What can you say about one of the most exciting and plot twisting races in quite a while, in the 2019 Bahrain GP? Poor Charles. He dominated all weekend, took pole position on Saturday, made a bad start Sunday, got back in the lead quickly, then he essentially experienced a dropped cylinder with about 15 laps left. This should've been his maiden grand prix victory, but it'll have to wait a bit longer. Hamilton, ever the opportunist, ran a strong race, was faster than his teammate, out dueled Vettel when team strategies lead to them going wheel to wheel, which put him behind Leclerc when his issue came up. The loss of that cylinder dropped his lap pace to over 3 seconds a lap under the field, which lead to him potentially finishing in 4th or 5th place -- but then the motorsport gods shined down upon him in the form of both Renaults breaking down with about 10 laps to go. It took so long to get Hulkenberg's car towed off the track, Ricciardo's remained through the checkered flag. Leclerc took 3rd under caution, which not only ensured his wounded car took third, but also ensured no one could break his fastest lap which came shortly before the engine problem. With these points he's leap frogged his teammate and put him fourth in the Driver's Championship. Vettel spun his car when Hams made the move to pass him (sound familiar?), but he salvaged the race by making his way back to fifth, behind Verstappen. I think what makes this season so great is that we have two young drivers on the top three teams which have the ability to compete for race wins and podiums; this is something we haven't had in a long time and it's mixing some things up. That said, things are looking up for Hamilton if he keeps turning out great results -- Vettel has a full on rival in his own team which will be limiting his ability to get max points everyweek. Bottas had a great first race, but didn't look as strong in Bahrain, so until we see more Hams should be the priority in silver. Verstappen will be a spoiler when the top two teams aren't strong enough which will further reduce the amount of points up for grabs. If Gasley could keep up with Max Red Bull would be an even bigger threat, but that isn't the case yet. Oh and Mclaren is still quick, with Norris taking 6th, but Sainz DNF'd again. This season is shaping up to be pretty interesting.
With the checkered flag dropped in Bahrain the current standings are as follows: Bottas, Hamilton (-1), Verstappen (-17), LeClerc (-18), Vettel (-22), Raikkonen (-34). This weekend's race in China is the 1000th F1 grand prix race, it's a track where power is rewarded with long straights and Merc will have their hands full once again trying to keep the red cars in check. If Leclerc takes the win in China will the team become his? We'll have to tune in to find out.
Chasing Classic Cars. Season 9 Ep 5. Wednesday @ 9pm - 9:30pm (VelocityHD) new
Loaded weekend ahead, with World Challenge, WSCC, F1 and Indy Car this weekend. We're back at it with F1 with an anticipated follow up to the melee that was the 2017 Australian Grand Prix. There were plenty of retirements, including Alonso after almost holding on to tenth position with a handful of laps left, and unfortunately the hometown hero Ricciardo who had one gearbox problem after another, following a wall impact during FP3. McLaren is still lost, HAAS had a double DNF, but the most significant headline was who won the race. Hams took another pole, followed by Vettel and Bottas, but Vettel took the checkered flag after a keen strategic move by Scuderia Ferrari after Hams pitted on lap 18 for new tires (one stop). Hamilton left the pit with softs into traffic, immediately being help up by Verstappen looking to make his tire strategy work. The difficulty to pass given the 2017 regulation changes seems to be a common thread between all of the drivers post-race. The turbulence from the larger tires and revised under-tray/diffuser seems to work against the benefits of added mechanical grip, aero, power and tire durability. The tires still need to be finessed into the proper operating window and depending on how your out-lap goes you could miss the boat completely, like what appeared to happen to Hamilton. In the end we have the media-banned Ferrari team taking the lead in the drivers championship for the first time in years. Torro Rosso and the pepto-bismol-esque liveried Force Indias all finished in the points, including young Esteban Orcon getting his first career point in his new drive with Force India. Appears we'll have a more interesting Championship fight this year, but I still think Mercedes AMG will take the Constructors for a fourth time unless unreliability comes into play. With the smoke cleared the Driver's Championship standings are as follows: Vettel, Hamilton (-7), Bottas (-10), Raikkonen (-13), Verstappen (-15), Massa (-17). The F1 traveling circus is in Shanghai this weekend to make use of all the data gathered from last week. It should be another great race.
Lamborghini unveiled their all new sport-ute, the Urus, at Volkswagen Group night in Beijing at the end of April. If you couldn't tell already, all auto manufacturers regardless of the size of their parent companies need more sales. This doesn't seem like a successor to the über rare LM 001 (Rambo Lambo), but should easily make it to music videos and sports arena parking lots once released.
