Mercedes
Russell practically hit Piastri at the beginning, braking late and simply lacking amassing the McLaren. He ran second to the McLaren for a lot of the race. In a position to pit for a second time below the Security Automotive, he managed to make a set of softs final to the top regardless of some in-car failures that included his DRS, brake-by-wire and telemetry happening. He nearly held off a late cost by Norris for a effectively earned podium, however was investigated post-race for a DRS infringement. The stewards opted to not give him a penalty as no sporting benefit had been gained.
Antonelli’s race was marred by some unhealthy luck. He pulled off some daring overtakes and was working effectively within the high 10 after a tough begin, however he got here in for his second cease simply earlier than the Security Automotive. The crew opted to pit him a 3rd time when the Security Automotive got here out, and that dropped him out of the highest 10. He got here near recovering some extent, ending simply 4 tenths behind Bearman on the flag.
George Russell, 2nd
“That was a extremely difficult race. We had some issues within the final 12 laps together with a brake-by-wire failure. Once I was hitting the brakes, the pedal was inconsistent, and I needed to do some resets for it to work correctly once more. For 10 laps in a row, going into each nook, I didn’t know whether or not it could be giving me the identical feeling or not. It positively compromised the race, however on the finish of the day, bringing the automotive dwelling in P2 is mega.
“The brake-by-wire failure wasn’t the one technical problem we have been coping with both! There have been all types of points occurring with the transponder and the alerts going to the automotive. That meant that we needed to manually override the DRS. At one level, I hit the radio button and noticed that the DRS was open. I closed it instantly and lifted off the throttle, so we truly gave up time. Fortunately, the stewards agreed that no sporting benefit was gained. All of these points compromised that final stint however the principle factor is we depart right here with one other podium and extra stable factors scored.”
Kimi Antonelli, eleventh
“That was a tough race for me at present. Being caught within the soiled air behind a number of vehicles performed a serious function in stalling any progress I used to be capable of make. I pushed arduous on my out laps to attempt to regain monitor place however then I possible took a little bit an excessive amount of out of the tyres. We tried to do one thing completely different by switching to the three-stop technique, however the Security Automotive got here out shortly after and that took the chance away.
“We’ll evaluation the entire race and see if there are issues we might have finished in a different way, however there are positively nonetheless positives we are able to take away. Qualifying was one other good step forwards for me and I felt increasingly more snug racing wheel-to-wheel with others at present. In fact, P11 is rarely the consequence we hope for, however we can have a few days off and are available again stronger in Jeddah subsequent weekend.”
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
“As we speak’s race was a difficult one to handle. You can see how shortly it was doable to go from an excellent consequence to a nasty one. For George, he did an incredible job. He positively saved the rostrum for the crew. He suffered a brake-by-wire failure and was having to handle brake pedal strain that was altering from nook to nook. To do this with out shedding any time was superb. He additionally nurtured the Gentle tyres effectively in that last stint, was quick when it mattered and defended in all the appropriate locations to maximise the consequence.
“For Kimi, at present’s race was considered one of studying. We opted to take a threat with the technique however in hindsight, we might have been higher placing him on the Arduous tyre. He additionally misplaced positions in his opening two stints which induced him to push the tyres more durable than he would have favored. That’s all a part of the traditional studying trajectory although and he’ll bounce again subsequent week in Saudi Arabia. We subsequently depart Bahrain with combined emotions. With its abrasive asphalt and excessive monitor temperatures, we didn’t come into the weekend with excessive hopes. To be taking away a podium in P2 is subsequently encouraging. There’s extra work to do to be within the struggle for victory at every race although and we’ll proceed to push arduous.”
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
“We have been barely deprived with our tyre selection going into the race. The Medium was the perfect future tyre and Ferrari and McLaren had two of them to our one. George’s race was fairly easy till he began to have methods failing throughout the last stint. He was lacking a whole lot of data from the sprint, however the largest downside was that the brake-by-wire system saved failing which made the automotive very inconsistent. He drove a brilliantly managed stint on the finish on the Gentle and acquired by way of to the end with sufficient tempo to carry Norris off. We have been involved coming right here as McLaren has seemed so fast throughout winter testing at this monitor. George subsequently did an awesome job to convey dwelling a podium in P2, amongst the opposite points he was having to struggle.
“Kimi in the meantime had a troublesome day. His first lap wasn’t nice as he suffered a number of oversteer snaps within the first few corners, was squeezed off monitor into flip 5 and misplaced a few positions. That put him within the pack the place he was struggling to make progress which resulted in additional overheating for the tyres. We took a threat along with his technique however sadly that didn’t work out. It’s all a part of the training for Kimi. His future tempo on Friday was simply nearly as good as George’s so a greater consequence was doable. He shall be striving to ship that subsequent weekend.
“Now we have a number of days now to organize for Jeddah. It is nice to be again on the rostrum in Bahrain and, while we have to convey a little bit of pace to have the ability to problem for wins, it is actually thrilling to have proven such sturdy tempo on a monitor that’s so difficult for the tyres, and we didn’t count on to be significantly aggressive at.”
