2022 Bahrain GP

[Ian]

Never expected that finish today. 

[Dare]

Yeah Hamilton lucked into a podium finish and not
by his superb driving skills.

I think Alfa should have kept the Italian  driver

[Scott]

I loved it.  Did RBR just engineer their car for 55 laps?

Well deserved win for Leclerc and 2nd for Sainz. 

I was surprised that Hammy stayed in it to grab the podium after the RBR's DNF'd.

Fantastic finish for Haas and Sauber (Alfa).  Zho in the points was wonderful to see.  Kimi retired a year too soon.

Mclaren being such a dog was surprising as well.  I cant believe they were struggling to stay with Latifi so long.

Max was nothing but a big cry baby today.  What wonderful behaviour for a WDC (undeserved).

Sorry for Perez, I thought he would hold on.  I expect Perez to beat Max this year.

Again, loved the race.  Fun to be in chat (though it wasn't populated by very many).

I go under the knife on Thursday for a new hip, so probably won't be in chat next race, or if I am, might be a little stoned on pain killers.

Forza Ferrari!!!

[Scott]

Where was Will for post race?  Did he get COVID?  I like Renatta more anyway.

[Monty]

I was slightly disappointed with myself when I was cheering because the Red Bulls retired. It is just the rubbish that seems to consistently come out of the mouths of Marko, Horner & Verstappen have made them seem so unsportsmanlike.
In general the regulations do seem to have produced closer racing and more overtaking. However, it is still a concern that Ferrari and RBR are in a different class to everyone else, with only Mercedes looking like they might raise their game fairly quickly.

[Scott]

I think Merc will figure out their floor in a few races, but nice to see them on the back foot

[Alianora La Canta]

Where was Will for post race?  Did he get COVID?  I like Renatta more anyway.

I think Will got the weekend off.

Sorry I didn't get to join you in chat - I was asleep when the race happened. Turns out my problems with the coverage were qualifying-specific, though that may be because I'm being more circumspect with some of the flashier imagery being used this year.

[Jericoke]

For me the biggest surprise was that for most of the race, the bottom 6 cars had Mercedes power units. True, the 'big team' put in a strong finish, but it seems unlikely all their customers are that far off the pace.  If this trend continues for the season, I declare the fight for the bottom teams to be the 'Mercedes Cup'.

Of course, after mentioning how poorly the Mercedes engine performed over all, it's almost as big a surprise that Red Bull Power Trains had a 75% failure in their first race.  Somewhere some Honda executive is silently happy their name isn't on there.

I think the new rules provided a great race.  It took longer than normal for the field to spread out, and there were plenty of battles going on until that did happen.  The cooler tires are definitely going to change up the strategy this year (expecting Max to do a face plant next time he's told to take it easy on an out lap too).  It was great to see the running order mixed up, though I'm sad to see Williams continuing at the tail end.

It was nice to see KMag put in a great performance, but it might be bad news for Schumacher.  Hopefully Mick can learn from Kevin.  Also nice to see Zho put in a solid performance and Bottas to show up his 'replacement'.  Albon looked good too, though the Williams isn't going to do him any favours, but everyone will at least see how he compares with Russel if he continues to outpace Latifi.

[BraydenSoh]

If this is any indication of what's gonna happen, this season is going to be great!

A few takeaways from this race:

• Teams trying out different strategies (e.g. McLarens starting with Hards, RB putting Perez on softs after softs, Max trying the under cut). Yes, it's not always gonna work out but it beats everyone following the lead car and staying safe.
• McLaren and RB needs to get their act together and solve what ever problems they have ASAP!
• Kevin Magnussen is gonna give Mick a run for his money, time for him to us what he's worth!

Love the battle between Verstappen and Leclerc! Maybe Verstappen will learn to keep his mouth shut as long as someone is able to keep him in his place.

Had a great time in the chatroom! Really missed everyone! Hopefully we can get more people to come in for the rest of the season!

[Scott]

I wonder if there will be a radio problem next race with Max’s car?  “We can’t hear you Max, there must be a problem with your mic”.

Additionally, Leclerc showed that Max has basically no race raft, and how easy it was to pass him back when he barged through.

[rmassart]

The race was quite interesting, although with long periods where nothing seemed to be happening. Ultimately the race needed a SC period in order to add some excitement at the end.

It seemed to me that whilst the cars could more easily follow each other more closely, they still needed drs to actually make the move stick (or not in the case of Max).

Not sure what happened to RB. I understood they did not do a full length race sim in the pre-season testing. So it's worrying for them they couldn't finish a race which included several laps behind the safety car.  I hope this helps keep the championship open, because I still think RB will be the team to beat. It also helps Mercedes keep a foot in whilst they sort out their problems.

For Mercedes, they looked well off the pace all weekend. But I read this comment by Toto:

We were overwinged and had too much drag, mainly because we were lacking parts. Hopefully we can remedy that, but we will also leave no stone unturned on improving the power unit as well

I'm not sure what to make of that comment. Does he mean they've solved the porpoising issue and are waiting for the parts to arrive?  Or why didn't he just say they were running more wing to counter the higher ride height they need to avoid the porpoising?

I was also excited to see the Williams and McLaren jockeying for position. It reminded me of the good old 80s! Until I realised they were fighting for 19th position! Oh dear! Hopefully that's not a sign of the Mercedes engines.

Glad to see Haas doing well, especially Kevin Magnussen. Without wanting to be mean, I wonder how long Mick will be around if can't keep up with Kevin...

In fact in general the teams seem to be quite mixed up. Which is great, but the field as a whole does not appear any closer together.

[rmassart]

I wonder if there will be a radio problem next race with Max’s car?  “We can’t hear you Max, there must be a problem with your mic”.

To be fair to Max, at the end he was complaining about an issue with the car and team was telling him there's no problem and three laps later he's retired. 

Should have listened to the driver? Of course they'd probably got fed up with his other complaints during the race. Cry wolf?

[Scott]

To be fair to Max, at the end he was complaining about an issue with the car and team was telling him there's no problem and three laps later he's retired. 

Should have listened to the driver? Of course they'd probably got fed up with his other complaints during the race. Cry wolf?

Even if it was a problem they couldn’t see doesn’t mean they could have done anything about it at that point.  His complaining earlier was him whining for no reason.  He cooked his tires trying to stay with Leclerc and still couldn’t.  All the teams (and drivers) knew with the new tires in Bahrain you couldn’t push the tires on the out lap.  There was no way an undercut could work.  But Max had to berate the engineers and scream like a 6 year old because they simply reminded him to be careful of his tires on the out lap. 

Max is rarely fair with anyone, his team or beyond, so I see no need to be fair to him.

I don’t even like it when 7x WDC questions the strategy, but at least he does it politely.

[cosworth151]

I missed the race because of another commitment I had to tend to. I was struck both by the number of Merc powered cars at the bottom of the finishing order and by the number of Ferrari powered cars at the top. It looks like the Maranello magic may have returned.

By the way, did I mention:

Haas is P3 in the Constructors Championship!!!!   

[Willy]

I too cheered when the RB's failed. I will not apologize!
We all spent way too much time last season listening to the whining of the entire team on whatever platform they could get on for me to give a crap about them this season. It appears more whining is forthcoming from the child WDC.
It was interesting to see the Merc engines all at the back but I do not expect that to last long as they will fix what ever the issues are and be racing at the pointy end again soon.
I was happy to see Ferrari back at the front of the pack and the two red drivers are young, strong and talented so they will be great to watch as they get a chance to show what they can do when the car actually performs.
KMag showed that he has what is required to be on the grid with the younger guys and maybe Mick can learn a thing or two.
Nico Hulkenburg deserves his seat as well and will be a car to watch.
Zho getting points in his first race was a nice treat and I expect great things from him as long as the car continues to do what he needs.
Macca has some work to do and it must have been a hard day for Lando. I know Danny is just getting over Covid so he should get some slack but I do not see the things in him that some others do.