ROUND 1: 🇧🇭 Bahrain
FORMULA 1 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX 2024
Circuit stats
- First Grand Prix: 2004
- Number of laps: 57
- Circuit Length: 5.412 km
- Race Distance: 308.238 km
- Lap record: 1:31.447 Pedro de la Rosa (2005)
- 2023 winner: Max Verstappen
Track Map
Half a lap? Lol
Riccardo said at the post race interviewed that it was discussed before the race that he will be on the softs and if he is faster than Tsunoda that order will come in. It seems like BS during the race, but it was discussed beforehand and Tsunoda probably should’ve let him pass before the order.
Well Daniel was not faster than Yuki in quali or the through the race… So it made no sense to me the call either.
It was BS during the race anyway because the call came in waaaaay too late to make any difference… Daniel would not have been in the point unless there was a crash in front of him
He literally closed a 4 second gap to Tsunoda from lap 41. He was clearly faster than Tsunoda at the end of the race.
The call was irrelevant because they wouldn’t have scored points, but not nonsensical. Ricciardo could’ve had a real shot at passing KMag if that call had been done at the right time. It was agreed upon beforehand so it’s nonsensical to not agree with the order when it comes.
Well Yuki was either in the dirty air or struck behind slower cars which allowed Ric to catch up. He might have faster around lap 50 but between verstappen coming to lap them and the softs degrading, it was a stupid swap. By the end of the race, the soft to hard crossover was reached and Yuki was the same pace/marginally faster.
Yeah making calls based on pre race agreements without taking the race situation into context is stupidity. It is the kind of stupidity we have mocked repeatedly when we have seen it from ferrari
It was a full lap
Pretty sure it wasn’t… And it would have made no sense to expect Daniel to pass and keep the advantage over Haas with literally 1 lap of tires left
In the post interview Danny said it was a full lap and that he lost the tire advantage in that lap. He thought he could have gotten around KMag, but not Zhao, so it’s really kinda immaterial as no points were lost.
You don’t need to take Daniel’s word for it, you can see the race… It wasn’t a full lap
And more importantly, it made no sense… Even if Daniel could have passed Kmag, which I doubt since he did not show any pace during quali or the race, it would mean nothing. Therefore, it was an incredibly stupid call to make which only serves to drive a wedge in the team
He had a bigger tyre advantage and thus at that point in time more pace than yuki
Not sure what advantage he supposedly had, Daniel didn’t come any closer to Kmag than Yuki… And then complained his tires magically stopped having said advantage because Yuki took half a lap to give the spot
Yuki had been on kmag’s arse for 10+ laps without passing. Daniel just closed a 9 second gap to the two. Yuki was never passing. Daniel might’ve.
It’s easy to say after the fact “bUt hE DidN’T PaSS hiM DiD hE?”, but u gotta look from the perspective from the race engineers. Who is most likely to get a pass: the guy who’s been trying and failing for 10 laps or the other guy who just closed a 9 second gap and is on a different strategy? Yuki just let his ego cloud his judgement, which is understandable in the heat of the moment but not in a dangerous “revenge” action 15 minutes later. IMO he should get at least a fine for that move after the checkered flag if not a time penalty. What he did was stupid and dangerous
To what end? A 13th instead of a 14th? There is no way Daniel could have reached Zhou anyway
Plus it never did look like Daniel could have passed Yuki without team orders… He didn’t gain a single spot in 50 laps