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

[CHT]

Which teams or drivers are hiding their pace?

LH seems off in comparison to GR.

[AR3-GP]

FP3 1.5s quicker than last year, crazy...

I predicted this on the first page of this thread

[quincalla]

Both Perez and Verstappen currently running on one of the 2 sets of hard tires.

they may be going for a one stopper, S-H. any lucky safety car towards the end and they throw on a M?

They were the only ones to do S-S-H last year, they'll do the same this time around. Nobody is gonna use the mediums but they have to save a set anyway.

[Formula 1 fan]

Can anyone explain me, how on Earth Hamilton lap was so bad, it is completely bad compared to yesterday, did team changed setup on Lewis car?

[Watto]

Can anyone explain me, how on Earth Hamilton lap was so bad, it is completely bad compared to yesterday, did team changed setup on Lewis car?

Wonder if the car was running too low yesterday with all the sparks/potential plank wear and they’ve risen the car level a little today and dropped some pace?

[Sieper]

Can anyone explain me, how on Earth Hamilton lap was so bad, it is completely bad compared to yesterday, did team changed setup on Lewis car?

It was way early. Track conditions improved a lot.

[F1Krof]

Can anyone explain me, how on Earth Hamilton lap was so bad, it is completely bad compared to yesterday, did team changed setup on Lewis car?

Wonder if the car was running too low yesterday with all the sparks/potential plank wear and they’ve risen the car level a little today and dropped some pace?

I'd put it into track conditions. P3 is not indicative of the pecking order, if you go chase the setup for P3 then probably you'd struggle in Qualy as the track conditions are very different.

[zubster]

Can anyone explain me, how on Earth Hamilton lap was so bad, it is completely bad compared to yesterday, did team changed setup on Lewis car?

He did his run a lot earlier than everyone else, so not really representative

[Sevach]

Can anyone explain me, how on Earth Hamilton lap was so bad, it is completely bad compared to yesterday, did team changed setup on Lewis car?

Wonder if the car was running too low yesterday with all the sparks/potential plank wear and they’ve risen the car level a little today and dropped some pace?

They definitely seem to be grounding a lot less today...
But the car looked a handful.

Might just be tire temps under the sun.

[Watto]

Can anyone explain me, how on Earth Hamilton lap was so bad, it is completely bad compared to yesterday, did team changed setup on Lewis car?

Wonder if the car was running too low yesterday with all the sparks/potential plank wear and they’ve risen the car level a little today and dropped some pace?

I'd put it into track conditions. P3 is not indicative of the pecking order, if you go chase the setup for P3 then probably you'd struggle in Qualy as the track conditions are very different.

Fair point too we await quali to see how they go

[search]

Can anyone explain me, how on Earth Hamilton lap was so bad, it is completely bad compared to yesterday, did team changed setup on Lewis car?

He did his run a lot earlier than everyone else, so not really representative

Hamilton was in 7th only after finishing his run, so it's not like all those cars leapfrogged him by running later. It was mainly a bad lap.

[Unc1eM0nty]

Can anyone explain me, how on Earth Hamilton lap was so bad, it is completely bad compared to yesterday, did team changed setup on Lewis car?

Wonder if the car was running too low yesterday with all the sparks/potential plank wear and they’ve risen the car level a little today and dropped some pace?

They definitely seem to be grounding a lot less today...
But the car looked a handful.

Might just be tire temps under the sun.

Yeah I though the same, cooler temps may suit them more

Either way its gunner be close, looking forward to a great qually session

[Formula 1 fan]

I will not draw conclusions about Mercedes yet, I will wait for qualifying and if Mercedes repeats the bad results like in the third practice, then I will really understand Hamilton's decision to leave Mercedes.

[vanburin]

I will not draw conclusions about Mercedes yet, I will wait for qualifying and if Mercedes repeats the bad results like in the third practice, then I will really understand Hamilton's decision to leave Mercedes.

Russell was less than 4 tenths off of 1st in FP3, but LH was another 3 tenths back of him. I'd chalk it up to something specific with Lewis' lap (tyre warm up, track conditions, perhaps setup tweaks) than the true overall pace of the car..

[AR3-GP]

If you really think about it, qualifying should be the closest session of the weekend. T6/T7 and T12 are flat with low fuel and new tires so there are fewer performance differentiating corners for the higher downforce cars to make a difference in. This is especially true for leading cars that make their advantage through aero, rather than PU. A PU advantage carries on both low and high fuel. An aero advantage weakens with lower fuel loads as more corners become flat corners for the cars with less downforce.

If not for Parc Ferme, the higher downforce cars would benefit a lot from true qualifying setups where they shed unnecessary downforce (which is only going to benefit them in a long run with high fuel) in exchange for straight line speed. Then the slower cars no longer would be able to close in because they don't have downforce to spare.