2015 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir

[wickedz50]

Somehow Mercedes is trying to read Vettel's strategy and trying to copy Ferrari's move. For them Vettel is imminent threat. Ferrari came on top by posing Vettel as a decoy and Kimi taking away the best strategy of the race and he nearly won...
Interplay the strategy between Kimi and Vettel and that will keep the Mercs guessing. If Ferrari has any chance this year its only on their strategy and their capability to mentally break Merc drivers. Already Nico showing signs of breakdown....

[PistoniRoventi]

So when Toto says Lewis did no wrong, he is telling the truth. But when he says they compromised the brakes or were run close by Ferrari, he is lying to put up a show.

How selective it works to show Mercedes in better light

indeed.

My comment was sarcastic

[Andres125sx]

Rosberg possible brake issue.

Not 'possible'. Confirmed by Toto straight after the race on Sky.

man, of course the team will defend their drivers. Of course it was yet another crucial mistake at a crucial time.

Have you ever seen any driver going too long on a braking without locking up his tires?

He had brake issues, it´s obvious

[Andres125sx]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CC9eegHVIAEkhVY.jpg

What a great photo!

You can see it two ways;

1- Alonso jealous at Raikkonen and Vettel..
or
2- Alonso thinks "you can laugh now, but I will end on top.."

Besides the action in the front.. I think Alonso drove an excellent race too..
Move of the day for Alonso, unlapping himself against the leader Raikkonen at that time.

Second point for sure, he´s stated many times he moved from Ferrari because second is not enough for him and looks like Ferrari can only go that high, so only if a Ferrari driver win the WDC he´d regret...

Do you see them beating Lewis on the WDC? No way

[hattrick]

Information post:

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Bahrain - Race: First 3 laps

Bahrain - Race: Last 2 laps

Bahrain - Kimi Raikkonen's start

Bahrain - Race: Parc fermé

Bahrain - Post-Race: Top 3

Post-Race: James Allison

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Bahrain GP Ted's Race Notebook Ted Kravitz



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FIA F1 Bahrain GP Documentation:

TIMING INFORMATION:

History Chart .pdf

Fastest Laps .pdf

Lap Analysis .pdf

Pit Stop Summary .pdf

Best Sector Times .pdf

Maximum Speeds .pdf

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TECHNICAL REPORTS:

Technical Report Doc38 - Before/After the Race .pdf

Technical Report Doc32 - Parc Ferme .pdf

Technical Report Doc31 - New Energy Store .pdf

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STEWARDS DECISIONS:

Stewards Decision Doc35 - P.Maldonado

Stewards Decision Doc34 - C.Sainz .pdf

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PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS:

Post Race Press Conference Post Race Press Conference .pdf

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CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

Drivers Classifications .pdf

Constructors Classifications .pdf

[kooleracer]

Without Lewis Hamilton great talent Mercedes would have had a real title challenge from Ferrari on their hands. Lewis Hamilton makes it looks easy in that Mercedes. Rosberg isn't a bad driver at all but Lewis is running circles around him right now. Mercedes should really be thinking about signing that contract already. Because if they loose Hamilton to Ferrari and Alonso has a rock solid contract with McLaren Ferrari could be world champions again in 2016. The Mercedes is the better package but it not like the Red Bull days the gap is really small. I think Alonso or Hamilton would drag that Ferrari to be on par with Mercedes. I don't think that Vettel or all on the other drivers (except Alonso) on the grid would dominate in the W06 like Hamilton is doing. Rosberg is an above average driver and Vettel is only 1 point behind him at this point.

The Mercedes is the better package but, put Alonso and Hamilton in a Ferrari and Kimi and Vettel in a Mercedes. And I would really think that Ferrari would be world champions. I don't know how much Lewis is asking for but at the moment Mercedes can't afford to loose Hamilton, if Alonso has no holes in his contract. Lewis is showing his worth on track right now. Rosberg isn't even able to beat the Ferrari's convincingly.

[psychemedia]

A quick sketch of the race from Raikonnen's perspective:



and Rosberg's:

[motobaleno]

Have you ever seen any driver going too long on a braking without locking up his tires?

dozen of times
and vettel just in this race

given this, I don't want to say that rosberg ncessarily made a mistake.

[Chene_Mostert]

Without Lewis Hamilton great talent Mercedes would have had a real title challenge from Ferrari on their hands. Lewis Hamilton makes it looks easy in that Mercedes. Rosberg isn't a bad driver at all but Lewis is running circles around him right now. Mercedes should really be thinking about signing that contract already. Because if they loose Hamilton to Ferrari and Alonso has a rock solid contract with McLaren Ferrari could be world champions again in 2016. The Mercedes is the better package but it not like the Red Bull days the gap is really small. I think Alonso or Hamilton would drag that Ferrari to be on par with Mercedes. I don't think that Vettel or all on the other drivers (except Alonso) on the grid would dominate in the W06 like Hamilton is doing. Rosberg is an above average driver and Vettel is only 1 point behind him at this point.

The Mercedes is the better package but, put Alonso and Hamilton in a Ferrari and Kimi and Vettel in a Mercedes. And I would really think that Ferrari would be world champions. I don't know how much Lewis is asking for but at the moment Mercedes can't afford to loose Hamilton, if Alonso has no holes in his contract. Lewis is showing his worth on track right now. Rosberg isn't even able to beat the Ferrari's convincingly.

Jeeez kooleracer! Just "cool" it a bit with the Lewis tea bagging

[Vasconia]

Great race from Kimi and Sergio Perez. Kimi showed his quality. He is still a more complete driver than Vettel. Vettel was showing flashbacks of last year when he is actually fighting with other cars. He can't keep things together and this is why Ricairdo blew him away in 2014. Seb is great and masterful when he leads in the front. He manages tyres well from the front and is on point with strategy and taking care of the car.. but once he's under a bit of pressure he cracks.
Kimi is the total opposite in this regard, and i feel we will see more of Kimi ahead of Vettel as the season wears on.

Just like in Malaysia when he was about to take his first victory for Ferrari and was being chased by two superior Mercedes cars. There either was no pressure or he cracked. Tell me which.

Raikkonen did a great race but he had an strategy which worked well towards the end of the race. Vettel had that problem with the front wing and because of that he lost his position. Not the best race from Sebastian but not bad either, he is doing a great season so far.

[Vasconia]

Have you ever seen any driver going too long on a braking without locking up his tires?

dozen of times
and vettel just in this race

given this, I don't want to say that rosberg ncessarily made a mistake.

It was clearly a problem with the brakes. Poor Rosberg, he made a bad start but his overtakes were great and team´s strategy gim him a tough race. I can clearly say that Mercedes sees Nico as the second driver, no doubt about that.

[iotar__]

Without Lewis Hamilton great talent Mercedes would have had a real title challenge from Ferrari on their hands.

- Really [-o< ? He had a good race like Vettel in Malaysia but no (opinion), someone handy driving a Ferrari would be more than enough Hamilton or not. They must be doing something with tyres, obviously.

- Merc should think about supporting both drivers for a change, maybe if they didn't put Rosberg behind Ferrari after every pitstop and force to overtake his brakes would last. I don't believe in fairy-tales and I'm surprised Lauda who was so "worried" after qualifying is not dissecting that publicly. Worse than Marko.
- Is this the reason for Maldonado's penalty? He got more (cost) than Button for China. Driving with wobbly wheel and causing collision in practice, who cares and let's investigate Perez. Zigzagging around the pitlane next to mechanics - reprimand. This, the horror and rules are rules, he really blocked one Marussia or gained some advantage.

[turbof1]

- Merc should think about supporting both drivers for a change, maybe if they didn't put Rosberg behind Ferrari after every pitstop and force to overtake his brakes would last. I don't believe in fairy-tales and I'm surprised Lauda who was so "worried" after qualifying is not dissecting that publicly. Worse than Marko.

They actually tried to help Rosberg during the first pitstops, by getting him in before Hamilton. The second pit stop they did not, but they probably thought Rosberg was enough ahead of Vettel.

I have to say that the undercut brought a massive advantage on this circuit. 2-3s a lap. I think Mercedes was caught out by this, no matter what they did.

In Malaysia I heavily criticized them for their strategy, but here I they didn't put a foot wrong. They covered Vettel as best as they could given the circumstances.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

- Merc should think about supporting both drivers for a change, maybe if they didn't put Rosberg behind Ferrari after every pitstop and force to overtake his brakes would last. I don't believe in fairy-tales and I'm surprised Lauda who was so "worried" after qualifying is not dissecting that publicly. Worse than Marko.

What should Merc have done better here for Nico to have had a greater race? Nico's qualifying horror, Merc problem. Nico fell back at the start, Merc problem. Nico couldn't carve out enough time like Lewis was doing at the front to not worry about covering Vettel, Merc problem. Nico got a preferential Pit stop ahead of the leader Lewis, where Lewis lost 6 second worth of advantage, not happy?
Oh, you didn't mentioned Nico's harsh overtake and subsequent pushing of Kimi on the first overtake move, aka 2014 Hamilton move. Did you?

[Vasconia]

I think that Mercedes failed with Rosberg´s strategy but taking into account that Vettel almost overtook Hamilton after the first stop I can understand why they decided to stop Lewis before Nico.

Very poor race by Toro Rosso, not by his drivers who did a great job, awesome qualy by Sainz. But that Renault engine...

By the way, I think that its the second ruined race for Saiz because of a team´s mistake.

Poor Ericsson, he was doing a fine job but the team ruined his race.