Everyone was exasperated at the fact that the new qualifying system was maintained in the Bahrain Grand Prix despite the huge amount of protests by the drivers and some of the viewers.
The decision to keep the system was rather disappointing but all in all it was a good day for Lewis Hamilton. However, it was a a reverse in the pit lane that made Hamilton claim his 51st position.
The Briton was reprimanded by the stewards after conducting the act as cars cannot be reversed in an F1 pit lane under their own power. Despite that, he escaped without being charged with any form of penalty and his pole position for tomorrow’s race is still valid.
“A reprimand has been imposed as no clear instruction was given on where he should park after qualifying,” said one of the stewards as quoted from Sky Sports.
With that, Hamilton secured the position with the slightest margins ahead of team mate Nico Rosberg.
“My lap felt good and I was on pole. Lewis put an incredible lap to beat me. This track is where pole counts least I think. There are still a lot of opportunities,” stated Rosberg after the race.
The challenge from rivals Ferrari was rather jaded this time as once again, the scarlet marques were unable to claim a one-two and only rested at P3 and P4.
“I was very happy with the first attempt. The second attempt was more or less copy and paste, but that’s not enough if they improve by five-tenths. Step by step we’re getting there. It’s a long race and let’s see what happens tomorrow,” said Sebastian Vettel.
Meanwhile, McLaren-Honda’s reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne, whom stood in for Fernando Alonso due to his rib injuries, managed to give a great impression as he successfully surpassed team mate Jenson Button (P14) to claim P11.
The results for the Bahrain GP qualifying are as below:
1. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 29.493s
2. Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 29.570s
3. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 30.012s
4. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 30.244s
5. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1m 30.854s
6. Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams-Mercedes 1m 31.153s
7. Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes 1m 31.155s
8. Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedes 1m 31.620s
9. Romain Grosjean FRA Haas-Ferrari 1m 31.756s
10. Max Verstappen NED Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 31.772s
11. Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 31.816s
12. Stoffel Vandoorne BEL McLaren-Honda 1m 31,934s
13. Esteban Gutierrez MEX Haas-Ferrari 1m 31.945s
14. Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda 1m 31.998s
15. Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1m 32.241s
16. Pascal Wehrlein GER MRT-Mercedes 1m 32.806s
17. Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber-Ferrari 1m 32.840s
18. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes 1m 32.911s
19. Kevin Magnussen DEN Renault-Renault 1m 33.181s*
20. Jolyon Palmer GBR Renault-Renault 1m 33.438s
21. Rio Haryanto INA MRT-Mercedes 1m 34.190s
22. Felipe Nasr BRZ Sauber-Ferrari 1m 34.388s
WHAT DO WE THINK:
The argument upon the new qualifying system will forever continue unless the FIA takes action, there’s only a slim chance as whatever decision made in the hands of Bernie and Jean Todt will concern the turnovers and attraction from viewers. Drivers however, have little say in the matter despite being the professional ones on track and the ones using the new system. Drivers like Rosberg, Felipe Massa and even Fernando Alonso have reiterated that the drivers need to communicate more with the upper hands on such matters but to no avail. What needs to be done for now is probably to get all drivers into the GPDA and connect fully with the upper hands to truly discuss about the consequences and also a survey to the general public to come up with a solution on whether the new system should be abolished.
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