Race start, Bahrain International Circuit, 2023

First-lap collision with Alonso was “bad timing” – Stroll

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In the round-up: Lance Stroll says his first-lap tangle with team mate Fernando Alonso was a matter of “bad timing”.

In brief

Stroll relieved not to eliminate team mate

Stroll admitted he was “really lucky” not to take Alonso out when he hit his team mate on the first lap of yesterday’s Bahrain Grand Prix, while he was dicing with George Russell.

“I brake late to stay in front of George, Fernando went for a cut back on Hamilton in turn four and it was just really bad timing,” Stroll explained afterwards. “We came together, so we’re really lucky to get away with that one.”

Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack said “these things in lap one can happen” and the team would continue to let its two drivers fight for position. “I don’t like to see that either, that is clear, but we let them race in lap one and lap two and continuously so it’s something that you know can happen.”

Hauger infuriated by “unbelievable” engine failure

Red Bull junior team member Dennis Hauger was dismayed at retiring from the second race of the season due to a failure on his Formula 2 engine. “In race two we had a technical issue with the turbo mainly which just ruined our race,” the MP Motorsport driver explained. “We could easily have been on the podium with the pace we had shown.”

“Unbelievable to see the engine already fail before we have even completed a full race weekend,” Hauger continued. “But at least we know we have good pace and can go into next race with good confidence to gain back our lost points.”

Vesti gets Jeddah penalty

Frederik Vesti has been given a five-place grid penalty for the next race of the Formula 2 championship. On the opening lap of the Bahrain feature race, Vesti lunged down the inside of turn four to then hit Richard Verschoor, who spun as a result of the contact.

The stewards deemed Vesti “wholly at fault for the collision”, ruling Verschoor left sufficient room at the apex. The Prema driver will be penalised at the next race he competes in, which should be the sprint race in Saudi Arabia at the next round of the championship. Two penalty points have also been added to his record.

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Comment of the day

The season-opening F1 race wasn’t as bad as some are saying, argues @pironitheprovocateur:

Contrary to many opinions around the net, I think the race was quite entertaining.

I’ve never really been a fan of openers in Bahrain (a Melbourne traditionalist here) but it was a decent balance between the usual racing routine, strategic battles and nice battles on the track. No chaos created by race directors was also a huge plus.

Apart from Alonso’s enthusiastic drive, I would probably single out the performances by Bottas, Gasly and namely Sargeant, who had a solid debut – a lot more solid than many people now notice. The guy had been consistent throughout the race, didn’t lose much on Albon and wasn’t far away from the points. On the other hand, the less is said about McLaren, the better.
@pironitheprovocateur

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Bac!

On this day in motorsport

  • 35 years ago today Jean-Louis Schlesser, Mauro Baldi and Jochen Mass shared victory for Mercedes in the season-opening World Sports Prototype Championship race at Jerez

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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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15 comments on “First-lap collision with Alonso was “bad timing” – Stroll”

  1. After watching both races today, my lasting visual impression is one of colorful cars racing in a colorful venue and another of 20 mostly black or dark red cars in the dark.

    1. F1 needs a photography director.
      My TV may not be the newest available, but at some point, one cannot distinguish what is a AM or a Mercedes, a Alfa or a Ferrari, a Haas form a Alpha.
      At certain angles, one only see a dark cars with sparks of some color, most of time to close do differ.
      As the OP said, to much dark red. AM Green comes to close to Merc black. Even the “greenish-blue” on Merc brings it back to the “yellowish-green” on AM.
      The director of photography is required because night race are too dark and day races are to bright (causing exxagerated shadows, making that car simply black.).
      Yes, if one is following the same 2-3 cars, one can even notice the helmet. But at starts and if the broadcast turns into new action, one kind have to guess.

  2. Bernie was right. All celebrities going to every party all over the world using private jet didn’t had the right to lecture ordinary people what the best for the world. The sickest thing about this group is they don’t even have any shame to do just that right after Ricky Gervais showed them their hypocrisies.

  3. ALL collisions are bad timing.

  4. Really lucky indeed, but hopefully, only a one-off thing as next time he mightn’t be as lucky to avoid taking out both.

    I agree with the COTD about the race being quite entertaining despite the lack of a lead battle like last season.
    I’d also single out Bottas, Gasly, & Sargeant.
    Additionally, while Sakhir is a decent location for season-opening purposes, I miss Melbourne as the opener to an extent, although next season at least won’t commence in Bahrain, given the likelihood of Jeddah (reported here too) holding that status before Melbourne getting the first of its agreed amount in the current hosting deal.

  5. Let’s put it this way. If I were still there, I wouldn’t be doing a lot of the things that (Liberty Media have) done.

    F1 is so much better because of Liberty Media. Mr Ecclestone has incredible business acumen, but he seemed to have very little sympathy for any of the teams apart from the one or two at the front of the grid.

    1. Yep. The sooner outlets stop reporting what that bonkers old duffer is saying, the better.

  6. The CoD is right, there was so much good stuff going on through the field which in my book means the race was a good one. The last 15 laps I was glued to the gaps between Tsunoda and Albon and that kept me on the edge of my seat all the way to the end…FOM removing the timing tower before they both crossed the line also added a bit of drama right at the end!

    If all you care about is the race for the win, you are watching F1 wrong.

    1. Yeah, it was a bit of a shame we did not get a fight at the top, but as the CotD brings up this was a really decent race with quite a bit of fights going on during most of the race throughout the field behind.

      Good point about that fight for the last point @geemac!

  7. Stroll is not that bad as some (keep) say(ing) since he joined F1, whenever the car seemed good for significant points results I’d say he pretty much delivered. He never seemed that bad as RIC compared to NOR when they were team mates at McLaren, for example. The fact that there’re better racers outside of F1 who might want to join the circus is another story. That being said, he’s overall a mediocre racer indeed and hope AM prioritise Alonso and they instruct Stroll to keep the distance… ’cause the potential of destroying the race and throwing away very good results for both is real. If AM’s pace is real (and not just track-related) and they keep up with the development, it’s not impossible to have a surprise at the end of the season and see ALO finish 3rd in the WDC.

    1. I do think it was a bit of a risk getting back as soon as he did for this weekend @mg1982.

      My guess is that there were several signs he had a bit of a struggle to keep focussed, push through the discomfort, but despite my own feelings of being uncomfortable with sportspeople doing that kind of thing, it does add to how well he did to keep going, consolidate position and bring home 6th ahead of Russel.

      If their pace is real, and endures, I think we should all expect Lance to show his own pace as well and shrug off some of the doubts.

  8. Will Bernie /please/ shut up? It’s not like he needs the money.

  9. Was it just me, or did Martin Brundle call Mercedes “Wiiliams”, not once but twice?

    1. during the race commentary (on F1TV) I think DC called Mercedes “McLaren” twice @justafan!

      1. I’m in the US and don’t get F1TV, but during the race I *thought* I heard him say Williams. Twice. Weird.

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