2020 Sakhir Grand Prix Free Practice & Qualifying Thread

[Alienturnedhuman]

I could do a sane a rational analysis on how Bottas performed, but the internet kool aid is fun so instead I will say that Vandoorne may get to race this weekend after all based on how terrible Bottas's lap time was with a damaged car.

[cmax]

Started following f1 at the start of the 2010 season and as a Lewis fan. Haven't missed a race thus far and this approaching weekend looks somewhat surreal to me. Don't know who to root for.

I'm curious how you became a Lewis fan before you started following F1?

But I've been there, it's strangely satisfying not being a fan of anyone and just enjoying the race as a neutral!

I watched few highlights in 07 and 08 season where I saw this young brit taking the sport by storm and I got hooked to him and the sport

[TheGiantHogweed]

Well Well...

It's only FP1, blah, blah, blah

Do we need to reassess the performance of Bottas

or

Hamilton?

Not sure how serious you are but apparently Bottas damaged his car.

Has there ever been an instance this year that Bottas hasn't made the excuse of car damage, other drivers, his black overalls, or a flying tortoise for his slow pace?

These seem to be more like your excuses to criticize Bottas rather than his own excuse. Bottas stated a fact that the black overalls were hot. When did he say anything or even imply he would be faster if they were a different colour? He didn't. He just basically gave some feedback that they perhaps were not ideal in terms of comfort on a hot day. Drivers can cope with this fine and even being very hot and dehydrated and keep on driving. He wasn't making an "excuse"

Regarding Russia, it was a "giant bee" that he said in a media interview. More of a joke than anything. It was nothing related to his "slow pace" as you are suggesting. A small piece of debris that Hamilton's car flicked up went right by Bottas which will have clearly been in his vision and he said that made him misjudge his breaking point. That was it, his pace did not look lacking that race. He also nearly did manage to pass Hamilton anyway as well as Verstappen.

Even what you are implying Bottas himself is using as an excuse today isn't the case. Or at least, if he did say anything, Wolf's explanation to the damage warrants it being a valid excuse. Admittedly, he caused it himself this time.



I know I defend Bottas all the time, but some of the comments he makes get twisted somewhat by some people.

[Schumacher forever#1]

Well Well...

It's only FP1, blah, blah, blah

Do we need to reassess the performance of Bottas

or

Hamilton?

Not sure how serious you are but apparently Bottas damaged his car.

Has there ever been an instance this year that Bottas hasn't made the excuse of car damage, other drivers, his black overalls, or a flying tortoise for his slow pace?

These seem to be more like your excuses to criticize Bottas rather than his own excuse. Bottas stated a fact that the black overalls were hot. When did he say anything or even imply he would be faster if they were a different colour? He didn't. He just basically gave some feedback that they perhaps were not ideal in terms of comfort on a hot day. Drivers can cope with this fine and even being very hot and dehydrated and keep on driving. He wasn't making an "excuse"

Regarding Russia, it was a "giant bee" that he said in a media interview. More of a joke than anything. It was nothing related to his "slow pace" as you are suggesting. A small piece of debris that Hamilton's car flicked up went right by Bottas which will have clearly been in his vision and he said that made him misjudge his breaking point. That was it, his pace did not look lacking that race. He also nearly did manage to pass Hamilton anyway as well as Verstappen.

Even what you are implying Bottas himself is using as an excuse today isn't the case. Or at least, if he did say anything, Wolf's explanation to the damage warrants it being a valid excuse. Admittedly, he caused it himself this time.



I know I defend Bottas all the time, but some of the comments he makes get twisted somewhat by some people.

My comment above was attempted as more of a satirical reply than one that is factual. I have only been loosely watching practice today, so I can't really comment seriously on the gap between them today - and accept that Bottas may have had damage that caused the gap. I actually forgot about the flying bee (debris) one, but was perhaps in the back of my mind when I mentioned flying tortoise.

I do think Bottas has upped his excuses game this year though. An example would be the start of the Turkish GP, where he blamed another car from hitting him, when clearly he spun on his own. I think he should pay attention more to his performance, and less to random interferences to his driving. He's a qualifying ace, but seems to struggle to adapt his car to variant circumstances.

[pokerman]

They need to sort out the track limits on turn 8, it's the trickiest corner on the track and what some drivers are doing is just a joke,

I think Verstappen was told on the radio that it’ll be monitored from FP2 onwards

Yeah it's going to be monitored now, KMag was bad as well.

[JN23]

Listening on bbc five live. Palmer and Nichols are good to listen too.

Seems like Bottas would have been faster than Russell had he not exceeded track limits, but BBC guys reckon Russell was a lot more neat and tidy whereas Bottas was more on the limit. Looks like it’ll be close between them two.

They also thought Bottas was quicker on the long runs at the end of FP1.

[pokerman]

Now that track limits has been imposed on turn 8 it's made the track more challenging, it just shows the lack of skill involved if you are allowed to ignore track limits,

[pokerman]

Listening on bbc five live. Palmer and Nichols are good to listen too.

Seems like Bottas would have been faster than Russell had he not exceeded track limits, but BBC guys reckon Russell was a lot more neat and tidy whereas Bottas was more on the limit. Looks like it’ll be close between them two.

They also thought Bottas was quicker on the long runs at the end of FP1.

Yeah 2 to 3 tenths in qualifying, for the race 4 tenths on the softs, a tenth on the hards.

[kleefton]

Bottas has been very sloppy so far. I can't remember the last time he has looked like this. Can't keep the car on the track at all. Max surprisingly had the best race pace although he was on Mediums while the Mercs ran the Hards. Russell has done well so far and will have a shot at pole. Still think the race will prove to be more tricky for him.

[JN23]

Listening on bbc five live. Palmer and Nichols are good to listen too.

Seems like Bottas would have been faster than Russell had he not exceeded track limits, but BBC guys reckon Russell was a lot more neat and tidy whereas Bottas was more on the limit. Looks like it’ll be close between them two.

They also thought Bottas was quicker on the long runs at the end of FP1.

Yeah 2 to 3 tenths in qualifying, for the race 4 tenths on the softs, a tenth on the hards.

They were thinking the pace on the soft long run might not be too relevant as they might not get run in the race. Guess we'll find out.

I understand why some sections of the internet (*cough* Reddit *cough*) wants Hamilton to retire

(that last bit is a joke)

[pokerman]

Listening on bbc five live. Palmer and Nichols are good to listen too.

Seems like Bottas would have been faster than Russell had he not exceeded track limits, but BBC guys reckon Russell was a lot more neat and tidy whereas Bottas was more on the limit. Looks like it’ll be close between them two.

They also thought Bottas was quicker on the long runs at the end of FP1.

Yeah 2 to 3 tenths in qualifying, for the race 4 tenths on the softs, a tenth on the hards.

They were thinking the pace on the soft long run might not be too relevant as they might not get run in the race. Guess we'll find out.

I understand why some sections of the internet (*cough* Reddit *cough*) wants Hamilton to retire

(that last bit is a joke)

They have Russell as their FP Champion?

[Invade]

Today was a good day for Bottas fans for sure.

[Schermerhorn]

Hmmm, this is worrying for Bottas' mental state. He's always struck me as a guy with no Plan B and no reserves to get himself out of trouble.

I imagine he'll be starting at the ceiling tonight struggling to sleep.

[F1Tyrant]

Bottas has been very sloppy so far. I can't remember the last time he has looked like this. Can't keep the car on the track at all.

At least Bottas know what's at stake, much easier to impress in a two race shootout than it will be to put together a strong campaign in 2021. A strong showing here may keep Russell out for 2022 even if his 2021 is as lacklustre as this season.

[pokerman]

Hmmm, this is worrying for Bottas' mental state. He's always struck me as a guy with no Plan B and no reserves to get himself out of trouble.

I imagine he'll be starting at the ceiling tonight struggling to sleep.

Someone who can only see the headline time?

[Schermerhorn]

Hmmm, this is worrying for Bottas' mental state. He's always struck me as a guy with no Plan B and no reserves to get himself out of trouble.

I imagine he'll be starting at the ceiling tonight struggling to sleep.

Someone who can only see the headline time?

We'll revisit this topic Sunday evening

[pokerman]

Hmmm, this is worrying for Bottas' mental state. He's always struck me as a guy with no Plan B and no reserves to get himself out of trouble.

I imagine he'll be starting at the ceiling tonight struggling to sleep.

Someone who can only see the headline time?

We'll revisit this topic Sunday evening

Which maybe is different again, Russell has admitted he is slower thus far but with the caveat that he's still learning.

[KingVoid]

Honestly, my general impression of watching F2 is that DRS is totally redundant around this circuit.

If FIA wanted to try one race without DRS, this is it.

[pokerman]

Honestly, my general impression of watching F2 is that DRS is totally redundant around this circuit.

If FIA wanted to try one race without DRS, this is it.

What would be the point, what are you trying to prove?

[F1Tyrant]

Bottas has finally arrived at Sakhir

[wire2004]

Watching fp3 on sky sports f1 now.

Did I just see another american tv idea???

Nascar fans will know this better.

But did I Just see a sky sports equivalent of Nascar on fox's race feature "crank it up"?

What next. The last 35 laps of the race. We go through the whole sky team and predict the winner of the race. Or we "Go Through The Field"

Hell. Let's just go all out. Let's increase the race length by 50% and have 3 stages in the race.

[Schumacher forever#1]

Love Brundle's commentary standing before the final corner:

"Watching these cars come down from the crest is like watching a fighter pilot land his plane at Heathrow airport"

[Bacus]

Honestly, my general impression of watching F2 is that DRS is totally redundant around this circuit.

If FIA wanted to try one race without DRS, this is it.

What would be the point, what are you trying to prove?

To make an overtaking less processional and actually involve some skill?
By the look of things now overtakings will be just a formality, assure you're within a second then just cruise past the other car with massive speed difference.
Hope I'm wrong though.
Maybe a good idea will be to drop at list 1 DRS zone.

[Tufty]

It's all well and good Sky showing a series of accidents that the evolving safety in F1 meant nobody died in, but putting into the mix the crash between Villeneuve and Ralf Schumacher that killed Graham Beveridge was at best tastelessly ignorant.

[TheGiantHogweed]

kvyat seems to be looking quite strong this weekend

[Bacus]

Vettel also looks better than usual compared to Leclerc.

[Johnson]

Albon is getting worse

[tootsie323]

As Russell himself said yesterday - he needs to nail that braking into Turn 1.

[JN23]

Albon is getting worse

Think that was Red Bull being very casual, decent in Q2 so far from him.

So close between the top four right now.

[JN23]

Are Ferrari trying to get knocked out?

[JN23]

Albon is getting worse

Think that was Red Bull being very casual, decent in Q2 so far from him.

So close between the top four right now.

Well this aged badly

[Bacus]

Vettel also looks better than usual compared to Leclerc.

ouch

[TheGiantHogweed]

horner shaking his head at albon. Stop defending him in interviews please. He really isn't good in qualifying.

[tootsie323]

Norris. Ouch.

[JN23]

Leclerc!!!

I think the Merc tyres didn’t look brand new on that first run so maybe more to come

[Invade]

Lol what? Charles is a fast boy.

Even he is surprised at his own lap. Guess that must be one of the laps of his life.

[tootsie323]

Lol what? Charles is a fast boy.

Even he is surprised at his own lap. Guess that must be one of the laps of his life.

Out of the car! That'll do...

[LBET]

As Russell himself said yesterday - he needs to nail that braking into Turn 1.

I was watching his onboards during FP1&2 and he was quite inconsistent on the breaking point there. Never seemed to carry a "Hamilton" level of speed through the first apex.

[JN23]

That was so close. I think we can call that a really good job from Russell.

I was wrong about Red Bull being off the pace here, surprised me.

Really good job from Kvyat.

[Bacus]

well that's a little too close for comfort for Bottas.
Its gonna be an interesting race.