2016 FORMULA 1 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX: RACE ***SPOILERS***

Half I think.

 

Nevertheless, it's a huge waste of money.

 

The last 2 years must have completely destroyed his motivation, but not as much as his chances to drive for another team.

I don't think his reputation will ever recover from this fiasco. He is only 35 ...


For Button it's different; he seems at the end of his career anyway.

 

Both Fernando Alonso and Ron Dennis tried to convince the FIA to allow Alonso to race this weekend but the FIA wouldn't budge.

And Ron and Alonso were sharing a laugh and a joke whilst watching from the "prat perch" during the race weekend.

If Alonso didn't want to be there, he could easily have walked away at the end of last season and everyone bar none would have understood!

I think some people are reading far too much into this current situation!

 

"You don't change horses in midsteam", says the dictum, but if I was Honda, my money would be on Stoffel Vandoorne from now on !!!

 

1) I think Ron was super worried about not having a back up driver for this race. Remember they got rid of Magnusson last year. Today's race by Vandoome has to be a complete shock to everyone given he's never even driven the car before. A pleasant shock but I don't think even McLaren thought he could do much of anything, let alone score an actual point.

2) The FIA should have the final decisions over the teams on this issue.

3) I think Alonso DID want to walk away but the money is good and Honda probably had a lot to do with convincing him things would be different. Alonso's head shake after Button dropped out shows his true frustration.

4) The Macs are showing a lot of improvement but they are still the 5th place team now with even Haas showing them up. That has to be frustrating for Alonso who knows he doesn't have much more seat time left.

If everyone remembers, Alonso came on as the new golden boy in his early years. It didn't work out that way as people like Hamilton and Vettel stole the show. That has to hurt. You have to wonder -- what might have been.

 

+1


Today was a reality check at McLaren.

The car has been "crap" according to its 2 drivers who demonstrated as much.

Yet, a young GP2 graduate, with hardly any time at the wheel in F1, eclipses the regular driver in qualifications, drives a very sensible race and -out of the blue- even scores a point at his first attempt.

The stuff dreams are made of !!

 

Agree....it's far from over, but confidence and command are critical WDC attributes, and he has them right now. Ham won't rollover (nor Seb), so he will certainly have to earn the title.

Still, so far so good.

 

We have what, 6 teams all vying for 5th to 10th positions? Absolutely fantastic battles out there.

What amazes me is Ferrari's race pace relative to the Mercedes. I don't think Nico was managing the gap very much, he was very much racing I suspect. Hamilton, once in clear air, though with a slightly bend car (again, I doubt he lost a second per lap in performance, or anywhere near that!), didn't really close in on Kimi.

Verstappen had a great race, and certainly a mature one. Had they boxed him a lap earlier, perhaps 2, he'd have snatched Grosjean's place too. Bit of a late reaction. Think he was managing his mediums too and didn't expect to pit with 10 laps to go. He had some great overtakings again today. This kid is absolutely amazing on the brakes.

 

Not just a GP2 graduate...GP2 Drivers Champ. He should take Button's spot. Button needs to be put out to pasture, imo.

 

I'll just rinse and repeat like every season, quit watching.

I actually thought the first half of the race was damn good. I also kept expecting Hamilton to have some sort of problem that would arise from the incident with Bottas. I think they're both fortunate they finished the race.

 

I'm upset Seb's motor let loose on the warm up lap.

 

I was too. That really sucked.

Vettel could have changed everything about the race. 1, 2, and 3 could have all changed becauseof Vettel.

 

First 15-20 laps were good and then about lap 45 started to get good again with some overtaking. Wasn't a bad race.

 

What has happened to Williams racing? I was sure that third place money would launch them forward. Looks like it's been squandered. Time for changes in that team.

 

It's amazing that at this point, Grosjean is tied with Kimi and ahead of Vettel!

 

Upsetting that Vettel didn't get a chance to race. I believe the results would have been different.

 

They could have been retained for their world titles and marketing power. The car isn't bringing itself any glory, so the marketing of two champion drivers has some value for Honda - particularly amongst the general public (not aware F1 fans) who might recognize Button and Alonso as champions, but might not be following recent results.

It's also possible that Honda thought two former champions would aid in the quicker development of the car, but it's difficult to see their feedback paying dividends when the car doesn't even have the reliability to finish most of the races. They simply aren't getting the race mileage on the car to catch up on the development, even though all of last year was considered to be a "development season".

It's a pretty sad state of affairs for both the historic McLaren team and, in particular, two excellent former world champions who are running out of time left in their careers to challenge for further titles.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

Lol calm down man. Button was ahead of SV before he had to retire. They both would have scored points. But none the less SV was awesome.

 

I'm surprised that as a reserve driver he wasn't already at the circuit instead of the late moment fly in? What would have happened if a regular driver got sick or fell down the stairs, shouldn't the reserve driver logically be on hand at all times during every race weekend? If SvD had Japan commitments then don't they have another sub? Considering the humungous dollar investment that seems like poor anticipation/planning to me. I'm sure Di Resta was in the Williams garage ready go at a moments notice, what about the other teams, anyone know who has 3 drivers on call at a GP?

 

I think the point is that what really sunk Honda last year was running slow and being unreliable. They were so unreliable they couldn't get enough data or experience to let them run faster. They kept dialing the cars BACK to try to make it all the way.

They were supposed to have spent the time getting at least this part sorted out. Having yet another failure 2 races in is not a good start.

That being said, Ferrari isn't much better. But at least when the run they run fast.

 

Haas! Leicester City!

HAAS!!!!

 

and you can't even drink alcohol in that country!

+1

Sad to see FI falling back, but at the same time glad to see McLaren and especially Manor moving up the grid.

THIS. Button moved up like 4-5 spots and was ahead of Vandoorn. Nonetheless, great first drive for The Doorman. Makes you wonder how Alonso could have finished if he drove and Button's car had not failed.



Haas, what a great debut for the team!

 

What was Bottas thinking? Just because there is space for your car doesn't mean you can make it around the turn safely - if he looked just 2 metres ahead of himself he would have seen that. Penalty deserved for ruining hamiltons race - hamiltons car lapping a second a lap slower due to the damage limited his chances for a comeback too

Rosberg is leading on merit but I expect as soon as Hamilton and the team sort the starts out he will quickly reel in rosberg. Rosberg was so much slower all weekend in Australia (behind in all sessions but if you get a bad start it's all but over. Early days yet


Van doorne drove well but claiming he would do better than the established drivers is ludicrous. You'll see in a few more races that Alonso and button will be scoring points. Nevertheless a great debut but have to recognise circumstances were in his favour

 

He was racing. Hambone has done the same in the past.