Sky Sports F1's Martin Brundle on why sifting through post-race reaction is an event in itself these days and how the racing was the winner at the Bahrain GP
Thursday 25 April 2013 09:42, UK
It's fascinating post-race in F1 these days when reading comments on my Twitter feed, listening to people in the paddock, or hearing the views of other media.
Bahrain used to be universally considered as one of the less interesting tracks on race day but it must be said that the combination of tyres, KERS and DRS have brought it alive. The McLaren pair made contact five times in the race with some enthralling action. All credit to the team for letting their drivers race, although Jenson Button putting some manners on Sergio Perez on the apex of turn four on one occasion could have put them both in the pits, one for a puncture and the other for a new front wing. The bottom line is that Perez was faster on race day but JB didn't fancy relinquishing his team leader role. He's lost the misery of witnessing Hamilton's mesmerising one-lap pace and he appeared to have a passive new team mate he could easily cover. Until Sunday. I was chatting to Jenson at a party after the race, and rest assured he wasn't sitting in the corner tormenting himself about the race or making contact with his team-mate. He will however be anxiously awaiting the first few laps in Barcelona to see if McLaren have made the car competitive with an update otherwise his championship-winning chance will be over for another season. Talking to Mark Webber on the plane home he made the point that the additional DRS zone from turns 10 to 11 meant that the KERS energy could be saved when following another car using DRS and used elsewhere to attack. A good reminder that in F1 there's always secondary effects on what appears to be a straightforward solution; and the brilliant minds of F1 will always exploit them. This meant that passing down the pit straight was relatively easy, not least because they were charging into a strong headwind which magnified the effects. Once again though I felt that DRS was simply too powerful and needs reducing. Some form of DRS use limitation so that it's a tactical attack/defence tool would make it a more skilful device, and generate overtakes which are hard earned and valuable. Fernando Alonso demonstrated that passing with this type of tyre degradation is still possible without DRS. There was a tense-looking meeting between some teams and Pirelli on Sunday morning and I suspect that the compounds will head towards more cautious territory through the year, and that the hard compound tyre in Barcelona will be back to the 2012 spec. Overall I still think Pirelli have done a great job for F1, and with 700 employees in two race tyre factories, unless Bridgestone or Michelin are coming back, you wonder who else could deliver tyres for 2014. This is especially given the teams will be incredibly focussed on sorting out the new power packs for next year rather than worrying about completely new tyre development. Stand out driver of the weekend for me outside of Vettel and Alonso was Paul Di Resta for Force India. He needs a touch of 'New Perez' in his defence of track position but he reconfirmed his class and that he's in F1 to stay. And what a great job Force India are doing, marrying Mercedes engines to some McLaren technology facilities and their in-house skills, and doing a better job than both of them in Bahrain with much less budget. MB
