2017 Bahrain Grand Prix grid

2017 Bahrain Grand Prix

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Row 11. Valtteri Bottas 1’28.769
Mercedes
2. Lewis Hamilton 1’28.792
Mercedes
Row 23. Sebastian Vettel 1’29.247
Ferrari
4. Daniel Ricciardo 1’29.545
Red Bull
Row 35. Kimi Raikkonen 1’29.567
Ferrari
6. Max Verstappen 1’29.687
Red Bull
Row 47. Nico Hulkenberg 1’29.842
Renault
8. Felipe Massa 1’30.074
Williams
Row 59. Romain Grosjean 1’30.763
Haas
10. Jolyon Palmer 1’31.074
Renault
Row 611. Daniil Kvyat 1’30.923
Toro Rosso
12. Lance Stroll 1’31.168
Williams
Row 713. Pascal Wehrlein 1’31.414
Sauber
14. Esteban Ocon 1’31.684
Force India
Row 815. Fernando Alonso No time
McLaren
16. Carlos Sainz Jnr 1’32.118
Toro Rosso
Row 917. Stoffel Vandoorne 1’32.313
McLaren
18. Sergio Perez 1’32.318
Force India
Row 1019. Marcus Ericsson 1’32.543
Sauber
20. Kevin Magnussen 1’32.900
Haas

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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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55 comments on “2017 Bahrain Grand Prix grid”

  1. To quote Mark Webber – “Not bad for a number 2 driver”

    1. Also my man Hulkenberg still destroying Palmer, 7 tenths ahead in Q2 and 1.2 seconds ahead in Q3

      1. Amazing that Palmer can be so bad and still be in the top 10. Shows the dire state of the field.

        1. Or perhaps Renault’s car is actually pretty good. I think this is a very competitive field in the mid-pack, winners from all lower formula’s.

        2. Absolutely! It’s not like they all drive different cars…oh…wait

      2. Yes hugh…stroll and palmer are not worthy of their machinery and this rich daddy stupidity is a blight on F1

    2. [monotone] This is my first one guys. I am really happy. [/monotone]
      He’s clearly thrilled with it.

      1. It did make me laugh when I heard that. His happiness was more evident when got out of the car though.

        I’m very pleased for him, and it’s great for F1 too

  2. Mega from Bottas! Ferraris were surprisingly slow, especially Raikkonen. Expecting a great race tomorrow, especially if Vettel can split the Mercedes with Bottas in the lead after the start.

  3. Well done Nico, that’s P1

  4. digitalrurouni
    15th April 2017, 16:54

    This is boding well for tomorrow! I bet Lewis is unhappy!!!

  5. Typical that I predicted Bottas for pole then changed my mind 15 minutes before quali.

  6. Andrew Purkis
    15th April 2017, 16:55

    palmer is poor

    be interesting to see if horner throws his toys out if they start getting beat the factory team regularly

  7. Vettel wins the race…

  8. Great lap from Bottas, although Hamilton must be rueing that S2, faster S1, lost .25 then faster S3 gaining 0.2 must be a mistake in there somewhere!

    1. Bottas had the speed, which put pressure on Hamiton -which led to a mistake by Hamilton. Bottas was too quick at all points in S1, which probably led Hamilton to try too hard in S2.

      1. Except Hamilton was faster in S1 on the final laps, but yes he must have over cooked it S2, (not had chance to see what happened yet) unnecessarily when he had 0.2s in his pocket again for S3.

        1. @ju88sy Hamilton was slower in S1, but quicker in S3.

  9. Stroll still far away from Massa. Bottas performance this year against Hamilton will tell a lot about Massa’s relative performance last year, how far from his best he is…

    1. I don’t think so, Felipe had a bad season last season, quite possibly due to the fact he knew he was about to be retired by the team, he looks a lot happier this season, and as has often been the case throughout his career, he’s fast when he’s happy.

  10. Hamilton and Bottas came together in T1 last year. Hoping for the same this year 😜.

    1. Rosberg is no longer on the grid you know… :p

  11. Yeay! Way to go Bottas. Got there very quickly, can’t wait to see him stick it to Hamilton this season.

    Also massive props for Dani Ric, slower all weekend and three tenths down on the banker lap, somehow manages to split the Ferrari’s when Verstappen can’t improve. Ice-cold.

    1. That’s a bold prediction.

    2. To be fair, Max couldn’t improve because he was stuck behind the Williams on his last lap.

      1. Missed that. Shame.

    3. Ricciardo was faster on friday.. where did you get “slower all weekend”.

    4. Ric has actually been quicker 2 of 3 prac sessions..

      1. VES 3/4 quali runs…

  12. I’m sorry, but how can Palmer be 1.2 seconds behind Hulkenberg and Channel 4 treat him like the second coming?

    1. LOL. Isn’t that the closer he has been to Hulk in the season?

  13. I knew Wehrlein was coming back this weekend, but nodody told me that Erickson would be driving a Manor

    1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
      15th April 2017, 18:56

      @johnmilk

      Wherlein did do well in qualifying yes. But I feel a few to many people are instantly assuming he’s better than Ericsson though. Ericsson managed to get through to Q3 in both of the last 2 races.
      He did at first have a very poor time compared to Wherlein in Q1 this race but I think the yellow flag may possibly have cost him the chance on his next lap this time. But I think it is too soon to judge that Wherlein is better based on one lot of practice sessions and qualifying.

      1. @thegianthogweed if we were to judge them based on this session alone you are right it is far too soon to draw conclusions, but it isn’t their first season. I would be very much surprised if Erickson finishes the year with better results. Wehrlein has imo much more potential and talent.

        I don’t believe he was affected by the double yellows iirc. And the fact that Wehrlein went into q2 doesn’t weight much, the difference in their q1 times is much more representative

  14. Didn’t see that coming. Expected a closer fight, like in the previous 2 races at least, between Mercedes and Ferrari… and I really thought Ferrari might have a real chance to get the pole position. That Mercedes engine mod is really something. RAI disappoints again, Ferrari should learn from Mercedes and RBR. I hope VET wins. If not, I hope BOT gets the win with VET 2nd… to spice up things in the WDC even more. In my opinion, the battle for the WDC will be between the Mercedes duo and VET, RAI and RBR duo will just trail these guys, no real chances to win the WDC.

    1. RAI won’t be involved in the WDC, he’s a faded star!

    2. Sorry missed your comma, I agree!

  15. Stroll and Palmer are just being embarrassed by their teammates. Fair enough to be beaten by more experienced teammates but they’re nowhere near. I really hope they don’t get drives for next year, well unless they improve dramatically this season

    1. Palmer has lot of talk how good he is and lot of excuses why he keeps failing…..engine mode this time

  16. Wehrlein did very good. He even outdid the two Force India cars.

  17. Force India looking dysmal this weekend. It’s a power track and the guys can get anything better than high 31s.

    1. Weird how both Force India and Ferrari brought quite a lot of upgrades in Bahrain and both seem to have lost pace instead of gaining. Maybe the upgrades failed or need work before starting producing benefit instead of deficit.

  18. An improvement of 0.7s compared to 2016? meh…

    1. the cars are faster through turns, but far slower on straights… cars weigh heavier now also… bit of a stupid formula… the g forces are getting towards too extreme for race car drivers, at 6G in some turns — some hot races like Hungaroring might see drivers struggle to finish a race… yet the show wont be any better….

      1. SevenFiftySeven
        15th April 2017, 18:16

        Hungaroring is not a high g circuit. Lots of slow corners there, which will reward balanced setups and proper handling more than whatever aero package you have. The whole point of aero is to produce downforce that enables a car in a tight turn to stay planted on the track to make that turn without being thrown out on a tangent. The downside is the forces drivers feel on their bodies opposing this natural tendency. Hungaroring has very slow corners in the middle sector. The first and 2nd sector have two fairly decent high speed corners, but not on the same par as China and Bahrain. And, g isn’t a force. g is acceleration due to gravity. From Newton’s 2nd Law of Motion, we get the equation f = ma, where f is force, m is mass and a is acceleration. The whole point of the 2nd law is to state that the heavier the mass, the more force needs to be applied to accelerate a body with that mass. Naturally, if you’re getting more acceleration, it means there’s more force being applied for a given mass. Using the same equation, one can calculate the force one feels while free falling, which is f = mg, where g is acceleration due to gravity @ 9.8 m/s2 on average. When people speak of G forces, they are not talking about the g (acceleration). They are talking about the force f that is producing acceleration g. It is not G force. The term “G Force” is wrong. g is not a force, it is acceleration. Saying a driver is taking 4gs in a corner is accurate, just like saying a driver feels 4 times the force of gravity while taking that turn. Since mass remains constant for a particular driver, the only thing that changes is the acceleration causing the force, or the force causing the acceleration. One’s weight in Physics is w, which is a force (not mass). so 4g’s means 4 times of g. Since f = mg, 4g equates to 4 times the force felt. g, itself, is not a force.

        1. No-one feels a force during free fall.

          1. SevenFiftySeven
            15th April 2017, 19:52

            You feel the acceleration, which happens to be caused by the force.

          2. @john-h Gravity? Which is why we accelerate until we reach the terminal velocity due to the viscous drag.

          3. @john-h I guess I misunderstood your initial post. You state that no-one feels the force of gravity. Didn’t read that part carefully, sorry.

        2. SevenFiftySeven, you need a girlfriend.

      2. Who cares what if they feel 6 Gs or more, that is why they get paid the big bucks. While us mere mortals sit in awe and amazement of what they can do. When I look at a fighter pilot I don’t think to my self meh I could do that if I had studied harder. I think holy crap if I made it to the program would I be able to pass the G test part of the fighter pilot program.

  19. Evil Homer (@)
    16th April 2017, 4:16

    Stocked for Bottas, I hope he takes the win as well (if Dan doesn’t win of course)

  20. Well done Bottas… Just shows that neither Rosberg or Hamilton are that special. You just need the right car.
    Put Vettel, Grosjean or Wehrlein in a Mercedes and they will match Hamilton’s pace.
    Put Ricciardo, Verstappen, Sainz in a Mercedes and they will probably be in front of him.
    Tired of seeing these grey cars in front so easily…

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