The 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix Thread

[F1greyhound]

On the plus side we dont have one team dominating things like in quite a few past seasons. The top 4 teams will win races this year, and eventually all with both drivers.

I hope that once everything is fine tuned we will see some more proper racing. As it looked in Bahrain, qualifying could be of paramount importance unless other developments allow for passing a car without having to be 5 seconds per lap faster.

I think everyone delivered a great job in Bahrain, a little stand-out maybe SEBASTIAN who I think is the driver of the day, and outside Jayvees dreams FERNANDO most definitely wouldnt have been able to pass him even if he actually had been faster(which we cant know..).

Team by team analysis:

FERRARI havent done anything wrong and this must have been the best start to a season for many years. Of course they profited by SEBs problems but you have to be in that position first. A fantastic duo of drivers and the initial impression is that FELIPE can match FERNANDOs pace just like KIMIs. I wonder how this can still surprise people, as stated before FELIPE had been really close to MICHAELs pace in 2006 so there shouldnt be anymore questionmarks left about him. Ok, he still has to become WDC which FERNANDO proved already. Altogether the duo will make for great competition and I expect them to cooperate much better than FERNANDO was able to at MCLAREN..

MCLAREN must be quite confident with a decent start to the season even though they were just short of FERRARI and REDBULL pace. Again they field a superb driver duo and similar to the leading team they are a great fit. LEWIS got the most out of the car as usually but JENSON will follow soon. Albert Park has often been a thankful ground for this team so expect them to go close next week.

REDBULL started where they left last year with arguably the paciest package. All speculation about the Renault engine lagging "several tenths" behind Mercedes must be considered as crap really but the reliability must be mastered if the team want to capitalise on their full potential. On the driver front I had stated in another topic that even though MARK despite his injury was highly impressive last season, more improvement should be expected from young SEB and for the moment it looks like that.

MERCEDES are basically last years No.1 team and while they are not far off the pace they certainly lag a bit behind the 2 leading teams and therefore you could say they did not quite conserve their 2009 form which had reached its highest level last summer. Basically REDBULL development has outpaced them thereafter but I believe Ross can deliver the means to catch up again. No questionmarks about the drivers, another superb and fitting duo. NICO was slightly quicker and more at home as should have been expected but MICHAEL did very well to get into the system finishing close to his young team mate, even clocking the faster lap in the race.

FORCE INDIA must receive the highest credit for being so close to the pace considering experience levels and budgets of the top 4. Basically they even got their best start to a season yet even though ADRIAN was slightly unlucky in the beginning of the race. TONIO did really well and looks to be an underestimated driver while ADRIAN barring accidents could be a regular points scorer this year.

WILLIAMS have probably hoped to be a bit closer but the package still deserves respect considering the new engine and comparative lack of budget. A fine driver duo here with RUBENS being a superb yardstick for the young NICO II. Development pace will be key this year.

RENAULT are maybe slightly better off into the season than in the previous years but on the other hand dont quite look like championship material. An odd design to the car but its an early call now so I would reserve a real judgement. However they certainly have points scoring potential and must be in with a chance to fight for 5th place in the constructors. The drivers are very interesting with ROBERT certainly one of the fastest on his day and VITALY who was fantastic in Bahrain given his total lack of track time in an F1 before. Some funny experts didnt have anything good to say about him before and nice to see them ashamed now..

SAUBER looked better pre season but maybe they were show boating a bit to attract sponsors. Hopefully they will do better in the races to come, if not its going to be a tough season for them. Hard to believe their decline from 2008 until now, surely there must be a way to turn things around? The drivers are decent but KAMUI somehow couldnt show his raw pace as he did with TOYOTA. PEDRO will be good for the team with developing the car.

TORO ROSSO must be better than what we saw at Bahrain. Ok, the car is now not a full REDBULL any longer but you dont have to be a genius to expect some technology transfer from there. SEB II is really quick on his day as is JAIME whose quickest lap set a rare highlight for the team in the season opener.

LOTUS made an impressive start considering all circumstances and just have to and most likely will up their pace. JARNO and HEIKKI are a great yardstick for the team and best wishes from here.

VIRGIN also looked better than could have been feared, at least pace wise. Reliability is the key issue here but with TIMO they have one of the safest bets to bring them forward. LUCAS is a leading talent so it will be the car that may stop them from scoring points rather than the drivers.

HRT have it all to do but good to see them try and great to have BRUNO bringing back the SENNA name to the sport. Not quite his uncle he still is here on merit. KARUN is another youngster who didnt look out of place so again, its the car that has to move forward, however the development skills on all sides here have to be proven first.


Altogether a lot to look forward and heres hoping we will also see some closely fought races with passing not only during the stops.

[Julian Mayo]

The engine rule is going to cost Vettel the WDC.
Fernado was going to attack and pass Vettel easily???
Firstly theses cars are even harder to drive behind than last years.
That makes overtaking even harder. Drivers of faster cars who lost a position in the pits were unable to regain that position, because the unstable vortex behind these cars damned near eliminated the downforce of the following vehicle.
The Tyres showed little wear, Vettel had plenty of rubber left.
The gap was ??? before the spark plug failure ???
Massa is a man of courage, and skill. Bravo.
The race was not a race. Racing means competing for the lead. The only competetive moves were at turn one, and turn two, Lap 1. That does not qualify it as a race.
It was a boring procession. As boring as watching bat dung dry, and a bloody procession.
On the smame weekend, V8 Supercars, on a street circuit, (Adelaide) with control regs, control rubber, and damned near identical specs, had the spectacle of constant positional changes THROUGHOUT THE FIELD due to :
The Drivers could race, and pass, while juggling tyre degredation, fuel stops, engine reliability, etc. i.e. They used strategies which enhanced RACING, and the crowds were ENTERTAINED. If the morons who are in charge of V8Supercars can get that right, then They, Nascar, DTM, etc etc, will see the end of the processional rubbish which is F1. Where were the passes through out the field ? how many Cossie engined cars passed each other ? How often was any driver able to get close enough to threaten, or even show the nose alongside ?
I have followed F1 since I was a kid, and saw Stirling Moss and Black Jack dicing it out.
Melbourne may well be the last race I take an interest in.
It was a bloody boring procession because, close the gap to 1 second and THE FINEST DRIVERS IN THE WORLD COULD NOT OVERTAKE ANY CAR IMMEDIATELY IN FRONT.

[JayVee]

In my view I do beleive that Alonso would have got past Vettel with ease. He was something like 3 seconds quicker so yes it is difficult but you can pass. Those who couldn't are just making excuses besides they may not want to risk passing for just a point or two but the difference between winning and coming second is big now so we will see drivers willing to take that risk.

Before Vettel developed his problem, Alonso closed in and the gap was down to a second or so and on the straights he was moving out of the dirty air behind Vettel to look after his tyres.

Sadly we cannot prove whether he would have passed or not so lets see the next race.

As for boring, well I asked this before, what is the difference between this race and the first race of last season when Button and Barrichello finished 1-2 ? What was exciting then ? Is it just the safety car that made the difference ?

It has always be difficult in Formula 1 to overtake

[szhjcn]

Hi,

Sorry with Jayvee

You must have posted your reply while I was writing mine

[Jim Watt]

Greetings Chaps:

F1 Greyhound's analysis was spot on, I think.
But Julian's point about the ridiculous situation of lining up twenty plus of the world's best drivers separated by one or two seconds ... and yet no one able to pull even with a car ahead and raise the issue of an overtaking was also well spoken.
(I watched the V-8 SuperCars this past week end from, I believe, Adelaide and I agree with him about the entertainment value of the show. )

It will be fun to see if Jay Vee is right about Ferrari this year, but I don't see, at this point, how Fernando can repeat if Seb V. can get a handle on the problem with his machine.

Yesterday, Ron Dennis opined that what REALLY happened was that he was running out of fuel and had to dial back the injectors ; that's why, at the end when he was threatened by Nico Rosberg, he was able to return to competitive lap speeds. If Ron's right, then we may find the young German laying off until there are ten or fifteen laps to go. And THAT would certainly go some way to 'solving' some of the overtaking problem!

My own thought is that we need to trash all Tilke tracks. Or send in some dozers and bank (about 30 degrees) and widen some of the slow turns so that you could see three wide action there. If you had three grooves, you know you'd see overtaking and wheel banging!

I just got my Pole N 10 results; got 60 points for Bahrain and am ranked 98th of 2973, so I'm ranked ten points lower than the end of last season (88th of 2869). But I think it's going to be a lot harder to stay in the top one hundred this year because places 1-8 are going to be divided up pretty equally among Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes --so everyone will be guaranteed points just for entering those eight drivers, no matter how they line them up!

Ah well, on to Melbourne; hopefully the circuit surface will be challenging enough to favor the better drivers. McLaren is always more solid at kerb climbing, so don't write Lewis and Jenson off just yet! I'm still toying with my list.

Jim Watt

[Kapel]

My DOTD was Adrian Sutil..
he was down to 21st at the end of 1st lap and finished 12th...sure did a lot of overtaking..

I cant remember an exiciting race in Bahrain since its debut..tilke tracks are boring...Bahrain is one of the most boring circuits!!! I'm sure the drivers dooze off while driving...apart from seeing the diffuser on the car in front..what else is there to see around the circuit??!!...sorry..nice golden sand..good stadium seating..i bet every driver knows the colour combination of the seats on grandstand..no people..

I think Redbull & Ferrari are in a league..with Mclaren & Mercedes ..then Force India..Sauber..etc...
No more comments on the race..

I'm for sure expecting some spectacle in Australian GP..some crashes..a couple of slides, spins etc..