Race Recap: Vettel Shows Resurgence

Bahrain again proved why it gives fans some of the most exciting and boring racing of the season. Though there were some exciting passes and battles, it is still very much another cookie cutter Tilke track with long straights ending in tight hairpins. It provided us the same strategy and battles that we witnessed already this season in China, and which we will witness over and over again this season. Fortunately all of the action in Bahrain occurred on track and not off with no hint of protest or disturbance of the race.

Vettel celebrates his victory with Raikkonen
Photo by Reuters

For the first time since 2003 we have four different winners of the first four grand prix. Fans could only hope that we get another battle like the 2010 championship fight, especially here in the United States with our Grand Prix being the penultimate race. It was a dominant drive by Sebastian Vettel which truly started with Q3 and just extended into the race on Sunday. Though Grosjean and then Raikkonen challenged him until the final stint Vettel never seemed phased and held his cool to claim the first win of the season. 

Mark Webber drove a quiet race and brought his Red Bull home in its usual fourth place this season. Rosberg followed up his win with a very respectable fifth place finish, though it was not a spectacular run by any means. The only points scoring driver to stick with a two-stop strategy, Paul di Resta, pulled home the Force India in sixth place which is a great finish for that team. Ferrari had both drivers in the points for the first time this season. Michael Schumacher earned another point for himself this season, though one can not underestimate the twelve positions he had to make up during the race to gain that tenth place.

Now for the Winners, Losers and a Look Ahead

Winners: Kimi Raikkonen and Lotus. While Vettel and Red Bull stole the show during qualifying, it was the outstanding performance by Raikkonen and his Lotus teammate Grosjean which gave the best performance during the race. The extremely tight battle between Raikkonen and Vettel proved the some of the best racing so far this season. The advantage of fresh option tires for the race provided just the push that Raikkonen needed to get through the field early and allow their three-stop strategy to work. A double podium for Lotus is an absolutely fantastic finish for them and clearly places them into the top teams this season.

Losers: Lewis Hamilton and the McLaren pit crew. For the third race of the season Hamilton was cost points not through poor driving but mistakes by his crew. Here in Bahrain over 17 seconds were lost in the pits, a loss which could have cost him up to xx points. Though Button had no issues pitting today, one could wonder just what is going on with Hamilton's car. McLaren have plenty of time to straighten out their issues before Spain but if they want to keep pace with Red Bull and now Lotus they will need to step up their game.

Look Ahead: Spanish Grand Prix. The teams will get to return home again and with a three week gap until Spain all will have ample chances to improve their cars. McLaren has some ground to make up to Red Bull in race pace and I'd expect them to fully rectify their pit issues during the break. Lotus have given themselves quite a bit to build on heading into the European leg of the calendar and I'd expect that Kimi Raikkonen could become the fifth different winner in as many races; the first time since 1983 that has happened. Ferrari and Mercedes both need to make strides or else they will be left behind by the top three and caught by the likes of Sauber and Williams.

Next week I'll take a look at the progression of the Circuit of the Americas as well as a bit of coverage of the WTCC races in Slovakia and Hungary in the next two weekends.

Bahrain Race Preview

With qualifying done and only the race left to come all of the turmoil and unrest will be overshadowed for at least a few more hours. Fears of additional violence around the track have yet to play out since the incident with Force India and it is extremely unlikely that the race will be disrupted in any way with the tight security around the circuit.

Coming into qualifying today Nico Rosberg appeared to have the pace to duplicate his pole performance in China by leading the time sheets in P2 and P3. Unfortunately for him and teammate Michael Schumacher they couldn't replicate that speed during qualifying. Schumacher even failed to get out of Q1, though that has been attributed more to a failed DRS than lack of speed for the Mercedes squad. Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull made a strong charge for pole. They appeared to have found their old form again in Bahrain while McLaren are not far off of the lead pace.

With the high heat in Bahrain it will be interesting to see just how well the tires hold up. Many of the lower qualifiers will have ample options available to them in strategy. With teams battling the heat and only around a second difference between the soft and medium tire the two and three stop strategies we witnessed in China will be in play again. It will be especially interesting to see what strategy Schumacher and Raikkonen attempt with both of their team mates starting on soft tires from Q3. I'd expect to see both of them attempt two-stop strategies starting on the medium tire and saving the soft tires for the final stint when they will be able to squeeze the most life from them.

Up at the front of the field it will be a fantastic start. With Vettel, Hamilton, Webber and Button all within three-tenths during qualifying and all being fantastic off the line in recent weeks. The winner into turn one may very well be the victor in this race, especially with the difficult passing zones and a DRS zone which is slightly shorter than the one at Shanghai. With the very tight turn one, high tire degradation (and thus more debris off line), and less room to recover from bad braking it will be difficult to make good use of the DRS zone to pass. The race would have better served with two linked DRS zones similar to Montreal last year, allowing drivers to close down the gap in the first (shorter) zone and make the pass down the longer second zone.

While Daniel Riccardo had a fantastic qualifying for Toro Rosso, they should temper their enthusiasm. They have used all three of their option tires, and they will almost certainly not be able to match the race pace of the top teams. Smart tire and pit strategy will be key for them to turn in a points performance. Other drivers to watch out for would be Sergio Perez and Paul di Resta. Both have turned in top ten performances and both cars are at the top of the speed trap this week a key statistic at a track like Bahrain.