Formula 1 2015: Round 4 - Bahrain Grand Prix

_rebelkid · 19-04-2015 6:02pm

challengemaster wrote: »

Rosberg blaming it totally on a brake issue..., lol

Going by the timing screen, Rosberg would have been caught by Raikkonen as they crossed the line. He would only need 1 corner to back Kimi up and take second. So yeah, the brakes were the problem.

challengemaster · 19-04-2015 6:05pm

_rebelkid wrote: »

Going by the timing screen, Rosberg would have been caught by Raikkonen as they crossed the line. He would only need 1 corner to back Kimi up and take second. So yeah, the brakes were the problem.

Kimi was taking 7-8 tenths out of Nico and was on quicker tyres, I couldn't see Nico getting position back once Kimi got past, brake issue or not.

Would have been interesting if Vettel didn't have to pit. Would Ferrari have made the call to let Kimi pass?

_rebelkid · 19-04-2015 6:06pm

challengemaster wrote: »

Kimi was taking 7-8 tenths out of Nico and was on quicker tyres, I couldn't see Nico getting position back once Kimi got past, brake issue or not.

Kimi took 2 laps(55 and 56) to take 4 tenths. It wasn't a case of Nico getting the position back, rather Raikkonen being able to get it with traffic.

Slutmonkey57b · 19-04-2015 6:07pm

Kimi's advantage on the tyres was consistently dropping off though. I think it would certainly have gone to the wire and if the backmarkers had behaved better then he would have been more comfortable.

_rebelkid · 19-04-2015 6:11pm

challengemaster · 19-04-2015 6:12pm

Bottas didn't use the medium tyres at all? Is there a penalty for that?

_rebelkid · 19-04-2015 6:14pm

challengemaster wrote: »

Bottas didn't use the medium tyres at all? Is there a penalty for that?

FOM graphic is wrong. He took primes on L34.

challengemaster · 19-04-2015 6:18pm

_rebelkid wrote: »

FOM graphic is wrong. He took primes on L34.

Was thinking it'd be a pretty stupid mistake to make :pac:

_rebelkid · 19-04-2015 6:28pm

SPARKS!

Sterling Archer · 19-04-2015 6:51pm

Lewis hinting at his future music career there ...

Ghost Train · 19-04-2015 7:01pm

Shane_ef wrote: »

Lewis hinting at his future music career there ...

yes, thought it wasn't a good interview by sky or Lewis. Questions weren't great and answers weren't very interesting either :P
Lewis felt he had more in hand if he needed it, the braking issue only mentioned briefly

3 week break anyway, till Barcelona

challengemaster · 19-04-2015 7:47pm

Mike Litoris · 19-04-2015 9:03pm

...absolutely zero fúcks given by Kimi today. Him almost losing patience with the mic was hilarious.

antodeco · 19-04-2015 9:19pm

Ghost Train wrote: »

3 week break anyway, till Barcelona

:-( Normally go, but this year I'm not. Feeling very depressed about it!

AMKC · 19-04-2015 9:27pm

Was a very entertaining race. Was great to see Kimi up on the Podium again. I wonder if Vettel had not have had a damaged wing would Ferrari have been 2 and 3 and Rosberg in 4th.Rosbergs racing today do was much better than in the last three races hopefully he can keep it up now and no more crying when something does not go his way. It was good to see the Mercs and Ferraris racing side by side and the Williams done good too. Even do Massa,s car started in the pits and then was damaged he still managed to get 10th so I think he done a great job. Best he could do in a bad situation. Such a pity that Jenson never got to race at all. What a dreadful weekend he has had. Hopefully from Spain on things will be much better for Mclaren-Honda and there two drivers.

Zcott · 20-04-2015 1:10am

Only got to see the first two thirds of the race or so today but the result at the very top was expected. For me, man of the race was Rosberg because he actually proved he can overtake, which is something he's been criticised over before.

Happy for Raikkonen as well, he was well overdue a good result. Does anyone think Hamilton won't win the title this year?

smellslikeshoes · 20-04-2015 3:12am

Zcott wrote: »

Does anyone think Hamilton won't win the title this year?

Feck it I'll go out on a limb here and say me and if he does win it will be a lot closer than people expect or the results on paper so far seem to suggest.

We saw two important things today, a Ferrari legitimately catching a Merc without the crazy temps of Malaysia and that the Mercs still have some reliability problems. Just look what happened when a Ferrari was quick enough to actually put them under serious pressure, both of their cars had brake problems within a few laps of eachother. Today was very nearly a Ferrari win.

HigginsJ · 20-04-2015 8:18am

Zcott wrote: »

. Does anyone think Hamilton won't win the title this year?

Not a chance I'm afraid, will likely have it sewn up by the summer break.

20-04-2015 12:10pm

Unfortunately I'd think Hamilton will win comfortably enough. The Ferrari isn't fast enough for both Kimi and Seb to challenge, they'll be taking points off each other through the season.

Myrddin · 20-04-2015 12:35pm

Enjoyable race. Rosberg looks to have woken up anyway, he showed some assertiveness with some of those passes. For me though, I'd rate Vettel much higher than I would Nico & yet Nico managed to pass Vettel several times yesterday. That shows the differences in the cars, rather than the differences in skill I think. Still though, was good to see.

Vettel wasn't great at all yesterday, which was surprising. Delighted for Kimi to get some rosewater too

ScumLord · 20-04-2015 12:58pm

I think Vettel did ok considering he had a nose cone change. Coulthard pointed out that the new low nose cone seems to have affected the cars ability to drive in dirty air and they get stuck behind slower cars. You could see Vettel hunting clean air behind Botas.

Ferrari seem to be inching closer to Mercedes but are still dependant on Mercedes making mistakes. I think Rosberg is the big loser in Ferraris comeback. Rosberg is the one that has to cover Ferrari so he's race strategy is always up in the air depending on what Ferrari do. Hamilton is able to control the race from the front and has Rosberg as a buffer. Ferrari will probably need to out qualify mercedes, they'd need to get ahead of Hamilton to stop him from controlling the race from the front. He seems to be able to maintain a gap at will and if it's hard for a fast car to pass a slow car thanks to dirty air it would be damn near impossible to overtake Hamilton on track.

challengemaster · 20-04-2015 3:00pm

Ferrari have an engine upgrade coming for Canada as well... it'll be interesting to see what happens then.

mickdw · 20-04-2015 4:31pm

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Rosberg looks to have thrown the towel in already. The Ferrari boys are gunning for it but the car isn't there.

yep, it in the way he speaks, the way he acts and the way he is driving but instead of having thrown in the towel, it would almost seem that he has been forced into a support role by contract. It looks to me like he is not allowed to challenge Hamilton.

Frank Bullitt · 20-04-2015 5:35pm

Raikkonens first podium is the one where they don't hand out real champagne, tough luck.

Myrddin · 20-04-2015 6:22pm

mickdw wrote: »

it would almost seem that he has been forced into a support role by contract. It looks to me like he is not allowed to challenge Hamilton.

A person would certainly be forgiven for thinking that, the difference in him this year is visible. It doesn't add up yet though, Nico is on the same contract as last year, & Lewis' hasn't signed yet, so is operating on last years too. The only thing I can think of, is that the team agreed last year before the finale that whoever won would get preference this year? Maybe there's nothing to it, but to see Lewis' out qualifying Nico now every Saturday is a bit odd...unless Lewis improved a few percent over the winter break compared to Nico. You could speculate all day!

Gillespy · 20-04-2015 6:37pm

Rosberg was build up too much. He was the professor, the cerebral one, he was going to out-think Hamilton. The new formula was tailor made for him. A lot of wishful thinking basically. Since none of that happened, it's excuse after excuse, Spa, the radio ban and now team orders. Give Hamilton the credit he deserves. There's a big difference between being teammate with a world class driver well past his best and one just entering it.

Myrddin · 20-04-2015 6:40pm

Gillespy wrote: »

Give Hamilton the credit he deserves

I do, to me they're not even in the same league. However, nobody can deny Nico was racy last season, espeically on Saturdays where he had the run of Lewis more often than not. That's all gone though now, & he seems much less up for it (overtakes on Vettel aside) so far.

HighLine · 20-04-2015 6:47pm

Wonder would it be an idea to have a Hamilton thread. Works well on other forums. Every race thread ends up with the same arguments over and over...... and over......

Slutmonkey57b · 20-04-2015 8:06pm

Doubt it. It's not really a debatable topic, his fans think the sun shines out of his fundament and will never entertain the suggestion that might not be the case. Detractors will have a field day with tweetgate, "monkeys at the back", his team destabilising behaviour in 07, ali g comparisons and #hashtags.

Fans won't accept that there might be merit to the idea Nico, Button or Alonso beat him on merit on several occasions, and they'll assume anyone who isn't 100% positive all the time hates Lewis. Detractors well struggle to convey the point that they don't hate him, just that he's flawed.

In some ways F1 desperately needs Hamilton because he's the one driver everyone outside F1 actually knows. Personally I wish the rabid elements of his fanbase weren't present because I always liked the fact that f1 attracted people who weren't drawn into blinkered, sad "us vs. Them" footballish vituperation.

Slutmonkey57b · 20-04-2015 8:20pm

Back to the topic at hand, "is Nico crap?" I think Nico had some stunning races last year. There were times when he just didn't seem to have Lewis's self assurance, when the pressure got to him, or when Lewis was just faster. But that doesn't mean there weren't times when outclassed Lewis in one lap pace or the race.

The defining moment was clearly spa, since Lewis had, by his own gleeful admission, psychologically slapped Nico down by chopping across him during overtaking battles previously. His previous appeals to the team hadn't changed that (why would it?) so he was left with a clear choice; stop backing down, or accept #2 status. He stopped backing down, Lewis (I felt) got his just desserts for repeatedly shoving his rear tyres into Nico's face, but the team attacked him publicly for it.

In some ways they had to come down on the two of them, but Lewis wasn't on the receiving end of public censure, despite the fact that he narrowly got away with taking both of them out on several occasions previously.

After that, Lewis came back a changed man from the one who looked psychologically hunted before spa, and Nico's confidence went in the toilet. He's clearly been affected by that since.

Formula 1 2015: Round 4 - Bahrain Grand Prix

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