Bahrain Grand Prix 2013

[F1fanaticBD]

To be honest, when I started to watch the grand Prix I expected a mundane race, few predictable DRS overtakings, might be a little fumble in pit-stop, and with a wild thinking a mess in the first corner. Sebastian Vettel won the Bahrain GP, again. Nothing I expected happened, but instead of tagging it as a boring Bahrain, I have to say this is the finest I have ever seen in Bahrain. Great wheel to wheel racing, drivers respecting each other, and yet pushing themselves to the limit, and some awkward glitches and equally awkward remedies to rectify them. So my pick on Heroes and Zeroes :

Heroes:

1. Lotus Team : Did an absolute peach of a job to get two cars in the podium. Both of the drivers raced to the best, made their strategy work to the perfection, and made it their day.

2. Paul Di Riesta : May not be got that elusive podium, but surely he drove an excellent race, drove his heart out, kept throwing everything to Lotus to keep the final podium position, and almost made the 2 stop strategy working for them. They have shown good pace all round, in all four rounds, they have been the better team than McLaren & Sauber, which makes them candidate for a deserving applaud.

3. Sergio Perez : Well, I am not sure this is the proper way to shut off your critics, but surely this the way to spice up a grand Prix. He fought for every place, almost punctured his team-mates rear, and till end he fought with the very best. He looked hungry, aggressive and to the edge. Excellent wheel to wheel stuff from him. (So nearly could have made things a lot messy for himself and others)

Zeroes :

1. Nico Roseberg's Mercedes : When you have a team-mate who started from the 9th and finished 5th, you ought to make something from your pole instead of ending in 9th place. Awful degradation of tyres and a very poor race strategy.

2. Fernando Alonso : I am sure the Red Bull people have definitely jinxed your wings, in Malaysia it was the front and in Bahrain its the Rear. And Ferrari did the equally poor job of duct-tapping the thing, which in the end compromised him to achieved a 8 place, while he had a race pace of achieving the win.

P.S : Thanks Scott 

 

[Scott]

You've got nothing but Zeros there, BD 

Heros

Like you said, Lotus did a great job, even if Kimi didn't know what the strategy was (he asked why they brought him in when they did).  I guess he doesn't always know what he's doing. 

I was gunning for DiResta, but Grosjean was just too strong with the new tires, and he drove smart, instead of giving Grosjean a chance to screw up and crash him off the road, he just stayed wide on the turn and let him go through.  Better to first finish as they say.

Perez.  Well Martin, I guess he got his elbows out there today, although probably not quite what you wished for.  Whenever he was passed he saw red and was an out of control missile trying to get the spot back.  He and Button are really lucky he didn't take both of them out on a couple of occasions.  I think he will have a bit of a chat in the debrief about racing your teammate.  I believe it is great that Mclaren allow it, however I think he will be told in no uncertain terms that if he wants to avoid team orders, he had better keep it clean and ensure both cars survive any pass.

Grosjean did well to be 3rd on a 3 stopper.  Shows the potential the Lotus really has.

Kudos to Hamilton fighting to the end on an obviously unstable Mercedes.  Although he, Webber and Perez all had an easy go at Alonso in the closing stages only due to their DRS equipped cars.  I think Alonso would have had a podium for sure today, probably 2nd.

Alonso deserves credit as well for the way he managed to still stay competitive despite having no DRS.  Although on a positive note, I think his drive around a lap or two with the DRS wide open gives some credit to my argument for DRS wherever/whenever you want it.  Didn't make a mistake, and I don't think he tested the car in a corner with the DRS open 

Vettel gets a nod of approval right up until his totally outrageous remark on the podium...something along the lines of 'My legs aren't up in the air because I'm not a girl'.  Um, another point lost in the class race in my opinion. 

Zeros:

Ferrari worker who put the DRS together.  He should be shuttled off to work at Fiat fastening spare tires to cars.  Also what was up with Massa's 2nd puncture?  Surely there was something rubbing from the first incident?  Too coincidental to have the same tire go down twice in the same race.  Or did somebody plant a spike in the track in a place only Massa takes his line??

Rosberg (although I give him full credit for getting pole position).  If he had managed to take out Vettel on the first lap, I would have him ranked above    Seriously, his back end was really wide today.  Although it was fair on the dash to the first corner, it got a bit old after that watching him drive with his mirrors instead of just picking a good line through the corners.  Hamilton showed you how to race today.

Button - he did the best he could for most of the race, and was great fun to watch him battle Perez and mostly have the upper hand, but after his loss to Perez late in the race, he just faded.  Maybe there was mechanical - I haven't read any of the race reviews yet - but he just seemed to give up and was more than 10sec back from Perez by the end.

Sauber will go home with their heads in their hands.  Need to come up with something good, quick.

Vettel - just because. 

[Alonsofan]

Well i think the hero's have to be....

Lotus - A great result for the team best they could have hoped for with Vettel in that car on that track

Di Resta - A very solid race to almost make his first podium

Fernando - Maybe biased  But to keep the thing on the track with basically no rear wing, then have to pit twice and still be competitive to get some points was a good effort (Though poor to let Vettel get back past you on lap one!)

Button - For hanging in there with his team mate ( I use that phrase loosely today) and only succumbing to poor tyre wear in the end

On the negative side

Ferrari - For allowing Fernando to attempt to use the DRS after it was "fixed" because the extra stop cost him a 5th place finish

Perez - For driving like a lunatic he needs to be calmed down. You just don't race that close with your team mate

Rosberg - What happened??

[lkjohnson1950]

The race went pretty much the way I expected except... I think Ferrari has some kind of problem in the pits. First they leave Alonso out with a broken wing, now they let Massa run the whole race with a broken wing. The NBC guys speculated that he was wearing out his rears unexpectedly fast sliding the car to counter the understeer. And the were very ineffective fixing Alonso's DRS. Kudos to FIF1, they seem to have hit on a good package this year and I think Di Resta has raised his game to run with Sutil. The other question is how did Williams get it so wrong after having a good car last year?

[F1fanaticBD]

The other question is how did Williams get it so wrong after having a good car last year?

We should ask that question to Mclaren Lonny

[Irisado]

There was a bit of overtaking, yes, and Perez's battle with Button was very entertaining, but it was still not a good race.  Vettel won as he pleased, Ferrari shot themselves in the foot, Lotus were too far behind after qualifying to challenge, and the rest were too slow.  Not much to write home about.

The track is just so bland, and boring.  I can't distinguish one corner from another, and there's acres of run off which all looks the same.  Please can this rubbish circuit be dropped from the calendar forever.  We used to have the San Marino Grand Prix in late April/early May, and that would be infinitely superior to this hopeless excuse for a race track.  Heck, the heat of the desert doesn't even cause any mechanical problems to spice things up.  The whole event is just a waste of time in my opinion.

A great drive from Di Resta was about the only other highlight.

[Ian]

Aah, San Marino, now you are talking my language Irisado, cracking circuit.

[vintly]

There was a bit of overtaking, yes, and Perez's battle with Button was very entertaining, but it was still not a good race.  Vettel won as he pleased, Ferrari shot themselves in the foot, Lotus were too far behind after qualifying to challenge, and the rest were too slow.  Not much to write home about.

Ah well, that all depends on your perspective. I thought it was a good race because Vettel won as he pleased, and Ferrari shot themselves in the foot. 

[cosworth151]

Heroes:

Lotus: Glad to see the name at the sharp end again.

Di Resta: Made a good show of it.

Alonso: This year's Ferrari isn't that good to begin with. Take away DRS and he still made a points finish. And, as was mentioned in the Chat Room at the time, he didn't go flying off the track when his DRS stuck open.

Losers:

The track: 'nuff said.

Perez: This week's Punt Your Partner all star.

Williams: Actually, I kind of like what's happening at Williams this year. It proves it wasn't the Renault engine that made the difference last season.

Hard Luck Award:

Sutil: Gets his car pranged early on a day when FIF1 looked very good.

[Warmwater]

Winners
Perez- Driving like a racer should, regardless of who is in front of you (team mate... ? that is who you have to beat!)  He did good.
Alonso- driving a problem car beyond it's limits.
Massa- Ditto
Raikkonnen- makes me smile.

Losers
Vettel- It is easier to win when you are the leader of the pack.
Button- Always one brick short.
Hamilton- You can do a lot better.
Ferrari- Get your excrement together.

[Irisado]

Ah well, that all depends on your perspective. I thought it was a good race because Vettel won as he pleased, and Ferrari shot themselves in the foot. 

Even if Alonso had won as he pleased, and Vettel had retired, it still wouldn't have been a good race, because of the circuit layout, it would have just been a bit better in terms of the results .

[vintly]

The lack of fans makes for a sad spectacle, but hey, that's Bahrain, what do you expect. I thought the race was great, summed up (better than I could) by a chap commenting on James Allen's website:

Having said that the entire grid should be given driver of the day this week! The skill on show up and down the line-up was breathtaking – the racing was fierce but clean. VET’s consumate race management, driving well within himself; ROS stagging about like a punch-drunk but defiant warrior; PER hounding an implaccable BUT like an agry wasp for half the race; HAM’s patience and craft; RAI’s calm, controlled passive-aggression; DIR’s team lifting performance; ALO’s hampered charge back through the field! The list goes on…….

[Ian]

I thoroughly enjoyed the race too, especially the Button/Perez episode, even if Perez was a bit tooo hot.

[Scott]

You know why there are no spectators?  A couple years ago I looked into going.  Ticket price was ok, but hotel and transfers would have made it a $2000 weekend for Thurs-Sun.  Funny thing is, the hotel rates are about 1/4 that normally (why don't WE do that when a big event is on?  Oh yeah, because we believe in value).

[Ian]

Check out hotel/lodging prices around Silverstone before and during the GP weekend Scott.