2019 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 29 - 31

[Sierra117]

This track shows, how the other stupid circuits on the calendar are taking the joy of watching F1 away. Circuits like Melbourne, Monaco, Singapore, Hungary and even Spain, simply aren't good enough to be on the calendar anymore with their current shape for these new generation cars. Slower cars holding up miles faster cars behind, only because the overtaking is simply impossible with the kind of speeds these cars have, is just a sham.

Many people don't like the DRS, but it is helping the cars stay together and opportunity for passing. Instead of having trains of procession. The F1 cars aren't going to go back to the old days of little to nothing wake affecting the following car, providing better slip stream effect for overtakes. In those days, the cars barely had such high traction and speeds, which would make the small straights look really long and aided overtakes via slipstream and NO wake. Current cars are just too quick for these small straights on some of the circuits mentioned above.

+1 though it would be a bit more fun to have control over the use of DRS such that the highly skilled drivers would be able to use it where you'd think you can't use it. Or replace it with a NOS-type button to give electric boost but that would require changing how much flow and storage is allowed for the ERS right now I suppose. And definitely get rid of track-based engine/throttle mapping. More power to manual control!

[ispano6]

Nothing happened, he gets away without penalty. He mentioned he did not mount the wheel because he didn't want to get electrocuted and the red warning light was flashing, giving him all the right to refuse so.

painful to see what happened to both renaults, and sainz last race. also pretty disappointing for sainz to have another DNF.
He had a great run and at more than 1 point was faster than Max, so a 4th place finish perhaps even 3rd would have been possible.

regarding Mclaren's pace, i'm wondering, whether Alonso has made a mistake. I know he wants to win, but looking into Sainz' possible finish,
and Norris' actual finish, i'm shocked on how Mclaren has seemingly put themselves into podium territory, even if luck was needed there
with a Vettel spin and a Leclerc car malfunctioning. Mercedes was lucky just as well, and got a 1-2 there. So kudos to Mclaren.

I doubt Sainz would have kept up with Max for the 2nd stint, considering how far back the fastest Renault powered car was from him prior to the safety car. Max was only 6seconds behind Bottas and over 30sec ahead of Norris. And if Sainz had pushed to keep up with Max it still isn't guaranteed that he would have finished the race at that pace.
People here seem to want to think RB15 is a good car and that its the engine holding it back, when the drivers are complaining the car slides and Marko himself says the chassis is far from optimal or ideal.

Truth is RB15 is not extracting its potential and it will take some time to remedy. Horner said the car should see 8 to 9 evolutions during the season, so the fact that Max has finished 3rd and 4th speaks volumes to his ability to will his way around. He and Honda are keeping themselves in the fight early on in the season which is exactly what they need now.

Your analysis in regards to the time delta between car’s isn’t a representation of the actual performance of each team... Verstappen was 30 seconds from Hamilton before the Safety Car and 42 seconds behind Leclerc before the latter one started having issues.

The fact that Norris was 30 seconds behind Verstappen by the end of the race is more a result of Norris having drop to 15th in lap 1 and had to fight his way through the field, stuck some times in DRS trains... While Verstappen was driving in clean air with no one to fight in front or behind him... Those are 2 different races for each driver and responsible for the delta more than the performance of the car themselves.

Probably a more comparable set would be with Gasly, who was in that midfield pack (actually ahead of Norris by the end of lap 1) and who finished behind him.

You are entitle to your opinion about Sainz being able to keep Verstappen’s pace and you would be “as right” as someone saying that if Sainz would have made the move stick, he would have kept Verstappen behind all race... Reality is both scenario’s are probable and no one really knows what would have happened.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I'm willing to believe Norris IS naturally faster than Gasly and that Verstappen is more ruthless than Sainz. Maybe Max gets 10kw worth of confidence from his dutch fans or his father breathing down his neck!

I'm satisfied that Red Bull Honda managed to prevail over McLaren Renault at their home race in Bahrain. Sainz could have just as much taken Max out or cripple him. Red Bull didn't finish the race last year with Renault supplied PUs, and Honda two years in a row placed 4th, this time with 3 cars FINISHING in the points and while Renault had 3 DNF. Sure I feel for Hulk and Ricciardo, but its a team sport and it isn't over until the checkered flag. I also don't agree with the comment that Max didn't deserve to finish P3 - it should be a race to the finish and I'm certain all the engineers and mechanics who work to ensure reliability felt robbed no doubts there. This sport isn't a charity, after all.

PU parity is leveling out and single lap pace is not King. We have Honda and Renault powered cars outqualifying Ferrari and Mercedes powered cars regularly. To some extent, on some tracks, starting position won't be as important as long run pace. Perhaps more so than ever, driver, chassis, and ability to maximize the tire operating window will matter more.
We saw today a great many battles, and some picked their fights wisely while some went home bruised. Aside from the unfortunate safety car ending, this was one of the most irony packed races I've watched in a while.

[ispano6]

Seems Ricciardo's issue was due to a safety issue with "electrocution" fears. Definitely would not want to be driving a car with such issues.

Wife asked a great question regarding safety car finishes - why isn't there extra time laps like futbol/soccer? Fo every lap under safety car, the race is extended. Finishing with a safety car was disappointing even for her.

Because you start with a set amount of fuel, extra fuel costs performance, you have to finish with a certain amount of fuel for testing, which I honestly forget what it is these days, 1 litre or something, meaning you can't just add on laps to any kind of motorsport without fuel problem.

In terms of electrocution, that isn't why Ricciardo's race ended, he said that's why he didn't put his steering wheel back on the car because the car wasn't grounded when he got out of it. The race ended because the electrics simply cut out, , when there is a problem with the electrics sometimes the car can become unsafe to touch. The car became unsafe because of the failure, they didn't stop because the car became unsafe.

That isn't a reason to NOT extend the race by the number of laps under safety car. Then cars would need to be topped off or take a risk at running out during or after the safety car. It's not the fans problem or fault that a team underfuels their car. The point she is making is that the spirit of the race was ruined by the fact that the race ended under non racing conditions. It doesn't matter to her how or why someone's car stopped, but that the racing didn't continue after the cars and stewards were tucked away safely. Mind you she comes from a Major League Baseball fan mindset where extra innings and rain delays are no problem waiting around for. Maybe Formula 1 can learn a thing or two from the MLB, seeing how much money it makes?

[cinquecento]

So Hamilton has in no perticular order been all over social media bigging up Leclerc and saying how lucky he was, was giving Leclerc a lovely ‘big brother’ speech after the race, was seen giving an ‘I’m sorry’ wave as he passed him on track, made the point about how well Ferrari and Leclerc had gone all weekend.

I think we can safely say that Hamilton knows the score and was willing to acknowledge it as such. Just calling it as he sees it.

Mate, i'm crying reading this, literally.

[noname]

That isn't a reason to NOT extend the race by the number of laps under safety car. (...)

There is. Regulations clearly define how much fuel car can consume during the race. Race duration is also capped.

And, personally, I would prefer F1 not to look too much at baseball. The race could than look like " every 3-4 laps - race stopped for commercial break, every 15-20 laps - food break"

[cinquecento]

Ferrari needs to replace him whit Alonso whit immediate effect.

Indeed. should be replaced with Alonso with Immediate effect.

Its not as simple as that . Alonso's speed comes with a team devouring political cancer. I think he sucks the air out of a team. He is his own worst enemy. Vettel can be replaced with Riciardo, Perez, Ocon or Hulkenberg. Not as good as Alonso but they wont implode the team and demotivate Charles.

Definitely agree wih this, no question he's an incredible racer and admirably motivated multiple world champions but his attitude is a dog. Maybe this year McL finally come good because he's not 100% commited in the development. This year i think we will see finally Lewis become world champion with second best car, first in the hybrid era.

[cinquecento]

Well, one of the worst race of F1 since a long time...

Ferrari reliability is crap
Renault reliability is crap
Vettel... Driving as usual
Leclerc brillant, very unlucky, so sad
Honda engine still the last

You are brilliant mate, consistantly being dog like Williams

[Jambier]

RB15 is not a bad car. It's still well rounded and good on the brakes. Gasly hasn't had the pace in it, but he still is able to hunt down other slower cars with it. Max is making the most of it, but has also been making errors.
For me there are two inexperienced young guys in a top car, in time they will set it up properly. Also the Honda engine is suspect in my opinion. I don't think it's versatile. Redbull should have stuck with the Renault.

Well for 2019 maybe, but they are preparing the future.
Marko is a liar, a story teller

But Honda is more honest. They have made great reliability progress, and performance as well, but there is still a long way to go, even compared to Renault in pure power.

Renault seems to be progressing on power, but losing in reliability. Each year is the same story: They don't get enough power gain and are reliable OR they get power and aren't reliable.

I can understand that RB was tired of this situation and prefered to maybe have a transition year with Honda

[turbof1]

Yep, suddenly Leclerc has all the star dust and Max is starting to look ordinary, particularly as F1 is now packed with so many exciting young talents.

Leclerc is a cool cucumber who's also in a team that has both solid winning potential and the most passionate fans; Max, on the other hand, is in a team that looks increasingly like its almost ready, but never quite ready.

Do not forget that Verstappen is sitting in a RB that is a lemon.

Red Bull Lemon?

[LM10]

RB15 is not a bad car. It's still well rounded and good on the brakes. Gasly hasn't had the pace in it, but he still is able to hunt down other slower cars with it. Max is making the most of it, but has also been making errors.
For me there are two inexperienced young guys in a top car, in time they will set it up properly. Also the Honda engine is suspect in my opinion. I don't think it's versatile. Redbull should have stuck with the Renault.

Well for 2019 maybe, but they are preparing the future.
Marko is a liar, a story teller

But Honda is more honest. They have made great reliability progress, and performance as well, but there is still a long way to go, even compared to Renault in pure power.

Renault seems to be progressing on power, but losing in reliability. Each year is the same story: They don't get enough power gain and are reliable OR they get power and aren't reliable.

I can understand that RB was tired of this situation and prefered to maybe have a transition year with Honda

In the hybrid era Renault has not been really reliable nor powerful. This year, at least looking at Bahrain, their power output seems not to be bad at all, but it’s still early days to make conclusions.

Another important point which needs to be considered is that RBR told that their plan would be to use 5 PUs this season in order to give Honda more room for development. If yes, Honda might be used in a higher mode in races compared to the rest of the field which would make power comparisons more difficult.

[Jester Maroc]

Seems Ricciardo's issue was due to a safety issue with "electrocution" fears. Definitely would not want to be driving a car with such issues.

Wife asked a great question regarding safety car finishes - why isn't there extra time laps like futbol/soccer? Fo every lap under safety car, the race is extended. Finishing with a safety car was disappointing even for her.

Because you start with a set amount of fuel, extra fuel costs performance, you have to finish with a certain amount of fuel for testing, which I honestly forget what it is these days, 1 litre or something, meaning you can't just add on laps to any kind of motorsport without fuel problem.

In terms of electrocution, that isn't why Ricciardo's race ended, he said that's why he didn't put his steering wheel back on the car because the car wasn't grounded when he got out of it. The race ended because the electrics simply cut out, , when there is a problem with the electrics sometimes the car can become unsafe to touch. The car became unsafe because of the failure, they didn't stop because the car became unsafe.

That isn't a reason to NOT extend the race by the number of laps under safety car. Then cars would need to be topped off or take a risk at running out during or after the safety car. It's not the fans problem or fault that a team underfuels their car. The point she is making is that the spirit of the race was ruined by the fact that the race ended under non racing conditions. It doesn't matter to her how or why someone's car stopped, but that the racing didn't continue after the cars and stewards were tucked away safely. Mind you she comes from a Major League Baseball fan mindset where extra innings and rain delays are no problem waiting around for. Maybe Formula 1 can learn a thing or two from the MLB, seeing how much money it makes?

There are too many variables, topping cars off is not as simple as it sounds. The pit lane is not geared towards refuelling any more, and the main reason is safety during refuelling.

Also, Bahrain 2019 was the 999th F1 race, and the 9th race finished under the safety car. That is .9% chance of a race finishing under safety car. Sadly she got to see it, most likely she will not see another safety car finish.

[Vasconia]

Bottas was on medium before, and the team knew that the car was better with that compound. Lewis did the job to pass Vettel at this time. Anyway Leclerc driving was perfect all the weekend, not deserved 3rd position.

Still don´t understand why Vettel looked slow with the medium, he had been quite fast in the previous stint but he couldn´t build a gap with Lewis and finally he was able to attack him. I could understand it in the first lap but then he couldn´t open a mininum gap. Surprising.

He had a 4 second gap before the 2nd stop as well

Undercut worked really well here, as we saw even a 4-5 seconds gap was not enough to have a peaceful in-lap. But after the first one I thought Sebastian was going to have more pace but he didn´t so this gave Lewis the chance of attacking him.

Race was great but results were terrible for me so I was very furstrated. I wanted Ferrari to win, it didn´t happen. I wanted Carlos to have a great result, it didn´t happen. And I wanted Robert to have a decent result, it didn´t happen either.

what happened with Kubica was weird, his pace was very good until the last part of the second stint, then he lost like 3-4 seconds and another 20 in the last stint. Does someone know a reason for it?

[LM10]

This was a bit of a weird race in terms of form.

Hamilton puts on the mediums, and suddenly he has a racing car. Vettel (and to a lesser extent LEC) had similar problems in that you had the feeling their tyres would misbehave at the slightest provocation, which Vettel demonstrated with that 2018 move.

This is the question I've had about Vettel since 2014; he looks like a different driver when his teammate shows some form.

Merc has high downforce compared to Ferrari, so is more affected by windy conditions which would have made their downforce move about and worn out their tyres faster. This would have made the mediums a better fit than the softs for Merc. They really shouldn't have done the second soft tyre stint.

On a less windy day, Merc would have performed even better.

This doesn't really make sense to me. By my understanding/logics a car with less downforce should have even more trouble staying stable and not sliding around in windy conditions.

On a less windy day, every car would have performed better. All of them were having difficulties.

[Starscreamer]

Doubt that. Verstappen has a huuuge fanbase, and practically an entire nation behind him.

That fan base is nothing compared to the Tifosi.
Just watch them go totally mental about their new wunderkind as the week unfolds.

Yeah, plus Leclerc has Monaco and France behind him. Italy France Monaco vs Holland/Belgium. Only 1 winner there.

Holland??? I come from the Netherlands
Holland is only a small part from the Netherlands

[Sierra117]

This was a bit of a weird race in terms of form.

Hamilton puts on the mediums, and suddenly he has a racing car. Vettel (and to a lesser extent LEC) had similar problems in that you had the feeling their tyres would misbehave at the slightest provocation, which Vettel demonstrated with that 2018 move.

This is the question I've had about Vettel since 2014; he looks like a different driver when his teammate shows some form.

Merc has high downforce compared to Ferrari, so is more affected by windy conditions which would have made their downforce move about and worn out their tyres faster. This would have made the mediums a better fit than the softs for Merc. They really shouldn't have done the second soft tyre stint.

On a less windy day, Merc would have performed even better.

This doesn't really make sense to me. By my understanding/logics a car with less downforce should have even more trouble staying stable and not sliding around in windy conditions.

On a less windy day, every car would have performed better. All of them were having difficulties.

More downforce = more sensitive to how the wind is. If the wind is gusty and blowing in different directions every now and again, then the balance and flow of the air over the car is disturbed and not consistent, which means the downforce goes up and down all over the place, which means the car slides and moves around. Think of it in the opposite sense - an airplane is 100% dependent on lift to fly. Turbulent airflow and air pockets cause the plane to drop and rise and behave unpredictably. Now compare that to something that is less dependent on air for lift and more dependent on power, such as a missile. The missile doesn't really care how the wind is, as long as there is enough power to push it through. Crude example I know but hopefully you can see how a less downforce car will not be as unpredictable in the winds we saw because the wings aren't sensitive enough to efficiently work the air.

Aero guys correct me if I'm wrong please.