2016 Bahrain Grand Prix - Bahrain, April 01-03

[motobaleno]

The tyres did not change from last year.

they did.
slightly actually: the new thin "warning" layer under the main one. so, we cannot exclude an overall (though small) change in heat accumulation and dissipation behavior.

[f1316]

Last year Kimi managed the medium tyre phase extremely well in Bahrain - wonder if that was a factor in Ferrari's decision to bring more?

Expect Red Bull to drop behind Williams here but interested to see how Torro Rosso cope vs the Mercedes customer teams. If they're still in the fight the car must be pretty good and/or 2015 Ferrari PU not a million miles off this year's.

How Ferrari fares on this type of circuit - with a supposedly updated package - will tell us a lot more about if they're close enough.

[digitalrurouni]

This could be considered potentially off topic but I read something that Lewis Hamilton said when asked about his starts. Apparently there was a rule change and he mentioned that now there is only 1 clutch instead of the usual 2 that gets used for launching a car? Is that correct?

[SiLo]

This could be considered potentially off topic but I read something that Lewis Hamilton said when asked about his starts. Apparently there was a rule change and he mentioned that now there is only 1 clutch instead of the usual 2 that gets used for launching a car? Is that correct?

Yes that is correct.

Also, as previously mentioned about Ferrari getting amazing starts, yes they were good, but if you watch the aerial footage you will see the Mercs got a bad start relative to most of the field. I think they will fix that for Bahrain.

[digitalrurouni]

Thanks SiLo for responding. I wonder why the change was made or why they had 2 clutches in the first place.

[Mr.G]

There was a lot of about the clutch change on internet, just google it. Just to correct - isn't it about two vs. one clutch leavers? Not actual clutches they still use double clutch system.

[santos]

Double clutch? Don't they use a clutch with multi plates in F1 cars?

[mbchc]

As far as I recall from Lewis Hamilton last year in his steering wheel explained video. There are two clutch paddles on his wheel. When pressing both, 100% clutch engaged and releasing one of them with reduce to 50%

If there is only one clutch paddle this year, which may indicate the computer have a little more control to the launch?

[giantfan10]

So they needed mediums to run the amount of miles they wanted to and it had nothing to do with the speculation started by the Sky sports chearleading division of mercedes that mercedes were running that tire to gain an advantage from knowing all they could about that tire.....

So do you mean to say, having run 100s of miles on those tyres, lap after lap and collecting the data, wouldn't have helped them understand the behavior of that compound, more than others have?
Anyways, time will tell the answer about whether W07 has any advantages on Mediums, compared to the competition or not. Starting with Bahrain, a track that puts enormous energy into the tyres being a power circuit. Ferrari having chosen 3 sets, would definitely seems to be using it for the race. So that will provide a picture.
I will be curious to hear next set of excuses and, see the LIGHTENING starts of Ferraris, which will be useless on this circuit if they do not have enough in them to keep the Mercedes' behind.

No excuses whatsoever from me... just sometimes need to bring some merc fans closer to reality : )

[PlatinumZealot]

So they needed mediums to run the amount of miles they wanted to and it had nothing to do with the speculation started by the Sky sports chearleading division of mercedes that mercedes were running that tire to gain an advantage from knowing all they could about that tire.....
on a more interesting note Horner from Red bull thinks that Ferrari's lightning start was more about Ferrari and had nothing to do with Mercedes starting slow.
Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen's stunning getaway from the lights at the Australian Grand Prix may not be a mere fluke.Red Bull boss Horner suggests the emphasis on the disparate getaways may be more towards Ferrari, revealing that he had spotted it was producing rapid starts in pre-season testing.
“Ferrari ran a lot closer to Mercedes,” he said when asked if he felt Ferrari had a chance against Mercedes this year. “

I still would not rule it out. Obviously Paddy will never admit that part, but a few folks, including me, think it is indeed the case.

[PlatinumZealot]

Double clutch? Don't they use a clutch with multi plates in F1 cars?

Yes the clutches are all multi plates.. but the controls were two paddles, that had two stages of maximum "clutch bite" that the driver selects in sequence to get a nice soft launch that wont impart too much wheels spin. First stage has a softer bite and the second stage has a hard bite.
With the new rule there is only one stage of bite so is not as easy to get a smooth launch. The driver has to "let out" the clutch more carefully now.

[iotar__]

Interesting to see how close Ferrari are here, last year they kept pace fairly well.

Didn't Merc have tire wear trouble hear last year?

I don't think so, it was a missed opportunity by Ferrari, maybe not for a win but some pressure, one of the best tracks last season on pace
- Hamilton had no troubles
- Rosberg had qualifying, brake and strategy that put him behind Vettel two times troubles
- Ferrari had drivers and Rosberg overtaking them 5 times troubles

Tyre difference is interesting and the first thought is strategy but maybe they need to work on them more? Ferrari taking a lot of mediums is more surprising.

[Sevach]

As far as I recall from Lewis Hamilton last year in his steering wheel explained video. There are two clutch paddles on his wheel. When pressing both, 100% clutch engaged and releasing one of them with reduce to 50%

If there is only one clutch paddle this year, which may indicate the computer have a little more control to the launch?

The fact that there's only one clutch paddle now is due to further limitations imposed by the FIA to make starts more "manual".

All cars were forced to drop their second paddles.




As for Ferrari "super" starts, Raikkonen was still behind both Mercedes as they reached turn 1, he was helped by Vettel squeezing Rosberg all the way to the inside before T1, which led to Rosberg squeezing Hamilton on the exit of T1, leaving a nice path for Kimi to swoop through.

[oT v1]

Anyone think Renault engine cars will surprise a few people? looked a lot less 'handicapped' in Oz. The middle order battle will be something!

[Sevach]

Depends on what you mean by surprise...
I think Red Bull has a good chance to be the distant 3rd team again but that's as far as they go.

Renault will get beat by Haas and Mclaren on the lower midfield imo.