Category: Formula One

Formula 1 travels from the far to Middle East for Round 3 of the FIA World Championship in Bahrain. The tiny Country tucked on the East border of Saudi Arabia will play host at its 5.412 kilometer (3.363 mile), 15 turn circuit. Many heavy braking zones and several long straights, run off areas are plentiful and the circuit itself is very wide which will hopefully lead to great battles. However, sweltering dry heat and conditions which can be quite sandy at times will test the reliability (and grip) of the cars and perseverance of drivers throughout the weekend.

In 2016, the teams first season, Haas made their best finish of 5th place in the Bahrain desert, causing Grosjean to say it was “The American dream!” over team radio at the end of the race. The 5th place finish preceded didn’t translate into similar results for the rest of that season, but Grosjean, and the team are looking to repeat the performance and build on their first points finish last race in China that put them 7th in the Constructors World Championship ahead of Renault, Sauber and McLaren. Grosjean 19-11 Magnussen finished 8.

Adding to the teams best finish of 5th at Bahrain in 2016 Grosjean also has two back to back podium finishes in 2012 & 2013 with Lotus finishing 3rd in each out of his 5 Formula 1 starts in Bahrain. The track seems to suit the Frenchman who is probably nearing frustration with his lack of points after a DNF in Australia and a strong drive from 19th to 11th just outside of the points in China.
“Bahrain is not a circuit that looks very technical from a paper point of view, but I love driving it every year….turns 9 & 10 are pretty tricky. That’s the braking going downhill and there’s a lot of g-forces and front locking, with tricky traction on exit. That’s the place where you really need to focus” Grosjean said.

Magnussen meanwhile has two starts, one with McLaren in 2014 and the other with Renault in 2016 where he made his best finish of 11th coming back from dead last of 22nd on the grid.
“I’d say turns 11, 12, and 13 are cool.” Magnussen said. It’s a track with some good braking zones, fast chicanes and medium speed corners. It’s quite fun.”

Pirelli are brining three tire compounds to the Bahrain circuit this weekend; P Zero White mediums, Yellow softs, and Red supersofts. The P Zero White mediums may be the most suited to Bahrain, from Pirelli; “less grip, less wear (used for long race stints). This is Pirellis most balanced tire, with an ideal compromise between performance and durability. It’s extremely versatile, but often it comes into it’s own on circuits that tend towards high speeds high temperatures, and high-energy loadings. It is a low range working compound.”

I believe Haas are going to preform well this weekend, the VF 17, if it’s predecessor is any indication, will preform well, the circuit may be one of Romain Grosjeans strongest and Magnussen is on form after a confidence building 8th place finish in China. The VF 17 is ready for it’s first performance of the season under the bright lights in the desert

Haas F1 have gotten their first points in China. After predictions of a chaotic rain filled race the Chinese Grand Prix was would start damp with plenty of dry patches, starting all drivers but one Carlos Sainz on green intermediate tires which would create a forgettable start for the him. Romain Grosjean P17 and Kevin Magnussen P12 opted instead for the green P Zero intermediates. Two laps in after a decent strat for both cars, Lance Stroll was knocked out of the race by Sergio Perez bringing out the Virtual Safety Car. Haas brought both drivers in, Magnussen in front, for Red supersofts. Track conditions remained wet though and another crash on the damp pit straight ended Antonio Giovinazzis forgettable weekend and brought a physical safety car.
Magnussen remained on track in P12 while Grosjean farther back and with less to lose pitted for Yellow softs and returned to track under full green in P17 behind the Renault of Jolyn Palmer. By lap 28 he had passed Palmer and several other cars to gain to P13 putting him one position behind his team mate Magnussen who returned from the pits from his final stop for new P Zero Red supersofts. Grosjean too made his final stop on lap 36 also for a set of Red supersofts and rejoined the track P13 again this time behind Nico Hulkenberg. He passed the German two laps later on lap 38 and to prove the Frenchman’s determination and pace Grosjean hunted down the Williams of Felipe Massa 15 laps later and took P11 from the experienced and on form driver cleanly around the slow turn 2 finishing him just outside of the points.
With a strong VF17 under him Magnussen was able to salvage the teams weekend with an exclamation point overtaking both Mercedes powered Force India cars. First Ocon on lap 40 then and catching Perez at the end of the long back straight for P8 where he finished giving himself and the team 4 points in the World Championship putting them 4 behind 6th place Williams who also had one car DNF. We now have one example (since we will not make any permanent conclusions here yet) that the Ferrari power of the VF17 and its chassis design is on par with if not outperforming the Mercedes power of the Williams and Force India.
It’s unfortunate Grosjean was not in a better position at the start and was so close to a double points finished for the team, but as he said after being forced to lift on the penultimate corner of his qualifying lap due to Giovinazzi’s crash “When it’s not your day, it’s not your day”. Haas F1 will go to Bahrain next, the sight of the team’s best ever finish of P5 with Romain Grosjean in 2016 for Formula 1’s first back to back weekend of the season. Haas are now in 7th in the Constructors Championship and the team need to focus all out on a double points finish for this weekend to remain close in the WCC with Williams and avoid being left behind by the rest of the midfield with the pointless Sauber, McLaren and Renault.

Firstly lets have quick recap of what happened last time out in Australia, both of our driver had a solid start to the season both finishing in the points with Sainz in P8 and Kvyat in P9 keeping the teams recent record of scoring points in Australia 4 times out of 5. So let’s move 10 days into the future and arrive in China.
Quick words from our drivers asked about the Chinese GP firstly Kvyat “it was a very nice feeling to stand on the podium here last year, I have very good memories of that moment” and secondly “the strangest gift a Chinese fan has given me is a panda with a picture myself on it”. Thirdly “the track has very unusual and unique corners like turns 1 and 2 where you can take many different lines”. And finally “I have a few favourite places to eat in shanghai its European food though im quite traditional in that aspect”
And now a let move on to Sainz “I love duck, it’s actually one of my favorite dishes when I travel to Asia, especially China again this year” and secondly “the only Chinese word I remember is ‘NI HAO’. It’s a useful one to know so I can say hello to everyone.”I have to say that the paddock in China is the biggest one I’ve ever seen its enourmous”. And finally “I have very good memories of the drivers dinner we organised in Shanghai last year, all 22 of us.
And some quick new from the Kvyat side on Tuesday he annouched he was releasing a book about his way into F1. He will be annouching the release day and more details on his twitter on the 26th April 2017. We can’t wait to read it Danill.
On a rainy Thursday Kvyat and a few engineers took for a walk around the track, while Sainz was facing the qusetion’s of the world’s media outlets in the drivers press conference. Saying “it was a tough winter for us only doing more laps than McLaren and to get both cars in the points shows how much potential the car has”. While Kvyat headed back to the paddock to sign some autographs.
Then Friday arrived and so did a load of rain and thick fog which ment only 15 minutes of running all day but both of our drivers took advantage to learn what they could in the small amount of time they had alvalible to them. Sainz getting a 1.52.7 and Kvyat a 1.53.2. All the teams were praying that Saturday would be dry so the could gather as much data as possible in the 1 hour long practice 3 session.
Saturday arrived and it was dry so all the drivers were on the track for most of the session collecting race and qualiflying data that the teams really needed. Sainz finished the session in P10 with a 1.35.2 and Kvyat finished 1.35.8 showing how close the midfield battle really is. Then arrived qualiflying Sainz got knocked out in Q2 and qualified in P11 but had a free tire chocie avalible to him. Kvayt managed to get through to Q3 and qualifly in P9. Meaning he had to start on the red striped super soft if dry. Lets see what the weather will bring us tomorrow as the forecast is wet wet wet.
Here it was race day in China round 2 of the 2017 F1 World Championship and the circuit was damp and very slippery teams and drivers had to choose which tire to start the race on the inter or a slick compound they qualifled on. with Kvyat lining up in P9 he choose the inters but Sainz who was starting in P11 choose the super softs the only driver to do so. Team boss Franz Tost said he was crazy. Then they all lined up on the grid the 5 lights went out it was a good start for Kvyat but Sainz was slow off the line as he had no grip and was at the back of the pack and had a spin at turn 1 and kissed the wall at turn 2 but luckly no damage to the car. But soon can out the virtual saftey car which a lots of drivers pitted under to put the slicks on which helped Sainz claim places. Then a couple of laps later the saftey car was deployed after a sauber crashed on the pit stright. At this stage Sainz strating on the soft was in P7 and Kvyat wa in P9 good call by sainz to start on the soft saved him a pit stop. Lap 18 arrived and their was a problem on Danills car he had to pull over and retire a hyrolic problem it ended up. Which left only 1 Toro Rosso left so it was cruical we got across the finish line with this car. And Sainz just kept on driving brilliantly ended coming home in P7 “best of the rest” scoring the team some crucial championship points and moving them up into P4 in the constcutors world championship, with sainz moving up to P7.
In the interviews after the race Sainz said that he glad his gamble paid off in the end. He was a little worried when he saw the rest of the pack on inters, but after turn 6 the track was dry and he could catch the pack and make his up the field as the rest of the cars pitted for slicks, and he said nows whos the clever one. Also P7 was the best he thought the Red Bulls, Ferraris and Mercedes were 1-2 seconds a lap faster than him. Kvyat said “what a shame we had a hydraulic problem which still needs to be investigated .. on the positive side we’ve shown the perforence is their and we can be strong going forward. We have the pace and I look forward to next weeks race in Bahrain.