Round 4 - Bahrain 2015 - Qualifying

Greetings Internet, 

I know it is a completely artificial spectacle brought in to change the TV schedule times and to blank out the barren wilderness outside the perimeter fence. But converting the Bahrain GP into a night race has been a magnificent idea, the first event under the lights last season was marvellous - and this year again the track looks wonderful. Lights on, and in the palm trees at base of the sandstone cliffs just make the venue look a little less like a remote desert wasteland. It is nice to see how these newer tilke tracks have evolved since their first race, and even in the daylight, the Sakhir circuit has evolved the most and looks fresh and new each year... especially in HD. It is also one of those tracks that grows on you over time, even though it is compose of jaunty angled corners with tied together - I just can't despise it any more. In fairness it is very difficult to come up with an entire circuit that is terrible - even Valencia had a fantastic final sector when the rest of it was nonsensical. One way of putting is that Bahrain is one of those circuits you don't mind racing on when it appears in a video game, but you wouldn't select it for a quick race because you enjoy it. 

What the track has done is set us up for a very interesting race tomorrow, qualifying has provided all the elements we need for a potential replay of the 2014 spectacular. There are fast cars out of position, there are two different teams represented on the front row, and another car piloted by a German with an increasingly grumpy face. Place all of those ingredients underneath the floodlights and you have a recipe for an enjoyable Sunday afternoon. 

Q1

Coverage opened to a particularly windy Sakhir which gave the helicopter pilot

no end of encouragement to fly over the arrangement of flags depicting the flag of the host nation. Which over the course of qualifying got more TV time than Manor have all season. Initially it was Kimi Raikkonen who became the focal point for the coverage, as he started his first flying lap - but as the Finn approached turn one he locked up the inside front and ruined the tyre... not an idea start to his preparations. Yet it could always be worse, he could have been Jenson Button - McLaren showed improved pace in FP3 so hopes of escaping Q1 were raised... However none of those hopes quite materialised in Jenson's side of the garage as his car shut down and had to be escorted off the track. Half a lap into his qualifying session and it was game over and a confirmed back of the grid start. The other Honda powered car was doing a little better, currently running inside the top ten. 

Mercedes obviously set the initial pace, only using the harder of the available compounds while the majority of the field preferred to go straight for the softer option. Before the final runs it looked as if Mercedes might be safe not to need the faster tyres, but a combination of track evolution and a large difference in lap time provided by the differing tyre compounds, made their position a lot less secure. As a result both Mercedes cars had to retake to the track as Hamilton and Rosberg both saw themselves slide down the timesheets as everyone else improved. At the bottom of the field in the relegation zone - both Will Stevens and Roberto Mehri for Manor were within a couple of tenths of the cars in front of them. Unfortunately, this was a maximum pace of their cars, Will Stevens more than a second ahead of Mehri - whereas the cars just in front of them could go a couple of seconds faster... and did. With Button and Manor out only two more cars could be relegated, one of those places was taken by Pastor Maldonado as engine malfunctions hampered his laptimes... in a functioning car he is going to be fun tomorrow. The remaining relegation place looked to be heading to one of the struggling Renault powered cars, or the remaining McLaren. Fernando removed his name from the equation by putting a lot of distance between himself and the relegation cut-off time. As both Toro Rossos moved up the grid the final responsibility of escaping Q1 fell to Daniil Kvyat - and no matter how intense the death stare upon his face the Russian couldn't move the Red Bull into Q2. The higher downforce configuration clearly not working out this time...

Q2

With times so close in the second half of the grid, making it out of Q2 and into Q1 was going to be difficult where the margins to be measured in hundredths and thousandths rather than whole tenths. With the gap between success and failure being so small, the teams were a little more tentative than usual to venture out onto the track. One minute passed and then another - it was if everyone had forgotten how qualifying works, and that you actually had to leave the garage to set a time... Eventually Force India made the first move and sent Sergio Perez out onto the circuit, and with that the floodgates started to open.

Mercedes followed suit, and like in China they planned to only complete one run on the tyres they've picked out for the race. Rosberg set a conservative yet

quick time looking to not take too much life out of the race set of tyres. Williams and Ferrari were close to Rosberg's time - Raikkonen, Vettel and Massa all managed to beat the Mercedes. But then there was Hamilton, who on the surface wasn't being so conservative setting a lap time that could only be described as meteoric. Carving out a 0.8s lead over Raikkonen and a crushing 1.2s over Rosberg... Neither Ferrari nor Mercedes needed head out again in Q2.

In the battle for to avoid relegation positions changed places rather rapidly which was always going to be the place considering nine cars were arguing over the four remaining places in Q1. Before the final runs took place is was Sauber, Ricciardo and Grosjean holding onto those opening places. But Force India launched a late strike as both Hulkenberg and Perez moved into the final two promotion places, at the expense of the Saubers. Even they were not safe from the rest of the mid-field, Alonso had a go - but although McLaren have made steps forward a top ten may still be a few races away yet. Instead it was Carlos Sainz Jnr who has been slightly eclipsed by the reputation preceding his younger team-mate to gain promotion into the top ten. Knocking Perez out by six hundredths of a second - the only consolation to the Force India it will starting on the clean side of the grid tomorrow.  

Q3

The first part  of Q3 started off with the slightly unusual strategy of completing the first laps on a used set of tyres, which in reality serves no real purpose, subsequent laps are always going to be faster and you are taking more life out of tyres that might be needed in the race. One thing that it does do, is put more cars on track, and I'm all in favour of putting more cars on the circuit. So

Mercedes and Ferrari opened their account with a pair of reasonably mediocre lap times. Ricciardo on the other hand started Q3 with a new set of soft compound tyres claiming a very early provisional pole position. Ferrari, at this point in time were close to of one of the Mercedes' - which might be rather telling for the race. Because if Ferrari can be quick on used tyres - the long run pace may be a serious threat to Mercedes... making things rather interesting indeed if the German team won't have things all their own way.. However Hamilton was still in the lead, but only by a couple of tenths.

After a slight stop for some new tyres it was time for the all important final runs, where Hlukenberg and Sainz - or Sainzo as the BBC write up suggests - joined the fray after sitting out the first half of Q3. Riccardo's lofty position was under significant threat from the faster teams switching onto newer tyres. Vettel was the first to take the provisional pole position ahead of Hamilton on used tyres and the Red Bull. Rosberg was next to cross the line and the German in the all conquering Mercedes could only manage second place - cue a very grumpy post race face... To rub salt into those wounds Hamilton on new tyres Lewis Hamilton emphatically claimed pole by bettering the monstrous time he set in Q2. It could have been even worse for Nico as Raikkonen was only a tenth shy of defeating the Mercedes as well, which would have demoted him to the dusty, sandy side of the grid. Bottas and Massa found themselves in no-mans land they floundered around in during the Chinese GP. Still comfortably ahead of the mid-field teams lead by Ricciardo flying the underpowered flag for Renault.

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners

There were many interesting performances and large differences between team-mates some resulting in grumpy faces

• 10pts - Nico Hulkenberg - A top ten qualifying place for a Force India for the first time since Monza 2014 with an largely untested car
• 8pts - Daniel Ricciardo - As the complaints continue against Renault, Ricciardo still places the car as the best of the rest
• 6pts - Sergio Perez - So close to joining Hulkenberg inside the top ten
• 5pts - Will Stevens - For the second race in a row, Stevens smashed Mehri to over a second in qualifying
• 4pts - Carlos Sainz Jnr - When Verstappen struggled the other Toro Rosso steps up and makes it into Q3
• 3pts - Fernando Alonso - The McLaren is free from Q1, free it tell you
• 2pts - Sebastian Vettel - Front row for Ferrari, just to make tomorrow fun
• 1pt - Lewis Hamilton - Pole number 42 gets a point simply for it being number 42

• -2pts - The Stewards - One negative point for failing to penalise Ferrari for releasing Vettel's car with a loose wheel causing it to hit Perez's Force India in FP2. The second for only giving Raikkonen a reprimand for a larger infringement than Grosjean was penalised for in Malaysia - overtaking after the restart following Vettel's accident also in FP2.

Looking to Tomorrow

As the first race of the season that can be broadcast here at blog HQ live without clogging up the sky+ storage drive... because that is going to get a hammering tomorrow with BTCC, GP2 and WTCC all in action throughout the day. Add that to the Indycar GP of Long Beach in the evening and you have a very busy and entertaining schedule so busy the sky box is already quaking at the thought. Headlining such a packed day of panel banging racing is the second Bahrain GP to be held under the lights - if the last one is anything to go by it is going to be phenomenal. This time however there are more cars in the mix for that win under the lights - Ferrari could be very strong in race conditions, but whether they will be strong enough to hold on to the back of the Mercedes' is a different matter. Can Rosberg get past Vettel and take the fight to Hamilton - using the power of that grumpy face to score some vengeance against his team-mate. Oh how I'd like to see some vengeance.

If that wasn't enough - we have Maldonado, Kvyat and Jenson Button all starting behind where their cars should be, more so in the case of Pastor and Daniil who are roughly ten places behind the car's potential. Jenson on the other hand is only about five places too far back since McLaren is still a work in progress. Put all those things together with the tendency for things to be a little more chaotic at night and things get interesting, very interesting indeed.