Einar Ármannsson Wins Again, Valtteri Bottas Suffers Failure

Qualifying:

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Time
1	27	Dave Cassidy		1:20.412
2	28	Daniel Melrose		1:20.600
3	34	Valtteri Bottas		1:20.672
4	22	Jordan Davies		1:20.741
5	31	Romain Grosjean		1:20.783
6	33	Einar Ármannsson		1:20.894
7	2	Lewis Hamilton		1:21.010
8	23	Pierre Gasly		1:21.216
9	62	Jules Bianchi		1:21.224
10	30	Dean Stoneman		1:21.386
11	24	Kevin Magnussen		1:21.542
12	21	Stoffel Vandoorne		1:21.547
13	32	Alexander Albon		1:21.607
14	29	Pastor Maldonado		1:21.853
15	1	Sebastian Vettel		1:21.982
16	67	Mike Rockenfeller		1:22.017
17	90	Daniel Ricciardo		1:22.224
18	63	Diego Álvarez Torrente		1:22.499
19	91	Max Verstappen		1:22.698
20	5	Marvin Kirchhöfer		1:22.782
21	55	Artem Markelov		1:22.904
22	6	Santiago Urrutia		1:23.010
23	66	Pascal Wehrlein		1:23.211
24	118	Carlos Sainz Jr		1:23.237
25	119	Felix Rosenqvist		1:23.385
26	56	Sergey Sirotkin		1:23.472

Report:

Controversy is Formula 1’s second nature. When people are not calling for someone’s head or want a certain rule change, it is either the deepest off-season or the media has gone on strike. Today’s topic is “success ballast”, after the last round with the first set of ballast has caused major changes on the expected order of the grid, resulting in a Ferrari 1-2, their first pole since 12 November, 2017.

Obviously, it was clear that that performance could not possibly be repeated within the race. However, Dave Cassidy had not quite realised that and fought like a lion to stay with the leaders. He was rewarded for this hustle and ended up scoring a very great podium finish, fighting off Lewis Hamilton in a thrilling fight and earning his reputation as one of the best active drivers today.

The victory looked like it belonged to Valterri Bottas. The Finn had a good start and was a favourite to win the Grand Prix until a puncture ended his afternoon. His pain was his teammate’s success, as the former Ferrari driver from Iceland went on to join Pastor Maldonado as the second driver to win more than one race this season, placing himself in good position for the title.

Sauber, Caterham and Precision have all announced significant upgrades to their aerodynamics for Bahrain.  Some question whether that is a good thing for competitive balance as all three teams had cars in the top five despite starting significantly further down the grid than usual because of the abovementioned success ballast. It remains to be seen who will rule in the desert and beyond.

Race:

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Time/Retired	Points
1	33	Einar Ármannsson		44:53.066	15
2	30	Dean Stoneman		+4.370	12
3	27	Dave Cassidy		+10.777	10
4	2	Lewis Hamilton		+11.434	8
5	63	Diego Álvarez Torrente		+17.757	6
6	22	Jordan Davies		+23.663	5
7	24	Kevin Magnussen		+23.840	4
8	62	Jules Bianchi		+27.415	2
9	29	Pastor Maldonado		+24.479*	3
10	1	Sebastian Vettel		+31.024	1
11	31	Romain Grosjean		+41.440	0
12	5	Marvin Kirchhöfer		+56.514*	0
13	21	Stoffel Vandoorne		+61.288	0
14	90	Daniel Ricciardo		+65.201	0
15	28	Daniel Melrose		+67.691	0
16	91	Max Verstappen		+75.461	0
17	66	Pascal Wehrlein		+79.410	0
18	67	Mike Rockenfeller		+86.068	0
19	6	Santiago Urrutia		1 Lap	0
DNF	119	Felix Rosenqvist		Transmission	0
DNF	118	Carlos Sainz Jr		Transmission	0
DNF	34	Valtteri Bottas		Puncture	0
DNF	32	Alexander Albon		Transmission	0
DNF	55	Artem Markelov		Collision	0
DNF	23	Pierre Gasly		Collision	0
DNF	56	Sergey Sirotkin		Collision	0

* given 3-second penalty for causing an avoidable accident

Fastest Lap:

Pastor Maldonado – 1:23.034

Infinite Improbability Drive Of The Race:

Dave Cassidy – turned an unlikely qualifying effort into an amazing finish.

Reject Of The Race:

Pastor Maldonado – avoidable accident delayed his comeback, hurting his chances in the long run.