FORMULA 1 2018 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX: RACE *** SPOILERS ***

But don´t the have pit boards? I think there are other ways to tell the driver what to do other than the team radio...
A simple "push", "keep position" or "pit" sign should be enough to tell the driver what to do during the race and tell him about the intended stategy...

I loved the fact that Seb told his own team over the radio that the tires are fine although they were gone because he knew Mercedes would hear that call and take their informations from that

 

Enough has been said on here about the race.
My question is with regards to Seb's tires.
Pirelli disclosed how many laps each compound is supposed to last.
25, 30, 40 laps for medium, softs, and SS, something like that. not sure of actual numbers.
Tha's besides the point.
My question is what's the explanation for Seb's tires still be "driveable" and "controllable" and "ok" even though he clearly surpassed Pirelli's recommended max number of laps by 10 (?) laps at least.
Of course Seb drove with incredible skills. Of course Seb conserved his tires. he is a master at it.
However, I seriously (will) question Pirelli's numbers from now on. There is a lot of uncertainty on the number of laps a compound will last.

 

Rubbering in of the track, ambient temp, track temp, driver skill, there are a lot of variables. I believe Pirelli's numbers are on the safe side, but they could never give a definite number of laps before the tire fell off. Too many things to consider.

 

There are 2 occasions where Ferrari attempted this in the past and blew the tires, though this is, I think, the farthest beyond the recommendations they tried. Given that, I was fully expecting to see Vettel get a puncture or have to pit before the end. The former could have been disasterous, and cost a podium, the latter given him an easy 3rd as the gap to Gasly was over a minute. Given nobody even saw a blister on the tires, I can see why they went for it, and it worked out (probably, at least in part, due to the lessons they learned when they went for it in the past and it didn't work out).

 

yeah, I did'nt see any differentiation in Seb's tyres in those last 10 laps....front and rear..they all looked smooth....you can tell when the tyres are really shot when you start seeing "bands" on the tyres. I think the SF71-H does'nt eat tyres as fast like the W09. ex of the tyres in these photos.



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I'll bet Pirelli will really examine Seb's tires carefully to see what condition they were really in. Could he have gone another 5 or 10 laps, or was at least one of them ready to blow? (It's a good thing he didn't attempt any "doughnuts"!)

 

Oh, quite possibly. I have only watched that one race and there was ontop of everything rain coming out and then it dried up again. It was really the driver's choice there. And as they had no means of knowing how well others fare that have pitted they had to remain on their own gut feeling. Superb.

A tyre lasting a certain amount of laps is due to how you drive it. If you keep it in the right temperature and be careful with how you load it you make it last longer. Equally break a bit earlier, go gentle through the harsh turns, voila. I think it is mean to last 30 laps under average "consumption". I am a lazy driver and my breaks and tyres last way longer than anyone else I know. When I was a student me and my friend had identical cars. He went through tyres 4x faster than I did! Equally, though, he went through his clutch and breaks at a similar rate

 

I thought it was a good move. He likely would not have had another chance to get past Ham. If he had succeeded Ham would have not been able to move up nearly as quickly. The lead up to the pass and the pass itself was perfect. Trying to push Ham outside was risky, not stupid per say, just risky and it resulted in a race incident that ultimately retired the car.

 

Kimi called "Ciga" to check in on how he's doing.

it.motorsport.com/f1/news/ferrari-raikkonen-ha-telefonato-a-francesco-cigarini-gia-in-piedi-1024287/ … (Italian)

 

From someone that doesn't watch F1 regularly, what is the reason for Kimi stopping in pit lane after hitting the mechanic? Stopping and abandoning your car in the middle of pit lane seems like a pretty unsafe practice, and would be an issue for any other car that needed to come in. I don't think they ever actually closed pit lane did they?

 

I like the concept, but modern electronics would make cheating incredibly easy...unless the FIA wants to jam all frequencies in the vicinity of the track. Of course, that would be impossible because there are helicopters, medical personnel, marshalls, etc. who rely on information transmitted wirelessly.

 

If this business of tire life IS NOT an exact science, then Pirelli should provide a "range" and not an exact number. This would be more accurate and reflecting reality. I deal with life predictions too, on different items though, but there are always external factors influencing these estimates. Soft compound should last 25 to 35 laps under average driving conditions would be more realistic to me then a hard 30 number, IMHO.
I for one, would much prefer to see the cars wearing one compound from lap 1 to last lap, of course if it rains they have the option to switch, but in dry weather, one tire for the entire race would be a much better measure of whom deserves to be the champion. Instead, the championship can, and has in the past been decided on training and competence of the Pit crew. Pit crew tire replacement skills (or lack thereof) should not IMHO have an impact on the driver's or manufacturer's championship.

 

Yes, why didn't Kimi continued and return to change the other tire? I know twh team told him to stop but why?...all 4 tires where properly atached or not?

 

Francesco installation lap...

He is now in crutches...

https://www.instagram.com/p/BhWglylF7pR/

 

I am quit sure that he would have been disqualified going out on the hot track with two different tyres...not to mention how dangerous it would have been to drive once around the entire track with them

 

When he rolled out of the pit box he had 3 new tires and one old one.

 

i believe you have three laps to replace the tire

 

watched the radio call highlight video on the F1 website, after Gasly finishes and they are congratulating him, he also adds, "Now we can fight!".

This gets my vote for T-shirt of the year, up there with "Leave me alone I know what I'm doing"

 

Exactly what it says on the F1 website, in the summary of rules for tires, this is not the actual regulation:

• "Any driver who uses a set of tyres of differing specifications during the race may not complete more than three laps on this set before changing them for a set of tyres of the same specification. A penalty will be imposed on any driver who does not change tyres within three laps."

And here is the excerpt from 24.4 (b)
The only sets of tyres which may be used during an Event are those which are defined in Article 24.2(a). Any driver who uses a set of tyres of differing specifications during the race may not complete more than three laps on this set before changing them for a set of tyres of the same specification. A penalty under Article 38.3(d) will be imposed on any driver who does not change tyres within three laps. For the avoidance of doubt, a set of tyres of differing specifications will not be con

 

I can get that if that is the rule. I just don't understand stopping in the middle of pit lane.

Other forms of racing have a cutout at the end of pit lane for cars to go back behind the wall. The end of pit lane is also where stop and hold penalties are enforced in some series. Both of those seem like better options than stopping in the middle of pit lane, and having the crew push the car back.

 

Not sure if Kimi was totally out of tires or what the rest of their thinking was either.

Since F1 doesn't do it that way, (take the car back to the garage or behind the garages) I guess they were thinking that stopping and then pushing the car back to repair would be faster than driving an entire lap. The cars are not allowed to shift into reverse on the pit lane.

 

I looked at the video a couple times... hard to watch... but could they just not get that rear tire off. It didn't appear that they were even doing anything. Maybe it's just hard to tell while they're working the gun trying to get it off but it looked like nothing was even happening in that corner. Also, the 'go" lights that Kimi looks for - are they triggered manually by someone in pit lane or what and if so, how did they not see a guy standing in front of a giant rear wheel about to run him over?

 

Kimi was ordered to stop by the pit wall. It wasn’t his decision. I can only presume that they didn’t know if the left rear was securely attached or loose. They had to stop him or risk catastrophe.

 

This website has lap times, you can find the lap times and subtract all the other drivers then mouse along and see his last 10 laps slowing down. Not enough for blisters or graining, but getting slower. https://www.racefans.net/2018/04/08/2018-bahrain-grand-prix-interactive-data-lap-charts-times-and-tyres/
LAP TIME
40 94.800
45 95.482
46 95.437
47 95.019
48 95.266
49 95.302
50 95.332
51 95.406
52 95.412
53 95.805
54 95.778
55 95.947
56 96.625
57 97.033

 

I don't think Pirelli says "this tyre lasts 30 laps". They most likely communicate somthing like:

Under the reference conditions (see attachement A: track temperature; attachement B: air temperature; attachement C: fuel load; attachement D: engine mapping) we predict a 90% likelihood of compound XYZ lasting 30 laps given car conditions are within: attachement E: tyre pressure; attachement F: suspension geometry; attachement G: tyre temperature.

It is only all boiled down to something really really really simple that a TV station can communicate to the viewers.