F1 Focus

[Edge]

Bahrain GP Report

 

Vettel lead early on from a brilliant pole position. At the first corner, Webber's Red Bull seemed to have a problem with an overfilled oil tank and created a smokescreen that caused Sutil and Jubica to fall to the back of the field. Everything settled down, and there was little excitment throughout, with overtaking seemingly close to impossible.

 

Vettel cracked an exhaust and fell back to fourth, doing well to hold off Rosberg in the late stages of the race. Results are as follows:

 

1. Alonso

2. Massa

3. Hamilton

4. Vettel

5. Rosberg

6. Schumacher

7. Button

8. Webber

9. Liuzzi

10. Barichello

 

The new rules appear to have really reduced the amount of overtaking, as all of the drivers are more concerned about not losing their position than gaining another one. I hope that they sort this out soon, a season of processions is not good for anybody. All fo the drivers are saying that it is now impossible to overtake unless the driver in front makes a serious error. The new Bahrain circuit configuration may not have helped this.

 

The new teams actually exceded expectations. Hispania did not expect to get both cars onto the grid, and the managed it (just), Virgin proved that their car is marginally faster than all of the other new cars, and Lotus proved that their outift is the best prepared for the new season. Both Hispanias and Virgins failed to finish, wheras both Lotuses did. Their pace was not as bad as expected, with their fastest time about three seconds off the fastest lap.

[Oldddudders]

It now emerges that Vettel had a duff spark-plug, which is at least unusual these days.

 

Absolutely agree the race was as interesting as watching paint dry. The threatened tyre degradation failed to manifest itself, and the circuit was so long that lapping tailenders, which can give overtaking opportunities among close-formation leaders, was not significant. Not for the first time, practice was much more exciting than the race.

 

Not the season start we needed, and a damp squib after 2009!

[skipepsi]

Watching rallying on TV would be marginally more exciting, why was there such a long delay on the supposedly live pictures? the internet showing the same footage was about two minutes ahead of the BBC.

[Jenny Emily]

It was one of the more boring F1 races I've seen. Part of the problem might be that the cars are now just too heavy to overtake with all the fuel. The extra power that would be required to shift the extra weight just isn't there. Also the pitstops were part of the excitement with more tactics in play. I think we'll certainly miss them if a wet race occurs, as there's now no penalty for getting fuel and tyre stops out of synch if it starts to rain or dries up.

 

I'm hoping that they don't wait to the end of the season to get rid of this no refuelling rule. If Australia turns into another procession then I would hope that they would scrap it for the third race.

 

I have most F1 Grand Prix recorded back to 2005, and it is interesting at the changes the rules have made over the years. Some rule changes are good, but too often, like the no refuelling thing, I think that they ought to stop fiddling. My favourite Grand Prix is still the 1996 Monaco one. I have a recording of that in full and it's so weird to see how things have changed even from then.

[PMP]

Here's to potentially the most exciting F1 season for a long time

 

 

I don't think thats very likely. Especially after yesterdays drying of paint. They put refuelling back in to make dull F1 races more interesting and less predictable, and it was, see last year for a good example. They've taken it out, and now added bigger differences in points scored, so it'll come down to who can conserve fuel, maintaining the fastest pace, like it used to be :icon_yawn:

 

Back to refuelling for next season then :icon_e_wink:

[Steve K]

I'm hoping that they don't wait to the end of the season to get rid of this no refuelling rule. If Australia turns into another procession then I would hope that they would scrap it for the third race.

I wouldn't be too optimistic about that, however good an idea it seems. The cars would have to be redesigned to make best use of the smaller fuel loads, and some teams have only just cars their cars ready for the current regs. On the other hand, halving the size of the rear wings might help a bit...

 

Realistically, I am hoping that some shorter laps with more competitive backmarkers might force the leaders into some overtaking.

 

Actually, why don't they do what they do at oval racing meets, like hot-rods etc? There, the best cars start at the back of the grid, and the worst at the front. That way, the best drivers have to overtake everyone!

[Guest jim s-w]

Hiya

 

It was a spectacularily dull race I have to say. I am all for the banning of refueling though. I'd like to see the adoption of the lead lap rule from indycar. That being that back markers have the right to fight to stay on the lead lap. Sure if someone is 5 laps down then they should get out of the way but the blue flag 'no you first' rule is rubbish. If the top drivers in the world cant get past someone in a much slower car without help there is something wrong with them. Clever use of Back markers could change the race.

 

Cheers

 

Jim

[PhilH]

They seem to have taken the world's most glamorous, exciting sport and made it as dull as ditchwater. Unless something drastic happens I shall not waste a couple of hours of my life watching this turgid excuse for a spectacle again.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

The elephant in the room is aerodynamically generated downforce. Regulate that so an F1 car has as much downforce as a motorbike and the drivers are reliant almost solely on mechanical grip, and the excitement will return. Everything else is just vain tinkering. As it is the only prospects for excitement (other than incidents of mechanical unreliability or driver errors) are wet races, and any circuit that is unexpectedly a tyre eater. The new points chart makes me laugh, supposed to enhance the value of a win; relative to second place yes, par for third, slightly enhanced for 4th, par for 5th, slightly worse relative to 6th, significantly worse relative to 7th to 10th.

 

Cannot see any technical objection in the cars to a reintroduction of in-race refuelling: it would be the same for all, and the car has to work at present with a part full tank. It would be a pain on the pit organisation side, as possibly the fuelling set up is now different, and race refuelling rigs would have to be reinstated, and the pit crews given a chance to train. Wouldn't be possible before mid season at best, therefore unlikely to happen?

 

But for this season as is, it looks like do or die efforts in qualifying are where the on-track fun will lie. Once Schumi is fully up to pace this makes him a significant player: he is a proven expert at sandbagging and then throwing in a sensational lap right at the end of the session. Among the leading contenders, Button is probably the biggest loser with a history of weak qualifying relative to race day pace.

[Oldddudders]

Don't panic! - says Ecclebum here http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=40203

 

I love the idea that it's the teams' fault for each wanting to be fastest - surely that was never the case in the Fangio or Clark or Prost or Senna eras? Wot is this man on?

[45156]

Currently, I think that I'd prefer to watch the traffic on the M25 than this boring apology for a race - I was a BARC marshall in a previous life, and then, the drivers were in my opinion, more highly skilled than today's. One of the other marshalls observed the practice lap of a race at Brands, and noted where Graham Hill's line though one of the bends, and while waiting for the off, went onto the track and placed a little chalk cross where his nearside front wheel was on the track. He said that Hill would only miss that cross by a tiny margin on each lap, if at all, and so it proved - that's consistency and skill IMHO

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

The skill level of the best guys has not changed, what has is the ruthless process that killed or injured beyond hope of return the less gifted; and claimed a few of the best as well, in crashes that would now result in relatively minor injuries.

 

Some good research was performed in the 1990s, where Jackie Stewart demonstrated that he still had the essential skill of finding the optimum path for speed through a corner, and then proceded to replicate that path like he was nailed to the road. http://www.kerryspac...0-687584751.pdf

 

In current F1 the crucial difference only shows up now in the wet, There have always been a few in any season who don't suffer the same performance loss as the rest of the field when the rain comes down. Fred, Schumi, Hamilton, have it; and I am pretty sure Vettel has it as well, but haven't seen the evidence yet.

[Harbottle]

Before refuelling was introduced the drivers used to race, and pass, each other.

Perhaps a mandatory two tyre stops per race, with the second being made after half distance?

That 55-metre rule in the pit lane needs kicking right out of the window.

[Chameleon]

So what genius thought it would be a good idea to put everybody in near identical cars, with so many restrictions there is no room to improvise or adapt, with identical fuel loads and near enough identical tyres with identical pit stops and no strategy and STILL think it'll be more competitive and exciting?! F1 has been getting steadily more neutered year on year and I really see no way of it improving under the current regime.

I am a fan and usually will watch each race religiously but I think most will be over by the end of qualifying on Saturday afternoon. If I miss a race now, It'll be no big deal, I could just watch the previous one which will be exactly the same.

[Edge]

"I had a meeting with the teams and tried to explain to them what our business is about — racing and entertaining the public, not about playing with computers and going fast over one lap," said Ecclestone.

 

*cough* Brabham Fan Car *cough*

[Guest jim s-w]

So what genius thought it would be a good idea to put everybody in near identical cars, with so many restrictions there is no room to improvise or adapt, with identical fuel loads and near enough identical tyres with identical pit stops and no strategy and STILL think it'll be more competitive and exciting?! F1 has been getting steadily more neutered year on year and I really see no way of it improving under the current regime.

I am a fan and usually will watch each race religiously but I think most will be over by the end of qualifying on Saturday afternoon. If I miss a race now, It'll be no big deal, I could just watch the previous one which will be exactly the same.

 

Have you tried watching IRL instead?

 

Cheers

 

Jim

[10800]

So what genius thought it would be a good idea to put everybody in near identical cars, with so many restrictions there is no room to improvise or adapt, with identical fuel loads and near enough identical tyres with identical pit stops and no strategy and STILL think it'll be more competitive and exciting?!

 

Agreed it was boring, but wasn't this very same uniformity of cars actually being banded about by pundits a few years ago so that the best driver rather than the best car could come out on top?

[Chameleon]

I'll admit that the drivers are the one variable worth talking about but once again the aerodynamics come into play. Once they get even remotely close enough to make a passing move the cars handling gets so screwed they start damaging their precious tyres.

They just don't have a big enough differential between the front runners to be able to actually overtake. That plus they all take exactly the same amount of time for a pitstop means nothing in terms of actual racing.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Shooting the breeze with a sometime race driving friend, he reckons there is a way to negate the aero problem with the current cars, but it means redesigning the tracks. What you need in every circuit is a very tight multi turn chicane section where speeds are so low as to eliminate aero downforce, (think 15mph) equipped with large tarmac run off areas from which you regain the track only after a time penalty or speed limited recovery lane drive through. That bunches up the cars that are still on the track, and is followed immediately by a long straight or near straight, where loss of downforce doesn't matter so much and permits slipstreaming to allow gaining on the car in front, and brave braking decisions for overtakes on the corner that ends the straight.

[edcayton]

So how come no-one has commented on the Australian race yet? I got up in time to watch it live (even though I had said "never again" after Bahrain!), and thought it was good enough to watch the re-run at lunch time.

 

Ed

[skipepsi]

Suprise for most people I expect not sure what to make of Jenson winning and Lewis's petulant outburst, do you think he is missing his dad?

[JZ]

I'm afraid that Hamilton has shown himself for what he is. Someone that is great when everything goes his way, yet throws his dolls out the pram when they don't. Not the sign of a true champion. Although it was, apparently, the team that called him in for the tyre change, he did have the option to ignore it. He seems happy to take the credit when the call is right, but it's always the teams fault when it goes wrong. And to think that I thought he would be a breath of fresh air when he joined F1

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Only got around to watching the Oz race fairly late last night. Well, wasn't it fun? Perhaps the cheapest way to improve the season will be to have local fire services douse the track at an unspecified time and for some unknown duration, if the weather will not oblige. Really good to see that four different teams had competitive cars running: Ferrari may still have the technical edge on a combination of reliability and performance, but there isn't much in it, and driving talent can close the gap; and I wouldn't bet against the Mercedes team having their car right by mid season.

 

As of now, what end result would you predict? Vettel for champion if Red Bull can make the car a bit stronger to handle the treatment he dishes out; or Fred for champion on the basis that he always gets the car in the points; or one of the 'tons' if McLaren gets fully on song? All nicely unpredictable.

[Chameleon]

There are quite a few drivers who could pull it off this year. After Australia I would say, Red Bull, Ferrari and Mclaren all have a shout at the constructors championship. Mind you, it was only interesting because the rain threw a spanner into the works at the start. I have a feeling it would have been Bahrane all over again otherwise.

Bloody good race by Jenson, it was his call to be first in for the tyre change and apart from nearly dumping it into the kitty litter as soon as he came out, it was a flawless performance.

Thought it was funny hearing Hamilton whining over the radio!

Roll on Macau!

[Steve K]

Roll on Macau!

 

Not sure that the view of Malaysia will be that good from there... !