2018 Bahrain Grand Prix Race Thread

minchy · Post by **minchy** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:47 pm

Stellar drive from Vettel!

lucifers · Post by **lucifers** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:47 pm

Honda well done

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:48 pm

Bottas charge shoulda came earlier imo while they were dealing with the traffic

Zoue · Post by **Zoue** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:48 pm

Happy for Gasly. That must feel like a win to him!

tootsie323 · Post by **tootsie323** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:48 pm

Amongst all that - what a result for Gasly and STR-Honda

Tassadar · Post by **Tassadar** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:48 pm

Gotta say, that was pretty good driving by Vettel. I didn't think he had it.

mpls2 · Post by **mpls2** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:48 pm

Channel 4 cut a shot of Zak Brown .. during the race... what a sight !

minchy · Post by **minchy** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:48 pm

Zoue wrote:Happy for Gasly. That must feel like a win to him!

And the team

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:48 pm

Great result for gasly

PRFAN · Post by **PRFAN** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:48 pm

KMag well done!! Grosjean has a fight this year

Zoue · Post by **Zoue** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:49 pm

Apparently that's the closest finish (0.6s) they've ever had in Bahrain

Invade · Post by **Invade** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:49 pm

Great race. Shame about the Red Bulls and the pitstop incident with Kimi... looks like a pretty bad injury.

Tassadar · Post by **Tassadar** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:50 pm

minchy wrote:
Zoue wrote:Happy for Gasly. That must feel like a win to him!
And the team

What about Honda? This is huge for them too.

gregs51 · Post by **gregs51** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:50 pm

That Mercedes couldn’t follow a cement bag let alone a race car.

minchy · Post by **minchy** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:51 pm

Tassadar wrote:
minchy wrote:
Zoue wrote:Happy for Gasly. That must feel like a win to him!
And the team
What about Honda? This is huge for them too.

Yep. I'm sat here watching in my McLaren Honda shirt

Tassadar · Post by **Tassadar** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:52 pm

Marcus Ericksson in 9th. Honorable mention. That Sauber is widely considered the worst car on the grid. Williams might take titlenow.

mpls2 · Post by **mpls2** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:52 pm

SDLRob wrote:Couple of laps more and Bottas had Seb...

Twenty more laps and everyone wuold need to pit again and then Vetteel will still have it .. so what if eh !

Zoue · Post by **Zoue** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:52 pm

Bit disappointed with Bottas there, especially after his great start. He was clearly faster but seemed to have forgotten how to overtake. If that had been Hamilton he would have taken him. Good driving by Seb to eke it out.

Kimi was woeful today.

Black_Flag_11 · Post by **Black_Flag_11** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:53 pm

SDLRob wrote:Couple of laps more and Bottas had Seb...

To be honest he should have had him anyway. Hamilton would have made that move stick IMO.

Invade · Post by **Invade** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:53 pm

LOL Hamilton just said "You're such a duckhead"?

Siao7 · Post by **Siao7** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:53 pm

Gasly and Vettel, awesome drives. I feel for Kimi, but more for the mechanic. Bad luck, I hope he isn't seriously hurt

Greenman · Post by **Greenman** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:54 pm

.

Congratulations to Vettel for an amazing win, BUT Ferrari should be very, very harshly fined for the accident with the mechanic (and unsafe release). In addition, after today and last week's incident, the FIA should look at every team's tyre change and release procedures and ensure they are as safe as possible.

IF, Vettel's claim that his tyres were shot for the last 10 laps then that doesn't bode well for Mercedes.

Hope the mechanic gets well soon.

.

kleefton · Post by **kleefton** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:54 pm

What a race, what a finish.
Great job by Vettel at the end, fending off the flying finn.
Honda and Gasly best of the rest! What a crazy turnaround.
Ericsson scoring a couple of points for Sauber.
Redbull absolutely throwing it away.
Hamilton and Merc very fortunate to end up on the podium, but should be happy to bag some very good points in the circumstances.

PRFAN · Post by **PRFAN** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:54 pm

Invade wrote:LOL Hamilton just said "You're such a duckhead"?

While seeing the replay on the tv of his contact with Max

Longnose · Post by **Longnose** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:54 pm

How could Bottas NOT pass Vettel, Vettels tyres completely done, was over a second a lap slower in the closing stages. Obvious who the better driver was there.

minchy · Post by **minchy** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:55 pm

Greenman wrote:.

Congratulations to Vettel for an amazing win, BUT Vettel should be very, very harshly fined for the accident with the mechanic (and unsafe release). In addition, after today and last week's incident, the FIA should look at every team's tyre change and release procedures and ensure they are as safe as possible.

IF, Vettel's claim that his tyres were shot for the last 10 laps then that doesn't bode well for Mercedes.

Hope the mechanic gets well soon.

.

erm..... Kimi

Also, depends what happened. If the light went green, there's no fault from the driver.

Siao7 · Post by **Siao7** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:55 pm

minchy wrote:
Greenman wrote:.

Congratulations to Vettel for an amazing win, BUT Vettel should be very, very harshly fined for the accident with the mechanic (and unsafe release). In addition, after today and last week's incident, the FIA should look at every team's tyre change and release procedures and ensure they are as safe as possible.

IF, Vettel's claim that his tyres were shot for the last 10 laps then that doesn't bode well for Mercedes.

Hope the mechanic gets well soon.

.
erm..... Kimi

Yeah, that would be extremely harsh for Vettel!

Black_Flag_11 · Post by **Black_Flag_11** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:55 pm

Greenman wrote:.

Congratulations to Vettel for an amazing win, BUT Vettel should be very, very harshly fined for the accident with the mechanic (and unsafe release). In addition, after today and last week's incident, the FIA should look at every team's tyre change and release procedures and ensure they are as safe as possible.

IF, Vettel's claim that his tyres were shot for the last 10 laps then that doesn't bode well for Mercedes.

Hope the mechanic gets well soon.

.

That was Kimi.

Yeah I hope we get some news to say the mechanic is OK soon.

Mercedes-Benz · Post by **Mercedes-Benz** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:56 pm

Vettel got lucky Mercedes were much faster than I thought. But because of RBR and Kimi lot of midfield benefited. Amazing race by gasly, unbelievable result for the team

gregs51 · Post by **gregs51** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:56 pm

Attack on Vettel came too late. I’ve said it before but I think Mercedes are strategically vulnerable when the pressure is on. Governed entirely by timing screens and not what’s actually observable on track. The race was there to be won today and they dropped it.

TheGiantHogweed · Post by **TheGiantHogweed** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:57 pm

Zoue wrote:Bit disappointed with Bottas there, especially after his great start. He was clearly faster but seemed to have forgotten how to overtake. If that had been Hamilton he would have taken him. Good driving by Seb to eke it out.

Kimi was woeful today.

I think Mercedes should have told Bottas to push 1 lap earlier. It won't have been Bottas who decided to go for it. And I thought that Bottas didn't do badly. The Mercedes certainly sufferes in dirty air more than others as Hamilton showed this race. When Bottas got close, it seemed he lost a huge amount of grip. He had a great start and we all expected. Ferrari to clearly be a lot better. Mercedes's strategy certainly was a better one than Ferrari, But I think Vettel just did better than Bottas. Bottas had a very good weekend. Better than Hamilton I think.

Lotus49 · Post by **Lotus49** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:57 pm

Mayhem wrote:
Lotus49 wrote:
PRFAN wrote:
Lotus49 wrote:STR race pace has been very good so far, going to bag 4th. Can't argue with that, they spanked Macca here.

Gasly driver of the day if he bags P4
I'd agree with that, he's had a great weekend over all as well. Certainly shut me up about concerns about the driver talent at STR, he's been quick and cool as a cucumber.
Gasly has had a great drive but so has ericsson from the back to the top 10

He did yeah. Some top drives all round.

Tip of the hat to Honda for the race pace improvement too.

Greenman · Post by **Greenman** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:58 pm

.

Errrrrr, yes sorry, I meant Ferrari, not Vettel.

.

Prema · Post by **Prema** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:58 pm

Mercedes-Benz wrote:Vettel got lucky Mercedes were much faster than I thought. But because of RBR and Kimi lot of midfield benefited. Amazing race by gasly, unbelievable result for the team

You mean, he got lucky that the race lasted as it was supposed to and not any longer...

macca84 · Post by **macca84** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:58 pm

Invade wrote:LOL Hamilton just said "You're such a duckhead"?

Sounded like "He's such a d**khead" to me. makes more sense as well as was watching hist contact with verstappen.

Lotus49 · Post by **Lotus49** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 5:02 pm

Good damage limitation from McLaren to get a double points finish out of this poor weekend. Vintage McLaren strategy for Alonso.

McLaren 3rd in WCC and the leading Renault team.

Yes you just read that...

mikeyg123 · Post by **mikeyg123** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 5:03 pm

minchy wrote:
Greenman wrote:.

Congratulations to Vettel for an amazing win, BUT Vettel should be very, very harshly fined for the accident with the mechanic (and unsafe release). In addition, after today and last week's incident, the FIA should look at every team's tyre change and release procedures and ensure they are as safe as possible.

IF, Vettel's claim that his tyres were shot for the last 10 laps then that doesn't bode well for Mercedes.

Hope the mechanic gets well soon.

.
erm..... Kimi

Also, depends what happened. If the light went green, there's no fault from the driver.

I'm sure the light was green. I checked.

minchy · Post by **minchy** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 5:06 pm

mikeyg123 wrote:
minchy wrote:
Greenman wrote:.

Congratulations to Vettel for an amazing win, BUT Vettel should be very, very harshly fined for the accident with the mechanic (and unsafe release). In addition, after today and last week's incident, the FIA should look at every team's tyre change and release procedures and ensure they are as safe as possible.

IF, Vettel's claim that his tyres were shot for the last 10 laps then that doesn't bode well for Mercedes.

Hope the mechanic gets well soon.

.
erm..... Kimi

Also, depends what happened. If the light went green, there's no fault from the driver.
I'm sure the light was green. I checked.

Yeah, think I saw the green reflected in the body work from the on board camera during a replay.

Mercedes-Benz · Post by **Mercedes-Benz** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 5:06 pm

Zoue wrote:Bit disappointed with Bottas there, especially after his great start. He was clearly faster but seemed to have forgotten how to overtake. If that had been Hamilton he would have taken him. Good driving by Seb to eke it out.

Kimi was woeful today.

Were we watching the same race ? Kimi was faster than Vettel in the second stint. I think he was only 2secs of Bottas when he pitted for the disaster

Longnose · Post by **Longnose** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 5:06 pm

With 5 laps to go, Bottas was lapping 134.6, Seb was 135.6, with a three second gap. Bottas should have had DRS for at least two laps. For last two laps, Bottas was lapping 136s, and barely getting DRS. Bottas choked, doesn't know how to pass or doesn't have the killer instinct, or all three. Bottas was completely happy with a second place finish.