Bahrain Grand Prix Tag

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Formula One has announced the start times for the 2019 season, which stay relatively consistent to last year. The sport opted for later start times in 2018 in an effort to assist broadcast partners, starting events 10 minutes after the hour instead of on the hour like previous seasons. The biggest change on the upcoming schedule will be for the French Grand Prix, which will start at 3:10 p.m. local time versus the 4:10 p.m. time from last year that was made in an effort toRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief McLaren announced that Stoffel Vandoorne will leave following the 2018 Formula 1 season. The 26-year-old Belgian has endured a rough year that has seen him collect just eight points through 13 races, while teammate Fernando Alonso has amassed 44 points over the same span. A veteran of 34 F1 starts to date, Vandoorne first joined the Woking-based squad in 2013 as part of their Young Driver Program and went on to quickly become their test pilot the following year. After winning the 2015 GP2 Series (nowRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix was the most thrilling in the desert kingdom in years as a high speed game of chess between Ferrari and Mercedes kept the winner in doubt until the final corner of the final lap. In the end Sebastian Vettel pulled off a magnificent victory as he nursed badly worn tires to the finish after switching from a planned two stop strategy to a one stopper. Valtteri Bottas closed on him in the Mercedes, but was unable to unseat his German rival. BehindRead More

By FIA Sebastian Vettel took a thrilling 49th career victory on his 200th race start, nursing fading tyres to the chequered flag to hold off a determined charge by Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas. Lewis Hamilton took third place after starting ninth as Red Bull Racing saw both cars exit the race early on. At the start, Vettel held his advantage from pole, but behind him Bottas made a better start than Räikkönen and stole second through Turn 1. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was briefly passed by Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly but the Australian quickly retookRead More

By FIA Sebastian Vettel will make his 200th grand prix start from the front of the grid after the Ferrari driver claimed his 51st career pole at the Bahrain International Circuit ahead of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen and Mercedes Valtteri Bottas. Defending champion Lewis Hamilton finished in fourth place but the Mercedes driver will drop to P9 on the grid due to an unscheduled gearbox change. Räikkönen set the early pace in Q1, his first flying laps, on soft compound Pirelli tyres, yielding a time of 1:29.951. Ferrari team-mate Vettel slotted into P2Read More

By FIA After taking top spot in Friday’s second practice session, Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen doubled up with the fastest time in final practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix. The Finn, who escaped sanction for an unsafe release on FP2, set a supersoft-shod lap of 1:29.868 with around 20 minutes remaining in the session. The time was good and the Finn might have expected it to be challenged but in the end only Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo got anywhere close, with the Dutchman finishing 0.525s behind theRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The season opening Australian Grand Prix gave us more questions than answers to start the 2018 season. This weekend in Bahrain F1 fans will hope for a clearer running order and less mysterious proceedings. Has Mercedes advantage over the rest of the field grown? Can Ferrari’s straight line speed and penchant for hot conditions give them the edge? What is the true pace of Red Bull? Is the pace of Haas for real? All these questions will be answered as the hot Sakhir sun slips belowRead More

By FIA Kimi Räikkönen went quickest in second practice ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix but the Ferrari driver may be facing a grid penalty due to a possible unsafe release from the pit lane late in the session. The Finn was quickly into the action as the session got underway and set an early benchmark of 1:30.689 on soft compound Pirellis that was later passed by team-mate Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas. Räikkönen then wasted no time in getting his qualifying simulation out of the way, beingRead More

By FIA Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo edged a tight battle for early supremacy in Bahrain, beating rivals Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen by over three tenths of a second in the opening practice session at the Bahrain International Crciut. While the opening session at the Gulf circuit is notoriously unreliable due to its daylight timing ahead of a night race, Ricciardo will take confidence from his late charge up the leaderboard. After an early run on medium tyres, the Australian spent the bulk of the session inRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief The Formula 1 season is officially underway following an exciting Australian Grand Prix two weekends ago, but now the focus turns toward the second and third rounds of the championship. As such, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo previews the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix and the Heineken Chinese Grand Prix. Our friends from Mobil 1 The Grid have brought together the Aussie’s thoughts on the first back-to-back events of 2018. Video Credit: Mobil 1 The GridRead More