F1 Weekly Wrap Up [Week 20]

Week 20

8^th – 14^th June

F1 Grand Prix Review: Bahrain, Round 4

F1 Grand Prix Review: Bahrain, Round 4

Qualifying

As the dessert sun sunk lazily behind the dusty horizon, the F1 paddock came to life. As the first engines revved up, we were on the brink of qualifying in the Middle East. Ferrari was the big talking point this weekend where Vettel aimed to get his first pole position for the red team, which would have been the Scuderia’s first in 52 races. Slightly further down the grid, Latin Pastor Maldonado was keen to get his Lotus upfront. Strangely, out of his 80 races thus far in his Formula One career, he has only finished in the points on eight occasions.

F1 Grand Prix Preview Bahrain, Round 4

2015 FORMULA 1 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX

ROUND 4

Date: 19 April 2015

Circuit name; Sakhir Bahrain International Circuit

First Grand Prix: 2004

Type: Permanent, purpose-built racetrack dominated by a multitude of straights and a balance between fast medium and slow corner. Medium downforce required.

Circuit length: 5.412 km

Laps: 57

Lap Record: 1:31.447 – Pedro de la Rosa (McLaren)

Tyre Allocation: Medium (White rimmed) and Soft (Yellow rimmed)

DRS Zones: Two, with two separate activation points. DRS zones ar: Main straight; The straight in sector 2.

The Rise of the Pay Driver

Money is the driving force of all business, and now in the modern world, it drives sport. Once talented athletes were praised by many, but moving through into the 21st century, drivers are now becoming monetary assets supplying large funds, instead of bringing the car home for points, podiums and wins. The pay driver is now becoming a bigger reality for F1 than ever before…

Formula 1 is sport of which has seen some of the greatest drivers ever known with the names of Fangio, Prost, Senna and Schumacher. Yet, it has also seen some courageous and heroic drivers who have been favourites to win championships, but never did. The list includes Gurney, McLaren, the Rodriguez brothers, Cevert and Gilles Villeneuve. They all had battles which saw cars sliding sideways, tyres that would touch and where the lead of the drivers’ championship would sway from one driver to another like a pendulum.  Drivers were worshiped by fans and had Godly auras about them. We ask ourselves why this racing could have been more enjoyable to watch all those years ago, and the simple straight forward answer would be “because they were better than they are today”.  It was the raw ruthless competitiveness that was the backbone of Formula 1 which aided its immense success.