2016 Bahrain Grand Prix - Bahrain, April 01-03

[GPR-A duplicate2]

2015 QUALIFYING


2015 RACE RESULT


2015 POLE LAP


2016 TYRE CHOICE

[GPR-A duplicate2]

I must say, Mercedes are going for very aggressive strategy of SS-S-M, whereas Ferrari are probably planning, SS-M-M!!!

[F1NAC]

I must say, Mercedes are going for very aggressive strategy of SS-S-M, whereas Ferrari are probably planning, SS-M-M!!!

I think Ferrari will also go SS S M,

[SiLo]

Mercedes look like they believe they can do most of the race on the soft tyre to be honest. And the medium is a back up choice for the race in case something happens again (like Australia).

Interesting to see how close Ferrari are here, last year they kept pace fairly well.

[dans79]

Interesting to see how close Ferrari are here, last year they kept pace fairly well.

Didn't Merc have tire wear trouble hear last year?

[F1NAC]

it would be far more interesting if the race is held during day

[digitalrurouni]

I must say, Mercedes are going for very aggressive strategy of SS-S-M, whereas Ferrari are probably planning, SS-M-M!!!

Exactly my thinking considering they did so few runs on the S and SS tires during testing. But I reckon the surface in Bahrain has much lower deg than Barcelona.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

Didn't Merc have tire wear trouble hear last year?

Ferrari had shown better times in Practice that had prompted Mercedes to do some changes for Race, which then created troubles for the breaking system. Both Lewis and Nico had break issues in the latter part of the race, but Nico completely lost break by wire system on his car, allowing Kimi to overtake him and take second position. But, there were no traces of tyre wear issues in race though.

[SectorOne]

I think Merc will go SS - SS - M or SS - M - SS

[motobaleno]

I must say, Mercedes are going for very aggressive strategy of SS-S-M, whereas Ferrari are probably planning, SS-M-M!!!

I don't think that mercedes is planning to use M during the race otherwise they would have chosen at least 2 (one to test during FP).
If they choose only the mandatory one it means that they consider it an emergency solution like in Australia

[ferkan]

Love Bahrain! Love the night race, there are plenty of overtakes and love the sector 2 on that track. Merc will be stonking here already can see, but Williams will move up aswell. They will have new nose and FW here.

Ferrari also with updates at Bahrain as confirmed by Arrivabene.

[ME4ME]

I think Merc will go SS - SS - M or SS - M - SS

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2015/04/19/r ... -strategy/

used softs ~15 laps
new softs ~20 laps
new mediums ~25 laps

If we estimate that
used SS ~10 laps
new SS ~15 laps

Doing double stints on super-softs and a single stint on mediums will be very marginal. I think SS-S-M or even SS-M-M is much more likely.

[A-Bap]

I must say, Mercedes are going for very aggressive strategy of SS-S-M, whereas Ferrari are probably planning, SS-M-M!!!

Exactly my thinking considering they did so few runs on the S and SS tires during testing. But I reckon the surface in Bahrain has much lower deg than Barcelona.

Bahrain is pretty similar to Catalunya, where they used the mediums almost exclusively.

If we think about this, and consider their performance on mediums at Austraila and their rumored power gains, my hunch is they feel they can keep pace or lead with the mediums during the first, fuel-heavy stint. If this proves to be the case, I think we'll see them run at least 40 laps or perhaps more.

In stint 2 with the reduced weight they could quite easily adopt a two-stop strategy and control the rest of the race as needed, and provide for covering second half contingencies with the S, or in a pinch the SS.

On the other hand, I am sure they're factoring the risk of getting caught in a mid/lead pack train. If they feel that they're at risk for getting trapped like Lewis did, and need to avoid this at all costs, we could see them start on softs.

With respect to DF, if Monza is a 1 and Monaco is a 100, Bahrain is about a 55. So I wonder if they're going to continue to use barge fence or if we'll something more slippery...

[BanMeToo]

it would be far more interesting if the race is held during day

I agree, I was never happy with this becoming a night race. Still seems wrong to me.

[PlatinumZealot]

Mercedes look like they believe they can do most of the race on the soft tyre to be honest. And the medium is a back up choice for the race in case something happens again (like Australia).

Interesting to see how close Ferrari are here, last year they kept pace fairly well.

Hmm... I wonder if they are trying to make up for lack of soft tyre testing over the winter? In other words stack up on soft and supersofts and just run them till no tomorrow in the free practice. Then for the race you go back onto the heavily tested, and mastered medium tyre.