Official NOT606 2015 Bahrain GP Chat and Predictions

Two laps earlier in the middle stint would have saved Kimi a ton of time and given some more laps to attack. Though Ferrari are happy, I can't help but think they let that one slip through their fingers.

 

James Allison said on the BBC F1 forum that the software they use for when to change tires that they did it at the right time as the tyre was working correctly.

 

Me and Bhaji are smarter than all of Ferraris strategists

 

The computer might say that, but the clock said they were losing time hand over fist.

 

He lost 5-6 seconds to Lewis by staying out forvthose extra laps in the middle stint. Strategy in theory and on track are rarely directly compariable.

 

The problem we have is that the data we can see says change tyres but the teams have so much more data ( that I would love to see). Their computer models should be very very good. The number of iterations they can make with historic data together with live data must be a massive task. Yes they do get it wrong sometimes as the software is only as good as the specifier and programmer.
I wonder if he had changed a couple of laps earlier the last set of tyres would have lasted till the end?

 

I said the same thing to my girlfriend as we were watching the race that Kini should have come in a couple of laps earlier than he did.

 

Not a great race by Vettel but it seemed more like he was pushing to keep up with the Mercedes while Kimi made the strategy work like a charm. The early prime stint by Kimi sealed Vettel out of the podium who was just staring at Rosberg's diffuser and it seemed to be the more ideal stratergy for Kimi who could keep in clean air during the second stint.

Rosberg needs to grow a bigger pair against Lewis and do what he was doing to Vettel and Kimi with wheel to wheel combat, was being Perezesq agressive.

 

If Hamilton didn't lose so much time with the first pitstop then it wouldn't have been that close I think. Remember he had over 6 seconds over the second placed car and that was wiped out when they had problems with his right wheel in the pits and when he came out Rosberg and Vettel were right on his tail. If he didn't have that problem he would have been way ahead and would have been able to nurse his tyres and manage his race even better.

 

Vettel will be kicking himself. He screwed up big time today and could have had both Mercedes at the end when they ran out of brakes.

 

Ferrari got Raikkonen's strategy correct I think. It's easy to see him losing two seconds per lap and say he should pit, but you forget that if he'd stopped one lap earlier, his tyres would've been one lap older - and therefore one tenth slower - for the duration of his final stint. Was it a 17 lap stint he did at the end? If he'd pitted a lap earlier the gap would've been two seconds less when he came out, but each subsequent lap would've been a tenth slower, so he'd have lost 1.8 seconds in total, meaning he'd have been 2/10ths closer to Hamilton. Like Allison said, they have software to calculate that based on the data they've collected and they worked out that stopping Kimi when they did was optimum. Even if stopping a lap or two earlier had been faster, we're talking a few tenths, rather than four or five seconds. They just didn't quite have the pace to reel Hamilton in. Great drive by Kimi to split the Mercs though.

All season I've not been convinced Vettel is back to his best, but my god he was awful today. His pace was so-so but to keep making errors like he did was inexcusable. He's lucky there's such a spread in the field, he could've lost a lot points having to stop for a new wing otherwise.

 

Anyone else left with no idea on whether today was better or worse than normal from Rosberg?

Losing places off the line wasn't really his fault, and then his moves on the Ferrari's were aggressive and decisive. But then both Ferrari drivers seemed to be caught unaware by the moves, and his pace during each stint was bang average.

How much his off at the end was due to brakes, and how much the pressure Kimi was applying, I don't know. It's not like he hasn't got precedent for cracking when being chased down.

 

I thought his pace deficit to Hamilton was acceptable given how well Hamilton's driving right now.

 

Regardless of how well Hamilton is driving Rosberg has to be faster and better therefore he should be allowing this gap or more every race.

 

One swallow does not make a summer. Rosberg has to continuously be this aggressive otherwise he has no chance of winning the title. Sky were saying he will take confidence from this race but I don't see why he will to be honest.

Yes he overtook well but his pace was nothing special again, in the first stint he was lucky to get pitted first and catch Hamilton after his stop because he was 6 seconds behind before pitting. Vettel undercut him again and showed that Rosberg was struggling with tyres again during the end of his second stint. He still has to improve fast because Hamilton is running away with it at the moment.

 

Is any pace deficit acceptable if you're aiming for a championship? For sure Hamilton's driving phenomenally well, but if he wants to be seen as a contender for a title, he needs to look like he can actually beat Hamilton in at least quali or a race.

Hamilton already has a retirement in hand, and the season is 4 races old.

 

The way that Ferrari and indeed Raikonnen seems to manage its tyres means that they were on a race winning alternative strategy but were simply too cautious.

Had they have not allowed Kimi to lose masses of time for meaningless laps, he would have won the race. I think that should give them confidence that they can manage the soft tyre in a final stint for long periods and be faster overall.

 

The thing is, he was on knackered tyres, in traffic. A metric ton of time could have been saved, allowing him to get on the Mercs quicker and force the issue with their brakes. I think they missed a big chance personally.

 

Overall I'd say it was better even though the result doesn't say that, and I think he seemed happy with his performance.

He's still got a lot to do to catch up Hamilton though.

 

I think he has set his bar a little lower these last few races. I think he is more content to overtake the rad cars than his teammate. He said he enjoyed overtaking the red cars, so I guess he doesn't have Hamilton On his check off list. But I would be disappointed as hell if I couldn't get any closer to my teammate in the same car on better tyres and on my best track. I am sure he said he had better tyres for the race since he didn't put too much on the softs in Q2. He also said this is one of his batter tracks so...there