2018 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, April 6-8

[Brake Horse Power]

Ferrari's engine is just as powerful as Mercedes now so no more excuses!

Depends. Fuel efficiency is more important in race or in other words sustained power for the race.

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If Ferrari has same amount of power as Merc, then fuel consumption is pretty much the same. This formula is about fuel efficiency, since you are capped by 100kg of fuel, so that means more power you have, less fuel you burn actually.

It is not as simple as this. You do not know with how much kg a team starts. Comparing peak power between engines and making a relationship with efficiency is more related to the maximum fuel flow. This however doesn't necessarily need to say the engine is more efficient on track because you use an rpm range, it doesn't stay at one optimal rpm

[Sevach]

http://s1131.photobucket.com/user/timec ... 1.jpg.html

Ferrari to make 2 SS stints?

[zac510]

Annoyingly none of the FIA timing sheets nor my tv coverage mention anything about which tyres Bottas will start on. I saw he did his first Q2 timed lap on SS, but was the second (faster) laptime on S tyres?

[matt_b]

http://s1131.photobucket.com/user/timec ... 1.jpg.html

Ferrari to make 2 SS stints?

I think so, if they wanted to use 2 sets of the S they would've done Q1 with the SS instead. They must have confidence in the SS. I cant see it being a SS S 1 stop surely

[MtthsMlw]

Annoyingly none of the FIA timing sheets nor my tv coverage mention anything about which tyres Bottas will start on. I saw he did his first Q2 timed lap on SS, but was the second (faster) laptime on S tyres?

He will start on SS

[zac510]

Annoyingly none of the FIA timing sheets nor my tv coverage mention anything about which tyres Bottas will start on. I saw he did his first Q2 timed lap on SS, but was the second (faster) laptime on S tyres?

He will start on SS

Oh, thanks! I was looking at the laptime charts.

I suppose then that Bottas will 2-stop and Hamilton will 1 stop to mediums.

[PlatinumZealot]

I don't like the engine rules where the teams limit time on track and performance to save their engines.

I don't like the new rule of venting the crankcase to the atmosphere. Now we see the Ferrari engines going around with wisps of oil spewing out.

Agreed. Isn't venting the crank cases against what F1 stands for being all green and stuff?

In my opinion Ferrari, who wont miss any opporunity to do so, are passivlely protesting the ban on oil burning.

By smoking up the entire pit lane and impacting the health and safety of the persons there, they hope they can get FIA to rescind the ban on saftey grounds.

[AnotherAlex]

I don't like the new rule of venting the crankcase to the atmosphere. Now we see the Ferrari engines going around with wisps of oil spewing out.

The wisps of oil were actually more noticeable from the Mercedes when they were leaving their pits. From the Ferraris it's most noticeable at engine start-up.

I too would rather the excess was vented back into the airbox and the rule regarding the function of additives in the oil was policed via chemical analysis, but I guess that was considered too difficult. (Alternatively allow the additives in the fuel and be done with it.)

[Juzh]

Some onboard laps

Vettel vs Alonso Qualifying Lap




Vettel vs Hamilton Qualifying Lap




Vettel 2018 vs Bottas 2017 Pole Lap

[atanatizante]

This is what Alonso said regarding McLaren`s poor qualy performance on this track and I think it`s the same case for Mercedes: "This circuit requires a little bit different setup concept for qualifying and the race distance, because here the rear degradation is huge … With this type of circuit being stop and go, with heavy traction, corners and things like that, you need a very strong rear end. If you have a very strong rear end then you struggle in qualifying to rotate the car in the hairpins with the front end missing, so maybe we setup the car a little bit too much towards the race”.

Now regarding the FP2 race sims, being no.2 at their team Kimi and Bottas simulated the 2nd and 3rd stint of the race on the wrong tyre. Meanwhile, the favorite driver – Vettel – did the right thing to do: he did the 2nd race stint doing 17 laps on the soft one and was at least 4 tenths faster than both of them. Afterwards he did 6 laps on SS tyre, simulating the 3rd stint, being constantly on high 1.34 and low 1.35. In contrast Lewis did 12 laps on SS tyre simulating the 2nd stint, lapping in mid-1.35 at the beginning and low 1.36 at the end of the stint, but constantly being 1 to 2 tenths faster than Bottas. At the end he did a 7 lap 3rd stint (meaning his 2nd and last stint) lapping on low 1.35 …

There are at least 3 things worth to mention regarding tomorrow`s race strategy:
1. Soft tyres are faster (at least 2 tenths), last longer but most of all more consistent than SS tyre
2. Medium tyre, although it has the widest working window of all 2018 tyres, the optimum working temp is on the lower range and that`s the reason Lewis simulate that 3rd stint when track temps are at the lowest … and, I may suggest, it`ll favor Merc`s car the most …
3. Fuel consumption will be an issue for Ferrari in the race and this was the reason behind certain time lap drops and not driving to a delta like some thought.
4. That 100m longer DRS zone should have an impact here.

Edit: after qualy it seems that all teams has simulated the first and the second stint, hence what did Vettel on that soft tyre could be an encouraging fact for Lewis ...

[Artur Craft]

It's quite sad that fans like you(plural) like to see your idol win without fair(meaning more or less equal machinery) competition. Lewis pole this year reminded me of Schumacher 2004 pole. Both are so underwhelming and far from the track's edges.

A lap is bad because it was away from the curbs? I suggest watching the comparison videos again, Hamilton was fast because he stayed off the curbs...

I could have let this go away but just to show how LH fans usually have flawed analysis, I'm gonna point out to the fastest corner of the circuit where Vettel went right before the left-hander curb while Hamilton abused the apex curb.

In a fast corner, every thing you said about bouncing over and losing time is much more intensified. It all just goes to show how the whole point you were trying to make, in order to make Hamilton's driving look good, does not hold.

But my post wasn't even about riding curbs or not, it was about how much track Hamilton leaves on the entry and exit of the corners

And guess what, the super qualifier got beaten again (Bottas was pole last year) . I have to laugh big time at that and at Mclaren for getting humiliated by Gasly/STR/Honda

I can respect anyone being a fan of a driver, I do not have to extend the same courtesy to anyone being fanatical about a driver.

exactly my take with you LH fans

[Artur Craft]

Back on topic, Verstappen, the wonderboy, might have thrown away a pole there with that silly mistake.

I hope we have a cracking race tomorrow with him and Lewis coming from behind. I don't care if LH/Mercedes wins this, I just want to see a good race if that's the case. Hamilton is one of the best, if not the best, overtaker of the field so let's see how he deals with this. Verstappen might make another mistake as he did on Melbourne as he's too aggressive but passing is way easier on Barhrain, so hopefully not

[Phil]

I fear most of Lewis’s “overtaking” will be done on strategy, if he’ll indeed be running a one stop race. In other words, driving the pace of the cars that will be stopping twice. Evenso, i’d be surprised if he can get on the podium.

I am personally surprised at how much temperatures influenced Mercedes pace. In the race however, i think they’ll have an advantage by better economy/less fuel saving. If Bottas is aggressive enough, he could be in contention for the win, just a hunch. Meanwhile Hamilton has a tall order starting from 9th. Much will depend on his start on the harder tire - and, assuming he gets through without damage, how well he can progress past the Midfielders. In theory, i think Hamilton may be on the best/quickest strategy suited for his car, but evenso, 9th is a long way back for a win or podium, even with a stop less in potentially the quickest car for the race... i’ll go with best 3rd or 4th.

[Brenton]

I figure if it's a record then it would have been mentioned. But has 5th place ever been less than 0.5s behind pole before today? I wonder how many times this has happened, where the top 5 were within half a second.

Really exciting, both for the race and the championship. With Kimi showing form, maybe Ferrari have a shot at WCC too. Only big disappointing is McLaren... Would be great for F1 if McLaren was catching up to the big 3.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

Vettel vs Hamilton Qualifying Lap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUE2QAIjiZA

To avoid the tyre degradation, Merc have induced understeer, which is evident in how the car goes in first corner itself and that goes on through most of the corners. While Vettel can go tight into corners and go on throttle quickly, Lewis seems to wait that much longer to go on throttle, plus, Merc seems to have a bit more drag (may be by virtue of slightly more downforce) which makes them relatively slower on straights.