On the softest tyres, Norris made it up to 3rd from 6th off the start, a little cheeriness goes a long way. Russell got ahead of LeClerc for 2nd. Gasly and Sainz were 5th and 6th. LeClerc was playing the long game in medium tyres. Bearman made up 5 places. Verstappen, Hamilton and Tsunoda remained in the doldrums at the bottom of the points.
Then the stewards announced that Norris might have been out of position on the grid. LeClerc had told his BFF Gasly that the Ferrari might be doing a one stop strategy. It feels like when the competitor is your friend you should still keep schtum as he told the world over the radio.
We then saw a shot of Norris at the start and he was ahead of his slot, which would ruin his race potential. He was given 5 seconds and told to get passed Russell.
There was plenty of overtaking. Sainz battled to hold Hamilton behind him and needed DRS to get it done.
When the pit stops came up, it was tricky to find a clear window to bring cars out into, the field was very close together. Red Bull had a problem with their traffic light hold and release system in the pits and lost out with both drivers. LeClerc wanted to stay out longer but was overuled by Ferrari.
By the time the second round of stops came, Ferrari were making up places. Verstappen had an awful stop and came out in last place. I'm sure Mrs Stroll will have taken a picture of the screen for the one and only time her son is ahead of the World Champion.
Verstappen and Sainz had a minor coming together and there was a little bit of carbon fibre debris left behind. Stunningly, this triggered a full Safety Car. This was just in time for most drivers to take a cheap pit stop. A cynic would say it was done to affect the outcome of the race.
This all meant there would be a restart. Piastri managed to stay ahead but everyone behind him was fighting. Russell held 2nd and the Ferraris got 3rd and 4th. Lawson got a 5 second penalty for causing a collision but it really can't have been serious enough for that as it didn’t bring out a Safety Car. Sainz was retired after getting and serving a penalty because his car was too damaged.
Russell had to reset his DRS settings, which sounded like an engineering ballache and technically challenging and then he was told he might lose his dash. Lots of the cars seemed to be developing gremlins in Bahrain. Then the Mercedes lost its gears.
Norris was pushing his way forward in the last laps; overtaking Hamilton by force, then LeClerc. Because Russell was no longer being correctly and accurately timed, it wasn’t clear when he could use DRS or those (Norris) chasing him. I would like to have seen Ron Dennis stood out with a stopwatch. They fought until the bitter end. Verstappen kept being shown the black and white flag for exceeding lap limits but went on to take Gasly for 6th place on the final lap.
Piastri said he would party to celebrate his victory that night; we can only imagine he had a late cola and risked the caffeine keeping him awake. In fact, he said he wouldn’t go to the party. Russell's race was "tricky" and Norris found his "messy". The cool down room was noisy with three geeks discussing the highlights they were shown and calling one driver a "muppet".
Norris left Bahrain, to prepare for the third race in three weeks, still as championship leader but if Piastri continues like this, he won't hold it for long. It felt like Ferrari did well until you saw that they were behind at the end and they expressed their disappointment.
I watched this event on Channel 4 rather than Sky and whilst the presentation before and after the race is slick, the actual order of the race and timely provision of information was shockingly bad. There was no word about why Russell suddenly went to last place for a couple of laps. I didn't understand why Sainz had a penalty, I don’t know if they actually told us. As it is highlights, surely there is ample opportunity to present the race in a logical manner? They've really committed to supporting Bearman too.
These triple headers feel relentless and I think by the end of the year we will see some tired drivers and I wonder if it will effect championship ambitions.
No comments:
Post a Comment