2015 FORMULA 1 BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX

[XHawkeye]

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McLaren might be improving... aaaaaaaand Jenson's out already #F1 #BahrainGP

[FaultyMario]

Ferrari are really enjoying the higher temps.

Looking forward to having a race.

[XHawkeye]

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.@JensonButton out! #F1

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Softw v2.0 for Merc engines it seems!

Speed trap domination!

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.@JensonButton's Mclaren at #BahrainGp 2015 #F1 😂 #Joke

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CLASSIFICATION after #Q3 #BahrainGP #F1

[samoht]

Hamilton looked like he was running special extra-soft tyres, the way he chucked it into that last turn. With it being a night race and thus cooler I think he'll have a bit in hand over the Ferraris tomorrow, but will be interesting to see.

[Godson]

Kimi needs a stronger podium damnit!

[XHawkeye]

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👍 Good to see @alo_oficial getting into q2, lets hope lucky 14 on grid means he gets some points #mclaren #alonso

[overpowered]

Hamilton seems to be widening the gap between him and Rosberg.
Vettel manages to beat Rosberg.
Kimi is breathing down Rosberg's neck.

I don't know if anyone can beat Lewis much this year but at least Mercedes is looking like they won't have as many 1-2's as last year.

[Blerpa]

Hamilton seems to be widening the gap between him and Rosberg.
Vettel manages to beat Rosberg.
Kimi is breathing down Rosberg's neck.

I don't know if anyone can beat Lewis much this year but at least Mercedes is looking like they won't have as many 1-2's as last year.

It's just that the real values in the field are showing...

[Random]

w00t, Team Finn*!

[XHawkeye]

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¿Y si yo pilotara ese Ferrari? #Alonso #Raikkonen #Vettel #f1 #BahrainGP

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#bahrainGP Start #F1

[XHawkeye]

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Rosberg on Kimi!!! #F1

[XHawkeye]

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Spot the Maldonado #F1

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It's on! #Rosberg #Vettel

[XHawkeye]

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MEGA!!! #F1 #BahrainGP

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Rosberg on Vettel #F1

[XHawkeye]

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#Vettel runs wide, #Rosberg back to 2nd #F1 #BahrainGP

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Stunning view from up in the tower

[XHawkeye]

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PARRILLADA!!! #F1

[XHawkeye]

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Champin Kaka! #f1

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Poor Kimi! #f1

[XHawkeye]

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Kimi's podium mic fails: nobody notices.

[XHawkeye]

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#LewisHamilton and #KimiRaikkonen
Bahrain #F1 Grand Prix Race 2015 #Formula1
© Sutton Motorsport Images

[Godson]

Fuck rosberg


Go KIMI!!!!!!!

[Blerpa]

FUCK ROSBERG ALWAYS.
FUCK VETTEL.
FUCK FERRARI.

But... go Kimi!

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yeah, glad to see Kimi finally doing well! :up:

[overpowered]

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[samoht]

At present its looking good for Hamilton. The Edge review of the first Gran Turismo said 'unlike Mario Kart, the same opponent doesn't always finish ahead, leading to less frustrating championships', and the odd Ferrari coming 2nd gives the same benefit to Lewis, whereas last year however much quicker he was than Rosberg he could only pull out 7 points

[overpowered]

The Mercedes were both having brake problems towards the end of the race which apparently forced them both to slow down. If not for that, Kimi might not have passed Rosberg. That would only have given Rosberg 3 extra points, which means he'd still be getting stomped by Hamilton. Of course in Vettel's win, it came to down to a bad call by Mercedes on the pit stops. If they had called it right, they probably would have finished 1-2. That would have meant 7 more points for Hamilton and 3 more for Rosberg, only increasing Hamilton's lead over Rosberg further. I'm not sure if Hamilton's upped his game or Rosberg's lost something, but the gap has clearly widened between them.

Ferrari's made great improvements but they are still just enough slower than Mercedes that they need a little bit of luck to beat either Mercedes.

Williams might see a podium or two this year but I kind of doubt that they will see a win. It would require a lot of luck in terms of all four drivers from Mercedes and Ferrari having some sort of issue.

Red Bull is looking really bad.

[FaultyMario]

McLaren?

Brain Faaaaaart!

[Crazed_Insanity]

They're all silver, same difference... :p

It's only a matter of time when McLaren Honda will be mixing up near the top. I hope Jenson would still be around to finish his unfinished business.

[overpowered]

I don't see how they're going to be mixing it up at the top this season. Even next season seems unlikely, though I'll grant that it's possible. It's pretty amazing how far they've fallen in only a couple of seasons.

[Godson]

Amazing an sad. Apparently Hamilton was that big of a game changer. Yet I find that hard to believe.

[FaultyMario]

I don't see how they're going to be mixing it up at the top this season. Even next season seems unlikely, though I'll grant that it's possible. It's pretty amazing how far they've fallen in only a couple of seasons.

They've also taken on some engine responsibilities over from Honda. I don't really see how that helps the F1 team, sure, McLaren cars and their engineering consulting business gets some street cred, but won't that make them a sort of Illmor or Cosworth?

[IMOA]

I'd say it helps them in the way that they might actually be able to get the engine to work. In all the 'yay Honda and mclaren back together' excitement most people failed to realize that Honda in the 80's didn't act like a japanese company whereas 30 years on Honda of today very much is. And to put it bluntly a japanese company with japanese culture is the last thing you want in an F1 team.

[MR2 Fan]

I'd say it helps them in the way that they might actually be able to get the engine to work. In all the 'yay Honda and mclaren back together' excitement most people failed to realize that Honda in the 80's didn't act like a japanese company whereas 30 years on Honda of today very much is. And to put it bluntly a japanese company with japanese culture is the last thing you want in an F1 team.

can you please elaborate? I'm not disagreeing, just wondering about your viewpoint ;)

[Blerpa]

I'm countering all these negative opinions with a bet... by the end of the year McLaren-Honda's outlook will be better than RedBull and Toro Rosso Renault.

[IMOA]

can you please elaborate? I'm not disagreeing, just wondering about your viewpoint ;)

Honda of the 80's was still the Honda Sochiro built, an absolute maverick by japanese standards. It was a company built from the ground up by the drive and ingenuity of an individual who built genuinely ground braking cars and bikes and had the balls to tell the government to fuck off when they were told to stop making cars - this is a much bigger deal than people realise.

Sochiro and his legacy is long gone, Honda of today has drifted back to being a very japanese company. That means strict hierarchy, suppression of individual ideas and inspiration, group think, tortured decision making processes, an inability to confront issues with honesty and plain speaking and an obsession with replicating what was done rather than looking for ways how it should be done.

Formula 1 is an insanely fast faced technical environment where innovation needs to be delivered at a blistering pace just to hang on to the pack. Sochiro's Honda was equiped to do this, today's Honda is a mile away.

[MR2 Fan]

fair enough

[Mr Wonder]

Honda of the 80's was still the Honda Sochiro built, an absolute maverick by japanese standards. It was a company built from the ground up by the drive and ingenuity of an individual who built genuinely ground braking cars and bikes and had the balls to tell the government to fuck off when they were told to stop making cars - this is a much bigger deal than people realise.

Sochiro and his legacy is long gone, Honda of today has drifted back to being a very japanese company. That means strict hierarchy, suppression of individual ideas and inspiration, group think, tortured decision making processes, an inability to confront issues with honesty and plain speaking and an obsession with replicating what was done rather than looking for ways how it should be done.

Formula 1 is an insanely fast faced technical environment where innovation needs to be delivered at a blistering pace just to hang on to the pack. Sochiro's Honda was equiped to do this, today's Honda is a mile away.
This is exactly the problem at the moment. While the car isn't quite where they wanted it in terms of aero, the entire Honda package is letting them down big time. McLaren are having to design engine parts because Honda can't, or won't. It's utterly ridiculous and a lot of people are very unhappy with the arrangement.

[Alan P]

I remember Ross Brawn saying working with Honda was an exercise in frustration with anyone remotely close to the F1 project absolutely refusing to make any decisions and passing it up the chain until it got to someone Ross hardly knew and was four or five steps removed from the F1 project in a process that took weeks rather than hours or days.

[Yobbo NZ]

Sounds a bit like the Toyota F1 team all over again.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Honda most certainly lost its way as demonstrated by their eventual exit of F-1 when spooked by global slow down. They probably could've finally won the championship, but the turn of events also proven that they weren't really focused on racing, but their financial bottomline.

Will the new CEO be different? I wonder what was the motivation for Honda when Honda decided to come back.

Anyway, at the moment, it's really difficult to see who's more messed up. Honda obviously has issues they need to deal with, but it's not like McLaren had been running near the front with Mercedes engines lately. Expecting the team to suddenly dominate is perhaps asking too much..., but Alonso probably won't have that many years left to wait. Feel sorry for the guy.