2020 Bahrain Grand Prix Race Thread

[Schumacher forever#1]

Are Red Bull trying a one stop with Verstappen on the hards?

I'd say they'll see what happens, but unlikely given he only went 10 laps or so on the mediums. Red Bull forever with their half-measures.

[JN23]

Is Hamilton just managing his pace at the moment? He needs to pick it up if Verstappen does do a one stop.

[F1Tyrant]

Will Ver, Per and Alb try and one stop? It's a lot of cars too pass for the win...

[TheGiantHogweed]

Hamilton's tyres look bad and he's reporting this. Get ready: "Get in there Lewis!"

[Schumacher forever#1]

I'd really like to know who's making these pit strategies at Red Bull

[JN23]

I'd really like to know who's making these pit strategies at Red Bull

It is a bit weird but I guess they’re happy with second and fourth.

[JN23]

Having said that Verstappen was about 3.7 behind Hamilton after Hamilton’s stop... the slow stop might have cost him a run into turn one.

[TheGiantHogweed]

why is bottas pitting again?

[TheGiantHogweed]

i still think that Bottas's bigest weakness is how bad luck effects his motivation and performance. When he knows penalties are coming like Abu Dhabi last year, he can be excellent, but when they are unexpected, he doesn't look to be very strong. Doesn't even seem to be catching ricciardo.

[JN23]

i still think that Bottas's bigest weakness is how bad luck effects his motivation and performance. When he knows penalties are coming like Abu Dhabi last year, he can be excellent, but when they are unexpected, he doesn't look to be very strong. Doesn't even seem to be catching ricciardo.

Yeah true. On a kind of similar note, one thing that has impressed me this season is how after a bad piece of luck he’s bounced back well. Eg Silverstone one puncture then puts it on pole the week after. He hasn’t let bad luck from one weekend affect him the following weekend. I feel like in the past he’s had series of consecutive weekends where he’s been a bit nowhere.

[Asphalt_World]

For goodness sake, why do you have to wait for flames before stopping?

[Fiki]

Spectacle Car anyone?

[TheGiantHogweed]

This it stupid from Perez. He should have pulled over far sooner. He had plenty of warning and perfect places to pull over. It could have gone a lot worse.


Nothing related to the fact it is incredibly unfortunate.

[JN23]

Why didn’t Perez stop earlier? Bad news in the fight for third.

Why couldn’t that be a VSC?

[UnlikeUday]

Perez was actually the 3rd best performing driver till bad luck struck!

[pokerman]

Hamilton doesn't have a clue.

[mikeyg123]

Perez has been the unluckiest guy of 2020. He's lost at least three podiums to bad luck and Red Bull will probably use Albon's third place as the reason to announce him for 2021.

[JN23]

Hamilton doesn't have a clue.

Harsh.

[Banana Man]

They could have left that parked there under yellows for two laps.

[Fiki]

Perez has been the unluckiest guy of 2020. He's lost at least three podiums to bad luck and Red Bull will probably use Albon's third place as the reason to announce him for 2021.

Didn't Hamilton cause Albon to lose a first win? Or was that Brazil last year?

[pokerman]

Hamilton doesn't have a clue.

Harsh.

Well it's so obvious it's finishing under the SC.

[mikeyg123]

Perez has been the unluckiest guy of 2020. He's lost at least three podiums to bad luck and Red Bull will probably use Albon's third place as the reason to announce him for 2021.

Didn't Hamilton cause Albon to lose a first win? Or was that Brazil last year?

Both Perez and Albon lost a first win that day due to misfortune.

[JN23]

Marshall running across a live track. Another safety problem in F1.

[lucifers]

man, you got to feel for perez.

[UnlikeUday]

Believe it or not, if not for bad luck, Checo would've have had 3 podiums in a row!

Imola, Turkey & Bahrain. He's on fire.......

[UnlikeUday]

Albon in a more superior RB was failing to match Checo. I hope his (lucky) podium doesn't ruin it for Checo.

[da4an1qu1]

Marshall running across a live track. Another safety problem in F1.

You get the feeling that too many Marshall's are not versed in the safety history of the sport.

[TheGiantHogweed]

I did initially feel incredibly sorry for Perez. Smoke like that is an indication, and the lack of speed that a williams could un lap him was obvious he had an issue. Before when drivers have kept going when the engine has given up like this bits can fly out all over the place like they did with Maldonado towards the end on 2015 at on race. Sorry, but it was idiotic to keep driving with smoke coming out like that.He missed at least 2 far better places to pull over.

I still feel sorry for him, but think the way he managed the situation was incredibly poor. Surely the team would have been urging him to pull over? He will have caused more internal damage than would have been the case if he stopped sooner.

[F1Tyrant]

Albon in a more superior RB was failing to match Checo. I hope his (lucky) podium doesn't ruin it for Checo.

It probably means exactly that! I can just see Horner saying "Alex has improved at the end of the season with an excellent podium so we're keeping him on."

It reeks of a safe space for Verstappen who is ironically the most un-PC driver on the grid.

[pokerman]

Albon in a more superior RB was failing to match Checo. I hope his (lucky) podium doesn't ruin it for Checo.

It probably means exactly that! I can just see Horner saying "Alex has improved at the end of the season with an excellent podium so we're keeping him on."

It reeks of a safe space for Verstappen who is ironically the most un-PC driver on the grid.

As a Hamilton fan it's manna from heaven if Red Bull want to retain an underperforming driver.

[pokerman]

I wonder if Grosjean's missus asks him to call it a day, a family man with 3 young children, no seat in F1, Indycar is more dangerous, maybe FE the cars are quite slow.

[F1Tyrant]

As a Hamilton fan it's manna from heaven if Red Bull want to retain an underperforming driver.

To be fair, we can't talk given Valterri was retained after his poor season in 2018. Hamilton is kinda protected at Mercedes.

[JN23]

As a Hamilton fan it's manna from heaven if Red Bull want to retain an underperforming driver.

To be fair, we can't talk given Valterri was retained after his poor season in 2018. Hamilton is kinda protected at Mercedes.

I don’t think Bottas’ 2018 was as bad as Albon’s 2020 though, and Bottas wasn’t as consistently far off Hamilton as Albon is Verstappen.

[mikeyg123]

A team mate as weak as Albon does absolutely nothing for Verstappen. Having Hulk or Perez would make his life easier not harder. He'd beat them every week but they'd be close enough to prevent Mercedes being able to do whatever they want.

[TheGiantHogweed]

As a Hamilton fan it's manna from heaven if Red Bull want to retain an underperforming driver.

To be fair, we can't talk given Valterri was retained after his poor season in 2018. Hamilton is kinda protected at Mercedes.

I don’t think Bottas’ 2018 was as bad as Albon’s 2020 though, and Bottas wasn’t as consistently far off Hamilton as Albon is Verstappen.

And Bottas's 2018 season was remembered as a bad season purely because he had a bad 2nd half (which even included a likely win). His first half with the exception of the first race was arguably a stronger start than any of his other seasons. He certainly missed an earned win in China and also was on target to beat Hamilton on Merit the following race, until the puncture, even if the win rather than 2nd place will have been lucky.

[TheGiantHogweed]

As much as Grosjean appears to be a dangerous driver, in terms of safety in the car and saftey in general, I think he has more knowledge about it than most of the F1 field will. I honestly do wonder if his thoughts and reactions were at all related to this. Thinking about the process of getting out the car if such a disastrous things happens. Very surprised that he managed to get out so quickly.

[mikeyg123]

As much as Grosjean appears to be a dangerous driver, in terms of safety in the car and saftey in general, I think he has more knowledge about it than most of the F1 field will. I honestly do wonder if his thoughts and reactions were at all related to this. Thinking about the process of getting out the car if such a disastrous things happens. Very surprised that he managed to get out so quickly.

We don't know what obstructions he had. He got out the car slower than he should without any.

[j man]

After watching it again I have to see the majority of marshalls deserve absolutely no credit what so ever. Most just stood and watched. There is no way the doctor and driver of the medical car should beat the marshalls to aid a driver.

The marshals were stood on the barrier side of the fire which meant they were fully exposed to the heat radiation from the inferno which would have been very intense.

The medical car had the armco barrier between them and the fire which would have drastically reduced how hot it was.

I think it's very easy to sit on an arm chair and criticise.

There were also marshalls from the otherside of the track that WALKED slowly over the track and stood and watched holding their fire extinguishers.

I'm concerned about the response from the fire marshall who was closest to the accident. He just sprayed the extinguisher uselessly into the air nearby, as if he didn't actually have any training in how to use it. The one who actually put the fire out had run across from the other side of the track.

I wouldn't point any fingers at the marshalls who didn't have fireproof clothing on. There only appeared to be two in the vicinity that did, and one of them did a good job.

[BMWSauber84]

I hope Red Bull aren't going to use that fluke podium as an excuse to retain Albon. After the first stint, he was already too far behind (well over a pit stop) to influence Hamilton's strategy and assist Max's. Perez had an extremely strong weekend and was robbed by misfortune yet again.

[Schumacher forever#1]

A team mate as weak as Albon does absolutely nothing for Verstappen. Having Hulk or Perez would make his life easier not harder. He'd beat them every week but they'd be close enough to prevent Mercedes being able to do whatever they want.

Agree. If Albon gets retained, I don't think it'll be a decision made by Verstappen.

His Thai influence, and Red Bull wanting to save face with their mishandling of their driver academy will be the driving factors for him being retained.