The 2019 Bahrain GP Thread

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Bahrain '19 - Driver of the Day

Lewis Hamilton
0
No votes
Valtti Bottas
0
No votes
Charles Leclerc
1
100%
Max Verstappen
0
No votes
Sebastian Vettel
0
No votes
Other
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 1

cmlean
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The 2019 Bahrain GP Thread

Post by cmlean » Mon Mar 25, 2019 9:24 pm

This is the place to discuss everything related to the 2nd round of the 2019 season taking place in Bahrain between the 29th and 31st of March.

To submit your 10 'n' Pole Picks for Bahrain click here, to register in the competition click here

Picks for Bahrain close at the start of Saturday practice

The event timetable for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Friday
1st Practice 14:00 local time - 11:00 GMT
2nd Practice 18:00 local time - 15:00 GMT

Saturday
Practice 15:00 local time - 12:00 GMT
Qualifying 18:00 local time - 15:00 GMT

Sunday
Race 18:00 local time - 15:00 GMT

cmlean
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Re: The 2019 Bahrain GP Thread

Post by cmlean » Mon Mar 25, 2019 9:59 pm

Well, after the domination by Bottas and Hamilton in their Mercedes in Australia last time out, I'm not sure what to expect.
The preseason pace of the Ferrari failed to materialize and left the team in red scratching their heads.
It was mentioned in an interview that I heard that a quick car straight out of the box can be a problem. They went on to say that, due to the car being good initially, there wasn't the time taken to fix any shortcomings in handling. When the car wasn't right, they didn't know which way to go to fix it.
Anyway, hopefully Ferrari have their head around their 2019 toy.
Young Max certainly surprised. Running down Vettel and passing him into turn 3 shows just how far the Honda power unit has come.
Haas had their pitstop failure for 2019. Maybe now they continually get both cars into the points.
Renault were surprisingly also off the pace with both cars qualifying outside the top ten.
As this circuit is more like Barcelona, it will be interesting just how much this will translate to Bahrain.
Will Lando Norris, or Carlos Sainz for that matter, qualify in the top half this time out?
Will Lance Stroll finish in the points again? What about Toro Rosso?
What about Alfa Romeo? Will Williams get somewhere near the midfield?

This is shaping into a real interesting season.

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Re: The 2019 Bahrain GP Thread

Post by cmlean » Sat Mar 30, 2019 9:26 am

FP1 is now in the books
Results

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		   Team
1	1:30.354	Charles Leclerc	   Ferrari
2	1:30.617	Sebastian Vettel   Ferrari
3	1:31.328	Valtteri Bottas	   Mercedes
4	1:31.601	Lewis Hamilton	   Mercedes
5	1:31.673	Max Verstappen	   Red Bull Racing Honda
6	1:31.815	Pierre Gasly	   Red Bull Racing Honda
7	1:31.952	Carlos Sainz	   McLaren Renault
8	1:32.040	Nico Hulkenberg	   Renault
9	1:32.339	Daniil Kvyat	   Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda
10	1:32.385	Kimi Räikkönen	   Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari
11	1:32.401	Daniel Ricciardo   Renault
12	1:32.602	Kevin Magnussen	   Haas Ferrari
13	1:32.874	Alexander Albon	   Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda
14	1:32.885	Sergio Perez	   Racing Point BWT Mercedes
15	1:32.945	Lando Norris	   McLaren Renault
16	1:32.949	Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari
17	1:32.994	Romain Grosjean	   Haas Ferrari
18	1:33.518	Lance Stroll	   Racing Point BWT Mercedes
19	1:34.188	George Russell	   Williams Mercedes
20	1:34.253	Robert Kubica	   Williams Mercedes
Practice commenced in track temperatures in the mid 40 degree Celsius and is not indicative of the expected qualifying and race temperature.

Lance Stroll had a lose early in the session and made contact with the inside barrier. Damage was minor but did necessitate the change of both front wing and matched floor.
Kimi Raikkonen had a lose in turn 2 straight out of the pits.
Antonio Giovinazzi and Nico Hulkenberg came together late in the session. There seemed to be lots of finger pointing and both drivers failed to take notice of where they were on the track resulting in contact.

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Re: The 2019 Bahrain GP Thread

Post by cmlean » Sat Mar 30, 2019 9:35 am

FP2 Results

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		   Team
1	1:28.846	Sebastian Vettel   Ferrari
2	1:28.881	Charles Leclerc	   Ferrari
3	1:29.449	Lewis Hamilton	   Mercedes
4	1:29.557	Valtteri Bottas	   Mercedes
5	1:29.669	Nico Hulkenberg	   Renault
6	1:29.725	Max Verstappen	   Red Bull Racing Honda
7	1:30.000	Kevin Magnussen	   Haas Ferrari
8	1:30.017	Lando Norris	   McLaren Renault
9	1:30.068	Romain Grosjean	   Haas Ferrari
10	1:30.093	Daniil Kvyat	   Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda
11	1:30.192	Carlos Sainz	   McLaren Renault
12	1:30.429	Pierre Gasly	   Red Bull Racing Honda
13	1:30.458	Alexander Albon	   Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda
14	1:30.716	Sergio Perez	   Racing Point BWT Mercedes
15	1:30.848	Daniel Ricciardo   Renault
16	1:31.088	Kimi Räikkönen	   Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari
17	1:31.129	Lance Stroll	   Racing Point BWT Mercedes
18	1:31.144	Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari
19	1:31.904	George Russell	   Williams Mercedes
20	1:32.932	Robert Kubica	   Williams Mercedes
All teams used this session for qualifying runs and some longer runs as this session more closely resembles race and qualifying conditions.
Both Alfa Romeos missed substantial time as they were sidelined with different fluid leaks which would take some time to rectify.
Sebastian Vettel lost the rear of his Ferrari in turn 2. No damage but probably the loss of a tyre set.

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Re: The 2019 Bahrain GP Thread

Post by cmlean » Sun Mar 31, 2019 1:00 am

Practice 3 Results

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		   Yeam
1	1:29.569	Charles Leclerc	   Ferrari
2	1:29.738	Sebastian Vettel   Ferrari
3	1:30.334	Lewis Hamilton	   Mercedes
4	1:30.389	Valtteri Bottas	   Mercedes
5	1:30.818	Romain Grosjean	   Haas Ferrari
6	1:30.910	Nico Hulkenberg	   Renault
7	1:30.955	Lando Norris	   McLaren Renault
8	1:30.959	Max Verstappen	   Red Bull Racing Honda
9	1:30.965	Carlos Sainz	   McLaren Renault
10	1:31.173	Daniil Kvyat	   Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda
11	1:31.333	Kimi Räikkönen	   Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari
12	1:31.392	Pierre Gasly	   Red Bull Racing Honda
13	1:31.540	Kevin Magnussen	   Haas Ferrari
14	1:31.618	Lance Stroll	   Racing Point BWT Mercedes
15	1:31.638	Sergio Perez	   Racing Point BWT Mercedes
16	1:31.643	Daniel Ricciardo   Renault
17	1:31.679	Alexander Albon	   Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda
18	1:32.132	Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari
19	1:33.387	George Russell	   Williams Mercedes
20	1:33.525	Robert Kubica	   Williams Mercedes
Track temperatures were again in the mid 40's C.
Those red cars were again fast.
The gap between the two Renaults is odd.
McLaren again look a prospect for the top 10.
Aside from some yellow flags for debris being cleared from the track, this session was quiet

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Re: The 2019 Bahrain GP Thread

Post by cmlean » Sun Mar 31, 2019 7:33 am

Qualifying

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		   Team
1	1:27.866	Charles Leclerc	   Ferrari
2	1:28.160	Sebastian Vettel   Ferrari
3	1:28.190	Lewis Hamilton	   Mercedes
4	1:28.256	Valtteri Bottas	   Mercedes
5	1:28.752	Max Verstappen	   Red Bull Racing Honda
6	1:28.757	Kevin Magnussen	   Haas Ferrari
7	1:28.813	Carlos Sainz	   McLaren Renault
8	1:29.015	Romain Grosjean	   Haas Ferrari
9	1:29.022	Kimi Räikkönen	   Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari
10	1:29.043	Lando Norris	   McLaren Renault
_____________________________________________________________
11	1:29.488	Daniel Ricciardo   Renault
12	1:29.513	Alexander Albon	   Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda
13	1:29.526	Pierre Gasly	   Red Bull Racing Honda
14	1:29.756	Sergio Perez	   Racing Point BWT Mercedes
15	1:29.854	Daniil Kvyat	   Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda
_____________________________________________________________
16	1:30.026	Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari
17	1:30.034	Nico Hulkenberg	   Renault
18	1:30.217	Lance Stroll	   Racing Point BWT Mercedes
19	1:31.759	George Russell	   Williams Mercedes
20	1:31.799	Robert Kubica	   Williams Mercedes
Romain Grosjean incurs a 3 grid place penalty for impeding Lando Norris' first Q1 run.
Kimi Raikkonen, Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo all move up one grid position.

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Re: The 2019 Bahrain GP Thread

Post by cmlean » Mon Apr 01, 2019 7:35 pm

Results

Code: Select all

Pos	Driver		   Team
1	Lewis Hamilton	   Mercedes
2	Valtteri Bottas	   Mercedes
3	Charles Leclerc	   Ferrari
4	Max Verstappen	   Red Bull Racing Honda
5	Sebastian Vettel   Ferrari
6	Lando Norris	   McLaren Renault
7	Kimi Räikkönen	   Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari
8	Pierre Gasly	   Red Bull Racing Honda
9	Alexander Albon	   Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda
10	Sergio Perez	   Racing Point BWT Mercedes
11	Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari
12	Daniil Kvyat	   Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda
13	Kevin Magnussen	   Haas Ferrari
14	Lance Stroll	   Racing Point BWT Mercedes
15	George Russell	   Williams Mercedes
16	Robert Kubica	   Williams Mercedes
17	Nico Hulkenberg	   Renault
18	Daniel Ricciardo   Renault
19	Carlos Sainz	   McLaren Renault
DNF	Romain Grosjean	   Haas Ferrari
Charles Leclerc earned the bonus point for fastest lap while finishing in the top 10.

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Re: The 2019 Bahrain GP Thread

Post by cmlean » Mon Apr 01, 2019 8:50 pm

Well, that was some race. The additional DRS zone added an extra element of suspense.

Unluckiest driver had to be Charles Leclerc. Basically topping all practice sessions, qualifying on pole and the drive back through the field was a sight to behold. An engine problem slowed his Ferrari to a relative crawl allowing both Hamilton and Bottas to sail by before a fortuitous full course yellow eased the pain allowing him to cross the line in third place.
Lewis Hamilton deserved points for just hanging in there. The Ferrari's were in a class of their own in sheer outright pace. When tyre wear caused their advantage to diminish, Hamilton was there to pounce. The pass around Sebastian Vettel took everyone by surprise, most of all Vettel. The Ferrari spun on the exit of turn 4 as he tried to cover Hamilton's bold move and caused flat spots on his tyres. The speed on the straight then compounded his error with vibration shaking the front wing off and under the stricken Ferrari. There was still time to chase and recover some of the damage which he did well.
The Renault's both failed going into turn 1 on the same lap with different problems. Hulkenberg had an engine let go while Ricciardo had an MGU-K failure. With both cars stranded on the circuit, the clerk of the course had no option but to throw the full course yellow and race distance was covered before the yellows could be pulled in.
I can hardly go without saying how impressed I was by Lando Norris and his McLaren. Qualified well, finished well.

If this is an indication of the season to come, bring on China!

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