Bahrain

[skidmark]

Stop me if you heard this before ...

http://paddocktalk.com/news/html/mod...rder=0&thold=0

Yeah, Rosberg on top in practice. Anybody think he has the ability to make this stick come race day?

Nice showing by the Mighty Hulk for a first day fling. Keep an eye on this A1 graduate and I have to remind myself Williams has looked good in practice before.

[diamonddave]

I'm sure there was a little sandbagging in effect M-B power seems to have the upper hand as was predicted.
2010 bring it on

[MSulka]

Vettel not sand bagging any longer.... Pole!

[Insighter]

M-B not as good as expected dave? I'm surprised too.

[MSulka]

Couple of things going on in the background...

McLaren already told NOT to bring Bahrain diffuser to Australia.

More teams apparently may hear the same thing.

The issue for the race will be tires, but we as observors have no experience seeing previous results.... So it could be a very interesting race tomorrow. I'm hoping for a Hamilton/China like episode from someone at the front.

[f1fan-sky]

I found qualifying a bit disappointing. With the need to save tires, there were often few cars on the circuit, many waiting until the last minute to come out and lay down a fast lap. While it's nice to see the true pace of the cars, I'm afraid we're end up losing out on much of the fun!

[Insighter]

What's really interesting is that they can't adjust the car setup between Q and race. So add 300 lb of fuel, who is going to be dragging at the start?

Even though the fuel load isn't a question, I have a feeling we will still see a big discrepancy between Q and race pace because of the fuel load situation.

It's all pretty interesting I must admit.

[skidmark]

Tire wear will still be the key issue I think. Watched practise and the drivers were saying the super softs were going off after four hard laps.

So, it might be quite tame - speed wise - until the fuel loads burn off and the drivers are allowed to really push at the end of the stint. As I think the teams will save the supers for the last stint I suspect we'll see some frantic chases to the checkers if people are still in a position to challenge at that point.

[f1fan-sky]

^^Agreed. Those cars really looked low to the ground in practice yesterday. You have to wonder at how the drivers will need to adjust to the changing ride height and subsequent aerodynamic changes as the races progresses and the fuel levels go down. Not to mention how the tires will handle the weight! It should be very interesting. I imagine car performance will vary significantly with some handling better at different points in the race. Can't wait!

[MSulka]

Yes very interesting... Do the fast cars run fast with the extra weight ?

All the drivers were saying its something no one really knows what will happen.

[diamonddave]

I don't have SPEED TV or any access to video - so that's my reason for the simpleton questions

I take it they didn't have full loads of fuel while in quali? Is there a minimum car weight they have to qualify with?
Adding all the fuel/weight will make it almost impossible to run the softer compound unless they save it for the last laps. I'm wondering if they've run/tested the regular tires on full load stints to see how long they last or grain etc.
Alot of unknowns in play - which will make the drivers 'nut up' and drive by the seat of the paints.
looking forward to it.

[Insighter]

Cars have always had a minimum weight without fuel. They pump out before weighing.

This year is different because they don't have to start with the same fuel load they qualified with. So, they would obviously run as little fuel as possible for qualifying.

The big change from the last time there was light fuel load qualifying is that the cars go to Parc fermé which means after going through quallifying inspection, no changes are allowed.

So in summary, they have to set the car up for a full fuel load (a LOT this year, over 300 lbs), then qualify with low fuel. And start on the same tires they qualified on.

A low car is much better aerodynamically. So who didn't set the ride height high enough, had an advantage in qualifying, but will be bottoming out for the first 10 laps? That's what I am looking for.

[Bumpsteer]

I may be just bench racing but I can see qualifying going back to the single car format if tire and fuel rules persist. We'll see this last gasp tryouts ongoing with the current three session structure. If the FIA decide that performance is key and they want the bump routine to work ok for the media, I wouldn't be surprise if they go even further and grid qualifying order based on practice sessions. Take half the field right out of the single car attempts during qualy and grid the slower cars in fastest order during practice timing. That will allow those improving technical and driver input to advance to the front of the race grid. Tire saving was going to be an issue as soon as the decision for no refueling was decided. At least with single car qualification, there would be something to see the entire length of the qualifying day. Time allowed for technical adjustments and no one wondering about some asshat playing games in front of them.

Cheers

GC

[Bumpsteer]

Oh man, these rides are really heavy during the start! I saw some gasping drivers wondering if they had put it in a tall gear .

Cheers

GC

[Insighter]

Well, I must say the race was not very exciting.

The new rules don't lend themselves to much action, and I didn't see tire degredation as a major issue (no teams seemed stronger on heavy fuel, or able to run tires longer).

It doesn't have the makings of an exciting season...

[MSulka]

Lots of complaints about lack of re-fueling...

I say that by Barcelona we'll be back re-fueling cars.

[IndyAndy]

Winners and Losers, anyone?

Winners:

Ferrari look like they have a pretty good car: it seemed to give a steady performance no matter which tires were on it and what the fuel weight was at any given time.

Kudos to Lotus for getting both cars to the checkers, and only about three seconds off of the leader's pace.

Losers:

SpeedTV commentators, for still performing CPR on the lifeless corpse of USF1 - something to the effect of; "Anderson, Windsor & Hurley are currently reviewing their options for 2011".

Oh, please...

[skidmark]

Originally Posted by MSulka

Lots of complaints about lack of re-fueling...

I say that by Barcelona we'll be back re-fueling cars.

Probably back in for 2011 since the big tanks are already in the cars and Spanky's idea of reducing costs by two crew members (the fuel and the fire extinguisher guy) will find no love.

Meantime they've got these big tanks and the smaller teams will be wondering where they're going to find an extra $500,000 (salaries, flights, hotel, food. etc.).

The start was a sad and sorry affair. Slow and clumsy with no challenges all they way down the field. The new teams were as bad as we thought they would be. Three teams (or six cars) with only one car making it to the finish line (and in dead last to boot).

Were it not for Vettel's cracked header it would have been a complete snoozefest.

[MSulka]

Verdict was that Vettel's issue was a broken spark plug.

As for Barcelona.... it is my hope. But I believe Skid's right it will take a unanimous vote to change it for this season.

that being said.....

What if Alonso hadn't taken on Vettel until about 10 laps later, and then got the win ?

Wouldn't we be talking about the new rules in a differnt light ?

[cptkablamo]

Yes, incredibly dull race...but honestly what did we expect? You standardise the cars as much as this, the aero does not invite overtaking, there is little to no braking zones to speak of - the cars are too close in performance, the track looked dull on TV, the camera angles are bad although I don't think you could get good angles with that track...there is something fundamentally wrong with F1 right now, in racing terms at least...

But great race for Alonso, happy to see him win. And good race by Vettel too - shame for him, but looks like he will be a challenger this year

[f1fan-sky]

Definitely disappointing.

[skidmark]

Originally Posted by MSulka

Verdict was that Vettel's issue was a broken spark plug.

that being said.....

What if Alonso hadn't taken on Vettel until about 10 laps later, and then got the win ?

Wouldn't we be talking about the new rules in a differnt light ?

I don't know whether we would or not. Basically at the front there were only five passes made. Three of them on a mechanically hampered Red Bull, one in the pits when Hamilton overtook Rosberg and Alonso getting by Massa early on in the race.

The fact is much of the action at the front was caused by the issue with the Red Bull. Whether Alonso would have made his move 10 laps later or not is immaterial since he would have been going by an ailing car anyways.

Maybe if Alonso held off until the final five laps it would be one of those situations where one could argue Vettel put up a valiant fight, took it down to the wire, yadda, yadda, yadda.

On the otherhand had the RB not had the issue - and Vettel sailed home with a six second margin - what would we say about the new rules then?

[L8APEX]

What a snoozer. The Indycar race was more interesting even with it's redflag delay.

Were in for a very long season.

[FIVE]

could hear the engines lugging a bit on some of the slow corners
like the gearing was a little off in gear 1,2 and 3.

[chopperdave]

they have probably re-geared those 3 to get more grunt off the corners because of that extra weight. Agreed that this season will be a total snoozer. unless something miraculous happens when everyone regroups in europe