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ROSBERG’S HIGH FIVE FERRARI WOES VANDOORNE DEBUT QUALY FLOP PART 2 THE AMERICAN DREAM BIG PICTURES & MORE
2016 BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX EDITION
ROSBERG SUPREME AS RIVALS FUMBLE
ROSBERG TWO GOOD
2016.02
Nico Rosberg leaves Bahrain unbeaten so far this season and looking stronger than he has ever been. Any successful F1 world championship campaign can make use of a lashing of good luck, but right now it is unfair to say that Rosberg has lucked his way to a victory streak that now spans five grands prix. Rather his rivals are tripping over themselves embroiled in their own misfortunes. Rosberg’s teammate and arch rival for the title, Lewis Hamilton did himself no favours with a dreadful start at Sakhir which dropped him into the pack who devoured him. He did recover like the true champ that he is, but again it was a case of damage limitation as Rosberg piled on the points. Ferrari? Well they were Ferrari, promising so much before the race (even before the season) but shooting themselves in the foot or is it luck that eludes the Maranello outfit? Whatever the case, if there was a race to win, Bahrain looked a good bet for the Reds. But alas the better half of their firepower went up in smoke even before the race started, and the other half nabbed a podium for a change. Ferrari and Hamilton have to put a stop to Rosberg’s relentless success, as he appears to have made the top step of the F1 podiums his own and right now no one appears to have a plan to push him off it.
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2016 BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX EDITION
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BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX POST RACE INTERVIEW
ROSBERG I TOOK THE SAFEST STRATEGY N
ico Rosberg cruised to a comfortable victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix, Round 2 of the 2016 Formula 1 World Championship, after his main rivals faltered, and with it the German extended his championship lead while notching up his fifth consecutive F1 win and bagging the 16th grand prix victory of his career. He spoke after a very satisfying ‘day at the office’.
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WINNER NICO ROSBERG
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WINNER NICO ROSBERG
It’s been an awesome weekend. The key was really the start. I got a great getaway to control the pace. Very, very happy! absolutely awesome to get another win. Congra staging such an awesome race weekend here. Such a great race track here also, in fantastic for all of you, I’m sure you had a lot of fun and we’ll be back again next year o
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and from then on I was trying atulations to Bahrain really, for n the desert. It’s been, I think, of course.
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WINNER NICO ROSBERG
We’ve been working a lot on the starts. I’m pleased that it worked out so well, it was a really good getaway on the dirty side of the grid and that really made my race in the end. And from then on the car was feeling great and just controlling the pace and playing it safe. That’s what we were trying to do. Also, in case the Safety Car comes and things like that. So we really went for the safest strategy, not the fastest strategy. Just to cover all eventualities.
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WINNER NICO ROSBERG
I went for the strategy which was safest, to cover all eventualities like Safety Car or anything else that can happen. I’m just taking it race by race and it’s great to win here, great to win two on the trot and that’s it. Next race – where are we going, China? It is a good moment because we have a good car and I just want to make the most of it. I’m just thinking about the season, it’s two wins in a row now, good points, that’s where my focus is and that’s it really.
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WINNER NICO ROSBERG
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BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX POST RACE INTERVIEW
RAIKKONEN NOT TOO BAD A
fter his teammate retired before the race even started, Kimi Raikkonen salvaged Ferrari pride as he battled it out with the Mercedes duo at the Bahrain Grand Prix, where the Finn endured a bad start off the grid but in the end did well to recover and finish second on the night.
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SECOND PLACE KIMI RAIKKONEN Obviously not too bad. I made a bad start and after a few laps we were one straight behind Nico, so it’s pretty difficult to recover from there, but we did what we could and we had pretty good speed. Not enough to win, but we’ll take second and try to improve from there.
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SECOND PLACE KIMI RAIKKONEN I don’t think there are any special things we do. It seems to be happening here. There’s maybe some circuits that we seem to have all the time bad luck. But I’ll take it, but still we know… it was unfortunate for the team that the other car had an issue. We have some work to be done.
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SECOND PLACE KIMI RAIKKONEN
We had pretty okay speed in the race. Obviously bad start, I don’t know exactly what happened, if I had some issue or did some mistake. I just got wheelspin in the end. Obviously got surprised, managed to hold quite a good position after such a bad start, so it was a nice thing in the first two corners, didn’t lose too much. Then managed to pass cars, so that was a key point – but once I was second place I was already one full straight behind Nico so, obviously not an awful lot to do after that – but we managed to catch up little-by-little and I think we did the maximum that we could after that start. Not ideal for the team. We had some issue with the other car before the race even started, so yeah, we have quite a bit of work to be done – but the speed is more or less there and we just need to fix certain things.
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SECOND PLACE KIMI RAIKKONEN
I don’t know what happened to Vettel. Obviously something went wrong. We had some race. Seb had something here. It’s not ideal but, like I said, we have some work to be d a retirement and it’s going to cost points in the drivers’ plus the teams’. It’s an unfortun
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issue‌ I had an issue in the last done and you never want to have nate part of the game.
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SECOND PLACE KIMI RAIKKONEN
2016 BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX EDITION
We always try to do our maximum and this is the end result. There’s no point in wondering if and‌ We had some second places, some third places, no win but I take second place and go from here and see what happens.
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BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX POST RACE INTERVIEW
HAMILTON DAMAGE LIMITATION M
ercedes driver Lewis Hamilton recovered from a bad start and contact as the field rushed into Turn 1 to finish third in the 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix, he spoke after a challenging evening in the cockpit where he was on the back foot from the first lap but did well to recover and make it on to the podium.
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THIRD PLACE LEWIS HAMILTON
Two separate incidents, but both equally as painful, perhaps this one more painful. Nonetheless, we still managed to get back up there and at least get some points. So again, damage limitation. Congratulations to Nico, kind of an easy race for him I assume, but I’m glad that it wasn’t more points...
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THIRD PLACE LEWIS HAMILTON
The team was hoping that was potentially a safety car or something. I had so much damage on the car that I couldn’t keep up with Kimi. I was fighting but the rear end was nowhere. I did what I could with it and at the end I was just keeping the tyres in case I get an opportunity with the safety car, but it didn’t come.
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THIRD PLACE LEWIS HAMILTON
I just lost a lot of performance with the car and I’m not quite sure what happened at Turn One – whoever was on the inside was in my blindspot so I didn’t see them. It was a racing incident – those kind of things happen. After that just trying to manage the tyres, obviously with a lot less rear end and trying to get as many points as possible. I did the best I could with it.
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THIRD PLACE LEWIS HAMILTON
I don’t really know what was at the start. I don’t think there was any particular real issue away by myself and nothing technical or anything like that. Yeah, as I said, it was in a b was there, I didn’t know what had happened but I’m glad that I didn’t spin. At least I cou to continue and still have some performance left in the car that I could get back into th
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e. I think it was just not a good getblind spot, I didn’t know if anyone uld keep going. At least I managed he top three.
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ROUND 2, BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX SAKHIR 3 APRIL 2016
HIGH FIVE FOR ROSBERG 1 NICO ROSBERG
MERCEDES
2 KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN
FERRARI
3 LEWIS HAMILTON
MERCEDES
4 DANIEL RICCIARDO
RED BULL
5 ROMAIN GROSJEAN
HAAS
6 MAX VERSTAPPEN
TORO ROSSO
7 DANIIL KVYAT
RED BULL
8 FELIPE MASSA
WILLIAMS
9 VALTTERI BOTTAS
WILLIAMS
10 STOFFEL VANDOORNE
MCLAREN
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RACE REPORT
N
ico Rosberg’s dream start to the 2016 Formula 1 World Championship season continued as the German took his second consecutive victory and his first at the Bahrain International Circuit. Kimi Raikkonen took his fifth second place at the venue, with Lewis Hamilton recovering to third place after a first-corner collision.
Before the start there wa as Sebastian Vettel, set to st formation lap with smoke billo His failure to start, the space opened on the grid be of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciard
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as disappointment for Ferrari tart from third, slowed on the owing from the back of his car. first of his career, meant a eside Raikkonen and in front do, starting from fifth.
The Australian couldn’t capitalise, however, and when the lights went out he made a poor start. That allowed Williams’ Valtteri Bottas to surge past. Hamilton too had started badly and as Rosberg powered into the lead and Raikkonen stole second Hamilton fell back towards Bottas.
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RACE REPORT
The Finn tried to push past the champion on the inside of Turn One but they clashed. Ricciardo got involved too, losing part of his front wing. However, while Hamilton and Bottas, who would later be penalised for causing the collision, fell back, Ricciardo managed to hold position and he slotted into third.
At the front Rosberg beg he soon built up a sizeable the Finn later commenting th “a straight in front after a few That set the pattern fo Rosberg managed his pa
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gan to pull away rapidly and e lead over Raikkonen, with hat the Mercedes driver was w laps�. or the top two positions as ace and comfortably kept
Raikkonen at bay for the whole race. Behind them, Ricciardo dived for the pits on lap six, but while he did take on new tyres, he chose not to take a new wing and he rejoined still nursing the damage but with greater pace thanks to hi new tyres. Across his first stint he battled back to third.
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RACE REPORT Hamilton, though, was also recovering from his earlier travails and despite sustaining debilitating floor damage, the champion rapidly made his way through the order on medium tyres, which he took onboard on lap 13. He passed Ricciardo on lap 17 and that spelled the end of any hopes the Australian had of a podium finish. He settled into fourth spot and though he relinquished it twice as the strategies played out, his final stint on medium tyres, saw him solidify the result and he took his second fourth place in a row to score 12 points and to take third in the Drivers’ standings from the unfortunate Vettel. Although Hamilton got to within five seconds of Raikkonen at one stage, he could not match the Finn’s pace and in the final stint he dropped back as he save his tyres in the hope of a safety car period that never came. With Ricciardo fourth, fifth place went to Romain Grosjean, as Haas again surprised. The Frenchman worked his way through three sets of supersofts as he rose from ninth on the grid and though he couldn’t find the pace to challenger Ricciardo he still managed to better his opening result in Australia by one position.
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RACE REPORT
The new team now sits fifth in the Constructors’ Standings, ahead of Toro Rosso, Force India, McLaren, Renault, Sauber and Manor. Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen took another good result for the Italian squad with sixth place, though there was disappointment for the Faenza team as Carlos Sainz
failed to finish. Daniil Kvyat delivered Starting 15th, the Russian to avoid traffic and rise thro two superbly aggressive st seventh place. The run inclu
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an excellent performance. ran two stints on soft tyres ough the order before using tints on supersofts to claim uded a brave pass on Felipe
Massa on the final lap. Massa took eighth ahead of team-mate Bottas, while the final point went to McLaren rookie Stoffel Vandoorne who drove a faultless race to the points from 12th on the grid. It was a less successful day for team-mate Jenson Button, who exited the race with power loss on lap six.
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RACE REPORT
2016 BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX EDITION
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ROUND 2, 2016 FORMULA 1 WORLD C BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX, SAKHIR 3 APRIL 2016 RACE RESULT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 NC NC NC NC NC
Driver Nico Rosberg Kimi Räikkönen Lewis Hamilton Daniel Ricciardo Romain Grosjean Max Verstappen Daniil Kvyat Felipe Massa Valtteri Bottas Stoffel Vandoorne Kevin Magnussen Marcus Ericsson Pascal Wehrlein Felipe Nasr Nico Hulkenberg Sergio Perez Rio Haryanto Carlos Sainz Esteban Gutierrez Jenson Button Sebastian Vettel Jolyon Palmer
Team Mercedes Ferrari Mercedes Red Bull Racing Haas Toro Rosso Red Bull Racing Williams Williams MclLren Renault Sauber Manor Sauber Force India Force India Manor Toro Rosso Haas McLaren Ferrari Renault
Fastest Lap – Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:34.482 on lap 41
Time 1:33:34.696 +10.282s +30.148s +62.494s +78.299s +80.929s +1 Lap +1 Lap +1 Lap +1 Lap +1 Lap +1 Lap +1 Lap +1 Lap +1 Lap +1 Lap +1 Lap DNF DNF DNF DNS DNS
CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Driver Nico Rosberg Lewis Hamilton Daniel Ricciardo Kimi RäikkÜnen Romain Grosjean Sebastian Vettel Felipe Massa Max Verstappen Nico Hulkenberg Daniil Kvyat Valtteri Bottas Carlos Sainz Stoffel Vandoorne Kevin Magnussen Jolyon Palmer Marcus Ericsson Sergio Perez Pascal Wehrlein Felipe Nasr Jenson Button Rio Haryanto Esteban Gutierrez Fernando Alonso
Points 50 33 24 18 18 15 14 9 6 6 6 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Constructor Mercedes Ferrari Red Bull Williams Haas Toro Rosso Force India McLaren Renault Sauber Manor
Points 83 33 30 20 18 11 6 1 0 0 0
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BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX LAP CHART
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PIRELLI PIT STOP SCHEDULE
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PIRELLI RACE FACTS
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I AM NOT
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TALKING POINT FERRARI FAIL
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errari played down rising speculation its 2016 Formula 1 world championship campaign could be derailed by a fundamental reliability flaw in the power unit of the SF16-H. Amid reports of a fault with the turbo design, Kimi Raikkonen – who retired with a flaming airbox in Australia – said before the Bahrain grand prix when asked if Ferrari has a problem: “Well, at the last race we did.” That was before Sebastian Vettel could not even make it to the grid after the warm-up lap on Sunday, as he pulled over his Ferrari car with billowing smoke. “I think I might have an engine failure,” the German declared by radio.
2016 BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX EDITION
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TALKING POINT FERRARI FAIL
But once back to the paddock, Vettel said in his post race media release, “We had a failure, I saw a lot of smoke from behind and I lost power so we decided to stop the car. For sure it is frustrating, because in the end I am here to race.” “The problem came as a surprise, both for me and the whole team, as I was approaching Turn Eleven. Now we need to understand exactly the problem and learn
from it. It is not ideal and we c the quadruple world champio Maurizio Arrivabene, the that the failure may simply injector. “That’s never happened telling Auto Motor und Sport that Vettel has lost the powe
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can’t be proud of it,” admitted And added, “I am not happy at all, because I think on. with this strategy and looking at the performance of e Ferrari team boss, told Bild Kimi, maybe because in the race things are not always have been with a valve or certain, but I think we were able to do a very, very good with Sebastian.” d to us before,” he added, But both Vettel and Raikkonen insisted their t that it is “90 per cent” sure respective failures in Bahrain and Australia are not a er unit altogether. sign that Ferrari’s title campaign is off track.
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TALKING POINT FERRARI FAIL
“I had an issue in the last race, Seb had something here,” said Kimi, who finished second in Bahrain. “It’s not ideal and it’s an unfortunate part of the game but, like I said, we have some work to do.” Vettel agreed: “It’s not ideal and we can’t be proud of it. But we had a good preparation over the winter, we are pushing very hard and we know that we can still improve.” Boss Arrivabene said Sunday in Bahrain was painful for Ferrari, but the bright
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side is that if Raikkonen’s fingers had not slipped on the clutch lever at the start, the Finn might have challenged Nico Rosberg for the win. “Perhaps, and I stress this, perhaps this has compromised his chance to win,” said the Italian team chief. Raikkonen agreed: “I got surprisingly close to Nico at the end. Considering what happened in the first lap it’s a pretty ok result, it’s not what we want but we keep working and improving things.”
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WHAT I EX
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XPECTED
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TALKING POINT VANDOORNE DEBUT
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elgian debutant Stoffel Vandoorne handed McLaren their first point of the Formula 1 season in Bahrain while the team’s two world champion drivers looked on from the sidelines. McLaren’s official reserve Vandoorne flew in from Japan on Friday, after Spaniard Fernando Alonso failed a medical, and he seized the opportunity with the double
world champion remaining at His 10th place, after sta him the 62nd driver since t 1950 to score in his first race Vandoorne had already o Jenson Button in the other retiring on lap seven with a p
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t the track to give him advice. arting 12th on the grid, made the championship started in e. out-qualified 2009 champion r McLaren, with the Briton power unit failure.
“This result was more or less what I expected,” said last year’s winner of the GP2 support series, who has been tipped as a big star of the future and has been racing in Japan this year to keep up to speed. “The start was a little bit difficult. There was debris left and right, it was pretty hectic in fact, and there was a lot of fighting throughout that opening lap.
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TALKING POINT VANDOORNE DEBUT
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TALKING POINT VANDOORNE DEBUT “I’m pleased that I didn’t make any mistakes operationally – I was really focusing on that side of things – and I came away with a point, which was a nice bonus.” A single point would once have been considered failure by McLaren, the second most successful team in the sport’s history in terms of wins, but they have won nothing since 2012 and last year suffered their worst season. The signs for 2016 are already better — it took McLaren six races before they scored a point last year as they started a new partnership with Honda — and Button was third fastest in Friday practice. McLaren Racing Director Eric Boullier said Vandoorne, who could also drive for McLaren in China on April 17 if Alonso fails to pass a medical before that third race of the season, had put in a “flawlessly mature” performance. He said Button might have finished at least seventh, and possibly higher, without the problem but Vandoorne “didn’t put a foot wrong”. Boullier added: “Having done such a good weekend, it’s a massive boost of confidence (for him). A boost for his career. The whole weekend went trouble-free. We definitely didn’t put any pressure on him but he did a brilliant job.”
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THE AMERICAN
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N DREAM
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TALKING POINT THE AMERICAN DREAM
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fter finishing sixth on his debut in Australia with the Haas F1 team, Romain Grosjean went one better in Bahrain to continue a ‘crazy’ run of success for the brand new team unprecedented in the modern era. The elated Frenchman told media after the race, “This is the American dream. It is unbelievable. I said we
had to manage our expecta in Australia, but here we finis The Frenchman, whose by Renault departed Lotus giant took over his former te believed that the former G
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ations after we finished sixth shed fifth.” pre-F1 career was groomed last year as the French car eam Lotus. At the time many GP2 Series Champion had
made an error of judgement. “Some people said it was career suicide. I think they were wrong. Sorry guys. I made that choice because I believed in the project and I’ve seen enough to think that after a few years in Formula One it could be good. Today is the truth.”
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TALKING POINT THE AMERICAN DREAM
With Haas very close to Ferrari, the decision by Grosjean now appears to be an inspired one as for sure Grosjean will be on the Maranello radar with his performances. “I said in winter testing we could score points early in the season. I was thinking that we would be fighting between 10th and 14th. Scoring so many points at the beginning, I don’t think anyone was expecting that,” admitted Grosjean The competitiveness of the all new Haas car out-of-the-box, in its debut season, has been a revelation. “It was fun to be able to overtake Williams, Toro Rosso, Red Bull and have some good battles. It’s an amazing performance for all of us. Sixth in Australia was a bit of luck but fifth now with a normal race, this is quite crazy. It’s a dream debut, I almost have to wake up to realise what it is,” enthused Grosjean. Clearly inspired by the run of form early on in their existence, team principal Guenther Steiner said, “I don’t think we can go for fifth every time, that’s a little bit high, but I think we will try for points every time.”
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SOUR G
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GRAPES?
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TALKING POINT SOUR GRAPES
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omain Grosjean is no longer being asked if switching from what became the Renault works team this year to the all-new Haas project was a wise choice but not everyone in Formula 1 is happy to see the new team succeed so soon. As impressive as Haas’ feat might seem, it is not universally popular. Bernie Ecclestone told Autoweek recently that the 2016 Haas is “basically a Ferrari. It will perform because it’s a Ferrari.” So for a true independent like Williams, the Haas model is a dangerous development. “The status of being a constructor has been gradually eroded,” said Pat Symonds, Williams’ technical boss. “Some would like it completely eroded,” he told the New York Times in Bahrain. “What Haas has done is good for him, but I don’t know if that is really the way F1 should be going.” Meanwhile Grosjean is now fifth overall in the F1 world championship, ahead even of Ferrari’s championship contender Sebastian Vettel.
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TALKING POINT SOUR GRAPES “It’s not bad!” the Frenchman exclaimed after a second-consecutive points finish for the Ferrari-linked American team in Bahrain. “I’m what, fifth?” he told France’s RMC. “I think I’ve never been that high in the drivers’ world championship. It’s incredible and a bit crazy. I hope that from the outside
it looks as beautiful as it doe The team has bucked t an F1 entrant from the groun from Ferrari and collaborati much as the rules will allow. “Perhaps we made a m
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es on the inside.” the normal trend of building nd by buying as many parts ing with the Italian giant as . mistake!” joked Ferrari team
boss Maurizio Arrivabene, after Grosjean finished fifth in Bahrain. The French driver now sandwiches the two works Ferrari drivers’ in the drivers’ standings. Seriously, of course, I have been impressed by their results. They have worked very hard and we should be happy, because these Haas cars have Ferrari engines.”
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BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX SAKHIR QUALIFYING
HAMILTON FASTEST EVER TOP TEN 1
LEWIS HAMILTON
MERCEDES
2
NICO ROSBERG
MERCEDES
3
SEBASTIAN VETTEL FERRARI
4
KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN
FERRARI
5
MAX VERSTAPPEN
TORO ROSSO
6
FELIPE MASSA
WILLIAMS
7
CARLOS SAINZ
TORO ROSSO
8
DANIEL RICCIARDO
RED BULL
9
SERGIO PEREZ
FORCE INDIA
10
NICO HULKENBERG FORCE INDIA
2016 BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX EDITION
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QUALIFYING REPORT
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ewis Hamilton set the fastest ever lap of the Bahrain International Circuit to take pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix. The champion was pushed hard by team-mate Nico Rosberg, however, and with the competition tight at the front of the grid, the second instalment of the sport’s elimination-style qualifying format saw the top drivers take to the circuit for a second run, which saw Hamilton post a blistering lap of 1:29.493 to beat his team-mate. It was an impressive lap from the champion, as on
the first run in Q3 he had ru fourth place as Rosberg put to seize the initiative. Hamilton dug deep, h counted out Ferrari’s fourt the three-time champion fo Rosberg by just under eight close as it gets!. “The car felt great. It’s q we are quicker now to the V
2016 BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX EDITION
un wide and found himself in far technology has come,” said Hamilton of the lap that t in a faultless sub-1:30s lap earned him top spot on the grid. “It’s obviously not been a smooth-sailing weekend in however, and as the clock terms of pace. Nico’s been right on it all weekend and I th-placed Kimi Raikkonen, was just generally struggling to put laps together.” ound enough pace to edge “Luckily the one lap I did put together was the last hundredths of a second - as lap. That was actually the only lap probably the whole weekend so far. I hope that’s the first of many,” he added. quite incredible to think that Sebastian Vettel took third place for Ferrari, just V10 days. It just shows how under half a second off Rosberg’s pace.
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QUALIFYING REPORT
Behind Raikkonen, Daniel Ricciardo took a solid fifth place for Red Bull Racing. His lap of 1:30.854 put him ahead of both Williams drivers and confirms that the Milton Keynes squad currently have the upper hand over the Grove outfit, at least with one car. Ricciardo’s team-mate Daniil Kvyat scraped through to Q2 but couldn’t improve and was the first man out in second session that proved the most lacklustre of the three, with few drivers managing to get in ‘survival’ runs. Neither McLaren drove managed a second run, though Stoffel Vandoorne though, managed to edge McLaren
team-mate Jenson Button, a was also ruled out while sitti Nico Hulikenberg did m lap, however, and with his t time right, the German driver P8 to secure the last place in His success meant Rom P9 ahead of Toro Rosso’s M Sainz. In the opening phase of t was Force India’s Sergio P
2016 BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX EDITION
and Haas’ Esteban Gutierrez ing in the garage. manage to get in another hot team having timed his track r did his part by vaulting into n Q3. main Grosjean was ruled in Max Verstappen and Carlos
position. The best performance of the opening segment came from Manor’s Pascal Wehrlein, who final hot lap in the session saw him climb from the bottom of the order to a very respectable P16. His time of 1:32.806 was 1.3s better than that of his 21st-placed team-mate Rio Haryanto. Behind Wehrlein were Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson, the hapless Perez, Kevin Masgnussen of Renault – who completed just one run as a penalty means he would start the session, the big casualty from the pit lane – team-mate Jolyon Palmer, Haryanto Perez, who qualified in 18th and Sauber’s Felipe Nasr.
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2016 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX EDITION QUALIFYING RESULT 1 2 3 4 5
Driver Lewis Hamilton Nico Rosberg Sebastian Vettel Kimi Räikkönen Daniel Ricciardo
Team Mercedes Mercedes Ferrari Ferrari Red Bull
Q1 1:31.391 1:31.325 1:31.636 1:31.685 1:31.403
Q2 1:30.039 1:30.535 1:30.409 1:30.559 1:31.122
Q3 1:29.493 1:29.570 1:30.012 1:30.244 1:30.854
6 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:31.672 1:30.931 1:31.153 7 Felipe Massa Williams 1:32.045 1:31.374 1:31.155 8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:31.987 1:31.604 1:31.620 9 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:32.005 1:31.756 10 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:31.888 1:31.772 11 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:31.716 1:31.816 12 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1:32.472 1:31.934 13 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:32.118 1:31.945 14 Jenson Button McLaren 1:31.976 1:31.998 15 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 1:32.559 1:32.241 16 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:32.806 17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:32.840 18 Sergio Perez Force India 1:32.911 19 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:33.181 20 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:33.438 21 Rio Haryanto Manor 1:34.190 22 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:34.388 Q1 107% Time – 1:37.717 Note – Note: Magnussen started the race from the pit lane as penalty for failing to stop for a mandatory weight check during FP2.
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QUALIFYING WAS TERRIBLE MR TODT
2016 BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX EDITION
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TALKING POINT TERRIBLE QUALIFYING After the Australian Grand Prix debacle, the powers that be ignored all and sundry by insisting that the musical chairs qualifying would continue in Bahrain, when it was very clear that the format was a disaster with no room from improvement. The warnings came from the fans, the drivers and the teams whose engineers had simulated trillions of scenarios on their computers and concluded that no way the new system would deliver anything but a bore. But the collective majority, aggrieved and in protest, were ignored. Roll on Bahrain and we were dished out another huge anti-climax to what was once upon a time one of the greatest spectacles in sport – Formula 1 qualifying. There is a very serious problem when Toto Wolff, boss of the Mercedes team whose drivers annexed the front row at the desert venue, comes out after the session and declares: “It was terrible…” “Did you like it more? It’s unbelievable,” said Mercedes motorsport director Toto Wolff, despite his drivers taking first and second place on the starting grid with Lewis Hamilton on pole ahead of Nico Rosberg. “I think after Q1 (first qualifying session) and Q2 I don’t see what you can like there,” added the Austrian. “It’s very difficult to follow who is in and who is out. I think we have a duty to simplify the sport rather than add complexity. “It doesn’t mix up the field in a way that would make the race more entertaining. So I hope we can have some reasonable discussions.” After Melbourne’s edition Wolff summed it up as: “Rubbish.” McLaren’s Racing Director Eric Boullier said he thought Bahrain’s qualifying had been worse than Melbourne, particularly in the second phase. As far as we are concerned, having only one set of tyres on Q2 means you just do your lap and then you sit in the garage which is a bit ridiculous.”
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TALKING POINT TERRIBLE QUALIFYING
“We took a position in Australia, we had a meeting and unanimously agreed to revert back to last year’s (format). I think we will stick with this position,” he said. Granted this time out Q3, the shoot-out for pole, may have provided more entertainment than in Melbourne, however the grid was already determined with three minutes of the session remaining making the new countdown clock irrelevant. Q1 and Q2, which were ‘acceptable’ at the season opener, were farcical on the night with several drivers only doing one lap and getting out of their cars to get weighed with the clock still ticking down for them. Also notable were the large portions of time in which
track action was non-exist impacted the meagre live au be hugely disappointing at ra Saturdays. Media are also not holdin reporting: “[Qualifying] will c a result of lack of track action “There were three minu session with no cars on the second session was a simila Meanwhile it is emergin Todt refused to ditch the f Under and instead suggest
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tent, which may not have was rejected by teams. udience in Bahrain but would “The organisers asked us to make qualifying more aces with big attendance on attractive. We had one attempt (in Melbourne) and I think it’s better that we give the new system a second ng back on criticism with BBC chance,” Todt explained to the assembled media in an come in for more criticism as ultra-rare paddock appearance on Saturday. n at the end of each session.” Nevertheless the FIA chief revealed that a meeting utes at the end of the first is already scheduled for Sunday, to decide on what to do e circuit, and the end of the about qualifying. ar damp squib.” “Before returning to the old system,” he said, “I ng that FIA president Jean believe it would be better to improve the new format. My farce after its debut Down favourite is a slightly modified Q1 and Q2 with Q3 under ted a revised version which the old system.”
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TALKING POINT TERRIBLE QUALIFYING Reportedly Todt’s interim solution is exactly what was rejected by the team bosses after Australia, but as for Sunday’s meeting he admitted, “We are open to everything, including a return to the old format.” Asked if he had read the almost universally-negative reactions about the Melbourne qualifying on social media, Todt warned against “overreacting”. “I have read everything – it was 250 pages,” said
the FIA president. “But we m decisions based on the opin Bernie Ecclestone appe saga to strengthen his own backfired miserably, he was fact he may have had a hand But after Melbourne he was my idea in the first place. So
2016 BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX EDITION
must be careful about making nions of social media users.” ears to be using the whole agenda. At first, before it all s all for the concept and in d in devising the new format. s quick to declare, “It wasn’t o we will wait and see.”
And added, “I didn’t like it either. But we will have to see. When you change these things they are all prototypes – until you have actually done it, you don’t know.” Australian Grand Prix winner Nico Rosberg, who qualified second in Bahrain, said,”We should listen to the people watching on TV. If they are still unhappy, which I am sure they will be, we should change it.”
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