2018 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, April 6-8

[LM10]

He to back off behind Ric for his outlap then Sainz and Hulk got in the way during his flying lap, no blatant blocking just affecting downforce into those high speed sections. Ferrari should've had him out right behind Seb but there you go.

That's Kimi's lap. I think it was 3 tenths of a second slower than his first run.
I doubt he lost 3 tenths behind the first car which was Sainz. And he didn't lose anything behind Hulk on the straight.

Ricciardo had to lap Sainz too, by the way. Did Redbull put him in traffic on purpose too?

Whatever, I really like Kimi and he would have deserved the pole after such a nice weekend. It's good he is in form.

[atanatizante]

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.

At the start I saw that Bottas could pass Kimi knowing he`ll start from the dirty side of the track and maybe sneak between them and have a go to the inside of turn one had Vettel miss the start ...

Now regarding the first stint pace Ferrari has the upper hand both for their usual setup more (or maybe all) towards the race but mostly by running on the SS tyre (2017 US tyre), which has a smaller working window (than S tyre and that M tyre) but the most important fact is their optimum working temp is on the higher range, hence when track temp is higher Ferrari are running them best.

That`s not the case with Merc which has opted for a under-steering car in order to protect the rears. This setup overheats the front tyres and drivers must do a cool lap now and then ... That was the reason they have had those inconsistent lap times on SS in FP2. And last but not least, they must be careful not to overheat the engine so they must stay at least 2 sec away from the car in front or taking always other lines ...

Lewis should have an attack race for the first part of the race. He should pass at least 2 or 3 drivers at the start had he`ll have a good getaway, with taking a middle line and then go pass on the outside of turn 1. Then he must overtake the remaining drivers till Bottas or Kimi until the first round of pitstops. Although Ricci could be a hard nut to crack, RB top speed yesterday was 314-315km/h with DRS (he had a tow for that 320km/h). So without DRS Ricci should do 300km/h at max. and I think it`s enough for Lewis to have 320km/h with DRS in order to pass him ... Then, after the first round of pitstops for the front guys on SS it`s the hammer-time for him knowing he is in clean air ... and this is the time when he should recover so time lost in the first part of the race ... It`s also a good opportunity to have a SC phase in this race hence Merc should under-fuel his car with at least 10kg, which worth at least 3 tenths per lap ... After all this happened we should see the real cracker race in Lewis attacking Vettel for the last part of the race ...

[Justthatek]

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.

At the start I saw that Bottas could pass Kimi knowing he`ll start from the dirty side of the track and maybe sneak between them and have a go to the inside of turn one had Vettel miss the start ...

Now regarding the first stint pace Ferrari has the upper hand both for their usual setup more (or maybe all) towards the race but mostly by running on the SS tyre (2017 US tyre), which has a smaller working window (than S tyre and that M tyre) but the most important fact is their optimum working temp is on the higher range, hence when track temp is higher Ferrari are running them best.

That`s not the case with Merc which has opted for a under-steering car in order to protect the rears. This setup overheats the front tyres and drivers must do a cool lap now and then ... That was the reason they have had those inconsistent lap times on SS in FP2. And last but not least, they must be careful not to overheat the engine so they must stay at least 2 sec away from the car in front or taking always other lines ...

Lewis should have an attack race for the first part of the race. He should pass at least 2 or 3 drivers at the start had he`ll have a good getaway, with taking a middle line and then go pass on the outside of turn 1. Then he must overtake the remaining drivers till Bottas or Kimi until the first round of pitstops. Although Ricci could be a hard nut to crack, RB top speed yesterday was 314-315km/h with DRS (he had a tow for that 320km/h). So without DRS Ricci should do 300km/h at max. and I think it`s enough for Lewis to have 320km/h with DRS in order to pass him ... Then, after the first round of pitstops for the front guys on SS it`s the hammer-time for him knowing he is in clean air ... and this is the time when he should recover so time lost in the first part of the race ... It`s also a good opportunity to have a SC phase in this race hence Merc should under-fuel his car with at least 10kg, which worth at least 3 tenths per lap ... After all this happened we should see the real cracker race in Lewis attacking Vettel for the last part of the race ...

You make that sound so simple, if only it does go that way

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

[Fulcrum]

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.

At the start I saw that Bottas could pass Kimi knowing he`ll start from the dirty side of the track and maybe sneak between them and have a go to the inside of turn one had Vettel miss the start ...

Now regarding the first stint pace Ferrari has the upper hand both for their usual setup more (or maybe all) towards the race but mostly by running on the SS tyre (2017 US tyre), which has a smaller working window (than S tyre and that M tyre) but the most important fact is their optimum working temp is on the higher range, hence when track temp is higher Ferrari are running them best.

That`s not the case with Merc which has opted for a under-steering car in order to protect the rears. This setup overheats the front tyres and drivers must do a cool lap now and then ... That was the reason they have had those inconsistent lap times on SS in FP2. And last but not least, they must be careful not to overheat the engine so they must stay at least 2 sec away from the car in front or taking always other lines ...

Lewis should have an attack race for the first part of the race. He should pass at least 2 or 3 drivers at the start had he`ll have a good getaway, with taking a middle line and then go pass on the outside of turn 1. Then he must overtake the remaining drivers till Bottas or Kimi until the first round of pitstops. Although Ricci could be a hard nut to crack, RB top speed yesterday was 314-315km/h with DRS (he had a tow for that 320km/h). So without DRS Ricci should do 300km/h at max. and I think it`s enough for Lewis to have 320km/h with DRS in order to pass him ... Then, after the first round of pitstops for the front guys on SS it`s the hammer-time for him knowing he is in clean air ... and this is the time when he should recover so time lost in the first part of the race ... It`s also a good opportunity to have a SC phase in this race hence Merc should under-fuel his car with at least 10kg, which worth at least 3 tenths per lap ... After all this happened we should see the real cracker race in Lewis attacking Vettel for the last part of the race ...

Or he has a shunt into the first corner and game over. So many possibilities.

He probably has a good chance at a podium, but the race win seems highly unlikely unless one or both Ferrari's experience reliability issues.

[SectorOne]

Shaping up to be a great season so far, Ferrari is a real threat now and Red Bull is starting to come alive.
I hope for Ferrari´s sake they maintain this throughout the season and not go to sleep after the summer break.

If it keeps going like this then 2019 and 2020 will be legendary seasons with all three teams neck and neck.

[Jambier]

For now Ferrari seems much more promising than Merc

But with the regulations it really will be a long season with penalties for everyone

Each race can be a turnaround in the championship

[iotar__]

Rare, unseen angle of Verstappen's crash. Power surge (usually driver-foot-pedal related) is clearly visible:


#nothisfault #shiftinmassvehicularsingularity

If you didn't think throwing names like diva at best cars is a marketing stunt: it took one race out of total two where Ham is a tenth behind team-mate and two behind Ferrari to recycle it in a denial form, Wolff: car is not a diva but...

[DarkSurferZA]

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.

At the start I saw that Bottas could pass Kimi knowing he`ll start from the dirty side of the track and maybe sneak between them and have a go to the inside of turn one had Vettel miss the start ...

Now regarding the first stint pace Ferrari has the upper hand both for their usual setup more (or maybe all) towards the race but mostly by running on the SS tyre (2017 US tyre), which has a smaller working window (than S tyre and that M tyre) but the most important fact is their optimum working temp is on the higher range, hence when track temp is higher Ferrari are running them best.

That`s not the case with Merc which has opted for a under-steering car in order to protect the rears. This setup overheats the front tyres and drivers must do a cool lap now and then ... That was the reason they have had those inconsistent lap times on SS in FP2. And last but not least, they must be careful not to overheat the engine so they must stay at least 2 sec away from the car in front or taking always other lines ...

Lewis should have an attack race for the first part of the race. He should pass at least 2 or 3 drivers at the start had he`ll have a good getaway, with taking a middle line and then go pass on the outside of turn 1. Then he must overtake the remaining drivers till Bottas or Kimi until the first round of pitstops. Although Ricci could be a hard nut to crack, RB top speed yesterday was 314-315km/h with DRS (he had a tow for that 320km/h). So without DRS Ricci should do 300km/h at max. and I think it`s enough for Lewis to have 320km/h with DRS in order to pass him ... Then, after the first round of pitstops for the front guys on SS it`s the hammer-time for him knowing he is in clean air ... and this is the time when he should recover so time lost in the first part of the race ... It`s also a good opportunity to have a SC phase in this race hence Mercedes should under-fuel his car with at least 10kg, which worth at least 3 tenths per lap ... After all this happened we should see the real cracker race in Lewis attacking Vettel for the last part of the race ...

The Merc is quick and Lewis is driving like a deserving champion, but... I expect him to be happy with fourth at the end of the race, and if something lucky goes his favour, well then that's even better for him.

The under fueling comment is so ridiculous. You think any of the team's over fuel their cars? If it's possible to make the end with 10kg less fuel, all the cars are doing it. And how can it be 3/10ths? What about the fuel saving that he'll need to recover? If there is a safety car, it just means less fuel saving later.

Seems like you're saying Merc wanted to be 3rd so they could have the better car in the race but we all know by now that track position is king in this era of F1. If Merc were able to put Hamilton on pole even if it compromised a little in the race, they would have. The penalty for being so far out of position is just too high. There could be an incident, he could be stuck behind a slower car, he could burn up the tires trying to overtake anyway this negating the benefit of a good race set up.

[MtthsMlw]

Interesting, Vettel gaining most time on the straights and under acceleration (e.g. turn 14) while Bottas seems to be slightly better on the brakes (e.g. turn 15).
Last year this was often the other way around.


EDIT: Vettel said he was a bit conservative in turn 15 this might explain why Bottas is gaining time there.

[NathanOlder]

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.

Its happened lots, one that always comes to mind was the championship showdown in 1997.

Top 3 had identical times, 4th place was 0.058 behind. 6th place was less than half a second off.

Hell 8th place was 0.584 behind with 9th place 0.663 behind pole position. Imagine on the team radio. "Well done mate, 6 tenths off pole! P9."

[JPBD1990]

Interesting, Vettel gaining most time on the straights and under acceleration (e.g. turn 14) while Bottas seems to be slightly better on the brakes (e.g. turn 15).
Last year this was often the other way around.

https://streamable.com/bt1rf
EDIT: Vettel said he was a bit conservative in turn 15 this might explain why Bottas is gaining time there.

This graphic is amazing so thanks for sharing! But I think your analysis is overly simplistic. Vettel was ahead throughout the beginning of sector 2 (forget the corner numbers, but the flowing right-left-right before the hairpin) and again through braking and the traction zone onto the back straight. I mean I also agree with what you’re saying, but I think he was clearly ahead in other places, too. Mid and high speed. Really, he only appeared to suffer on braking into low speed corners, but made ground through traction on exit.

Having said that, I don’t really understand it. How can they be better through mid and high speed corners - and on the straight? Usually mid and high speed stuff in what you need the most downforce for, which is what Ferrari (reportedly) lacks over Mercedes??

[TAG]

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

It's killing you, and I'm laughing at you out loud when I saw that you'd quoted me yet again on this. He got out qualified today, nothing to do with being five grid spots down and setting up a car for the race. I'm looking forward to today's race as well. Cheers.

[MtthsMlw]

Interesting, Vettel gaining most time on the straights and under acceleration (e.g. turn 14) while Bottas seems to be slightly better on the brakes (e.g. turn 15).
Last year this was often the other way around.

https://streamable.com/bt1rf
EDIT: Vettel said he was a bit conservative in turn 15 this might explain why Bottas is gaining time there.

This graphic is amazing so thanks for sharing! But I think your analysis is overly simplistic. Vettel was ahead throughout the beginning of sector 2 (forget the corner numbers, but the flowing right-left-right before the hairpin) and again through braking and the traction zone onto the back straight. I mean I also agree with what you’re saying, but I think he was clearly ahead in other places, too. Mid and high speed. Really, he only appeared to suffer on braking into low speed corners, but made ground through traction on exit.

Having said that, I don’t really understand it. How can they be better through mid and high speed corners - and on the straight? Usually mid and high speed stuff in what you need the most downforce for, which is what Ferrari (reportedly) lacks over Mercedes??

Yeah, it's weird. This is basically what Ferrari wanted to achieve with the SF71H. Lowering drag for straight line speed while keeping the high rake to have enough downforce. In short, they combine the best of both worlds long wheelbase for efficient aerodynamics and high rake to help the diffuser generate downforce. As discussed before this makes it hard to find the perfect set up and balance but if they do - like they seem to have this weekend - the car is brutally fast. For sure there is more to it e.g. Merc struggling for grip with soft tires + abrasive asphalt.

[Silent Storm]

He to back off behind Ric for his outlap then Sainz and Hulk got in the way during his flying lap, no blatant blocking just affecting downforce into those high speed sections. Ferrari should've had him out right behind Seb but there you go.

That's Kimi's lap. I think it was 3 tenths of a second slower than his first run.
I doubt he lost 3 tenths behind the first car which was Sainz. And he didn't lose anything behind Hulk on the straight.

Ricciardo had to lap Sainz too, by the way. Did Redbull put him in traffic on purpose too?

Whatever, I really like Kimi and he would have deserved the pole after such a nice weekend. It's good he is in form.

Ricciardo got a tow from both Sainz and Hulk. Kimi had to slow down because of Sainz.

[ringo]

The win is possible if he has a super start and jumps a few cars, but it is very unlikley.
The safety car may also be necessary for lewis have any chance. I think this is a damage limitation race.
The ferrari's are really fast here.
What was the reason for the gearbox change?