FORMULA 1

[MIKA27]

RENAULT AND DUPONT ANNOUNCE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

Multi-year Collaboration to Optimise Formula 1 Performance and Advance Technology Development for Road Car Applications.

Renault Sport Racing and DuPont today announce a multi-year strategic technical partnership to deliver new technology, beginning with hybrid and electric powertrain innovative solutions to help advance Formula 1 and other racing programs.

Through a shared vision to address unique challenges in the rapidly changing mainstream automotive industry, Renault Sport Racing and DuPont will also explore opportunities to co-innovate and accelerate development of new technology for future consumer and road car applications.

“We are excited to team up with Renault F1 Team to help deliver disruptive innovations in automotive technology,” said Marc Doyle, Chief Operating Officer for the DowDuPont Specialty Products Division, and Chief Executive Officer-Elect for future DuPont. “Formula 1 is known for being the most technologically advanced sport in the world and has embraced hybrid electric powertrains in recent years.

If the DuPont and Renault F1 Team co-developed technologies can make a performance difference under the speed, stress and heat of an F1 car racing around a track at 370 kph,or 230 mph, then we are confident we can accelerate those solutions to benefit road car applications.”

DuPont has been bringing essential innovations to the automotive industry for over 80 years and their leading engineering polymers and adhesives solutions play a vital role today in lightweighting, thermal management, connectivity and improved safety. In motorsports, DuPont Kevlar fiber is already used in the tyres and the bodywork of Formula 1 cars, while DuPont Nomex paper is used inside the car’s ERS (Energy Recovery System) shielding and electrical insulation.

DuPont also contributes to helping protect drivers: Nomex fiber is used in race suits to help protect against heat and flame, and Kevlar fiber is an important safety component in driver helmets.

“DuPont has a long-standing legacy for inventing and developing innovative products that improve performance in motorsport and consumer vehicles, while also making them safer, more efficient and sustainable,” said Cyril Abiteboul, Managing Director of Renault Sport Racing.

“Our multi-year technical development partnership will enable ongoing collaboration to advance hybrid technology and chassis solutions, which we believe will ultimately result in improved efficiencies and on-track competitiveness.”

In 2018, DuPont launched its AHEAD™ (Accelerating Hybrid-Electric Autonomous Driving) initiative, which focuses on creating technology and materials solutions in vehicle electrification, connectivity, autonomous-driving and related infrastructure which will play a key role in the technical partnership with Renault F1 Team.

Areas of collaboration include developing structural adhesive solutions for thermal management of batteries, as well as materials for power, infrastructure and signal electronics.

As these innovative, high-performance materials are rapidly validated in the motorsport environment, they can directly benefit the design of lighter weight and more fuel-efficient vehicles without compromising performance, comfort or safety – whether that be in a race car or a road car.

[MIKA27]

Lance Stroll's race pace quicker than Nico Hulkenberg/Esteban Ocon claims Sergio Perez

Racing Point's Sergio Perez claims team-mate Lance Stroll's race pace is better than that of his previous team-mates at the Silverstone-based team. 

Perez has been joined at Racing Point by Stroll, who previously raced for Williams, following the takeover of the team by the 20-year-old's billionaire father, Lawrence Stroll.

Stroll struggled at Williams – despite a strong showing in Azerbaijan where he finished on the podium in 2017 – contributing to the opinion that money, rather than talent, was the main factor in his rise to Formula 1, but Perez insists he has natural speed which came as no surprise.

"There is no surprise," said the Mexican ahead of this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix. "He has the speed, the talent. He works hard. I think he's going to be constantly scoring points, which is great for the team.

"It proves it’s so hard to judge someone [as] so much is related to the performance of the car in F1."

Perez also revealed that Stroll's race pace is closer to his own than his former team-mates Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Ocon.

"In a way Esteban and Nico had quite a similar approach and they always seemed to struggle a lot with race pace but with Lance, his race pace is, from all the team-mates, the closest to mine.

"In qualifying he can deliver too. He's already, on Sundays, quite good. I was quite surprised because going for a long run I seemed to find it a bit easier with my previous team-mates, but it's not the case now. He has a good understanding.

"It's good, it's what you need to score points, especially with this tight midfield."

Stroll finished ninth in Melbourne to score two points, putting Racing Point seventh in the standings ahead of Toro Rosso and the points-less McLaren and Williams.

MIKA: ....Of course Lance is faster Sergio.... You know where the butter for your bread comes from. 

[MIKA27]

Hamilton disputes floor damage explanation

Mercedes Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton has expressed his doubts over the claim that kerb contact caused floor damage to his car in the Australian Grand Prix.
In a Mercedes video last week, strategist James Vowles indicated that the damage was sustained “during the course of the race while riding over some of the kerbs.”

However, Hamilton doesn’t believe that that was the case.

“We saw the drop in performance from lap four,” he said. “There was an assumption made that it was by kerbs, but I didn’t ride any more kerbs than I had done in the past.

"So it most likely was debris, some debris from other cars losing parts of their cars.

“It could have been that, but it’s all a guessing game. I didn’t make any mistakes or run wide anywhere to cause the incident. But it was a big loss in performance.”

Hamilton also denied the suggestion that he deliberately held up Sebastian Vettel in the Melbourne race to make the German vulnerable to attack from Max Verstappen.

“I never ever plan to hold anybody up. I just focussed on doing my job, and wasn’t thinking at all about his race.

“I naturally wanted to keep him behind, but I knew that I had a long, long way to go. He stopped a lap before me so I knew that we’d both be in a similar boat towards the end.

"I was thinking a bit more long term so that I could defend to up and coming cars towards the end of the race, which I’m not sure he really thought of, because his tyres went off quite drastically at the end.”

Hamilton said even his own team hadn’t fully appreciated the tactics that he was using when he was pacing himself.

“The engineers just worry a little bit, they're worried whether you know what's happening because they don’t always know exactly what's happening. For example in the last race, my engineers had no idea that I was saving the tyres.

“They thought that I was off the pace, which I'm sure a lot of the public thought. But I was saving tyres, saving fuel, making sure that I had enough to push to the end, which was all that I needed to do to finish where I was.

"I couldn't do any more to get further ahead and I didn't need to do any less.”

[MIKA27]

Key makes first appearance with McLaren

James Key will make his first appearance as McLaren’s new technical director at this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, after finally joining the team this week.
The former Toro Rosso technical chief was signed by McLaren last year, but was only released from his contract recently following lengthy negotiations regarding his contract.

Having finally started work earlier this week, McLaren has elected to pull him straight into action, so he will be present in Bahrain this weekend.

McLaren driver Carlos Sainz, who previously worked with Key at Toro Rosso, said he had already had a lengthy chat with him.

“I had lunch with him,” said Sainz. “He started this week so I was in the factory also with him. I had a simulator session and he was part of the debrief session, and we started talking.

“He has started meeting a lot of new names, like I had to meet at the end of last year, and he is a great asset to the team. 

"I have a great relationship with James from our Toro Rosso days so it is nice to see an old friend in a new environment. So he is going to be a great asset I think.”

Sainz was clear, however, that Key’s impact will probably only be felt in 2020.

“He is going to have a quick impact on hopefully next year’s car,” added the Spaniard. “This year is more about procedures, how the team works, learning about this year’s car. 

"That learning process will give him a good baseline for next year. This year it is difficult for him to have any kind of impact because he has just arrived basically.”

[MIKA27]

Ricciardo gets new Renault chassis for Bahrain GP

Daniel Ricciardo will use a new Renault chassis for the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend, replacing the one he drove in Australia as a precautionary measure.
Ricciardo endured a nightmare home race in Australia after losing his front wing on the opening lap, having ventured onto the grass off the start line. He then retired after 28 laps as a precaution from 16th position.

Ensuring that no residual damage from the incident in Melbourne has been carried over, Ricciardo gets a completely new chassis, while his old one will be retained as a spare.

"I guess it was from the impact at the start," Ricciardo said in Bahrain. "They don’t know 100 percent if it was from that – that is the assumption for now.

"But to play it safe we are changing chassis."

In this main photo from Giorgio Piola, FIA Technical Delegate Jo Bauer is scanning Ricciardo’s new chassis to ensure it is compliant with the regulations.

Within the chassis, there are a number of small chips which hold information such as test data and other such parameters, which the technical delegate must check before the car is allowed to take to the circuit. Piola’s drawing below (a 2001 Williams-BMW) shows where the chips are located.

Chassis chip check procedure

Rear wing updates for Bahrain

Having just missed out on Q3 in Australia, Renault has returned for the second round with a number of updates at the rear of the car aimed at overturning its early deficit to the top three teams, along with midfield rivals Haas.

Giorgio Piola’s images show the extent of the changes made for Bahrain, a circuit with different characteristics compared to the Albert Park venue which opened the season.

Rear wing comparison, Melbourne LEFT, Bahrain RIGHT

The rear wing mainplane has been changed, now curving upwards at the outboard edges to create a shallow ‘spoon’ section in the middle.

In Australia (left), this element was perfectly straight, but has been altered to better suit the collection of long straights on the Sakhir circuit.

Doing so trims off a little bit of overall downforce, but also cuts drag thanks to the reduced frontal area of the car. This also changes the shape of the vortices shed from the rear wing, closing them up to minimise the drag produced by the wake turbulence.

The team has also dispensed with the T-wing and monkey seat placed at the rear of the car, again removing small downforce-generating pieces to cut drag.

[MIKA27]

Drivers predicting aggressive Bahrain strategies after DRS zone addition

Bahrain is one of the top five tracks on the F1 calendar for overtaking, the Middle Eastern track having witnessed an average of 46 passes per race since 2014. The 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix is expected to up that average, however, following the addition of a third DRS zone – and ahead of the start of the action, the drivers were predicting a heady mix of frenetic racing and aggressive strategy calls this weekend.

The 2018 iteration of the Bahrain International Circuit included DRS zones on the track’s two main straights, between Turns 15 and 1, and Turns 10 and 11. Now, though, the drivers will get another bite of the cherry on the run from Turns 3 to the tight Turn 4 – already a hotbed for overtaking in previous years – in a move that’s set to give the engineers some thinking to do, with the option of pitting for fresh rubber now carrying potentially less of a penalty than before.

“Probably you can go with a more aggressive strategy with that extra DRS zone if it's easier to overtake,” said Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly, who last year used a two-stop strategy to secure a superb fourth place for Toro Rosso. “If it brings some more show, I think everyone's going to be happier.”

“You'll obviously have more chances of overtaking,” reckoned McLaren’s Lando Norris, “so you would say a two-stop strategy could be a better chance than trying to do that in Australia.

“Hopefully it will cause teams to choose more different strategies, which can hopefully lead to more overtaking, more action, which is always a nice thing for a driver… I'm sure we're going to see a lot of overtaking and action this weekend.”

Back in 2017, Charles Leclerc secured his maiden Formula 2 win in Bahrain after a bold strategy call that saw him pit during the Sprint Race before carving his way back through the field from 12th to first. And the Monegasque appeared to be eyeing up a similar strategy as he prepared for his second outing for Ferrari.

“You can afford to drop back in the standing for an extra stop and have the chance to overtake after again easier,” said Leclerc. “Already in the past I think it was quite an easy track to overtake on with two DRS zones, so with one more it can only be easier.”

 

[Lotusguy]

WOLFF: WE ARE STILL THE CHALLENGERS

Toto Wolff leads Mercedes to the Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend believing that his team are still the challengers despite a convincing one-two in qualifying and race at the Formula 1 season opener in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago.
Prior to the Australian Grand Prix the consensus was that Ferrari had the edge over Mercedes, but that proved a fallacy as the World Champions cleaned up with hardly a challenge Down Under.
Heading to round two in the Bahrain desert this weekend, Wolff remains wary, “After the Barcelona test, we felt that we were the challengers. Whatever the Melbourne result says, our mindset hasn’t changed since then.”
“One race doesn’t determine the pecking order for the rest of the season. We need to extract every bit of performance from our package and keep on working hard to improve the car over the weekend to be competitive. We’ve had some great racing in recent years in Bahrain, so I’m looking forward to an exciting weekend.”
“We achieved the perfect score at the opening round of the 2019 Formula One season in Australia, but that doesn’t change our approach for the upcoming races. It’s a long season, we know we have a tough challenge on our hands and Toto is expecting a tight fight at the front of the field in Bahrain.”
“Claiming the maximum 44 points race from the first race was a fantastic result, we could not have asked for a better start to the season. But the fight has only just begun: Ferrari will try everything they can to hit back and Melbourne showed that Red Bull will have something to say in the fight, too.
“We’ve seen the potential of Ferrari’s package in Barcelona, so we expect them to come back strong in Bahrain, with Red Bull in the mix as well. We will see a very different race in Bahrain, where the weekend presents unique challenges, especially the change in conditions between the sessions.”
“FP1 and FP3 take place in the middle of the day when both the air and the track can be very hot; FP2, Qualifying and the Race, on the other hand, are held in the evening in considerably cooler temperatures.”
“These temperature swings make it very tricky to set up the car and find the right configuration for the sessions that really count,” added the Mercedes team chief.

STFU already, you frigging sandbagger! This is getting disgusting.

[Habana Mike]

Seems we'll be helping Red Bull out with an edge this season.....

https://www.snowflake.com/news/snowflake-and-aston-martin-red-bull-racing-partner/

[BrightonCorgi]

10 hours ago, Habana Mike said:

Seems we'll be helping Red Bull out with an edge this season.....

https://www.snowflake.com/news/snowflake-and-aston-martin-red-bull-racing-partner/

You work for snowflake?  One of my customers is a big user of snowflake.  We are a technical partners with the two biggest teams, but not as a sponsorship role.

[Habana Mike]

7 hours ago, BrightonCorgi said:

You work for snowflake?  One of my customers is a big user of snowflake.  We are a technical partners with the two biggest teams, but not as a sponsorship role.

I do - we should catch up.

[b0rderman]

Catching up on qualis a few hours late with a VPN on Harbour Island 

[TheGipper]

Well, we already have the photograph of the 2019 season.  Looks like a shot from an upcoming James Bond movie.

 

[MIKA27]

BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX: LUCKY HAMILTON, HEARTBREAK FOR LECLERC

Lewis Hamilton won the Bahrain Grand Prix and in doing so broke the hearts of Ferrari fans and most neutrals who watched as Charles Leclerc never put a foot wrong during an epic race, but the turbo failed on his car to dent the Monaco Kid who nevertheless managed to limp home in third place.

Whatever the case, Leclerc came of age with a masterful performance on the day, easily outshining his illustrious teammate Sebastian Vettel who was involved in the wars, spinning on his own while duelling with Hamilton for second place. The German recovered to finish fifth.

After qualifying on pole by three-tenths of a second, 24-hours earlier, Leclerc was tardy off the start and before he knew it was down to third struggling with grip, with Vettel taking command.

But Leclerc was not flustered, did not panic, simply put his head down to hunt down Valtteri Bottas and then took on Vettel to take the lead where he remained until on lap 46 the young Ferrari driver reported an issue with power loss.

With the leading Ferrari in trouble, Hamilton sniffed victory and soon reeled Leclerc in without much effort and then took the lead, after which he remained untroubled to bag Mercedes their second consecutive victory and one-two as Bottas inherited second after the Ferrari driver’s misfortune.

Race winner, Hamilton said afterwards, “A really, really hard job and the team were incredible. It was a devastating race for Charles. We were lucky today. I gave it everything in the race. This guy has a lot of race wins coming in the future.”

The five-time F1 World Champion told Leclerc in the pre-podium room, “You drove great. You’ve got a great future ahead of you.”

While Leclerc’s misfortune was gutting, he did get a touch of good luck when late in the race both Renaults stopped on track almost at the same time, forcing a safety car for the final two laps and saving the #16 Ferrari from being gobbled up by fourth-placed Max Verstappen.

Leclerc said, “It happens. It’s part of Motorsport. Unfortunately today it wasn’t our day. But the team has done an amazing job to recover from Australia.”

“Of course I’m extremely disappointed, it happens in a season, and we made the best out of it. A very hard one to take but thanks to the team for an amazing car all weekend, I’m sure we will come back stronger,” added the 21-year-old.

Bottas summed up his evening, “As a team, we got lucky today we kept it together. The hard work at the factory is paying off I had a difficult race as the balance of the car was everywhere and I made a few mistakes. I never will give space, the first lap was good I had a lock-up in turn one.”

Fittingly a McLaren revival of sorts appears to have started at the team’s home race, with Lando Norris delivering a mature performance, keeping out of trouble to finish sixth while his teammate, Carlos Sainz  DNFed for a second race in succession after a collision with his nemesis Verstappen.

Kimi Raikkonen was also in the wars but did well to survive the midfield mayhem to take seventh place, ahead of Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly in eighth, followed by Toro Rosso rookie Alex Albon scoring his first F1 points with ninth and Sergio Perez claiming the final point for Racing Point.

FIA Blow-By-Blow Report

When the lights went out at the start, Vettel got the jump on polesitter Leclerc and seized the lead. Bottas, too, exploited the situation and muscled past the young Ferrari driver to take P2.

Hamilton then tried to pressure Leclerc and as they tussled, Verstappen, who had started fifth, tried to slip down the inside of both in the final corner. He couldn’t make the move stick, however, and settled into fifth place.

After his first lap difficulties, Leclerc quickly recovered and went on the assault. He pushed past Bottas at the start of lap two and then powered past Vettel under DRS into turn one at the start of the next lap to reclaim the lead.

Leclerc maintained his lead through the first stops, but Hamilton managed to get past Vettel to take P2. The German was now third ahead of Bottas and Max, who took on medium tyres during a superb 2.1s pit stop.

On lap 23 Vettel closed in on Hamilton and powered past the defending champion around the outside through Turn 4. Leclerc though was now 7.5s ahead of his team-mate. Behind Hamilton, Bottas was fourth, four seconds ahead of Verstappen.

Now third, Hamilton pitted soon after the halfway mark and shed his soft tyres for a set of medium Pirellis, a move that was repeated on the following tour by Vettel.

Vettel emerged ahead but the gap was narrow and the Mercedes driver was soon on the attack. He tried to pass in Turn 4 but was rebuffed by Vettel who held his line well. Hamilton was not to be denied, however, and on the following lap he made the move stick.

Vettel spun following the pass and recovered but soon afterwards his front wing mysteriously collapsed and he was forced to pit for repairs, dropping to P9. That bumped Verstappen to fourth place behind Bottas, with five seconds separating the Red Bull from the Mercedes.

With a dozen laps to go the shape of the race changed. Leclerc began to complain of engine issues and as his lap times increased dramatically he was told that he had “no H recover”, signalling a turbo issue.

At the end of lap 48, Hamilton swept past to claim the lead and with third-placed Bottas lapping five seconds quicker than the Monegasque the prospect of a Mercedes one-two came into view.

By lap 51 Leclerc’s advantage over Bottas was just 15.9s and Max was a further 6.6s behind. After Bottas powered past Leclerc, Max closed in fast, but then with just four laps remaining the works Renaults of Hulkenberg and Ricciardo expired. With Ricciardo’s car close to the trackside, the Safety Car was deployed and Max’s chance of a podium frustratingly evaporated and he was forced to settle for fourth place.

With Max fourth behind race winner Hamilton, Bottas and Leclerc, fifth place went to Vettel. Lando Norris took sixth for McLaren, with Räikkönen seventh ahead of Gasly. The final points positions were taken by Albon and Perez.

Report in progress…

[MIKA27]

FERRARI: RELIABILITY PROBLEM IS SOMETHING UNACCEPTABLE

Scuderia Ferrari leaves Bahrain with a feeling of regret after the second round of the Formula 1 World Championship, thinking about what might have been.

All weekend long, the SF90 clearly demonstrated it had the potential to win, having rediscovered the competitive pace it had lost in Australia. However, in the end, it had to settle for a third place courtesy of Charles Leclerc and a fifth with Sebastian Vettel.

Sebastian got the better of his team-mate at the start to lead at the first corner. Charles found himself in third behind Valtteri Bottas in the Mercedes, but on the second lap, the Monegasque driver got past the Finn and closed on his team-mate. Charles had a better pace and passed Sebastian on lap 5 to take the lead.

On lap 13, Charles came in for his first pit stop, switching from the Soft to the Medium tyres, as did Sebastian on the following lap, the German rejoining behind Hamilton in the Mercedes who had stopped one lap earlier. The German took eight laps to attack and overtake his rival at Turn 4.

On lap 35, Sebastian made his second stop, once again duelling with the Englishman. The German ended up spinning and flatspotted his tyres which resulted in the front wing coming off due to the strong vibrations. He then had to pit again for a new one. Charles also came in again, on lap 36, but kept the lead setting the fastest lap with 1’33″411.

After his unscheduled stop, Sebastian rejoined ninth and charged up the order, passing Kimi Raikkonen then Lando Norris, Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg, to claim fifth place.

With 15 laps remaining, Charles’ car suffered a power unit problem which meant his pace slowed dramatically, The two Mercedes thus managed to pass him, but with two laps to go, the Safety Car came out to deal with two cars stopping on track at the same time, which froze the positions, so that Leclerc was at least able to enjoy the satisfaction of his first ever F1 podium finish.

He thus equals Louis Chiron, the only other driver from Monaco to have made it to a Formula 1 podium, which he did in his home race in 1950, the race in which Scuderia Ferrari first took part in the World Championship.

Formula 1 is back in action in two weeks time with the Chinese Grand Prix, which will also be the one thousandth Grand Prix in the sport’s history.

Charles Leclerc: “It’s part of motorsport, we know that. Sometimes it’s not your day to win and today wasn’t ours. In the final part of the race we had an issue with the power unit and I had to slow down. It’s a shame because the race seemed to me to be under control. The team is disappointed and I am disappointed but there are a lot of positives to take home from this weekend.”

“They gave me an amazing car and that is very much to their credit. The car was very easy to drive and was very good. These things happen in motorsport: we took the best out of it anyway. It’s my first podium even if I’m not enjoying it as much as I wanted. It’s life, it happens, we’ll come back stronger”.

Sebastian Vettel: “Not the race we wanted. We started first and second and we didn’t finish there. A disappointing evening. I had a good start but already halfway through the first lap I realised that the car was extremely difficult to drive. I think Charles struggled less as he had no difficulties in passing me. It was quite tough out there. Then we lost P2 at the pitstop but came back.”

“In the second stint on the medium tyres maybe it was a bit better but overall we didn’t have the pace we should have had today. While battling with Lewis I made a mistake at turn 4, which is one of the trickiest corners on the track. I suddenly lost the car and I spun.”

“In doing so, I damaged the tyres so much that I had quite a lot of vibrations, which eventually led to the failure of the front wing. It was Charles’ race today, he got very unlucky. I am sorry for him and for the team.”

Mattia Binotto, Team Principal: “It was a shame for Charles. He was in the lead for much of the race and showed that he was particularly comfortable here in Bahrain, also setting the race fastest lap. He deserved to win and it was only the reliability problem, which we must now investigate, which prevented him from doing so. That is something unacceptable from us and it shows how important it is to get every last detail right in order to win.”

“With regards to Sebastian, these things can happen in racing when you are on the limit, therefore it is more important to consider the car, which today performed well. The team also did an excellent job, producing some really good pit stops. We head home with many positives on which to build for the rest of the season, such as our performance level and the way the team reacted. Clearly, there are still various things that we have to learn and we will continue to work on them.”

[MIKA27]

RENAULT: BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT

Renault F1 Team faced bitter disappointment in the 2019 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix with both Nico Hülkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo retiring from points-scoring positions, three laps short of the finish.

Nico, who started from seventeenth on the grid, enjoyed an excellent start and climbed to eleventh by the end of the opening lap. On a two-stop strategy, he worked his way up to sixth before his retirement on lap 54 of 57.

Daniel too was running in the points throughout the race on his one-stop strategy. The Australian was in tenth and set to clinch the final point, but he also retired on lap 54.

Nico Hülkenberg: “It’s definitely a hard one to swallow today. This sport can be so tough sometimes. It was a great ride out there with lots of battling on track to go from seventeenth to sixth, but unfortunately, we couldn’t make it to the finish line. We’ll look into what happened, but I lost power quite suddenly and that was that.”

“It was a fun race with a crazy first lap which I had to survive and by then I had to keep my head down. The team did a great job on the two-stop strategy today and we can take positives from that. We have to be cleaner going forward and make sure we don’t face anymore disappointments like this.”

Daniel Ricciardo: “A lot happened in the race today. Initially it looked like we had competitive pace and we therefore committed to a one-stop strategy. As we got deeper into the first stint I could tell that the tyres were struggling a lot. In hindsight, two-stops would have been better.”

“Towards the end, as the others were coming through, I couldn’t do too much to defend. I wanted to put up more of a fight but it was not possible, sadly. At the end of the race we had an MGU-K problem. It was a very up and down weekend, a lot happened, and we will take some time to absorb everything and come back stronger.”

Cyril Abiteboul, Team Principal: “After a very intense winter, it’s been a very bad start to our racing season. Similar to Melbourne, our qualifying in Bahrain was massively compromised by minor electronics issues, which impacted both cars. Our race today came to a sudden stop so close to the finish. These are issues we have previously encountered but something we were unable to rectify in Bahrain.”

“These problems are increasingly frustrating and unacceptable as both cars have shown very good competitiveness both over one-lap and race runs. Nico delivered another outstanding drive from seventeenth to sixth.”

“Daniel is building on precious experience in the car, and despite good race pace, his strategy gamble didn’t work out. Daniel will continue his familiarisation in the car during this week’s test conducting performance-related work. We must react and shift our focus on reliability.”

[MIKA27]

RED BULL: WE DIDN’T HAVE THE PACE OF MERCEDES OR FERRARI

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen was denied a podium when the 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix finished behind the safety car, shortly before that the Dutchman was catching the ailing Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

In the sister car, Pierre Gasly had another underwhelming weekend, way off his teammate’s pace while struggling to come to terms with the Red Bull RB15.

Max Verstappen: “I think we maximised the result today and it was another good point’s score. To finish fourth was not too bad as we struggled with pace and rear grip, especially with the high winds. I was sliding around a lot so it was not easy and I just had to manage it, but I don’t think we could have done a lot differently. I drove to the limit of the car, in Australia, it was better but here it was pretty difficult.”

“We were almost on the podium today but it would have been down to luck as we didn’t have the true pace and really deserve it. Anyway, it was more unfortunate for Charles, but at least he’s still on the podium and I’m not too disappointed with fourth. We still have a lot of things to learn about the car so we will go back to the factory, understand what happened here and continue to try and close the gap in China. This just wasn’t our weekend.”

Pierre Gasly: “It was quite a difficult race and I’m still not completely comfortable with the car. As soon as I try to push, I struggle a lot with the rear and the traction. For sure, I need to see what I can improve to get the maximum out of the car and work with the engineers to see what we can do to make me feel more confident because at the moment I feel I cannot really push.”

“I need to make an effort and adapt, because each car is different, and I will work with the team to find a set-up which fits my driving style better. Overall, I think there are also some positives today. After the start the car felt better, I managed to finish inside the points, and now we just need to find the areas we can improve on. We will do the work and I’ll do anything I can to arrive stronger in China.”

Christian Horner, Red Bull: “It was a tough race this evening in Bahrain in extremely windy conditions. We seem to have struggled to get the tyres to work at their optimum all weekend and we experienced the same challenge during the race today. Nonetheless, Max made a good recovery at the first corner and raced very hard, but we just didn’t have the pace to go with Mercedes or Ferrari.”

“He was unfortunate to miss out on what would have been an opportunistic podium following Charles Leclerc’s bad luck but hopefully there will be more podiums to come soon. Pierre drove a solid race to score his first points for the Team, finishing eighth, and making good progress through the pack.”

“He displayed his race craft with a couple of bold overtaking moves, which will be good for his confidence, but the Safety Car at the end prevented him from progressing further as he was rapidly closing in on the cars ahead.”

[MIKA27]

ALFA ROMEO: A POSITIVE START TO THE SEASON FOR US

It was a weekend packed with niggles for Alfa Romeo, but their veteran driver Kimi Raikkonen delivered on an action-packed night for the Finn who finished seventh with rookie teammate Antonio Giovinazzi missing out on his first points in 11th.

Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal Alfa Romeo: “It was a solid race for us, with both drivers putting up a good fight. Kimi stayed steady throughout and brought home some more points for our team. Antonio showed a strong performance, gaining 5 positions and finishing in P11, very close to the points.”

“Our pace was good and the team worked well together. It has been a positive start to the season for us and we look forward to seeing what we will achieve at the next Grand Prix in China.”

Kimi Räikkönen: “It was a nice race, there were some good battles. In the middle of the race we had a bit of a tricky moment, with the wind and the tyres posing a challenge. By the second pitstop the car felt really good. Step by step, we will try to make everything more solid and will make more progress.”

Antonio Giovinazzi: “It was a good but challenging race. I could make some good advances and had a good pace at the end of the race. Unfortunately, I couldn’t challenge for 10th place because of the safety car. We were really close to the points and that is positive. Now I have to stay focused and keep working for the next race in Shanghai.”

[In-A-Gadda-Davidoff]

Heartbreaking result for Leclerc.  Ferrari's experienced heat related issues in Melbourne, and today had a MGU-H failure on Leclerc's car.  They found their race pace this weekend, but it seems that the heat issue isn't sorted yet.

Renault engine issues continue.  Last week it was Sainz, and this week Ricciardo and Hulkenberg at the same time...wow.   Red Bull swapping to a Honda power plant appears to have been the right move in regards to reliability.  Speaking of Red Bull, Gasly once again delivers a forgettable performance.  He is lucky to be in the top 10 thanks to both Renaults bowing out.

Nice to see Kimi keep the Alfa in the top 10 for a second week.

[Str8BlkCoffee]

6 hours ago, TheGipper said:

Well, we already have the photograph of the 2019 season.  Looks like a shot from an upcoming James Bond movie.

 

Watched that last night. ?

[Cigar_83]

13 hours ago, In-A-Gadda-Davidoff said:

Heartbreaking result for Leclerc.  Ferrari's experienced heat related issues in Melbourne, and today had a MGU-H failure on Leclerc's car.  They found their race pace this weekend, but it seems that the heat issue isn't sorted yet.

Renault engine issues continue.  Last week it was Sainz, and this week Ricciardo and Hulkenberg at the same time...wow.   Red Bull swapping to a Honda power plant appears to have been the right move in regards to reliability.  Speaking of Red Bull, Gasly once again delivers a forgettable performance.  He is lucky to be in the top 10 thanks to both Renaults bowing out.

Nice to see Kimi keep the Alfa in the top 10 for a second week.

I wonder if that was the problem Ferrari was' hiding' in Melbourne! I felt horrible for Le Clair guys is a stud and is showing how mature he is for his age. 

[skalls]

That was a surprising race.  Merc had no business being 1-2.  But just because you don't deserve something doesn't need it can't happen.

The other surprise was where the hell was there Haas on Sunday?  They were fast in q3 and hot garbage in the race.

[Lotusguy]

That finally wasn’t a boring race. Not the result I wanted, but that’s racing. I’m actually excited about China.

[Cigar_83]

Game of luck sometimes.  Mercedez 1 & 2 were definitely lucky but that's how she goes.  

The race was exciting I agree, now I am contemplating heading to Montreal to watch the race   

Apparently, in 2020 they are changing specs for more overtaking - also the engines will apparently be much louder.  

[avaldes]

So a few months ago people were saying "I wonder how Seb will respond if LeClerc challenges him." I thought there was no fricken way a 4 time WC would give a sniff about a rookie. Well guess what! Obviously 2 races don't determine the whole season. But I have that same feeling I got when Jacques Villeneuve joined Williams and nearly won his first race.Things are going to be very interesting at Ferrari this hear.

[In-A-Gadda-Davidoff]

Binotto is now saying that Leclerc's car didn't suffer an MGU-H failure and doesn't understand how that rumor started.  During the race when Leclerc started having problems the paddock radioed him saying he had no H recovery.  Binotto is saying that Leclerc had miscombustion in one of the cylinders causing the issue.  So since the race concluded I've read that the issue was MGU-H failure, then it was described as a component failure, and now a cylinder issue.  Fuel rail/injection issue if I was to speculate considering the "cylinder issue"  didn't cause the engine to grenade.  Haas had good qualifying pace with Magnussen 6th and Grosjean 8th.  Grosjean's day was essentially done on lap 1 turn 2.  Magnussen race pace was markedly slower particularly his straightaway speeds.  I just wonder if the Ferrari engine in the Haas cars are experiencing something similar to Ferrari in terms of engine performance. 

Really looking forward to China.