Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix Race Report

Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix Race Report 

The 2017 Formula 1 Season has well and truly started – a lot of people seemed to be unsure of how much of a problem Ferrari would be for the Mercedes team but it definitely looks like we have a battle on our hands.

We can’t discount Red Bull either – we know how strong they can be as a team and when things fall into place for them, they’re a team to look out for.

Here is your Bahrain Grand Prix Race Report with driver interviews, reactions and all the latest from the Bahrain Paddock – including unseen photos!

Enjoy! 🙂

Team Interviews – Bahrain Grand Prix Race Report

Ferrari – Bahrain Grand Prix Race Report 

Sebastian Vettel 

Position – 1st (Race Winner)

Vettel – “I had a good feeling – the lap back to the pits was so sweet, I savoured every moment and thank you to the team who has done a wonderful job!”

“A great result and thanks to all the team! We got everything right with the strategy and the tactics we chose proved to be working.”

“I think we more of less all had the same start – mine initially was a tiny bit better than Lewis which put me side-by-side but their car is really long so it’s a long way to get side-by-side!” 

“The car was like a dream today – an absolute dream to drive, it felt right from the beginning and we had the speed to win today. I had a good feeling yesterday and and it was confirmed today.”

“The lap back to the pits was so sweet – with all the fireworks around, I really savoured it.”

“At this stage, Sochi is quite far away so I don’t think that the team is looking to Sochi right now – I think we are going to enjoy the moment!”

“We did a massive stint over the winter and I think last year was a good year for us but it wasn’t good in terms of results – don’t get me wrong but I think for the team, getting together a lot of things that had changed now, seem to start clicking.”

“The team has done a wonderful job, a lot of hard work and commitment and as I said, I hope this is the success to help us build some momentum but for now, I’m looking forward to tonight.”

“Tonight we will all enjoy this and tomorrow we will be back at work – I haven’t’ changed my mind, to become World Champion you must first beat the Mercedes and we’ll be taking things race after race.”

 

Kimi Raikkonen

Position – 4th

Raikkonen – “I am happy for Seb and all the team!”

“In a way, a lot of good things happened this weekend but the end result is still disappointing – the car was working pretty nicely and to be honest, I expected that.”

“I had a bad start and because of that, the first two corners were really bad and after that I had to catch up.”

“The overall feeling was good, I was fast but with the start we put ourselves in a difficult position  – I feel that we are doing the right things and in the big picture, we are where we want to be but we still need to fine tune things and put the lap together.”

“We need to start more at the front and then our races will be a lot easier – I am happy for Seb and for all the team.”

Maurizio Arrivabene – Team Principal

“Today’s victory was an important one – thanks to everyone! All the great efforts of all the guys at the track and of course back in Maranello – for the whole weekend, the team has demonstrated courage, determination and a little bit of madness.”

“This is all a part of our DNA which 70 years ago saw the birth of Ferrari. Courage and determination were needed to tackle a weekend like this in which we experienced a few difficulties.”

“Sebastian drove a really great race – demonstrating once again all his class. Kimi was caught up in traffic at the start and then he certainly wasn’t helped by the arrival of the Safety Car.”

“The tyres worked very well and this allowed us to fully exploit our very good strategy – it’s now time to concentrate on the next round of the World Championship, The Russian Grand Prix in Sochi.”

 

Mercedes – Bahrain Grand Prix Race Report 

Lewis Hamilton

Position – 2nd

Hamilton – “Our guys have been making good calls all year so far – we still managed good points.”

“It’s been a challenging weekend – the start of the race was OK but Sebastian was in my blind spot so I didn’t know where he was and I lost a position there.”

“It was really hard to follow but we had generally similar pace – under the safety car, I misjudged it myself, the situation and that was my fault so apologies to the team!”

“We had good pace in the second and final stints and we honestly thought that we could catch Sebastian – the five second penalty made things twice as hard and I believe that it was the right choice to go on the Soft in the final stint.”

“Our guys have been making good calls all year so far – I tried my best to recover but couldn’t from the mistake and that’s not enough – we still managed to come away with good points.”

Valtteri Bottas

Position – 3rd

Bottas – “I was sliding around in Lap 2…. I hope we have a strong weekend in Sochi”

“It was not a good day – we had an issue with the tyre pressures at the start – I don’t know what it was but I could really feel it in the first stint. I was sliding around as early as Lap 2!”

“The pace wasn’t good and Sebastian was really putting us under pressure. I tried to extend the first stint but I could’t keep up with the pace.”

“The second stint was better but I was still struggling with oversteer and then I couldn’t get the rear-end to work in the last stint. “

“Under the safety car, the first stop there was a problem and we lost some time – I had some good racing with Sebastian after the restart but unfortunately it was just for a short moment.”

“I haven’t had the race results that I have been hoping for so far but we will be targeting a strong weekend in Sochi.”

Toto Wolff – Head of Mercdes-Benz Motorsport

Wolff – “We had to make a tough and unpopular call for Valtteri”

“Today’s race reminded us once again that we are in a very different competitive situation this year – racing against Ferrari.”

“I am confident that this is a challenge that we will rise to as one team and after a massive regulation change, we have been in the hunt for race wins at every weekend.”

“Our first loss came on the gris – this is where a generator failure left Valtteri with too high starting pressure and that limited his pace in the opening stint meaning we could not open a gap to the field and with lewis running behind Vettel – our strategic choices were limited.”

“We got lucky with the safety car and that gave us an opportunity to recover but a problem with the wheel guns meant that we lost a lot of the in the pits and lost position with both the cars.”

“We had to make a tough and unpopular call for Valtteri to let Lewis past – it’s not something that we like to do but when the moment comes and when the race i sin danger – we will always do what we need to do in order to get it.”

“We leave Bahrain with a lot more learning and more work to do in order to perform at our best and to covert the car’s speed into race wins.”

Red Bull Racing – Bahrain Grand Prix Race Report 

Daniel Ricciardo

Position – 5th

Ricciardo – “I genuinely thought we had a chance to win today…”

“For me, it was a race of two halves really – at the beginning of the race, I genuinely thought that we had a chance to win.”

“That stint looked very competitive and I could see that Valtteri was struggling. I was at the tail-end of the front of the pack and I could see everyone else in front of me – they were sliding and looked like they were struggling more.”

“It was quite easy for me to stay there and I was looking after my tyres so at that point, I was thinking that it could be on today – not only for the podium, but for the win.”

“The safety car worked for me in that we jumped up to third but it wasn’t so good for our tyres and that’s where we lost ground.”

“Even once we had settled into a pace and the chaos settled – we just fell back and I was struggling for grip at the front and rear. We never really got the tyre to work for us today.”

Max Verstappen 

Position – DNF

Verstappen – “It’s an unfortunate ending as we could have scored points…”

“I had a good start and Kimi struggled off the line so I managed to pass him straight away and then I went on the outside at Turn One and overtook Daniel (Ricciardo) which put me in a good position.”

“After that, I could keep up with the leaders and the car was performing really well on the tyres and the pace seemed good too.”

“I think we made the right call with the pit stop to try and undercut the two Mercedes but then the rear brakes failed on lap 12 – it was race over!”

“These things are all a part of racing and there are definitely positives to take away from today. The car seemed to be working a lot better here than in previous races and it’s just an unfortunate ending as we could have scored some really good points.”

Christian Horner – Team Principal 

“After an exciting opening to the race and up until the first pit stops – our cars looked in good contention with Max having made a good start.”

“He managed to move up a couple of places and we pitted reasonably early for an undercut but unfortunately, shortly after a rear brake pressure issue – this caused his immediate retirement which brought out the safety car.”

“We stopped Daniel under the safety car but lost some time behind Lewis as he deliberately slowed in the pit lane for which he was later penalised – nonetheless, we were still able to get out ahead of him and at that stage for the restart – we were third on the road.”

“It became very apparent that Daniel was struggling to warm up the soft tyre compound compared to our competitors and dropped several places before recovering one against Massa – with the final stint, fifth was the best that we could achieve today.”

McLaren -Bahrain Grand Prix Race Report 

Fernando Alonso 

Position – DNF

Alonso – “It’s frustrating, the red lights go off and you’re motivated and ready to fight”

“It was a frustrating race – the deficit in power, the performance it was amazing. Sometimes, I would look into my mirror and at the beginning of straight and saw the other cars 300, 400 metres behind so I forgot completely about that car and started to change settings on the steering wheel, then the next thing I see when I come on the brakes is that car – alongside me!”

“We were running close to the points but that’s not enough – today we didn’t have the pace we had in Australia or China and in the end, we had a problem and decided to retire the car.”

“It’s frustrating – when the red lights go off, you’re motivated and you start fighting but you’re so behind on straights and there’s no way to defend your position.”

“You fight in a fair way with everyone but you don’t enjoy the battle.”

“Everyone in the team has been working very hard all over the weekend – day and night and I’m very sorry for Stoffel too who has had so much bad luck this weekend and didn’t even start the race!”

“We will keep working hard but I hope these conditions improve in due course.”

Stoffel Vandoorne 

Position – DNS (Water Pressure Issue)

Vandoorne – “You do all the preparation work and it’s a shame that we didn’t start the race”

“It’s a real shame that we weren’t able to even start the race today – the team discovered a water-pressure issue on the way to the grid and it was disappointing.”

“We came all the way here and we can’t start the race.”

“We knew that from the beginning of the season that the situation was going to be difficult. I have an extremely good relationship with the team and I believe that everything will go well when we get on top of these issues – we’re just going through a hard time.”

“Of course, this is not fun for us to go through this but it is what it is at the moment and today shows that.”

“It’s frustrating when you do all the preparation work and put in so much effort – we drivers tend to train a lot to keep fit and to be able to go racing and then not being able to start is a shame.”

“It’s been extremely difficult and having had two failures on Friday in FP1 and FP2 – and now the race, it’s a shame.”

“I’m going to keep my head down and I’m sure there will be some improvements at some point – when they will be, it’s difficult to say but I’m confident that they will come.”

“Hopefully we can show that we have made a good step forward soon in the next few races.”

Sauber – Bahrain Grand Prix Race Report

Marcus Ericsson 

Position – DNF

Ericsson – “I had a gearbox failure – it was disappointing”

“It was a disappointing race – the start was good and I was the only driver on the soft tyres but I was able to follow the queue well.”

“The safety car phase came at a bad time for us so we decided to stay out.”

“The re-start, I was in P8 however – the other cars with fresh tyres were able to overtake me and after boxing for the super soft tyres, the lap times were looking good.”

“I was too far off with the cars in front of me and in the end, I had gearbox failure which forced me to stop the car on track.”

Pascal Wehrlein

Position – 11th

Werhlein – “The result is the maximum we could have achieved”

“I am very satisfied with how the weekend wend – being in P13 in qualifying and now finishing the race in P11.”

“It was a tough race weekend and we decided to only make one pit stop in the race – the result is the maximum that we could have achieved today and it’s obviously a pity that we have missed this point by only one position.”

“Nevertheless, I am now looking forward to the next Grand Prix.”

Monisha Kaltenborn – Team Principal 

“A reasonable result as we knew that it would be a difficult race. We decided beforehand to chose different strategies in order to benefit from a one-stop strategy.”

“Marcus was the only driver on soft tyres and unfortunately he was unable to finish the race due to a gearbox failure with just a couple of laps to go.”

Force India – Bahrain Grand Prix Race Report 

Esteban Ocon

Position – 10th

Ocon – “I’m pleased to have scored points in all 3 races”

“It’s good to get another point but the timing of the safety car didn’t help me today and probably cost me about three positions.”

“It’s a shame because the team did everything right but the safety car came out just after I had made my first pit stop so luck was not on my side today.”

“Apart from that, it was a really fun race and I had to fight hard – my start was very strong and I gained four places in the first few corners so that was enjoyable.”

“We showed again that our car is strong. I’m pleased to have scored points in all three races so far and the team are doing a good job but there’s so much more to come from us in the next few races.”

Sergio Perez 

Position – 7th

Perez – “It feels good to have both cars in the points for the third race this season”

“I’m very proud of my team today – to finish 7th after starting from P18 is an amazing recovery and we can be very happy tonight.”

“It is our 13th consecutive race in the points which is an incredible achievement. The first lap was very important because I made up five place and was in P13 by the end of lap 1 – I had a great tyre life in the first stint too.”

“We made the most of every opportunity and the whole team, the engineers and the mechanics all played a part in executing the perfect race – we never give up and on Sundays we always come back stronger.”

“There are areas in which to improve but for now, it feels good to have both cars in the points for the third race this season.”

Photos – Bahrain Grand Prix Race Report 

Below, you can see a few more photos from the end of the race.

Don’t forget to keep checking back for all the latest!

We have lots of exclusive content on the way and yes – that might include a few video features too!

Make sure you check back for all the latest F1 News! 🙂

Your Formula 1 Blog – The Formula 1 Girl 🙂

Photos – Kym Illman F1