2017 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, April 14-16

[fiohaa]

why does vettel keep doing this stupid egyptian dance thing when he gets out the car? did it in Aussie too.
makes no sense. Not even in keeping with some odd german sense of humour - its just plain odd.

someone needs to tell him to stop it, its cringing.

[Mr.G]

why does vettel keep doing this stupid egyptian dance thing when he gets out the car? did it in Aussie too.
makes no sense. Not even in keeping with some odd german sense of humour - its just plain odd.

someone needs to tell him to stop it, its cringing.

It can be some internal joke fore the team... you don't know, but what's your problem with it?

[fiohaa]

why does vettel keep doing this stupid egyptian dance thing when he gets out the car? did it in Aussie too.
makes no sense. Not even in keeping with some odd german sense of humour - its just plain odd.

someone needs to tell him to stop it, its cringing.

It can be some internal joke fore the team... you don't know, but what's your problem with it?

..............because it looks really stupid.........and odd. and cringing. made that clear in my original remark.

[Sonador]

why does vettel keep doing this stupid egyptian dance thing when he gets out the car? did it in Aussie too.
makes no sense. Not even in keeping with some odd german sense of humour - its just plain odd.

someone needs to tell him to stop it, its cringing.

It can be some internal joke fore the team... you don't know, but what's your problem with it?

..............because it looks really stupid.........and odd. and cringing. made that clear in my original remark.

I like it a whole lot more than that stupid finger in the air gesture ..
Common its funny, and who knows why he does it.

[F312T2]

Good race.This year, the pilot seems to make the difference. Errors get payed cash.

Glad VET and Ferrari are back again where they blong. The team said VET was managing his advantage. Could well be, his fastest lap was in turn 36 if I am not wrong.
Unfortunately VES did not finish, could have battled with HAM.

Ferrari did a good job by doing the quali in race set up. This was the winning wove. FF.

[Bill_Kar]

Ferrari did a good job by doing the quali in race set up. This was the winning wove. FF.

Well, after winning, this phrase fits quite nicely, huh?

[Phil]

The performance of Kimi this season is becoming a problem to Ferrari. Vettel will have to fight two Mercedes and (probably in Spain) two Red Bulls.

Is it? I actually think it's perfect [for Ferrari]. Think about it; if Hamilton had not been beaten to pole, i am willing to bet he would have had a easy win. He failed to deliver in QF, as a result started in the dirty side of the track, lost P2 into T1. Then he got held by Bottas thoughout the race, by the latter having strategy advantage. This made it easy for Vet to get the win. Kimi was nowhere but still got 4th.

Now if Kimi had been stronger, possibly beating Vettel, how would that help the WDC? Think about China being held up by Kimi and losing time.

Having two competitive drivers in a highly competetive field can be a PR nightmare.

[matt_b]

The performance of Kimi this season is becoming a problem to Ferrari. Vettel will have to fight two Mercedes and (probably in Spain) two Red Bulls.

Is it? I actually think it's perfect [for Ferrari]. Think about it; if Hamilton had not been beaten to pole, i am willing to bet he would have had a easy win. He failed to deliver in QF, as a result started in the dirty side of the track, lost P2 into T1. Then he got held by Bottas thoughout the race, by the latter having strategy advantage. This made it easy for Vet to get the win. Kimi was nowhere but still got 4th.

Now if Kimi had been stronger, possibly beating Vettel, how would that help the WDC? Think about China being held up by Kimi and losing time.

Having two competitive drivers in a highly competetive field can be a PR nightmare.

In this race you make a good point but over the season Ferrari need Kimi to take points off Lewis by finishing P2 when Seb wins. I can see quite a few Mercedes 1-2's happening this year but I cant say the same about Ferarri.

[giantfan10]

Ferrari did a good job by doing the quali in race set up. This was the winning wove. FF.

Well, after winning, this phrase fits quite nicely, huh?

When the Ferrari principal says basically the same thing in a post race interview then i will accept it as a fact.
Ferrari conceded the battle for pole in order to preserve the tires in the race where it matters which translated to oversteer in the short term and extended tire life in the long term.
Poles pay zero points in the constructor and driver championships and no longer gaurantee a win like it did for Mercedes in the last 3 years.
If i was Mercedes i would be working hard on my car, their vaunted quali mode is pretty worthless so far this year.
An arguement can be made that Vettel could have won all three races this year while starting from pole in ZERO races.

[iotar__]

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/bott ... re-894958/
"Our generator broke on the grid and we couldn't bleed Valtteri's tyres so we were starting with the completely wrong tyre pressures on his car," said Mercedes chief Toto Wolff.

- At least something new at the tight Mercedes ship. No apologies on the knees to Bottas by the whole Merc management like in the past? May I suggest for the next race mechanic sliping on a banana peel because It will be hard to beat comedy value of this one. Mercedes are not capable of putting the right pressure into tyres. I guess it wasn't a hybrid AMG model.

- Can't wait for another edge of the seat Hamilton Vettel battle with the average separation of 7,8 s. and mutual backslapping written before the race and recited regardless of race reality. Sod this circus

[Moose]

The more Mercedes stick to their "the first placed driver gets the pick of when to stop" strategy, the more it hurts them.

It allows competing teams to be safe in the knowledge that they can get an undercut on the second placed car; and it stops them from taking more interesting strategies.

As far as I'm concerned, their optimal strategy today would have been to pit Hamilton slightly early, to force Ferrari to pit Vettel the next lap, and pit Bottas at the same time. That way they would have got a one lap undercut, and guaranteed that Ferrari couldn't execute the undercut that they did.

I don't get why they're sticking so rigorously to such a predictable play book.

[Fifty]

I had to watch the race with the volume real low.
Were they booing Hamilton at the interviews at the end?

[Phil]

...because anything other than that would be demoralizing? (In reply to Moose)

@Matt
Kimi isnt that far behind. I personally think Bottas caused Mercedes to lose that win today through consequence. Ferrari didnt have this problem to begin with. If Mercedes doesnt sort their strategy, we might see a repeat of 2007 and McLaren where both drivers epically lost the WDC to Ferrari by costing each other points.

Now i am not suggesting that Mercedes or any team should shuffle around drivers as they see fit. In fact, i like the way Mercedes do things. On the 2nd stint, after the SC, Vet was ahead on SS, Bottas was in 2nd on SS and Hamilton closely behind on S. Hamilton was clearly quicker or pace limited. He was hovering around 1.1 to 1.3s behind Bottas. Vettel was pulling away. Mercedes said something along the line of you have two laps to start closing the gap VET, which he failed to do. Then he should have - or the team should have let HAM through. They didnt. He was stuck behind Bottas for another... 8-10 laps until Bottas tires were going off and then they/he let Hamilton past.

That was too long. Ham had also used the best bit if his brand new S tire behind his team mate. Imagine if they had waved him through - despite the 5 sec time penalty, he might have been in a much better position to contest for the win.

As i said, Mercedes will have to do some soul searching, because Ferrari i feel will not hesitate to shaft Kimi when needs be. This might sound cruel to both Kimi and Bottas, but if they dont want to be in this position... they just need to perform better?

[Phil]

Interesting:

According to AMuS, on Hamiltons second Q3 run, the DRS flap didnt open which might be why he lost so much in sector 2 and ultimately pole. Is that the back straight? Any info on this?

Link: http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/form ... 08674.html

Relevant quote:

„Zwischen Kurve zehn und elf ging das DRS nicht. Das hat mich zwei Zehntel gekostet. In der letzten Kurve verlor ich ein weiteres halbes Zehntel.“

So between T10 and T11 the DRS didnt open, that cost about 2 tenths. Then last corner he lost another half tenth.

[Chuckjr]

I had to watch the race with the volume real low.
Were they booing Hamilton at the interviews at the end?

Yes HAM was booed. I guess a lot of folks don't care for him as a driver. It does seem consistent that at most venues he is not respected by the fans and there's a large consortium of people booing.

I'm shocked at the slow pace of RIK. He really is nothing of the driver he used to be. All the vodka and not taking care of himself is starting to cost him. I doubt he will be driving next year. Ferrari is lucky BOT is not the driver ROS was or the constructors would be out of reach. BOT keeps it in reach.

I still think Merc should have signed ALO. It would have lit a fire under HAM, and secured a drivers and constructors championship no question. Nobody would have touched those two guys paired up. I just don't see the fire in HAM that he used to have. Maybe that's just me.

HAM's blocking of RIC deserved all of the 5 seconds absolutely. It harmed another drivers race and it was dangerous. HAM'a driving the second half of the race was impressive to watch.

I was impressed with VET composure and control of his pace. He was clearly cruising the second half while HAM was catching him. Ferrari made less mistakes today.

Maybe three years of easy winning has brought some atrophy and complacency to the strategy callers at Merc? They seem far too conservative, imo.

BOT had a great quali but man he will have to pick up his race pace. I'm getting the feeling this drive is maybe a bit over his head, but it's too early to tell. Maybe he was set up compromised, but nevertheless he only impressed me this year so far when he took pole. He needs to build on that or his confidence will start to falter. HAM is a tough driver to beat and BOT will need a lot of confidence to beat HAM consistently--if he can, which I'm not sure of.