2017 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, April 14-16

[nevill3]

Sky have said Mercedes "accidentally" left their team radio open after the practice session, and when discussing their time deficit to Ferrari they said well we have half a second in hand so we do not need to worry. A few teams heard this apparently!!

[The_table]

Who's likely to replace Kimi once they get tired of him? Grosjean? Hulkenberg would be fun

[Juzh]

Sky have said Mercedes "accidentally" left their team radio open after the practice session, and when discussing their time deficit to Ferrari they said well we have half a second in hand so we do not need to worry. A few teams heard this apparently!!

Tbh this 0.5s could be due to any number of reasons.

[Wass85]

Does anyone else feel Lewis has been a bit meh so far this season? Vettel has been the star man by far out of the top teams.

[wunderkind]

Great job by Wehrlein to qualify 13th in the Sauber ahead of the other Mercedes junior Seb Ocon and more than half a second faster than his teammate Ericsson.

Don't you mean 1 whole second ahead?

Yes you're right. Makes Wehrlein's lap even more impressive indeed.

[Wass85]

I'd like to have some of what Hamilton is smoking if he believes the Ferrari is quicker than the Mercedes, i could name at least 5 drivers who would have got pole with that Mercedes.

[Shrieker]

Bottas onboard pole lap, if anyone missed it.

Hosted on Formula1's channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSCePwWSLSY

That lap was spot on, maybe with the exception of the last corner exit where he was a bit overzealous with the throttle, you gotta find the limit tho and you have to push for it. Didn't think he lost any time there at all.

[Phil]

Btw: position 2 maybe slightly at an advantage? T1 inside. A good start and late braking could get you on the inside of the corner?

Example: 2014 start between ROS and HAM

I wouldn't say so. Terrible wheelspin could occur due to the dust. F2 guys on the right hand side had massive problems with the start

I'm counting that by then, we will have had more on-track action (F2), so the track will be more rubbered in by the time F1 race starts. But yeah, we will see I guess. It would be crucial to get enough a longside before T1, or else you will run the risk of t-boning the car on the outside.

Has to be said Kimi has been disappointing yet again this weekend. To be beaten by a Red Bull, despite their improvement, is poor. I believe he can race well tomorrow but he can be poor off the line. I'd like to see a 2 stopper if he gets stuck behind a Red Bull. Not enough split strategy from teams IMO.

Kimi only had one set of fresh SS for Q3. He also went out and did his lap quite early. There is quite a lot of "track evolution" around here, so some were questioning why they didn't send out Kimi later.

[Wass85]

Bottas onboard pole lap, if anyone missed it.

Hosted on Formula1's channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSCePwWSLSY

That lap was spot on, maybe with the exception of the last corner exit where he was a bit overzealous with the throttle, you gotta find the limit tho and you have to push for it. Didn't think he lost any time there at all.

I think it's clear to see the Merc is the best car in qualifying quite comfortably.

[cplchanb]

He was slower than Botas in S1 in his final run.

I dont think so...Sky's graphic has him up 0.052 after S1....at which all he had to do was match his S2 and 3 times.
He probably overcooked it somewhere in S2...maybe at the hairpin before the back straight? I guess well have to look at the onboards...

That is with respect to provisonal pole time at that time( I. e. Lewis's first lap) . Bottas was up even more at the end of S1.

IIRC, Bottas' SI on his second run was -0.047 and Ham was -0.052 so Ham was a tiny bit ahead.... but anyways couldve been just me and Ham did ruin his own pole position... Onto tomorrow!

[cplchanb]

Bottas onboard pole lap, if anyone missed it.

Hosted on Formula1's channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSCePwWSLSY

That lap was spot on, maybe with the exception of the last corner exit where he was a bit overzealous with the throttle, you gotta find the limit tho and you have to push for it. Didn't think he lost any time there at all.

I think it's clear to see the Merc is the best car in qualifying quite comfortably.

I wonder if anyone can find Ham's last run and where he made that mistake...I think most likely it was the hairpin before the back straight....

[Wass85]

That lap was spot on, maybe with the exception of the last corner exit where he was a bit overzealous with the throttle, you gotta find the limit tho and you have to push for it. Didn't think he lost any time there at all.

I think it's clear to see the Merc is the best car in qualifying quite comfortably.

I wonder if anyone can find Ham's last run and where he made that mistake...I think most likely it was the hairpin before the back straight....

He wasn't exactly setting the timing screens on fire tbh, Bottas pushed him to the max and broke him in the end.

[ChrisDanger]

Looked to me like Bottas was struggling with a bit of emotion in the post-qualifying press conference.

[ChrisDanger]

Available tyres for the race, with a reminder of the grid below.

[cplchanb]

I think it's clear to see the Merc is the best car in qualifying quite comfortably.

I wonder if anyone can find Ham's last run and where he made that mistake...I think most likely it was the hairpin before the back straight....

He wasn't exactly setting the timing screens on fire tbh, Bottas pushed him to the max and broke him in the end.

what do you mean? He was neck in neck after S1 and made the mistake. Losing 3 tenths in S2 was what made the difference. The timesheets showed him as fastest in S2 and S3