Formula1 Talk

[MadManCK]

P2 times;

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1'29.817 32
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1'29.828 0.011 37
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1'30.380 0.563 31
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1'30.472 0.655 32
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull/TAG Heuer 1'30.745 0.928 32
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/TAG Heuer 1'30.751 0.934 31
7 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1'31.220 1.403 34
8 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso/Honda 1'31.232 1.415 38
9 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Renault 1'31.282 1.465 29
10 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren/Renault 1'31.422 1.605 35
11 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1'31.591 1.774 33
12 Carlos Sainz Renault 1'31.601 1.784 34
13 Esteban Ocon Force India/Mercedes 1'31.809 1.992 31
14 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1'31.868 2.051 34
15 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1'31.969 2.152 35
16 Charles Leclerc Sauber/Ferrari 1'32.372 2.555 37
17 Lance Stroll Williams/Mercedes 1'32.382 2.565 30
18 Sergey Sirotkin Williams/Mercedes 1'32.474 2.657 37
19 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1'32.733 2.916 32
20 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso/Honda 1'32.908 3.091 38

Hartley will have to pick up the pace soon®, or Gasly will drive circles around him.
It appears that the new Ferrari suits Kimi very well. Let's see what happens in Bahrain this weekend

[MadManCK]

Grid Girls must stay, gets a stronger voice every day. Monaco GP will have them and Russia wants them as well. Some airline sponsors are furious at Liberty, as their Stewardesses are usually lining up the starting grid. I do not know who forced Liberty into this misplaced political correctness, but it has to end.

[MadManCK]

A Ferrari red front row at the start of the Bahrain GP tomorrow.

1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari Ferrari 1'27.958
2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari Ferrari 1'28.101 0.143
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes Mercedes 1'28.124 0.166
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull TAG 1'28.398 0.440
5 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso Honda 1'29.329 1.371
6 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 1'29.358 1.400
7 Nico Hulkenberg Renault Renault 1'29.570 1.612
8 Esteban Ocon Force India Mercedes 1'29.874 1.916
9 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Mercedes 1'28.220 0.262
10 Carlos Sainz Jr. Renault Renault 1'29.986 2.028
11 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso Honda 1'30.105 2.147
12 Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 1'30.156 2.198
13 Fernando Alonso McLaren Renault 1'30.212 2.254
14 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Renault 1'30.525 2.567
15 Max Verstappen Red Bull TAG
16 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 1'30.530 2.572
17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 1'31.063 3.105
18 Sergey Sirotkin Williams Mercedes 1'31.414 3.456
19 Charles Leclerc Sauber Ferrari 1'31.420 3.462
20 Lance Stroll Williams Mercedes 1'31.503 3.545

There are some rumors about Lewis Hamilton asking Mercedes 60M $ a Year salary, depending on results and bonusses.

And also rumors Liberty is calling Ferrari's bluff and will give them the option to take their renewed revenue distribution offer or leave the sport.
Case Carey is from Texas and Marcchionne should know not to play Poker with a Texan.



This will be a hot summer in the F1 paddock

[Beardroid91]

The only team i really care about this season is Haas, i think they'll have the pace for 4-5th in the race, as the Toro Honda is very likely to end it in a puff of white smoke as qualfying that high had to have been hard on the their Honda engine.

I really hope there isn't anymore stupid wheelnuts costing them a 22 points again.

[MadManCK]

Well deserved win by Vettel, who was chased by Bottas until the end.
Lewis Hamilton did drive a solid race and probably made the overtake action of the Year, by passing 3 cars in one action. But he also pulled a dick move on Max Verstappen, who had to retire because Hamilton did not make enough room and they collided.
I voted for Pierre Gasly as driver of the day. Epic result, 4th with a Toro Rosso. Honda will be delighted as well.
This race had everything in it. Where Australia was disappointing, Bahrain was full of overtaking action, silly mistakes and also drama. The Ferrari wheelman must have broken his leg, when Kimi was sent away too soon®.

More drama at RBR, where both cars had to retire. Ricciardo suffered from a complete electrical power loss. It looked pretty similar to what happened to Max on Friday in P1.

Grosjean should have been given the "meatball" flag, as he was losing parts after a collision. Strange the FIA did not interfere there.

Alonso showed his race craft with another solid race (7th).
Magnussen confirmed the HAAS pace with 5th spot. Hulkenberg grabbed 6th.
Ericcson and Ocon scored the first points for Sauber and Force India.

Williams is a drama. Some statistics dude calculated that last years Williams was 1.4 sec faster in qualifying
That is just embarrassing.

This was a great race to watch, despite all that went wrong.

China next week

[MadManCK]

The Ferrari Mechanic who broke his leg in two places after Kimi was sent away too soon®, has undergone surgery and does well.



Ferrari had to pay a 50.000$ fine for an unsafe release. The second in one weekend.

[Beardroid91]

They really need to bring back the lollypod man, as back then there wasn't any issues, this electronic release thing they got now fails so often, sure it has the potential to be faster, but at some point you have to think slightly fast is fast enough and go for the super fast as the super fast introduce mishaps and this time it was costly enough to be felt by Ferrari i mean shit, 50 grand is a shitload of money to pay for 0,2-4 of a second faster release.

But good to see the fine boned italian is doing well.

But a very enjoyable race, just a shame Magnussen couldn't get passed Gasly, eventhough Gasly pushed him of track so many times, but made for a great race.

Just a shame the damn Merc's didn't break down.

[MadManCK]

Magnussen was hit or pushed off track at least 5 times this race. Even almost taken out by his team mate Grosjean. Normally he is not the most polite driver, so to speak, but this time it looked like he had a target painted on his Haas.
5th was well deserved, but Gasly was faster. When our Dutch pit reporter asked Alonso about his thoughts over Honda, he turned his head away and refused to give a statement.

[MadManCK]

P2 results;
Top 5 within 4 tenths.

1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Mercedes 26 1'33.482
2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari Ferrari 26 1'33.489 0.007
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes Mercedes 27 1'33.515 0.033
4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari Ferrari 27 1'33.590 0.108
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull TAG 26 1'33.823 0.341
6 Nico Hulkenberg Renault Renault 30 1'34.313 0.831
7 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 26 1'34.458 0.976
8 Carlos Sainz Jr. Renault Renault 28 1'34.473 0.991
9 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull TAG 26 1'34.557 1.075
10 Fernando Alonso McLaren Renault 23 1'34.632 1.150
11 Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 30 1'34.792 1.310
12 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso Honda 33 1'34.849 1.367
13 Esteban Ocon Force India Mercedes 30 1'34.874 1.392
14 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Renault 22 1'35.163 1.681
15 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso Honda 37 1'35.333 1.851
16 Sergey Sirotkin Williams Mercedes 31 1'35.340 1.858
17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 29 1'35.624 2.142
18 Charles Leclerc Sauber Ferrari 26 1'35.916 2.434
19 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 26 1'36.471 2.989
20 Lance Stroll Williams Mercedes 19 1'37.147 3.665

[MadManCK]

Vettel snatched pole away from team mate Raikkonen at the very last moment. Kimi was quicker in sector 1 and 2, but Sebastian nailed it in the last sector.
Ferrari front row, Mercedes second row and Red Bull Racing on the third row. Max came very close to Mercedes (1/10).

Mercedes is not the dominant team anymore. Ferrari is now the team to beat and tomorrow will be a 3 team battle for the win. Renault did add some power to their engines for all teams. But Ricciardo had a massive engine blow up (turbo?) in P3 and the Red Bull mechanics deserve a big kudos for exchanging the complete engine just in time, with only 4 minutes to go in Q1. Fantastic job.

Sauber was disappointing, Force India found some pace again and Toro Rosso dropped a little. The track layout of the Chinese GP requires a lot of power from the engines. McLaren lacked serious top speed. Maybe some issues over there are chassis related?

Qualifying result;

1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari Ferrari 1'31.095
2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari Ferrari 1'31.182 0.087
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes Mercedes 1'31.625 0.530
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Mercedes 1'31.675 0.580
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull TAG 1'31.796 0.701
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull TAG 1'31.948 0.853
7 Nico Hulkenberg Renault Renault 1'32.532 1.437
8 Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 1'32.758 1.663
9 Carlos Sainz Jr. Renault Renault 1'32.819 1.724
10 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 1'32.855 1.760
11 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 1'32.986 1.891
12 Esteban Ocon Force India Mercedes 1'33.057 1.962
13 Fernando Alonso McLaren Renault 1'33.232 2.137
14 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Renault 1'33.505 2.410
15 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso Honda 1'33.795 2.700
16 Sergey Sirotkin Williams Mercedes 1'34.062 2.967
17 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso Honda 1'34.101 3.006
18 Lance Stroll Williams Mercedes 1'34.285 3.190
19 Charles Leclerc Sauber Ferrari 1'34.454 3.359
20 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 1'34.914 3.819