[karan561]

Alonso was awesome today after his error in Malaysia, was a good drive by Kimi too.

Lewis had a close win but a deserving consecutive podium,looks like Mercedes has a decent car this season.

Sebestian Vettel, Oh Boy he was flying low, took over 12+ seconds off Lewis Hamilton in the last five laps. No wonder hes the triple world champion

But, Overall Alonso was the best driver today

[Mpower]

Superb defence by Hamilton with the worn tires.

looked Vettel had a clear shot but it was a sight to behold how Lewis went into the last corner locking tires and creating a smoke screen behind him.

[sameerg001]

Awesome race, We had so many race leaders at different point of time. From the starting, I was sure of alonso taking the podium. He was flawless throughout.

My boy vettel did awesome roday, The way he knocked 13+ seconds gap in 4 laps was a joy to see, I was wishing till the last corner, that vettel overtakes hamilton. No wonder he is a world champion, Way to go man. Had he would have taken a lap prior, I guess he would have been in the top 3

Webber had a hard luck today, Anyways hope to see him doing better next time. Ferrari is getting close to redbull. Now, can't wait for next weekend.

Also, quite good race by kimi, His wing was damaged, But i guess that was merely cosmetic, But even after a bad start, He did well.

OT- I don't even knew the f of forumla racing, till last year Delhi's GP, It was fellow bhpian mayank, who offered me grandstand ticket for qualifying day and Now am a big fan of F1. From that day, I don't even miss practice race

Mayank thanks man, For introducing me to this fantastic sport.

[StarrySky]

Very good victory for Alonso. I think he was just maintaining the gap for the last part of the race.

Another good race for Kimi. I think with a better start, he might have been much closer to Alonso at the end. I think he kept Hamilton behind him quite easily while managing his tires (I think Hamilton was never close enough in the DRS zones) and it showed in the last 2 laps where he pulled nearly 1.5s gap on Hamilton.

Hamilton was good at the start of the stints, but the Mercedes seems to quickly use up the best of the tires.

Vettel was very fast in the last few laps. The tire strategies made the race interesting at the end. I think he was affected a bit more by the backmarker Caterham while chasing Lewis - which slowed down on the racing line to let him past. I guess that contributed to Vettel running a bit wide before the DRS zone and critically losing time.

Originally Posted by sameerg001

Also, quite good race by kimi, His wing was damaged, But i guess that was merely cosmetic, But even after a bad start, He did well.

He said it made the car understeery and caused the front tires to lose grip faster. It surely affected the pace, we don't know by how much.

[ACM]

Alonso and Kimi are looking real good. Kimi could have been fighting for the lead if not for the nose job. Hamilton and Vettel too did well. Infact so did BUT and DIR.

Most leaders performed upto potential. Except perhaps Massa.

[sa_kiran]

Webber given 3-place penalty for Vergne clash - http://en.espnf1.com/china/motorsport/story/105536.html

Mark Webber has been given a three-place grid penalty at the Bahrain Grand Prix for his part in the collision with Jean-Eric Vergne at the Chinese Grand Prix.

[tazmaan]

Originally Posted by sa_kiran

Webber given 3-place penalty for Vergne clash - http://en.espnf1.com/china/motorsport/story/105536.html

I wonder if webber thought it was Vettel who was overtaking him. While watching live I thought the same since both cars are very identical.

The new tires are actually a big let down. Drivers like Vettel, Hamiton, Alonso asking on team radio whether to stop the guy coming from behind from overtaking or fight and risk tires. I know strategy is important but not so much that it discourages teams from participating in Q3 and drivers from racing.

Hamilton seems to be turning the Mercedes story around and Mclaren seems to be engaged in reverse. Hamiltons overtaking move on Button from the outside was really nice to watch. In the end Mercedes still has a long way to go managing the tires.

[Maky]

Originally Posted by Mpower

Superb defence by Hamilton with the worn tires.

looked Vettel had a clear shot but it was a sight to behold how Lewis went into the last corner locking tires and creating a smoke screen behind him.

After the race I was wondering the same. Do you think he did the lockup on purpose to create a distraction of sorts for Vettel as it was the last corner or did he have to emergency break to avoid back marker up front??

[sgiitk]

Excellent race, very enjoyable, but some issues:

1. How far should the tyres be allowed to dominate decisions. See the fiasco in Q3 of qualifying.

2. Again in the race the state of your tyres seems to be the dominant factor.

3. Also, I know this is premature, but is the Alonso-Ferrari pair setting up to do a Schumi-Ferrari of about a decade and a half ago - absolute domination?

Is it going too far?

[Maky]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Excellent race, very enjoyable, but some issues:

1. How far should the tyres be allowed to dominate decisions. See the fiasco in Q3 of qualifying.

2. Again in the race the state of your tyres seems to be the dominant factor.

3. Also, I know this is premature, but is the Alonso-Ferrari pair setting up to do a Schumi-Ferrari of about a decade and a half ago - absolute domination?

Is it going too far?

My opinion to your concerns:

1. These tyres I love as they are punishing those who run high downforce and even out the field. I do agree though tyres shouldn't effect action during qualy sessions. A tweet which should make us both happy, '@ESPNF1: Bernie Ecclestone tells Sky Sports on the grid that teams will have extra tyres to use in Friday practice from the Spanish Grand Prix #F1'.

2. Yes this is the dominant factor unlike previous years when aero was. Which only the top 2 or so teams always mastered. This at least provides for more mixed racing rather than processional racing where the only thing that matted were in and out laps.

3. I don't know how you came to this conclusion given ferraris performance in 2012 and the season results of 2013 so far. Ferrari has been no where near the 2000-2004 dominating years of Schumacher, Brawn & Rory Byrne. Definitely premature to think this with only 3 races and the 3 very different winners and importantly constructors. If anything it's RBR who have the 'dream team' this time consisting of Vettel, Horner and Adrian Newey.

[khoj]

Well, you didn't miss much. After the last race with it's full on RBR dhamaka, this was a tepid affair. I am sure the vintage & classic car event would have been more exciting, do share a few snaps if you can.

Hope Bahrain is more 'event full' in terms of goings on within the F1. On the outside, they are already having security concerns with a series of blasts.

Originally Posted by PAVAN KADAM

Hoping for an exciting race tomorrow, and just hoping i will be able to catch some part of it atleast somewhere.

[StarrySky]

Originally Posted by Maky

A tweet which should make us both happy, '@ESPNF1: Bernie Ecclestone tells Sky Sports on the grid that teams will have extra tyres to use in Friday practice from the Spanish Grand Prix #F1'.

If I understand correctly, this is only for those teams that want to run rookies (driver development program) in FP1. Just so that there is one extra set of tires for the rookies and there will be some action on the track during the first 30-45mins of FP1.

[tazmaan]

Originally Posted by Maky

My opinion to your concerns:



2. Yes this is the dominant factor unlike previous years when aero was. Which only the top 2 or so teams always mastered. This at least provides for more mixed racing rather than processional racing where the only thing that matted were in and out laps.

So you penalize the teams with good R&D for better packages by saying you did a lot of research, you have a better package, you have a better driver now lets give tires that makes sure none of that matters and curbs your racing instincts and shaves off that mili-second the designers worked hard to save in the first place.

A soft compound that wont last beyond 5 to 6 laps in a 50 + lap race is plain pathetic.

[StarrySky]

I think the tires are just another "variable" that the teams have to learn to master. The tires are the same for everybody, and the top-teams are not given any special tires to penalise them.

Even with all the uncertainity caused by the tires, the "cream will rise to the top". Last year, we heard the same complaints about the tires. Vettel won the WDC, followed closely by Alonso, Raikkonen. Hamilton would've been up there as well, but for some unreliability in his McLaren. So we had RB, Ferrari, McLaren drivers on top, with Kimi being the only exception. RB, Ferrari, McLaren were top-3 in WCC as well.

It's just been 3 races into this season, and we have the same situation up till now.

I would rather have a situation where tires cause some uncertainity than having brick hard tires that don't wear down, taking one variable out of the equation.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by Maky

After the race I was wondering the same. Do you think he did the lockup on purpose to create a distraction of sorts for Vettel as it was the last corner or did he have to emergency break to avoid back marker up front??

He was worried. That lock up was a mistake, nothing to do with a distraction etc. And a serious heart in mouth moment for us guys.
You could hear it in his voice about 5 seconds before the lockup, "blue flags, blue flags"!!
He did though use the back market effectively, forcing vettel to head into the next corner hot.