[Official] Team of the Grand Prix: Bahrain Grand Prix 2016

[Born Racer]

Who is your choice?

[ECW Dan Selby]

Easy - Haas!

Not many teams overperformed today (Haas, Manor, and arguably Red Bull), whereas I felt many underperformed (Williams look massively disappointing this season. I feel like they've hit their glass ceiling. Toro Rosso again disappointed. Force India seemed to do nothing but move backwards, despite having a Merc lump in the back of them!).

Selby

[TrapezeArtist]

Mercedes. Anything else is just a sympathy vote.

Without the assault from the Bottas missile, they would have romped home to another 1-2. And you can't blame the team for that hit, though arguably you can praise them for building a car strong enough to take it.

[Pontlieue]

Originally Posted by TrapezeArtist

Mercedes. Anything else is just a sympathy vote.

Without the assault from the Bottas missile, they would have romped home to another 1-2. And you can't blame the team for that hit, though arguably you can praise them for building a car strong enough to take it.

I disagree. You can base your vote for Team of the Race on many other things than ultimate pace, such as making fast progress, or punching above their weight.

I went for Manor, because for the very first time in this team's existence, they were able to beat established teams on raw pace. Wehrlein delivered a stunning drive today, and the team gave him the machinery for it.

[Beryl]

Originally Posted by ECW Dan Selby

Easy - Haas!

They did a great job with Gutierrez' car (again).

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by Pontlieue

I disagree. You can base your vote for Team of the Race on many other things than ultimate pace, such as making fast progress, or punching above their weight.

I went for Manor, because for the very first time in this team's existence, they were able to beat established teams on raw pace. Wehrlein delivered a stunning drive today, and the team gave him the machinery for it.

Same discussion as was in the last "team of GP" thread. If we pick the race winner each time, we might as well just stop having these threads and use constructor points.

So I agree... It may still be the team that placed the highest, but it can be about many things. I voted for Haas given that the car seem to have pace and they were not afraid to push hard, use some interesting strategy, etc. The only thing that could be a knock against Haas is that they had to retire a car and had a slow second pitstop. But... It was the first pitstops for that team under race conditions and the first was decently quick.

Richard

[owrforever]

I like to look at performance from the standpoint of expectations and relativity. The Mercs are still the class of the field, but they also probably have the greatest resources (and the biggest budget). Manor had a respectable performance, but they have had several years to get out of the basement and are just now putting the pieces together, both equipment and people. Haas' performance has exceeded everyone's expectations; they obviously have a good design to start with and are executing a viable business model; Gene Haas might be new to F1, but he's not dumb! Even the euro elitist snob teams are taking a second look! Hopefully they can keep their momentum throughout the remainder of the season, now that would be a real Cinderella story!

[bjohnsonsmith]

Ferrari. A solid performance, despite losing Vettel's car before the race had even started.

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Ferrari. A solid performance, despite losing Vettel's car before the race had even started.

Hmmm, a 'solid' performance? If a 'solid' performance is only managing to get one of your cars to the grid for the start of the race then surely all the other teams were much better than 'solid' as they at least managed to get 2 cars to the start? (except maybe Renault - how far did Palmer get?). The 50% of the Ferraris that were working went well but that's hardly team of the race material.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

Hmmm, a 'solid' performance? If a 'solid' performance is only managing to get one of your cars to the grid for the start of the race then surely all the other teams were much better than 'solid' as they at least managed to get 2 cars to the start? (except maybe Renault - how far did Palmer get?). The 50% of the Ferraris that were working went well but that's hardly team of the race material.

Vettel's car blowing its engine on the parade lap was unforeseen and afaic is no reflection on Ferrari as a team. It was a mechanical issue that was beyond their control and despite that, they got on with it and Kimi drove to a creditable 2nd.

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

Hmmm, a 'solid' performance? If a 'solid' performance is only managing to get one of your cars to the grid for the start of the race then surely all the other teams were much better than 'solid' as they at least managed to get 2 cars to the start? (except maybe Renault - how far did Palmer get?). The 50% of the Ferraris that were working went well but that's hardly team of the race material.

I'm with you here Bert for the TEAM to be awarded TEAM of the Race award, surely the whole TEAM (that's both cars) should make a good showing?
I've not voted, (as I'm posting a quick reply) but think that although one Ferrari & one Haas did make a good showing, by getting both cars into a podium position, especially as one was damaged (due to no fault of the TEAM) that Mercedes were clear winners of this award.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

I'm with you here Bert for the TEAM to be awarded TEAM of the Race award, surely the whole TEAM (that's both cars) should make a good showing?
I've not voted, (as I'm posting a quick reply) but think that although one Ferrari & one Haas did make a good showing, by getting both cars into a podium position, especially as one was damaged (due to no fault of the TEAM) that Mercedes were clear winners of this award.

If it's a case of both cars making a good showing, how come Haas got so many votes, when only one car finished?

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Vettel's car blowing its engine on the parade lap was unforeseen and afaic is no reflection on Ferrari as a team. It was a mechanical issue that was beyond their control and despite that, they got on with it and Kimi drove to a creditable 2nd.

I disagree on both counts here - it reflects hugely on Ferrari as a team - that's 2 races 2 blown engines - not a good reflection on the team. It was a mechanical issue entirely under their control - it's a Ferrari engine. A Sauber blowing an engine might be described as beyond their control as they just buy them off the shelf. Ferrari built the thing so it's 100% under their control.

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

I'm with you here Bert for the TEAM to be awarded TEAM of the Race award, surely the whole TEAM (that's both cars) should make a good showing?
I've not voted, (as I'm posting a quick reply) but think that although one Ferrari & one Haas did make a good showing, by getting both cars into a podium position, especially as one was damaged (due to no fault of the TEAM) that Mercedes were clear winners of this award.

For the most part I agree. Apart from voting for Mercedes They pretty much did what was expected of them. So I gave it to Manor - for being far more competitive than anyone realistically expected.

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

If it's a case of both cars making a good showing, how come Haas got so many votes, when only one car finished?

Didn't get my vote

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

I disagree on both counts here - it reflects hugely on Ferrari as a team - that's 2 races 2 blown engines - not a good reflection on the team. It was a mechanical issue entirely under their control - it's a Ferrari engine. A Sauber blowing an engine might be described as beyond their control as they just buy them off the shelf. Ferrari built the thing so it's 100% under their control.

Clearly it wasn't a mechanical issue entirely under their control. If it were it wouldn't have happened. It was pure bad luck and entirely unexpected. It doesn't matter how well prepared a team is, these things do happen and I've seen it happen countless times over the years in motorsport. If it reflects on the team, it only does so in that it was very disappointing not to see both cars racing.

That's a bad analogy. If Sauber blew an engine like Ferrari did on the parade lap, I would have regarded it in exactly the same way, pure bad luck and no reflection on the team.

Originally Posted by BertMk2

Didn't get my vote

Well Haas have the most votes and only one car came home like Ferrari, just saying...

[MagnetON]

Haas for showing that Oz wasn't a fluke.

[Bononi]

Haas, for waking me from boredom.

The mercedes thing is PITA.

[TheNo1F1Fan]

Haas

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Clearly it wasn't a mechanical issue entirely under their control. If it were it wouldn't have happened. It was pure bad luck and entirely unexpected.

Unexpected yes (otherwise they'd have told him to park it or swapped it overnight after qualifying) - but it's bad engineering, the engine failed long before it should have, therefore they haven't designed and built it well enough - and that's under their control.

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

That's a bad analogy. If Sauber blew an engine like Ferrari did on the parade lap, I would have regarded it in exactly the same way, pure bad luck and no reflection on the team.

I thought that was a great analogy So do you regard all the Renault failures last year in the Red Bull as bad luck or does it reflect badly on Renault? How about all the Honda failures last year? Bad luck or just not good enough? Surely it must reflect badly on an engine manufacturer if the engines keep on going 'pop'? That's 100% of races this season where a Ferrari hasn't finished because it's engine has failed. Is that acceptable?

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

Unexpected yes (otherwise they'd have told him to park it or swapped it overnight after qualifying) - but it's bad engineering, the engine failed long before it should have, therefore they haven't designed and built it well enough - and that's under their control.



I thought that was a great analogy So do you regard all the Renault failures last year in the Red Bull as bad luck or does it reflect badly on Renault? How about all the Honda failures last year? Bad luck or just not good enough? Surely it must reflect badly on an engine manufacturer if the engines keep on going 'pop'? That's 100% of races this season where a Ferrari hasn't finished because it's engine has failed. Is that acceptable?

Only one engine failed not both, which suggests it's not the design per se that's bad but a faulty component. After all Raikkonen finished second. Some failures will always be down to bad luck, that is the nature of motorsport.

I'm not surprised by Renault's and particularly Honda's engine failures last season. Out of all the engine manufacturers Honda came into this late, not having been in F1 for a while and were basically dropped into the deep end and had to play catch up. The complexity of these engines was always going to be a factor and inevitably there were always going to be engine failures.

It is 100% of races where a Ferrari hasn't finished because it's engine has failed and it's also 100% of races where a Haas hasn't finished.

[Born Racer]

I am giving it to Manor. I can't resist it because it puts a smile on my face to see them start to develop into a racing team in Formula 1 with pace. In the hands of Werhlein they were competing against established teams on pure pace. Experienced hands like Dave Ryan and Pat Fry must know what they're doing.

Originally Posted by TrapezeArtist

Mercedes. Anything else is just a sympathy vote.

Without the assault from the Bottas missile, they would have romped home to another 1-2. And you can't blame the team for that hit, though arguably you can praise them for building a car strong enough to take it.

No sympathy here. Just praise.

[stripedcat]

It's tempting to say Mercedes. They were easily the fastest - and if Bottas hadn't panged Lewis off - it would have been another 1-2. However, I am going to give it to Haas, for their continuing fine form.

[GT6]

a few teams did well but mercs really are in a class of their own so they get my vote

[Neil22]

Mercedes, kudos to Red Bull and Haas.

[Mekola]

Haas for the impressive form for a new-entering team in F1. Secont point scoring in their second ever race.