The Official 2013 F1 Thread. Spoilers possible!

thoughtful article on whether the show should go on this weekend

LINK

Sutil and Di Resta each better have a big meal pre-race or they'll never make minimum weight.

Personally, I don't believe they should race in Bahrain. There's no simple solution to the problems of minority vs majority populations, never has been anywhere in the world. But F1 should not be in the business of promoting repression.

The NBC crew talked about the active suspension last race, first time I'd heard about it. They said Lotus and Mercedes were the leaders. They also suggested that if one team gets too good at it, someone will complain and Charlie Whiting will then have to make a ruling.

Brawn's comments imply a surprising level of knowledge about the details of a competing team's top secret technology. Huh.

McLaren are an odd team. Seems like every year they are there or thereabouts. Yet they cannot close the deal. Are they not good enough? Or are they a wee bit arrogant and they overreach technically, putting themselves in a difficult position?

I guess Mercedes has been working on it for about 3 years
a good article on the why's of inter-linked suspension

LINK

not quite sure what the reason is there. I always put it down to being too conservative.

the whole thing just seems bizarre. I suspect we don't get the whole story & there is tons of money involved!

And yet, this year instead of taking the "conservative" option of developing what was arguably the best car by the end of last season, McLaren decided to go for a very different car, swapping the whole front end to a pull-rod suspension for example.

For me, it isn't a coincidence that McLaren's fall off in F1 success in the past decade happens at a time when they've designed, developed and introduced their MP4-12C road car. Since it has been launched, McLaren have built a whole new facility at Woking. I think that their has been some loss of focus on the F1 side of their business.

I can't help but wonder about Martin Whitmarsh, too.

And we are into the knockout round... Q3 underway.

This is going to be an interesting start. Ferrari owns the second row. But the car seems to make good starts. So Vettel and Rosberg could find themselves under pressure. And with passing as hard as it is in Bahrain, leading after lap 1 is important.

Massa being on the harder tire could deliver him the lead somewhere around the 10th lap. If he's leading and Alonso is second, team orders will come into play. Ferrari make no bones about that.

It's nice to see a fresh team on pole.

Perhaps McLaren is focusing on next years new car?

Who's carrying the race today? I went to SPEED to watch it, but it's not on.

NBCSports

Thanks!!

What a start. No holding back.

It looks like the place is abandoned.

Vettel seems in control now. Crap.

Vettel checks out and the rest of the field battle it out, nice

There are more workers than spectators.

Superb drive by Vettel. Credit where credit's due. Huge bad luck for Ferrari.

Congargulations to the Three times World Drivers Champion Sebastien V3ttel and Red Bull Racing for a stellar performance!
Except for Webbers disapointiong 7th with the same equipement...

Great race, great result! Good on Kimi for almost keeping up with Seb!

I particularly enjoyed the non DRS battle in the first few laps, as well as the wheel to wheel racing and non DRS passing in the tight portions of the track.

I was waiting for the team radio to Webber, "Multi try harder"