Formula 1 2010: Round 1 Bahrain

smellslikeshoes

Good solid performance from Schumacher there in my opinion, too much is being made of him being behind his team mate. 3 years out would leave you a little rusty.

Mike Litoris

What a mess they've made of that track. For some reason I feel a bit deflated after that. There was a strange atmosphere. Maybe it was the track!

Interesting to see how relatively off the pace McLaren are. Great to see Force India keep their impressive form from the end of last year, really reminds me of Jordans rise to the front.

EvilMonkey

Delighted Massa piped Alonso. Must be great to come back from his injury and step into a fast car compared to the F60 he drove in his last race. Red bulls still fast, i hope its easer on tyres than last year. Good lap from Vettel. Cant wait fore the race, Qualifying didn't feel as exciting as last year. Q1 and Q2 you knew who was going out and their was no surprises in Q3.

Edwardius

jvc wrote: »

Is that James Allen asking the questions in the press conference?

I was thinkin the same thing. Damn, he just won't go away!

G-Money

I'm kind of hoping that Massa beats Alonso frequently this season. I know they have said various things about the team being equal, but I can't shake the feeling that Alonso wants and expects the team to treat him as number 1. It will be interesting to see how he handles it if Massa starts beating him regularly. But it was only one qualifying session so it's too soon to know the pecking order.

I think it's safe to say that people had effectively wrote off Red Bull for this race going into the qualifying session. McLaren seemed quite slow and I got a feeling of deja vue when Lewis was being interviewed by Hottie McKenzie and he said that downforce was the problem and they needed more. It reminded me a lot of what he was saying this time last year. However the big difference is where they were at this time last year. I get the feeling their car is fast, but just wasn't setup correctly for the circuit.

Not sure what to make of Schumacher. I think he needs a few races to get up to speed. I didn't think I'd be saying that.

amacachi

What's the story with KERS anyway? Last I heard Williams still wanted to use it, but I missed the start of the coverage on BBC.

G-Money

amacachi wrote: »

What's the story with KERS anyway? Last I heard Williams still wanted to use it, but I missed the start of the coverage on BBC.

All the teams agreed to abandon KERS for 2010 so none of the cars have it. According to the rules, they can still run it, but none of them are and have designed their cars not to include it.

Ghost Train

Hopefully the tyre strategy will add some interest tomorrow, will be good if it shows up a different side of the driving styles, was nice to see Rubens mention that he would have new tyres where as Schumacher wouldn't

naughto

when does the qing go up on bbc red button job

EvilMonkey

Anyone here why there was no graphics on screen for qualifying? the usual g force rev counter was missing for the in car shots and the side bar for qualifying wasn't used.

Ghost Train

naughto wrote: »

when does the qing go up on bbc red button job

do they not replay it all day

Thought it was great to see Karun Chandhok put in a few laps in a brand new car and a reasonable lap time considering it was his first time driving it

lord lucan

Red Bull seem to have slipped under the radar with all the talk of Hamilton/Button and Schumacher. They've a fast looking package,bodes well for a competitive season for a number of teams. Roll on Sunday afternoon.:)

vectra

lord lucan wrote: »

Red Bull seem to have slipped under the radar with all the talk of Hamilton/Button and Schumacher. They've a fast looking package,bodes well for a competitive season for a number of teams. Roll on Sunday afternoon.:)

They are fast but apparently they are having trouble conserving their rear tyres which could/would be a big drawback during the race

lord lucan

vectra wrote: »

They are fast but apparently they are having trouble conserving their rear tyres which could/would be a big drawback during the race

This is one of the areas that i'm looking forward to watching during the race,how the drivers manage their tyres. Going hell for leather knowing you've only a short time to wait until you get some new rubber on isn't an option,not unless you want to stop 5 or 6 times. It's an area of strategy that should be fascinating.

amacachi

As I said, keep an eye on Massa. He was the only person who improved in Q3, have a feeling his tyres will go off very quickly.

No stops for Button? :pac:

vectra

amacachi wrote: »

No stops for Button? :pac:

Optimistic?
Maybe one stopper

Ghost Train

amacachi wrote: »

As I said, keep an eye on Massa. He was the only person who improved in Q3, have a feeling his tyres will go off very quickly.

No stops for Button? :pac:

Would be funny if he went the whole season with no pitstops and was champion again :pac:

He did do well in Monaco last year, so will be interesting to see if its any real advantage this year. Would be good if there is real tyre strategy/management this year to replace the fuel strategy we've lost

vectra

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Well we all know who is rubbish on tyres and that Lewis, expect his tyres to be in ribbins tomorrow. Cant wait

LOL
That very thought was in my head as well.. Cant wait to see him driving around on shreddies

amacachi

I'm repeating myself a lot here, but I really do just wish the tyres were almost unsafely soft, see then whether Hamilton would beat Jenson. :pac: Have a feeling it'll only be the odd driver who has to make one more than anyone else rather than anyone making one less stop. Hamilton can be a dumbass but even he'll know there's no point pushing too hard when you can't get closer than .8seconds behind someone.

frostie500

amacachi wrote: »

As I said, keep an eye on Massa. He was the only person who improved in Q3, have a feeling his tyres will go off very quickly.

No stops for Button? :pac:

One thing to remember is that while Massa may have to pit before his teammate he probably won't pit until after Vettel. When he does pit he will be able to lap faster than Alonso(traffic permitting) as he will have fresher tyres and the same fuel load. The main defining aspect of race pace this season is not weight as it was with refuelling but rather tyre grip/performance.

If Massa can stay ahead of Alonso off the start even if he has to pit earlier and suffers more severe tyre degradation he should be able to maintain track position after his one or two stops. If Massa is ahead after the stops I can't see how Ferrari will let Alonso race him hard in the first race of the season and they will hold station.

Should be a great race and I'm looking forward to not having refuelling. In the previous era of this rule the fields were stretched to a massive degree, now we have the closest grids in history-I'm forgetting about the new teams obviously!-and drivers will have to attempt to overtake rather than wait for the stops which should make for some great racing throughout the pack

amacachi

Should've gone for equalised fuel tanks. Wouldn't be surprised to see it next year.

Massa will have to pit before Alonso, so he'll be back in traffic. It'll only be toward the end with some free space to come back out that early pit stops will be advantageous I'd've thought.

zeris

amacachi wrote: »

No stops for Button? :pac:

Followed by a black flag for breaking sporting regulation article 25.4e

Ghost Train

Sutil took used the harder tyre in Q3 so will be interesting to see how long he can stay out tomorrow

Shane732

zeris wrote: »

Followed by a black flag for breaking sporting regulation article 25.4e

Impressive!

But wouldn't the race be finished by the time they could black flag him?!!

Bob the Seducer

I was just doing my regular pre season trawl of information on the new drivers when I came across this:
http://twitter.com/karunchandhok

Now, I'm not normally a big fan of twitter but if (as it seems at the moment) Karun posts throughout the race weekend it might make for an interesting read over the course of the season.

zeris

Shane732 wrote: »

Impressive!

But wouldn't the race be finished by the time they could black flag him?!!

Yeah, but saying he would be excluded from the race by failing scrutineering doesn't have the same punch as black flag.

EvilMonkey

Bob the Seducer wrote: »

I was just doing my regular pre season trawl of information on the new drivers when I came across this:
http://twitter.com/karunchandhok

Now, I'm not normally a big fan of twitter but if (as it seems at the moment) Karun posts throughout the race weekend it might make for an interesting read over the course of the season.

F1 has jumped on the twitter bandwagon big time!

If you cant stomach twitter James Allen has a feed of all the drivers(and everyone else involved in F1) on his website. (Good for finding the official accounts!)
http://twitter.jamesallenonf1.com/drivers

Now I'm going to hide from LIGHTNING for mentioning the unmentionable JA

Glico Man

jvc wrote: »

Is that James Allen asking the questions in the press conference?

Just found out why...

Apparently the guy that used to ask the questions (Peter Windsor) has moved on to lead USF1...whenever they're ready that is and he left because he thought it might cause the management to believe there would be a conflict of interest

So expect a lot more of THAT voice

frostie500

aaronh007 wrote: »

Just found out why...

Apparently the guy that used to ask the questions (Peter Windsor) has moved on to lead USF1...whenever they're ready that is and he left because he thought it might cause the management to believe there would be a conflict of interest

So expect a lot more of THAT voice

Allen had this role for last season as well. In fairness to him he does a good job with it and his blog is very good. He was crap as a commentator but he does know his stuff and has done a well to resurrect his career because it looked to have stalled during his struggles as the ITV anchor commentator

madmarco245

Chandhok on twitter? About half the grid have it now. Great too, fans can post messages and they sometimes reply And it would be great if Chandhok would post like that throughout the season, like a biography :P

Ferrari and Red Bull, I expected this. I'll be happy so long as Massa, Webber and Sutil do well (and Kobayashi shows what Japanese balls are made of when it comes to overtaking :P).

Mother of God, I thought I heard the last of James Allen. I sense another Terminator sequel...

IM0

grandmaster wrote: »

I heard Ted Kravitz or someone say during the first practise session that the Red Bull's tyres looked pretty chewed up. Defo not good.

yeah and it sounded like there was a B I G difference in tyre deg between the RB and Ferrari, remember folks Quali Vanity, Race Sanity
watch out for sauber too, I think they are V kind to tyres but the heat here may change that this weekend.

Beekay wrote: »

can't stand Bahrain, always so boring!

cant please some people! - they just added about 20seconds of lap this year, where the McLarens are being killed by their lack of downforce

jvc wrote: »

Is that James Allen asking the questions in the press conference?

Yup

Mike Litoris wrote: »

Great to see Force India keep their impressive form from the end of last year, really reminds me of Jordans rise to the front.

and you could say their resurrection FI were jordan, and I think still have some of the same people from the Jordan days

grandmaster wrote: »

I think it's safe to say that people had effectively wrote off Red Bull for this race going into the qualifying session. McLaren seemed quite slow and I got a feeling of deja vue when Lewis was being interviewed by Hottie McKenzie and he said that downforce was the problem and they needed more. It reminded me a lot of what he was saying this time last year.

No, those in the know knew otherwise, RB for Quali Ferr for race long run pace (much better tyre management)

Yeah it did surprise me to see McL so far off (1 sec!) but a) thats exagerated by the length of the track nearly 2 min :eek:
but I think they will be better in race trim, though wouldn't actually bet on it. Looks like the Flo Viz in testing was another red flag for this years car..
but at least they are one one second off rather than 2 seconds last year :pac:

IM0

was it me or was there a distinct lack on onboard coverage , and especially RB Ferr Merc and Mc\L?

or was I talking at the wrong moments
anyone got any footage of onboard runs, a quick look on youtube theres nothing current

Ghost Train

brundle looked pissed :pac:

Mike Litoris

Ghost Train wrote: »

brundle looked pissed :pac:

Yeah, he seemed a bit off today. "I'm going to find a peddler" was funny.:D

amacachi

Missed the gridwalk, what was wrong with Brundle?


Engine changes for Alonso and Massa, little odd.

Ghost Train

Mike Litoris wrote: »

Yeah, he seemed a bit off today. "I'm going to find a peddler" was funny.:D

I meant he looked pissed with Alonso

He was trying to barge in on another presenter waiting for about a minute, drivers physios weren't able to be on the grid so very few drivers to talk to

dor83

Ghost Train wrote: »

I meant he looked pissed with Alonso

It would have been very funny if Alonso refused to talk to him, he would have deserved it for butting in during another interview.

benzie

Here we go........ Have my popcorn ready, few can, battery out of remote.
lets burn the rubber and fuel

redout

Why is the grand prix not on BBC HD ?

EDIT: Is there any HD coverage available ?

amacachi

Some difference in pace with a full fuel tank.

Now to settle down for the procession til the pitstops.

Be interesting to see how far Hulkenburg can go on one set of tyres.

amacachi

Way, way too much white on the Ferrari's.


Great seeing Rosberg getting past Hamilton in the first few corners. ^_^
Liuzzi could be a dark horse for some decent points.

Mike Litoris

9 laps in and feck all overtaking. KERS should be enforced. :mad:

amacachi

Gonna put my neck on the line and say it's between Alonso and Vettel for the title. RB and Ferrari just have too much more pace than anyone else and Webber is having his usual weekend of choking and Massa just isn't up to it.

amacachi

Mike Litoris wrote: »

9 laps in and feck all overtaking. KERS should be enforced. :mad:

Yeah, because that helped last year. :rolleyes:

blackiebest

Going mental as I can not get the live timing, had to reregister on f1.com site to get it this year? and they have not sent me the confirmation email. Anyone else know where I can see it, really want it to get a better bigger picture:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

amacachi

blackiebest wrote: »

Going mental as I can not get the live timing, had to reregister on f1.com site to get it this year? and they have not sent me the confirmation email. Anyone else know where I can see it, really want it to get a better bigger picture:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Did you check your junk folder and all? I got it straightaway.


Hamilton flying, I get the impression that the soft tyres aren't soft enough. Holding on for that many laps.

amacachi

Did the ban on tyre warmers come into effect this year? Because they're setting race-best 2nd and 3rd sectors on their outlaps, so I'm doubting it.

frostie500

amacachi wrote: »

Did the ban on tyre warmers come into effect this year? Because they're setting race-best 2nd and 3rd sectors on their outlaps, so I'm doubting it.

No they didnt enforce that, its been put on the backburner and will be forgotten about in all liklihood

dor83

Massa is going well since the stops, a second faster through the middle sector than Alonso and Vettel.

thusspakeblixa

blackiebest wrote: »

Going mental as I can not get the live timing, had to reregister on f1.com site to get it this year? and they have not sent me the confirmation email. Anyone else know where I can see it, really want it to get a better bigger picture:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

This stream is working well for me anyway (just tuned in).