[Makin Rulesz]

A very good race in the end.



Ferrari were spot on with their strategy in case of Vettel, although safety car almost spoiled it second race in a row. Once in lead Vettel was in total control and gave no chance to others. The way Hamilton drove in the last part reminded me of Malaysian GP last year, where he blew engine due to all out pushing the car to limits. Anyway poor start cost him the race.
For me big losers in the race are Bottas and Raikkonen. Both were no match against their respective team number one's. As reported Bottas had air pressure issue initially but his pace after change of tyre was not too encouraging. Raikkonen is now with three races without a podium while his teammate has already won two races, so more questions will be asked about his performance.
Unfortunate for Max to crash out of the race for no fault of his. He would definitely be in contention for a podium otherwise. Ricciardo too was in a good position after the pit stop under safety car, but scrappy restart cost him lot of places.
Force India had a good race with both cars in points. Perez started on 18th to finish 7th in the end and Ocon with his 3rd 10th place finish in as many races.
A special mention about Alonso, who said before the race:

Keeping up with the theme in China when he said he was fighting like an animal, Alonso was asked what creature he would look to emulate in Bahrain.
"Here it has to be something from the heat," Alonso said. "A quick camel tomorrow!"

He indeed drove like one

Driver standings: Vettel now leads by 7 points and looks like it would be a two way battle for the championship though things might change later.


Team standings: First time in last four years, Mercedes are not leading the points table. Good sign for the sport.


Image Source: F1 official site

[deetjohn]

Originally Posted by sun_king

...I'd question Hamilton's strategic planning here, he has just four engines this season and trying to stress the engine on an improbable win may prove counterproductive in the long run.

Agree. Maybe they are confident about the reliability of the power unit now. The preseason testing showed us as much.

I think it was really a bitter pill for Mercedes to swallow yesterday. The team was desperate to get P1 back. They made Bottas get out of the way twice so early in the season and Lewis' crew was urging him strongly over the radio to drive flat out and catch Vettel.

Originally Posted by sun_king

With the way the 2017 cars are designed and the sheer speed of the Ferrari in clean air I'd bet for HAM not getting DRS in the closing stages of the race without his 5 seconds penalty. This Ferrari is capable of responding to Merc in terms of consistent pace. Seb vs HAM was over just after turn 1.

Yes, race pace is more or less even. Both Lewis and Vettel have been able to respond to each other quite well lap after lap.

I think Ferrari is able perform better a little better than Mercedes in turbulent air too. The SF70H is more like the complete package currently, but Mercedes just might have more opportunities to improve the car as the season goes.

Anyways, lets wait and watch. The in-season 2 day test at Bahrain starts tomorrow.

[sathya.bhat]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

Highlights for those who missed the race. Thank God for the new management of F1. We would have never seen this YouTube clip in the Bernie era.
https://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=6yXvIbKXehw

Video can be played only on the Youtube site, not on other websites. Still I will say it is leaps and bounds ahead of the Bernie era.

[Dani7766]

Great race. Happy to see Ferrari winning. After so many years, seems like they can compete for the top place. Kimi is the weakest link. I kept cursing Ferrari for choosing him this season.
Alonso was completely disappointed about his car. Doesn't Japanese reliability apply in case of F1 cars? Once technology is pushed is there no difference between the Japs and Europeans? Such questions kept popping in my mind yesterday. To not complete three races is bad.

[Scorpion 10]

After Saturday’s qualifiers, threat for Lewis was his team mate and Vettel, but what it turned out to be?

Vettel got a better start which was decisive, Bottas was making way for Lewis not once but twice and Lewis was not able to catch Ferrari which ultimately turned out to be the real race threat for him.

Hamilton, Driver of the day (not officially) and Vettel lucky? Won’t agree.

[fiat_tarun]

Great race yesterday. Luckily the safety car didn't work against Vettel like in China.
Being an Alonso fan it's so sad to see him struggling with the Honda engine.

Kimi seems to have resigned to the fact that he's the No.2 driver. It appears like he has no drive to win and is just going with the flow :-(

2017 should be a great season with Mercedes and Ferrari so close together and Redbull not too far behind.

[thatfastdude19]

Absolutely brilliant performance by Ferrari. Seeing that Mercedes and Ferrari are soo close in the first three races makes me hope that 2017 is going to be a hell of a lot more interesting than the previous two years.

But what I want to really see is the drama that F1 had back in the 80s and early 90s. I really "miss" that. I say it like that because I wasn't even in the plans at that time . But after seeing movies like "Senna" and "Rush" I really found myself wanting more of that kind of drama. Not the drivers of our time that are soo, I would say "diplomatic".

If Hamilton and Vettle would have been soo close and it would have been the 80s then we could have seen something like Senna Vs Prost unfolding right in front of our eyes.

[tharian]

The body language of Bottas and Hamiltion on the podium reminded me of Barichello and Schumacher . A dejected Bottas being thanked by Hamilton.

Then I came across this news this morning;
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...bastian-vettel

[mayankk]

Bad for Lewis, and even worse for a Lewis fan to see a ferrari AND vettel on top....
Merc scuppered their chances with the pit stops and that slowing down tactic, just didnt feel like Lewis's sole decision.
What was really disappointing was asking Bottas to slow down twice to let Lewis pass. Hey, he had the pace, it could have been done much more diplomatically at different spot, and I dont think Bottas as happy about it, especially the second time around when he almost had Lewis run into him.

I think that that Merc has blinked here being on top for so many year. They panicked. But the season is still young, and it would not do take on Ferrari's gremlins from the past few years, especially concerning strategy.
All in all, a good race, and was really nice to see 5-6 cars in the lead group.

[shibujp]

"Lewis thanks Bottas for being a gentleman." I kind of expected him to reply to Toto "Let us race!!" If Mercedes cannot take a chance when the stakes are low this early in the championship, are they really going to do it down the line.

That aside it was a thrilling race. The 2017 rules changes really seem to have set the ball rolling in terms of racing action. Even with Sebastian Vettel on a 16 second lead it was more of will Lewis Hamilton make it or not. If not for Verstappen's brake failure, Lewis might have been challenged from behind too.

Ferrari's strategy seems to have got over the gremlins of last year and the team body language has traces of the confidence during the Schumacher era. Vettel's early pit stop and change over to super softs really paid dividends and was successfully emulated by Verstappen till his premature exit. But Mercedes still have an edge over Ferrari in qualifying as demonstrated by their 0.4 second gap in qualifying that Ferrari seemed to have no answer for. Ferrari is much more competitive at race pace which is true but Mercedes is not so far off. What would have been the story if not for Bottas compressor failure? But at the end of it all Formula 1 was the winner at Bahrain and if the last three races are any indicator it's going to be a humdinger of a season.

Drive on,
Shibu.

[ach1lles]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

And without the 5 seconds penalty, Lewis would have been incredibly close to Vettel in the final laps and we could have seen a glorious wheel to wheel battle.

Originally Posted by deetjohn

Yes, race pace is more or less even. Both Lewis and Vettel have been able to respond to each other quite well lap after lap.

Pretty much this. I doubt Lewis would've been able to catch up to Vettel even without that 5 second penalty, regardless of where he would've come out on track. Seb was cruising about but then picked up the pace and didn't let Lewis let closer than 6 seconds or so.

Though at this point I do think Mercedes has an edge in overall pace and I do believe Hamilton to be a superior racing driver. We need a point to point race without hiccups for both teams to see for sure.

[sun_king]

Originally Posted by tharian

The body language of Bottas and Hamiltion on the podium reminded me of Barichello and Schumacher . A dejected Bottas being thanked by Hamilton.

With the Ferrari ahead of him getting smaller and the Merc behind him getting bigger, what option does Bottas have? Agreed he had problems with his machinery, but that is where he should step up the game and be innovative. (example: '94 Spanish GP, Schumi holding on to 2nd position when stuck in 5th gear for more than half of the race) #1 drivers are the ones who thrive in adversity, the rest of the lot can tweet later or lament. The driver to whom Bottas gave up his position had once said "if he is faster he can pass me" and that is the grit we expect from a racing driver. What Bottas should have done was to go after Vettel as soon as Hamilton pitted for the second time. If you meekly give up a 10 second cushion to your team mate, then you are a Barrichello in the making.

Then I came across this news this morning;
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...bastian-vettel

Mercedes has never been really challenged in the hybrid era. For the last three years the WDC battle was fought between their drivers and no one ever came close for the Constructor's title. Now a challenger has emerged that threatens both titles and Merc is one short on a Championship material driver. I am not sure why Merc is panicking so early on, had expected this once Kimi rises from the ashes. Personally I feel that instead of setting up Bottas as the move over driver, they should groom him as the Hamilton challenger. With this attitude, Bottas will soon be defending 6th place from Massa or Perez while Dan and Max complete the top 5.

[Fullrevs]

Ferrari and Vettel win another. Its already becoming a dream season for me. Ferrari really need to sort out their one lap pace. Circuits so far have been kind to Ferrari's deficit to Mercedes after Qualifying. This wont be the case at other circuits.

Also hope some of the engineers focus on Kimi's car!

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by Fullrevs

Also hope some of the engineers focus on Kimi's car!

I'll partially agree on strategy, but I don't find anything wrong in the car as such. He was seriously challenging Bottas for the podium this time. More than anything else, the start costed him the most.
--
Hamilton could have passed Bottas on pure pace itself. I don't see why he had to let him through second time around.

It'd have been fun if Rosberg was there

[Fullrevs]

Originally Posted by narayans80

I'll partially agree on strategy, but I don't find anything wrong in the car as such. He was seriously challenging Bottas for the podium this time. More than anything else, the start costed him the most.
--
Hamilton could have passed Bottas on pure pace itself. I don't see why he had to let him through second time around.

It'd have been fun if Rosberg was there

Kimi has been complaining of terminal under-steer last two races. Vettel has been finding the sweet spot in every GP so far. I have to assume they have very different tastes in their car set up then. I wonder if all those bodes well for Kimi's contract next year. Still early days though!