F1 Madness

Tag: twilight race

  • Mercedes dominate and Hamilton sets the pace in FP3

    Mercedes dominate and Hamilton sets the pace in FP3

    Mercedes continued to show their excellent form during the final practice session ahead of this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

    Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets a tenth of a second ahead of team mate Nico Rosberg, with Checo Perez in the third spot for Force India, a half-second country mile behind them.

    Despite spending the first half of the session in the Williams garage, Valterri Bottas and Felipe Massa managed to secure the 4th and 5th spots for the Williams team, showing a good improvement in their performance.

    Jenson Button managed 6th place for the McLaren team and Fernando Alonso secured 7th in the first non-Mercedes powered car, for Ferrari. The Ferrari drivers seemed to be struggling a great deal with rear grip around the track. While many drivers were caught out by the tail wind around T11, the Ferrari drivers seemed to be getting to know the outskirts a little too well around there.

    Rounding out the Top 10 were Nico Hulkenberg for Force India, Toro Rosso’s Daniel Kvyat and Kevin Magnussen for McLaren.

    Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel ended his session early – without the opportunity to head out on soft tyres, after spinning off at the exit of Turn 2 and stalling his car in the gravel trap.

    Conditions during the third practice session were far from those we can expect during qualifying and the race tomorrow now that Bahrain has joined the elite night race hosts. Temperatures drop considerably in the evenings at the desert circuit so expect a few surprises from qualifying later this afternoon.

    Who can catch the Mercedes drivers to steal the pole position for tomorrow’s Bahrain Grand Prix? Right now, it would seem absolutely nobody can!

    Time sheets and full tyre info below. Please join us later on @F1_Madness for live commentary and chats during qualifying for the Bahrain GP.

    FP3 Timesheet:

    Bahrain_FP3

    Tyre info:

    FP3_TyreInfo

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • 2014 Bahrain GP Preview – Mercedes set to sparkle under desert floodlights

    2014 Bahrain GP Preview – Mercedes set to sparkle under desert floodlights

    Less than a week after the Malaysian Grand Prix, where Mercedes thundered to its first one-two finish since the 1955 Italian Grand Prix, Formula One sets up shop in Bahrain for round three of the 2014 F1 World Championship.

    Mercedes will remain in good spirits for this weekend’s Bahrain GP. The car is perfectly suited to the layout of the Saakhir International Circuit.

    The Sakhir circuit offers more stop-and-go corners and more throttle time than the twisty Malaysia circuit. No need to compromise super speed on the straights for downforce through the turns. Most of the corners in Bahrain are around 160kph or less.

    The circuit is also very demanding on fuel. This could be a game-changer for teams like Red Bull, who’ve had fuel flow sensor issues in both races so far this season.

    This is the tenth outing for F1 to the Saakhir International Circuit and with this anniversary, the Bahrain Grand Prix presents a new challenge to teams and drivers – the first race under floodlights in the desert as Bahrain joins Abu Dhabi as the second twilight race on the F1 calendar.

    Bahrain GP night race pitsThe cooler evening temperatures lead to changes in balance and grip levels so teams have their work cut out for them. They do already have data on these conditions which they would have gathered at the two pre-season tests held at this circuit.

    The lower temperatures will favour the cooling capabilities of the new power units which has been an issue for some teams leading up to the start of the 2014 season. Red Bull in particular had a very difficult time with overheating power units.

    Mercedes will be the team to beat as the sun sets over Bahrain on Sunday. One thing is certain – we are in for a visual spectacular!