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.
 
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.
Not that but blistering heat instead. 35 degrees predicted for the weekend...
 
Sorry, but I feel that Bahrain will produce a dull race which will be once again be won in the pitstops and cars pitting early getting stuck in traffic behind drivers who are 1.5 seconds slower than them in qualifying.

I do so hope that I am wrong.
 
Sorry, but I feel that Bahrain will produce a dull race which will be once again be won in the pitstops and cars pitting early getting stuck in traffic behind drivers who are 1.5 seconds slower than them in qualifying.

I do so hope that I am wrong.
Bahrain has a lot of straights so should not be too dull especially if Vettel and Hamilton are close to each other
 
It's usually run in daylight hours.

Not since 2013.

Bit unfair on the circuit really; the sequence from turn one up to six has seen some brilliant racing. Two team-mate battles spring to mind: Button vs Perez in 2013 and the first spark of HAMROS in 2014.

The #alliesoftheWest human rights issue remains rather a mood-killer though.
 
Evening races are my favourite :)
Snacks on standby.

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Unfortunately it's Easter Sunday, and my house will be full of family who are coming for Sunday Lunch.(It will be a late lunch). That also means small people and Eater Eggs, so I suspect I will have to tape it, and watch it later. No way will we be able to hear it over the racket. Bad timing on my part.
 
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What annoys me - whether Hamilton will take the title or not - is the fourth year in a row of Mercedes domination. We all know this is not unique, but history also shows another thing, namely this is not a force of nature, but an evolution of F1 that started in the mid eighties - let's say along with moment the big money entered the scene.
This issue has never been adressed unfortunately, and yeah, than it eventually becomes a force of nature.
Personally, with two championships at a row it starts to itch, with three it starts to annoy, and at four i start loosin' interest due to it's predictabily.
Thanks God drivers like Verstappen entered the scene; I really don't know i'd still be following F1 if he was not.
 
Unfortunately it's Easter Sunday, and my house will be full of family who are coming for Sunday Lunch.(It will be a late lunch). That also means small people and Eater Eggs, so I suspect I will have to tape it, and watch it later. No way will we be able to hear it over the racket. Bad timing on my part.
House or do you mean cave? I mean you're still taping programmes? LOL

Just kidding. ;)
 
What annoys me - whether Hamilton will take the title or not - is the fourth year in a row of Mercedes domination. We all know this is not unique, but history also shows another thing, namely this is not a force of nature, but an evolution of F1 that started in the mid eighties.
No, it isn't a recent evolution if you go back in history there have always been teams dominating the sport, especially Lotus in the 60's and 70's.
Apart from Ferrari and Mercedes which teams have really dominated the sport in the past 20 years, Williams in the early 90's and Red Bull in 2011 and 2013.
 
No, it isn't a recent evolution if you go back in history there have always been teams dominating the sport, especially Lotus in the 60's and 70's.
In the 60s and 70s it happened twice that a team won two constructor championships in a row (66-67 Brabham and 72-73 Lotus), and once that a team won it 3 times in a row (75-77 Ferrari).

Since 1980 only three times a team won only one WCC (1995 Bennetton, 1998 McLaren and 2009 Brawn), otherwise it was at least two in a row, but often more: 4 (1988-1991) McLaren, 3 (1992-1994 Williams), 6 (1999-2005 Ferrari), 4 (2010-2013 RBR), 3 (2014-2016 Mercedes).

Now you might say that I compare almost 40 years since 1980 with 20 years in the 60s and 70s, and that is not fair. If we take the last 20 years, it's still quite bad. Only two times a team only had a single WCC (1998 McLaren and 2009 Brawn). There still are the longtime spells of Ferrari, RBR and Mercedes. Renault and Ferrari also each got twice in a row in 2005-2008.

So in the 60s and 70s a constructor defending its WCC was an exception, now it is a rule to at least defend it once. That's quite a turnaround.
 
Wombcat At first glance your arguments are valid, when looking at the results superficially and ones interpretation of dominance, a broad definition constituting multiple WCC in consecutive years, while a narrow definition evaluates the individual season and examines WCC winning teams' performance in relation to its competition.
I prefer the narrow definition and while it doesn't change the outcome, it's an attempt to assess a season more objectively by rating every single race. Therefore I don't constitute Ferrari being dominant in 1999, 2001 and 2003 nor Red Bull in 2010 and 2012 because these seasons allowed multiple teams to win races and there was some variation, whilst Mercedes with the exception of Singapore 2015 only lost races due to incidents involving their drivers and mechanical failures and have won more than 80% of the races in the past 3 seasons.
 
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To me it appears that the driver accounts for an ever-smaller part of the equation, and that also contributes to single-team domination.
 
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