2017 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, April 14-16

[Wass85]

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

He was slower than Bottas in sector 1 on their second run in Q3 and was pushed into a mistake in sector 2.

[Sevach]

We didn't get any replays of big lockups or sideways moments...
It's quite uncharacteristic for Hamilton to be simply "slow", but it can happen to everybody... trying too hard, loosing a bit on a couple of corners and loosing your flow.

[PlatinumZealot]

Hamitlon,s car has an understeer setup bottas has more front end... so expecting Bottas to push hard on first stint trying to get that first call for the undercut then hold on for dear life (of the tyres) so he doesnt get mugged out of the corners.

[Wass85]

Bottas looks to have finally got to grips with the car, Hamilton was in for a big surprise thinking it was a 2 horse race between him and Vettel.

[Wass85]

Hamitlon,s car has an understeer setup bottas has more front end... so expecting Bottas to push hard on first stint trying to get that first call for the undercut then hold on for dear life (of the tyres) so he doesnt get mugged out of the corners.

You're doing a lot of assuming here, even if it has that doesn't mean it was done purposely. Hamilton was beat fair and square and I can only see him dropping back tomorrow.

[Mansell89]

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.

Good point- thanks for the insight as I wasn't able to watch all of quail live.

Any opinion on where we are with race pace this weekend?

Friday there was a consensus that Red Bull (well, Ricciardo) were on par if not marginally ahead on the super soft tyres. They've been well beaten in qualifying by the Mercs but Ricciardo being able to split Ferraris is somewhat surprising. Could they be a contender for a race win?

Ferrari are strong in race trim and they matched Mercedes in China once they got past the Red Bull. I anticipate much the same tomorrow.

Come of tyre wear be an issue and if so, who makes them last better?

[Vladimir]

Well done Botas, great result for him.
Ferarri will be much harder opponent in race for sure.
Renault make steady progress, Hulk show how much they improve from last year.
Hope for first points tomorrow.

Imagine what would Alonso do in that Renault today...

Alonso will probably be in P5 fights. Imagine shock transfer next season and 3rd wdc with Renault. What a dream

[Wass85]

Imagine what he'd be doing in that Mercedes.......

[proteus]

Imagine what he'd be doing in that Mercedes.......

Nothing much more than Hamilton does...

[Phil]

Any opinion on where we are with race pace this weekend?

According to AMuS, on the long run, Mercedes looked quickest by quite a margin. Ferrari closer to Redbull and quite a bit off.

Here is the link:
http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/form ... 08678.html

Rough translation:
On the SS Hamilton ahead by 3 tenths over RedBull.
On the Soft tire, the difference is bigger with a bigger gap from Mercedes to the rest. Hamilton and Bottas were close, but Hamilton did more laps than Bottas with the same times.

If this is true, i wouldnt count on Ferrari being there pace wise. We will see though.

[Wass85]

Imagine what he'd be doing in that Mercedes.......

Nothing much more than Hamilton does...

Bottas is doing that already, Alonso would wipe the floor with him IMO.

[Phil]

Can we stop with the Alonso is god posts? He isnt in Mercedes, so there is no point speculating where and what he would be. Its getting annoying.

[Sevach]

Imagine what he'd be doing in that Mercedes.......

Creating unrest inside the garage.

[F1Krof]

So you're telling me that this year Red Bull is slower than last year's Merc? With all the added shenanigans and downforce and power etc...

Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:29.545 [2017] +0.052
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:29.493 [2016]

WTF? Something is different about this track. We haven't seen the 3-5 second quicker margin we've been promised. Why is that, does anybody have any idea?

I think this is a traction circuit, it doesn't have many high speed corners. With the added extra weight 28KG+ and the fact that cars are more trickier to handle due to Pirelli's harder compounds, it nullifies all the extra load that cars generate. Or I'm wrong.

Ideeas?

[dans79]

Bottas is doing that already, Alonso would wipe the floor with him IMO.