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Red-Bull had a very dissapointing outing in China, with Vettel finishing just outside of the podium positions in fourth and Mark Webber having a nightmare of a weekend in which he finally had to retire the car.
In China, the long straight in sector 3 hurt Red-Bull big time and it clearly highlighted their lack of top end speed. But Bahrain is a completely different circuit and the Red-Bull has had quite a good record here with Vettel winning the race last year from pole. The circuit is of a stop-go nature and has many fast corners as well, so all of these should play into the strengths of Red Bull.
One thing which probably will trouble the Red-Bull engineers is tyre wear and Bahrain has a very abrasive surface. The ambient and track temperatures also are very high in this part of the world. So, managing tyres will be very crucial as it has been an area where Red-Bull have struggled so far this season and have even asked Pirelli to alter the compounds.
Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
2012 Qualifying – 1st, 2012 Race – 1st
“The positive of back-to-back races is that on the Friday of the second race, you get into the rhythm quickly. You save time by travelling direct from one race to the next and can adapt to the time zone a bit quicker, as you don‘t have to travel so far. The only thing is that there‘s not much time for physical and mental recovery after the first race. I make the most of the Monday after the first race, in terms of relaxing and recovery. On the Tuesday, I do some easy training in the gym or some badminton, to keep the body and mind in correct mode. It‘s important that the race calender is well balanced so that drivers can get proper rest periods in order to be able to push 100 percent at each event. This means that sometimes it is good to have back-to-back races and then some longer breaks. The circuit in Bahrain? The corners can fool you and lead to errors because the track is very wide and quite often the apex of the corner is not obvious. For example the apex of Turn 14 is hidden as you approach it.”
Mark Webber, Red Bull
2012 Qualifying – 3rd, 2012 Race – 4th
“The benefit of back-to-back races is that we like racing and it’s another opportunity to go racing again soon, so that’s a positive. We’re already roughly in the same part of the world, so back-to-back races can be an efficient way for us to go racing; as an industry it’s good organisation. It’s important to make sure you get ready for the next race off the back of the first one, so travelling as soon as you can is important. If you have a very big result at the first race then you’re not going to stay in the night club too long that evening celebrating, as you need to make sure you’re ready for the next event. It’s a short turnaround; you want to make sure that the training is sensible and you’re keeping yourself healthy. It’s good to have a back-to-back, then a bit of a break, and then back-to-back again. When we’re off we have a bit of a chance to regroup. My favourite corner of the Bahrain Circuit? I quite like the last sector, Turns 12 and 13, up over the crest, that’s a nice part of the lap. It’s a little bit quicker, because the rest of the track is quite slow and not super exhilarating. There are some quick-ish corners, which are quite rewarding.”
