Round 3: Bahrain - Bahrain International Circuit (11Apr18 @ 8:15pm AEDT)

[AaronWebb85]

Last Season's Results:
1st: El_Majacko
2nd: Maznat87
3rd: Wayneooooo6
Pole: El_Majacko (1.28.464)
FL: craigd92 (1.30.461)

Pre-Race Questions:
1. Last week we saw incredibly small margins separating not only first and second, but also third and fourth! Can we expect a similarly close battle for podium positions this week?
2. Rookie driver, stewart, scored his maiden podium in just his second race at China with an excellent drive from 10th on the grid. Will he back that success up in Bahrain and assert himself as the leading rookie for season 10?
3. We had our first wet session of the season in Shanghai qualifying. Did you enjoy the wet?
4. Bahrain is the final race this campaign when we will line up with real life F1. What were your thoughts on the real Bahrain GP this past weekend?

 

[El_Majacko]

1. Last week we saw incredibly small margins separating not only first and second, but also third and fourth! Can we expect a similarly close battle for podium positions this week?
Well I remember last season's Bahrain GP being decided by just 2 seconds, so I don't see why not.
2. Rookie driver, stewart, scored his maiden podium in just his second race at China with an excellent drive from 10th on the grid. Will he back that success up in Bahrain and assert himself as the leading rookie for season 10?
There are so many drivers capable of scoring podiums that he may find himself up there again, but several other rookies are in that category. Very difficult to say.
3. We had our first wet session of the season in Shanghai qualifying. Did you enjoy the wet?
No. Please no.
4. Bahrain is the final race this campaign when we will line up with real life F1. What were your thoughts on the real Bahrain GP this past weekend?
Boring, wish Bottas had won. Why did Ferrari have to screw RAI and not VET?

 

[H1ghsenberg]

1. Last week we saw incredibly small margins separating not only first and second, but also third and fourth! Can we expect a similarly close battle for podium positions this week?
I'd say so, probably Maz and Jacko will have another intense battle in Bahrain. Bottas did finished behind .6 sec...
2. Rookie driver, stewart, scored his maiden podium in just his second race at China with an excellent drive from 10th on the grid. Will he back that success up in Bahrain and assert himself as the leading rookie for season 10?
New to PRL but obviously not new to racing. I bet he'll be up there again
3. We had our first wet session of the season in Shanghai qualifying. Did you enjoy the wet?
I did enjoy the sound of rain when quali started
4. Bahrain is the final race this campaign when we will line up with real life F1. What were your thoughts on the real Bahrain GP this past weekend?
Glad Ferrari got it but would've better if it was Raikkonen

 

[HSVDT_15]

1. Last week we saw incredibly small margins separating not only first and second, but also third and fourth! Can we expect a similarly close battle for podium positions this week?

More than likely given how close the field is in terms of speed

2. Rookie driver, stewart, scored his maiden podium in just his second race at China with an excellent drive from 10th on the grid. Will he back that success up in Bahrain and assert himself as the leading rookie for season 10?

He doesn't need another podium to assert himself as the top rookie, as his drive in China has already done so.

3. We had our first wet session of the season in Shanghai qualifying. Did you enjoy the wet?

Nope. Hated it. Would have rathered it in the race to spice it up a bit.

4. Bahrain is the final race this campaign when we will line up with real life F1. What were your thoughts on the real Bahrain GP this past weekend?

Any non-Mercedes win is a good race. So sick and tired of their dominance. People will argue the Red Bull dominance was no different, but aside from the second half of 2013, the previous 3 seasons actually had people asking who is going to win, rather than will Mercedes win or not.

 

[El_Majacko]

Q: 1st
Incredibly close for pole. Snagged my PB for it though.

R: 2nd
Maintained the lead off the start as dani moved up to P2. She closed me down just like Australia so I let her by. I followed her for the remainder of the stint. She and Maz pitted on lap 9, while I went to 10. Maz undercut me but I got him back instantly at T4. Ahead dani was trying to overtake the Force Indias who had both undercut onto softer tyres. There was some super aggressive stuff happening but no Mercedes wings were broken and we progressed ahead as the Force Indias pitted. Maz ran into me at some stage as dani and I were being cautious as OP was holding us up for Bozza. In the end I was unable to pass dani, and she went on to win in a Mercedes 1-2.

 

[HSVDT_15]

Q: 8th

Reeeeallllly need to improve on my qualifying speed. Not good enough

R: 3rd

Stoked with my first podium. Made an excellent start to be 6th braking for Turn 1 where Wayno kept moving across in my direction while Craig was on my other side, forcing me to basically stop to avoid getting squished. Dropped to 11th when Wayno lost traction which had me colliding with Alex in avoidance. Got back to 9th passing Alex and Wayno after the latter spun, and made my up to 6th when the pit phase started. Slowly started to creep up to the Mercedes duo as OP held them up to aid Bozza, and Maz pitted for a new wing. Was right on their tail entering the final laps but had to back off due to severe degradation on my rear-left. Barely held of Craig due to this, thankfully there was another lap or the podium would have been gone

 

[Maznat87]

Q: 2nd
Only 0.024 between myself and Jacko. Close one.
I wasn’t very happy with my lap as I made mistakes in the first and second sector, all in all happy with 2nd.

R: 5th
An ok start but definitely could of been better.
Coming off the line Jacko covered off the inside line and a Force India was on my left essentially leaving me boxed in and an extremely tight and slow turn into 1. Lost 2 positions due to such a slow T1.
Got back into 3rd after a spin by OP_magic and just set in to cruise behind Jacko and Dani but the car felt terrible, just couldn’t find much traction and sliding all over the place.
Got an undercut on Jacko when Dani and myself pitted on the same lap but only briefly as he passed me a few corners later.
OP_magic had the lead but wouldn’t let Dani pass which eventually lead to the 3 in front of me taking T1 slower than expected and I hit jacko damaging my wing.
Decided to pit onto the SS and change the wing and do my best to gain as much time back as possible.
Bozza and wayno came together which helped me get from 7th to 5th in one corner.
Disappointing race but grateful to get back to 5th.
Great win by Dani

 

[craigd92]

Q:
9th. Not where I was expecting.
R:
4th. Made up 3 spots around the first corner. From there on there was carnage with cars spinning out for the first few laps, luckily managed to dodge all of them resulting in no damage. Had HSV behind for a couple of laps until he got through around T1. Couldn't stay with him so decided to manage tyres. Had Wayno closing in behind for a lot of the race until he and Boza got caught up with each other resulting in giving me a decent margin. In the last few laps I noticed HSV's pace drop off quite a lot so I decided to not look at my tyre wear and just give it everything I had but I was 1 lap too late. In the end I'm happy I got a decent race/result for this season.

 

[danirox88]

My race highlights for this week  :
[youtube]SIl6LOMFMTk[/youtube]

 

[El_Majacko]

[youtube]y_wTYcXVKvU[/youtube]