2014 Bahrain Grand Prix

[dans79]

rosberg backed off for the last 3-5 laps, that much was clear.

He could've taken just a little too much out of the tyres. It sounded on the radio like he had one good go and that was it and after that he backed off. I hope the highlights show the battle later.

Paddy post race interview said the drivers were racing.

I think short of the difference in tires, they where pretty evenly matched. it seemed like Nico would catch up in sector 1 but Lewis pulled away in 2 and held it in 3. without looking at telemetry side by side, I assume Lewis was conserving kers during sectors 2 and 3 so he could unleash a good burst down the main strait. I think Nico was doing the opposite using it in the twisty bits to keep him within drs striking distance down the front strait. After a few laps of that he had to conserve his tires. I fully expected him to make a second push on the second to last lap.

[ringo]

Rosberg didnt back off. His tyres were gone.
He didn't make use of the oportunities he had when they were half a second quicker.
As the race has shown the time difference between tyres gets closer as the laps go on. So it wasn't rosberg giving up.

What i can say is that Hamilton is a beast. He's a pitbull on the track... How he manhandled Rosbgerg in the multiple battles they had is very telling.
It's like he knows how the track flows when racing offline and he some how gets a better drive off the corner where we least expect it. His best manoeuvre in the race was right before the first stop. That was epic.

I really think this guy is the most complete driver for this season. Late braking is relevant again, car control is relevant, dicing skills as well. Tyre saving and feather footing are factors but are not too critical.
This race was really good. It's probably one of the best dry races in the past 4 or 5 years.

[mnmracer]

You do have some issues man. What's wrong?

If Stefano Domincalli was running your team into the ground week by week, you'd probably have some issues too.

Than go and bitch about Domincalli instead of lying and double-standarding other teams and drivers.

[ChrisM40]

Hamilton can smell the Championship blood, he will fight like a dog for it, as he should.

[ChrisM40]

You do have some issues man. What's wrong?

If Stefano Domincalli was running your team into the ground week by week, you'd probably have some issues too.

Than go and bitch about Domincalli instead of lying and double-standarding other teams and drivers.

Where exactly did he lie?

[ced381]

This thread was good until the last few pages. Hopefully some sh** will be moved to the fanboy thread.

[e30ernest]

Still, I think Hamilton's defense was epic!

Agreed here. I think on pace, both drivers are really close to each other. Maybe Hamilton has a slight edge on raw speed but the difference seems pretty small with their relative performance. However, Hamilton is just a little bit more ruthless than Rosberg.

I think Hamilton is a little more aggressive in his overtaking and defense compared to Rosberg. Just watching his overtaking move at the start and how hard he closed the door on Rosberg compared to Rosberg's defense and later overtaking attempts highlight this. This aggression might be what gives Hamilton the lead in the Drivers' Championship this year.

[turbof1]

Ok, I'm putting an end to this bickering. mnmracer received a ban for his part in this, others received a warning. Please behave: we have nothing against people a favorite driver; we have everything against worshipping that driver into the heaven while crucifying other members for having other opinions.

[Dyanxx]

One disappointing result that can be obtained from this race is that we have a more dominating team than we used to see in the last seasons.

What's disappointing about seeing 2 drivers battle it out? in previous seasons we saw one driver go off into the distance without any fight put up by his team mate.

[Juzh]

Ted kravitz just said vettel had malfunctioning MGU-H and that ros's tires overheated at the end.

[TheGkbrk]

One disappointing result that can be obtained from this race is that we have a more dominating team than we used to see in the last seasons.

What's disappointing about seeing 2 drivers battle it out? in previous seasons we saw one driver go off into the distance without any fight put up by his team mate.

I do enjoy that battle but what I am saying is the bigger picture and the following races.

[gray41]

Another 16 races like this one please.

[dans79]

Another 16 races like this one please.

No thank-you, we need to knock it down to like a 9. This race was an 11, and had me pacing in-front of the TV.

[Maelstrom]

Epic race... One of the most exciting in ages. I was literally on my feet the last ten laps.

The race had plenty of overtakes... I think The Force India's overtook Alonso so many times that he must have had some pretty foul things running through his mind

Lewis Hamilton was supreme. I fully expected Nico to win but Lewis held him off by sheer grit. I don't think there were any team orders... they were racing all out till the last corner. I think Nico made a few mistakes under pressure and Lewis was simply more aggressive and hungrier. The sheer pace of the Mercs was astonishing. They clearly have a Red Bull-esque advantage right now.

Lewis seems to have matured as a driver... there is still all that aggression... but he has also tempered that with patience and he seems to have worked on his previous rashness. He is handling that Merc better than Nico at the moment... something that may not last. Nico already showed he is a huge threat by grabbing pole.

Great driving by Ricciardo... Coming from such a handicap and ending up where he did... with a clearly slower car than the Merc powered cars... He just might keep Vettel honest if he keeps driving like this. I thought Vettel didn't do too shabbily either... the Bull's were looking pretty quick during the last ten laps.

Ferrari.... man those guys need to hire new people... They aren't going to win anything like this.

[i70q7m7ghw]

Firstly, amazing race, one of the best in recent memory. Not just at the front, but behind there was plenty of action and 3rd position could have gone to several drivers today.

One disappointing result that can be obtained from this race is that we have a more dominating team than we used to see in the last seasons.

That might be the case, but it's hardly their fault. There are plenty of Mercedes engine customer teams, and the best out of them today? Force India. Are Mercedes dominant, or are the rest of the field just seriously slow? A lot of championship winning teams are struggling to score points at the moment, so it's no wonder Merc are so far out in front, the rest of them are doing a terrible job. Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren all need to take a long hard look at themselves, because there really are no excuses for being beaten by Force India who only have a fraction of the resources.

On a positive note though, amazing driving from Perez and Hulkenberg!

Now for a slightly negative note. It has been clear for some time that there is a very dangerous driver in Formula 1, and yet again he was involved in quite a serious incident. Pastor Maldonado has no place in this sport, and is nothing but a ticking time bomb which I fear ultimately will end with someone being seriously injured. He's got a clear history of running in to people, sometimes from poor judgement, and more worryingly sometimes on purpose. It doesn't matter how much money he brings it, no amount of money is worth a drivers life.

For those of you that weren't aware, he also has history outside of F1:-

He also entered nine races (and made seven starts) in the Spanish-based World Series by Renault, with a best finish of seventh. However, his participation in the WSR was marred by a four-race ban for dangerous driving. He failed to slow down at the scene of an accident at Monaco, despite the presence of warning flags, and struck and seriously injured a marshal, for which he got a life-time ban at Monaco.

That lifetime ban at Monaco was 'overturned' when his father intervened and paid the injured marshal a large sum of money.