniel, it just worked out that way. And Ricciardo exited the pits in front of Lewis by a good margin so it's not like Lewis could give back the position, he never had it. The 5 second penalty did ultimately cost Lewis a chance at victory and the 1 second his premature slowing down cost Ricciardo nothing in the end.
 
The blame surely has to go then to Mercedes being indecisive and not covering Vettel which created the double stacking issue . Surely seeing Ferrari getting ready for Vettel ought to be a trigger for Mercedes to react at least with Bottas you would have thought unless he did not want to pit
 
Ricciardo only came out in front of Lewis because Merc has a slow pitstop with Bottas and then Lewis as well. Otherwise the backing up would have worked.
 
Hamilton apologized for his move. He's clearly apologizing for getting the penalty, not for blocking Riccardo (that was part of the plan)
 
I wonder what Rosberg would have done in Bottas his place. A part of me says he wouldn't have gone out of the way.
 
Back
Top Bottom