Meanwhile in Bahrein...

Ferry_vO

Ferry_vO

Retired SOH Administrator
There's a qualifying session going on!

Surprise after Q1:

18: Schumacher
19: Vergne
20: Petrov
21: Pic
22: De La Rosa
23: Glock
24: Karthikeyan

Great job by Heikki Kovalainen making it into Q2, and a bad job by Mercedes not sending out Michael on soft tires!
 
Q2 results:

11: Raikkonen
12: Kobayashi
13: Hulkenberg
14: Massa
15: Senna
16: Kovalainen
17: Maldonado (No time set)

It's really unpredictable this year! :applause:
 
Q3 results; Vettel's back on pole! Very nice drive from Ricciardo too, in sixth.

1: Vettel
2: Hamilton
3: Webber
4: Button
5: Rosberg
6: Ricciardo
7: Grosjean
8: Perez
9: Alonso
10: Di Resta
 
Ferry_vO said:
Q3 results; Vettel's back on pole! Very nice drive from Ricciardo too, in sixth.

1: Vettel
2: Hamilton
3: Webber
4: Button
5: Rosberg
6: Ricciardo
7: Grosjean
8: Perez
9: Alonso
10: Di Resta
Click to expand...

Ricciardo, Grosjean and Di Resta were outstanding.
:applause:
As an aside, this must be one of the ugliest environments in Motorsport Worldwide.
 
Sand, sand and more sand... The track itself isn't that bad though, atleast not in the current layout. The longer version they used in 2010 was terrible!
 
Full results:


Pos
No
Driver
Team
Q1
Q2
Q3
Laps
1
1
Sebastian Vettel
Red Bull Racing-Renault
1:34.308
 1:33.527
 1:32.422
18
2
4
Lewis Hamilton
McLaren-Mercedes
1:34.813
 1:33.209
 1:32.520
13
3
2
Mark Webber
Red Bull Racing-Renault
1:34.015
 1:33.311
 1:32.637
17
4
3
Jenson Button
McLaren-Mercedes
1:34.792
 1:33.416
 1:32.711
12
5
8
Nico Rosberg
Mercedes
1:34.588
 1:33.219
 1:32.821
10
6
16
Daniel Ricciardo
STR-Ferrari
1:33.988
 1:33.556
 1:32.912
17
7
10
Romain Grosjean
Lotus-Renault
1:34.041
 1:33.246
 1:33.008
13
8
15
Sergio Perez
Sauber-Ferrari
1:33.814
 1:33.660
 1:33.394
17
9
5
Fernando Alonso
Ferrari
1:34.760
 1:33.403
 No time
11
10
11
Paul di Resta
Force India-Mercedes
1:34.624
 1:33.510
 No time
15
11
9
Kimi Räikkönen
Lotus-Renault
1:34.552
 1:33.789
6
12
14
Kamui Kobayashi
Sauber-Ferrari
1:34.131
 1:33.806
13
13
12
Nico Hulkenberg
Force India-Mercedes
1:34.601
 1:33.807
12
14
6
Felipe Massa
Ferrari
1:34.372
 1:33.912
14
15
19
Bruno Senna
Williams-Renault
1:34.466
 1:34.017
14
16
20
Heikki Kovalainen
Caterham-Renault
1:34.852
 1:36.132
10
17
18
Pastor Maldonado
Williams-Renault
1:34.639
8
18
7
Michael Schumacher
Mercedes
1:34.865
5
19
17
Jean-Eric Vergne
STR-Ferrari
1:35.014
8
20
21
Vitaly Petrov
Caterham-Renault
1:35.823
7
21
25
Charles Pic
Marussia-Cosworth
1:37.683
8
22
22
Pedro de la Rosa
HRT-Cosworth
1:37.883
6
23
24
Timo Glock
Marussia-Cosworth
1:37.905
7
24
23
Narain Karthikeyan
HRT-Cosworth
1:38.314
7
Q1 107% Time
1:40.380

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Note - Maldonado qualified 17th, but drops five grid places as penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.

Keep an eye out for Perez and Alonso tomorrow, who both saved a set of tires, and Perez will start on the harder tires so probably one less stop for him. Both Red Bulls and McLarens used one soft set more than Rosberg and the rest of the top ten..
 
Grosjean is in pretty good shape providing he makes it through lap 1.
Perez, Kobayashi and Raikkonen should provide some entertainment as well.
Maybe Renault will get the 'Iceman' on the right tyres at the right time this round.
:kilroy:
 
wombat666 said:
Grosjean is in pretty good shape providing he makes it through lap 1.
Perez, Kobayashi and Raikkonen should provide some entertainment as well.
Maybe Renault will get the 'Iceman' on the right tyres at the right time this round.
:kilroy:
Click to expand...

Kinda funny how the F1 races turned from sprints to almost endurance with the arrival of Pirelli, isn't it?
Strategy and tire conservation are suddenly more important than downright speed and qualifying in the top ten is no longer a garantee for scoring points.
 
Ferry_vO said:
Kinda funny how the F1 races turned from sprints to almost endurance with the arrival of Pirelli, isn't it?
Click to expand...
Well that was Pirelli's brief: make tyre strategy a major factor, adds to the spice of the racing.
They've done a pretty good job, I think it must be quite difficult to engineer a tyre that works for a certain number of laps, then degrades dramatically.
Alonso and di Resta have taken that on board, no time in Q3 means extra tyres for the race.
Also I noticed Alonso put in only a single lap in Q1, so he's really nursing tyres.
Rosberg also has a set spare, so should see different strategies, and hopefully a good race.

Interesting to see the top grid positions all separated by a tenth each...

EDIT: Maldonado and Schumacher take a 5-place rid penalty for new gearboxes.
What's going on? Hamilton also had issues last race.
 
The gearbox penalty rule needs a good re-think.
I don't like the draconian way it penalises a driver who's driven bloody hard [like Maldonado] over a problem beyond his control.
Equally, I detest the limit on engines, I'd suggest that the major teams get at least 12 per season and the minnows a minimum of 18.
MotoGP shows sense by allowing the CRT teams extra engines over the Factory 'Prototypes'.
:kilroy:
 
Triple strike by Vettel and Red Bull, winning and leading both championships now, but an equally impressive job by Lotus, Raikkonen and Grosjean! :applause:

Best Bahrein GP ever! (Not that it was hard to improve on that mind you...)

Eighteen drivers have scored points, and eight drivers have been on the podium so far (One nore than in the entire 2011 season!), nothing's predictable so far.
 
Ferry_vO said:
Best Bahrein GP ever!
Click to expand...
Totally agree... So far this season's F1 has an excellent blend of strategy, tactics, car and driver skills.
This will surely ebb and flow as they move from track to track.

Lotus looked really strong here, superb effort from Grosjean I thought.
Massa woke up and by his recent standards, drove the wheels off the Ferrari!
 
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