2013 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix

[Anghammarad]

If we've seen it happen 90000 times how is it luck? He does well to get himself into this type of position to be near the front after qualy and to get to the front in the race. Well done Seb today.

Yes, Vettel did very well today. There was no luck involved in his win.

 

[Peasantslayer]

I just cant believe Mercedes havent sorted this tire issue out yet.

It's all relative, when Pirelli are making tyres like these and your competing with teams like Lotus, Ferrari, Mclaren and Red Bull it's not easy to look good on your tyres. As a Hamilton fan I'm pretty happy if today's race is supposed to be about as bad as it gets for them, at least the car isn't slow and hopefully when we get to Monaco Merc's FRIC system will help them in qualifying and as we know even if your car is bad on its tyres in Monaco it's not the end of the world because overtaking is so hard.

 

[sumbrownkid]

If Mercedes can't figure out the tire issues by the next two grand prixs...I think they can be justified in freaking out.

 

[Tired Tyres]

They didn't sort it out all of last season. What makes you think it'll be different now?

 

[JGreens]

Seb manages to ruin another GP weekend.

Utterly, utterly boring. Is there anything even remotely interesting that's enough for me to un-delete the recorded race and watch the last fifty laps or so?

 

[Bram Turismo]

Seb manages to ruin another GP weekend.

Utterly, utterly boring. Is there anything even remotely interesting that's enough for me to un-delete the recorded race and watch the last fifty laps or so?

Wut.

Apart from Vettel running away with the victory, this was a fantastic race. On one side Lotus doing an incredible job by outsmarting everyone with their tyre preservation. And on the other side all the battles between Button-Perez, Webber-Hamilton, and the first few laps was fantastic to see how the first three cars battled it out for the lead.

If you think this was an utterly boring race, your idea of an exiting race surely must be a script for Hollywood?

 

[DegenThought]

I agree, the race was far from boring. It was clear by the halfway point that it was not Ferrari or Mercedes day, and I never expected Lotus would catch RB but at least the strong 2 3 finish keeps them somewhat close in the Constructors.

Watching Perez was funny, but Jenson's finish was disappointing. Still very frustrated with MP4-28

 

[BHRxRacer]

That isn't luck, F1 is a team sport in case you forgot. It's not lucky that they built a good car. If you want to think like that any driver in history who had a race winning car was lucky. It's also highly debatable he has the best car at the moment, the Lotus and Ferrari look just as good on race pace but the Lotus started too far back today and the Ferrari's ran into trouble.

So yes he was lucky in that sense but overall there was nothing lucky about the win.

It's not luck for RedBull. Sure they deserve the win but I was talking about driver effort not which car's the fastest. How is that hard to understand? He had a fast car, he didn't need to make that much of an effort and when he got away, he had clean air for the rest of the race with no incidents. Had the Ferraris not have the trouble, and the Lotuses started a little further in the grid to pressure Vettel, then I'd say he deserves the win but not today.

If we've seen it happen 90000 times how is it luck? He does well to get himself into this type of position to be near the front after qualy and to get to the front in the race. Well done Seb today.

Sorry but I think if you put someone like Fernando in that car he'd do the same, if not better. Or any of the top guys really. His performance today is nothing special, he wasn't tested. Get over it. Only thing you can take from his win is that RedBulls ARE the fastest cars when the tyres are hard/durable enough.

I was thinking about this a bit. Rosberg has typically been posting faster times than Hamilton in practice sessions and outqualified him this weekend, but as I recall he pitted once more than Lewis and earlier, which suggests to me that Nico is pushing harder. Lewis used to have a bit of a reputation for pushing harder and consequently being harder on tires, but perhaps he has grown past that more than Nico has.

He had no choice. That's what I'm saying. He was under pressure 40 out of the 50 laps. He either pushed too hard to defend (ended in misery) or he could've let them all pass him and try to get back in the pits. We've seen Lewis doing worse in similar situations. He just had the luxury of a clean race until the very last stint.

Anyway this feels like 2012 all over again. Mercedes full speed in reverse gear, Redbulls are ahead of everyone. The only thing different is that the Ferraris/Lotuses are a little faster than last year.

 

[Samus]

Seb manages to ruin another GP weekend.

Utterly, utterly boring. Is there anything even remotely interesting that's enough for me to un-delete the recorded race and watch the last fifty laps or so?

Yeah Seb should just stop turning up to races, the spoil sport.

That was one of the best grand prix in a long while, there was action from start to finish and great battling. How you can decree it was boring not even watching the vast majority of the race I don't know.

It's not luck for RedBull. Sure they deserve the win but I was talking about driver effort not which car's the fastest. How is that hard to understand? He had a fast car, he didn't need to make that much of an effort and when he got away, he had clean air for the rest of the race with no incidents. Had the Ferraris not have the trouble, and the Lotuses started a little further in the grid to pressure Vettel, then I'd say he deserves the win but not today.

That is still not lucky. How on earth can he not deserve the win? Seriously some fanboys are utterly delusional.

 

[JGreens]

Wut.

Apart from Vettel running away with the victory, this was a fantastic race.

The fact you're looking other than the /non existent/ contest for the victory clearly shows it was not fantastic. It was simply Vettel just fudges off into the sunset, might as well stop in the pits for a cup of tea and a nap and then gets back in for the win, BORING.

If you think this was an utterly boring race, your idea of an exiting race surely must be a script for Hollywood?

My script of an exciting race would include Mercedes, Lotus, Ferrari and Mclarens competing for the win till the flag, not race over by lap 10.

I spent most of my teenage F1 years watching Ferrari's just fudge off into the distance and I almost quit the sport before Kimi & Alonso came and saved my interest. I have absolutely NO interest in wasting my time watching Vettel simply ride off with more titles.

So, unless anyone is near competitive to stop him or weather, safety car or just luck helps create a more competitive race, I'm just switching over and enjoying something else rather than get more and more frustrated at my own enjoyment of the sport getting sucked away.

 

[BHRxRacer]

That is still not lucky. How on earth can he not deserve the win? Seriously some fanboys are utterly delusional.

Fanboys? The guy wasn't properly tested in the race, was he? If he had to fight for the win against the Ferraris or Lotus I'd take my hat off for him but he didn't have to. I'm not calling him a bad racing driver or anything like that, it was just an easy win for him today.

-

To be honest I don't like Vettel and I do think he relatively sucks wheel to wheel but there were many occasions where he drove great races. Just not today.

 

[BHRxRacer]

lol Look at F1's website

Q: Sebastian, you seemed to cruise comfortably to the checkered flag and bag an easy win. Was it all that easy?
Sebastian Vettel: True, I was in a very comfortable situation towards the end of the race and we definitely didn’t think that it would be that ‘easy’ - easy always in quotation marks as winning a Formula One race is never easy. I have to say that at the beginning the many wheel-to-wheel fights were great fun and then it went smoother and smoother with every lap gone by. Why isn’t every day like that?! (laughs)

 

[JGreens]

Fanboys? The guy wasn't properly tested in the race, was he? If he had to fight for the win against the Ferraris or Lotus I'd take my hat off for him but he didn't have to. I'm not calling him a bad racing driver or anything like that, it was just an easy win for him today.

-

To be honest I don't like Vettel and I do think he relatively sucks wheel to wheel but there were many occasions where he drove great races. Just not today.

Exactly.
The only moment I've respected Vettel as a Racing Driver was when he overtook Nando round the outside of Curva Grande on the grass. That's racing. Fudging off into the distance isn't.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPnQC3eEYqg

 

[Lizard]

The fact you're looking other than the /non existent/ contest for the victory clearly shows it was not fantastic. It was simply Vettel just fudges off into the sunset, might as well stop in the pits for a cup of tea and a nap and then gets back in for the win, BORING.




My script of an exciting race would include Mercedes, Lotus, Ferrari and Mclarens competing for the win till the flag, not race over by lap 10.

I spent most of my teenage F1 years watching Ferrari's just fudge off into the distance and I almost quit the sport before Kimi & Alonso came and saved my interest. I have absolutely NO interest in wasting my time watching Vettel simply ride off with more titles.

So, unless anyone is near competitive to stop him or weather, safety car or just luck helps create a more competitive race, I'm just switching over and enjoying something else rather than get more and more frustrated at my own enjoyment of the sport getting sucked away.

So the lead battle is the only bit that interests you? So should every team slower then Mercedes and Lotus pull out of the sport?

 

[JGreens]

So the lead battle is the only bit that interests you? So should every team slower then Mercedes and Lotus pull out of the sport?

Do I have to quote Senna?
" And the main motivation to all of us is to compete for victory, it's not to come 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th. "

Sure, there's proper good scraps in the pack, competing for that point that equals X amount of millions that's invested to make that X% increase for a better package, but ultimately, the goal of every racing team that ever started out, was to win. No team has ever been created for the purpose of coming 10th or 14th. Even Minardi, Jordan, Arrows competed to win.

If the broadcasting company wants to show me footage of the scraps happening down the field during the race, great, but it shouldn't be the focus.

 

[Shoe67]

This was honestly the best race so far this season. The team battle between Button and Perez as well as the Webber and Hamilton battle near the end was amazing. Grosjean ran a stunning race at the end to beat Di Resta. I would have liked to see Di Resta pull away with a podium, but there wasn't much he could do with older tires. He did a good polite job of letting Grosjean down the inside of turn 1. I've always liked Alonso, and I have been quite disappointed in his start to the season (along with Massa). Today however, he did good with his circumstances to limit his losses. I'm happy for Vettel. He ran a flawless race start to finish. His crew had the car set up brilliantly and Vettel was able to hold a strong pace for the entire race. In the pits they also had no errors (2.7sec stops). I only wish that Alonso or Massa would have been able to challenge Vettel for the win. Has anyone determined yet why Massa had TWO tire failures today?

 

[sems4arsenal]

I have to say ,that race upped Bahrain's reputation as a race track ,the first and middle sections in particular have witnessed some great racing today.

 

[PeterJB]

Exactly.
The only moment I've respected Vettel as a Racing Driver was when he overtook Nando round the outside of Curva Grande on the grass. That's racing. Fudging off into the distance isn't.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPnQC3eEYqg

The whole point of a race is to complete the race distance in as fast a time as possible, fudging off into the distance is a very effective way of finishing faster than everyone else.

 

[JGreens]

The whole point of a race is to complete the race distance in as fast a time as possible, fudging off into the distance is a very effective way of finishing faster than everyone else.

Annoyingly true.

 

[SkengD]

I have to say ,that race upped Bahrain's reputation as a race track ,the first and middle sections in particular have witnessed some great racing today.

true

 

[UK-Gamer]

Sorry but I think if you put someone like Fernando in that car he'd do the same, if not better. Or any of the top guys really. His performance today is nothing special, he wasn't tested. Get over it. Only thing you can take from his win is that RedBulls ARE the fastest cars when the tyres are hard/durable enough.

If you put Fernando or Lewis in the smae car they would probably do the same, win. But Vettel is in that car and what is he doing? winning. The matter of fact is that you can get 26 points from a weekend, 25 for the win and 1 for the fastest lap, Vettel took 26. What more could he do this weekend?

Look, I am not a Vettel fan, I am a Lewis/McLaren fan but just don't get how much stick he gets for being...a great driver? He drove a good solid race today and deserves his praise the same as someone like Grosjean.

 

[TyrrellRacing]

Pretty sure there are no bonus points for fastest lap. But yeah, criticising Vettel for winning clearly and fairly is ridiculous.

 

[Centura]

If you put Fernando or Lewis in the smae car they would probably do the same, win. But Vettel is in that car and what is he doing? winning. The matter of fact is that you can get 26 points from a weekend, 25 for the win and 1 for the fastest lap, Vettel took 26. What more could he do this weekend?

Look, I am not a Vettel fan, I am a Lewis/McLaren fan but just don't get how much stick he gets for being...a great driver? He drove a good solid race today and deserves his praise the same as someone like Grosjean.

You don't get a point for fastest lap.

Because he's so successful. The most successful driver in the sport will receive the most hate.

 

[sems4arsenal]

Why don't they have a point or 2 for who ever sets the fastest lap.

 

[Peasantslayer]

Why don't they have a point or 2 for who ever sets the fastest lap.

Because Marussia and Caterham would fuel save for the whole race and pit for softs with 2 laps to go, turn the engine up and set the fastest lap. The lower teams that rarely score would almost always sacrifice their race just for the point they would gain for getting the fastest lap. At one point in Monaco last year the Marussia drivers were circulating faster than anyone else and look where they finished.

 

[Bram Turismo]

Do I have to quote Senna?
" And the main motivation to all of us is to compete for victory, it's not to come 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th. "

Senna spoke rubbish half of the time anyway.

 

[UK-Gamer]

Pretty sure there are no bonus points for fastest lap. But yeah, criticising Vettel for winning clearly and fairly is ridiculous.

You don't get a point for fastest lap.

Because he's so successful. The most successful driver in the sport will receive the most hate.

Silly me about fastest lap... thanks for correcting me guys 👍
Sure, Vettel winning is getting kind of boring sometimes and you want to see a new face or him 'dethroned' but to be fair to him, he has earned it, he doesn't have a 2011 style gap to the competition. There are 3 teams that have winning cars and four that can challenge for pole, he is not cruising (all of the time)

 

[JGreens]

Look, I am not a Vettel fan, I am a Lewis/McLaren fan but just don't get how much stick he gets for being...a great driver?

Yeah, he's a great driver. Kimi, Lewis, Nando? All great racing drivers. There's a difference.

The argument goes that any one of those three in the RB would easily win the title like Vettel has done, but when you reframe the argument - could Vettel win the title with the cars they have drove, the answer is, at best, not definite.

 

[Akmuq]

Do I have to quote Senna?
" And the main motivation to all of us is to compete for victory, it's not to come 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th. "

You may as well quote Barack Obama, Senna talked rubbish.

 

[Pagey279]

Yeah, he's a great driver. Kimi, Lewis, Nando? All great racing drivers. There's a difference.

The argument goes that any one of those three in the RB would easily win the title like Vettel has done, but when you reframe the argument - could Vettel win the title with the cars they have drove, the answer is, at best, not definite.

He probably couldn't, and neither could they. So I don't really see your point.