[GTO]

I love evening - night races (our time). The fact that Vettel is 0.4 seconds behind Hamilton (not a full second or so) and faster than Rosberg tells me we're in for an exciting race. Hopefully, Ferrari use their tyres better than Mercedes and give us some entertainment . The gap between Kimi & Rosberg is also damn close.

Really looking forward to Bahrain!

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by zenren

Don't blindly follow their timings. It was incorrect for Malaysia I think. Cross-check with starsports.com TV Guide to be sure.

I think its a specific case of the Malaysian GP race that usually falls on the Daylight savings 'Spring Foward' day where the clocks are moved ahead by an hour.

Bahrain GP is 17:00 CEST and 20:30 IST same time as the Qualifying yesterday.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by GTO

I love evening - night races (our time). The fact that Vettel is 0.4 seconds behind Hamilton (not a full second or so) and faster than Rosberg tells me we're in for an exciting race. Hopefully, Ferrari use their tyres better than Mercedes and give us some entertainment . The gap between Kimi & Rosberg is also damn close.

Really looking forward to Bahrain!

I think that gap would have been 1 second. He must have reined it in, played it safe, since he was quite down, and had one shot. Had he come out with 3 minutes on the clock, I'm sure he'd have cleared it up, or had an off track moment, recoverable in that scenario. fanboy rests.
Anyway, the race will tell.

[zenren]

Originally Posted by mayankk

I think that gap would have been 1 second. He must have reined it in, played it safe, since he was quite down, and had one shot. Had he come out with 3 minutes on the clock, I'm sure he'd have cleared it up, or had an off track moment, recoverable in that scenario. fanboy rests.
Anyway, the race will tell.

I highly doubt it. It was not time but the tyre that was the limiting factor. Thats why everyone waited till the last minute to put in the timed lap on the fresh set. These soft tyres are only good for a single hot lap. So, if any driver makes a mistake in the Q3 hot lap, it is qualifying ruined unless they want to compromise the race and use up another fresh set.

[sgiitk]

Interesting qualifying, Merc, Ferrari, Merc, Ferrari. Makes for an interesting start. Also, it may end up as the battle of Pit Stops!

[D33-PAC]

My podium predictions

1: Hamilton
2: Rosberg
3: Vettel

But i cannot say with surety. Tire management is such a Bahrain thing. Would love to see all three cars in the top 3 go three wide at some point. I think we're in for an interesting race. mId field should be pretty cut throat too.

[Hatari]

Mercedes claim they have relooked at their setup and focussed on race pace rather than outright quali pace.
Lets hope we get an exciting race.

[D33-PAC]

What a walk in the park for Ham. On the other hand, my hunch was right. Rosberg seems to be getting weaker as a driver and the Ferraris seem to be able to split a Merc 1-2. All of this only helps Hamilton though !

[parrys]

Who's got anything to say about motivation, eh?





He sure loves the podium at Bahrain.

And just in case anyone missed it, a fastest lap as well.

[zenren]

Flawless drives from Kimi, Hamilton and Bottas.

After a long gap, Kimi manages to get into the podium and they serve rosewater instead of champagne. No wonder he was a little unhappy

On a side note, Kimi has moved up to the 2nd place (shared with Prost at 41) on the all time tally of fastest laps. It took quite a long while for him to get here from 38.

EDIT: Forgot to add, Ricciardo would be the luckiest guy today - to cross the chequered flag with a blown engine!

[GT-R]

Kimi on the podium after 23 races, it sure has been quite a long wait, and you can tell from the way the crowd cheers him on.

Anyone still think the positions 1 - Hamilton 2- Rosberg 3- Vettel 4- Kimi are frozen for the season should have some exciting times coming up ahead.

Over the last season and this, you'll notice Lewis consistently thanks the crowd and his team after every podium. It's still something a lot of drivers don't do yet.

The boy is surely growing into a man.

[SilentEngine]

If Arrivabene had even a little doubt about Kimi's performance on track, it should be clear now! Kimi will probably respond saying "where do i sign".

Good drive from Kimi. If only you qualify a little higher!

Both Mercedes had brake problems in the end. If the race lasted couple of laps longer, probably we would have seen different a winner.

Vettel had a really bad race today. In spite of getting the benefit of undercut twice against Rosberg, he couldn't hold onto the position and finally made a mistake that cost him 3rd place (which in hindsight, he would have lost to Kimi anyway).

[anachronix]

Brilliant race! Sloppy drive from Vettel and brilliant drive from the ICEMAN

I still think Ferrari should have stopped Kimi a lap earlier before the final stint, Ferrari would have had a chance to fight for the win. The podium was anyway there for Ferrari to take, they could have taken that risk. Anyway, happy with the result and very very happy to see Kimi back on the podium! The Ferrari boss's reaction when Kimi passed Rosberg at the start, whoa!

Rosberg is clearly the week link in the Mercedes campaign for this year, its evident and the Ferrari is going to bring more updates in Spain & then in Canada which they are expecting them to get on equal terms with Mercedes. This is going to be a long and interesting season!

There was great racing all through the grid and it was particularly sad to Alonso in that Mclaren fighting to unlap himself, Honda had a nice reference point with the performance of the power trains from last year and more importantly Mclaren's access to the more powerful Mercedes unit they were using last year. Its natural you would expect them to do a better job over the winter. Dont know if Alonso fans want to wait till the end of the year to see if Alonso made the right move out of Ferrari!

Now though, I am glad he is gone!

[zenren]

Originally Posted by SilentEngine

Vettel had a really bad race today. In spite of getting the benefit of undercut twice against Rosberg, he couldn't hold onto the position and finally made a mistake that cost him 3rd place (which in hindsight, he would have lost to Kimi anyway).

Vettel's mistake indirectly helped Kimi since he didn't end up wasting time passing Vettel while catching up Rosberg. He couldn't have said "Get that Ferrari out of my way."

If Kimi lost a couple of laps overtaking Vettel, it would have helped Rosberg retain the second place since Kimi would have caught up with Rosberg only around the last couple of laps.

[Octane_Power]

My fantasy GP predictions are screwed with the results today but I couldn't care less. Kimi on the podium!! Woohoo! Brilliant drive by The Red 7.

Ricciardo is one lucky guy. Just managed to cross the line! Now only hoping that he gets his qualifying right in the races to come.

Another superb drive was by the amazing Fin, Bottas. Drove flawlessly to keep that position from Vettel. One mistake and he would have served it to Vettel on a plate, like Rosberg did to Kimi or was it Vettel to Rosberg?

-Bhargav