F1 pick'em Bahrain 2010!!! Updated/main thread

[Craig.]

I'm gonna say screw it and go with this before saturday practice.

Massa
Button
Schumacher (I dont know why gotta go with him first time back  )

[CD.]

[quote]Schumacher (I dont know why gotta go with him first time back

[Mictheslik]

Button
Rosberg
Hamilton

Schumi will retire after 11 laps with a broken neck

.mic

[Mitch.]

I updated my picks accordingly, and yes thats Nico Hulkenberg. Really looking forward to the race, hopefully its a good one.

[Craig.]

The first joke of the season:
Karum Chandok will not participate this weekend as he missed the practice session this morning with gearbox issues. Rules state if you do not participate in at least 1 of the sessions you will not be allowed to run in the rest of the weekend.
When was the last time that happend??

Edit: I have no idea why Chandok is dressed to race something fishy going on?

[Mitch.]

Shoot, was so close to picking the top three. Where was my darkhorse?

Interesting session, what do we think?

[Craig.]

Not much in the way of a surprise.
The Red Bulls long run pace over the winter and FP's has me ready to believe Massa and Alonso will have a fight for the win between themselves, and Mercedes and Mclaren will hound Red Bull.
As a side note, News is making the rounds that Mclaren have been told they will not be allowed to run their current diffuser after this race. I'll try and find more details.

[expat]

Can someone (Craig) explain how fuel works this year. We have no refuelling, so the cars all start full. What happens in qualifying. Are they running with fumes in the tank and then filled up before the race. If so, then the grid will not really change for the rest of the year as far as I can see.

Matt

[Craig.]

Can someone (Craig) explain how fuel works this year. We have no refuelling, so the cars all start full. What happens in qualifying. Are they running with fumes in the tank and then filled up before the race. If so, then the grid will not really change for the rest of the year as far as I can see.

Matt

you got it in one.
There is the whole, starting the race on the tyre you set your fastest quali lap on. But as expected everyone did the same thing.
Where it gets interesting is, a new rule means, refueling must not take place any faster than 0.8 litres of fuel per second, and teams are not allowed to queue cars in the pitlane in quali. So on the shorter tracks, we might see someone missing out on a last second flying lap.

[ShaneG_old]

I heard also that those outside the top 10, will be allowed to start the race on new tires.

Any chance that could play into someone's strategy?

Sandbox a little, knowing you won't have to pit for a while longer?

Although it wouldn't make much sense trying to climb out of 11th or worse, just for the sake of a few laps.

But stranger things have happened.

[Craig.]

Correct, They were worried at one point on commentary that no one would set a lap time so they could all just start on their tyre of choice, thus grid would have been set by q2. But they didn't.
It's simmilar to last year, if you dont expect to get higher than 10th you'd just fill your car up to fend off the guy in 11th. This year you'll probably see the slower top 10 guys not setting a time or even going out to cover the guys in 11th or 12th.

[Craig.]

this is going to be a looong and probably boring season.
None of the front running drivers are willing to take a risk to pass in fear of damaging the tyres.
Race was ok, unlucky for Vettel really the race was his.
Good job by Schumi, very consistant, that right now is all that matters, and I am looking forward to what he does when he's settled.

[Craig.]

As a side note, congrats to Lotus for completing the Grand prix with two cars Classified, and to Kovi for finishing ahead of one of the established teams.

[machineman9]

I blame the boring colour scheme for Button coming in 7th....


...Because white and day-glow is simply amazing  8-)

[CD.]

Maybe we should start predicting the grid... with a bonus 5 if it finishes that way. 

I hope we don't have to suffer another 18 races processions like that