2018 Bahrain Grand Prix Sakhir, 6-8 April

[Notebook]

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton will start the Bahrain Grand Prix with a five-place grid penalty for breaching rules over gearbox changes.
Governing body the FIA's rules state drivers cannot change gearboxes within a six-race period.
The defending champion needs a new gearbox for Bahrain after problems in the opening race, his team said.
"We had an hydraulic leak in the Melbourne race and were fortunate to finish the race," Mercedes said.
"Unfortunately we couldn't repair it within the six-race cycle."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/43674309

 

[Notebook]

Q3 finished.

Summary
Vettel on pole for dominant Ferrari, Raikkonen 2nd
Hamilton starts ninth after penalty, Verstappen crashes in Q1
Get involved #bbcf1

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/formula1/43420531

 

[BenSisko]

The Silver Arrows don’t look so dominant this weekend. Ferrari seems hot. Williams is lost in the wilderness and McLaren didn’t rise to its potential.

 

[Notebook]

Nearly off!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/formula1/43420536

N.

 

[Notebook]

Didn't see it, but seems a bit scrappy.

Results:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/2018/bahrain-grand-prix/results

N.

 

[fred18]

That was a really nice race. First part: a lot of battles and highlights, second part: strategies and tension up to the very last corner. I'm a Ferrari fan, so of course I'm happy, but it was a really entertaining race anyway.

 

[BenSisko]

It was a really exciting race. Hopefully a sign of what the season will hold over the next 19 races. I was sorry to see the mechanic get injured. Not clear on how Kimi got the green light without his left rear ever getting removed. It looked worse but glad it was just a broken leg.

 

[fred18]

Not clear on how Kimi got the green light without his left rear ever getting removed.

Apparently the system gives green lights when it sees 4 wheels mounted. The rear left of Kimi was never dismounted for some issue, so when the other 3 wheels were mounted the system saw 4 wheels on and gave green light

 

[BenSisko]

Isn’t there a person in the loop that has the ability to override the lights? Haas instituted that after their pit issues in Australia.

 

[fred18]

Isn’t there a person in the loop that has the ability to override the lights? Haas instituted that after their pit issues in Australia.

The fact that Haas instituted it makes me think that it's an Haas peculiarity, not applied to the other teams. There should be anyway something like this I think. It happens too often that a car gets an unsafe release because the light gets green due to the automatic system. It happened to raikkonen twice last weekend (first during the free practice)

 

[Michkov]

Apparently the system gives green lights when it sees 4 wheels mounted. The rear left of Kimi was never dismounted for some issue, so when the other 3 wheels were mounted the system saw 4 wheels on and gave green light

So they retired a fully functioning car? Granted a mixed set incurs a penalty plus whatever a pitstop is but they'd have the pace to at least run in the top ten with the penalties.

 

[Lucy]

So they retired a fully functioning car? Granted a mixed set incurs a penalty plus whatever a pitstop is but they'd have the pace to at least run in the top ten with the penalties.

They had a problem with the left rear wheel which kept it on the hub despite them having applied an amount of torque to the wheel nut. It's conceivable it might have detached itself at racing speed and caused another serious incident.

That and, you know, they had a man break his leg in their pit crew and were largely unconcerned about the car from that moment on. Normally you'd see the mechanics scrambling to recover the car in that situation - Kimi was left all alone because they were busy helping their friend.

 

[ADSWNJ]

So they retired a fully functioning car? Granted a mixed set incurs a penalty plus whatever a pitstop is but they'd have the pace to at least run in the top ten with the penalties.

Interestingly, the 2018 Sporting Regulations permit mixed spec tire sets for up to 3 laps without penalty, for exactly this type of incident. The penalty after 3 laps would be a 10 second stop & go penalty.

 

[Michkov]

Interestingly, the 2018 Sporting Regulations permit mixed spec tire sets for up to 3 laps without penalty, for exactly this type of incident. The penalty after 3 laps would be a 10 second stop & go penalty.

That must be a new one, I recall the last time this happened, one of the Williams at Spa, they got a penalty.