Heros & Zeros of Bahrain Grand Prix

[F1fanaticBD]

What a race that was, after a long time I have seen races & places won by racing, not by strategies, under-cutting through pit-stops, or running in the tyre delta's, but by going wheel to wheel against your opponent, and getting place by racing. And that being the case all through out the field. That is one feast for the eyes of racing fans.

Heroes :
1. Mercedes : For letting the drivers race, not issue any direct hold your position team-orders, and give us a one hell of spectacle to remember. I was tempted to pick out Lewis, but that would be so unfair to Nico, as they both did what they were suppose to, racing. So the winner of the battle becomes less significance, the battle remains in our mind forever. So the accolades goes to the Team Mercedes, hats down.

2. Sergio Perez : That is one sublime drive to bring 2nd podium for the team, and winning it because the front runner's misfortune, but purely by his own & teams merit. He battled his team-mate, as well Willaims & one brilliant driver in the Red-Bull machine to get this, so kudos to Mexico's No.1 driver in F1.

3. Daniel Riccardo : What Red-Bull does wrong, he with his calm collective and raw pace tries his level best to correct it. He did qualified in the 3rd place, but have to take a 10 place grid penalty, not for his own fault, out-qualifying his more more decorated team-mate by quiet a margin, and then producing one of the radio message that we thought we may never heard, "Sebastian, he is faster, let him through". And in this process he almost made it to the podium, finishing in the 4th place.

4. The Williams : They did a fantastic job, but there will be a lingering question could they have achieved a bit more from this grand prix. Their drivers did brilliant job, and gave us great wheel to wheel racing, but somewhere in our mind we have to face a nagging question, could they have achieved a bit more. The start Massa got was just tremendous, its a pity he could not capitalized on to it.

Zeros :
1. Pastor Maldonado : I think we should name Zeros as Maldonado. What did to Guti is unbelievable, reckless, dangerous and should have given him a race-ban instead of 5-place penalty. Though it has given us a spectacle, but it also showed his stupidity and utter disregard for his competitors.

2. Ferrari : The season was said to be a battle of fire & ice for Kimi & Alonso, but unfortunately Ferrari forgot to give them their weapons to fight. They were absolute rubbish in their pace, both Alonso & Kimi were sitting duck, as all the Mercedes powered cars as well as Renault went pass them with an ease. Stop whining, and get on to work to increase the pace of the car, they are horrible to say the least.

[Dare]

I had to work and it looked like I missed a great
race,hope I'm there for the next one.

I'm wondering now if Mclaren were a bit hasty
getting rid of Perez?

Think Williams looked at Pastor's money instead
of his driving ability.

I wonder when heads are going to start rolling
at Ferrari?Luca can't be a happy camper.

[Ian]

Everything BD said, best race for a long long time, real racing, shame they don't sound like F1 cars, but with racing like that I suppose we can forgive the powers to be.

[Jericoke]

The new rules have provided great racing, I love it!

Lewis and Rosberg (and all of team Mercedes) put on an absolute clinic of exciting AND professional racing.  A runaway lead AND having their sponsors on TV with multiple exciting pass attempts?  What else can be expected for a modern F1 outfit?

Good work by Force India.  Disappointment for Williams, yet good work for them to be in a position for disappointing points finishes.

I thought that Maldonado was leaving behind the 'wreckless' phase of his career to mature into a fast driver.  No such luck.  If he causes another crash, I think he's used up his chances and should be run out of F1.

[lkjohnson1950]

I think Pastor thought Gutierrez saw him exit the pits and would leave him some room. Guti just didn't know he was there. Two second tier drivers who don't have the skill to race as the front runners did. Kudos again to Ricciardo, who has shown me skills I didn't know he had. Instead of whining about how slow the car is, he just hauls it as far up the field as he can. It was amusing to see Vettel being closely followed by Kvyat at one point. And a nod to Kvyat who has been pretty impressive in the Toro Rosso as a rookie. Don't think McLaren has made a mistake, in the long run, I believe Mags will be faster than Perez. Like most, they need to improve their car, they appear to be the slowest Mercedes team. Before the season started, I posted about a story saying Merc might be as much as 100 BHP more powerful than their rivals. Seems quite credible now!!

Oh, and if Hammy chopped me as his team mate the way he did Nico, I would hit him, screw protecting the cars. If Nico lets him get away with it, Hammy will own him and the team.

[Ian]

Big zero, the stewards

In the last race Ricciardo was given a 10 place penalty for unsafe release, his wheel was not secured, he had barely left his pit and the wheel never even  came off.

In this race Maldonado flipped Gutierrez right over and gets a 5 place penalty. Where's the justice in that.

[Vince]

Oh, and if Hammy chopped me as his team mate the way he did Nico, I would hit him, screw protecting the cars. If Nico lets him get away with it, Hammy will own him and the team.

Sorry bud, I totally disagree - that's what you call close racing.. If Nico had been totally hacked off at Hammy's pass, it would have been said by now. They hugged each other after climbing out of their respective cars.

I don't favour one over the other (apart from my Grid Game pics) and have ultimate respect for them both. The passing and re-passing was a sight to behold... with breath held most of the time!

Best race for a very long time!

[Scott]

What about Sutil vs Bianchi?  Clearly Sutil turned in to Bianchi to punish him and flattened his tire.  No penalty?  Sutil is still a hot-head IMO.

[Vince]

What about Sutil vs Bianchi?  Clearly Sutil turned in to Bianchi to punish him and flattened his tire.  No penalty?  Sutil is still a hot-head IMO.

Can't argue with that one.. Sutil and Maldonado are the two that let the side down in my opinion...

[Monty]

Oh, and if Hammy chopped me as his team mate the way he did Nico, I would hit him, screw protecting the cars. If Nico lets him get away with it, Hammy will own him and the team.

There was no 'chopping'. This was good fair racing. Nico tried to squeeze Hamilton a couple of times (as he should when trying to beat his team mate) and Hamilton 'used' every millimeter of track which he was completely entitled to do. Only stupidity could have caused car damage and neither of these drivers are stupid.

[Scott]

Yeah, 'The Chop' was when Schumacher would veer from one side to the other really quickly to intimidate the other driver into braking.  A squeeze is usually slow and steady, and the bold drivers will keep their foot in it.  Not many would keep their foot in it when Michael did his Chop.

[Scott]

I thought the racing between Hammy and Nico was clean.  Nico had reason to complain the one time he had to avoid, but otherwise it was all clean, and he said so after the race.

[cosworth151]

As they called it on Sky, a "Noah's Ark" race - they mostly went two by two. Merc raced Merc, Williams raced Williams, FIF1 against FIF1 and so on.

I agree about Sutil, Maldonado and the stewards.

Remember last season, when the knock on Vettel was that he only ran well when he was in front? Danny Ric seems to be getting much more out of the Red Bull. A thumbs up to Vettel for his reaction to being told to let Ricciardo past. "OK, I'll let him by in Turn 11."

All in all, not a bad F3 or GP2 race, but none of the roar, glamor and spectacle one would expect from F1. Just little six-poppers worried about fuel consumption.

[Scott]

The battle of the teammates hasn't turned out nearly as well as I would have liked (Vintly can grin here...).  Ferrari is downright sad.  Watching Ferrari duel for 9-10 place doesn't get my heart racing, that's for sure.  Magnussen has had the lead most of the time over Button, but gee Ron, let's get those Mclaren's to the finish line please.  There are some good battles though, Force India, Williams and Mercedes are great to watch.

5 place penalty for Maldo is a joke considering how dangerous it was.  I think it should clearly be a race ban if you cause a car to go upside down due to your own carelessness or negligence.  Ricciardo gets so much worse for a stupid fuel meter or a wheel that didn't actually come off.  FIA 

Though he drove a good and (relatively) clean race this time, I think Perez is still a bully and it is only because other drivers know to give him room that he was able to make a couple of his passes cleanly.  I know, intimidation is an advantage in racing, but I think most drivers would just prefer to avoid a wreck, while Sergio doesn't care.  That said, congratulations on 3rd, and big hats off to Force India to provide the car.

Huge kudos to the Merc boys for keeping them on track to the end.  Mercedes will be tough to catch this year, I'm pretty sure.

[Scott]

Very true.  I didn't really expect him to let Ric past, but he did, and deserves credit for it (or scorn?)