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

Sky have Brundle,Herbert,Hill,Di Resta...so yep quite a ton of racing experience from karting through all the lower formulas/Le Mans etc up to F1.

Crofty is the exception though.

Yes they are of course biased towards the British drivers..is this any surprise?

 

Yes, I am referring to you "let´s bash Seb"- month last year, maybe you remember
Vettel had "the right" to defend his position at the start and Lewis had the "right to be on the outside"...Just because you have the right to be there does not mean it is clever...Lewis could have avoided the crash if he really tried to and just because he got away without damage does not mean he will in future...
And Max´ move was nothing Lewis would have not done as well....Difference is the slower cars in front played into Lewis´ hands when he was overtaking three cars at the end of the straight making him look like a hero and they played not into the hand of Max because he met Alonso in the middle of the corner unexpected slow and had to leave the intended line he was taking for the move. The overtaking against Lewis would have actually worked without Alonso being where he was... ->racing incident
If this was "Dhead" then 90% of the maneuvers of Lewis against Nico were DHead as well so no need to sit on the high horse for LH44

 

'Me bash Seb month' LOL

It's pretty obvious who was doing the smashing!That one was done to death at the time ..what's the point of raking it over again....

Rosberg? what has he got to do with anything ..sitting at home on his sofa.

 

Yes exactly...I guess I can tell you that there is a difference between what is going on behind you and what is going on in front of you.
Please explain me who saw Max in these two incidents? Seb who was driving in front of him (with small mirrors) or Lewis who was driving next/behind him....
If you do not see the difference I feel sorry for you...

 

About you edit: Hamilton had similar moves (and even worse) against Nico in the past...So if he calls Max a DHead for that he should look in the mirror instead

 

They are completely different accidents,so yes there is a big difference.why you want to compare them only you know .

Good luck ,keep going,i have other things to do right now,thanks for your concern

 

sigh...

 

Well with the Bahrain one we have Lewis with all the space in the world thinking of going wide but then just steering in on Max again....so yeah.

 

+1. No driver is a saint or is about to be made one in Vatican City. None of them!!

 

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Oh dear. A lack of F1 knowledge displayed here. Clearly the difference between passing in Australia and passing in Bahrain has been forgotten.

Bottas did a terrible job in Bahrain. Merc have every right to be disappointed in him. He drove like Kimi. Second class.

Still, it makes no difference as Ferrari won, so I’m quite pleased with Mercs under performance. What must be very satisfying to Ferrari is that they have finally over come their strategy weakness from last season and can now win even when the car is not as good as the Merc.

 

You are welcome and thank you for letting us witness your knowledge at this point....
May I ask how (from the middle of your couch) you know in what condition Bottas´ tyres were after pushing for 15 laps to close the gap after Mercedes finally found out that Seb would not pit anymore? Bottas had one chance and he backed up when he saw it would not work out as obviously he does not want to be the driver to start an open war in F1 after crashing out the main opponent of his team...We know that Lewis would have closed his eyes and put his foot down even if it meant that either he and/or Seb would have ended up in the gravel. For some reasons he called it a "DHead"-move when Max did it to him...

Interesting, because the majority of the experts had the opinion that actually the strategy of Mercedes was the better one leaving Ferrari no option but to let Seb out on the worse tyres and that it is only thanks to Seb nursing the car around the track that they won rather than because of their strategy...But maybe they lack knowledge as well

 

Apparently they could have turned it up one notch further :

https://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2018/04/analysis-how-did-vettel-hold-bottas-off-in-bahrain-gp-and-did-mercedes-pull-a-punch/

Raikkonen’s race however was ruined by an unfortunate incident in the second pit stop on Lap 35 (above), where he left the pit box before the rear left tyre had been changed, knocking over and badly injuring one of the mechanics.


This could have turned the race; with the confusion in the Ferrari garage as Raikkonen’s car was pulled back and the mechanic was attended to, Ferrari could not pit Vettel.


Mercedes could have capitalised on this – with Ferrari not prepared for a stop and a man down – they could have gone for the jugular, panicked Ferrari by stopping one of their cars at this point.

But they decided that this would not be a correct thing to do and would be judged harshly; a rare example of scruple in a fierce competitive battle.

Best,

Sammy

 

What a wise decision that was, indeed. They would have lost plenty of sympathy exploiting that moment.

 

And if you believe that, I have these magic beans I bought earlier, good for two more wishes......... Britney just arrived at my door, she has all her limbs intact and is ready to party, so I don’t need em anymore

Mercedes, scruples........ hehehehehehehe I nearly choked on my shredded wheat. That’s a good one, put that straight in the ‘laugh at F1 2018’ thread right this minute.

They got beat, Seb did a great job, fooled them, and bottas ran out of tyres to do anything about it. As if they gave up on the race, who are they trying to kid, maybe a few shareholders are getting ancy, they haven’t won a race for two in a row, and elton is driving like miss daisy with the same dementia on show with his whining and confusion over where he is and what he was doing

Oops, almost forgot the obligatory to let everyone know I’m in good humour

 

I seriously doubt Merc didn't pit out of deference to Ferrari. Toto wouldn't hesitate to bring em in and mow over another one if it meant winning the race. (I kid... sort of) Seriously.. when though have Merc displayed such sportsmanship in recent years? In the end, botched Ferrari strategy followed by slightly worse timed botch by Merc plain and simple. Ferrari got lucky... again. But isn't that how F1 goes sometimes?

 

Edited for accuracy.

^^^That was actually quite funny lol - in a non offensive etc way

Best,
Sammy

 

Bottas has the race intelligence to realise a 2,3 is better than a 1 and retirement plus points on his licence and grid penalties for the next race if his tyres can’t cope with the overtake. Elton would’ve just sent one up the inside and then whined his way through the interviews and condemnation of those with a brain afterwards, claiming he has some divine right to smash his way to the front, regardless of the safety of anyone and the sportsmanship that a worldwide sport should be showing its fans

 

Perhaps I should explain in more detail why I hold my opinion with regards to race strategy. It needs to be dynamic and it needs to be changed as the race goes on as conditions and incidents happen. Ferrari did an excellent job of handling a really bad situation (Kimi's unfortunate pit stop and mechanic incident), and having enough strategic capability to realise that their only chance of victory was to try and get Seb to nurse his car to the end. That wasn't Seb's decision in isolation, that was a team decision and the team did really well to turn a bad situation in to victory. Last year, Ferrari were not as 'smart' at strategy, and it cost them (as did reliability and some unfortunate on track incidents). It was a brilliant victory.

This year, Merc have so far proven to be much less adaptable to changes during the race and their strategy, whilst maybe better before the race started, couldn't evolve fast enough. They are also held back by their drivers (both Ham and Bot) who are not as good as Seb at thinking strategically when the unexpected happens. They just know how to operate the car.

 

Comparing Max. speeds of BahrainGP qualifying - 2018 vs 2017:
- Ferrari slightly faster than Mercedes
- Toro Rosso has gained most on speed trap
- Williams by 13kph slower, possible aero not working properly

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Understood, but I think Ferrari was left without any other choice than doing so by Mercedes. It was the strategy of Mercedes that put pressure on Ferrari not the other way round. Ferrari was not acting, they only could react and it was them to loose the race as they were running in front. It was certainly not only Sebs decision but I think his feedback and his ability to nurse the tyres at the end were the only reason it worked out. And it almost did not work out so I do not think that Ferrari was the one with the good strategy

 

Time to focus on China, but I can't help pointing out that for all the grumbling about DRS, wasn't Max' pass on HAM last week on lap 2, so was it a non-DRS pass that then led to their collision? From watching more replays it was interesting to note how it looked like HAM had slowed enough to maintain position behind Fernando, so from the VER cockpit view the Red Bull was really gaining on ALO right to the apex, likely with HAM thinking he'd drive around the outside of ALO, but then as we all know VER put his car in between them and there was contact.

Since the stewards called it a racing incident, then there you have it.

 

This indicates they were all slower in the speed trap than last year and that Torro Rosso lost the least. Makes sense since the engine gains are minimal this year due to the step down to 3 engines but they've all added a bunch of downforce from winter development. Much of top speed comes down to setup. McLaren was one team that admitted they were carrying too much downforce.

 

As to Seb's tire management, it was very skillful. I will say also, though, that he was out front much of the time in clean air, so had aero on his side that helps keep from having to rely on mechanical grip of the tires. Thus, a bit longer tire life. It was still a gutsy and amazing drive.