The lights are off in Bahrain, and the teams are looking forward to China for the fourth round of the Formula One season.
However, before we get to China, let’s take a look back at what we learnt from the Bahrain Grand Prix over the weekend.
Mercedes aren’t getting any weaker
Mercedes romped away with another one-two finish at Sakhir, and continuing their dominance of 2014.
Hamilton led home Rosberg yet again, in what was a tense fight between the two throughout the race, especially during the closing stages following the safety car period.
In only two laps after the restart, the two drivers were 10 seconds clear of Sergio Perez in third, who ended up taking the final podium position 23 seconds behind Rosberg.
It wasn’t just the works team that was strong either, with six Mercedes-powered cars taking points, with both the Red Bulls and the Ferraris finishing in the top 10.
Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen finished ninth and 10th respectively, whereas Vettel was complaining throughout the race about a lack of straight line speed and power, which goes on to further enhance the dominance Mercedes has in the power-unit department.
Team orders
After the Malaysian GP, team orders were the talk of the paddock leading into the race, and it appears they may still be as the season moves on to China.
Valteri Bottas and Felipe Massa battled in their Williams cars without team orders (at least to our knowledge at this stage), although Massa did send messages to the pit-wall about Bottas having rear tyre problems.
Paddy Lowe, these days a Mercedes’ Executive Director, sent a message along to both Hamilton and Rosberg during the Safety Car period.
“There are around ten laps remaining, can we make sure we bring both cars home.”
The implied message from Lowe seemed to be to hold position until the chequered flag, however Hamilton and Rosberg continued to fight tooth and nail for the lead. In the end they brought both cars home, which Toto Wolff, another Mercedes Director, said was the main message.
One surprise during the race was Sebastian Vettel succumbing to team orders within Red Bull early in the race.
When his DRS was malfunctioning early in the race, the team urged him to let Ricciardo past, and he obliged, which may come to a bit of a shock to many casual supporters of Formula One.
“Pasta Marinara”
Following his victory in Spain in 2012, many heralded Pastor Maldonado for his drive in Catalunya, Williams’ first victory in eight years.
However many turned on him shortly thereafter, when he started to make a name for himself colliding with other drivers.
Covering the Monaco GP for Ten/ONE, Alan Jones dubbed him “Pasta Marinara” following incidents across the weekend: a big fall from grace for someone who won the previous grand prix.
He was at it again in Bahrain, taking out Esteban Gutierrez when he was exiting the pit lane, diving up the inside at speed, upending the Mexican’s Sauber, ending his race, and bringing out the Safety Car.
He was slapped with a ten second stop-go penalty, a five place grid penalty for the Chinese GP, and lost three points from his FIA Super Licence.
McLaren downshifts a gear
McLaren opened the season strongly in Melbourne, with both Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button finishing second and third.
However, fast-forward to Bahrain, both drivers retired from the race for McLaren for the first time since the 2006 United States GP.
Magnussen’s retirement has been confirmed to be because of gearbox issues, it is believed that Button’s retirement was of a similar nature.
The teams will stay in Bahrain for a few extra days with a two day in-season test taking place at the circuit from Tuesday, before the teams head into Shanghai for Easter and the Chinese Grand Prix.
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