An interesting start to the season. STR doing very well with the Honda engine and McLaren showing they were full of hot air last year saying that they had the best chassis (Calmdown you are correct)!
Force India in trouble, with Williams in an even worse mess, despite having a Merc powerplant on the back.
I will rarely comment on Sauber, but can say that it is a big area under the curve problem, and it will take quite some time to catch up to where the team wants to be.
I confess that I know very little about the technicalities of F1. But what a difference from the Australian GP. Worth watching from start to finish. Wish they were all like this.
Best wishes to the Ferrari mechanic whoâs leg was broken.
Looked to me like Merc designed the best race and would have had 1&2 if Pirrelliâs tyre data was correct.
Alternatively Vettel looked managed his tyres perfectly and brought it home.
I do think that if Hammy had been in Bottasâs position he would have been within DRS a lap earlier and had two goes at Vettel. Bottas got under the 1 second gap so either Vettel just pushed it enough to increase the gap (and fair play to him and his team if that is what happened) or Bottas choked.
I watched the McLaren documentary on Amazon Prime last weekend. It was a surprise to see one of the designers that I worked with (Scott Bain) going through the seat fitting process with Vandorne. In the background I could see Tim Goss (one of the 3 senior technical people there and joined McLaren before I did in 1990).
It will be interesting to see how they handle the latest mess.
I cannot understand how Boullier is still in charge there. He isnât a technical director and yet the 3 most senior technical people report to him and he must make some big decisions on the basis of the information that they give him.
Appreciate your reticence about Sauber, but there are certainly signs of promise (and FWVLIW, the best livery on the track!).
Not so sure - he largely failed to close the gap to Bottas despite being on newer tyres.
Good race overall, and stunning effort from Gasly - much egg on Maclaren facesâŚ
Congratulations on the points, well deserved.
Thanks.
Glad heâs OK - very nasty experience.
Given the damage done, the unsafe-release penalty fine Ferrari received was laughable.
Looks like Marcus didnât get the memo 
Quite a race from him. Well done.
Gasly didnât put a foot wrong either, serious impresisve. Bet the Honda boys had a good night too.
Great great drive from Vettel, but Bottas - WTAF. Either go for it at turn 1 or line up turn 3 already. He did neither, the dopey fecker. .
I âwatchâ the race on the FIA app on my iPad since it gives the data I was used to getting on the pit wall. The commentators miss most of what is going on. Bottas tried to get ready to have a good attack but made a mistake in the middle sector 3 or 4 laps from the end which meant he was too far back. It was his mistake and the tv showed the lock up, the C4 commentators mentioned it but didnât check the data. It was there he lost it. Would Hamilton have made a similar mistake when pushing that hard? Impossible to know.
Williams pitiful in every way.
Quite possibly, but by making a half ass âmoveâ at T1, Bottas buggered any chance at the next sequence or at DRS2. Woeful.
Speaking of which, as you yourself say: your old team. in recet years weâve had the yardstick of Force india doing an infitiely better job with the same engine and less $$$, though this season less so: whatâs your take on how Williams have managed to start the season with what seems such a shitbox ?
Craig,
For Williams it is just a progression. They were bad in 2013, saved by a set of circumstances that will not happen again in 2014, and then the others caught up and overtook them over the next 3 years.
I have mentioned this on here before. If your head of vehicle performance publicly states that the team does not understand why they are slow in low speed corners and in the wet, as he did in 2016. Then they will only go back down the grid!
Ian
Marcus drove the race very well, the strategy was spot on and the tyres were operated in the right zone.
My tongues wiggling around my cheek, but ⌠I thought that had changed with the recruitment of senior personnel over the last 18 months?
Iâll happily withhold judgement til after Barcelona but it seems certain that theyâre going backwards.
Even if they were werenât, compare their line up to Force Indiaâs
What senior people have you heard about that they have recruited? As far as I am aware the head of vehicle performance is the same person as before?
The laptimes from Bahrain suggests that they have made the new car slower than the previous year.
Is this not something of a death-spiral for Williams? By which I mean, as performance has declined over several seasons, and household-name drivers been replaced by no-name pay-pilots, surely the few remaining sponsors will be jumping ship, further hampering development?
Martini are off at the end of the season I think? Thatâs a real shame.
Indeed. This doesnât look good for Williams. Though I sincerely hope otherwise.
Unless the F1 powers that be sort the funding out, Ferrari and Merc will only be racing each otherâŚ