2045 replies to this topic

[Topsu]

Another season is starting, and while masks will still be slipping off people's faces and crowds will be minimal at least until the latter parts of the season, we have a full fat 23 races on our hands! According to Testing Experts, Red Bull is the best, Mercedes is doomed to be only second best, and Haas is the worst. Everyone else will be fighting for the third place. Exciting, I think! Surely Mercedes won't walk away with it again? Anyway, what better way to start the season than having the third race in the span of four at the Bahrain Circuit.

 

Circuit

 

 

Not much has changed in 4 months. Free Practice sessions will only be 60 minutes this season, which should alleviate some of the boredom. Pirelli continues to allocate the tyres due to covid related logistics issues, and the drivers will each get C2 (hard), C3 (medium) and C4 (soft) tyres this weekend, with a fixed allocation of two hard sets, three medium sets and eight soft sets for each race in 2021.

 

 

No pictures of cargo arriving at the cicuit this year, as that already happened weeks ago at the aforementioned winter test.

 

 

Will we beat last year's pole time with the new regulations?

 

Schedule (Sky)

 

26th Mar

Practice 1 ON AIR 11:00 START 11:30

Practice 2 ON AIR 14:45 START 15:00

 

27th Mar

Practice 3 ON AIR 11:45 START 12:00

Qualifying  ON AIR 14:00 START 15:00

 

28th Mar

Grand Prix ON AIR 14:30 START 16:00

 

Race starts on the hour, like it should.

 

Don't get fooled by daylight savings time!

Europe changes to summer time on Sunday, but apparently Bahrain does not!

 

Full schedule (local times)

 

The Grid

 

Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen

7 Kimi Räikkönen

99 Antonio Giovinazzi

 

Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda

10 Pierre Gasly

22 Yuki Tsunoda

 

Alpine F1 Team

14 Fernando Alonso

31 Esteban Ocon

 

Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team

5 Sebastian Vettel

18 Lance Stroll

 

Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow

16 Charles Leclerc

55 Carlos Sainz Jr.

 

Uralkali Haas F1 Team

9 Nikita Mazepin

47 Mick Schumacher

 

McLaren F1 Team

3 Daniel Ricciardo

4 Lando Norris

 

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team

44 Lewis Hamilton ♔

77 Valtteri Bottas

 

Red Bull Racing Honda

11 Sergio Pérez

33 Max Verstappen

 

Williams Racing

6 Nicholas Latifi

63 George Russell

 

 

New drivers

 

Yuki Tsunoda, Alpha Tauri

 

Mick Schumacher, Haas

 

Nikita Mazepin, Haas

 

Fernando Alonso, Alpine

 

 

New teams

 

We are happy to welcome the new Russian F1 team, Haas F1.

 

Renault is now Alpine

And Racing Point is now Aston Martin

 

Let's get this season going! If someone had an actually witty thread ready, plese feel free to delete this one. But it is almost time for FP1 and we NEED a thread.

 

Are you excited? I am!

Edited by Topsu, 25 March 2021 - 15:05.

[Risil]

Thanks Topsu! I'm intrigued to see how this pans out. Looking forward to massively overreacting to FP1 times as usual.

[aray]

Yeah! We will see lots of sandbagging in both Friday practices.

[Goron3]

Looks like Sunday could be very windy, at least judging from forecasts.

Can't wait for the season to start! Apart from the obvious battle at the front, the midfield battle for Q3 should be fun.

[monolulu]

I can officially get excited now! 

[monolulu]

Yeah! We will see lots of sandbagging in both Friday practices.

We could see lots of sand in both Friday practices!

[lewislorenzo]

Expecting Max to win...have a feeling Danny Ric will be on the podium

[Risil]

Fernando Alonson, Alpine

 

This is first-class photo editing work!

[sportyskells]

Looking forward to this as this time last year we were wondering when the 1st race will be held

[Heyli]

This is first-class photo editing work!

that was editted??

[Dan333SP]

Can someone help me understand why Pirelli use the "C2/3/4" designations rather than just hard/medium/soft/supersoft etc? 

[Okyo]

Feeling big brain energy from Fernando. 

Anyways...

Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy! 

[JHSingo]

Please let this be a year where there's a proper championship battle. If I have to endure yet another season of Sky Sports desperately trying to convince us that Bottas is a title threat, when really we know the outcome of the championship by about the third race of the year, I think I'll scream. 

[pitlanepalpatine]

When they announced last year that the German broadcasts wouldn't be free to air anymore I said to myself, I won't pay Sky inordinate sums to watch F1, I might read an article or two during  the season and otherwise would give up on F1...because I have principles damnit! Now I'm here with my TV Now sub in the lead up thread and wish I was an alcaholic.       Well, better set a reminder so I don't miss watching practice.   

[ConsiderAndGo]

Can someone help me understand why Pirelli use the "C2/3/4" designations rather than just hard/medium/soft/supersoft etc? 

 

This was introduced to make things simpler for the causal viewer.

 

Everyone will only ever be on the soft, medium or hard tire, however there are 5 different compounds running the breadth of what 'soft, medium and hard' actually are.

 

I.e. at this race its C2/3/4, but Monaco, for example, will be C3 (hard) C4 (Medium) and C5 (soft)

[Goron3]

Can someone help me understand why Pirelli use the "C2/3/4" designations rather than just hard/medium/soft/supersoft etc? 

It was done so that now we only ever have a soft, medium or hard at any given race venue, but can still have five in the whole range.

 

Back in 2018 we ended with 7 tyre compounds, which often meant that the 'Supersoft' tyre could be the hardest tyre at any given weekend, which was far more confusing to the average fan but you'd expect 'supersoft' to be, well, soft.

[Afterburner]

Damn, I'm old–I remember the 2004 race, at this strange desert track that had cost somewhere around $150 million to build; if I'm remembering Road & Track correctly, by the next year, the estimate was that the race alone had boosted the GDP of Bahrain over 100%.

And who knew Pedro de la Rosa still held an F1 lap record?

Can someone help me understand why Pirelli use the "C2/3/4" designations rather than just hard/medium/soft/supersoft etc?

Because they're desperate to help us forget the hypersoft/supersoft/ultrasoft nonsense of a few years ago!

[Risil]

Does anyone remember what happened in the 2004 race? The first Bahrain GP I've got a good memory of is 2006, with the Schumacher/Alonso battle, Massa on his Ferrari debut and Rosberg setting fastest lap, but I think the 2005 one featured PdlR standing in for Montoya at McLaren and showing the car's potential.

[JimmyClark]

Does anyone remember what happened in the 2004 race? The first Bahrain GP I've got a good memory of is 2006, with the Schumacher/Alonso battle, Massa on his Ferrari debut and Rosberg setting fastest lap, but I think the 2005 one featured PdlR standing in for Montoya at McLaren and showing the car's potential.

 

All I remember is a lot of dust, a lot of cloud and wind, and a standard Ferrari 1-2. I don't think there was anything else memorable about it? 

 

Back then they thought they could get away with putting glue over the sand by the track, but it didn't work. So the whole place was concreted for 2005 onwards. 

[Risil]

Bring back the oval!

 

p.s. Why haven't they named Turn 3 "Grosjean" yet?

[ConsiderAndGo]

Does anyone remember what happened in the 2004 race? The first Bahrain GP I've got a good memory of is 2006, with the Schumacher/Alonso battle, Massa on his Ferrari debut and Rosberg setting fastest lap, but I think the 2005 one featured PdlR standing in for Montoya at McLaren and showing the car's potential.

 

It was a dreadful race.

 

Ferrari destroyed everyone with very little happening elsewhere. I'm not surprised you can't remember!

[messy]

I'm looking forward to getting all hyped up about Mercedes finally being knocked off their perch then tuning in just in time to see Hamilton and Bottas lock out the front row.

[HeadFirst]

Having a hard time determining how this race will go. Everything I have read/seen so far, indicates an easy victory for Max with Checo close behind. However I never count Lewis Hamilton out, and with Mercedes' ability to solve problems I can see a rabbit (no offense to rabbits) being pulled from a hat on Sunday. My prediction ... Hamilton, Verstappen, and Ricciardo will be the podium, though not necessarily in that order.

[Risil]

It was a dreadful race.

 

Ferrari destroyed everyone with very little happening elsewhere. I'm not surprised you can't remember!

 

Here's something from F1 on Youtube:

 

 

Fernando Alonso! Jaguar! Real sand!

[HeadFirst]

Btw ... I liked the signature post of this thread, it was informative and concise. I actually read the whole thing, instead of jumping to the comments.

[Vesuvius]

Does anyone remember what happened in the 2004 race? The first Bahrain GP I've got a good memory of is 2006, with the Schumacher/Alonso battle, Massa on his Ferrari debut and Rosberg setting fastest lap, but I think the 2005 one featured PdlR standing in for Montoya at McLaren and showing the car's potential.

All I can member from 2004 race is Sand, Ferrari taking dominant 1-2 and Button being lonely 3rd with BAR. Then I remember Kimi's Mercedes engine blowing up with big fire.

[HP]

Does anyone remember what happened in the 2004 race? The first Bahrain GP I've got a good memory of is 2006, with the Schumacher/Alonso battle, Massa on his Ferrari debut and Rosberg setting fastest lap, but I think the 2005 one featured PdlR standing in for Montoya at McLaren and showing the car's potential.

Kimi and Nando the only 2 active racers left in F1.

3rd race of the year, MSC 3rd pole and 3rd win of the year There was hope that high temperatures and new track would throw a curveball at Ferrari. But back then Ferrari was Mercedes of the last few years. Season outcome was pretty much a given by then.

 

The highlight in qualy for me was that Sato for the first time in 2004 beat his teammate Button.

 

Race was pretty straight forward, except for the Williams and McLaren/Mercedes. Ralf Schumacher had a race incident when he tried to dive bomb Sato and spun. Montoya had a gearbox issue late in the race, that cost him a possible podium. McLaren both retired with an engine issue. Kimi with one of those spectacular fiery explosions of the engine. Kimi at the end of the 3rd race of the year hadn't completed an entire race distance when counting all laps from the first 3 races together.

[Boxerevo]

Introducing first, Bahrain !

Edited by Boxerevo, 24 March 2021 - 15:45.

[sgtkate]

Doesn't add much to the thread....but....SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[KnucklesAgain]

When they announced last year that the German broadcasts wouldn't be free to air anymore I said to myself, I won't pay Sky inordinate sums to watch F1, I might read an article or two during  the season and otherwise would give up on F1...because I have principles damnit! Now I'm here with my TV Now sub in the lead up thread and wish I was an alcaholic.       Well, better set a reminder so I don't miss watching practice.   

Pity, the new Sky F1 channel is surprisingly OK

[SophieB]

Looking forward to seeing how promising new star, Fernando Alonso does in the topsy turvy world of F1.

[statman]

it's raceweek

[FirstnameLastname]

Looking forward to seeing how promising new star, Fernando Alonso does in the topsy turvy world of F1.

I predict he’ll end his career as a 2xWDC

[noikeee]

Max gets pole, just a tenth ahead of Lewis and Bottas, Perez 4 tenths behind. Lewis passes Max on the pitstops but then his car goes kaboom. Perez does the opposite and passes Bottas on track as Bottas' tyres go off in the final stint. Red Bull 1-2 with Bottas 3rd place.

[P123]

Bahrain.  Again.  So soon.  F1 can't get away from the place.

[Shade]

Does anyone remember last year? When we thought we were on race week and then suddenly it got postponed for like 2 months? Damn how did we cope with that

Edited by Shade, 24 March 2021 - 17:43.

[BRG]

Can someone help me understand why Pirelli use the "C2/3/4" designations rather than just hard/medium/soft/supersoft etc? 

I guess you don;t do a lot of food shopping?  The letter  'C' stands for Cheese and the number is the strength.  So 2 is mild, 3 is mature, 4 is extra mature.  Simples.

[as65p]

Fernando Alonso! Jaguar! Real sand!

And topping all of that: screamers!

[Heyli]

Just 3 more days of hope that this can be the season might be the one where Merc doesnt win, to then have it all shattered again come qualifying!

[noikeee]

Does anyone remember last year? When we thought we were on race week and then suddenly it got postponed for like 2 months? Damn how did we cope with that

 

I don't think anyone will forget last year! 

[Marklar]

Does anyone remember last year? When we thought we were on race week and then suddenly it got postponed for like 2 months? Damn how did we cope with that

i enjoyed it tbh

[Makarias]

People might want to spice up their race weekends with additional disappointing results. They should take a look at the Bets & Games subforum

 

https://forums.autos...rcs-bets-games/

 

and marvel at the selection of free-to-join games available, hosted by truly good-looking people who out of sheer modesty refuse to post selfies.

[jonpollak]

Wanted the outer circuit

Jp

[HeadFirst]

I don't think anyone will forget last year! 

 

Trying hard ... I think it will be easier if/when this year doesn't look like last year. Oh did you mean just the racing????

Edited by HeadFirst, 24 March 2021 - 19:23.

[JimmyClark]

Wanted the outer circuit

Jp

 

Me too. I hope they think about rotating it, or having 2 years GP / 1 year outer. It was such a fun weekend. 

[Pimpwerx]

As it's become my new tradition, I'm looking forward to another strong season from the Black Silver Arrows. What is good in life, Toto? "To crush your enemies -- See them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women!" May the reign of terror continue. RELEASE THE KRAKEN!

 

 

[Bleu]

Does anyone remember what happened in the 2004 race? The first Bahrain GP I've got a good memory of is 2006, with the Schumacher/Alonso battle, Massa on his Ferrari debut and Rosberg setting fastest lap, but I think the 2005 one featured PdlR standing in for Montoya at McLaren and showing the car's potential.

 

Kimi was on fire, Ralf and Sato had minor collision, Montoya's car failed from 3rd in the closing laps.

 

There was also funny pics when DC's car failed just after pit stop. There were Coulthard's McLaren-Mercedes, medical car and safety car parked next to each other.

[krapmeister]

Wanted the outer circuit

Jp

Unfortunately it's covered in dirt this weekend

[TheFish]

I don't think anyone will forget last year!

I actually don’t remember the Bahrain race. Obviously Grosjean’s crash but I think that caused me to forget the rest of it.

I remember the 2nd race much better. Bring back the outer circuit!

[MikeTekRacing]

Yeah! We will see lots of sandbagging in both Friday practices.

The sandbagging at this moment being....?