The Official 2015 Bahrain GP Thread **SPOILERS WITH SAND AHEAD**
Posted by gareth
Circuit Length: 5.412km (3.363mi)
Race Length: 308.405km (191.634mi)
Laps: 57
Winners:
2014 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
2013 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Renault)
2012 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Renault)
2011 - no race
2010 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
2009 - Jenson Button (Brawn Mercedes)
2008 - Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
2007 - Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
2006 - Fernando Alonso (Renault)
2005 - Fernando Alonso (Renault)
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Last year was a cracker, will 2015 serve up the same Merc on Merc duel? Can Seb spoil the party again? Will Williams make a step forward?
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Looking forward to this one.
Since Bahrain was moved to the later time to create the sunset race, it seems to have a better feel to it to watch here in the UK at least. I've always liked evening races. Whether it was that, or the exceptionally good race last year leaving a good memory, I dunno. But I sense this could be juicy.
I hope Nico can sort himself out, shut up complaining, stop relying so much on banned pit radio and just go for it. He has it in him, and he has the ability to dig exceptionally deep, so now is the time to do that. If he needs any extra motivation there's always this race last year. He's not that far behind in points yet, but the psychological side is what really matters. After being a shadow of his former self so far this year, this is his best chance to bounce back.
Anticipating a quality battle between Mercedes and Ferrari!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2015 03:57PM by EC83.
Since Bahrain was moved to the later time to create the sunset race, it seems to have a better feel to it to watch here in the UK at least. I've always liked evening races. Whether it was that, or the exceptionally good race last year leaving a good memory, I dunno. But I sense this could be juicy.
I hope Nico can sort himself out, shut up complaining, stop relying so much on banned pit radio and just go for it. He has it in him, and he has the ability to dig exceptionally deep, so now is the time to do that. If he needs any extra motivation there's always this race last year. He's not that far behind in points yet, but the psychological side is what really matters. After being a shadow of his former self so far this year, this is his best chance to bounce back.
Anticipating a quality battle between Mercedes and Ferrari!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2015 03:57PM by EC83.
Laton Wrote:
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> Mclaren through to Q2!
Yep, great performance from Fernando, shows again the good progress they're making - especially since they're a step up again from China after just a week. Shame about Jenson's failure, although he was probably always going to start last with his grid penalty anyway. It'll be interesting to see what progress he can make forwards tomorrow.
Ricciardo's pace in Q3 was a nice surprise too.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2015 06:22PM by EC83.
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> Mclaren through to Q2!
Yep, great performance from Fernando, shows again the good progress they're making - especially since they're a step up again from China after just a week. Shame about Jenson's failure, although he was probably always going to start last with his grid penalty anyway. It'll be interesting to see what progress he can make forwards tomorrow.
Ricciardo's pace in Q3 was a nice surprise too.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2015 06:22PM by EC83.
gav Wrote:
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> Wow, Hamilton is dumping all over Rosberg, and on
> what's probably one of Rosberg's strongest
> tracks.
>
> Solid performance by Ferrari generally, but
> Hamilton is still nearly half a second quicker.
> The race will be closer, but close enough to have
> a battle for the win?
>
> Don't know whether McLaren will be chuffed or
> downbeat. Button's had the most woeful of woeful
> weekends, but what a lap from Alonso in Q3! Q2
> wasn't bad either to beat Verstappen.
>
> Finally, I have to say I'm impressed with Manor.
> Obviously they're miles away, but I was expecting
> worse showings than this considering it is a 2014
> car with a 2014 engine and the horrible autumn
> they had.
Nico seems to have fallen apart a bit, quite frankly. I'm struggling to remember a time, with the exception of Patrese in 1992 after '91, when a top driver fell into the shadow of his teammate this much after pushing him hard the season before. Obviously the change in team radio rules has gone against him, and that roughly coincided with the Spa incident too. That, as well as the fact Lewis is more confident after beating him and winning the title last year... Obviously a combination of things, but the slump in Nico is spectacular. If he doesn't find another gear soon he'll be looking at a season of being the DC to Lewis's Hakkinen and supporting Lewis against Seb.
Agreed on everything else too.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2015 06:44PM by EC83.
-------------------------------------------------------
> Wow, Hamilton is dumping all over Rosberg, and on
> what's probably one of Rosberg's strongest
> tracks.
>
> Solid performance by Ferrari generally, but
> Hamilton is still nearly half a second quicker.
> The race will be closer, but close enough to have
> a battle for the win?
>
> Don't know whether McLaren will be chuffed or
> downbeat. Button's had the most woeful of woeful
> weekends, but what a lap from Alonso in Q3! Q2
> wasn't bad either to beat Verstappen.
>
> Finally, I have to say I'm impressed with Manor.
> Obviously they're miles away, but I was expecting
> worse showings than this considering it is a 2014
> car with a 2014 engine and the horrible autumn
> they had.
Nico seems to have fallen apart a bit, quite frankly. I'm struggling to remember a time, with the exception of Patrese in 1992 after '91, when a top driver fell into the shadow of his teammate this much after pushing him hard the season before. Obviously the change in team radio rules has gone against him, and that roughly coincided with the Spa incident too. That, as well as the fact Lewis is more confident after beating him and winning the title last year... Obviously a combination of things, but the slump in Nico is spectacular. If he doesn't find another gear soon he'll be looking at a season of being the DC to Lewis's Hakkinen and supporting Lewis against Seb.
Agreed on everything else too.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2015 06:44PM by EC83.
Webber is a good example too, yeah. But he still seemed not to be as disappointing as Rosberg so far this year... Maybe it's all the moaning Nico has been doing lately.
That's an interesting comparison with Hill, because I've noticed this year(and the back end of last year to an extent), the Sky team member who has consistently been the most negative about Nico has been Damon himself. He hasn't been bitchy or nasty, but he just seems to have written Nico off as a serious threat to Lewis. Maybe that's partly because he sees some of himself in Nico and it makes him feel awkward?
Anyway, good point.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/2015 06:59AM by EC83.
Anyway, good point.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/2015 06:59AM by EC83.
No shortage of entertainment from Maldonado so far... Wow!
And what a change in Nico!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/2015 05:23PM by EC83.
And what a change in Nico!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/2015 05:23PM by EC83.
Horribly managed race from Ferrari, Kimi got the podium but it could've been a win had he pitted earlier. Merc were struggling with brakes from early on (hence the radio messages to Nico), so an earlier stop would've put him closer to Rosberg and therefore he would've been able to catch Lewis when his brakes died.
I understand in these situations we tend to overuse the words "could" and "would", but I seriously feel that would have been the case (yeah, I did it again
)
Whoever had doubts about Ferrari's pace compared to that of the Mercedes has been silenced now, though. Now remains to be seen how both teams manage their engine development tokens.
Stats: 139 Starts / 7 Wins / 9 Poles / 5 Fastest laps
I understand in these situations we tend to overuse the words "could" and "would", but I seriously feel that would have been the case (yeah, I did it again
)Whoever had doubts about Ferrari's pace compared to that of the Mercedes has been silenced now, though. Now remains to be seen how both teams manage their engine development tokens.
Stats: 139 Starts / 7 Wins / 9 Poles / 5 Fastest laps
Not a patch on last years epic race, but by no means a terrible race.
Great to have Kimi finally back up on the podium, that stint on the primes was mega and decent strategy overall for him. He looked a bit more assured than Vettel all day. Am I alone in thinking he really ought to have found a way past Bottas?
Not much to say about Hamilton. He's simply reached a level of maturity where all the outside crap doesn't effect his performance and he's utilising his car perfectly. The best current driver / car combination pure and simple.
Nice to see Rosberg do some wheel to wheel dicing. The problems are that he needs to do those on Hamilton but he can't catch him. I don't think he's actually out raced Hamilton in real terms since 2013.
Good job by Bottas to take advantage of Vettel's mistake and hold him off. The Ferrari has currently has no business being behind a Williams. Unlucky for Massa, a reasonable performance to rescue a point considering the problems getting started and the damage to the diffuser. Overall he's driving really well these days.
A dependably solid drive by Ricciardo, taking a result which the car probably doesn't deserve even the powertrain celebrated by grenading across the finish line.
Commendable jobs by Grosjean and Perez, didn't really see much of them but I think points?
The Saubers looked good again but seem to have dropped off quite badly in the last stint?
Shame about Toro Rosso, a poor weekend overall for them.
Maldonaldo seems to have inherited Johnny Herbert style of bad luck.
Some heroics by Alonso, but seriously every time the director cut to him he was being overtaken. I can't ever recall seeing Alonso being overtaken by so many cars. Not fair to comment on Button, the whole weekend was completely outside of his control.
Nice to see that Manor are basically up and running, the car is fully reinstalled and reliable. Stevens seems to have a comfortable margin over Merhi. I look forward to the 2015 car being completed and debuted in August but realistically it's still going to be a second or two a lap of the back of the field.
Great to have Kimi finally back up on the podium, that stint on the primes was mega and decent strategy overall for him. He looked a bit more assured than Vettel all day. Am I alone in thinking he really ought to have found a way past Bottas?
Not much to say about Hamilton. He's simply reached a level of maturity where all the outside crap doesn't effect his performance and he's utilising his car perfectly. The best current driver / car combination pure and simple.
Nice to see Rosberg do some wheel to wheel dicing. The problems are that he needs to do those on Hamilton but he can't catch him. I don't think he's actually out raced Hamilton in real terms since 2013.
Good job by Bottas to take advantage of Vettel's mistake and hold him off. The Ferrari has currently has no business being behind a Williams. Unlucky for Massa, a reasonable performance to rescue a point considering the problems getting started and the damage to the diffuser. Overall he's driving really well these days.
A dependably solid drive by Ricciardo, taking a result which the car probably doesn't deserve even the powertrain celebrated by grenading across the finish line.
Commendable jobs by Grosjean and Perez, didn't really see much of them but I think points?
The Saubers looked good again but seem to have dropped off quite badly in the last stint?
Shame about Toro Rosso, a poor weekend overall for them.
Maldonaldo seems to have inherited Johnny Herbert style of bad luck.
Some heroics by Alonso, but seriously every time the director cut to him he was being overtaken. I can't ever recall seeing Alonso being overtaken by so many cars. Not fair to comment on Button, the whole weekend was completely outside of his control.
Nice to see that Manor are basically up and running, the car is fully reinstalled and reliable. Stevens seems to have a comfortable margin over Merhi. I look forward to the 2015 car being completed and debuted in August but realistically it's still going to be a second or two a lap of the back of the field.
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