2014 Bahrain Grand Prix

[That.Guy.S30]

I love Williams/Martini this year!

[Chris Elyea]

What's the F1 record for most non-blue flagged passes in a race?! Great stuff, if you can ignore the engine sound.

[rage2]

LOLdonado!

[rage2]

One of the best races in recent memory. Even though there were 2 separate races, Mercs and everyone else, Hamilton and Rosberg didn't disappoint with their battles. Slow clap for Hamilton for keeping Rosberg behind, I thought the SC would've fucked him over for sure. Mercs showed their hand here, 3s faster than the field after the SC. Insane.

Sucks as a McLaren fan, but awesome as a F1 fan.

[lilmira]

Battles between teammates lol

[killramos]

Great time to love Mercedes especially after the start to last season.

I would like to see Renault and Ferrara engine come a bit up to par though.

How long do you thing Mercedes will let them fight over the number 1 spot?

[rage2]

I think Mercedes will continue to let them fight until they're idiots about it and cost the team. From today tho, it looks like both drivers are having tons of fun and pushing each other hard.

[Cos]

.

[phreezee]

Absolutely fantastic race! So many story lines. Very disappointed Maldonado didn't get the race ban.

[Mibz]

Originally posted by phreezee
Absolutely fantastic race! So many story lines. Very disappointed Maldonado didn't get the race ban.

T-boning and flipping another car is only half as bad as a car making it 25% of the way down the pit lane with a loose wheel.

Seriously though, the contact wasn't that bad. Watching it again (and again), this wasn't a classic LOLdonado moment. Maybe I'm just comparing it to his usual garbage driving, but this incident was pretty tame, just an insane outcome.

[CapnCrunch]

Godamn that was a good race. It seemed like there were battles for every position in the top 10.

And wtf at Mercedes being 3 seconds faster once fuel conservation went out the window.

[rage2]

Originally posted by CapnCrunch
And wtf at Mercedes being 3 seconds faster once fuel conservation went out the window.

Basically they're as ahead as RBR was in the last 2 years. RBR rarely showed their hand, they didn't need to as there weren't really any inter team battles. Only time where RBR showed their true pace was Singapore last year when Vettel went 3s a lap faster after a safety car to clear the field.

[CapnCrunch]

Originally posted by rage2

Basically they're as ahead as RBR was in the last 2 years. RBR rarely showed their hand, they didn't need to as there weren't really any inter team battles. Only time where RBR showed their true pace was Singapore last year when Vettel went 3s a lap faster after a safety car to clear the field.

It makes you wonder WTF was wrong with Webber the past few years.

At least Rosberg and Hamilton are close and are both fighting for 1st every race.

[rage2]

Originally posted by CapnCrunch
It makes you wonder WTF was wrong with Webber the past few years.

It's one of 2 things.

1. Team built around Vettel, he got the better parts, software, calibration, simulation practice, etc. Tinfoil hat theory.

2. Webber couldn't handle maxing out a blown diffuser car as well as Vettel.

Driving style isn't easy to change, and driving a blown diffuser car was completely backwards compared to what you've done in every other race car that he's driven. So my guess is #2.

Prior to the blown diffusers, Webber was really close to Vettel in pace.

[Mibz]

I still believe that #1 is at least partially true, but yeah, I've come to terms with the fact that Webber just wasn't the driver I thought he was. I understand that changing driving style is not an easy thing to do, but Hamilton managed to adjust to a style where saving tires was necessary so that's my benchmark, haha.

[phreezee]

Great explanation video, I love SkyF1.

[CapnCrunch]

Originally posted by phreezee
Great explanation video, I love SkyF1.

Badass

[diamondedge]

...so Force India, Williams and McLaren also benefit from this. Since the power-unit is homologated.

[Cos]

.

[rage2]

Originally posted by diamondedge
...so Force India, Williams and McLaren also benefit from this. Since the power-unit is homologated.

They could've if Mercedes gave them the heads up. Apparently, that didn't happen, and now that the chassis is homologated, they won't be able to take advantage of that till next year.

It's bizarre that it's news now because this was no secret at all. Early pics of a Magneti-Marelli MGU-H + Turbo setup shown that *someone* was doing this over a year ago. A couple of us were talking about it again when the cars launched and pictures were revealed, but we couldn't tell who adopted that setup. We knew that Renault, first to reveal their PU press pics, did not do this, and in fact went with a really fucked up method where the incoming air is disturbed with a 45 degree bend into the compressor inlet.

Ferrari didn't reveal pics at all, and Mercedes revealed press pics that DIDN'T show this setup either to troll us haha.