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Sports Articles: Formula 1: Bahrain Talking Points

Formula 1: Bahrain Talking Points
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Formula 1: Things To Think About After Race 2 In Bahrain

 

1. The sea change in performance from the first race was amazing. Does this better show the relative levels of performance of the top two teams? It was certainly expected that Ferrari would have a significant edge in the early stages and it was a shock that Mercedes won that so comfortably.

 

2. How unlucky and lucky is Leclerc? He was so unlucky to have his car fail him while he had done so well to recover from a poor start to lead. He had been outstanding other than that mistake off the line, qualifying on pole and then working his way past both Bottas and Vettel to take the lead. He was strolling to a well-deserved victory until his engine cried enough. But then he got lucky that both Renaults failed and brought out the pace car, allowing him to hold onto a podium place.

 

3. So nice to see the cars able to follow closer in the twisty sections, enabling so much overtaking to happen. Hopefully that means the new regulations have worked and will make the racing closer.

 

4. What on earth is going wrong with Red Bull? They are looking like a mid-table team this season. It does not help that they, in my opinion, brought in the wrong driver to work with Verstappen. They needed someone with experience, I think.

 

5. Have McLaren turned a corner? They certainly look to be competitive at last. Though they did make a huge mess of trying to recover when Sainz crashed. Going with hard tires just left him really struggling to make up ground and then, when he did catch someone, he just did not have the grip to overtake. They were far too conservative on a track that tends to reward bravery.

 

6. Speaking of strategy, did Mercedes really get their strategy right? They lucked into a win, but should they have gone with mediums at the first stop and opened up the chance to go soft on the final one and attack. Not that it mattered in the end, but softs looked to be struggling early on.

 

7. What is wrong with Vettel? He is a multiple world champion making mistakes you would expect from an amateur racer. They cost him a chance of the title last season and they have put him on the back foot already after just two races.

 

8. Is Bottas a realistic title challenger? The first race would have you thinking he has to be, but he was so tame in Bahrain, it was a return to the Bottas of last season, who offered nothing. He just looks content to tootle round with no aggressive racing to get in the way of his nice Sunday afternoon drive.

Written by Tris Burke April 01 2019 20:43:24

 

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