Bahrain GP 2010 - BIC

[donskar]

If by "exciting racing" we mean "a battle for the victory," then this was a very boring exhibition -- especially when compared to the Sao Paolo IRL race later this morning.

Congrats to Ferrari. Proof that if you sacrifice one season, you'll look good the following season (see: Brawn). Good to see Alonso's exhuberence -- shades of Schumi!

Seems Marmorini and team have solved (at least to some extent) Ferrari's much lamented fuel consumption problem.

I'm ready to look foolish by predicting a 3-way race: Vettel, Alonso, Hamilton.

[Just_a_fan]

At Bahrain the McLaren's were slow in the bumpy part of the middle section. The smoother high speed corners/sections didn't appear to be too much of a problem. This suggests that they have lost some of McLaren's recent ability over bumps. The Ferraris, on the other hand looked very comfortable on the bumps, again contrary to some of their recent performances.

I think we need to see the cars on a smooth track to see if it's just a suspension problem or if they have a real downforce problem.

Hamilton's performance in the race suggests that the downforce isn't too bad after all. Certainly compared to the low downforce car they had last year.

[Mr Alcatraz]

Our earlier race report stated that Sebastian Vettel’s loss of power on lap 33 of the Bahrain Grand Prix was due to an exhaust problem,” said a team statement. However, further investigations by the team have proven that the loss of power was actually due to a spark plug failure and not the exhaust.

This was pointed out in the RB6 thread!
Does it mean that it was definately a defective plug? Or could something else (either inside the cylinder or out) have caused it?

[segedunum]

Aside from the Toro Roso car there is nothing else like it. I am quite suprised that no other team has gone this route despite Red Bull showing the way last year.

I'm not really. The whole thing is a potential packaging and reliability nightmare, and you need to have ultimate confidence in the design you have and be willing to put up with the inevitable problems and perhaps non-finishes in order to develop it.

If they can get this reliable quickly (and it's a massive 'if' now as there are a worrying number of side-issues) then nothing can touch them.

[Poleman]

I dont see any major downforce problem...It was probably a bad setup or a combination of both...Anyways the times show that the cars were on pace,even with the "complete lack of downforce"

[feynman]

In the speed traps McLarens were touching 315kph in the race ... for comparsion Vettel was last with 301.
(Interesting that Lewis did his 315 a couple of laps in, Button did his 314 near the end ... which surprises me that fuel weight didn't factor more.
They did 313 and 310 respectively in Qualifying, fumes, new tyres.
Yes I know Vettel had engine problems roughly when you'd perhaps expect the hot laps, but Webber only managed 305, a coupla laps before Vettel's time. Massa and Alonso hovered around 306)

Listening to Whitmarsh, it seems there were definitely engineering discussions on how much downforce to generate, he indicated that he was not entirely happy with the outcome of those discussions. So maybe there is still scope to play about with wings, bolt on a barn-door, trade in some of that excessive topline, and rely on the f-vent to work it's arse off just to keep straightline merely reasonable.

(Yeah I appreciate it's never that straightforward, and a lot of heavy-duty smartguys crunched a lot of numbers to decide that particular setup, but we'll wait and see what happens over the next few races and practise sessions).

From the outside, I didn't get the feeling they were ever on top of the setup situation at anytime during practise, and then with some lost tracktime, and an awkward bump not helping, maybe they just need another shot at it.

I think the situation is still reasonably fluid, we should watch and see if we can detect a change in philosophy.

[thestig84]

Martin Whitmarsh had some interesting comments on the red button forum. He said they got it wrong on Saturday. Thought the bump was getting ground down so went for the firm set up. Even after it didnt get ground down the engineers reckoned it would be slower to not adapt the setup for the nasty bump. Also they ran too little wing and suffered in the stupidly long middle sector.

I think they still need to catch a couple teams but definitely didnt maximise their performance. I think that might be the case for a few teams hopefully today was underwhelming due to the unknown and teams being conservative. I agree with DC that Malaysia will be the best place to establish how it looks a bit better.

Good work on the pit stops Mclaren. Anyone else annoyed but the totally pointless total pit stop timing. There is a speed limit so why time the whole thing? they are going to same speed!! Please give a time for just the stop!! Then maybe a list in team speed of stop.

[godlameroso]

With steel breaks it's no wonder they lose damn near 3 seconds in the first sector alone.

Oh? And do you know what all the advantages of carbon brakes truly are?

Weight and durability off the top of my head.

[Sambo]

Martin Whitmarsh had some interesting comments on the red button forum. He said they got it wrong on Saturday. Thought the bump was getting ground down so went for the firm set up. Even after it didnt get ground down the engineers reckoned it would be slower to not adapt the setup for the nasty bump. Also they ran too little wing and suffered in the stupidly long middle sector.

I think they still need to catch a couple teams but definitely didnt maximise their performance. I think that might be the case for a few teams hopefully today was underwhelming due to the unknown and teams being conservative. I agree with DC that Malaysia will be the best place to establish how it looks a bit better.

Good work on the pit stops Mclaren. Anyone else annoyed but the totally pointless total pit stop timing. There is a speed limit so why time the whole thing? they are going to same speed!! Please give a time for just the stop!! Then maybe a list in team speed of stop.

I think thats right on par. Once they understand the car a little more and able to find a sweeter set-up they will be able to show their true pertormance. Still not up there with the ferrari's and Red Bulls but closed the gap anyway.

Does anyone have an insight into the snorkal/blown wing. I was hopeing for a higher top end as was reported on various sites but didnt seem as much as I anticapated....Any ideas anyone...?? Or am I just missing the point

[feynman]

Database query, got to admit, slightly surprised about the HAM second stint laptimes, closer than I thought.

"DRIVER", Stint Number, LapTime in seconds.

Average Laptimes First Stint (The Big Eight)

Code: Select all

"VET",1,122.599
"ALO",1,122.867
"MAS",1,122.944
"ROS",1,123.721
"HAM",1,123.742
"MSC",1,123.895
"BUT",1,124.005
"WEB",1,124.017

Average Laptimes Second Stint

Code: Select all

"ALO",2,120.327
"HAM",2,120.592
"MAS",2,120.676
"WEB",2,120.954
"BUT",2,120.970
"ROS",2,121.035
"MSC",2,121.136
"VET",2,121.651

(avg laptime in seconds, excludes standing start lap 1, and any pit in/out laps, just the racing laps)

Also a good description of Webber's long day bottled-up, and Vettel's spark plug.

[thestig84]

Im hopeful that it was a bad start due to teams being very cagey with all the unknown factors, the heat and the silly long circuit.

Button said he had been too soft on his tyres, when the teams learn how hard they can go then maybe we will see a little more aggression. Melbourne should be better as its not a massive empty souless track...never a good starting point.

I would imagine if you look at Bahrain 2009 and imagine everyone on a 1 stop i imagine it would have been just as boring.

Also anyone annoyed with FOM feed? Less radio...ages to show start replay, no focus lower down the field and worse of all useless pitstop timing, why the total time!?!?! What happened to all the ideas of pit crew comparison graphics?

[Sambo]

I agree, the second stint times are very interesting indeed.....

[kalinka]

I'm a bit surprised too, that McLaren didn't compromise it's excessive top speed for more downforce/lower top speed. Maybe it's the bumps? If they go for a higher downforce, maybe they were to suffer more from bumps?

[Sambo]

I agree, the second stint times are very interesting indeed.....

Yup, and show what a total plonker segedunum is being - there in black and white, Lewis's times look sooooo awful. Anyhoo, I'll try and make that my last feeding of the troll.

For sure. I can't see it being too long until they close the gap. I think the main issue today was just a bad set-up and unable to find the 'sweet' spot. For sure they need to find some downforce, but i dont beleive thats the only issue. But hey thats just my opinion....what do I know...!!

[Sambo]

With their blown wing idea, i was expecting a bit more top end speed. What do you guys think??