2016 Bahrain Grand Prix - Bahrain, April 01-03

[henra]

Well, I hope that Vettel will have more chances to win. I still think that the gap between both teams is not that big.

Yes the gap is apparently significantly smaller than last year, yet it's still there. Merc has to f*ck up in some way in order for Seb/Ferrari to have a chance. The required magnitude of f*ck up seems to have significantly decreased though. Still, in order to have a go for WDC Vettel needs to capitalise on all opportunities that present themselves. He already had to let pass two such appearances by now. Once Merc has their start troubles fixed it will get massively more difficult especially since there is nothing in sight on Ferrari' side of the fence to match Merc's probably 1000HP+ Quali mode.

[PlatinumZealot]

Vetted is starting to get a bit Jaded by the looks of things. He is not known to be a patient man. A few shades towards how Alonso looked in 2014.

[Vasconia]

Vetted is starting to get a bit Jaded by the looks of things. He is not known to be a patient man. A few shades towards how Alonso looked in 2014.

Which ones?

By the way he has had only one problema, not time to be nervous...

[iotar__]

Vetted is starting to get a bit Jaded by the looks of things. He is not known to be a patient man. A few shades towards how Alonso looked in 2014.

Poor man, perhaps he should have tried overtaking Hamilton instead of going off track in Australia, failure at the first occasion. Two Merc drivers are quicker over one lap too.

- Hamilton has only himself to blame for poor starts, this time it must have been Williams with some fairy tale clutch, the one they forgot to put on Raikkonen's car [-o<
- mediums didn't turn out to be such an advantage, what were those pundits thinking
- Haas is better than expected but they weren't quicker here than TR or Williams, It was about Q and making the strategy work perfectly. Red Bull very impressive.
- instead of regretting not having the second driver with a pulse marketing bot Arrivabene is selling Bahrain as a great race. Why not go for aggressive strategy with SS? Qualifying - nope , start - nope , overtakes - forget about it (see above).

[dans79]

By the way he has had only one problema, not time to be nervous...

But his team has had 2 in 2 races, that's like early 80's reliability.

[foxmulder_ms]

I think in last two races, Lewis did a great job at damage limitation. His starts were worse than Rosberg and this caused his car to be damaged in both races but still able to reach to the podium. He got two pole positions. Once he (team) solves the starts I think he will be in prime position to have the 4th.

Raikkonen did the best he could. Ferrari cannot have beaten Mercedes on this track. His slow start did not matter in my opinion.

Bottas first corner kamikaze was deserved to be penalized. He is lucky both cars were able to continue.

Haas/Grojan is doing a great job. Bravo.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

- mediums didn't turn out to be such an advantage, what were those pundits thinking

Ted was reporting at one point in the race that, Mercedes was gambling with Mediums, betting on a Safety Car. But that didn't happen.

[ripper]

Raikkonen did the best he could. Ferrari cannot have beaten Mercedes on this track. His slow start did not matter in my opinion.

Haas/Grojan is doing a great job. Bravo.

Yeah I agree, even if raikkonen did an excellent start and managed to grab first place after first corner in a normal race probably Rosberg and Hamilton with an undamaged car would have surpassed the Finnish, maybe with two undercuts.

Anyway I don't think it's still possible to evaluate Ferrari and Mercedes race pace, only that the Germans are ahead by a decent margin

[evered7]

Vetted is starting to get a bit Jaded by the looks of things. He is not known to be a patient man. A few shades towards how Alonso looked in 2014.

He is in the best seat possible barring the ones on the Mercedes. Nothing he can do to be in a better position as of now other than just pray that Ferrari fix the engine issues soon to mount a challenge.

And how is he not known to be a patient man? He has never been in such a situation before to even suggest history might be repeated.

And honestly there could be a little part inside Alonso telling him, he could have stayed put. Season is long and Mercedes' advantage isn't as big as it was earlier. Roll out China.

[Andres125sx]

How do you evaluate difference?

Past season pace difference between Mercedes and Ferrari was bigger, but reliability was better for Ferrari.

This season pace difference is smaller, but Ferrari reliability has dropped off with two retirements in first two races.


With this average, final standing difference this season between Mercedes and Ferrari will be at least double than past season. To me that´s far from reducing the difference.

[f1316]

Well, I hope that Vettel will have more chances to win. I still think that the gap between both teams is not that big.

Yes the gap is apparently significantly smaller than last year, yet it's still there. Merc has to f*ck up in some way in order for Seb/Ferrari to have a chance. The required magnitude of f*ck up seems to have significantly decreased though. Still, in order to have a go for WDC Vettel needs to capitalise on all opportunities that present themselves. He already had to let pass two such appearances by now. Once Merc has their start troubles fixed it will get massively more difficult especially since there is nothing in sight on Ferrari' side of the fence to match Merc's probably 1000HP+ Quali mode.

I suspect with a clean start undercut alone might have got a Ferrari in front of Mercedes at some point in the race, presuming they were running 1-2. I think without being stuck behind cars, the gap would have been 'undercutable'.

The Mercedes, I do believe, would have been faster behind and could likely have got within DRS , I suspect. Given the DRS was powerful here (personally I think too powerful- overtakes were basically a formality) I think it would have been quite possible to get back in front but wouldn't have been easy against a similarly quick car.

Which is a long-winded way of saying that I think the gap is small enough that strategy alone could be enough to win some races.

[Maynard G. Krebs]

- Haas is better than expected but they weren't quicker here than TR or Williams, It was about Q and making the strategy work perfectly.

I imagine Haas is pretty chuffed to see people trying to rationalize why other teams keep finishing behind them.

[A-Bap]

I think in last two races, Lewis did a great job at damage limitation. His starts were worse than Rosberg and this caused his car to be damaged in both races but still able to reach to the podium. He got two pole positions. Once he (team) solves the starts I think he will be in prime position to have the 4th.

Raikkonen did the best he could. Ferrari cannot have beaten Mercedes on this track. His slow start did not matter in my opinion.

Bottas first corner kamikaze was deserved to be penalized. He is lucky both cars were able to continue.

Haas/Grojan is doing a great job. Bravo.

Watch the on-boards and aeriels. Bottas was quite true-to-line. Hamilton jinked his car to the inside--almost a quarter-turn of the wheel at the apex.
https://youtu.be/7nAFYbxT_sE?t=93

[dans79]

Which is a long-winded way of saying that I think the gap is small enough that strategy alone could be enough to win some races.

And imo strategy, is not Ferrari's strong point. The last Ferrari strategy master stroke I can think of was Spain 2013.

[A-Bap]

- Haas is better than expected but they weren't quicker here than TR or Williams, It was about Q and making the strategy work perfectly.

I imagine Haas is pretty chuffed to see people trying to rationalize why other teams keep finishing behind them.

In racing, if you overtake and extend and hold the position til the end, you're faster.