Charles Leclerc looked set for his first ever victory in Formula One until an technical issue brought an end to that hope 10 laps from the end. He still limped to 3rd, completing the podium along the Mercedes drivers.
But once again horrible strategical job from Ferrari to put Vettel in traffic in Q2 and thus let him have just one shot in Q3.
Amazing that they had this huge advantage over other teams and they managed to waste set of tires in q2. They put Vettel in the worst spot on the track.
But once again horrible strategical job from Ferrari to put Vettel in traffic in Q2 and thus let him have just one shot in Q3.
Amazing that they had this huge advantage over other teams and they managed to waste set of tires in q2. They put Vettel in the worst spot on the track.
this was very dumb of ferrari, but still, 3 tenths is quite a lot.
Congrats to Leclerc on his first pole, and at such a young age too ? Second youngest pole sitter ever ?
Lewis hadn't started driving an F1 car in anger yet when he was 21.
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But once again horrible strategical job from Ferrari to put Vettel in traffic in Q2 and thus let him have just one shot in Q3.
Amazing that they had this huge advantage over other teams and they managed to waste set of tires in q2. They put Vettel in the worst spot on the track.
this was very dumb of ferrari, but still, 3 tenths is quite a lot.
Yes 3 tenths is quite a lot. However, vettel was under huge pressure to not make a mistake. My bet is that it would be very close.
Also they almost lost the 2nd place because of the mistake. Hamilton was very close.
It will be interesting to see what part tyres play tomorrow.
Vettel's fronts seemed to drift quite a bit with understeer, which suggests that he'll be out of tyres faster than the rest of the top four.
Maybe a two stop or front brake bias can fix that (or hesitation on the throttle in the worst case), but its too late for any setup work.
Leclerc seemed ok, so its not as much a car problem as a driver style (or personal setup preference) one.
Based on the above, my race prediction is:
1. Lewis / Leclerc
3. Bottas
4. Vettel
It's possible Leclerc leaves Bahrain with a lead in the championship. He drove well, hopefully the pace is there for a four way fight. Congratulations on the pole to him!
TBH, that's exactly what I was expecting.
Although I thought Vettel would be much closer to Charles but it wasn't really his fault, was it?
Hamilton could have jumped Vettel, but third is still good as he starts from the "clean" side. It will be spacy if he manages to split the Ferraris as in terms of race pace he is quite strong.
Big shout-out to McLaren they've been fantastic, really close to Haas. What a development.
Kinda disappointed with Renault, they are not quite there it seems. Their race pace isn't encouraging either.
Of course congrats to Charles and I'm really looking forward to hearing the Monegasque anthem!
Last edited by Bill_Kar on 30 Mar 2019, 18:43, edited 1 time in total.