2014 Bahrain GP Executive Summary

Hard to add anything that hasn't been said about the 2014 Bahrain GP.  Superlatives have abounded everywhere and it's been amusing to read publications who up until last week ranted about the awfulness of F1, turn all enthusiastic.

Fair weather friends or not, what a great bit of timing for the sport to have an exciting race and good press in the midst of a nasty, and very boring, struggle for power within the sport.

We would caution to wait a few more races before proclaiming F1 "fixed" and those who disagree "idiots".  Herr Lauda would be fun to have dinner with but he and Mercedes have done plenty of complaining over the past few years and it's as easy to be positive when your cars are up 2 seconds a lap as it is to be bitter an negative when they are down.

Which brings us to Ferrari...




Di Montezemolo must be fuming, not only did F1 have arguably its best race in years, thanks in no small part to Maldonado's boneheadedness,  but the best race right at the time when Mr E and LDM where on a push to point out the follies of the current formula.

Not only did Di Montezemolo have to witness Alonso and Raikkonen chew through tires and be humiliated by Williams and Force India but he faced having to look at Aldo Costa getting a trophy for the Mercedes W05 he led the design of after being pushed out of Ferrari.

No wonder he left.

It was interesting how fights on track were mostly intramural, Hamilton and Rosberg, Perez and Hulkenberg, Massa and Bottas, Ricciardo and Vettel.

This last one was fascinating,  Mark Webber must be smiling if a little bitterly.   Ricciardo is not the least bit intimidated by Vettel and so far this year it does not seem like the team has stood up for the four time world champion.    Red Bull is that way with their athletes,  great support as long as you're winning, if you don't bring home the goods, you;re gone.  But even a four time champion?   Or maybe they know he has a Ferrari contract in his back pocket?

Great show by Mercedes, I'm not sure I buy this whole "no team orders" bit.   I think Paddy Lowe was telling his drivers to quit messing around.  It was great for the sport and perhaps a measure of the confidence the drivers have in their superiority that Lewis and Rosberg did not listen.

Well done, now two days of testing and hopefully the non Mercedes powered teams can cut the gap ahead of China.

(photos: Mercedes AMG F1, Scuderia Ferrari, Red Bull)

Pos Driver                Team                      Time/Gap
 1. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes                  1h38m42.743s
 2. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes                  +1.085s
 3. Sergio Perez          Force India-Mercedes      +24.067s
 4. Daniel Ricciardo      Red Bull-Renault          +24.489s
 5. Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes      +28.654s
 6. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault          +29.879s
 7. Felipe Massa          Williams-Mercedes         +31.200s
 8. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Mercedes         +31.800s
 9. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                   +32.500s
10. Kimi Raikkonen        Ferrari                   +33.400s
11. Daniil Kvyat          Toro Rosso-Renault        +41.300s
12. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault             +43.100s
13. Max Chilton           Marussia-Ferrari          +59.900s
14. Pastor Maldonado      Lotus-Renault             +1m02.800s
15. Kamui Kobayashi       Caterham-Renault          +1m27.900s
16. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Ferrari          +1 lap
17. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes          +2 laps

Retirements

    Kevin Magnussen       McLaren-Mercedes        40 laps
    Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari          39 laps
    Marcus Ericsson       Caterham-Renault        33 laps
    Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Renault      18 laps
    Adrian Sutil          Sauber-Ferrari          17 laps

Drivers' standings:

 1. Nico Rosberg       61  
 2. Lewis Hamilton     50  
 3. Nico Hulkenberg    28  
 4. Fernando Alonso    26  
 5. Jenson Button      23  
 6. Sebastian Vettel   23  
 7. Kevin Magnussen    20  
 8. Valtteri Bottas    18  
 9. Sergio Perez       16  
10. Daniel Ricciardo   12  
11. Felipe Massa       12  
12. Kimi Raikkonen     7  
13. Jean-Eric Vergne   4  
14. Daniil Kvyat       3  
                     
Constructors' standings

 1. Mercedes               111  
 2. Force India-Mercedes   44  
 3. McLaren-Mercedes       43  
 4. Red Bull-Renault       35  
 5. Ferrari                33  
 6. Williams-Mercedes      30  
 7. Toro Rosso-Renault     7