2018 FORMULA 1 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX

[Big Kev]

2018 FORMULA 1 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX



Bahrain International Circuit
Lap data
Lap length 5.412km (3.363 miles)
Race laps 57
Race distance 308.238km (191.53 miles)
Pole position Left-hand side of the track
Lap record* 1’31.447 (Pedro de la Rosa, 2005)
Fastest lap 1’29.527 (Mark Webber, 2005, fourth practice)
Maximum speed 321kph (199.46 mph)
DRS zone/s (race)
Distance from grid to turn one 265m
Full throttle 66%
Longest flat-out section 1205m
Downforce level Medium
Fuel use per lap 1.7kg
Time penalty per lap of fuel 0.054s

UK Times
Friday 6th April 2018
Bahrain Grand Prix Free Practice 1: 14:00-15:30 (UK time: 12:00-13:30)
Bahrain Grand Prix Free Practice 2: 18:00-19:30 (UK time: 16:00-17:30)
Saturday 7th April 2018
Bahrain Grand Prix Free Practice 3: 15:00-16:00 (UK time: 13:00-14:00)
Bahrain Grand Prix Qualifying: 18:00 (UK time: 16:00)
Sunday 8th April 2018
Bahrain Grand Prix: 18:10 (UK time: 16:10)

Previous Winners
2017 Germany Sebastian Vettel Ferrari
2016 Germany Nico Rosberg Mercedes
2015 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
2014 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
2013 Germany Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault
2012 Germany Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault
2011 Cancelled
2010 Spain Fernando Alonso Ferrari
2009 United Kingdom Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes
2008 Brazil Felipe Massa Ferrari
2007 Brazil Felipe Massa Ferrari
2006 Spain Fernando Alonso Renault
2005 Spain Fernando Alonso Renault
2004 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari

Videos

Bottas 2017 on board


Alonso 2010 on board


Facts from the last race
Sebastian Vettel drew first blood in the grudge match between him and Lewis Hamilton as both bid to become Formula One’s third five-time world champion.

The Ferrari driver scored his 48th career victory and also made his 100th appearance on the podium. As Vettel is one race shy of his 200th start, that means he’s finished on the rostrum in more than half the races he’s started (and he’s had a few confiscated as well, at the Hockenheimring in 2012 and Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in 2016). For Ferrari it was their 950th race and 230th victory.

After leading the opening 18 laps of the race Hamilton had to settle for second place. However he did notch up the 73rd pole position of his career.

He already has five more poles than the previous all-time record holder Michael Schumacher, so how high will this record stand to be after another 20 races? Ominously for his rivals, Hamilton’s 0.664s advantage on Saturday was greater than he enjoyed in most of his 11 poles last season, the only exception being at Monza where it rained.

That weekend was also where Vettel lost the championship lead to Hamilton last year. Vettel is back on top of the points again and Ferrari are ahead in the constructors’ for the first time since Monaco last year.

The race marked the fifth anniversary of Kimi Raikkonen’s last F1 win. He made his 22nd podium appearance since that date, further increasing his record for most consecutive podium finishes without a win. Hamilton, meanwhile, is now just one race shy of matching Raikkonen’s record of scoring points in 27 consecutive races.

Raikkonen was the more convincing of the two Ferrari drivers for much of the weekend. He out-qualified Vettel (something he only managed four times last year) and was quicker in the first stint. Only in the final stint on soft tyres did he seem to lose that edge, which could have been down to the fact he ran the longest stint at the end.

Between them Hamilton, Vettel and Raikkonen have nine world championship titles. This is the most titles held by the occupants of a podium with one exception, the 2012 European Grand Prix, where the top three had 10 between them: Alonso (two), Schumacher (seven) and Raikkonen (one).

Daniel Ricciardo had to settle for fourth place, meaning he has still not scored a legitimate podium at his home race: He stood on the rostrum in 2014 but was later disqualified on a technicality. As a consolation he took the fastest lap, the 10th of his career, giving him as many as champions Graham Hill, John Surtees and Mario Andretti.

Fifth place for Fernando Alonso and ninth for Stoffel Vandoorne meant that McLaren, in their first race with new engine supplier Renault, matched the best individual and joint results they achieved in three seasons with Honda. They took fifth and ninth in Hungary 2015, Monaco 2016 and America 2016. It was also the first time McLaren scored points in a season-opening race since the last time they didn’t have Honda engines, when Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button were second and third in 2014.

Valtteri Bottas gained the most places of any driver in the race, moving up seven spots on his way to eighth place following his crash in qualifying. Renault made good on their pre-season aim of scoring points with both cars at every race as both Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz Jnr finished in the top 10.

However 11th and 12th for Force India meant this was the first time in 14 races they failed to score a point. There was no joy for Marcus Ericsson either, who is now one race away from going 50 in a row without scoring.


Drivers’ Chosen Tyres


Championship Standings

[KNAPPO]

Just checked the TV guide to ensure this weekends sessions are recorded.

BRUTAL... Race is on at 12:35am Monday morning, pass. Wont be watching this round live.

[Big Kev]

Kimi back in the full swing of F1 PR

Q: “Kimi have you given any feedback to Liberty about the future direction of F1?”
Kimi: “No it is their business. I know very little about it and I am not interested. It is in many years time and I doubt I’ll be here anyway.”

Q: “If you had the power what would be the Formula 1 today? What would you change?”
Kimi: “I don’t have the power so what is the point to even waste to think about it. I don’t understand, what is the point, I have zero power.”

[durbster]

It was a good race this one, despite having the edge taken off by the early departures. It made it difficult to paint my living room because things kept happening

I was surprised when they interviewed Kimi after the race and he apparently hadn't found out how the mechanic he ran over was doing. I know he has a care-free attitude but surely he has a bit of basic decency.

I think this also confirmed Bottas is a number 2 driver, which is disappointing.

[Big Kev]

Yeah was a good race that one. Kimi never even went to look at the guy on the floor when he walked back to the car. It must have been obvious something serious was going on! Sounded like a nasty double leg fracture.

I think Bottas did too little too late. It was obvious for ages that Vettel was going to the end and his tyres would be giving up with 5-6 laps to go. Bottas should have been all over that. They need to make sure all races are borderline 1 and 2 stop cos it makes for much better racing strategies.

Fantastic drive from Gasley. I suspect it's a bit of a blip as they were dead last 2 weeks ago but if it's not, McLaren will be pissed.

[w00dsy]

Yeah was a good race that one. Kimi never even went to look at the guy on the floor when he walked back to the car.
.

https://sniffpetrol.com/2018/04/09/oh-g ... raikkonen/

[Big Kev]

Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Lewis, I believe, if my ears are correct, you used the word ‘dickhead’ after the race concerning Max Verstappen and the overtake and the contact. Is that correct? And more importantly, is there an opinion you have on the contact you had with Max in the beginning stages of the race? Who was wrong, or was it just a racing incident?

SV: Can I answer that question?

Yes.

SV: I think it’s not fair… I mean, I don’t know what Lewis did. We’ve all been in that situation, we fight someone, we go sometimes wheel-to-wheel, it’s close and you have a lot of adrenalin going, do you think comparing to football, if you have a microphone on a football player’s mouth, that everything he says is something nice and is a nice message when the guy tackles him and maybe sometimes he fouls him or not. So I don’t think it’s justified to give us these kind of shit questions and making up a story out of nothing, if we are just racing and we are full of adrenalin and sometime we say these things. I mean if I hit you in your face, you’re not going to say “oh, Sebastian, that wasn’t nice”. It’s a human reaction. Sometimes I feel it’s all a bit blown up and artificial if we have these questions, trying to make a story out of nothing. So, it’s not personal, don’t take it personal. So I think we should cut it right there, so now if Lewis can answer.

Q: I’ll just apologise for any colourful language in Sebastian’s answer there. Now over to you, Lewis.

LH: Honestly, I don’t really remember it. I think maybe it was when we were talking afterwards? Ultimately, I had a coming together with Max and it was an unnecessary collision. There needs to be a certain respect between drivers and ultimately… maybe I need to go and watch the manoeuvre again, but it didn’t feel like a respectful manoeuvre, but ultimately it was a silly manoeuvre for himself, because he didn’t finish the race. And obviously he’s tending to make quite a few mistakes recently, so it was just unnecessary for him to do that. I can't really remember at what stage of the race it was or why we were even in that position, but yeah, I don’t really care to be honest.

I didn't really see a lot different to what Hamilton did to Rosberg at Spa and a few other places. But as usual the press is making more of it than it was.

[nutty]

great race, front strait DRS was a little too long which made a few of the passes a bit easy, but other than that some great battles.

[Sarsippius]

I've only watched a replay of Hamilton and Verstappen on youtube but I'd call it a racing incident. Hamilton did far worse to Rosberg at Bahrain a few years back, blatantly forcing him off track. This was more of a hard move that didn't quite pay off.

[Duke]

Just finished watching this after being interstate for work. It was a very entertaining race with how the strategies played out.

The Ferrari accident was nasty, that poor mechanic had no chance standing directly in front of the wheel. Kimi did take a good look as he walked back & in his defence he could not do much to help, the crew were already attending to their injured teammate.

Fantastic for STR, Honda & Gasly. As much as I love Nando, I also have a wry smile on my face. I said last year McLaren should stick with Honda for 1 more year. To me it's starting to show that the McL chassis isn't as good as they thought it was. It'll be interesting how the whole midfield battle develops from here.

I wonder how many more chances Merc will give Bottas. He just doesn't seem to be aggressive enough.

Yep, The DRS was way too long so hopefully they shorten it back to its original spot next year.