10 Things We Learnt From: Bahrain

Vettel Really Likes Bahrain
Sebastian has now won in 2013, 2012, 2011 was cancelled and he would have won in 2010 had it not been for an engine failure. For a track with 4 straights, the Red Bull goes well there and Vettel after Alonso had his wing failure looked unstoppable, characteristically controlling the race from the front with ease. What is it about Sakhir that suits him?


Ferrari Can Be Really Dumb
Fair enough, they had a failure and minimised the damaged by changing tyres a couple of laps earlier than he would have. But for them to let him try DRS again when it clearly had only been 'bashed' down, it was inevitable it would stay up again. You don't need to be an engineer to spot that. Alonso recovered well to 8th, but even with the failure could have been much much higher. Another bad management call from Ferrari.


Massa Is Still Unlucky
Two punctures in one race? Only Massa could manage that at the moment. As everyone starts to believe his form is coming back, a good race strategy with potential for a podium is ruined and fails to even score points. He deserves nothing to hinder him for a few races to show his potential for a whole weekend.


di Resta Show His Class
Paul was at his best in Bahrain as he has been for most of the season so far, and was unfortunate not to have the tyres left on a two-stop to hold off Grosjean. Nevertheless, he should take great credit, qualifying 5th, in the race keeping pace with Vettel and Alonso in the early stages, overtaking Rosberg. He needs to perform this season and he is doing brilliantly moving towards this. 


Perez Stepping Up To The Plate
Sergio's race was controversial to many, but to see him match Button's pace, and finish with his first good McLaren points in an underperforming car was good to see. At least he's trying to prove why McLaren he was hired over other candidates.


Grosjean Showing Controlled Consistancy
4 races and 4 points finishes from Romain this year. Credit where it is due I guess! A great drive in Bahrain again from 11th to get a podium, and whilst he is still being outperformed by Kimi, he needs this consistency so he can build from there. Keep going.


Gutierrez Showing Nothing
What can we say about Perez' replacement at Sauber, poor. Accidents, no pace, no points. Only 4 races into his career, but come the midway point of the season, many will be expecting considerable improvements. 


Mercedes Are Still Ridiculous With Tyres
Some old story that we thought had been partially resolved but apparently not. Nevertheless, whilst Rosberg had a torrid time, as the temperatures in Bahrain cooled, Hamilton moved through the field. Mercedes are still one to watch race to race.


Alonso Is Still First Corner Master
After his mishap in Malaysia, Alonso had a great first lap in China, and once again had a great start, taking the better line into T1, overtaking Vettel round the outside. It's not coincidence he does it almost every race.


Vettel Can Listen To Management
For the right reasons by him.. Apparently Christian Horner said the undercut out of T4 was a good place to use KERS, which he did brilliantly to overtake Alonso on the first lap.



Come back for our race report, teammate battle track and 10 things we learnt from articles, which will be posted after every race weekend!

For now, follow us on twitter, or comment on the blog below to join in the discussion!

Twitter - https://twitter.com/F1HubTweety

Nick, F1 Hub

F1Hub Teammate Battle Tracker: Bahrain

The teammate battles varied at Round 4 in Sahkir, Bahrain, for the 9th Bahrain Grand Prix, di Resta and Pic for Force India and Caterham two of the stars of the race. The McLaren boys had a proper teammate battle, and perhaps the closest point to call...

Red Bull
Race: Vettel
Overall: Vettel 3 vs Webber 1
Vettel dominated the race and his teammate this weekend. Whilst Webber had a penalty demoting his from 5th only to 7th, he finished there, and Vettel had a strong opening 10 battling laps, and cruised the rest of the way. Clear winner at Red Bull this race.


Ferrari
Race: Alonso
Season: Alonso 3 vs Massa 1
Massa had a poor race in comparison to his recent form, but not one but two punctures summed up his luck of past years to add on. Fernando was unfortunate not to gain a good result suffering a rear wing failure, stopping a likely 2nd or 3rd to finish a respectable 8th. Regardless, Alonso had the better pace in qualifying and would have taken half a challenge to Vettel.


McLaren
Race: Perez
Season: Button 3 vs Perez 1
Perez finally didn't look like a mediocre driver and stepped up to the McLaren plate, despite some suggesting he was too aggressive. Regardless, Perez went from 12th to 6th place in an under performing McLaren, outpacing Button and overtaking each other several times, and he also made one less stop than Jenson who is notoriously easy on tyres. How Perez develops now will be interesting to see.


Lotus
Race: Grosjean
Season: Raikkonen 3 vs Grosjean 2
Both did a great job for Lotus, both being on the podium. Whilst Raikkonen finished ahead of Grosjean, Romain had a great race though showing his ability, including overtaking confidently again, and being of the quickest 3 stoppers, whilst Raikkonen did a tyre management job to be the top two-stopper. Ultimately Romain had a harder job and did it brilliantly. A great recovery from both after qualifying poor.


Mercedes
Race: Hamilton
Season: Rosberg 1 vs Hamilton 3
Rosberg did a super lap in qualifying to gain pole position, but amongst desperately defending destroyed his tyres and slipped back through the field finishing just 9th after stopping for a 4th time. Ultimately Hamilton controlled his race better, and as the temperatures dropped, he got quicker and had a super battle with Webber overtaking on the last lap to take 5th and some decent points. A real shame for Nico nevertheless.

Sauber
Race: Hulkenberg
Season: Hulkenberg 4 vs Gutierrez 0
Gutierrez poor again, Hulkenberg finished a respectable 12th in a Sauber which has stepped backwards from last year. I bet Nico regrets moving from Force India now!


Force India
Race: di Resta
Season: di Resta 3 vs Sutil 1
Force India have made a big jump this year, starting the year off in good form for once rather than coming good towards the end of the season. Qualifying 5th and 6th, Sutil collided with Sutil, whilst di Resta maximised his car and was unlucky not to hold onto 3rd and gain his first podium from Grosjean. Great perform from Paul.


Williams
Race: Maldonado
Season: Maldonado 1 vs Bottas 3
Maldonado put in a respectable performance in Bahrain, finishing 11th just one place off the points. Williams must be thinking why us after a strong 2012 but ultimately they won't be repeating their Spanish race win in a few weeks.


Toro Rosso
Race: Ricciardo
Season: Vergne 2 vs Ricciardo 2
A poor weekend for both with a car not suiting the car. Vergne crashed early on whilst Ricciardo struggled with balance after a strong Chinese Grand Prix. Nevertheless on pace and qualifying, Ricciardo was stronger.


Caterham
Race: Pic
Season: Pic 4 vs van der Garde 0
Sure, van der Garde didn't have the upgrades Pic did, but Charles qualified 9 tenths ahead and finished ahead of both Marussia's and Gutierrez's Sauber. Strong weekend, if more people retired Pic would have been right there to capitalise. 


Marussia
Race: Bianchi
Season: Bianchi 4 vs Chilton 0
Bianchi still in front, but Marussia need to be watchful of Caterham's progress! Barely saw them even less on the screens because of all the battles going on at the front of the field!


Nick, F1 Hub


Let us know what you think of the teammate battles!
Next race back to Europe for Alonso's home GP in Spain!

Race Report: Bahrain - Vettel Wins Aggressive Race In The Desert

The Bahrain Grand Prix started off as an incredibly feisty affair, with pole sitter Nico Rosberg facing a tough task to hold off some incredibly quick race pace competition, Vettel ultimately being one of few to have clean air, streaking off into the distance whilst it was battles galore throughout the rest of the top field.

His Second Win In Four Races - Now 10 Points Clear Of Raikkonen

Off the line Alonso took Vettel round the outside into T1, before Vettel impressively undertook Fernando back into T5 in an unexpected passing place. The first few laps were unbelievably aggressive, with the front few within a second or two of each other, slipstreaming down the many straights like crazy. Ultimately after haunting Rosberg, Vettel passed Rosberg on lap 3, followed by Alonso. 

The Force India's had mixed fortunes at the start, with di Resta jumping from 5th to 4th, whilst Sutil tangled with Massa, ultimately having to pit immediately ruining his good qualifying from 6th. di Resta then passed the struggling Rosberg into 3rd, and then disappointingly from a race point of view, Alonso's DRS flap became stuck, prompting a pitstop - di Resta into 2nd.

The wing was fixed, tyres changed and the damage was minimal, but unfortunately for the prancing horse, the rear wing became stuck again and immediately had to pit again, ruining his race. 1st stop was damage limitation, but the 2nd stop yet again questions the logic on the Ferrari pit wall, and should have instructed Fernando to not use it again first time round. He recovered to get what points he can to 8th place.

Fernando's Stalled DRS Flap Stuck Open

It soon emerged on lap 12 that di Resta and Raikkonen's Lotus would be 2 stopping, Raikkonen ultimately having the pace to overtake the Force India. It would be Grosjean from 11th on the grid though on a 3 stop race that would prove the Lotus race pace on both strategies, and would finish behind his teammate in 3rd place as he steadily worked his way through the field, overtaking Paul on lap 52 of 57, snatching away what looked like Paul's first podium place, ultimately finishing 4th. 


After Fernando's mechanical wing failure Ferrari's bad after went from bad to worse when on lap 18 Massa added to his front wing woes had a right rear puncture. Thankfully for Pirelli, something had cut and given him the puncture, rather than a overheating tyre failure as originally feared. Unbelievably any chance of points blew away as another tyre suffered the same fate later in the race, finishing 15th. 

Rosberg's expectations quickly became lower and lower, on lap 20 being taken by Button's McLaren which was in better form than talked up, quickly followed by many others. His teammate Hamilton didn't have a much better afternoon starting from 9th as he struggled on 2 sets of mediums, but on the hard tyre battled well, fighting with Webber over 5th in the last few laps, ultimately coming out on top into T1 on the last lap. Rosberg after fighting so much in the race had to pit a 4th time, disappointingly only finishing 9th. Mercedes be impressing in qualifying but there race pace is slipping behind the top teams, with McLaren unexpectedly having a better car on the day.

The Improved McLaren's Put On A Great Show

McLaren on the other hand looked much improved despite not expecting much, Sergio Perez having a brilliant afternoon from 12th on the grid to finish 6th, overtaking Webber on the last lap. Button was ahead for much, but Perez challenged Jenson without fear and showed the reason why he was chosen to replace Hamilton. Perez looking like a McLaren driver for the first time - perhaps Martin Whitmarsh's talk has helped! Button finished 10th, after like Rosberg having to pit for a 4th time.

In the mid and lower field it was quite uneventful in comparison to all the battles constantly going on in the top 10, but Maldonado put in a much improved performance, finishing just outside the points in 11th for Williams, whilst Charles Pic did a great race in the Caterham, finishing ahead of not just both Marussia's, but also Gutierrez in the Sauber to finish 17th.

Overall, it's a shame Alonso couldn't take the battle to Vettel, but Grosjean, di Resta and Perez were superb and all showing their true potentials collectively, whilst the battles in the top 10 made sure there wasn't enough time to make a cup of tea and not miss anything. Bahrain certainly wasn't Bohrain this year.

Vettel now leads the championship by 10 points from Raikkonen, whilst Alonso despite his Chinese win drops back to 27 points behind, and would really love to win his home Grand Prix in Spain in 3 weeks now to close the gap.

Nick, F1 Hub




F1 Hub Overtake of the Race
Button on Perez - Lap 35
Perez overtook Jenson into turn 1 off the DRS and the move looked extremely clean. Despite Sergio running out wide to stop Button coming back, Jenson exited well and squeezed up the inside into turn 2, something that not many people could do, including Webber, Alonso and other big names. Top commitment. Vettel's overtake on Alonso on lap 5 into turn 1 deserves a quick mention too, using his leftover KERS and undercutting out of turn 4, getting the line into turn 5. 



F1 Hub Driver of the Race
Grosjean had a super race going from 11th to 3rd, but for me it's extremely close between  di Resta and Perez showed grit and determination to both challenge his teammate on track, make one less stop and even taking Webber on the last lap to finish 6th, less than a second behind Hamilton. Some rightfully will argue he was too aggressive, but still a great effort and will get his first F1 Hub Teammate Battle Tracker point against Button this weekend! Check back for that article in a few days.

Paul di Resta though didn't put a foot wrong, and was desperately unlucky not to have the tyres left to get his first podium. Showing his class. 



Full Race Result
1) Sebastian Vettel [Red Bull-Renault]
2) Kimi Raikkonen [Lotus-Renault]
3) Romain Grosjean [Lotus-Renault]
4) Paul di Resta [Force India-Mercedes] 
5) Lewis Hamilton [Mercedes]
6) Sergio Perez [McLaren-Mercedes]
7) Mark Webber [Red Bull-Renault]
8) Fernando Alonso [Ferrari]
9) Nico Rosberg [Mercedes]
10) Jenson Button [McLaren Mercedes] 
11) Pastor Maldonado [Williams Renault] 
12) Nico Hulkenberg [Sauber-Ferrari]
13) Adrian Sutil [Force India-Mercedes] 
14) Valtteri Bottas [Williams-Renault]
15) Felipe Massa [Ferrari]
16) Daniel Ricciardo [Toro Rosso-Ferrari]
17) Charles Pic [Caterham-Renault]
18) Esteban Gutierrez [Sauber-Ferrari]
19) Jules Bianchi [Marussia-Cosworth]
20) Max Chilton [Marussia-Cosworth]
21) Giedo van der Garde [Caterham-Renault]

Did Not Finish
Jean-Eric Vergne [Toro Rosso-Ferrari] Lap 16

F1Hub Teammate Battle Tracker: China

The teammate battles varied at Round 3 in Shanghai, for the 10th Chinese Grand Prix, with Ricciardo pulling one back, Gutierrez making it even easier for Hulkenberg and the two Force India's having a bit of paint licking...

Red Bull
Race: Vettel
Overall: Vettel 2 vs Webber 1
A disastrous weekend for Webber throughout, and was doing a great recovery until he spun Vergne around, who knows where he could of come as the Shanghai circuit is one of his best despite the Red Bull not favoring it. Nevertheless, Vettel did a good job in the race and may have pipped Hamilton to the podium if he wasn't a bit over excited in turn 11/12 on the last lap. Vettel takes the lead.


Ferrari
Race: Alonso
Season: Alonso 2 vs Massa 1
After the two scarlet red cars overtook Hamilton early on, many expected them to run away to a one-two finish, which Alonso did, but Massa's late tyre change from the soft's compromised him and didn't have the pace anymore, instead finishing behind Button in 6th. Alonso did the maximum to make up his Malaysian mistake.


McLaren
Race: Button
Season: Button 3 vs Perez 0
Perez has been told by McLaren management to toughen up, after finishing 11th to Button's impressive 5th. Jenson is outclassing Sergio, it just seems Perez has lost his confidence moving up into the big ranks but being dogged with their worst car since 2009. Lets hope he gets a few points in the first half of the season to prove himself.


Lotus
Race: Raikkonen
Season: Raikkonen 2 vs Grosjean 1
Raikkonen back on form showing his Australian form, and lies 2nd behind Vettel in the championship. After a poor start Raikkonen survived the first lap, whilst Grosjean had an adequate race, not really been seen on the screens too much. Romain scored his first podium in Bahrain last year, would be good to see some of his top form again.


Mercedes
Race: Hamilton
Season: Rosberg 1 vs Hamilton 2
Even without the retirement, Hamilton gained a superb pole position before Lewis clung onto 3rd in a slower race car, whilst I suspect Rosberg may have finished 5th, 6th or 7th. Mercedes are definitely chucking themselves in the mix, they just need to sort out mechnical issues before it bites them too regularly, and Lewis has 2012 dejavu!

Sauber
Race: Hulkenberg
Season: Hulkenberg 3 vs Gutierrez 0
Poor from Gutierrez this weekend, rookie or not, the class between these two at the moment is perhaps one of the most obvious of the teammate battles. I hope the young Mexican proves us wrong for the sport's sake, but he hasn't been noticed like Perez in 2011. Not Sauber's strongest weekend but once again Hulkenberg led a race - need to sort out quicker pit stops though!


Force India
Race: di Resta
Season: di Resta 2 vs Sutil 1
Adrian may be sitting on the naughty step until Bahrain, after everybody but himself saw him give Paul no room coming out of the hairpin, it made Paul lose several places from 10th to 14th. A great comeback to 8th shows Force India's pace this year, if they stop having silly makes they can secure 6th and challenge for 5th. Paul will feel a bit of justice that it was Adrian who had Gutierrez smash into the back of though!


Williams
Race: Bottas
Season: Maldonado 0 vs Bottas 3
Williams still finished over 20 seconds behind 12th place Vergne's Toro Rosso, but have improved. Nevertheless, Bottas still finished ahead of Maldonado, thus the Finn gets the point. Who would have predicted 3-0 to Bottas?


Toro Rosso
Race: Ricciardo
Season: Vergne 2 vs Ricciardo 1
Ricciardo one of the stars of the weekend, outclassing Vergne and gaining him a big teammate battle point. He now has over half of the points from the whole 2012 season, and both his qualifying in 7th and ability to stay there despite front wing damage should be heavily noted. Sure Vergne got spun by Webber, but I doubt he still would have scored points. Ricciardo was 6th in qualifying in Bahrain last year, can he start a consistent streak?


Caterham
Race: Pic
Season: Pic 3 vs van der Garde 0
Pic easily overhauled the Dutchman again, who finished behind Chilton. van der Garde may be wondering why it took him this long to get into F1, but his start has been tougher than tough.


Marussia
Race: Bianchi
Season: Bianchi 3 vs Chilton 0
Chilton performed much better again, but is still far, far behind Bianchi and needs to at least finish ahead of Pic if he is going to have a strong season and be more noticed like Jules is currently.


Nick, F1 Hub


Let us know what you think of the teammate battles!
Bring on the Bahrain Grand Prix in a few days!

Best Race For Money On The F1 Calender?

We all love the British Grand Prix, British or not, one of the fastest tracks on the calender has been on the calender since 1950 and has some spectacular sequences of corners that newer circuits are now emulating. However it comes at a price, as out of the cheapest race tickets, Britain is the 3rd highest out of 19, behind Brazil and not surprisingly Abu Dhabi.

Silverstone

The first two races on the calender we have been to are extremely cheap really, Australia's cheapest ticket only £66 and Malaysia amazingly on £13! Suppose that's what you get for non-grandstand in a weekend almost guaranteed to have rain! In comparison, the cheapest race day ticket is £145 for general admission. 

To further hit blows at this price, you could go to the Champions League final for £60, MotoGP for £70 and the final day at The Open for £65 in the UK. Even the men's Wimbledon final is cheaper at £130, and the final day at the first Ashes cricket test is just £20.

It sounds and looks like the top three charging countries are robbing us then right when you look at these prices and the cheapest prices of the other races on the calender...? Plus you can go to Monaco overlooking a large part of the circuit on the hill for £30 on race-day, crazy right...?! 

Good Value Tickets Have Been Put In Bold
Statistics Aren't Everything, Make Of Them What You Will!
Monaco The Biggest Contrast Ranging From 3rd to 17th

...Well, to an extent, but when you then look at the prices for most expensive race tickets and most expensive 3-day tickets, Britain is extremely competitively priced, being in the middle of the pack in being 5th best price for the most expensive 3-day ticket, which is great! 

To make you feel slightly better too, when you compare the fact the British Grand Prix is only once a year, and you can see one of 38 league football matches most weekends locally for as much as £150 for the best seats. Obviously the race being a one off event is much more remember-able.

There is no government support either for the British Grand Prix unlike some, purely funding by the British Racing Drivers Club, so when you take this in mind, having to control the largest crowds, dealing with the rubbish traffic system, having Bernie Ecclestone on your back to develop the venue on and off the track including a new pit building and a whole third of the track - Silverstone offers an experience that is worked hard for and the majority of fans appreciate the value. 

The New 'Wing' Pit Building (top) Is Quite An Improvement To The Old Pit Building (bottom)
£27 Million Well Spent, A Fraction Of The Money Put Into Some Pit Buildings Worldwide

Think of Silverstone circuit like the Williams team, one of the few privateer companies that have been keeping afloat for years without manufacturer backing like Ferrari or Mercedes. 

The British GP is a world-class event in Formula 1, sport and all-round terms. The money is decent going for a 3-day ticket, with the cheapest 3-day ticket and cheapest 3-day covered grandstand ticket from just £180 on early bird at Copse corner. Even the most expensive tickets are well priced when you look at all others. 

Don't be fooled by the cheapest race day ticket being the 3rd most expensive, it's really not the whole picture! 

Join us in China for the Grand Prix this weekend, we will be bringing you our race weekend:

• Race Report: China
• Teammate Battle Tracker: China
• 10 Things We Learnt From: China

Twitter: https://twitter.com/F1HubTweety

Nick, F1 Hub