2023 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 03 - 05

[chrisc90]

Both were S-S-H. The graphic showed max on the hard when he was on the soft.

[organic]

Both RBs ran S S H right?

Yes both had the same strategy. They pitted max earlier to cover Charles and left Perez out later so that when he came out of the pits he would have a gap in front to leclerc to ease the softs in gently and close up before attacking. It's not smart to try to push immediately on fresh softs at a circuit like Bahrain with high deg. Perez wasn't that much quicker than Charles whilst catching him in the 2nd stint but was almost 1s per lap after passing. Just shows how much work RB put into tyre conditioning during testing and fp

[ringo]

Both were S-S-H. The graphic showed max on the hard when he was on the soft.

Ok thanks.

[InsaneX_Badger]

Thank god for Aston Martin, with the development time advantage they look like the only team that could challenge RB this season.

[Bill]

I took a lot of flak on this forum in the Mercedes days when I said Toto was not the man to lead Mercedes. I stick to my guns. The set up Brawn handed to him is gone more or less and you can see he just isn't the real deal. He's a lucky chap he has the best driver line up on the grid and one of the greatest drivers ever in the stable. But, his leadership in times of immense pressure was revealed in 2018, exposed in 2021 and it's happy hour now!

mercedes dont know how to operate with a lean budget

[Mr5in1]

Borefest progress: 1/23 completed

Typical Merc fan. Probably though 2014-2020 were classic F1 seasons whilst the Merc had a huge advantage.

I'm a Hamilton fan but also a fan of F1, I'd say this was a pretty good race today, Fernando battling his way through was ace to watch, think there was more action further back that the TV never picked up as well.

Yeah the red bulls were out in front and were unchallenged, it is special when there's changes in the lead, but there's the intrigue in each race, like how do other teams catch up, what will other races be like. There's always a story to tell that's why I love F1

I don't get posting doom and gloom on an F1 forum and I hate the "boring" tag too, I've watched F1 during Ferrari and Schumacher's dominance, then Red Bull and Seb and Merc and Lewis enjoyed it all (except that time in Indy with 6 cars that was a joke)

[DGP123]

Thank god for Aston Martin, with the development time advantage they look like the only team that could challenge RB this season.

What are they, 0.6/0.8s off RB in race pace? The chance of AM catching RB is slimmer than slim. People act like more wind tunnel time, means guaranteed time gained, and all upgrades working. Delusional. RB are no mugs either. They’re in this position because they have the best aero team right now, led by a genius in ground effect cars.

Unfortunately, nobody is challenging RB this season. Hate to say it, you might not want to read it, but it’s the reality.

[Logie]

Merc miles away agree that we wont see them compete for a title untill 2026.

AM was the worst car here, last year, together with Williams. And look where they are now, it´s tottally possible to massively improve you car

I know it’s difficult for Red Bull fans to accept that Newey didn’t manage to produce a good car during 2014-2021! Even with the rule change on floors (which was only put in place to hurt Mercedes) he didn’t manage to get the Constructors championship!

Newey didn´t manage to produce a good car? Ok then, and also agree that Renault and Honda engines were 100 HP more powerful than Mercedes(Ferrari 200 HP more)

Is there some grand concept to change? lol. This whole "concept" talk is just journalist talk to average fans. They are in the top 4. Every team that's not RB need a "concept" change lol.

Yup. Merc is a good/decent car, it´s just not great as RB.

I hope so mate, i really thought we get a 3 way battle this season. While RB refine there car, Ferrari looking for more top speed and Merc have the car they should of had in testing 2022.

Is a good point about the jump from Aston but there still long way from RB

[johnny comelately]

So glad there is MotoGP (was there a race at Bahrain?)
Bye bye Zac.
Circa 1 tonne race cars Formula One is not.
Sunk capital bias maquerading as logical positivism on display.
Hats off to the technical team at Red Bull and pilot Max.
Are Alonso and Verstappen the only racers left?
Pit stops and DRS are looking pathetic in their purpose of trying to make the "racing" interesting

[AR3-GP]

Thank god for Aston Martin, with the development time advantage they look like the only team that could challenge RB this season.

What are they, 0.6/0.8s off RB in race pace?

They are much quicker than that. Alonso got held up by the Mercedes by almost 0.5-1 second a lap for over half the race.

Alonso had the potential to finish ahead of Leclerc if you look into the lap times from FP2 and the race. He might have even put Perez under pressure.

[Tvetovnato]

The ironic thing now is that the cost cap is working right against what it was supposed to achieve. It would only work on the assumption that all teams started out in 2022 within a couple of tenths of each other. Now when the RB concept is the proven winner, they have a 2 year development advantage which no one will be able to catch up to with limited resources. Had the 2021 regulations been kept, we would have had at least 3 teams within 2 tenths of each other both last year and this year, and amazing seasons for years to come.

Hats off to Newey though, he is a true master of his craft. That car will win all races this year, and easily so. But it’s going to be incredibly boring since there won’t even be a team mate fight at the top.

[organic]

Thank god for Aston Martin, with the development time advantage they look like the only team that could challenge RB this season.

What are they, 0.6/0.8s off RB in race pace?

They are much quicker than that. Alonso got held up by the Mercedes by almost 0.5-1 second a lap for over half the race.

Alonso had the potential to finish ahead of Leclerc if you look into the lap times from FP2 and the race. He might have even put Perez under pressure.

Leclerc said once he realized he cannot hold Perez, he just went into managing as well. So I wouldn't read into Charles laptimes too much when both were in clear air

[AR3-GP]

What are they, 0.6/0.8s off RB in race pace?

They are much quicker than that. Alonso got held up by the Mercedes by almost 0.5-1 second a lap for over half the race.

Alonso had the potential to finish ahead of Leclerc if you look into the lap times from FP2 and the race. He might have even put Perez under pressure.

Leclerc said once he realized he cannot hold Perez, he just went into managing as well. So I wouldn't read into Charles laptimes too much when both were in clear air

True, but imo, what we saw in FP2 translated to the race from RB and AM. Ferrari likely were better than FP2 (engine modes), but Fernando was not much slower than what FP2 promised so at minimum, Ferrari would have had to show a lot more than FP2, just to make it close with Fernando had he not gotten stuck behind everyone.

So basically we have to assume Ferrari is the one who went miles quicker than FP2, for them to even be considered as a threat to AM. Not the other way around if that makes sense?

[zibby43]

Borefest progress: 1/23 completed

Typical Merc fan. Probably though 2014-2020 were classic F1 seasons whilst the Merc had a huge advantage.

I enjoyed those seasons when Nico and Lewis were at least battling it out.

2021 was great also.

Red Bull deserves every bit of the dominance they’ve achieved in 2022+ and I’ll find things to enjoy, but Checo will not provide any intra-team competition, and that sucks. Ferrari and Merc have dropped the ball.

[organic]

If Norris had joined RB when Marko offered (repeatedly I believe?) we might have had a more interesting prospect on our hands, but I don't trust checo to be able to challenge max even if checo has a 150 point headstart