F1 | GP Bahrain – SCORECARDS

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Nico Rosberg – 9. Second seasonal winning and perfect score. Once again, he did better than his team-mate at the start and handled the race very well. Surely, he was helped by an impeccable Mercedes that outperforms the first of its chasers with a gap of 0,8”.

Kimi Raikkonen – 8 like in the last season he made a great race, without any mistakes, bringing Ferrari to the second place. In qualifying, anyway, he can’t get Vettel concerned.

Stoffel Vandoorne – 8 an amazing debut for the substitute for Fernando Alonso called back in Japan at the last minute. He didn’t any mistake. Perhaps, we should give more chances to these young drivers. I continue to be a supporter to free practice open to rookies on Friday.

Lewis Hamilton – 7,5 he has frustrated a pole position for the second consecutive time because of a faulty start. At the first bend, he was in the middle of the group where Bottas did the rest. Anyway, in spite of a defective strategy, he gained the third position.

Max Verstappen -7,5 once again he delighted us with excellent overtakings, particularly to the detriment of Felipe Massa and Daniil Kvyat bringing his Toro Rosso in sixth.

Daniel Ricciardo – 7,5 he can’t do more with this engine, but he reached the third place in the Drivers World Championship, dragging his Red Bull behind Mercedes and Ferrari.

Pascal Wehrlein – 7, he is building his Formula 1 future very well. He was great in qualifying (P16 with the little Manor) and didn’t save any energy during the race, ending ahead of Sauber and Force India.

Romain Grosjean -7 an excellent seasonal start for the French driver that brings his Haas in fifth, behind the two Mercedes, a Ferrari, and a Red Bull. Surely, next days, the performance of the American team will make us discuss. They are changing the definition of “Constructors” because their car is a Ferrari clone.

Carlos Sainz -6,5 the start was good, but once again he was very unlucky also because of Bottas.

Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez – 4 definitely a bad day for the Williams and Force India standard-bearers. They did their best to ruin their race and that of their team-mates.

The Race Direction – 4 we are talking so much about security, but then when cars lose some pieces on the track they aren’t even called to pits.

 

F1 | Gp Bahrain – THE POINT

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We watched an interesting and animated Grand Prix. It was rich in overtaking thanks to the strategies and choices made by the teams. From this point of view, Williams has been catastrophic. Once again, the race was marked by unreliability at Ferrari that forced Vettel to park his SF16-H during the parade lap. The race was also marked by a new mistake done by Hamilton at the start that has frustrated his amazing pole position. Second victory for Nico Rosberg who achieves five consecutive wins (three of which in 2015) and sixteen seals in his career. This perfect scoring in the World Drivers’ Championship launches him powerfully into the World Championship.

Ferrari consoles itself with the second place of Kimi Raikkonen, but has to look over its shoulder because of Red Bull: Ricciardo is now third in the drivers’ standings, ahead Raikkonen and Vettel (in sixth with 15 points). We experienced the excessive power of Mercedes one more time. Despite their mistakes, also strategic ones, Hamilton ended in third after having tried to mount the Medium tires and after his contact with Bottas at the start.

Next days, Grosjean’s fifth place with his Haas will make discuss. Considering the substantial resources invested for making the frames, Williams, Toro Rosso, Red Bull, and Force India will hardly swallow this new format launched by the American group, which is going to redraft the definition of Constructor. If you exclude the nose and few other components, it is a Ferrari clone. They are rather assemblers. It has been undertaken a dangerous road.

I must congratulate Vandoorne entirely. At his debut, he brought to McLaren the first seasonal points, making a real wonder. Recalled from Japan and catapulted into the car without any tests, he gained the top-10 without doing any mistakes. Given the results of his prize list, there was no doubt about his quality as a sprinter. It’s a pity that teams aren’t obligated to let racing these young drivers on Friday morning, letting them the chance to show off and not just to hope lucky circumstances for putting themselves to the test.

Before concluding, I’d like to highlight what left me puzzled. We always talk about more security, and Halo, the device for the driver’s head protection, made its debut during Barcelona testing days. In Bahrain, the Commissioners didn’t reprimand cars loosing pieces on the track. In our Italian Championship weekends, Commissioners oblige drivers to pit to repair their car. Here no one has said anything.

In fifteen days, everyone in China.