What a boring race

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Originally Posted by tamburello

I heard Whitmarsh say that and thought it was a crap idea. Mandating things is not the solution.

A broader range of compounds and more choice of compounds, a la the 80's, and the ability to cross-match them (for those of you old enough, A compounds on the rear, B on the left and C on the right was a good Alain Prost set-up, if I recall) would make it much more interesting.

Mandatory anything is against the idea of racing and ruins the chances of different strategies.

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+1

It was interesting back then with as you say Prost on different compounds round the car and Senna (IIRC) usually one compound all round.

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Originally Posted by wedge

:up:

At least after a third of the race/first pit window you couldn't make a good prediction for the finish.

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Really? Apart from Vettel's exhaust nothing changed.

The whole race was dull, dull, dull. No strategy, no unknown what fuel is everybody running at the start, no drama from the pitstops.

Last season teams had to choose between going for pole and early stop, that has disappeared.

Last season teams could try to do something different to shake the order up.

Last season there were bigger differences between tyres, no-one had problems this year in what were relatively challenging conditions

Don't blame the circuit - it is the FACT that similar cars cannot get close and overtake.

I was really excited about this season, but if it is all going to be like this then I will be outside doing the gardening on Sundays soon.

Hope we have quite a few wet-dry races...................

WT

I lost interest after about 10 laps and switched over to a repeat of the Simpsons on Sky1- I may have seen it hundreds of times before but it was more entertaining

with or without refuelling this would have been a snoozefest anyway- it always is at Bahrain- at least I didn't pay money to watch it

F1 used to be ok pre refuelling through 80's and early 90's- I remember some great races when tyres were more marginal- I think that's what they've got to look at again- and make a concerted effort to look at aero- I saw a bit of the GP2 race- and it was alot more entertaining

mandatory pit stops are not the way to go

Am I the only one who thought this race was OK? classic? absolutely not, but i wouldnt say it was a snore fest.

some good battles throughout the field even if the car behind didnt always eventually catch the guy in front, guys with problems at the start coming through the pack, some good overtaking in the midfield, Lotus running well and an interesting 3 way battle at the front which i thought was hotting up until vettel's problem ultimately sacrificed him. Certainly better than some of the rubbish we went through last year, a generally interesting race. Maybe im insane though.

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Originally Posted by UltimateDanGTR

Am I the only one who thought this race was OK? classic? absolutely not, but i wouldnt say it was a snore fest.

some good battles throughout the field even if the car behind didnt always eventually catch the guy in front, guys with problems at the start coming through the pack, some good overtaking in the midfield, Lotus running well and an interesting 3 way battle at the front which i thought was hotting up until vettel's problem ultimately sacrificed him. Certainly better than some of the rubbish we went through last year, a generally interesting race. Maybe im insane though.

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I agree - I don't think it was any more boring than last year's Bahrain GP. (Or the majority of dry races for that matter.) But people are dissapointed because this season was hyped up. It is interesting how everybody blames something different (track, no refuelling, aerodynamics, tyres). This would deserve a poll.

i maintain its all down to the massive diffusers, if they can't get anywhere near each other there will be no passing, simples

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Originally Posted by N. Jones

I agree but I blame the track more than anything else.

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Why?
It gives more overtaking opportunities than many other tracks!
Just because it is located in an Muslim country you lot shouldn't blame it for the stupid rules in F1.

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Originally Posted by Robinho

i maintain its all down to the massive diffusers, if they can't get anywhere near each other there will be no passing, simples

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Exactly, but let's thank the FIA for allowing double and triple decked diffusers last season just for the sake of dividing the teams, all this after introducing rules that were meant to reduce downforce levels by 50%.

Here in Spain some crazy journalist praised Ferrari´s diffuser because it was designed not only to add downforce to your car, but also to f*ck up the one behind you. What´s more interesting, the same journalist said F1 needed less aero in order to get more overtaking.

The thing is he can be right in both cases... Why GP2 is interesting even in Montmeló? Why don´t they really reduce aero efficiency, starting with having banned the DD´s this season? Now we have DTM-like diffusers, and cars built arount them.

That´s one of the main ingredients of the recipe of "Boredom-At-Bahrein", the other ones being a cup of B-Oring Track and a bit of Conservative Chicken Fear.

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Originally Posted by ioan

Exactly, but let's thank the FIA for allowing double and triple decked diffusers last season just for the sake of dividing the teams.

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i understand them letting them keep them last year - innovation to exploit a loophole in the rules i think is fair enough, but i do think they should have closed that loophole in the interpretation for this year, as they've all designed the cars around the diffusers now and they are more powerful than ever. it looks to me that we're back to the point where unless your 2 secs a lap quicker than the guy in front you can't get closer than 1.5sec.