F1 Bahrain.......SPOILER!!!!!

[bell]

What a great race, button is on his way to his dream, this season is going to continue to be fantastic

[LakeCleElum]

Watching my Tivo'd version right now....9 laps to go.....Don't tell me who won!

[bell]

Ummmm.....you should know better to open a thread titled SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!

[Noah930]

Nice race. I don't know who I like to win more: Button/Barichello in the Brawn, or Vettel in the Red Bull. Good to see the racers with more enthusiasm than attitude do well.

I thought it was interesting that despite all the passing we've seen on track this season, the commentators mentioned that the super-diffusers may make passing more difficult.

I also liked the pass for position made by Kimi towards the latter portion of the race. For the first time in awhile, he showed a flash of inspired racing. I don't think I've seen that in him since midway through last year.

How do the race promoters expect to make any money, or even come close to breaking even? Other than the start/finish grandstands, there's no one attending the race! Is Bernie's $30 mil fee paid/subsidized entirely by the Bahrain government?

[Aerkuld]

Originally Posted by Noah930

...I also liked the pass for position made by Kimi towards the latter portion of the race. For the first time in awhile, he showed a flash of inspired racing. I don't think I've seen that in him since midway through last year...

It was a great race from the disjointed coverage I saw (internet stream).

It's funny you should say this about Kimi. I was starting to believe that he had pretty much given up for the season. All we've heard from him in the press for the last few weeks is "..the chamiponships over...", "...we can't catch up..." and similar such defeatist crap. I know he has to tow the team line and the team were obviously really pissed about the diffuser deal, but I honestly thought he'd rolled over. Maybe that ice cream did the trick!

I'm also excited by the prospect of Button and Vettle battling it out all season and I suspect it will only get better from here. This is going to be one of the best F1 seasons for a long while.

[URY914]

I'm sure the Bahrain government (which is really a family) could care less if anyone came to watch this race in person.

[LakeCleElum]

Originally Posted by Noah930

Other than the start/finish grandstands, there's no one attending the race! Is Bernie's $30 mil fee paid/subsidized entirely by the Bahrain government?

I think Television fees pay the bills???

[fumanchu]

Kimi held off the Toyota pretty well at the end.
BMW really is stink'in the joint up right now, thought they'd be the bright spot after last years limited success.
Williams seems to show pretty decent speed, but no results?//?

Should we really thank Bernie for the upheval/ diffuser debate? You know he had an influence on the FIA verdict. Regardless, it has changed things for the better. We shall see who can effectively catch up.

[javadog]

Originally Posted by LakeCleElum

I think Television fees pay the bills???

Nope. Races like this one, China, etc. are subsidized by the government. They think that by holding an F1 race they will show the world that they are players on the modern stage, as opposed to the backwater hell-hole they really are.

Kind of like China and the Olympics. Just a very long, very expensive infomercial.

Can you tell I'm just a wee bit bitter about losing so many of the traditional races?

As much as I like the fact that this year there are more teams competing at the top than before, I can't stand the new rules. Given that it's almost April and there is nothing in place for next year yet, I'm not looking forward to the future. Kill bernie and Max, and do it now...

JR

[Wickd89]

Good race but did not make me want to fly out and have a vacation there.
Sand Everywhere. Not my idea of paradise...

We need one back in Cuba (a little biased)

[Dottore]

Originally Posted by Wickd89

We need one back in Cuba (a little biased)

Brilliant idea!

A Monte-Carlo style race along the Havana waterfront.

I need to get to work on this....

[Stanley]

PlanetF1's thoughts on the Bahrain GP venue. I think they are spot on.

F1 As A Spectator Sport...?
The Crown Prince of Bahrain admitted on camera that his country's race isn't a sporting event. No, it's a branding exercise. The state of Bahrain uses the Grand Prix to promote the country in the world as a brand.

There is no groundswell of popular support for F1 in Bahrain. On Saturday for Qualifying the grandstands had less people than an English Football League Two bottom of the table clash. In Japan or Spain or the UK the grandstand on the start-finish straight would have been almost full for Qualifying.

During the race the main grandstand was half full. It was embarrassing. What's more the landscape the race passes through is a sandy quarry. State of the art? No, state of my ****. And it's the same story in China and in Malaysia where free tickets help boost the numbers.

What Bernie Ecclestone has to understand is the overwhelming majority of F1 fans don't care that the media centre is able to hold 500 accredited journalists, or that the grandstand looks like two wings of a Stormy Petrel (especially when it's equipped to seat 10,000 and 17 turn up). What they want is a circuit where they can instantly distinguish where the cars are, that facilitates overtaking and produces a good race.

As long as Silverstone or Donington or Montreal or even an improved Imola can do that, they should be on the calendar.

http://www.planetf1.com/story/0,18954,3265_5244624,00.html

[URY914]

Look at the up side- no trees to hit when going off course, no deer running across the track, no rain, no traffic to/from the track, etc, etc, etc...

[legion]

Max and Bernie love the "image" races--especially because they are mostly subsidized by the government of their home country. All of those "traditional" races suck because, well, you have to attract actual fans to buy tickets and show up--and that can be hard to do when the governing body consistently favors certain teams and drums up witch hunts against others.

[Sarc]

Never know who'd you run into...

[URY914]

They have homeless Bahrain?

[Sarc]

Lol!

[Deschodt]

This season really goes to show you that the cars are #1 reason people win races, drivers #2...

Last year Button was an also-ran, and nobody tried to rescue him from a floundering Honda... Look at him now, smelling like roses and destroying Barichello, too! Good for the guy, really! On the flip side, Semi-God (according to the press anyway) Hamilton has to be happy with just missing the podium !

I think this season is "funny", but not all that "interesting"... Last year was interesting with the races fought more or less on equal terms... KERS has proven to be somewhat crap (unreliable, heavy, super expensive and it prevents passing between cars that should pass each other). The new aero rule does not seem all that good at improving passing either, according to the drivers anyway, but it sure made the cars fugly...

I'm happy to see Button and Vettel thumbing their noses at Ferrari and McLaren, but at the end of the day it's also a little sad to see BMW finish 19/20th and the big teams mid pack... It's kinda like watching GRAND AM where an RX7 beats a 997GT3, you know there's been some unfair tweakingof the rulebook going on ;-) The fact that the FIA took 4 races to decide who was legal is a joke ! That said, methink that the RedBull is almost as good as the Brawn already, wait till Newey cooks a super-diffuser that fits the car for it and it'll be all Vettel for the title!

Pretty sad about Sea-Bass too, he's out for sure (along with Piquet, but I never liked piquet)!

[MotoSook]

Sea-Bass was never F1 material. Champ Car is a long long ways from F1. He lacks the confidence for F1 and lacks skills to tune the car. He was always blaming the car and he admitted in one interview that he didn't have confidence to drive hard...because the car didn't inspire his confidence. Yet his team mate made the best of the same car! Maybe Sea-Bass got Scott Speed's car? Speed was always making similar claims. A good driver squeezes out the very best of a car...not matter if it isn't the greatest car on the grid. See Alonso.

Alonso and Piquet .. same story.

You have to give Button some creds though...Rubens has the wisdom of age and experience of driving very capable cars and influences from some of the greats. So one would expect that he can make a good car a front runner. But Button out drives him in every race so far...so give Button his due.

As commented on Speed - when the other teams saw BrawnGP testing...why didn't they think to work on a similar solution instead of whining about the spirit of the rule? It would have costed them a lot less to do that then compared to what they are spending now.

If they were afraid it would be outlawed, they could have at least done some preliminary work in case it wasn't...sure would have saved them the scrabbling they are going through now.

I can't wait to see the new Red Bull and Vettel....

[legion]

It only took the FIA two races to decide if the diffusers were legal or not. As was pointed out on Speed, this was the first ruling since 1984 that did not go Ferrari's way.

But they are gearing up to punish Hamilton again for something they have already punished him for. That seems fair.