2014 Bahrain Grand Prix

[donskar]

Great race, without qualification.

Months ago I opined that to beat Red Bull, a team would need to find an equally brilliant designer (unlikely) or take Mercedes' approach -- build a team of the next-best designers. M-B has done it: several Very Good men are (so far) beating one Great one.

Ferrari faces a painful year. Domenicalli will pay for the poor results, whether deserved or not. Allison must be given time to come up with a new car, but I'm afraid De Montezemolo might lost his temper and start chopping heads. On TV today he turned away in obvious disgust when Alons radioed in that he had no power. Alonso should leave. He has been betrayed by poor cars for several years. I hate to think of him in another car, but he deserves better. Perhaps Alonso in a McLaren Honda will make next year a great one.

[MOWOG]

he might have let go of the wheel to save his hands/wrists? Not sure about F1 but in other cars if you have front wheel contact the force can come back thru the rack and break your hand/wrist.

You make an excellent point, imho. I am no fan of Maldonado. In fact, I thought a 10 second stop/go penalty was quite lenient compared to the 10 grid spot penalty Riccardo got for a loose wheel nut.

What the Maldonado/Gutierrez incident did demonstrate is that the low nose designs of this year's car are lethal. Someone is going to get seriously injured or killed this year because of this stupidity. The nose on this year's cars makes it inevitable that a collision will lead to submarining the car ahead, putting both drivers in great jeopardy.

The sport doesn't need to fret about making the engines louder. The NEED to take immediate action to make the cars safe to race.

[zorog]

langwadt,

Thanks for clearing that up. Hamilton deliberately crowded Nico out of the track more than once though, which i still think isn't very fair.

It's fair in my eyes. Crowding out usually happens when an attacking car tries his luck. Webber is notorious and Button for the crowd out move. I don't really see an issue with it, once it's done when the attacking car hasn't come up along side as yet, and once it's right after corner exit.
If it's done on a straight then it's just malicious.

What Nico should have done is lay wait hamilton, and not try to go up on the outside. Line up square behind lewis and hold on till he go back around to the DRS zone.

Nico can hardly complain 2012 race:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_sMZG0MLcc[/youtube]

[max_speed]

Great race, without qualification.

Months ago I opined that to beat Red Bull, a team would need to find an equally brilliant designer (unlikely) or take Mercedes' approach -- build a team of the next-best designers. M-B has done it: several Very Good men are (so far) beating one Great one.

Ferrari faces a painful year. Domenicalli will pay for the poor results, whether deserved or not. Allison must be given time to come up with a new car, but I'm afraid De Montezemolo might lost his temper and start chopping heads. On TV today he turned away in obvious disgust when Alons radioed in that he had no power. Alonso should leave. He has been betrayed by poor cars for several years. I hate to think of him in another car, but he deserves better. Perhaps Alonso in a McLaren Honda will make next year a great one.

correct he must leave he does not deserve this --- , that car at the moment can bit only sauber and marussia

[rssh]

Great race, without qualification.

Months ago I opined that to beat Red Bull, a team would need to find an equally brilliant designer (unlikely) or take Mercedes' approach -- build a team of the next-best designers. M-B has done it: several Very Good men are (so far) beating one Great one.

People say too many cooks spoil the kitchen but here in Merc every chef concentrates of their own dish .

Horrified by Merc 2 sec a lap pace advantage , I think even with a Merc engine in RB they will still lag merc by 0.5 sec in pace.

[Timbit]

What the Maldonado/Gutierrez incident did demonstrate is that the low nose designs of this year's car are lethal. Someone is going to get seriously injured or killed this year because of this stupidity. The nose on this year's cars makes it inevitable that a collision will lead to submarining the car ahead, putting both drivers in great jeopardy.

The sport doesn't need to fret about making the engines louder. The NEED to take immediate action to make the cars safe to race.

It looked to me like it was Maldonado's left front wheel that made contact with Gutierrez's sidepod, not the nose. I don't think the nose cone contributed at all to Gutierrez's launching off the ground as Gutierrez was well clear of the nose of Maldonado, and there was a lack of damage to Maldonado's nose cone and front wing minus some left endplate damage.

If it was Maldonado's nose that made contact, I would have expected Maldonado's front wing to either be more damaged or completely ripped off the car.

EDIT: Refer to http://gfycat.com/UnpleasantHiddenApisdorsatalaboriosa. It seems like Maldonado's front left touched with Gutierrez's rear right. Because it was wheel-on-wheel, Gutierrez was inevitably launched in the air. You could argue that Maldonado's nose contributed in some way to Gutierrez flipping over, but low or high nose, I feel Gutierrez was going over regardless. He was about 45 degrees over, and then his left tyres hit the ground, still spinning, and launched him over the rest of the way.

Guiterrez was launched because Maldonado's front-left made contact forward of Gutierrez's rear right tyre. Gutierez was likely under power at that stage, so his wheel would have 'climbed' over Maldonado's causing him to launch upward. Couple this with his state of turning and rotation, and the location of contact, meant that the contact put Gutierrez in mid air spin.

I was we could get an onboard from Maldonado.

[Chuckjr]

First, credit where credit is due. Great job by Lewis today. He drove a solid race and absolutely deserved the win. Shame Merc has such a huge advantage as it makes the WDC between just two drivers. But, hats off to Merc, they have done the better job and have earned their position. Good job for them.

Rosberg had better pull the nice guy gloves off right friggin now if he plans on hanging onto to his WDC lead. Ham will absolutely destroy him if he backs off like he did today. He should of held his line when Lewis cut across him. Yea double dnf maybe, but it would have sent a message to ham that he can't pull that crap anymore.

These drivers have such an incredible car in their hands that both can afford a few dnf's with no worries of keeping or regaining the WDC lead. This is about mind set and setting boundaries right now. Rosberg needs to make it clear he won't be pushed around or Lewis will happily push. Who can blame him? Any driver will push their team mate around if allowed too--that's the game. Find your teammates weakness and start twisting the knife. If a driver will just back off and avoid you so you can get by without damage, by all means take advantage of their fear and crush them. If I was Nico, I certainly wouldn't be congratulating my opponent. This is war, and I've never seen soldiers give pats on the backs of their enemy before they ended them. Nico has to realize who he is fighting with here and that nice guys in this situation will finish first loser every. single. time.

Lewis stating Nico was faster and did a better job all weekend is simply a back door way of patting his own back. Mind games to surface big time this year. I'm getting my hip boots ready for the pile that will start to build around both these guys. If Nico is smart tonight he will decide to behave as though Lewis drives for Ferrari.

Speaking of Ferrari...I wouldn't want to be in Monty's office tomorrow morning. Good god today was a first class embarrassment for Ferrari and in front of a huge, extremely wealthy customer base no less. The sheiks will be lining up at the Dubai Mercedes dealership tomorrow. LOL.

[stefan_]

My god, Ferrari is nowhere.

[Dragonfly]

But aren't you supposed to be leaving at least a car's width when you're battling with someone no matter what ? I thought the FIA cleared that up last season.

I think there is a catch in that rule - when approaching a corner. Nothing about when exiting.

[Emerson.F]

Anybody that complaines about Lewis not giving enough room should watch this, Still cant believe the Fia let Nico get away with that. "All the time you have to leave a space"

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqbljq ... tion_sport


CNN just reported: At least 54 people are now pronounced dead after suffering heart attacks from the Bahrain 2014 GP says expert.

[MOWOG]

If it was Maldonado's nose that made contact, I would have expected Maldonado's front wing to either be more damaged or completely ripped off the car.

Hmmmmm......perhaps you are correct. The US commentators suggested several times that the low nose was instrumental in levering Gutierrez off the ground but your analysis is quite persuasive. Thanks for your thoughts on this.

[Phil]

About Vettel: When I heard him talking about problems, I don't think I interpret them in way of making excuses or in any context related to Ricciardo beating him. For a 4 times world-champion, in a race winning team, a 4th place - regardless by Vettel or Ricciardo - is not where the team wants to be. I am pretty sure that for Vettel, these messages are ment in a way to analyze what is going on, to give as much information as possible to his team in order to improve their lack of pace. For them, any information and analysis, feedback etc is important IMO.

On the other hand, I'm certainly very surprised and happy for Dan. I hope he can continue his strong form and perhaps make things just that bit interesting between Vettel and him.

[iotar__]

HAve to quote "who ever calls this F1 boring is an idiot!"

Amazing racing, enjoyed almost every second.

One decent race and two extremely bad ones and only good one counts? Don't get carried away, most of overtakes were on Ferraris and Vettel (engines). Montezemolo's care for F1 must be reaching Himalaya heights when he saw one car after another passing them. Same for Mateschitz and Red Bull fighting for lower points, pity about safety car. Merc competition/drama was good but predictably blown out of proportions because of driver involved. Plus Ricciardo in a very fast car started too low because of penalty. Nothing has changed about principles - fuel strategies, lift and coast etc. I bet you Hamilton and Rosberg weren't pushing 100% most of the time, disgusting.

About Vettel and vocal amplifying any tech problems: I guess if ever was a time to pull Singapore 2013 magic out of thin air and add second or two to lap times it is now but I think he's waiting for a car to do that.
BTW no sensor problems? Once behind the scenes trades are completed it's OK, Todt knew cost cap was unlikely anyway so he sold it at the first occasion for less engine whining and postponing of changes.

[ChrisM40]

Vettel is just another champion that cant win unless he is in the best car, he isnt the first and wont be the last.

[xDama]

Vettel is just another champion that cant win unless he is in the best car, he isnt the first and wont be the last.

That's because almost every champions wins in the best car. Same will be with Hamilton or Rosberg this year