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THE Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport machine is back on track after a successful couple of days of ‘in-season’ testing at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir.
Brushing aside the disappointment of losing the 2017 Gulf Air Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix to Ferrari’s Sebestian Vettel, the Mercedes team set about to make amends.
In his analysis of a Bahrain race that saw Vettel claim his second win in three 2017 races, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff reflected on what tripped up the Silver Arrows, as former world champion Lewis Hamilton had to settle for second place and Valtteri Bottas had to make do with third after securing pole position.
He said: “Our generator broke on the grid, so we were starting with completely the wrong tyre pressures on his (Bottas’) car and knew he’d be struggling. And, with Sebastian running second, there was nothing we could do. That opened up the opportunity for Ferrari to undercut us and they did it quite early.”
While admitting that there was some operational ‘cleaning up’ to do post-Sakhir, the big plus for Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport was that despite ‘enough adversity for three races all in one evening’, Hamilton’s race pace was strong enough to push Vettel hard.
He is just seven points adrift in the drivers’ championship with the team still within three points of Ferrari in the constructors’ battle.
The testing sessions last week could not have come at a better time. Bottas kept Mercedes in first place as the second day of Formula 1 in-season testing came to an end on Wednesday evening at BIC.
A day after Hamilton set the pace, Bottas took over his team’s driving duties and registered the day’s fastest lap of one minute 31.280 seconds. He not only was the quickest for the day, but was also the busiest, as he tested for 143 laps.
Vettel finished right behind 0.294 seconds off the pace, while Carlos Sainz of Toro Rosso was ranked third after going 0.604s slower.
Stoffel Vandoorne steered his McLaren to fourth on the timesheet with a best lap 0.828s behind Bottas’s fastest mark.
Kevin Magnussen (+0.840s) for Haas followed in fifth while Esteban Ocon (+0.862) of Force India rounded out the top six.
Ranked seventh through 12th, respectively, were Daniil Kvuat (+0.933s) of Toro Rosso, Gary Paffett (+0.973s) of Williams, Sergey Sirotkin (+1.007s) of Renault, Pierre Gasly (+1.288s) of Red Bull, Pascal Wehrlein (+3.182s) of Sauber and Sergio Perez (+3.735s) of Force India.
The two-day BIC test marked the first of two in-season sessions this Formula 1 season. The other is scheduled for August 1 and 2.
According to FIA regulations, from 10 days before the start of the season to the end of the calendar year, the teams are permitted to take part in two team tests of no more than two consecutive days at circuits where an event has just taken place. These tests must commence no less than 36 hours after the end of said event.
Silverstone was initially lined up to host the second in-season group test, as in 2016, but this was switched to the Hungaroring, the final action before the sport’s summer break.
The in-season test in Bahrain also helped assist Formula 1 tyre suppliers Pirelli with warm-weather tyre development. All 10 Formula 1 teams tested at BIC.
Bottas is ‘determined’ to continue his form, as the Finn sealed his first Formula One career pole position in Bahrain with a scorcher of a lap. The fifth Finn to claim an F1 pole and the first to do so in almost 10 years, he is now in the esteemed company of Keke Rosberg, Mika Häkkinen, Kimi Räikkönen and Heikki Kovalainen.
A day after securing top spot on the grid, Valtteri came home third in the race to clinch his second podium of the year and the 11th top three finish of his Grand Prix career to date.
Despite a superb late charge, Hamilton narrowly missed out on a second win of 2017 to Vettel. But, by finishing in second, he still managed to jump four-time World Champion Alain Prost on the list of all-time podium appearances, moving into an exclusive second place on 107. Only one driver has more – the great Michael Schumacher, with a record 155.
That late charge to the flag also netted Lewis the fastest lap of the race – his second of the year after China. He’s already well on the way to beating the three fastest laps he recorded in 2016.
And the tallies keep on rising for the Brit too. An eighth straight visit to the rostrum – a run that stretches back to last year’s Japanese Grand Prix. He’ll need eight more in succession if he is to match his own personal high score of 16 and a further 11 if he’s got eyes on Schumacher’s all-time record of 19.
Ferrari’s Vettel, (+2.536s), who was testing for Pirelli, was ranked ninth on day one and remains a thorn in the side of Mercedes.
For fans everywhere, there is the mouth-watering prospect of one of the most closely fought battles in F1 history.
