2017 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, April 14-16

[Jolle]

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

Creating unrest inside the garage.

yep, there is a reason Alonso isn't in a Ferrari or a Mercedes
He doesn't play well with others. Like teams and stuff.....

[f1316]

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?

I've been pondering this throughout the weekend and the conclusions I have come to so far are:

- Primarily it's the tyres; they're harder this year than last, meaning less traction; the tradeoff will be better pace during the race

- There may also be some element of the additional downforce not trading off so well around here against the consequent drag; Max mentioned earlier in the year that they may be slower at a track like Monza and perhaps we're seeing a bit of that here

[F1NAC]

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?

More drag. This cars excel in high speed corners. There are few of them.

Like you said this circuit is more traction related

[Wynters]

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

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.

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

If you are going to put this little effort/talent into your trolling then please try and use one of the numerous other forums where the population deems that sort of thing to be the zenith of achievement. Here, you are deliberately cluttering up a thread that already has thin enough content* and your childish attempts to bait people into a fanboi-off with you may well only encourage others into thinking it's acceptable.

*Many thanks to those that do post useful, relevant and interesting observations amidst the morass of fragile egos and Icke-esque conspiracy theorists.

[Dazed1]

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

Creating unrest inside the garage.

..and bitching and moaning about every other driver. I do feel sorry for him, but if he were God, I don't think he would be in this position.

[Bill_Kar]

Honestly, I was confident about the Mercedes front row but 5 tenths was something I wasn't.
Ferrari will be closer but how can you overcome such deficit even if your car is always performing better on Sunday?
So the case probably will be that first stint on SS and more particularly whether Mercedes has addressed the overheating issues. Could they stretch it long enough for one stop?

Great effort by Bottas. To me is not a surprise snatching pole that early in the season, he showed he can adopt quite easily.
I'm still wondering what we're missing from Hamilton's second lap. That's quite weird, if he had a lockup or something we would know. So it must be an unorthodox pass through a turn or two.

And I'm really puzzled about the start. Bottas should keep the lead,but I can't help myself not believing that it will be vettel and Hamilton side by side through turn one. I'm really excited about the race.

[SR71]

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

Creating unrest inside the garage.

Giving terrible feedback resulting in the car being u competitive by the end of the season.... but he'd drive around the problems he created so you know let's say he's good.

[Phil]

I honestly think the 2nd Q3 runs were simply quicker my mere evolution of the track.

At the end of the first run in Q3, Bottas was quickest in S1, Hamilton in both S2 and S3. At the end though, it was still close. Hamilton lost a bit more than a tenth in S1, but gained it back in S2 and S3.

Then came the second attempt. I am not sure, but Bottas went through s1 with a purple (but only marginally up on his previous best), but fell short on Hamilton again in S2 and S3 - as evident by the timesheets. Still it was enough for provesional pole by the half a tenth. (Overall he improved by a full tenth?)

Hamilton's second attempt looked good after S1. It wasnt quicker than Bottas, but it was better than his previous one - a personal best. Then things went wrong in S2 when he suddenly was over 2 tenths down. He never improved his previous sector 2 and 3 times on that run.

In the end, it was Bottas fastest in S1 (best from 2nd run Q3) vs Hamilton in S2 and S3 (both from his first attempt in Q3).

Still, calculate the hypothetical 'best' of each driver and the margin would have been extremely small - perhaps a tenth in Hamiltons favor? Very fine margin.

So IMHO full credit to Bottas for delivering two faultless consistent laps.

Gonna be really interesting race tomorrow. Hamilton will be aggressive, but if he cant get it done into T1, i think it'll be a painful race as passing will be difficult. I think he will also struggle due to dirty air which will also mean superior race pace might not matter or be compromized. Could also be potentially a one stop race, so little opportunity to attack your own team mate. Might just be Bottas first win. I honestly dont see RedBull or Ferrari close enough to have an impact on Mercedes race tomorrow (unless they can launch a better start or something).

We will see. But i think we were spoilt in 2014 when we had the epic battle between Rosberg and Hamilton as a result of degrading tires, less downforce and the late safety car....

[Wass85]

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

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.

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

If you are going to put this little effort/talent into your trolling then please try and use one of the numerous other forums where the population deems that sort of thing to be the zenith of achievement. Here, you are deliberately cluttering up a thread that already has thin enough content* and your childish attempts to bait people into a fanboi-off with you may well only encourage others into thinking it's acceptable.

*Many thanks to those that do post useful, relevant and interesting observations amidst the morass of fragile egos and Icke-esque conspiracy theorists.

Very touchy I see, it's clear to see Hamilton isn't look all too impressive so far this year but if you want to deny it and call me a troll knock yourself out.

[Wass85]

I honestly think the 2nd Q3 runs were simply quicker my mere evolution of the track.

At the end of the first run in Q3, Bottas was quickest in S1, Hamilton in both S2 and S3. At the end though, it was still close. Hamilton lost a bit more than a tenth in S1, but gained it back in S2 and S3.

Then came the second attempt. I am not sure, but Bottas went through s1 with a purple (but only marginally up on his previous best), but fell short on Hamilton again in S2 and S3 - as evident by the timesheets. Still it was enough for provesional pole by the half a tenth. (Overall he improved by a full tenth?)

Hamilton's second attempt looked good after S1. It wasnt quicker than Bottas, but it was better than his previous one - a personal best. Then things went wrong in S2 when he suddenly was over 2 tenths down. He never improved his previous sector 2 and 3 times on that run.

In the end, it was Bottas fastest in S1 (best from 2nd run Q3) vs Hamilton in S2 and S3 (both from his first attempt in Q3).

Still, calculate the hypothetical 'best' of each driver and the margin would have been extremely small - perhaps a tenth in Hamiltons favor? Very fine margin.

So IMHO full credit to Bottas for delivering two faultless consistent laps.

Gonna be really interesting race tomorrow. Hamilton will be aggressive, but if he cant get it done into T1, i think it'll be a painful race as passing will be difficult. I think he will also struggle due to dirty air which will also mean superior race pace might not matter or be compromized. Could also be potentially a one stop race, so little opportunity to attack your own team mate. Might just be Bottas first win. I honestly dont see RedBull or Ferrari close enough to have an impact on Mercedes race tomorrow (unless they can launch a better start or something).

We will see. But i think we were spoilt in 2014 when we had the epic battle between Rosberg and Hamilton as a result of degrading tires, less downforce and the late safety car....

Bottas looked more comfortable at the limit throughout qualifying, he beat Lewis fair and square tbh. I hear talk of a race set-up for Hamilton but that is baloney, each driver has a compromised set-up, Lewis didn't mention this once post qualifying. If Bottas can win tomorrow you just watch how that sets the ball rolling.

[SiLo]

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

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.

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

If you are going to put this little effort/talent into your trolling then please try and use one of the numerous other forums where the population deems that sort of thing to be the zenith of achievement. Here, you are deliberately cluttering up a thread that already has thin enough content* and your childish attempts to bait people into a fanboi-off with you may well only encourage others into thinking it's acceptable.

*Many thanks to those that do post useful, relevant and interesting observations amidst the morass of fragile egos and Icke-esque conspiracy theorists.

Very touchy I see, it's clear to see Hamilton isn't look all too impressive so far this year but if you want to deny it and call me a troll knock yourself out.

Two poles, half a tenth away from a third, one race win and one second place (mostly down to a poor strategy call). Yeah he's been really poor this year.

In other news I'm so happy for Bottas, I wonder how he feels now he knows what level he needs to be at to beat Hamilton though.

[SiLo]

I honestly think the 2nd Q3 runs were simply quicker my mere evolution of the track.

At the end of the first run in Q3, Bottas was quickest in S1, Hamilton in both S2 and S3. At the end though, it was still close. Hamilton lost a bit more than a tenth in S1, but gained it back in S2 and S3.

Then came the second attempt. I am not sure, but Bottas went through s1 with a purple (but only marginally up on his previous best), but fell short on Hamilton again in S2 and S3 - as evident by the timesheets. Still it was enough for provesional pole by the half a tenth. (Overall he improved by a full tenth?)

Hamilton's second attempt looked good after S1. It wasnt quicker than Bottas, but it was better than his previous one - a personal best. Then things went wrong in S2 when he suddenly was over 2 tenths down. He never improved his previous sector 2 and 3 times on that run.

In the end, it was Bottas fastest in S1 (best from 2nd run Q3) vs Hamilton in S2 and S3 (both from his first attempt in Q3).

Still, calculate the hypothetical 'best' of each driver and the margin would have been extremely small - perhaps a tenth in Hamiltons favor? Very fine margin.

So IMHO full credit to Bottas for delivering two faultless consistent laps.

Gonna be really interesting race tomorrow. Hamilton will be aggressive, but if he cant get it done into T1, i think it'll be a painful race as passing will be difficult. I think he will also struggle due to dirty air which will also mean superior race pace might not matter or be compromized. Could also be potentially a one stop race, so little opportunity to attack your own team mate. Might just be Bottas first win. I honestly dont see RedBull or Ferrari close enough to have an impact on Mercedes race tomorrow (unless they can launch a better start or something).

We will see. But i think we were spoilt in 2014 when we had the epic battle between Rosberg and Hamilton as a result of degrading tires, less downforce and the late safety car....

Bottas looked more comfortable at the limit throughout qualifying, he beat Lewis fair and square tbh. I hear talk of a race set-up for Hamilton but that is baloney, each driver has a compromised set-up, Lewis didn't mention this once post qualifying. If Bottas can win tomorrow you just watch how that sets the ball rolling.

I feel like I'm just reading posts by Iotar at this point.

[Wass85]

He's had two poles in the best car and his teammate who's just joined the team has been close behind in Australia and China, to beat him after 3 races is very telling IMO. Vettel has destroyed Kimi and had two first row starts in the second best car, Seb has been on fire so far.

[Wass85]

I'm not trolling on Lewis but the hype about him so far this season has been way overboard, I could name at least 5 drivers who would have got pole in that Merc yesterday.

[hollus]

On topic, please. THIS race.