2019 Bahrain F1 GP - Sakhir

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Originally Posted by airshifter

Gasly dog of the race IMO. Though Renault lost both cars and Ricciardo had a strange strategy move, I think RB are probably already wishing they either managed to keep Daniel on, or found a better driver to replace him. Only time will tell.

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Yes, something is clearly not right there. Gasly's performances have for sure not been not up to where they should be, which is curious given his prior performance in the Toro Rosso. He has alluded to issues with grip, and especially getting the tyres into the right zone. Sounds like some major issues getting to grips with the setup in the new car. Hopefully he and his race engineer can sort this out, because he's definitely a talented driver.

Also, Kimi: I was literally laughing out loud at the exchange he had with his engineer about front wing damage. Ice Man is still the Ice Man... classic Kimi.

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Originally Posted by Duncan

Yes, something is clearly not right there. Gasly's performances have for sure not been not up to where they should be, which is curious given his prior performance in the Toro Rosso. He has alluded to issues with grip, and especially getting the tyres into the right zone. Sounds like some major issues getting to grips with the setup in the new car. Hopefully he and his race engineer can sort this out, because he's definitely a talented driver.

Also, Kimi: I was literally laughing out loud at the exchange he had with his engineer about front wing damage. Ice Man is still the Ice Man... classic Kimi.

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Gasly has setup issues. He was complaining that the car snaps to the right whenever he tries to put the power down. I would not cast the blame on Gastly yet, but certainly his engineers are not doing a good job for him.

I think we all know Gasly is faster than he is showing at the moment.

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Originally Posted by Nitrodaze

Gasly has setup issues. He was complaining that the car snaps to the right whenever he tries to put the power down. I would not cast the blame on Gastly yet, but certainly his engineers are not doing a good job for him.

I think we all know Gasly is faster than he is showing at the moment.

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RBR have gone all in on team Verstappen to the detriment of everything else and it shows.
They can't setup Gasly's car. can't figure out a qualy strategy for him and usually have a shaite race strategy for him too. They can't even get a pit stop right for him.
It's a mess over there and I blame Horner for the culture of ineptitude over there.
They totally screwed Ricciardo in the 2nd half of last year and really don't give a crap about Gasly either. He was brought in to be a stooge for verstappen and so far it is playing out exactly as I predicted.
And while we are on it, thet FIA should really look into how the STR team is being managed. (or lack of it)

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Originally Posted by truefan72

RBR have gone all in on team Verstappen to the detriment of everything else and it shows.
They can't setup Gasly's car. can't figure out a qualy strategy for him and usually have a shaite race strategy for him too. They can't even get a pit stop right for him.
It's a mess over there and I blame Horner for the culture of ineptitude over there.
They totally screwed Ricciardo in the 2nd half of last year and really don't give a crap about Gasly either. He was brought in to be a stooge for verstappen and so far it is playing out exactly as I predicted.
And while we are on it, thet FIA should really look into how the STR team is being managed. (or lack of it)

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I hope this is not the case. If it is, then they are doing a fine job of screwing the career of a driver that many think is world championship winning material. What we seeing at the moment looks ugly to say the least. Two races in a row those crap Redbull engineers could not setup his car right. I did say if he got Ricciados engineers, he is f**ked, that is looking like the case.

The engineers on that side of the garage are notoriously shite. They screwed Ricciado of a win Monaco if you remember. Ricciados setup was hit and miss most of 2018. It looks like they have the trainee engineers on that side of the garage.

It is not surprising that Gasly has ended up where we typically found Ricciado in 2018.

Gasly has been very inconsistent even last year. Terrible on his debut in Melbourne, great in Bahrain, nowhere in China, the list goes on...
Also, it's not the sole responsibilty of the engineers to set up the car, AFAIK the driver has something to do with it as well. Ricciardo may have been "unlucky" last year, but he was fast. Gasly so far is nowhere near where DR was last year.

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Originally Posted by gm99

Gasly has been very inconsistent even last year. Terrible on his debut in Melbourne, great in Bahrain, nowhere in China, the list goes on...
Also, it's not the sole responsibilty of the engineers to set up the car, AFAIK the driver has something to do with it as well. Ricciardo may have been "unlucky" last year, but he was fast. Gasly so far is nowhere near where DR was last year.

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Those are solid points too. The shenanigans with the team don't help though. But you are right that gasly wasn't that impressive last year either. TBH they would have been better off with kvyatt in that seat. Or Ocon wherlein or even VanDoorne. But they insist on their driver program that has cannibalized its own drivers and probably ruined more careers than developed.

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Originally Posted by truefan72

RBR have gone all in on team Verstappen to the detriment of everything else and it shows.
They can't setup Gasly's car. can't figure out a qualy strategy for him and usually have a shaite race strategy for him too. They can't even get a pit stop right for him.
It's a mess over there and I blame Horner for the culture of ineptitude over there.
They totally screwed Ricciardo in the 2nd half of last year and really don't give a crap about Gasly either. He was brought in to be a stooge for verstappen and so far it is playing out exactly as I predicted.
And while we are on it, thet FIA should really look into how the STR team is being managed. (or lack of it)

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I can’t agree with you on this.

Can you point out to me how Ricciardo was screwed by RBR last year? And the claim they would prioritise one driver over the other so early in the season, it just doesn’t make sense for any team to do that. He has had two unlucky races. I can’t really see it as much more than that right now.

I'm ready to write off Kubica as he is definitely not a long term solution. Gasly on the other hand. He looks out of his depth. Do we need to give him more time?

The Bahrain GP was a really good race. I thoroughly enjoyed it although with Liverpool and Spurs on at the same time it was hard to catch them both.

I’m not convinced that we’re seeing a new Bottas at all this year. He had a good race in Oz but it’s hard to know how good he really was given Lewis’s problems. A great start to the race to get second but made a mistake and lost it. Being almost 30 seconds behind your teammate is pretty shocking. He apparently had a plastic bag stuck in his front wing for some of the race so we can forgive him maybe 10 seconds of that but the rest is pure pace to Lewis which is pretty awful given he had no other issues. Jury out on where he really stands this year still but based on what we’ve seen so far, I don’t hold my breath that he’s going to be a huge improvement over last year.

What to say about Vettel? He has a real problem in close combat, he keeps spinning. What’s more now is that other drivers know his weakness so they are going to have a go at him being comfortable in the knowledge that there's a good chance he’ll either concede or eventually spin. I think Lewis has his number and it showed in the overtakes Lewis tried to do. I don’t think he would have attempted around the corner of turn 4 last year but he knew he could push him into a mistake and he did. Leclerc also had Vettel's number this weekend, which didn’t surprise me too much. It’s going to be a headache for Ferrari this year. I think Leclerc can outperform Vettel, if not this year, then definitely next year over the course of the season, so what Ferrari will do is going to be interesting to watch. And Leclerc ignored team orders to pass as well so it seems. He was supposed to stay behind for another two laps and passed at the end of the straight. I think Ferrari would have left him go by anyway given the pace differential so it wasn’t a huge deal, Vettel was just much slower than him.

Ferrari could have reliability issues. They have made a super quick car but appear to have pushed the envelope of performance vs reliability a little too far which could explain their lack of Australia pace and one of their cars not finishing the race. Interested to see how that one pans out over the course of the season but, given the reliability of Mercedes and all other teams nowadays, multiple DNF’s will cost you a championship and potentially allow RBR to overtake them in championship too if the reliability is very poor.

Renault - how much bad luck can you have? Hopefully they will come back. Hulkenberg and Ricciardo seems like it’s going to be an interesting pairing to watch.

Finally, good race from Kimi. He’s been super consistent in the Alfa Romeo and done a top job so far.

lol

You'd hope that it isn't a new Bottas this year? Otherwise Hamilton fans won't be able to enjoy watching the races. British psychiatrists will also be inundated with work.

You've got to love the logic though. Bottas has a barnstormer of a race putting 20secs on Hamilton, and it's all down to a minor break of the bodywork. Then the situation is reversed in Bahrain, and Hamilton is god again while Bottas is a ********. So according to TBK, the break of Hamilton's car in Melbourne cost him 40+secs!!!

Makes sense...

It's only two races. So far though they tell contrasting stories for Bottas. If Bottas drove perfectly last year, he'd still at best finish 2nd. In Melbourne, he was perfect and won. In Bahrain, he was terrible and struggled with difficulties and still finished 2nd. Whereas last year in a similar situation, he'd be 4th or worse.

As long as the points are close and Ferrari are no threat, MB won't be favouring team orders for Hamilton like they did last year. Never mind not allowing Bottas challenge for the win in Germany and the Russia thing. After Canada, Vettel took the championship lead by 1pt from Hamilton with Bottas about 35 back. Vettel/Ferrari were a serious threat for the championship, and MB weren't going to be complacent or appease a theatre going audience.

It's not just Germany and Russia. It was all the remaining races and prior to the weekend beginning. Everything would've been done to ensure Hamilton's result was optimised. A 1-2 in the championship would've been ideal, but it's not the priority. Not only did Bottas not win a race last year, he didn't even beat Hamilton in head to head once after Canada, 14 races. Unknowledgeable fans think it's a superiority of Hamilton all due to an inherent gift? No, there's always a lot more to racing than seen.

That's how teams operate. That's why they let Bottas get some glory with the FL stats. That's why they offer him another contract when some of you would've burnt him at the stake think you knew better. They know he's capable and was pulling his weight. But under the circumstances, his result were expendable.

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Originally Posted by N4D13

And Bottas is 4 seconds behind Hamilton after 8 laps. So much for his title contender status.

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20 remaining races. It took the first 8 laps.

I wonder what took you so long?

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Originally Posted by gm99

Gasly has been very inconsistent even last year. Terrible on his debut in Melbourne, great in Bahrain, nowhere in China, the list goes on...
Also, it's not the sole responsibilty of the engineers to set up the car, AFAIK the driver has something to do with it as well. Ricciardo may have been "unlucky" last year, but he was fast. Gasly so far is nowhere near where DR was last year.

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Much of last year, Torro Rosso was the guinea pig of Honda and Redbull. Inconsistencies could be due to the engine development programmes that Torro Rosso had to try out in the races. When it ran good, Gasly was always up there in the top ten. I was kind of hoping to see his true potential this year in the Redbull. But he has languished at the bottom end of the midfield in a car that is capable of podium positions. And this is not because the junior champ has suddenly forgotten how to race. It is more a case of not having the car he likes under him.

I see Ferrari tried their best to keep LeClerc behind Vettel. SMH
http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/...orders-bahrain

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Originally Posted by truefan72

I see Ferrari tried their best to keep LeClerc behind Vettel. SMH
http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/...orders-bahrain

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Mentioned that in my previous post. Don’t think they did their level best when they said stay behind for two laps. I don’t think they could have kept him behind with that pace difference so early in the race.

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Originally Posted by truefan72

I see Ferrari tried their best to keep LeClerc behind Vettel. SMH
http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/...orders-bahrain

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This pairing is one to watch this season. I think Vettel is going to have to drive out of his skin to keep the rookie behind. Somehow, l think Leclerc may have the measure of Vettel this season. But l fully expect it to hot up as we go into the final races of the first quarter. Binotto have a job on his hands, no doubt.

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Originally Posted by Nitrodaze

This pairing is one to watch this season. I think Vettel is going to have to drive out of his skin to keep the rookie behind. Somehow, l think Leclerc may have the measure of Vettel this season. But l fully expect it to hot up as we go into the final races of the first quarter. Binotto have a job on his hands, no doubt.

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LeClerc should not (normally) be this competitive this early. Vettel will definitely have his hands full. We'll see how the season progresses. I'm looking forward to one of the more interesting seasons in a while.

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Originally Posted by Starter

LeClerc should not (normally) be this competitive this early. Vettel will definitely have his hands full. We'll see how the season progresses. I'm looking forward to one of the more interesting seasons in a while.

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I would think by now Ferrari would let the youngster race, and quit catering to Vettel. I think they are often their own worst enemy when they do that so early in the season.

Overall I think Vettel has slipped. He did well when in the strongest car, but in the past couple of years he has been making a lot of mistakes that are costing him points.

If Ferrari can hold it together, I think there is a good chance that Leclerc will be their first new WDC since Kimi. We know Alonso could have got it done in a stronger car, but I tend to think that Seb has missed his chances unless team politics come into the picture.

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Originally Posted by airshifter

Overall I think Vettel has slipped. He did well when in the strongest car, but in the past couple of years he has been making a lot of mistakes that are costing him points.

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Yep, every time I see him spin, I cant help but think that he really needs the old RBs with the blown diffusers to be at his best. He looked unbeatable back then... now he just looks a mid tier driver.

Just something to consider. I emphasise "consider". Nico Rosberg, in one of his YT videos of Bahrain, pointed out that Bahrain is an (I'm paraphrasing) easy circuit for a new guy, less experienced, or disadvantageous driver. Pointing out his FL he set on debut, numerous guys getting their first PP there, and it was the first time Hamilton got the better of Alonso in 07.*

There's still a long way to go for the season to play out. Obviously Leclerc will have his weekend where he gets the better of Vettel, but Rosberg does make a worthwhile point.

*After all these years, I've found another statistic in the Alonso/Hamilton stoush Hamilton fans won't like. Alonso beat Hamilton head to head that year, 10-7.

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Originally Posted by Zico

Yep, every time I see him spin, I cant help but think that he really needs the old RBs with the blown diffusers to be at his best. He looked unbeatable back then... now he just looks a mid tier driver.

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Did he ever look like anything other really apart from his first win? There’s no doubting Vettel is super talented but I think he was always made look better than what he was because of the machinery he had and a teammate he could easily cover with Mark Webber. As soon as he had a top teammate in Daniel Ricciardo he could not live with him. From the first race in Oz where Daniel out qualified Vettel, he really looked like he had the upper hand over Vettel all year long. He couldn’t even score a race win while Ricciardo takes 3 that year.

And before 2014 he had shown glimpses of being prone to cracking under pressure. Canada 2011 for example where he gifted Button the win by running wide at turn 6.

Maybe Vettel will come back and prove me wrong. I actually hope he does but right now, I agree he very much looks like an ordinary mid tier driver and he has for some time.

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Originally Posted by Zico

Yep, every time I see him spin, I cant help but think that he really needs the old RBs with the blown diffusers to be at his best. He looked unbeatable back then... now he just looks a mid tier driver.

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Vettel needs to feel consistency in his car to perform at his best. When things were inconsistent at Redbull, he had a poor showing against an hungry rookie eager to prove himself. That situation proves nothing. It certainly does not prove that Ricciado is better than Vettel at his best. I think Vettel would emerge when the Ferrari proves to be consistently fast and reliable. This is an opportunity for Leclerc to take some easy advantages and wins. But l think this would change very quickly when Vettel gets his head in the right place.

I certainly don't buy the comments that Vettel won four world title because he had the car to do it and there were no credible contenders to make his wins harder than it was. You could easily say the same for every world champion that has been. Vettel, like Hamilton and Ricciado, had a shaky start to the 2019 season. Hamilton has recovered from a brusing loss to Bottas at Australia. The Mercedes pair resumed the status quo when we arrived in Bahrain, with Bottas adrift by some margin. Vettel need to do the same at China at least. He struggled to get his setup to its optimum in Bahrain and was slower all weekend as a result. The same can be said for Ricciado who is having is arse kicked by Hulkenburg.

I would say, don't write off Vettel yet, he is going to get it right soon l hope.

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Originally Posted by journeyman racer

20 remaining races. It took the first 8 laps.

I wonder what took you so long?

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I admit I was wrong to jump to conclusions here. I saw Bottas lagging behind Hamilton as had been the case for a large part of 2018 and I already decided that he was back to his slow self, only to later discover that he had car damage.

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Originally Posted by journeyman racer

Just something to consider. I emphasise "consider". Nico Rosberg, in one of his YT videos of Bahrain, pointed out that Bahrain is an (I'm paraphrasing) easy circuit for a new guy, less experienced, or disadvantageous driver. Pointing out his FL he set on debut, numerous guys getting their first PP there, and it was the first time Hamilton got the better of Alonso in 07.*

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I'd point out that the Hamilton/Alonso comparison here isn't particularly useful given that a screen fell on top of Alonso's car and damaged it, so the car handling was not quite there, which may explain the large difference in both drivers' performances that weekend (notably, it was the only time in the first five races in which McLaren didn't get both drivers on the podium).

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Originally Posted by Nitrodaze

Vettel needs to feel consistency in his car to perform at his best. When things were inconsistent at Redbull, he had a poor showing against an hungry rookie eager to prove himself. That situation proves nothing. It certainly does not prove that Ricciado is better than Vettel at his best. I think Vettel would emerge when the Ferrari proves to be consistently fast and reliable. This is an opportunity for Leclerc to take some easy advantages and wins. But l think this would change very quickly when Vettel gets his head in the right place.

I certainly don't buy the comments that Vettel won four world title because he had the car to do it and there were no credible contenders to make his wins harder than it was. You could easily say the same for every world champion that has been. Vettel, like Hamilton and Ricciado, had a shaky start to the 2019 season. Hamilton has recovered from a brusing loss to Bottas at Australia. The Mercedes pair resumed the status quo when we arrived in Bahrain, with Bottas adrift by some margin. Vettel need to do the same at China at least. He struggled to get his setup to its optimum in Bahrain and was slower all weekend as a result. The same can be said for Ricciado who is having is arse kicked by Hulkenburg.

I would say, don't write off Vettel yet, he is going to get it right soon l hope.

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He must have had an 'inconsistant' car for quite a while then.... 4 spins last year and 1 spin already this year is pretty poor form in my book. I'd expect that from a fresh rookie, not from a worthy 4 time WDC.
I'll also expect a worthy 4 time WDC to totally destroy LeClerc over the course of this season with no need for team orders.. so I'm not going to write him off just yet, if he at least achieves that I'll give him his dues and that will likely alter my opinion of him.

Post RedBull it looks more and more that he chokes when under any real pressure and that is the basis for my opinions.. but lets wait and see if he can over come that this season.

ALFA Romeo is the only team name that features in both the 1st GP and the 1000th Grand Prix’.