2019 Bahrain GP Review
Australia was forgiven its dull race because there was so much intrigue going into the new season, but Bahrain delivered a great race. New stars, heart-break, wheel-to-wheel action from champion vs champion all the back to Williams vs Williams. A tight midfield, passes at the front of the field, and even with all the sparks flying in the dark adding to the spectacle, this was a fantastic race.
Who had a stinker? 🙍
Valterri Bottas. Oh dear, this was the old Bottas that we came to know of seasons past. After such a strong weekend in Australia, this was back to normal. A good qualifying, but he was not able to match Lewis in race pace. Lucky to get away with second this weekend, but he's got to be worried for the rest of the year. Maybe he needs a bushier beard?
Red Bull. Verstappen managed to make it work, but I think where Gasly was battling with the midfield, I think that's where the car probably belonged this weekend.
Haas. A promising qualifying from Magnussen and despite Grosjean being caught out by Vettel and receiving a grid drop for blocking Norris, he tangled with Stroll and then retired early in the race. Magnussen just went backwards. Who's looking forward to seeing more Gunther Steiner on Netflix after this weekend?
Renault. It was looking like a reasonable weekend. Yes Hulkenberg had an engine issue that knocked him out of Q3 but he was on course to finish best of the rest. Ricciardo was on the wrong strategy and being passed by most of the midfield and then both cars retiring on the same lap at the same corner. That's not an image Renault want to people to remember when they buy Renault/Nissan/Dacia cars.
Lance Stroll. There's lots of strugglers this weekend, but he was well off the pace of his teammate. His usual good starts was absent this weekend as he tagged Grosjean. And where did he finish? In the who cares part of the standings.
Sebastian Vettel. He didn't seem his happy cheerful self this weekend and it doesn't look like he's up for a fight against his new superstar team-mate. Leclerc was fastest in almost every session, was thrashed in qualifying, Leclerc passed him in the race and ran away, leaving Vettel to battle with Hamilton and spinning whilst in awe of Hamilton taking him around the outside of turn 4. We'd hoped he'd be stronger coming into 2019, but he has to turn things around quickly to not fade into the shadows.
Do I put Williams here again? Patrick Head is returning, though it could be argued that him staying around too long was one reason for Williams falling back in the pecking order. At least Russell and Kubica were able to do some racing with each other, but there's not much positive to say about the team at the moment. It's sad that even at this stage they don't have enough parts, let alone getting anywhere near developing new parts - it's really not looking good on management when this process started starting way back into the middle of last year. You'd have thought with last year being a write off and with Stroll, Sirotkin and Martini money they'd have a better basis for the beginning of this year.
Who was unlucky? 🙏
Carlos Sainz had such a strong weekend. Qualifying well, was quicker than Red Bull before tangling with Verstappen, somewhat inevitably. Consider that Verstappen could have been on the podium, it's a case of what might have been.
Nico Hulkenberg. Hampered by issues in qualifying that left him down in P17 and then retired when he'd worked his way up to 6th with a couple of laps to go. Was lucky not to get a puncture when passing Ricciardo, but a good move on his teammate. As Ricciardo is struggling to get to grips with his Renault, Nico's stock keeps growing - keep up the good work!
Romain Grosjean. Though he was slower than K-Mag in qualifying, he still made it to Q3. Blocking Norris was uncalled for, but a victim of Vettel passing him before the final corner and the stupid rules making them run their build up laps so slowly, it wasn't entirely his fault. He was hit at the race start and then retired on lap 16 when running around at the back. Hard to say it's his fault, so he's in the unlucky section.
Who were the stars? 🙌
Charles Leclerc. Besides a bad start and going wide once in the race, it's hard to find any criticism, but what a fantastic weekend he had. This is what we all hoped would happen, but by race 2? Of all the drivers who have moved teams, Leclerc has taken to his new team better than anyone. His maturity in his calmness after taking pole, and dealing with the media after a disappointing end to the race was commendable. And I don't know about you, but he looks like a Ferrari driver. Let's hope for more of the same and let's hope it won't be long before we can call him a race winner and a championship contender. If it's true that he defied team-orders to overtake Vettel, well it shows his hunger and abilities when he passed Vettel so cleanly.
Lewis Hamilton. He gave one of the Ferrari's something to think about in qualifying when the Mercedes, and he was able to battle with Vettel, when Leclerc perhaps showed us the true potential of the Ferrari. His moves in turn 4 were excellent, surprising Vettel into a spin. He was ready to pounce as soon as Leclerc hit troubles and took victory humbly, giving praise where it was due. A good weekend.
Other Notable Performaces
Max Verstappen. Had a quiet weekend, but like I said above, he made sure he qualified ahead of the midfield and managed to find just about enough pace to stay ahead after he collided with Sainz. Perhaps unlucky to not get a podium, but Red Bull have some work to do.
Kimi Raikkonen. He's been pretty invisible, nothing exciting, he's just solid. Giovonazzi is struggling in the sister car, whilst Kimi is quietly getting the job done. It'd be interesting what Leclerc would have done in this car, but good stuff from the oldest guy on the grid.
Lando Norris continues to impress. Not a perfect weekend by all means, and outperformed by a very impressive Sainz, but whilst Sainz tangled with Verstappen, Norris brought McLaren's best finish for quite some time. Not quite a star performance, but he's on the right track. Good job Lando.
Alex Albon scored his first points in a solid weekend, he's quietly progressing and showing some good pace and race management. He outqualified Kvyat (though Daniil was on older tyres) and he kept out of trouble to score points when his teammate collided with an Alfa.
Takeaways
Pirelli, we want tyres you can race with. In one sense, the difficult to run Pirelli's is throwing a challenge to the teams, which mixes up the order occasionally. But the way they have to look after the tyres, and the key thing, is that they can't battle with other drivers because it overheats them and they lose their effectiveness. Drivers needs tyres they can attack with and we'd see much better racing for it. And when Vettel spins (and he didn't have this tyres locked for long) the vibrations from the flat spots caused a delamination of his rear tyre, which led to his front wing failing. If F1 is meant to be for PR, well the result is I don't want Pirelli tyres on my car at home - they're over-priced, difficult to get working properly and unsafe is what F1 is telling me, all the qualities I want from my tyres...
Is DRS a necessary evil? You know, I'm not a fan of DRS, but it would have been a more processional without it, but for this race, it made for a bit more action. For me, give them super grippy tyres, reduce the aero and you won't need DRS. But unfortunately, it's a solution for some 'racing' at the moment. I'm not sure Leclerc and Hamilton would have been close enough to pass Vettel without DRS this weekend.
I love the tight midfield battle. The train of cars battling with one another was one of the highlights of the race. Haas qualified well but raced poorly. Renault looked strong, but retired. McLaren looked good, and Toro Rosso are in the mix. This is going to be a season highlight, the battle for fourth in which Alfa Romeo, or rather Kimi Raikkonen, is winning at the moment.
All you need is a bit of wind. What a difference a bit of wind makes though. It was fun watching all the journalists with their hair blowing everywhere, but when we got on the track, there were plenty of people who fell foul of the unpredictable gusts. One wonders if Bernie was still around and had his way with a sprinkler system, whether he'd invest in wind turbines blowing randomly from any direction.
Twice now, Leclerc has tried the outside line on Vettel on turn 1 and been squeezed on the exit. Twice now, Hamilton has been tardy in his starts. Twice now Gasly hasn't made it to Q3. Some trends to buck at the next one.
