2013 Bahrain GP - Sakhir

[WhiteBlue]

Anyone want to offer an explanation for the incredible contrast in performance of the Mercedes between qualifying and race?

Merc have set up Hamilton's car for more understeer in quali. Rosberg had an almost neutral setting for quali. But during the race the Merc changes massively to oversteer and chews up the rear tyres. Hamilton had less speed in quali because they did not give him so much front bite. He was much better set up for the race.

[gandharva]

Fantastic race. First non lame, tire dominated, race in 2013. Wonder what Perelli will do in follow up races where they used medium/hard last year... I'm also wondering about Hembrys crap comments about "Medium tires will decide the race today"...

Also the first race where we saw real RBR performance (exclude Melbourne quali). Awesome move to put a women on podium to face the idiotic political situation in Bahrein!

Great race for Lotus and also Force India. Ferrari sadly had lots of bad luck. If not the race would have been way more interesting as it already was.

[Donuts]

Raikkonen is not a good qualifier, that's my conclusion after the 2012 season. Next race, Grosejan will outqualify him, like he was set to do this time, but the team messed it up.

What a load of crap.

Very intelligent comment. Maybe you should have a look at qualifying (he should start with improving his laptimes between Q2 and Q3 then putting his best sector times in one single lap or at least two of them). I'm not saying that Grosjean is better, but probably.

[CHT]

3 Renault powered car right at the front. Without a strong Mclaren I think RBR and Vettel is going to walk away with the championship this year.

[iotar__]

Very good, crazy race, I bet it was because they replaced the soft one . Or maybe because tyres create differences in pace and strategies? I'm also glad to see that tyres stopped slowing down Red Bull, what a relief. Lotus' stupidity also helped, they have so much pace and RG is still at well below 100%.

They knew what they were doing when they screwed him in qualifying, never mind the whole current season. It could have been interesting if he started 5th but against their policy - wouldn't be good if he finished in front of his team-mate.

They also know that Raikkonen can't overtake to save his life so they're putting him on "thank god he doesn't have to race anyone and can't f.. it up (except in qualifying)" strategies. Now they also must rely that someone in front falls apart, like Alonso today. Good luck with that for the rest of the season.

With di Resta close to podium (good) Hulkenberg must feel like an idiot. I feel good to have predicted Force India as a dark horse. Mainly because I like them, but it still counts.

[ringo]

I feel Mclaren are treating Perez unfairly.
He was faster than Button and Button was blocking too hard. Perez was accused of being too soft last week, now he's toughing up and Whitmarsh is being critical of it.
IMO Perez should have been let through earlier, as he had the pace, Button was slow as molasses.

[Maelstrom]

Man... Rosberg had a very bad race... going from 1st to 9th? And Hamilton must have rubbed it in by finishing 5th after he started 9th.

Nico is very hard on his tyres. Last year, too, MSC was much better than Nico in this aspect.

[Jonnycraig]

I pay top dollars to anyone who breaks his finger

He got his finger cut off 7 years ago and became the youngest WDC, youngest race winner, youngest pole position, youngest fastest lap, youngest double WDC, youngest triple WDC...

I dread to think how much better he'll get if someone breaks his finger.

[iotar__]

If Perez' move on Alonso deserves no penalty, nothing does...

There was nothing wrong with that, Alonso is a bully (in a good way) and many times did and got away with worse. Go Perez!

[ringo]

Anyone want to offer an explanation for the incredible contrast in performance of the Mercedes between qualifying and race?

Merc have set up Hamilton's car for more understeer in quali. Rosberg had an almost neutral setting for quali. But during the race the Merc changes massively to oversteer and chews up the rear tyres. Hamilton had less speed in quali because they did not give him so much front bite. He was much better set up for the race.

That car is pretty strange. Hamilton said it was crap for the fist 2 stints, then something clicked in the back end then the car started to work brilliantly.
I assume he would have done better in Qualy and race had the car corrected itself earlier.
I feel the Merc suspensions is to delicate and unreliable. It's pretty much affect a few of the races so far for both drivers.

[SilverArrow10]

3 Renault powered car right at the front. Without a strong Mclaren I think RBR and Vettel is going to walk away with the championship this year.

Without McLaren?. What about Ferrari and Lotus there not exactly weak teams both have won championships in the past and are right in there now. Heck even Mercedes could ruin Red bulls year.

[Mika1]

Lewis Hamilton did a great job. P5, P3, P3, P5, can't ask more.

[Maelstrom]

I don't get it. Mark seems to absolutely loathe the Sakhir circuit. He's always (not only this year, but previous years as well) running wide at the exit of the penultimate corner, and he never seems to have pace here. Even last year when Vettel won the race, Mark was 40s down. Now we're only on lap 52, and he's some 30s down on a cruising Vettel.

I wonder what it is of the circuit that doesn't suit his driving style.

He's doing a very poor job. I hate to say this... but maybe it was a good thing that Vettel stole that first place from him. It gave him a seven point cushion in the WDC and it might help him a lot. Webber is not even going to be in contention in a while. He's already 45 points behind Vettel having the same car. Vettel has made the podium nearly every race and Webber hasn't even been close except for one race out of four. He's as bad as Massa to be honest.

But now after four races I am getting the feeling that its gonna be another great year for Red Bull. Probably another double championship. Ferrari are messing up badly and McLaren are too far behind. That just leaves Lotus... and between the two teams i'd put my money on Red Bull. Mercedes... they still have issues. I thought tyre wear was solved... but it's obviously not. They still have massive race pace issues. It's not as bad as last year... but it's not use getting poles and then not even being able to make the podium. Everybody and their dog overtook Rosberg.

If Ferrari doesn't buck up soon I think this is another year to write off.

[Emerson.F]

Did anybody just see the Martin Withmarsh and Jensen interview on Sky Sports?
OMFG those two snakes are getting more bold by the minute!

JB
* Checo was driving dangerously and was wheelbanging (No such thing visible on the onboards) (JB ran Checo out of the track)
* Then he has the nerve too claim Checo almost punctured his rear tyres while behind him (Good thing Anthony Davidson debunked that in his face mentioning JB DID BRAKE MID CORNER on purpose) (Damon Hill was also flabbergasted by his remarks)

* Withmarsh cant stop talking about Jensen and NOT ONCE mentions Sergio's great drive.
*

[GrizzleBoy]

I feel Mclaren are treating Perez unfairly.
He was faster than Button and Button was blocking too hard. Perez was accused of being too soft last week, now he's toughing up and Whitmarsh is being critical of it.
IMO Perez should have been let through earlier, as he had the pace, Button was slow as molasses.

That's a good point tbh.

I don't know what other teams on the grid would do that to their drivers while in proper racing conditions with a group of hungry people behind looking to capitalise on the squabbling.

Its not like Malaysia where there was nobody in front or behind of the cars, they were in proper race conditions with people creeping up behind them.

Also, it was painful to first see Martin Whitmarsh talking to sky saying that Checo "hitting" Jenson on the back was not acceptable, then seeing Jenson run into the interview and start talking about how dangerous Checo was driving regarding "hitting" and wheel bumping.

Then Antony Davis showed all the onboards revealing Button first brake checking Perez, then driving into Perez and shoving him off the track.

Followed by Jenson apparently not being able to see the screen and his microphone/headphones stop working

If that's what Lewis was dealing with behind the scenes, I wouldn't blame him for needing some new surroundings.