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2017 Bahrain Thoughts

ALONSO: Hey, did you hear the April Fool's joke about Fernando Alonso skipping Monaco to run the Indy 500? Yeah, pretty crazy. It's so ridiculous, it doesn't even make a good April Fool's joke. Everybody will see right through it ... What? ... not a joke ... he's ... no ... seriously ... oh, just stop it ... enough's enough ... now, you're just being annoying ... okay, we'll listen ... HOLY CRAP!!!!

ECCLESTONE: No way Bernie would have ever let this happen.

DENNIS: No way Ron would have ever let this happen.

THE BIG PICTURE: Now, the big picture includes all of racing. And a throwback to the days when racers were racers and they raced anything, anytime. Once again, racing will be the top sport on people's minds the last weekend in May.

TRACK: Another track which played well into the hands of the new regulations.

EVENT: Interesting, how this time the cameras never showed any of the fans. That's because there were no fans. It's Bahrain, which is not just a desert barren of water, but barren of anyone who cares about the sport.

QUALIFYING: Bottas not only finally winds up on the front row but grabs his first career pole, the cooler night temperatures hurt Ferrari, Kimi complains again, Grosjean makes a great recovery, and the much maligned Palmer makes it to Q3.

RACE: Folks, it's official. Formula One is fixed.

START: Bottas handles the pressure perfectly, Vettel's start foreshadows race success, Verstappen does his usual thing, and Kvyat gets a touch wild.

VETTEL: This time, Sebastian did not get caught out by the timing of the safety car.

RAIKKONEN: This time, Kimi still seemed lost.

FERRARI: For the third race in a row, strategists nailed it, the Chinese results not withstanding. The technical minds on the design team were not the only ones who improved over the winter.

HAMILTON: Without the five-second penalty (which was deserved), it would have been one humdinger of a finish.

BOTTAS: It's hard to know if the tire pressures were the root cause, Valtteri's inability to handle the pressure of leading, or he's just not up to the speed of the world champions around him. Perhaps, it's a portion of all three.

MERCEDES: A tally of small mistakes added up to losing this race. It will be very interesting to see how the Silver Arrows handles their first serious competition since four seasons ago.

RICCIARDO: Daniel's car continues to have issues handling the current spec tires.

VERSTAPPEN: Max's strategy was lining up perfectly for an excellent finish. How many more thrills would this race have had if his brakes didn't fail?

RED BULL: When they get their new engine in Canada and if they can fix their aero issues (how ironic is that to say?), the championship could become a three team battle. Can us fans handle that?

MASSA: Felipe's best race since "retirement."

STROLL: Yes, the crash was similar to last week in which we criticized Lance. Not this time because...

SAINZ: ...Carlos had no chance to make that move coming out of the pits on cold tires from way back, braking well beyond any sensible point.

PEREZ: How many times do we say this? Sergio continues to put in amazing drives for an under budget team from way back in the field (even if the safety car was a big advantage to him). And he keeps beating Nico Hulkenberg no matter what team he's on.

OCON: Believe it or not, Esteban is now the youngest driver in F1 history to score points in the first three grands prix of a season.

GROSJEAN: Back in the points for Romain.

WEHRLEIN: Excellent 2017 debut. Pascal put aside all those issues of missing the first two races.

ERICSSON: With Wehrlein and Giovinazzi performances on Sauber, it's becoming more evident Marcus is still out of his elements.

PALMER, KVYAT: Jolyon and Daniil's battle was more like a short track stock car fight than a F1 road course duel.

RENAULT: Both drivers make it to Q3, but they didn't take advantage of it.

MCLAREN: They and Honda can't get one car to even start the race and can't get the other car to finish, no matter how close it got.

T-WINGS: Get rid of them!

SHARK FINS: And take this other ugly appendage with them.

ANDRETTI: Very interesting that Michael Andretti is going to team up with McLaren to get Alonso in the Indy 500 after the disastrous time Michael had with them in his brief F1 stint.

WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Thrilling.

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 500 -- The number of miles Fernando Alonso hopes to complete on May 28.

HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: Every year Sebastian Vettel has led the points at any time, he has won the world championship.

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: If it wasn't obvious before why Fernando Alonso wants to skip Monaco and go to where he could actually win a race, it was after he said over the radio, "I've never raced with less power in my life."

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: Even though we're tired of Christian Horner butting into other team's business, we couldn't resist mentioning his quote on Zak Brown allowing Alonso to skip Monaco to race at Indy, "He must be barking mad."

SCHEDULE: If the new regulations make an enthralling race at a track like Sochi, then we really have something special this year.

Copyright © 2017 by Deep Throttle. All Rights Reserved.



RACE RESULTS
  Driver Laps
1. Vettel 57
2. Hamilton 57
3. Bottas 57
4. Raikkonen 57
5. Ricciardo 57
6. Massa 57
7. Perez 57
8. Grosjean 57
9. Hulkenberg 57
10. Ocon 57
11. Wehrlein 56
12. Kvyat 56
13. Palmer 56
14. Alonso 54
NC Ericsson 50
NC Sainz 12
NC Stroll(R) 12
NC Verstappen 11
NC Magnussen 8
DNS Vandoorne(R) 0

Time of Race
1:33:53.374

Margin of Victory
6.660 sec.

Safety Car
1 for 4 laps

Lead Changes
3 among 3 drivers

Lap Leaders
Sebastian Vettel, Valtteri Bottas, Lewis Hamilton

Fastest Race Lap
Lewis Hamilton

Pole Position
Valtteri Bottas

CURRENT STANDINGS
  Driver Pts.
1. Vettel 68
2. Hamilton 61
3. Bottas 38
4. Raikkonen 34
5. Verstappen 25
6. Ricciardo 22
7. Massa 16
8. Perez 14
9. Sainz 10
10. Grosjean 4
  Magnussen 4
12. Ocon 3
13. Hulkenberg 2
  Kvyat 2

  Team Pts.
1. Ferrari 102
2. Mercedes 99
3. Red Bull 47
4. Force India 17
5. Williams 16
6. Toro Rosso 12
7. Haas 8
8. Renault 2
 
 

2024 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Japan
China Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco
Canada Spain Austria Great Britain
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Azerbaijan Singapore United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Las Vegas Qatar Abu Dhabi

2023 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Azerbaijan
Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco Spain
Canada Austria Great Britain Hungary
Belgium Holland Italy Singapore
Japan Qatar United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Las Vegas Abu Dhabi

2022 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Emilia Romagna
Miami Spain Monaco Azerbaijan
Canada Great Britain Austria France
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Singapore Japan United States
Mexico City Sao Paulo Abu Dhabi

2021 Thoughts
Bahrain Emilia Romagna Portugal Spain Monaco
Azerbaijan France Steiermark Austria Great Britain
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Russia Turkey United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Qatar Saudi Arabia Abu Dhabi

2020 Thoughts
Austria Steiermark Hungary Great Britain Anniversary
Spain Belgium Italy Tuscany
Russia Eifel Portugal Emilia Romagna
Turkey Bahrain Sakhir Abu Dhabi

2019 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Azerbaijan Spain
Monaco Canada France Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Russia Japan
Mexico United States Brazil Abu Dhabi

2018 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Azerbaijan Spain
Monaco Canada France Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Russia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2017 Thoughts
Australia China Bahrain Russia
Spain Monaco Canada Azerbaijan
Austria Great Britain Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Malaysia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2016 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Russia Spain
Monaco Canada Europe Austria
Great Britain Hungary Germany Belgium
Italy Singapore Malaysia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2015 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Austria
Great Britain Hungary Belgium Italy
Singapore Japan Russia United States
Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2014 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia Bahrain China
Spain Monaco Canada Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan Russia
United States Brazil Abu Dhabi

2013 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Great Britain
Germany Hungary Belgium Italy
Singapore South Korea Japan India
Abu Dhabi United States Brazil

2012 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Europe
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan South Korea
India Abu Dhabi United States Brazil

2011 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Turkey
Spain Monaco Canada Europe
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan South Korea
India Abu Dhabi Brazil

2010 Thoughts
Bahrain Australia Malaysia China
Spain Monaco Turkey Canada
Europe Great Britain Germany Hungary
Belgium Italy Singapore Japan
South Korea Brazil Abu Dhabi

2009 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Turkey Great Britain
Germany Hungary Europe
Belgium Italy Singapore
Japan Brazil Abu Dhabi


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