Poll: Official 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix Race Thread - Sakhir Circuit - Race 1/23

Rate the Bahrain Grand Prix 2023 out of ten

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Whilst I would love to see FA fight for a championship it just isn't on. RB will be miles ahead, especially as the season develops. The one thing you get with FA is the craftiness which is worth a few points on its own. If the teams (bar RB) are close, then you can expect Alonso to really ring the neck out of the car and extract everything it's got.

Let's just hope the AM is reliable. He had some great qualifying performances last year, and would have had much larger haul of points if not for the terrible reliability of the Alpine.

As for Alpine, I really hope Gasley smashes Ocon. Not been keen on the guy since the Perez days, whereas Gasley seems pretty likeable.

I missed FP2, does anyone know what happened to Sainz?
 
Everyone is excited by the FP2 times for Aston, but do we know why Hulk was so fast? His time is still making me skeptical about what FP2 really means.

Lets face it, The Haas and Hulk are NOT going to be within a few tenths of Max in the Red Bull come qualy/race day.

So how representative are the times we have there? Was Hulk doing something differently to the rest (tyres/fuel/engine modes)?

It could point to some teams (especially RB), not showing anywhere near what they can actually do.
 
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Scam said:
People talking about Alonso winning the championship like we’ve never seen a mixed up practice session before? Lol :p
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Indeed. Getting excited over the times in a practice session where a HAAS with a old returnee average driver in it is 5th and set a time a few tenths of Max/virtually the same as Lecerc is.....maybe getting ahead of ones self.

The AM's pace looks encouraging but I will be incredibly surprised if Alonso is able to fight for wins with Max.

It wouldn't surprise me if the Aston's were doing glory runs (along with Hulk in the Haas), and RB/Fer (and poss Merc), havent truly turned things up to 11 yet.
 
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Jono8 said:
Everyone is excited by the FP2 times for Aston, but do we know why Hulk was so fast? His time is still making me skeptical about what FP2 really means.
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People aren't getting excited because Alonso topped one session. They're getting excited because the Aston was consistently fast during testing, showed the best tyre deg of any team on their longer runs during testing, was faster than the Red Bull on longer runs during FP2, and topped the time sheets on what seemed like equal quali sim runs. Meanwhile, Red Bull have been struggling with inconsistent balance, the Ferrari seemingly unable to find that final hint of pace, and Mercedes don't seem any closer to the front than last year.

Now caution would suggest that its unlikely that they'll be quite as impressive come quali and race but it's not like people are just looking at one FP2 time and creaming themselves.
 
Mr Jack said:
People aren't getting excited because Alonso topped one session. They're getting excited because the Aston was consistently fast during testing, showed the best tyre deg of any team on their longer runs during testing, was faster than the Red Bull on longer runs during FP2, and topped the time sheets on what seemed like equal quali sim runs. Meanwhile, Red Bull have been struggling with inconsistent balance, the Ferrari seemingly unable to find that final hint of pace, and Mercedes don't seem any closer to the front than last year.

Now caution would suggest that its unlikely that they'll be quite as impressive come quali and race but it's not like people are just looking at one FP2 time and creaming themselves.
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I'm not talking about just this forum necessarily. Everyone is losing their minds on the Reddit sub about it.

I just think Hulk's time kind of invalidates any sort of concrete analysis we can take from FP2. Either these are representative and Hulk will be fighting Max and Leclerc for the championshop in his Haas, or RB and Fer have potentially a lot more in the tank.

Anyway, only a few more hours to wait until we see exactly how competitive everyone is so...
 
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Scam said:
People talking about Alonso winning the championship like we’ve never seen a mixed up practice session before? Lol :p
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Isn't that part of the fun of pre season?

Everyone making assumptions, desperate for some upset. First race, back to same as last year. Boo.

Pre season is most exciting time of the year. Unfortunate but that's way f1 is.
 
Jono8 said:
I just think Hulk's time kind of invalidates any sort of concrete analysis we can take from FP2. Either these are representative and Hulk will be fighting Max and Leclerc for the championshop in his Haas, or RB and Fer have potentially a lot more in the tank.
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Except Hülk wasn't consistently fast in testing, didn't show exceptional tyre deg in testing, and wasn't setting equally impressive times on longer runs. You're taking one of the many bits of information that are being looked at and ignoring the rest.
 
I have just been watching some footage of Lance Stroll taking both hands off the steering wheel along the straight, unable to turn the steering wheel properly with both hands on certain corners and unable to get in and out of the car without being lifted by the pit crew. Why is he being allowed to race?
 
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supafly said:
I have just been watching some footage of Lance Stroll taking both hands off the steering wheel along the straight, unable to turn the steering wheel properly with both hands on certain corners and unable to get in and out of the car without being lifted by the pit crew. Why is he being allowed to race?
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Yeh, it seems crazy to me that he is allowed to race. He is a risk to himself and others out there to be honest.
 
supafly said:
I have just been watching some footage of Lance Stroll taking both hands off the steering wheel along the straight, unable to turn the steering wheel properly with both hands on certain corners and unable to get in and out of the car without being lifted by the pit crew. Why is he being allowed to race?
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It's a bit of a joke. Like when drivers drive with illness etc.. I think the medical test should be much stricter. It would also make reserve drivers much more useful.

EDIT: Seems he did fine, we'll see how he hold up through the race. The commentators were saying he needed help to get out of the car yesterday, which is what prompted my comment.
 
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If Stroll could not extricate himself from the car in so many seconds he'd not be racing. He's obviously passed that test. F1 drivers are probably the most medically monitored and tested out of any sport.
Obviously there are some in here who think they have more expertise than the profession FIA medical team and the teams own medical teams.
In car shots today showing him in full control...
 
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