2010 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix

  • Thread starter Cap'n Jack
  • 369 comments
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I must say, though... drive of the race has got to go to Vettel. Did you see how fast he was pushing that broken down Red Bull? He was reeling off laps in the 2:00s with a broken exhaust to stay ahead of Rosberg. His very last lap, at 2:00:336, was still quicker than most of the other cars on track ever did during the day. He was literally smashing that car through the new infield to hold on to that place... going half a second faster there than Rosberg could ever hope to. Terrible luck this race, but Vettel is sure to have a great championship drive this season.
 
Well done by Vettel to hold off Rosberg... Well done to Lotus for finishing the race... (Considering Sauber failed to complete the race a wel established team)

Well done to HRT to outlast Virgin!!

Race got a bit 'slow' in the middle of the race - not sure about this no refuelling malarky... I wonder if 2 stops might be quicker?! (Short Soft/ Medium Hard/ Medium Soft)

C.
 
Kakumaki
Great one-two start by Ferrari but obiviously nothing is done for the championship, poor Vettel very unlucky he had the race in his hands...
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Both Ferraris caught quickly up with Vettel before his exhaust problem. I think this was going to be a Ferrari 1-2 anyway.

Dominating race by Ferrari. It's amazing how they produce a top car each and every year no matter what changes to the rules are being made. They are yet again the team to beat.

Fantastic performance by Massa, being able to keep up with Alonso after being out of contention for so long after his accident.

I was hoping Rosberg could grab that podium position, but it looks like they haven't got a good enough car yet.

Poor Sutil. He really was in for some good points, but fortunately Liuzzi took those vital points in his stead.

Great to see both Lotus cars finishing the race. Trulli didn't make it, but he got classified so that's good.

Oh, and I really think those Ferraris with the white wings look fantastic in action! 👍
 
On another note...

How did Mark Webber get away with
a) Starting a metre ahead of his starting box?
b) Annihilating Kubica & Sutils chances by burning a load of oil in their faces at turn 2?

C.
 
yeti
4/10?

Hmmm - not convinced...

C.
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Not just fourth out of ten... they only had half the points of the top two teams and only twenty more than Toyota. That's not a top car by any stretch of the imagination. Yes, they caught up near the end, but didn't make the advances that McLaren did.

Still, it's fantastic to see them back at the top of their game... and no mechanical issues! Well... except for one changed engine... does this mean the Kurse is well and truly gone (to WRiC, along with its master... :lol: )?
 
niky
Still, it's fantastic to see them back at the top of their game... and no mechanical issues! Well... except for one changed engine... does this mean the Kurse is well and truly gone (to WRiC, along with its master... :lol: )?
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I don't think so. Anyone else noticed both Massa and Alonso were avoiding slipstreams? Massa's engineer also told him to not profit from slipstreams too much to preserve his engine.

On the Ferrari and 2009 thing. I will admit Mclaren did a better job of improving the car during the season. But I also think that should the KERS system had never been introduced, Ferrari would not have had any of those issues to deal with.
 
yeti
I wonder if 2 stops might be quicker?! (Short Soft/ Medium Hard/ Medium Soft)
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I was thinking the leaders were going to come in for a flurry of last minute softs myself. Vettel going out of contention might have changed strategy but it did seem ferrari were much more equal on the primes than the options. I think the manner of strategies used will change and evolve as the teams learn how to use the tires best during different stages of fuel loads at different courses.

Great showing by ferrari. If RBR can gather their reliability they'll be fighting strong I believe.:)
 
While KERS was part of the reason... Ferrari and McLaren suffered a lot due to the new aero-regs, also... while other teams proved that you didn't need Brawn's double-d to be competitive.
 
That was a good seasons opener, congratulations to Alonso & Massa along with the rest of the Ferrari team. I thought the drivers would have been the other way round given Felipe has won here twice before.

I'm disappointed for Vettel having to lose the race due to mechanical issues, he was storming away to quite a comfortable lead at the beginning. Also it would have been nice to see the HRT cars running a bit longer, but if you consider the short amount of time they've had to work on the car it's amazing they ran for as long as they did.

Theres plenty for all the teams to be working on throughout the season, its going to be exciting, for sure :sly:
 
the best thing about Fernando is even with the race locked in the bag,he kept on producing some incredible times just to send a clear message
A big congrats to Him ,Massa and the whole team .Hard luck Vettel though this king is brilliant.
 
I'm guessing I'll be in the minority but i found that race very interesting to watch, there were many developments and problems all over the place. Lots of battles for particular teams and some good races from a fair few drivers. No there wasn't much on track overtaking going on, but I didn't expect much considering the aero is still a problem.
I did think tyres would go off a lot more dramatically, it seems Whitmarsh and the other teams did as well, so hopefully FOTA agree to use a 2-mandatory-stop rule and get Bridgestone to bring more extreme tyres.

But anyway, congragulations to Fernando, he must be glad to be back at the top after those awful Renaults. Good job from Ferrari all around, its difficult not to give them the team of the race award really, they've been there all weekend. 👍
Unsurprising reliability problems again for a Newey car, Vettel might be considering those Ferrari/Mercedes/etc rumours now. Amazing pace from him, I think I'll give him driver of the race for the stunning laps early on even though he did seem a bit lost when his engine went (as Brundle mentioned, he got distracted by it a little bit).

Congragulations to Lotus, miles ahead of both other new teams for reliability, even ahead of Sauber too. 👍 Congragulations to HRT for managing to at least start the 1st race and technically even get ahead of Virgin even if their pace was nowhere. Bad luck for Chandhok as usual, and Senna.

Impressive recovery drives from Kubica and Sutil after their 2nd corner incident too. Solid drives from Barrichello and Liuzzi, an average day from Mercedes, average from McLaren too.

As for the rookies, Hulkenburg was a shock! He was all over the place making a hash of it. Feel a bit guilty about bigging him up to my friends now :lol:.
Petrov was doing ok until the suspension problem, Kobayashi appeared to have major problems, seemed to lock up at every corner. Di Grassi, Chandhok and Senna didn't get much chance at all to show their colours, so no comment no them really.

Looking forward to Australia, a crazy season it seems ahead! I think Lotus are in with a real chance of points if they have more races like this, a big turn 1 incident or a safety car would give them a realistic chance and they did show some great pace in the race. Maybe not so slow after all. Kovalainen did a great job to keep out of people's way and not bin it battling better cars, though he did have some fun with the Hulk.

Overall, enjoyed that race even though my fantasy team did terrible.

An good interview with Lotus interviewing Lotus :lol: UK only unfortunately:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8567039.stm
 
Ardius
I'm guessing I'll be in the minority but i found that race very interesting to watch, there were many developments and problems all over the place. Lots of battles for particular teams and some good races from a fair few drivers. No there wasn't much on track overtaking going on, but I didn't expect much considering the aero is still a problem.
I did think tyres would go off a lot more dramatically, it seems Whitmarsh and the other teams did as well, so hopefully FOTA agree to use a 2-mandatory-stop rule and get Bridgestone to bring more extreme tyres.
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I agree - I found it interesting... and at times exciting... but as you say - no real overtaking... and the start was less interesting with out KERS to talk about!! (Great move by Alonso on Turn 1/2)

The McLarens overtaking in the pits due to other cars blocking outgoing cars was very interesting... and could be an interesting tactic!! Button came in at the perfect time to disrupt Rosberg for the overtake - not sure McLaren could've planned that - Webber got done in a similar way for Button to overtake him too!! (not sure who 'blocked' Webber)

I was disappointed that Chandok fell off and broke his car (but can understand why) - the other guys cars died rather than got crashed...

I was also disappointed by Saubers showing... have the other teams developed quicker? Or were they blagging testing?!?

The Cosworth engine seems to be OK - The Williams versions had plenty of power...

Is there any info on Fuel Consumptions? (I know the rumour is that the Renault is lean & the Ferrari is rich - but any real proof? (I noticed Massa parked his car 5 metres after the finishing line - assume he ran out of fuel? (Possibly why he eased off at the end?)

C.
 
I liked the race as well. The first race of the season is usually a bit of a survival test really.

I don't agree with the idea of compulsory pitstops though. Passing in the pitlane is not racing to me. I'd rather see it done on the track with, shock horror, an overtaking move rather than artificially because of pit stops.

Something needs to be done with the cars to make that easier. Where have I heard that one before? Oh yes. :lol:

Hard luck on Vettel. He was the best driver today and should have won.

Alonso looks ominous in the Ferrari, too soon to say 2010 World Champion?

A good run from Hamilton showing that it's no good being able to look after the tyres if you don't start up near the front.

Lotus getting to the end of the race was a good start. Hopefully they can start scoring points in the second half of the season.

Now I'm looking forward to Australia.
 
The pit stops are short anyway, the mandatory rule has been suggested in light of the drivers not pushing because they want to conserve tyres, it says a lot when Button came out saying "its easy". This is not we want to hear.

Either the tyres are not extreme enough or we have no Senna's anymore (push at the start, suffer later).

But anyway, lets see how the rest of the season pans out before we bash the rules. Though naturally the aero still needs sorting out because its rediculous we only saw overtaking from Vettel's faulty exhausts...and other than that the odd Lotus/Virgin battle and some braking mistakes.
 
Rather than echo the words of Ardius, Yeti and Tired Tyres, I'll add that I thought the Webber 'oil burning off' was disappointing, not to mention his head start off the grid. I also reckon the races will get more interesting when the teams have more data on their and other teams fuel consumption and tyre wear.

I don't think the rules need changing again, as the season goes on it will heat up. The drivers who want to win the championship will have to chase it, not mind their depletion rates, this will ultimately decide the title.

Apart from the Ferrari's, was anyone else surprised by the disparity between team-mates? Why was Button and Webber so far off Hamilton and Vettel?

Welcome back F1:tup: :)
 
Schumi came a respectable 6th. Although whether he considers it respectable is a completely different matter. My baby brother has predictably sided with the winner (Fernando Alonso), so he can say "my driver beat yours", but I wasn't expecting much from Schumi.
 
Fastas
I'll add that I thought the Webber 'oil burning off' was disappointing, not to mention his head start off the grid.
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Yeah - how on earth did he actually get away with that?!

He ruined 2 other drivers races with that - and starting a meter ahead is blatantly wrong?!

C.
 
I've never been as bored watching an F1 race in my life.

One thing happened which affected the outcome of the race - a Red Bull broke a little bit. Other than that I can count the interest on the fingers of one testicle.

Both Lotuses finished (sort of).
Am HRT crashed a bit.
Rob Smedley pointed at Massa's car a lot.
Somebody managed to overtake someone else that they were racing and they weren't broken (errr... Hamilton and Barrichello?)
Hulkenberg forgot a corner, but it's okay because there's EIGHTY-FIFTEEN MILES of runoff.
Sir James Unpronouncable got the first sub-2 minute lap, 35 laps in, driving a Toro Drosso.
All the new cars that weren't Lotuses failed to finish, in predictable fashion.


The new version of the track is absolutely crap too and didn't help. All the overtaking in F1 since 1992 has happened in the pits or, by fluke occurrence, a driver taking his brave pills that morning. Since it's now not going to happen in the pits - because the cars all stop once - and they're all massively heavy until the last 10 laps (by which time the race positions are all just about done), we need brave pills for all or it's going to be a very, very dull season.
 
To be fair, this race wasn't much better or worse than the last Bahrain GP, not that thats saying much at all....
I fear though that certain teams (i.e. Ferrari) are not going to be all that interested in changing the rules to help entertainment for the fans as long as they have the competitive advantage. Here's hoping this is where FOTA finally works..a vain hope I admit.
 
I agree with Famine. On all points. Even the 2005 US GP was somewhat more interesting. Marginally, but even so :\

As far as this refuelling ban goes, it hasn't really done anything to make the racing more exciting. Perhaps it is a poor track choice, I don't know, but I preferred people passing in the pits rather than... not passing at all :P
 

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