[Official] Bahrain Grand Prix 2024: Grand Prix Weekend Thread - Round 1 of 24

[Born Racer]

Originally Posted by Tourer

Great intro BR - thank you - the BR intro for the first GP is THE key indicator that the new season is real!

Interesting practice sessions so far, quite topsy-turvy and no clear pattern. Qualifying and the race likely to be "must watch" viewing.

Hehe - you're too kind.

Well, FP3 done and that was inconclusive!

[S griffin]

RBR not fastest in any session, however I can expect them to turn the wick up for quali

[bjohnsonsmith]

Super Max takes pole, denying Ferrari their 250th.


I enjoyed that, though it wasn't the most scintillating qualifying session but great to see the cars out on the track. Looking forward to the race.

[Sodemo]

Ugh, so the shows over then for 2024…

[Greem]

And there we are. The natural order has been resumed.

What was all that malarkey about in the fast lane in the pits? Bloody stupid rule. They should simply make it that once they're over the line that demarcs the pit boxes from the lane that they have to reach pit lane speed limit and not drop below it. Sorted.

[Richard C]

While Max is 2 tenths clear, I am thinking teams might be closing the gap to Red Bull? It will be interesting to see what long stint race pace looks like tomorrow. I think that will be telling for the rest of the year.

Haas in top 10 is interesting. I think I read Haas says they have resolved their tire degradation issues? Lets see if they can convert qualifying pace to race pace. I was hoping that McLaren would challenge more. I was expecting more for VCARB and Williams.

Has the chickens come home to roost at Alpine? All of that previous internal turmoil and they seem to be quite slow. Sauber not doing particularly well either.

Looking forward to the race tomorrow.

Richard

[Guthrie]

It was a good qualifying session to watch with only about 0.3 sec between P2 and P9. Expecting some great battles in tomorrow's race in the top 10.

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by Greem

What was all that malarkey about in the fast lane in the pits? Bloody stupid rule. They should simply make it that once they're over the line that demarcs the pit boxes from the lane that they have to reach pit lane speed limit and not drop below it. Sorted.

Agree - very poorly thought-through and administered requirements from the race director. As soon as the limits on slow warm-up laps were rightly brought in, it was clear to anyone understanding team mentality that the problem would transfer to pit lane. Quite how it took so long for that to be dealt with is a mystery to me but now that they've dealt with it, the solution hasn't worked at all.

Like your idea Greem - leaves no room for doubt and it might get us away from this flog of them all coming out at the same time, with every garage having ole mate staring at a computer screen and holding up his or her hand as a stop sign. Just pick a gap in the lane and wave the car out and be done with it.

[PanozDP01]

Max puts it on pole and Leclerc in P2 was expected. But George Russell put the Mercedes in P3. That's not surprising to me. But a lot of ppl spent the winter disregarding Russell. He was the least picked driver in F1 Fantasy also. Glad to see him on from so far.

[E.B]

Originally Posted by PanozDP01

Max puts it on pole and Leclerc in P2 was expected. But George Russell put the Mercedes in P3. That's not surprising to me. But a lot of ppl spent the winter disregarding Russell. He was the least picked driver in F1 Fantasy also. Glad to see him on from so far.

More unexpected was Hulkenberg qualifying the Haas for Q3 in 7th, ahead of Norris Piastri and Alonso.

Yes, he only got P10 when they ran Q3, but he said after he had only used old tyres in Q3 wanting to save new rubber, happy to start 10th and know he had good, new rubber for the race.

I guess bragging rights for getting to Q3 were good news for Haas as well. KMag also made Q2

Alpine continued their woeful weekend, finishing (out in Q1) 19th and 20th on the grid..

[bjohnsonsmith]

A relatively clean start, apart from Hulkenberg and Stroll tangling at Turn 1.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Mistake by Russell as Leclerc takes advantage.

[billy bleach]

Two years ago I got shot down in flames when I said I thought Russel was average at best. Not great under pressure. I have seen little to change my mind since….

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by billy bleach

Two years ago I got shot down in flames when I said I thought Russel was average at best. Not great under pressure. I have seen little to change my mind since….

I never thought he was exceptional.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Congrats to Super Max on what I believe is his 85th win.

A repeat of RBRs 1-2 last year, with Perez having started 5th.

[Vassago]

It seems like the only difference from last year is the gap between MV and the rest will get bigger...

[E.B]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Congrats to Super Max on what I believe is his 85th win.

Not quite.... his 55th win.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by E.B

Not quite.... his 55th win.

Thanks for the correction, I must be going deaf.

[S griffin]

Just listened to it on the radio. Yet another win from Max, but plenty of battling behind. However we need another team to beat Max sooner rather than later to have any chance of a close title fight. The problem however was summed up by the fact that for the umpteenth time every driver finished. Cars are too reliable, which means there’s less chance of surprises happening

What happened to RB though? Quick in practice, but nowhere in the quali and race

[Greem]

That race felt a little bit too clinical, really. There was some good racing, some good and opportunistic overtakes, a little bit of reliability intrigue... but it felt somehow anticlimactic.

[Richard C]

Looking to be a tough year. RBR race pace looks fantastic and Max clearly in charge. Perez doing what he needs to do. Sainz playing hard and with the attitude of "what are you doing to do fire me?" (good for him). I am curious to hear details around Williams and particularly Sargeant. I missed some of the race, so I think I was hearing problems with the new steering wheel? The switching of positions at VCARB was pointless. First, they did it just as Max was lapping them which caused a delay in any passing attempt. And it seemed that Daniel really wasn't much faster than Yuki. While they were both out of the points, it was a bit of a slap on Yuki who otherwise had a good race. If they were do to it, they should have done it earlier (before Max caught them) and if Daniel couldn't make the pass, they should have switched positions back even if they were out of the points.

Richard

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Richard C

The switching of positions at VCARB was pointless. First, they did it just as Max was lapping them which caused a delay in any passing attempt. And it seemed that Daniel really wasn't much faster than Yuki. While they were both out of the points, it was a bit of a slap on Yuki who otherwise had a good race. If they were do to it, they should have done it earlier (before Max caught them) and if Daniel couldn't make the pass, they should have switched positions back even if they were out of the points.

Richard

Absolutely pointless. Felt very sorry for Yuki and he had every right to be upset with management. They would have been better off leaving Yuki ahead.

[Richard C]

Per Williams race debrief, they were having overheating problems which resulted in them turning capabilities off so as to help cooling, but that had negative performance impacts. Saergent had an uncommanded brake bias adjustment which set it to full front. This caused his off.

Richard

[S griffin]

Yuki may rant a bit much at times, but he has a point here. There was no reason for them to change like that. Worse is they didn’t change back

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by Richard C

If they were do to it, they should have done it earlier (before Max caught them) and if Daniel couldn't make the pass, they should have switched positions back even if they were out of the points.

Agree - left it too late & as it went, should have switched back at the end. Of course, the delay wasn't helped by Yuki resisting for as long as he did (based on what team radio we had during the telecast).

Race had an anti-climatic feel to it but seem to recall a similar feeling last year - with so much running at the same track by all teams in the last 10 days or so, they all kinda found their level.

Looking forward to the next few races to see if things are any different with only the GP weekend's running to sort out the cars.