- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The lights are out, and the sand dunes await the Formula One circus ahead of the third round of the 2014 Formula One season. Join The Roar for live race coverage from 1:00am (AEST) Monday April 7.
With a short turnaround from last week’s Malaysian Grand Prix, the teams will be out to improve as much as they can in the short timeframe.
Lewis Hamilton ran away with the victory, leading teammate Nico Rosberg to a Mercedes 1-2 finish, their first as a constructor since the 1951 Italian Grand Prix.
In fact, it was their first double-podium since returning as a constructor in 2010, and everyone will be out to see if they can continue their winning ways in Bahrain.
The teams will know this track very well for a variety of reasons, due to the venue hosting two of the three pre-season tests over the European winter.
However, this is also the 10th anniversary of the Bahrain Grand Prix, and this year, it has been organised as a night race, so teams will need to take note of cooler conditions, with temperatures forecast to be in the low-to-mid 20C range, compared to the usual mid-to-high 30C temperatures expected in the past.
This isn’t the only milestone of the Bahrain GP, as it will also be the 900th World Championship event.
It’s amazing to see where this category has gone in the past 64 years.
The track itself is similar to Sepang, a few long straights, fast corners that flower into each other, as well as a couple that head into tighter exits, and an opening corner sequence that slows the cars right down, and possibly presents itself with the best overtaking opportunity during the race.
Meanwhile, Pirelli have softened the tyre compounds from last year’s race, bringing in the medium (white) and soft (yellow) compound tyres, compared to last year’s selection of the hard and medium compound.
Red Bull have shown increased pace over the opening two rounds, even with Daniel Ricciardo’s disqualification and retirement, to add to Sebastian Vettel’s retirement in Melbourne.
Ricciardo will start the race with a ten place grid penalty in Bahrain, due to his team’s unsafe release in the race at Malaysia.
Vettel will be looking to show that the Red Bull team is as strong as it has been perceived to be in the opening two races, which is a big step up from their pre-season form.
Williams and Ferrari are aiming to get onto the podium for the first time this season, while McLaren will also be looking to get their boys back on the rostrum.
Lotus will be looking to improve their reliability, with only one finish from both their drivers over the opening two races, as they may be fighting back the likes of Caterham and Marussia as they battle for their first points of the season.
Join The Roar from 12:30am (AEST) as we cover the build-up, before the lights go out at 1:00am (AEST).
Looking for great odds on racing and sport? Get into the action with PlayUp today. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.