The Ferrari drivers headed the fastest laps table at the Bahrain Grand Prix as they took the fight to Mercedes in the race.
Bahrain Grand Prix lap times
All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded):
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | |
Lewis Hamilton | 101.39 | 98.955 | 99.257 | 99.602 | 100.081 | 100.006 | 100.156 | 100.159 | 100.447 | 100.307 | 100.368 | 101.363 | 100.781 | 101.123 | 103.877 | 119.67 | 98.145 | 99.061 | 99.284 | 99.394 | 98.819 | 99.023 | 99.085 | 99.161 | 98.919 | 99.185 | 99.408 | 99.356 | 99.453 | 99.533 | 99.451 | 99.551 | 102.217 | 118.791 | 98.217 | 98.242 | 97.906 | 97.857 | 99.009 | 99.291 | 99.119 | 98.921 | 98.837 | 98.592 | 98.596 | 98.533 | 98.359 | 98.505 | 98.187 | 98.075 | 98.585 | 98.918 | 98.928 | 98.716 | 98.654 | 99.537 | 100.847 |
Sebastian Vettel | 102.217 | 99.607 | 99.45 | 99.73 | 100.205 | 100.235 | 100.306 | 102.357 | 102.499 | 101.138 | 100.844 | 101.099 | 104.118 | 118.328 | 98.201 | 99.661 | 98.917 | 98.793 | 99.31 | 99.203 | 99.286 | 99.349 | 99.605 | 99.385 | 100.435 | 99.469 | 99.808 | 99.981 | 100.143 | 100.027 | 100.302 | 103.027 | 118.751 | 97.547 | 98.013 | 103.492 | 126.735 | 96.624 | 97.362 | 97.562 | 98.065 | 98.452 | 98.372 | 98.968 | 98.752 | 98.917 | 99.469 | 99.289 | 99.507 | 99.225 | 99.471 | 99.503 | 99.537 | 99.743 | 99.699 | 99.756 | 99.952 |
Nico Rosberg | 103.381 | 100.231 | 99.569 | 99.788 | 100.035 | 100.051 | 100.117 | 101.455 | 100.786 | 100.293 | 101.296 | 100.964 | 100.611 | 103.611 | 118.549 | 97.69 | 98.966 | 98.737 | 99.459 | 99.466 | 98.852 | 99.435 | 99.312 | 99.033 | 99.331 | 99.273 | 99.513 | 99.903 | 99.841 | 99.868 | 100.093 | 100.499 | 100.474 | 103.03 | 117.836 | 97.326 | 97.731 | 97.841 | 98.211 | 98.496 | 98.624 | 99.134 | 98.718 | 98.745 | 98.93 | 98.322 | 98.358 | 98.363 | 98.579 | 98.717 | 98.42 | 98.35 | 99.072 | 98.821 | 99.149 | 101.39 | 99.197 |
Kimi Raikkonen | 102.896 | 99.882 | 99.852 | 102.277 | 100.262 | 100.056 | 100.196 | 100.592 | 101.331 | 101.066 | 101.172 | 101.192 | 101.268 | 101.148 | 100.973 | 100.898 | 104.164 | 119.477 | 98.403 | 98.688 | 99.193 | 99.013 | 98.986 | 99.017 | 99.101 | 99.171 | 99.398 | 99.389 | 99.606 | 99.733 | 99.995 | 99.565 | 99.509 | 99.45 | 99.632 | 99.884 | 99.591 | 99.665 | 100.684 | 104.5 | 117.785 | 96.311 | 96.62 | 96.832 | 96.722 | 96.785 | 97.541 | 97.59 | 97.524 | 97.683 | 97.316 | 97.695 | 97.72 | 98.228 | 99.181 | 98.766 | 98.015 |
Valtteri Bottas | 104.432 | 100.302 | 99.904 | 101.101 | 100.802 | 101.214 | 100.923 | 101.297 | 101.321 | 101.419 | 101.521 | 101.698 | 102.062 | 105.572 | 121.018 | 98.095 | 98.656 | 98.879 | 99.06 | 99.044 | 99.632 | 99.712 | 100.034 | 100.143 | 100.104 | 100.471 | 100.448 | 100.566 | 100.559 | 100.904 | 101.279 | 101.83 | 105.08 | 118.678 | 98.51 | 99.143 | 99.127 | 98.777 | 98.902 | 98.744 | 98.64 | 98.68 | 98.962 | 98.921 | 98.894 | 98.878 | 99.438 | 99.491 | 99.25 | 99.375 | 99.521 | 99.457 | 99.425 | 99.792 | 99.735 | 99.542 | 99.802 |
Felipe Massa | 111.189 | 101.887 | 101.981 | 101.596 | 101.475 | 101.771 | 101.893 | 102.477 | 102.383 | 105.864 | 120.121 | 99.094 | 99.475 | 100.2 | 100.52 | 100.7 | 100.723 | 101.226 | 101.169 | 101.314 | 101.581 | 101.905 | 102.262 | 106.002 | 121.037 | 99.479 | 100.374 | 100.25 | 101.081 | 100.053 | 100.537 | 100.41 | 100.775 | 99.981 | 100.513 | 100.47 | 100.185 | 100.303 | 100.432 | 100.292 | 100.547 | 100.651 | 100.476 | 100.584 | 100.592 | 100.466 | 100.973 | 100.818 | 101.774 | 102.001 | 101.618 | 101.52 | 102.878 | 104.805 | 102.922 | 103.08 | |
Daniel Ricciardo | 104.998 | 100.949 | 100.889 | 101.127 | 101.189 | 101.336 | 101.308 | 101.354 | 101.219 | 101.271 | 101.349 | 101.746 | 101.78 | 104.553 | 121.208 | 99.421 | 99.88 | 100.16 | 99.928 | 100.204 | 100.211 | 99.932 | 100.339 | 99.8 | 99.936 | 100.25 | 100.365 | 100.34 | 100.315 | 100.763 | 101.217 | 101.508 | 101.295 | 101.216 | 104.355 | 120.171 | 99.109 | 99.404 | 99.265 | 99.322 | 99.41 | 99.417 | 99.347 | 99.069 | 99.684 | 99.453 | 99.571 | 99.044 | 99.704 | 99.056 | 99.205 | 99.845 | 98.948 | 99.898 | 99.777 | 99.49 | 101.66 |
Nico Hulkenberg | 106.025 | 101.26 | 101.338 | 101.443 | 101.55 | 101.63 | 101.912 | 102.075 | 102.186 | 104.82 | 122.568 | 100.317 | 100.422 | 101.589 | 101.786 | 100.94 | 100.749 | 101.143 | 101.091 | 101.394 | 101.505 | 101.753 | 101.98 | 102.217 | 104.907 | 119.978 | 100.076 | 100.652 | 99.802 | 100.186 | 101.163 | 100.746 | 102.83 | 102.023 | 101.891 | 101.637 | 101.646 | 104.108 | 122.738 | 98.653 | 99.201 | 99.467 | 99.583 | 99.584 | 100.817 | 99.927 | 100.474 | 100.854 | 100.75 | 101.579 | 100.526 | 100.427 | 100.606 | 100.641 | 100.752 | 101.27 | |
Carlos Sainz Jnr | 107.698 | 101.538 | 101.577 | 101.766 | 101.83 | 101.914 | 102.24 | 102.439 | 103.85 | 103.017 | 107.627 | 130.592 | 100.651 | 101.118 | 100.846 | 100.946 | 101.586 | 101.354 | 101.674 | 101.779 | 101.73 | 101.818 | 102.087 | 101.497 | 101.766 | 101.762 | 103.646 | 103.606 | 104.928 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Romain Grosjean | 105.366 | 101.107 | 101.127 | 101.082 | 101.358 | 101.631 | 101.96 | 101.753 | 102.008 | 102.279 | 102.386 | 105.241 | 120.563 | 99.556 | 100.27 | 99.826 | 100.222 | 100.429 | 100.454 | 100.651 | 100.727 | 100.926 | 100.992 | 101.319 | 101.431 | 101.294 | 101.619 | 101.415 | 101.902 | 102.275 | 105.04 | 120.544 | 99.213 | 99.161 | 99.4 | 99.439 | 99.635 | 99.587 | 99.871 | 99.969 | 100.167 | 99.955 | 99.915 | 99.714 | 100.137 | 100.238 | 100.755 | 100.542 | 100.342 | 100.177 | 100.286 | 100.275 | 100.534 | 100.391 | 100.387 | 100.532 | 101.197 |
Sergio Perez | 108.268 | 101.618 | 101.688 | 101.737 | 101.911 | 101.98 | 102.096 | 102.518 | 101.726 | 101.893 | 102.181 | 101.967 | 102.03 | 102.949 | 103.008 | 103 | 106.296 | 121.091 | 99.088 | 99.301 | 99.47 | 99.859 | 100.424 | 100.924 | 100.274 | 100.797 | 100.407 | 100.44 | 100.876 | 101.363 | 101.464 | 101.701 | 101.206 | 101.433 | 101.679 | 102.644 | 104.827 | 120 | 98.338 | 98.831 | 99.083 | 99.294 | 99.468 | 99.738 | 99.591 | 99.567 | 100.075 | 100.375 | 101.672 | 100.136 | 100.54 | 100.232 | 100.392 | 100.618 | 102.127 | 101.162 | |
Felipe Nasr | 108.819 | 101.738 | 101.697 | 101.939 | 102.068 | 102.213 | 102.012 | 102.599 | 102.436 | 105.928 | 122.476 | 99.343 | 99.846 | 100.091 | 100.472 | 100.257 | 100.539 | 100.879 | 100.977 | 101.373 | 101.525 | 101.796 | 102.295 | 104.871 | 122.73 | 99.45 | 100.373 | 100.164 | 100.708 | 101.691 | 100.533 | 100.239 | 100.461 | 100.381 | 102.367 | 101.423 | 101.491 | 101.074 | 101.559 | 101.907 | 104.757 | 122.106 | 98.216 | 98.66 | 99.822 | 98.827 | 99.541 | 100.645 | 100.48 | 99.178 | 99.457 | 99.7 | 99.749 | 99.835 | 100.047 | 100.023 | |
Marcus Ericsson | 106.566 | 101.486 | 101.058 | 101.415 | 101.708 | 101.741 | 102.293 | 102.465 | 102.418 | 102.522 | 105.312 | 121.123 | 98.856 | 100.633 | 100.1 | 100.314 | 100.134 | 100.404 | 100.574 | 100.754 | 101.362 | 101.092 | 101.564 | 101.224 | 104.192 | 144.757 | 98.422 | 99.907 | 99.777 | 99.499 | 100.168 | 99.751 | 100.71 | 100.081 | 100.805 | 100.428 | 103.16 | 120.797 | 99.047 | 98.963 | 99.33 | 99.471 | 101.133 | 99.901 | 100.536 | 101.03 | 100.635 | 100.406 | 100.45 | 100.503 | 100.594 | 100.076 | 100.175 | 100.638 | 100.619 | 101.257 | |
Fernando Alonso | 109.376 | 102.035 | 101.762 | 101.753 | 101.996 | 102.521 | 103.382 | 102.257 | 102.478 | 102.712 | 103.093 | 104.581 | 106.103 | 121.883 | 100.927 | 100.741 | 101.146 | 102.74 | 101.421 | 101.644 | 101.737 | 101.801 | 101.752 | 101.943 | 101.615 | 101.823 | 102.275 | 101.46 | 101.942 | 102.172 | 102.573 | 102.233 | 102.054 | 102.137 | 104.509 | 120.291 | 99.326 | 98.992 | 99.292 | 100.936 | 99.554 | 99.394 | 99.152 | 99.445 | 100.026 | 100.297 | 99.989 | 100.198 | 100.845 | 100.329 | 100.128 | 100.089 | 99.943 | 99.91 | 100.124 | 99.826 | |
Max Verstappen | 109.895 | 102.009 | 102.17 | 102.196 | 103.296 | 106.696 | 136.163 | 100.982 | 101.257 | 101.797 | 101.831 | 103.113 | 101.672 | 103.288 | 102.949 | 102.012 | 101.899 | 102.228 | 101.812 | 101.978 | 101.784 | 101.768 | 101.802 | 101.678 | 101.782 | 102 | 102.091 | 102.596 | 102.639 | 104.937 | 123.456 | 99.607 | 99.812 | 116.809 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Pastor Maldonado | 111.121 | 101.421 | 101.821 | 103.185 | 102.308 | 101.753 | 102.131 | 102.34 | 102.22 | 105.144 | 126.713 | 98.495 | 99.451 | 99.887 | 100.173 | 100.149 | 100.405 | 100.511 | 100.617 | 100.834 | 100.923 | 101.177 | 101.659 | 105.057 | 119.108 | 98.34 | 99.388 | 98.685 | 99.039 | 99.334 | 99.732 | 99.883 | 100.788 | 99.672 | 99.771 | 99.856 | 100.53 | 99.814 | 100.016 | 99.958 | 103.42 | 97.665 | 97.754 | 99.063 | 98.451 | 98.669 | 98.458 | 98.697 | 98.718 | 98.797 | 98.64 | 98.968 | 98.894 | 98.85 | 98.736 | ||
Daniil Kvyat | 110.564 | 103.347 | 101.763 | 102.547 | 102.083 | 103.081 | 101.375 | 102.013 | 102.175 | 102.413 | 102.309 | 103.061 | 102.825 | 102.61 | 105.467 | 122.131 | 99.463 | 101.072 | 100.174 | 99.931 | 100.227 | 100.794 | 100.355 | 100.323 | 100.684 | 100.645 | 101.049 | 101.083 | 101.163 | 101.36 | 101.619 | 101.88 | 102.025 | 105.112 | 121.315 | 98.725 | 99.167 | 99.431 | 99.715 | 99.579 | 100.305 | 99.519 | 99.724 | 100.478 | 99.948 | 99.599 | 100.152 | 99.976 | 99.807 | 100.044 | 100.545 | 102.765 | 100.759 | 103.129 | 100.835 | 100.339 | |
Will Stevens | 113.12 | 105.025 | 104.141 | 104.182 | 104.914 | 104.638 | 104.766 | 104.538 | 104.73 | 104.647 | 105.302 | 106.056 | 105.878 | 106.411 | 105.957 | 106.065 | 106.241 | 106.836 | 109.973 | 127.458 | 102.514 | 102.568 | 102.968 | 102.552 | 102.6 | 102.852 | 104.018 | 102.916 | 103.356 | 103.343 | 103.243 | 104.152 | 107.293 | 126.645 | 102.219 | 101.759 | 102.21 | 102.771 | 102.717 | 107.806 | 104.123 | 103.933 | 102.857 | 103.453 | 103.26 | 103.733 | 104.412 | 103.339 | 103.54 | 103.364 | 103.842 | 104.335 | 103.53 | 104.417 | 106.38 | ||
Roberto Merhi | 113.056 | 104.459 | 104.11 | 104.278 | 104.967 | 106.003 | 105.026 | 105.459 | 105.276 | 105.593 | 106.613 | 106.567 | 106.961 | 107.059 | 107.4 | 107.643 | 107.65 | 111.719 | 126.826 | 103.029 | 103.517 | 104.403 | 103.261 | 103.342 | 103.731 | 104.009 | 105.237 | 104.195 | 105.465 | 106.522 | 106.365 | 105.61 | 105.374 | 109.146 | 126.139 | 102.033 | 102.56 | 103.425 | 103.576 | 104.696 | 103.031 | 103.487 | 104.029 | 103.5 | 103.814 | 104.44 | 105.293 | 104.349 | 104.313 | 104.113 | 105.666 | 107.919 | 105.123 | 106.244 | |||
Jenson Button |
Kimi Raikkonen has always been a driver who delivers his very best over a race stint rather than in qualifying. And with a set of soft tyres at his disposal for the final stint, he was a genuine threat to the leading Mercedes duo.
He set the fastest lap of the race in his pursuit of Nico Rosberg, while Sebastian Vettel underlined the pace of the Ferrari by also lapping quicker than the two Mercedes.
Pastor Maldonado was another driver who ended the race on the soft tyres, but notwithstanding that the fact he was able to outpace the race-winning Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton will be of great encouragement to Lotus, even if he wasn’t able to bring home any points.
Bahrain Grand Prix fastest laps
Each driver’s fastest lap:
Rank | Driver | Car | Fastest lap | Gap | On lap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’36.311 | 42 | |
2 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’36.624 | 0.313 | 38 |
3 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’37.326 | 1.015 | 36 |
4 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Mercedes | 1’37.665 | 1.354 | 43 |
5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’37.857 | 1.546 | 38 |
6 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1’38.095 | 1.784 | 16 |
7 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’38.216 | 1.905 | 43 |
8 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’38.338 | 2.027 | 39 |
9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’38.422 | 2.111 | 27 |
10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1’38.653 | 2.342 | 40 |
11 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull-Renault | 1’38.725 | 2.414 | 36 |
12 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-Renault | 1’38.948 | 2.637 | 53 |
13 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1’38.992 | 2.681 | 38 |
14 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’39.094 | 2.783 | 12 |
15 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Mercedes | 1’39.161 | 2.850 | 34 |
16 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’39.607 | 3.296 | 32 |
17 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’40.651 | 4.340 | 13 |
18 | Will Stevens | Manor-Ferrari | 1’41.759 | 5.448 | 36 |
19 | Roberto Merhi | Manor-Ferrari | 1’42.033 | 5.722 | 36 |
20 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Honda |
2015 Bahrain Grand Prix
- Sponsor watch: 2015 Chinese & Bahrain Grands Prix
- 2015 Bahrain GP Predictions Championship results
- Ferrari’s Mercedes challenge enlivens 2015 contest
- 2015 Bahrain Grand Prix team radio transcript
- Top ten pictures from the 2015 Bahrain Grand Prix
Slava (@)
19th April 2015, 19:10
McLaren is still too far behind. The best lap and the pace overall was terrible. They must find another second and a half in three weeks time.
Kimi simply showed Vettel how you should race.
Sven (@crammond)
19th April 2015, 19:21
Well, Alonso´s best lap is less than half a tenth behind Ricciardo. That´s exceeding expectations, they might even score points already before summer break.
Broom (@)
19th April 2015, 19:28
I think Alonso’s last set of tyres were on the options whereas Riccardio’s was on the primes which makes a difference.
Kimi’s pace on the primes in his second stint was unbelievable.
SundarF1 (@sundarf1)
19th April 2015, 19:33
Fernando’s pace was almost on par with that of the Red Bulls, and that is some serious improvement given the pace at which they started the season. Also, with just one week between China and Bahrain, they probably couldn’t have changed anything significantly. Honda are bringing in a considerably revised engine package for Barcelona, which, reliability willing, will push them further ahead in the midfield. I expect they will be Q3 regulars in the second half of the season. Not bad at all, especially when you look at the way Renault are performing.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
19th April 2015, 19:30
Best laps mean nothing these days with the variations on strategy. Look at Grosjean’s best lap and the guy finished 7th.
Alonso did quite well to finish 11th. A slight push ahead and he’ll be scoring points.
Slava (@)
19th April 2015, 21:13
I agree, although, after the race it seems that McLaren was only losing places, not gaining. The performance here was worse than in China. It is my first impression.
Anyway, I believe that McLaren will challenge others for podium after the summer break.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
19th April 2015, 23:15
@slava Depends which part of the race you’re looking at. At one point they managed to unlap themselves and Alonso was pulling ahead of Hamilton :P
They were on a 2 stopper too…
Garry Webster
19th April 2015, 22:32
I like to take note how far Alonso is behind after 10 to 12 laps the last two races its been about 30 seconds so around 3 seconds a lap in other words a life time, they need to show a vast improvement on this if not rule out 2016 as well absolutely dire performance so far this season and not even getting Button out at all is a disgrace
George (@george)
20th April 2015, 0:20
It’s obvious they’re losing a huge amount on the straights though, with DRS open he was barely keeping up with the cars in front. If they can get their engines on par with the Renault they’ll probably gain about 1s/lap I’d guess.
MarkM
19th April 2015, 19:14
can it really be said Hamilton was outpaced on a lap when he never really came under threat, and during the first stint of the race when he opened up a good gap, I don’t really feel anyone is quicker then him. He proed he could pull away and Vettel couldn’t really hold on to him.
The latter part of the race is not really a good comparison as he was never under pressure to go 100%, but instead managing the gap to bring it home.
just saying.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
19th April 2015, 19:44
What I don’t understand is how, when Raikkonen was on the mediums on his middle stint matching or being faster than Hamilton on softs, I thought that it was just tyres that were better. But when Kimi was on softs and the Mercs were on mediums, he suddenly became 2 seconds/lap faster.
The Ferrari + Raikkonen package had incredible speed today, dare I say it, they had more race pace than even Hamilton.
Ivan Vinitskyy (@ivan-vinitskyy)
19th April 2015, 20:10
@kingshark
1. Ham admitted he was saving tires throughout the race
2. Ham was never under attack
3. I think it’s safe to say Rosberg was flat out in the last stint because he let himself be caught by Kimi in the last stint.
4. I assume Rosberg was not flat out in the middle stint and saved tires in case of safety car or change in strategy. Perhaps at that stage Merc did not see Kimi as a threat.
All in all last stint is not a surprised, better tire will do that to laptime. What was surprising and mistake by Mercedes is not anticipating this in the middle stint.
Key (@key75)
19th April 2015, 21:46
@kingshark @ivan-vinitskyy I’m not sure Mercedes could have done more today if they were really pushed!
This news just show that Mercedes are somehow a little fragile and can’t stop improving rapidly if they want the Constructor Championship (I think the drivers one is for Hamilton already even with Ferrari catching because this year he’s just in another level from the rest of the field).
Adrian (@blackmoo)
20th April 2015, 4:23
Raikkonen’s had the advantage of a lighter car and clear window after the last pit to set a fastest time, also almost half the stint he ran in clean air and overtaking was a joke considering most of the lapped cars were on primes. I don’t understand why everyone is impressed by the Ferrari times, every race they matched Merc on tyre order they didn’t excel, and when they split it, they have a huge luck with clear air windows
Mrahealpia
19th April 2015, 19:19
This question isn’t particular to the Bahrain race, but I’ve been wondering for a while: On the last lap, when the winner exits the last corner to cross the line, why does he always keep turning to finish on the dirty side of the track? Is this some sort of tradition, or is there a technical reason for it?
Andy (@andycz)
19th April 2015, 19:23
Becasue there is the pit wall and they want to celebrate! The closer the better!
Mrahealpia
19th April 2015, 19:25
Of all the racers RIC certainly is the man who knows how to celebrate haha. The fancier the better!
Andy (@andycz)
19th April 2015, 19:33
For sure! A bit more fireworks, the better! :-D
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
19th April 2015, 19:24
To wave at his engineers. Drivers also gather a lot of marbles on their tires on the cool down lap for technical reasons.
Grosjean's smile (@testacorsa)
19th April 2015, 19:28
The only reason is to make the car heavier, no?
Andy (@andycz)
19th April 2015, 19:35
I think so. I remeber Kubica in his first race in F1 (2006 Hungary) – he was disqualified just because he forget to get some debries on the tyres – so he was a bit underweight. It was pity, because he was on points there…
Czef (@czef)
19th April 2015, 20:41
He weared out wets so much that he was 2kgs below limit.
“Stewards praised the “assistance and cooperation” they received from the BMW Sauber team, who proved that Kubica’s car was inadvertently 2 kilograms below the minimum requirement because of “excessive and unexpected tyre wear (and therefore weight loss) through continued use of wet-weather tyres in comparison to the accustomed and anticipated rate of wear of dry tyres.”” From official F1.com
anon
19th April 2015, 21:05
Technically, the FIA doesn’t actually have to weigh the car with the tyres that the driver finished the race on. If they wanted to, the regulations do permit them to replace the tyres with a new set instead, though usually the only times when that is done is when the tyre is damaged in some way.
mark p
19th April 2015, 21:33
Even if you gwt marbles on tyres to add weight if the weight is marginal the FIA can weigh the car with different tyres on to ensure the weight complies.
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
19th April 2015, 21:12
@testacorsa Height was also an issue I thought?
Grosjean's smile (@testacorsa)
20th April 2015, 8:16
The plank wear would take care of the height, I think. They have the wooden plank, and the (we please the fans, so it looks like the good old days with sparkly) titanium skid plates now, so they can only go so low. So collecting marbles at the end, wouldn’t change the wear on the plank anyways. I’m not that much into the regulations, so maybe another would clarify?
Darth-Ecclestone (@darth-ecclestone)
19th April 2015, 19:27
it makes for a better photograph being closer to the pit wall/camera
SotF1Rules (@sotiris07)
19th April 2015, 19:50
I believe that Maclaren has made serious improvement! If Honda produce an even better PU I think that they will have podium finishes by the end of the year! I expect them to be in the top 3 teams next year! And imagine that this perfomance happens in a circuit that top speed really matters …and Maclaren is truly lacking top speed so the result today is great! Expect them to improve even more!
William Stuart (@williamstuart)
19th April 2015, 20:07
Hopefully, one thing is that if regulations are changed for 2017 then they might be hit harder than the others. If they have to work so hard to get level with the others then they may not have enough time to focus on the next regulations.
D
19th April 2015, 19:54
Even so, Mercedes will be very happy with the result. Another hot race out of the way, Rosberg up into second thanks to Vettel getting stuck behind Bottas. Good damage limitation.
Daniel (@dstaplet13)
20th April 2015, 2:17
The fastest lap will not win you the race. Having consistently fast laps (being faster than the next guy, even if it is not a FLAP) over the entire race will, however.
But Ferrari are knocking at the door of Mercedes (so to speak) the lap times between Lewis and Kimi are very close to each other when on similar tires.
Grant Butler
20th April 2015, 12:36
Kimi was fast enough to win the race, yet somehow he didn’t and tbh I think keeping him out so long ruined it for him.
Dale
20th April 2015, 13:44
A few fastest laps after early stops around lap 16, then others got their fastest at 2nd stops between laps 36 to 43, but RIC was all by himself doing his fastest on lap 53. Must have been looking after his last set of tyres. He finished with a long run (22 laps ?) on softs I think.
Dale
20th April 2015, 13:48
Just found RIC was on mediums and 22 laps was about avg.
Mr win or lose
20th April 2015, 19:20
Interestingly, even though Hamilton’s stops were on average slightly faster than Rosberg’s, he lost time in both his outlaps. So presumably he was trying not to overheat the tyres, which may explain why his tyres seemed to last slightly longer than Rosberg’s.
pxcmerc (@)
21st April 2015, 9:36
Given how quick the tires seem to be falling off this year, the safest best is to just go slow at the front and use the turbulence to stall your opponent. Hamilton can win a great many races like this, oh yes. The Merc is fast enough to pass the Ferrari, but I haven’t seen a Ferrari pass a Merc barring Sepang when Merc screwed up their setup. All Merc have to do is watch the tires and dominate the red cars behind them, and it’s an easy 1-2. I don’t think you will be seeing very much over taking at the front this year, unless it’s back markers, reliability issues or severe setup issues.
simone
20th April 2015, 23:35
Just look at Vettel worst laps, when he did the well known mistakes: 8,9,36 and 37. Compare those lap times with his pace at that points of the race. Now re-align lap times, as if it was possible to remove those mistakes. You’ ll see Vettel lost 39 seconds. That means he would have finished just behind Raikkonen. Despite of being stuck behind Bottas. Who was faster then?
Mathematics are not opinion.
Just too much mistakes. Pure and simple. He struggled to find his rhythm in the cockpit.
pxcmerc (@)
21st April 2015, 9:39
he was stuck in dirty air and lost his front tires. Kimi was in clean air and had a relatively smooth race. Lewis was chilling at the front, slowing down his opponents. Game set match. Lewis gets better tire life not being behind while his teammates have to keep 1.5 seconds off, if they get too close they blow their tires, if they get too close and push, they lose their tires even faster, and then Lewis pushes just enough to cover the DRS and watches the guy behind him fall to pieces.
pxcmerc (@)
21st April 2015, 9:40
*teammate/opponents