2024 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, Feb 29 - Mar 02

[CaribouBread]

Not totally sure if this is on topic, but the broadcast on F1TV constantly talking and hyping up Kimi Antonelli annoys me. The kid is 17, can we focus on the F1 drivers racing in Bahrain instead...

There's some divine irony in the fact that the Premas qualified 18/19. Hopefully that takes some hype off for the sake of the kid.

[Alonsismo]

the aston is FAST

[DGP123]

Not totally sure if this is on topic, but the broadcast on F1TV constantly talking and hyping up Kimi Antonelli annoys me. The kid is 17, can we focus on the F1 drivers racing in Bahrain instead...

Yea after Toto's comments about not giving Lewis a longer contract because they didnt want to lose Kimi he's under a lot of pressure, everyone is going to be hyper-focusing on his performances now

He’s got his own thread All F2 stuff should go there, not here

[stewie325]

Why is Russell bottoming out so much here? You'd think they spent the whole test on that and fixed it by FP2.

[search]

a bit odd that Williams is out on new mediums after having already used two of their three sets in FP1. They must aim for S-H-H or sth like that in the race.

[AR3-GP]

These soft tires have so much more grip.

[-wkst-]

the aston is FAST

ALO ist still slower than his FP2 last year...

Still nearly 2 sec away from pole...

[Hammerfist]

Not totally sure if this is on topic, but the broadcast on F1TV constantly talking and hyping up Kimi Antonelli annoys me. The kid is 17, can we focus on the F1 drivers racing in Bahrain instead...

Yea after Toto's comments about not giving Lewis a longer contract because they didnt want to lose Kimi he's under a lot of pressure, everyone is going to be hyper-focusing on his performances now

Outqualified his teammate though. First quali session in f2. Not bad.

[erudite450]

You could clearly see Max wasn't even trying. I think they're massively sandbagging. I got Ferrari as second best and AMR (with Alonso) 3rd just in front of the Mercs.

Some of these comments are becoming ridiculous now. No one is doubting Redbull's clear advantage but there's no need to overplay it. A driver doesn't need to be sawing away at the wheels to show he's pushing if the car is well balanced. There's no reason for a racing driver not to be pushing on the first weekend of the season. Come on!

Pretty sure Max did his laps with the engine turned off.

That's not my point. I'm pretty sure the Redbull is no where near its ultimate performance - neither are the other teams to be fair - but saying Verstappen is "not even trying" is just overplaying it.

[AR3-GP]

Norris and Leclerc heading out on new softs.

[AR3-GP]

Hamilton out on new softs.

[DGP123]

Hamilton out on new softs.

Goes quicker 1:30:374

[Peter Ian Staker]

Merc doing glory runs on full engine power?

[mkay]

Merc doing glory runs on full engine power?

Everybody is turning engines up. Ferrari, Merc, RB doing 315-317kph down the straights.

[CaribouBread]

The way that Merc's shooting sparks down the straights I'd have assumed they have a jet engine afterburner going