57 laps of the 5.412-kilometre Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir 18th March Practice 1 12:00 - 13:00 18th March Practice 2 15:00 - 16:00 19th March Practice 3 12:00 - 13:00 19th March Qualifying 15:00 - 16:00 20th March Race 15:00 - 17:00 All times are UK times Poll closes before Quali.
Gone early, gone blind, gone Max... Apparently they have some suspension upgrades coming to tackle the porpoising. If they get on top of that issue, I feel they may walk it. But...I'm hoping it's a Ferrari. /Swoon
I think we need to see fp2 or even fp3. I still refuse to beelive the merc propaganda. It think they will magically solve the porpoising and be 2 seconds quicker. I'm not sure about the cutting the vanes and stuff though. It looks unbalanced compared to the ferrari and mclaren so again masses of dialling in to get rid of understeer. In general Power/Downforce/Drag/Stability are my questions. Merc has 2 of these mastered and 2 not so much but they could come very quickly Ferrari seem to have a decent level of all 4.
Whoever wins... I'm ready for some F1. I didn't think I would be after the end of last season, but so far I'm mostly satisfied with the steps that have been taken since. So bring it on!
Some talk about a new Mercedes’ floor- would be mighty impressive to do in a week - guess we will know more for sure tomorrow. Chatter seems to be about whether it would have been ready in time for this week
I do think Merc have been sandbagging or not running as quick as they could due to bouncing. So maybe this floor was in the works and just not ready for the last test? Looking at them they have a very powerful PU, and now, what looks like a very slippery shaped car. So when they solve the bouncing I think they will make a big leap forward, maybe even be further ahead in quali than they have been for a long time! Those sidepods must have shown a decent gain to bother moving so much kit to a higher location as COG must have been effected.
Any word of that's actually happening? Saw something that suggested it may happen, but seems a big ask.
I think the chief engineer did an interview today saying he agrees with Lewis trust they aren’t in the fight for pole this weekend. Is it just epic levels of ****housery from them and they stick it on pole? My big fear is actually that Red Bull are quite some way in front. I think they topped the time sheet without trying- their car in the final day reminded me of how their test looked in Barcelona in the dominant 2013 year. But like we’ve seen already with Alpines side pods and the talk about a new Merc floor, things are gonna move quickly in these opening races.
Nothing confirmed Sgt but I’m sure Kravitz will be waxing lyrical tomorrow on sky if it is the case! You’ll know in about 10 seconds of watching the Merc down the straights tomorrow - if the bouncing disappeared then they’ve probably got the new floor!
It's the potential RBR suspension updates that could really make them unstoppable. Sounds like it's almost akin to active suspension, controlling the ride height beyond 250kmh, If speculation is to be believed. That could be the trump card if they have that figured and managed it within the regs. Rest of the field may as well kiss goodbye to serious points until they catch up if accurate.
Is that zero tolerance to going off or being forced off or both? And if both is the car responsible for another going off going to get penalised?
I'm hoping that crowding will be looked at fully too, but on the other hand I do worry about too many penalties. I'm hoping we get some common sense