Bahrain GP 2013 - Race

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Second successive pole for Mercedes, this time it was Rosberg who was surprised to find himself so convincingly in front of the time sheets. Vettel will start along the German on the front row with both Ferraris sharing the second row. Ferrari sent Massa to qualify in hard tyres knowing that Webber and Hamilton were taking grid penalties and now they have their two 2 cars is different strategies starting at the front of the field. Hamilton was fourth confirming Mercedes single-lap form but needed a gearbox replacement after hitting a kerb in P3 and taking a 5 place penalty. Webber was fifth, he will be demoted 3 spots. Massa was originally sixth only 2 tenths behind Webber, a very impressive mark for the red-colored hard compound tyres. Next in 7th & 8th were the Force Indias that now will move to the third row; Raikkonen somewhat disappointed in 9th and 10th was Button who didn’t go out in Q3 to save a set of rubber and to start on the primes.

Our QF results were kind of normal, which is to say bad.  Alberto, Manbos and Tim scored two valuable points with VET-ALO in 2nd-3rd, plus another 8 single marks with either VET or ALO. No one predicted ROS’s pole.

The grid (including final revisions):

ROS  VET  ALO  MAS  DIR SUT WEB RAI BUT HAM

With track temperatures in the high 30s tomorrow will be hard to cover the 57 laps in 2 stops, but many will try it, including Massa, Button, Perez (12th) and particularly both Lotus cars (Grosjean is 11th). This promises to be a fantastic race with tension building up to the last laps. Alonso (3) and Massa (2) are the only drivers with more than 1 victory in Bahrain; Raikkonen has been 5 times in the podium but with no wins to his count.

Here my lottery ticket:  Cato – ALO  VET  MAS  ROS HAM  RAI. 

One of my biggest enjoyments from participating in the CFA comes from following the group’s voting process. If you haven’t done it before, go to ‘GP Results’ from the CFA-bottom menu where the ‘Race Statistic Forecast’ chart is logging the number picks the drivers get for each of the top 6 positions (including percentages). It’s the pulse of the CFA as we approach the start of the race and then it’s a lot of fun to watch it and compare during the race itself. This is the same menu were the final results are published once the race is over.

http://f1.manbos.com/estadis.asp?t=2013&gpn=Bahrain&nevent=race

Now your turn, get your ticket, enjoy and good luck!

Cheers

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