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Reigning world
champion Sebastian Vettel used a three-stop strategy to win the Bahrain
Grand Prix and extend his drivers championship lead to 10 points. Vettel
started from second on the grid on the P Zero White medium tyre and then
completed two stints on the P Zero Orange hard tyre to seal his 28th career
win by over nine seconds.
A wide variety of tyre strategies were adopted in the heat of Bahrain, with
some cars stopping twice and others stopping four times. Tyre strategy also
played a crucial role in the battle for the runner-up spots, with Lotus
driver Kimi Raikkonen using a two-stop strategy and his team-mate Romain
Grosjean coming third with a three-stop strategy. Grosjean passed Force
India’s Paul di Resta, who was also on a two-stop strategy, in the closing
stages to ensure that the 2013 Bahrain podium was identical to the podium
line-up last year.
Most drivers started the race on the medium tyre, with the exception of
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, Lotus driver Romain Grosjean, Sauber’s Nico
Hulkenberg, Williams driver Valtteri Bottas, Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne
and the other Sauber of Esteban Gutierrez, who all started on the hard tyre.
Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery said: “It was fantastic to
see such brilliantly close racing all the way down the field, from the start
to the finish of the grand prix. To some extent this was down to the fact
that there was only a small performance gap between the two compounds,
meaning that we saw lots of different thinking on strategy. On this
occasion, there was no clear advantage in starting on particular compound
when it came to overall race time. The high temperatures – the highest we
have seen all year so far – made managing thermal degradation a particular
challenge, which rewarded the drivers with the best strategy and smoothest
driving style. There was a clearly an issue with the tyre on Felipe Massa’s
Ferrari, which we are investigating at the moment. We’ve seen one sidewall
cut and one at the top of the tread, and we’re currently trying to find out
what caused those cuts.”
Truth-O-Meter:
We predicted that one of the fastest strategies was to start on the
medium, change to medium on lap 8, change to another set of mediums on lap
24 and finish with a set of hard tyres on lap 38. While the winning strategy
broadly followed this format, Sebastian Vettel found the perfect strategy
today. He started on the medium, changed to the hard on lap 10, then went
onto the hard tyre again on lap 25 and
a final set of hard tyres on lap 42. |
