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Another back to back race weekend; this time the F1 circus lands in Bahrain for the 2013 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix amidst a lot of violence in Bahrain, especially in the city of Sakhir, where the race is held on the BIC. Just like last year and the year before that, a lot of violent anti-F1 demonstrations have formed a dark cloud over the Grand Prix. Last year, the race eventually went ahead even though a lot of people from the F1 paddock were against it.
So, coming to this year’s race, there is a lot to play for, both in terms of championship and in showing which team has the upper hand, before the 3 week break after which the European season begins. The circuit is characterized by long straights and quite a few fast corners coupled with high track temperatures. After being criticized highly, Pirelli have decided to tweak their tyre choices for the weekend and are bringing in medium and hard compound tyres, dropping the originally planned soft tyres. Good decision for sure after looking at the rate at which the softs degrade and drop off the pace.
This is what Pirelli Motorsport Director Paul Hembery had to say ahead of this week’s race, “Bahrain was one of the very few circuits that was entirely new to us in competition last year, although we know it well from testing. It’s one of the most demanding tracks of the year for the tyres, mostly because of the high ambient and track temperatures. We expect about three stops per car, although we’ll have to wait to get some running in on Friday before we can look at the data and make a more accurate prediction. One of the main challenges of racing in Bahrain is that the track evolution is very hard to predict, depending on how much sand is blown onto the circuit. From what we saw last year though, there will be plenty of scope for different race strategies, which can even allow drivers who have not qualified as well as they hoped to recover during the Grand Prix.”
Kimi Raikkonen, who scored his first podium for Lotus here in Bahrain, along with Vettel and Grosjean who took the other two spots, has good memories from last year. He says, “Obviously, it was a good race for us as a team last year. It was my first podium for Enstone, and we had a good fight all the way. We took a gamble during qualifying, and it didn’t work out well for us. This meant we missed out on the top ten, but we managed to use our tyres pretty well in the race and we ended up fighting for the top step of the podium, which is always a good thing.I like (the Sakhir circuit). I’ve had some nice races there and picked up some good points although I’ve never won. It’s a little bit different from others we visit and it’s quite nice to be out there in the sand! Wherever you look around the track you can just see sand in the distance and you notice it in the paddock too. It’s a circuit where I’ve never won before, so maybe this year I’ll change that. It is not easy to find a good set-up as you do experience the track surface changing over the weekend and sometimes the wind can affect the balance of the car too. It’s one of the more tricky places to get the car exactly right, but at least you don’t often have to worry about rain!”
Last year’s race winner Sebastian Vettel is fit and ready for this weekend’s race. He says, “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.”
McLaren driver Sergio Perez, who has been publicly urged by his team to improve his performance, is looking to use this race to prove how good he can be. He says, “The Bahrain Grand Prix circuit has plenty of run-off and a good combination of high- and low-speed corners. The challenge for the drivers comes from the constantly evolving nature of the corners, and dealing with the sand – which gets blown onto different areas of the track from the surrounding desert. With two DRS zones, I think we should see some decent racing: the two best overtaking opportunities are into the Turn One and Turn Four hairpins. They’re both good places to attack – you can force another driver onto the inside line and then attack on the exit, when they’re more vulnerable. The second DRS zone will mainly be used to close the gap down to the car in front, before attacking again along the pits straight.”
Ross Brawn must be very happy with how is team is going this season. Mercedes have good pace overall but need to improve in those little places to win races. Brawn says, “With three race weekends under our belts, Bahrain will be the final race of the season-opening quartet. With very different track conditions at each venue, this should give us a good understanding of the car that we have to work with for the rest of the season. The performances so far have been pleasing and perhaps even beyond our pre-season expectations however there is work to be done. We have two main areas to focus on; we must improve the reliability and we have to lift our performance to find that extra couple of tenths to our fastest competitors. And of course, that’s a moving target to make the challenge even tougher. A strong two car finish will be our target this weekend, and we want to see both Nico and Lewis in a position to score not only points but podiums regularly. We’ve had a taste of success already this season and the slight feeling of disappointment with third place in China is our motivation.”
Remi Taffin from Renault F1 gives us insights on the engine set up for this race. He says, “Sakhir sits in the middle of the table for the demands put on the engine, with drivers at full throttle for 50% of the lap in the race and 57% in qualifying. However the high ambient temperatures and low humidity are the main challenges for engines in Bahrain. The hot conditions mean that the bodywork may have to be slightly opened to aid the cooling configuration, while the aridity increases pressure within the cylinder chamber, which can cause internal failure. We can counteract this by tuning the engine.”
Adrian Sutil from Force India will be looking at scoring good points this race and making up for the loss incurred from the last two races. He says, “The race in China was very short. I had a little incident with Paul early on, but we spoke about it, and there’s no problem. For the next few laps I was catching up the cars in front and then (Esteban) Gutierrez just missed his braking point and crashed into my rear. It’s frustrating, but what can you do? He will learn so there are no hard feelings. Hopefully he will not do it again. It’s never easy, but I think we can learn quite a lot out of the race. The pace was not so good at the beginning, but much better at the end. We have to understand why. Paul got some good points for the team, but we lost some pace this weekend in general, and there were quite a few quick cars who didn’t finish the race. So we have to get a move on in Bahrain! It should be better for us there. Do I enjoy the Sakhir track? I like it, yes. With a good car I like almost every circuit. The track is not one of the most difficult ones, but it has a lot of big braking points, so you need a strong car on the brakes. The heat is very different to China, with very high temperatures, and also there’s a different combination of tyres.”
Giedo van der Garde from Caterham is another driver who has good memories from this circuit. He says, “Back to Bahrain which is another circuit I have quite a bit of experience at, most recently last year in GP2 when I finished the feature race on the podium, so it’s a track that holds good memories for me. It’s quite a technical circuit that evolves a lot as the weekend progresses. It’ll be very sandy on Friday but with every lap that’s completed it rubbers in and the grip levels improve a lot – that’s important in each session, particularly qualifying as you need to time your run to make the most of the track evolution so strategy will be really important all weekend. Coming straight after China, the race in Bahrain is also a chance for me to get back to the performance levels I want to be racing at. China was a pretty tough weekend, but I’ve had a couple of days to recharge since leaving Shanghai and after the race we had a very good debrief and we’ve identified a few areas we’ll work on this weekend in Bahrain. Since announcing my F1 drive I’ve been really clear that the first few races were always going to be tough for a rookie, but it’s all part of the learning process so I’m as positive as ever and looking forward to getting back to work.”
With a dark cloud looming over this race, all F1 fans hope the matter is settled and we get to watch a great race with the action just on track and not elsewhere.
There is a lot to look for this weekend. Will the tyres surprise us even more? Will we have a new winner this season? Will Vettel extend his lead or can Kimi and Nando catch up? Not too long to go before we find out who finishes this part of the season high. My bet is on Red Bull and Lotus to be strong and the team that spoils the Renault party will most probably be Ferrari. Enjoy the race thoroughly and have a great weekend.
