Start, Bahrain International Circuit, 2019

Rate the race: 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix

2019 Bahrain Grand Prix

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What did you think of today’s race? Share your verdict on the Bahrain Grand Prix.

RaceFans has held polls on every F1 race since 2008 to find out which fans thought of each round of the season.

Join in the latest poll and give your verdict on the race: 10 being the highest and 1 the lowest. Please vote based on how entertaining and exciting you thought the race was, not on how your preferred driver or team performed.

What were the best and worst moments of the race? What was the main thing you’ll remember about it? Rate the race out of ten and leave a comment below:

Rate the 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix out of ten

  • 10 (17%)
  • 9 (39%)
  • 8 (35%)
  • 7 (6%)
  • 6 (2%)
  • 5 (1%)
  • 4 (0%)
  • 3 (0%)
  • 2 (0%)
  • 1 (1%)

Total Voters: 332

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1 = ‘Terrible’, 10 = ‘Perfect’

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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98 comments on “Rate the race: 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix”

  1. 9½/10. Epic race, which has cemented Sakhir’s position as one of the finest tracks in F1 calendar. Wish we could race here 20 times a year.

    1. Sorry, the track itself is boring as hell, but this particular race was indeed nice.

      And with Liberty and their desire to charge more ans more of course this track will stay until the end of F1.

      1. pastaman (@)
        1st April 2019, 12:49

        Uhhh, what? This track layout is great and usually puts on a decent race because of the many overtaking opportunities. A good mix of all types of corners and with elevation changes (in the desert!). Also very fun to drive in your F1 simulator game of choice.

    2. I’d liked that idea.

    3. @huhhii

      Ha.. I wish there was a 0.5 rating system. I was contemplating giving it a 10 or a 9.. and would have settled for a 9.5 as well.

      It was one of the best races I’ve seen .. a proper race for the win, podium spots and all throughout the midfield…but Leclerc’s engine problem ruined it slightly for me.

      Gave it a 9 in the end.

      1. They needed some rain for a 10

  2. Panagiotis Papatheodorou (@panagiotism-papatheodorou)
    31st March 2019, 17:49

    9/10 for me. Great racing, drama, spins, it has everything. Shame for Charles, deserved that victory.

  3. What a race. One of the best in the hybrid era. Perhaps even better than the 2014 edition.

  4. 10.
    A heartbreaking 10.

    1. I always like that there’s inevitably a sourpuss who votes a race as 1, irrespective of who wins :)

    2. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
      31st March 2019, 18:04

      +1 agreed a heartbreaking 10

  5. Without Leclerc as comparison it would have looked like an epic effort from Vettel to keep the mighty Mercedes at bay.
    Until his screw up at least…

    1. Paints some of 2018’s races in a different light

    2. Leclerc showing what the Ferrari can do, really rooting for Leclerc to end Ferrari’s drought and kinda throw some salt at vettel fans that say vettel never makes mistakes

  6. 10/10. Thanks to the FIA for saving Leclerc’s podium..

    1. How suspicious was that? Both Renault’s computer issues? All hail Ferrari power huh

      1. What a mind-numbing conspiracy that is…

      2. Just like when Haas double dnf’d to give their parent team the win in AUS 2018 right? *yawn*

      3. So FIA can switch off Renault engines cool! No, of the 4 Renault car only 1 finished that is bad…

        I gave the race a 7 plus but for my liking to much DRS overtakes.

      4. Oh, that wasn’t an electronics failure on Hulk’s car. Looked like the turbo went pop right before turn 1. RIC’s dash was still lit up, but the PU just turned off like a light. I would chalk up both failures to my variant of Hanlon’s razor: Do not attribute to conspiracy that which can adequately explained by incompetence.

  7. 10, most heartbreaking 10 ever.

    1. Leclerc deserves that one so much. I think it will be easier to take soon, he is going to win a lot of races in that car wit his talent.

  8. 9, I’m exhausted, the drivers must be drained, that was great action.

  9. Ok. So Ferrari managed to hack or make the computer on Renault to force a unnecessary SC? Even if the Renault was real, that SC was not necessary.

    1. It was. There was a REN standing still right at track side that they had to get rid of. Pretty obvious that they would finish behind the SC straight away, considering it happened in L55.

    2. Don’t be silly

    3. Are you coming out in sympathy for Alex Jones and decided this view when you had psychosis

  10. Fantastic race! Absolutely gutted for Leclerc. The field spread in the first few laps seemed well reduced so hopefully that’s a reflection of the new aero and holds true for the coming races. Hopefully Vettel’s not setting a trend for his season… Can’t say I was expecting a Mercedes 1-2 a few hours ago.

  11. Very entertaining. Vettel’s inability to handle on track pressure may be a key to this season.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      31st March 2019, 18:29

      As it was last season….

    2. @velocityboy – Indeed. I thought it was quite pathetic, actually. He could have lost position, as Hamilton was clearly quicker on the medium tyres, but to lose the car altogether was really amateurish.

      1. It was soooo 2018

  12. 9/10 — if hadn’t been for the safety car ending, it would have been an 11.

  13. 8 Really liking this season so far, electrifying start.

  14. Great race. Would have been 10 were it not for Leclerc’s failure.

    Poor from Vettel.

    1. Leclerc’s failure

      Didn’t watch any. There was Vettel’s failure and Leclerc’s car’s failure.

  15. 5
    Would have been 8-9 but for the awful last 10 laps

  16. The race that had everything. 10.

  17. wonder what hamilton bashers think where bottas reversed the roles from last now…. apart from leclerc briliant drive… bottas was almost gone and dusted by verstappen..

    1. BOT was a comfortable 7+s ahead of VER. He even overtook him after the stops. HAM though was in a different league.

    2. Tell @thegianthogweed that he feels Bottas was on the wrong strategy even lol. Ham as done this many times to Bottas. Bottas would have won anyway last week but the gap was a huge fluke.

    3. They probably discover some extensive floor damage at Bottas car.

  18. Dutchguy (@justarandomdutchguy)
    31st March 2019, 18:01

    What the hell was this race on?
    There was some scrapping throughout the midfield all race, And Hamilton’s attack on Vettel was great to watch, but some parts of this race were bizar..
    A McLaren attacking a Red Bull, and almost succeeding
    Vettel just spinning all of his own
    And then the end…
    First Leclerc runs into trouble, gets passed. twice.
    First Hamilton starts to complain about his downshifting, then all of a sudden both Renaults are out, Sainz retires, we get a safety car, Hamilton wins somehow – after looking quite poorly after being passed by Vettel – and Verstappen just casually spins in the run-out lap

    absolute mayhem. but I feel that Leclerc and Sainz deserved more.

    1. Vettel just spinning all of his own

      What’s bizarre about this? :)
      It’s been a running feature of 2018, and it’s disappointing to see him at it again.

      1. Dean Reynolds
        31st March 2019, 18:24

        This was Charles race. Simple. Lewis was out there making things happen despite not being comfortable with the car. Sure..He inherited this win but had he not gone for it with VET it would’ve been Ferrari 1-4.

      2. F1oSaurus (@)
        31st March 2019, 18:32

        2017 was pretty much the same feature too (Baku “brake test” debacle, Canada first corner not yielding a lost position, Singapore even before the first corner wipeout, Silverstone inability to pass and then a ridiculously long stint and still pushing too hard until the tyre gave up, Mexico simply crashed into Verstappen and Hamilton)

        1. @f1osaurus – yeah, he really started that downward trend in 2017 :(

    2. @justarandomdutchguy

      A McLaren attacking a Red Bull, and almost succeeding
      Vettel just spinning all of his own

      Man.. I was so hoping that the Mclaren would make it stick. Really unfortunate. Sainz could have really bought some time and attacked him later, especially considering how much easier it was to follow cars on this circuit.

      Vettel spinning.. no surprise there. I expect a few more of those from him before he throws another championship away.

      1. Dutchguy (@justarandomdutchguy)
        31st March 2019, 19:33

        He cracked surprisingly early.
        I had expected things to go downhill midway through the season. He didn’t even make it to Baku

  19. Great race, terrible ending. As in Baku and Interlagos. Same driver, who dominates in this era, benefits which is also sad. As a Ferrari fan I wasn’t even overly sad with Vettel’s error as that would help Leclerc position.

    1. Luck is being in the right place at the right time. Baku was multiple strokes of luck I’d admit, but Interlagos and today were both cases of Hamilton doing enough to stay in sight of #1, so when things went south he could capitalize on it.

      1. Don’t expect Ferrari fans to acknowledge this. Ham = Bad . Ferrari = good
        It does make these victories very sweet but I do feel massive sympathy for poor charles. He deserves better than Ferrari.

        1. petebaldwin (@)
          31st March 2019, 18:32

          And as you showed in your post below, you think “Ham = good, Ferrari = bad” meaning your opinion is as biased as theirs.

          For neutrals, it was sad to see Leclerc’s race end as it did as he deserved the win today but it shows that we’ve got a great battle on our hands for the rest of the season.

          1. True…I’m not nuetral but mine is a valid observation none the less.
            Anyway…great race today. Best in a long time. It had everything and f1 fans were the winners.
            On to the next one.

  20. Surprise surprise Mercedes won

    1. F1oSaurus (@)
      31st March 2019, 18:33

      Suprise, surprise, Ferrari threw the win away you mean?

  21. Brilliant race! 9.

  22. 8/10, great race let down by the result and Leclercs car problems.

  23. What a race from Leclerc and Hulk! Ferrari and Renault’s reliability makes me to give the -1 point to this race. 9/10

    1. Not true.. Renault is very reliable in breaking to soon.

  24. Alex McFarlane
    31st March 2019, 18:10

    9/10. Bit of a lull in the middle but really good first 15 laps, drama at the end, interested strategic decisions.

    Ferrari look to have built a fast car, maybe quicker than Merc but questions still remain if that has come at the expense if reliability, some Merc generally excel at.

    1. And hints in the post race comments of fuel consumption issues…

      1. Alex McFarlane
        31st March 2019, 20:45

        That was probably down to the lack of ERS, if just running on the ICE fuel consumption would have been higher.

  25. Zero sympathy for Ferrari. I enjoy seeing them continually screw everything up. Big smiles from me on that front.
    Charles… poor guy. First of all for having Ferrari inflicted on his career and secondly for his great weekend coming to a terrible conclusion. He didn’t deserve that.
    But hey….what – a – race!! Who said F1 is finished? Brilliant racing all around the field. Special mention for Lewis who made things happen today despite ferrari having a much fasrer car. Also great humility from him at the end but you can be sure it will attract negativity from some. Shaping up to be one hell of a season.

    1. Oh…. 9/10 for that race. F1 at it’s best.

  26. Best (horrible) race in a long, long time.

    Now, if only they suddenly discovered that tracks where you can overtake are more fun than bloody city tracks.

  27. Incredibly strong race. Heartbreaking to see Leclerc limp to the podium, a little disappointed I didn’t get two consecutive Honda-powered podiums. Absolutely insane race.

    Lando Norris in P6, Raikkonen in P7, Albon in P9. The midfield this year is just merciless. Whatever voodoo Ross Brawn et al cooked up for the technical regs this year–more of this, please!

  28. Solid 9….Mclaren seem to have improved…..Renault have not….once again Ferrari have the fastest car, but have they made it unreliable by running it at the limit??..and if it doesn’t fail in the future, I am sure they will get the strategy wrong….and how long does it take to remove cars from the side of a track, I know Ricciardo ( probably now wishing he was in any other team..1 stop strategy??) did not reattach his steering wheel, but surely he did not take it with him….and Chandrok on Sky in the pits…can we have Ted back
    A great race

    1. Did you not see the flashing red light? Danny Ric did NOT want to be electrocuted.

  29. Well, this should have been the 1000th race in F1 history.

    1. Lovely said, though I’m all for the 999th one too!

  30. 8 from me.

    Negatives:
    – can we replace the boring Tilkedrom with some other nice track?
    No? oh, well, next.

    – FLAP award is just stupid and ridiculous. I am starting to hate it even more than DRS… (ok, DRS is untouchable, but FLAP is just an atrocity)

    Positives:
    – Ferrari is indeed in the fight
    But at what cost? Reliability?
    Barcelona hinted of that, Australia rumoured of that, Bahrain probably confirmed that.

    Entertaining:
    – Another error from Vettel under pressure
    Ok, he didn’t touch Lewis, he just lost it.
    And what did he do to his front wing?
    The way it self-destroyed was a bit scary but spectacular!

    – What the hell happened to Renault cars at almost the same moment?
    Sabotage? Software bug from Apple with DST time shift?

    – McLaren looks to be on the right way with improvements to their car.
    Probably 10 years too late, but still good.

  31. 10. Thanks to Safety car to gain Leclerc’s first podium after bad luck from engine problems + Lots of drama from Mercedes and Ferrari including Hamilton and Vettel

  32. 10 for being proved right all along how Vettel is nowhere near as good as the stats show. Thank god Hamilton did not stay at Mclaren and he would still be 1xWC. Has Ham had easy titles? yes many do. But Hamilton as been able to now proves that he is better than Vettel which many said Vettel was better as he had 4 titles.

    It says it all really how when on 1 title and Alonso on 2 Vettel was never considerd the best on the grid, huge indightment on him. Alonso would have been champion last year in that car, Vettel has not shown us how fast the car is. If Leclerc was not at Ferrari we would be hearing how lucky Lewis is and Merc are still quicker. Fact is Hamilton is better than Vettel

    1. 10 for being proved right all along how Vettel is nowhere near as good as the stats show

      You really needed this race to confirm that? I thought it was already proven after his 2014, 2016 and 2018 seasons.

      1. @ todfod No mate i knew it from 2011 maybe 2012. 2012 sealed it for me though that Alonso and Hamilton were the best. Make me think Vettel should won 2018 and you can make good arguments for 09 and 17 now i believe.

        1. @todfod No mate i should said proved others wrong, i knew it from 2010 maybe 2012. 2012 sealed it for me though that Alonso and Hamilton were the best. Make me think Vettel should won 2018 and you can make good arguments for 09 and 17 now i believe.

  33. Who cares about how noisy the cars are when the racing is this good?

  34. petebaldwin (@)
    31st March 2019, 18:35

    I gave it an 8. Very good race with lots of action throughout the field. It’s a shame it ended as it did because of a technical issue rather than through pure racing but there were a huge amount of positives today.

    It looks like we have a good battle on our hands at the front this year, Ferrari’s team orders will be interesting going foward if Leclerc keeps this pace up and the cars seem to be able to follow each other more closely.

  35. DRS was too powerful today. I wonder if DR car shut down to stop what happened to Hulks car.. Strange double DNF.

    1. DR just said his issue was MGU-K. Same problem CS had in Melbourne. He didn’t overly seem so happy with the 1 stop call either.

  36. I thought I would hate the new enhanced DRS, but I’m surprised at how much I enjoyed the racing because of it. It’s true, that many passes that would otherwise have been good scraps were made too easy. But it was equally the case that many passes that would otherwise have been impossible because of the large gap became good scraps.

    There were times in the midfield where I thought the new DRS—combined perhaps with the reduced aero wash—actually functioned a lot like the big slipstreams at the Indy 500 in recent years, where the entire pack stays strung together, towing each other along, with all cars liable to swap positions at any moment.

    I wouldn’t want every race to look like that, but we know from Melbourne that not every race will. Given that Bahrain is already one of the easiest tracks to pass at, I actually feel much more comfortable about what the new-look DRS might bring this year.

  37. I never thought I could get bored with watching Vettel spin but I think I’m now at that point.

  38. Solid 9.
    Remember the time when this circuit was hated by the entire community of fans?
    The V6 era has really turned this track’s fortunes around. It’s been one Grand Prix I’ve looked forward to every season — since 2013.

  39. 8/10 for me

    Very decent GP although it was disappointing for Max.

    There was a lot of action but DRS was really too powerful. It looked a bit fake to me. Also the safety car ending took away the tension at the end. Can’t they just get the people out of the way and race on like the old days?

    Leclerc…. what a pity for him

  40. 9 for the race, -1 for the DRS, so an 8.

  41. That race wasn’t just unbelievable, it was upsetting.

  42. 8.

    Good race indeed.

    Really heartbreaking what happened to Leclerc! Thank God Ferrari decided not to waste anymore the 2nd seat. More than sure RAI’s pace would have been slow enough to battle with BOT and VER for 3rd-5th places. Not to mention that outqualifying VET by 0.3sec is out question. Leclerc is obviously the next star in Ferrari’s stable, and that is happening sooner than expected. Ferrari should make him their no.1 next year (maybe this year too if it’ll be the case), and get rid of VET if it’s necessary.

    Another letdown by VET. Don’t want to go ballistic on him yet, but maybe the car is tail happy. It’s not the 1st time he’s spinning. HAM was faster and should have let him have 2nd there, and prepare his attack for the upcoming corners in case he had the speed to keep it up with HAM. Anyway, I think Leclerc is a bigger headache now. Leclerc might be the very reason he won’t be champ anymore, actually there’re some good chances the days left for him as a top dog are fewer than anybody would have expected.

    Bottas is pretty much done too. There’s no BOT 2.0. Almost sure AUS was just 1 of those races where he was untouchable, but over a season length HAM will dominate him. Plus, the team is backing up HAM, not BOT, so…… expect the usual!

    McLaren obviously made a step forward with the car. Finally…

  43. The lesser driver won, the lesser team won, DRS continues distorting reality. 5.

  44. Voted 9. Could have been a 10 with less DRS.

  45. 10/10. Great race, had everything.

  46. A solid 9. If there were a race for the lead, could’ve given even a 10. So much going on. Fantastic

  47. I rated the race an 8.

    It was a great race but heartbreak for Leclerc who missed out on a deserved first Grand Prix victory due to mechanical issues.

    I have tried to adjust my rating to take into account the fact that I only saw the highlights as I definitely felt my enjoyment of the race suffered because I did not see the full race, there were noticeably parts missing in the Channel 4 coverage which meant you did not get a full picture of how the race was developing.

    A couple of bits which stood out were, after the first stops they mentioned about all the mistakes Hamilton was making, yet they had not shown any footage of Hamilton since the pit stops at that point.

    Then when they showed an onboard with Hamilton you could see that he was still on the red walled soft tyres so obviously he had to stop again, which had not been mentioned in commentary, while all the other leading drivers seemed to have changed on to the yellow medium tyres so if they could make them last then they could manage a one stop race. Before the race they said that a one stop race was the fastest but it could change to two stops especially with the change in conditions with the wind on race day.

    With Channel 4 not including moments like this in the highlights early in the race I wondered if it was because there was plenty of action to fit in for the rest of the race, and so it turned out.

    It was a bad weekend for Vettel not only was he out performed by his teammate in qualifying and the race but his needless mistake after Hamilton passed him was like the Vettel from the 2018, and then to compound his mistake the vibrations from his flat-spotted tyres caused a spectacular front wing failure dropping him further down the field.

    Without team orders in Australia it is likely that Leclerc would have passed Vettel in the race and with the events this weekend it has not been the start to the season Vettel would have hoped for, but it is still early and there is plenty of time to turn his form around.

    It was another poor started from Hamilton again, which he mentioned when interviewed after the race but he recovered in the race retaking the place from his teammate early on and then taking the fight to Ferrari and passing Vettel later.

    It seemed that Hamilton would have to settle for second as Leclerc was easily in control and had a significant lead but then came engine problems for the Ferrari which gifted Mercedes another 1-2 finish.

    Away from the front it was a close midfield which supplied plenty of action and then we had both Renaults developing race ending problems within a few moments of each other., which meant the race effectively finished behind the safety car.

    It is such a shame to see Williams so far of the pace especially when it seems all the other teams apart from the top few are so close together.

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