.:: 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix - 19/20/21 April ::.

DID YOU KNOW?: Both Paul di Resta and Romain Grosjean lead laps of a Formula One race for the first time in their careers at this event last year. The last time two drivers did this at the same event was at the US GP in 2003, for Webber and Button.

POINTS OF DISCUSSION

1. Caterham could potentially become the first F1 team to run two reserve drivers in FP1 instead of any of their race drivers this weekend - as Heikki Kovalainen returns to the team. Alexander Rossi has already been confirmed to run in FP1 too. If both do the session, what message do you believe it gives out to van der Garde and Pic?
2. Daniel Ricciardo managed to finish in 7th place in China (which could've been 5th were it not for a front wing change needed) - is he making a shout for a promotion to the Red Bull team as some suggest, or is one big performance like that not enough?
3. Both Esteban Gutierrez and Mark Webber will qualify with penalties from incidents in the last race - whilst Esteban's was expected, there's split decisions over Mark's. What do you think?
4. After how the soft tyres performed in China, did Pirelli make the right choice to swap those to the medium tyres for this weekend?
5. Yet again, the Bahrain GP is filled with controversy with political issues still dividing the country. Is F1 right to continue coming here or should it leave until the problems are resolved?

1. It's a get a move on signal, being at the back and behind your rival team who seems to have a good thing going with Jules Bianchi and KERS, Caterham might have to get drastic.

2. 2. He seems to consistantly beat JEV and seems to have a good grip with this car, I'm hoping that he can prove that he is worthy of the promotion but with Kimi being rumoured he'll have to really prove himself.

3. Both penalties were deserved, Mark's incident was an avoidable collision so therefore the penalty had to be given, as much as I really feel for Mark in his current situation but I do feel he will leave at the end of the season.

4. With the high temps which predict 35C for race day, those soft tyres would perish in a a lap if that, the tyres now ahould hold up, but I reckon a one stop from top teams because of how hard the 'Prime' tyre will be.

5. I'm not a huge fan of the Bahrain circuit, and I agree after last year it's tricky for teams and personel to stay safe. I hope the weekend goes without a hitch, but I feel Bernie needs to look at other circuits around the world to go to. 

1. Your seat is not safe, so pick up the pace.

2. He's making progress, but I don't see him making any big moves just yet.

3. The penalty was well deserved. There was no way he could have made a reasonable move with that little space...or maybe he had something else in mind.

4. This is the Middle East we're talking about...

5. Consciously, I'm against this, knowing what the Bahraini Government has done to suppress protest against it makes me worsens it. I don't see any reason to put the drivers and teams in any unnecessary danger.

1. I think it would be embarrassing for both Caterham's team principle and for VDG and Pic if they have Heikki come back to test and he drives faster than them. I find it odd that a team at that end of the field has the need for multiple reserve drivers - would have thought the money would be critically needed elsewhere.

2. I think he will need more than 1 good race, but it's certainly not done his chances any damage and better to do it early in a season and grab someone's eye than do it late in a season once other seats have already been signed up.

3. lol @ Rayrota's pic above! I think they are both fair enough, and 3 places for a Red Bull is no more than Mark tends to lose off the start line anyway! He should be able to make that up easily barring any further divine intervention.

4. Pirelli are doing what they have been asked to provide - but that tyre did seem pathetic to fall apart so fast. Vettel demonstrated the difference that could be got from it in the dying laps of the race, just a shame that it seemed to hamstring the rest of the field when they used it. There needs to be a difference between tyres, but perhaps not such a massive gulf so there is actually some strategy about when to use it, rather than the strategy being how to only use it for 5 laps and not do much in Quali.

5. To be honest there have been so many other conflicts going on in the world I can't remember the last time I saw something specific about Bahrain on the news - which either means the other conflicts are worse, or the Bahrain government are better at keeping the world press out of their problems. I hope the race can pass without incident this year and not be hijacked for political reasons by any group, but given the length of time this has been going on it may be time to look elsewhere.

Avenger: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22153567

The only piece I've seen on it. 

1. Just seems like they do not know what to do, the car is slow and has been for several seasons. I really feel like this is going to be the last season we see Caterham unless by some miracle they manage to get a few points on the table. Finishing 10th again for a team that has a larger budget than that of the team ahead of them is embarrassing and hardly a surprise given how Marussia were unlucky to loose 10th place in the final race last season.

2. One big performance is not enough, form is temporary, class is permanent. If he can do this over the course of the season then I think he has a shot at the number 2 slot in Red Bull. However, seeing Perez struggle at McLaren, getting a good finish in a handful of races in a season is not enough I feel, to do this consistently and be seen as somebody dragging a slow car forwards to finishes higher than it should get is what I would see as talented. Too often does press go on the hype machine of "driver wins race, world champion in the future obviously" or "driver in low team scores points, big teams want him next season". We saw this with Lotus where they were instantly signalled as being champions for this season, then the next race they finished in low points scoring positions. It is too early to tell anything I feel at this stage of the season, bar maybe who the front runner teams will likely be (but this can change with one or two car developments).

3. I think the pressure was getting to Mark, he had Vettel right behind and then tried to force a move on Vergne that was not going to work out unless Vergne moved out of the way big time. Fair enough that Vergne was in the feeder team car, but this is still racing and thus he was not expected to just move off the track to let them both past so the penalty seemed reasonable, I would have said a 5 place grid drop also. Mark needs some luck though as he has been short of this recently, if he could get a good result this weekend then things will look better for him, but he needs to get ahead of Vettel in qualifying and finish ahead in the race and he just is not doing that at the moment.

4. As I read in another thread, if the tyres were going to last less then China on soft compound then yes, but if they were to last longer or around the same then maybe it was a mistake to change them. Hopefully we will still get a good race and an exciting end to the race.

5. Reading in the paper today, it was suggested that the majority of people in Bahrain actually want the race to go ahead and there is a minority trying to stop the race purely to go against the government. As long as everybody is safe then they are right to go there (everybody in terms of spectators, teams, management, politicians, and opposition/protestors), if Race leads to unsafe environments for any of these people then the race is a mistake. Sport should be above politics, but at the same time, everybodys lives should be top priority for anybody involved.

Is this for the timing screens? Or is it for data providing the like DRS control, flags etc?kipi19

Also just noticed, I did the colours for the text in the top image the wrong way round... ****. 

Lewis Hamilton has been given a 5 place grid penalty for a gearbox change.Redders1989

"Nico, stay out and let Hamilton pass you"

HAMILTON'S PUNCTURE CAUSED BY DEBRIS

Lewis Hamilton's left-rear tyre failure during Saturday morning practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix, which led to his five-place grid penalty, was caused by metal debris, according to Pirelli.

The problem led to suspension and gearbox damage, as confirmed by a Mercedes statement.

This forced Mercedes to change Hamilton's gearbox, which was being used for the fourth weekend of its run of five, leading to the penalty.

Pirelli's conclusion is based upon its intial analysis of the tyre, along with the fact that Giedo van der Garde suffered a similar problem.

"Van der Garde was following and his rear tyre had a 10cm cut through it, a very aggressive cut that could only have come from a bit of metal," Hembery told AUTOSPORT.

"We are assuming that there was a piece of metal on the track that got into the suspension, the wheel, the brakes and that has caused us to lose the tread.

"It didn't deflate the tyre as the structural part was still intact and whatever it was went on and did van der Garde's tyre as well.

"That's all we can say at the moment."

Hembery confirmed the metal debris caused the tyre to overheat dramatically. This led to the loss of the tread.

"It has sent it into a massive overheat and we are trying to look at the telemetry to understand it," he said.

"We have a lab here, so we have some idea and can see some patches of overheating on the tread that has caused it to go well over 200C, which is rare and strange."

Hembery added that, as is routine, Pirelli personnel were due to walk the circuit after track activity had finished in an attempt to find the debris.

"We will go out and look as our guys always do a track walk," said Hembery.

"We are not overly concerned as it's just one of those racing things."

SOURCE: Autosport 

And again, the telemetry system isn't working. Back to 2012-spec from the next race onwards, then.

EDIT: In the meantime, the grandstands are absolutely packed for the race here in Bahrain...

EDIT: In the meantime, the grandstands are absolutely packed for the race here in Bahrain...

 

Redders1989

Protest? What protest? Meanwhile... 

What happened to Rosberg, his pace was good in qualifying but in the race the car was nowhere and he finished behind Hamilton.

Good race for Grosjean though, shame for Di Resta. Force India just are not getting much luck at the moment.

What happened to Rosberg, his pace was good in qualifying but in the race the car was nowhere and he finished behind Hamilton.Garfield360UK

 Tyres and Hamilton is simply a faster driver. Speaking of Hamilton, in just four races with Mercedes GP, he has already scored more points than Michael Schumacher in the entire 2012 season.

Good race for Grosjean though, shame for Di Resta. Force India just are not getting much luck at the moment.

Garfield360UK

Force India is now ahead of McLaren in the standings. They're doing quite well all things considered.

[QUOTE="Garfield360UK"]

What happened to Rosberg, his pace was good in qualifying but in the race the car was nowhere and he finished behind Hamilton.Rayrota

 Tyres and Hamilton is simply a faster driver. Speaking of Hamilton, in just four races with Mercedes GP, he has already scored more points than Michael Schumacher in the entire 2012 season.

[QUOTE="Garfield360UK"]

What happened to Rosberg, his pace was good in qualifying but in the race the car was nowhere and he finished behind Hamilton.Rayrota

Tyres and Hamilton is simply a faster driver. Speaking of Hamilton, in just four races with Mercedes GP, he has already scored more points than Michael Schumacher in the entire 2012 season.

Good race for Grosjean though, shame for Di Resta. Force India just are not getting much luck at the moment.

Garfield360UK

Force India is now ahead of McLaren in the standings. They're doing quite well all things considered.

Just think how many more points they would have if Sutil did not keep getting taken out or damaged in races (this race Massa pushed him onto the kerb and his tyre was flat the same lap).

So, do we do DoTD and SoTD still or is that done?

Well we haven't been doing a DotD or SotD up to this point, but that wasn't a deliberate decision, just no-one ( myself included ) posted any!

So yes, let's resurect them and everyone has until 8pm BST on Wednesday to post them for this race AND if anyone wishes to they can also post for the previous 3 races as well!!

I thought this was a very entertaining race - looks like Vettel has figured out the new tires already so credit to him for that.

Hamilton and Alonso showed what great drivers they are moving through the field and beating their team mates despite the various problems ( grid penalty for nothing he did wrong, DRS failure also not the drivers fault ). Great finishes for Grosjean and di Resta, Kimi showing what a class driver he still is. Is that 20 consecutive points finishes for him now?

DotD: had to be Alonso for what he managed without DRS

SotD: Perez for finally waking up at McLaren and giving Jenson something to think about 

DotD: Alonso, as SadPSPAddict mentioned - getting in to the points despite all the issues was pretty impressive.

SotD: Difficult to pick... Perez started showing pace like a McLaren driver, Sutil (after the first two laps) was the fastest driver over all the entire race, di Resta did so well to hold on to 3rd for as long as he did, Pic (with upgrades) beat Gutierrez on merit... Erm... I'll go with Paul, methinks.

DotD: It's got to be either Alonso or Vettel, Alonso for his impressive sans-DRS performance, or Vettel for managing the tyres so well whilst pulling out an unbeatable lead, only to slow near the end, whilst Webber was stuck in the doldrums all afternoon.

SotD: I would like to say di Resta but really it was Perez for me, as he made me feel like hiring him was the right choice for McLaren. He's an unknown quantity, but seeing what he did with Sauber last year I expect a win this season. If he wins before Button however, I don't know... Or maybe it's the guy who saw Kirk Hammett in the McLaren pit and decided the subtitle 'Metallica' was appropriate: P

Well we haven't been doing a DotD or SotD up to this point, but that wasn't a deliberate decision, just no-one ( myself included ) posted any!

So yes, let's resurect them and everyone has until 8pm BST on Wednesday to post them for this race AND if anyone wishes to they can also post for the previous 3 races as well!!

I thought this was a very entertaining race - looks like Vettel has figured out the new tires already so credit to him for that.

Hamilton and Alonso showed what great drivers they are moving through the field and beating their team mates despite the various problems ( grid penalty for nothing he did wrong, DRS failure also not the drivers fault ). Great finishes for Grosjean and di Resta, Kimi showing what a class driver he still is. Is that 20 consecutive points finishes for him now?

DotD: had to be Alonso for what he managed without DRS

SotD: Perez for finally waking up at McLaren and giving Jenson something to think about

SadPSPAddict

Cool, although I do have to say that's a little unfair on Massa, given he had two punctures which ruined his race given he needed to get back to the pits crawling where as with Alonso it boosted his pace on the straights so his car failure was not as bad. I do have to say it was unlucky for Ferrari, I want Massa to win a race this year as I like the guy and feel he deserves it, better yet if he was to outscore Alonso in the Championship but I doubt Ferrari will allow that to happen.

DoTD: Alonso, got into the points with a difficult car situation. Vettel was close with a solid performance again and also getting clear of Alonso at the start before DRS was enabled which is what he needed to do.

SoTD: Perez, giving us a good race and scoring some solid points. I feel Jenson has been very harsh to his team mate this weekend, yes the contact should have been avoided, but pushing your team mate off the track when he gave you room the lap before was very childish I feel.

I thought this was a very entertaining race - looks like Vettel has figured out the new tires already so credit to him for that.

SadPSPAddict

You must be trilled.

DotD: Vettel

SotD: Di Resta 

You must be trilled.

Rayrota

trilled?? Is that something to do with a budgie??

Seriously though - he will never by my favourite driver but this season it feels like he is "racing" rather than "time-trialling" which is at least a bit more entertaining