2017 Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix

[Yapci]

Ummmm Bottas

 

[larre90]

Hülkenberg go for it!

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

FREE PRACTICE THREE - SATURDAY

1. Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer 1:32.194
2. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:32.304 +0.110s
3. Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:32.750 +0.556s
4. Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:32.754 +0.560s
5. Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:32.785 +0.591s
6. Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 1:32.801 +0.607s
7. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer 1:32.809 +0.615s
8. Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:32.933 +0.739s
9. Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:33.604 +1.410s
10. Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:33.744 +1.550s
11. Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 1:33.916 +1.722s
12. Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 1:33.922 +1.728s
13. Pascal Wehrlein Sauber Ferrari 1:33.947 +1.753s
14. Lance Stroll Williams Mercedes 1:33.965 +1.771s
15. Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Honda 1:34.027 +1.833s
16. Esteban Ocon Force India Mercedes 1:34.064 +1.870s
17. Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 1:34.198 +2.004s
18. Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 1:34.205 +2.011s
19. Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 1:34.268 +2.074s
20. Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:34.417 +2.223s

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

QUALIFICATION - SATURDAY

Bottas grabs maiden Mercedes pole in tense shootout with team mate Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile early championship pacesetter Sebastien Vettel is left bemused by the gap to the Silver Arrows and admits Ferrari have their work cut out ahead of the race on Sunday under lights at the Bahrain International Circuit.

New Mercedes signing Bottas did just enough to secure a spot at the front of the field for tomorrow's race as Hamilton appeared slightly out of sorts on his final Q3 run, committing a number of uncharacteristic mistakes that prevented the three time World Champion from securing his 55th career pole position. With just 0.032 seconds separating the Silver Arrows, the race tomorrow should provide a first true test of Bottas' championship potential against his established teammate.

You can watch the number 77 Mercedes AMG Petronas of Valtteri Bottas pole lap below:

Another star of qualifying today was undoubtedly the returning Pascal Wehrlein, making his first qualifying start for new team Sauber and putting in a sublime performance to secure 13th place on the grid, a full six places ahead of teammate Marcus Ericsson in the sister machine.

With qualification now over it's all eyes on the front two rows of the grid for what should hopefully be a cracking Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday...

1. Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:31.041 / 1:29.555 / 1:28.769
2. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:30.814 / 1:29.535 / 1:28.792
3. Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:31.037 / 1:29.596 / 1:29.247
4. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer 1:31.667 / 1:30.497 / 1:29.545
5. Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:30.988 / 1:29.843 / 1:29.567
6. Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer 1:30.904 / 1:30.307 / 1:29.687
7. Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:31.057 / 1:30.169 / 1:29.842
8. Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 1:31.373 / 1:30.677 / 1:30.074
9. Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 1:31.691 / 1:30.857 / 1:30.763
10. Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:31.458 / 1:30.899 / 1:31.074
11. Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:31.531 / 1:30.923
12. Lance Stroll Williams Mercedes 1:31.748 / 1:31.168
13. Pascal Wehrlein Sauber Ferrari 1:31.995 / 1:31.414
14. Esteban Ocon Force India Mercedes 1:31.774 / 1:31.684
15. Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 1:32.054 / DNF
16. Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:32.118
17. Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Honda 1:32.313
18. Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 1:32.318
19. Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 1:32.543
20. Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 1:32.900

 

[paracletus]

Why are they only 0.8sec quicker on this track than last year, hmm:

• different track conditions
  
• the track only has one high-speed corner to take advantage of the massively higher grip; the rest of the track is basically accelerate down the straights and brake hard into hairpin. The top speeds on the cars aren't a lot higher than last year, so the lap times aren't very different here

Not the greatest of racetracks to say the least, imho.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Great that Valtteri Bottas has adapted so quickly to the Mercedes with this great pole position as a result. Well done!

 

[Joseph Wright]

FREE PRACTICE ONE - FRIDAY

"I don't know what Werhlein is doing"
"Werhlein doesn't know what Wehlein is doing"
Not as good as Kimi quotes, but one of the best quotes by an engineer!

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

Great that Valtteri Bottas has adapted so quickly to the Mercedes with this great pole position as a result. Well done!

Bram you spelt "shocked" wrong.. you spelt it "great"

 

[Allan Ramsbottom]

Looks like the writing is on the wall for Alonso,i doubt he will be in F1 next year...

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

Looks like the writing is on the wall for Alonso,i doubt he will be in F1 next year...

Sadly that wall is usually the pit wall, from where he stands to watch the end of each session / grand prix following yet another mechanical related retirement.

I could cry for the bloke, his talent deserves so much more than just two WDC's in my opinion.

#wrongplacewrongtimeeverytime

 

[Peter Hooper]

Sadly that wall is usually the pit wall, from where he stands to watch the end of each session / grand prix following yet another mechanical related retirement.

I could cry for the bloke, his talent deserves so much more than just two WDC's in my opinion.

#wrongplacewrongtimeeverytime

I agree. He's a true world champion but has made some bad decisions over his career that have left him on the outside and unable to add to his two crowns. But to be fair nobody could have predicted the continued woes with Honda...

 

[Peter Hooper]

The longer I think of it the stranger I find this news about ALO racing the Indy500, Button replacing him on the F1 event of the year. Would love to know what really led up to this decision.

Alonso has done Monaco countless times and although it should be a better race for the team he is not going to win it so the chance to race the biggest race of the year was just too good to turn down. If he can perform well there his reputation goes even higher and of course from the team perspective it gives them a chance to show the world they are far better than we have gotten used to in recent years in F1 and gives them the chance for some positive publicity for a change. Can't wait to see it

 

[Glaurung]

I agree. He's a true world champion but has made some bad decisions over his career that have left him on the outside and unable to add to his two crowns. But to be fair nobody could have predicted the continued woes with Honda...

He's definitely a true world champion on track but fails to be a reference point for the team outside the track, helping to address the devolpment of the car through the season.
This is something that separates drivers that achieve a world championship title from world champions like Schumacher and Senna that have built their success building up brick after brick a team and a car.

 

[larre90]

It seems Renault can actually catch up to Red Bull. The gap is very small. I hope, they can also catch up in raceconditions. It's gonna be a very interesting race.

 

[Kevin Pheiffer]

Kimi Räikkönen!!!! What a let down so early in the season.
Seems like Seb will be taking on the Mercs by himself this year.....the usual. What a waste of a really good car.

 

[rubaru]

Kimi Räikkönen!!!! What a let down so early in the season.
Seems like Seb will be taking on the Mercs by himself this year.....the usual. What a waste of a really good car.

Kimi keeps complaining about understeer, something Seb seems to have no trouble with. Like any good driver, he should anticipate the condition and adapt. Instead he is just complaining to fix a problem that might not really be there.

Case in point, Grosjean. He hates his brakes, K-Mag doesn't have a problem, but who's better in qualifying and races?

 

[NulTweeZes]

Just did some laps on rF2 on the Bahrein track.
In the whole track there is no natural flow to be found. Just hairpins and straights and a few dull corners I have already forgotten about.

Not F1 worthy IMO.

 

[Blimey]

Has Stroll managed to finish a race?

 

[Jan Larsen]

Decent race actually. The track is, as usual, as dull as watching grass grow, but it does provide good racing. And the right team won

 

[M-Bimmer]

What a race Action from start to finish