Just started the thread so we could have a poll!

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just bring it on! " title="ii" />

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Kimi Räikkönen: “I’ve never won in Bahrain before, so maybe this year I’ll change that.”

After taking his second podium finish of the year in China our Iceman heads to the desert heat of Bahrain cool, calm and collected

You must be in good spirits following your podium in Shanghai?
It was a pretty okay weekend, but it wasn’t the win and it’s still early in the season so we’re not celebrating too much yet.

What are your thoughts on the next race in Bahrain?
Obviously, it was a good race for us as a team last year. It was my first podium for Enstone, and we had a good fight all the way. We took a gamble during qualifying, and it didn’t work out well for us. This meant we missed out on the top ten, but we managed to use our tyres pretty well in the race and we ended up fighting for the top step of the podium, which is always a good thing.

You fought for the win with Sebastian Vettel last year; with the benefit of retrospect, was there anything different you could have done to get past him?
I could have tried to overtake him on the other side! I only had one shot and I picked the wrong side. After that I was unable to fight back and second was still a pretty good result, but it’s always better to finish on the top step of the podium.

How do you rate the Sakir circuit?
I like it. I’ve had some nice races there and picked up some good points although I’ve never won. It’s a little bit different from others we visit and it’s quite nice to be out there in the sand! Wherever you look around the track you can just see sand in the distance and you notice it in the paddock too. It’s a circuit where I’ve never won before, so maybe this year I’ll change that.

How difficult is it to get the car as you want it in Bahrain?
It is not easy to find a good set-up as you do experience the track surface changing over the weekend and sometimes the wind can affect the balance of the car too. It’s one of the more tricky places to get the car exactly right, but at least you don’t often have to worry about rain!

Is there potential for another good result?
Apart from Malaysia we’ve had good races this year, but that said there have only been three races so it’s too early to say anything. Just because we had a good result there last year, it doesn’t mean Bahrain will be good for us again this year. We have to try and do the best we can in every race and try to score some points to keep us in the fight. If everything goes our way, it will be a good result again. However, it is useless to promise anything beforehand. This is motor racing and whatever can happen, will happen.

How was it to get second place in China?
Second wasn’t quite what we wanted, but in the circumstances it was the best that we could manage. I wasn’t 100% happy because we didn’t win, but it is what it is and second place was a good result after a bad start and the incident with Sergio [Perez].

Do you think you will start modifying the bodywork of your car in the future?
It’s unfortunate when a slower car gets in your way like that and you never know if it could happen again. Obviously the car is not designed like that otherwise we would use it all the time, but I was surprised how good it was still. Obviously we had some trouble with understeer and some other handling issues, but we had to try to live with that and the pace was still pretty okay.

Tyres seem to be quite a talking point again; what does Kimi Räikkönen think?
I think you can push on these tyres, but it’s never perfect. You cannot always push 100%. I think they are very good in qualifying and have good grip, so it’s up to you and you have to look after them a bit more in the race. It’s not really any different from last year – at least for us anyway – so I don’t really understand why people are complaining.

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Romain Grosjean: “I want to return to the podium in Bahrain”

After a tough Chinese Grand Prix weekend, Romain return to the scene of first Formula 1 podium in a determined mood; eager to garner a good points tally

What are your feelings heading to Bahrain?
I have good memories after a strong race there last year that’s for sure! Our car worked well and we seemed to like the heat so it’s a race I’m looking forward to. We should see some consistent weather too, which always helps when you are trying to set up the car for the weekend.

Finding the right setup and getting the car exactly as you want it seems to be quite a challenge at the moment?
I would be lying if I said the car is exactly where I want it and we are having quite an adventure to get the setup and feeling from the car how we want it. This is very frustrating for a driver, as you want your car to be obedient – to do what you want it to do – and to do it in a consistent manner. Certainly, we’re not the only team who are having a difficult time early in the season, but it’s something we really want to get on top of as quickly as possible. I’m spending a lot of time with my engineers and we’re all working hard to make improvements.

What worked so well for you in Bahrain last year?
It’s a track I knew from before Formula 1 and it has characteristics that I like in a circuit; some big braking into certain corners, some good change of direction with the double-left in the middle of the racetrack and it all flows quite nicely. Last year we got a good balance with the car and were able to make use of the E20 being kind to its tyres. The E21 shares that characteristic, so let’s hope we have more of the same this year.

How did it feel to get your first podium here twelve months ago?
It’s was a great feeling to get my first podium, and a really proud day for the whole team who did an incredible job. I think we got everything right that weekend.

It’s fair to say that your weekend in China wasn’t exactly what you wanted?
I wasn’t happy with ninth place, but at least it was points finish. It was a long, tough race and again we not able to make it work quite as well as we wanted. We started sixth on the grid and I thought we had a good chance to end up within the top five, but unfortunately we could not manage it.

Where do you think your race unravelled?
We struggled all weekend to get the balance right. It felt a lot better in qualifying but in the race I just couldn’t find the performance. I made a good start, climbed a few places and was sitting close behind Kimi for a short while, but then the tyres just fell off the cliff and I dropped right back. As the race went on I ended up getting stuck in traffic which obviously didn’t help, but I still have some work to do to try and find more from the car.

What’s the target this weekend?
The priority is to find that connection with the car. I want to be right up there fighting for podiums and showing the speed I showed last year. Hopefully we’ll get there soon, and I think Bahrain would be the ideal place to really start getting some good points or even a return to the podium. We’ve been quick there before, so there’s no reason why we can’t do it again.

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Eric Boullier: “We need to maintain momentum”

After another podium result, Team Principal Eric Boullier knows the key to a successful championship campaign is maintaining that all important momentum

The team must be pretty upbeat heading to Bahrain?
We left Malaysia a little downcast after the high of Australia, so having Kimi back on the podium in Shanghai was the perfect antidote to that. There’s nothing like a Grand Prix podium to make you feel good.

What’s your evaluation of the race in China?
It was great result, but not a perfect one. Kimi showed once more why he’s one of the very best drivers in the world by being one of the fastest on track despite sustaining damage to his car. As a team we were able to give him a strong strategy allowing us to beat Lewis [Hamilton] and Mercedes in a close battle. Were it not for a poor getaway from the line at the start of the race and the damage caused by the incident with Sergio [Perez] he could have been fighting Fernando [Alonso] and Ferrrari for the win. That’s where we want to be. Romain had a more difficult day, but he scored points which is positive and we feel he’s reached a turning point now where things will start coming together.

Heading straight to Bahrain, can another strong result be achieved?
We’ve started the season with a strong car so there’s no reason why not. The Bahrain Grand Prix is just seven days after the Chinese race and we performed well there last year so we have everything on our side. However, you can never take anything for granted in this sport so we’ll be approaching Bahrain as we do any Grand Prix.

There has been a lot of talk about tyres again this season; is this a good thing?
As a sport we asked our tyre supplier, Pirelli, to provide us with tyres which encourage different strategies and adapting to this is part of the competition. We’ve seen some great racing so far this year and Pirelli can take some of the credit for this. We are all allocated the same tyres so it’s up to us as teams and the drivers in the cars to make the most of them.

Kimi seems to be at the top of his game at the moment, but Romain seems to be struggling a little?
Romain faces the very tough challenge of driving the same car as one of the most gifted driver around in Kimi; a driver with tremendous experience who returned to the sport last year and was very good straight away. If he was very good from the start of last season, Kimi’s been excellent from the start of 2013. He gives everything you want from a driver at every moment on track. This will be frustrating for Romain at times as it’s very, very difficult to beat the Kimi who arrives at the track this season, but it’s also a tremendous opportunity as he’s learning from the very best. If he can learn these lessons whilst bringing home points for the team, then he’s doing the job we want from him.

Can the team sustain its championship charge?
Once again, we’ve shown that we can fight for podiums, but nothing stands still in Formula 1 and the challenge is ongoing. Maintaining momentum is what we need to do, and we’ll leave no stone unturned in our quest to do this. Our competition is strong and they have a lot of resources at their disposal. We have to maintain the relentless pace over the course of all 19 races this season. Everyone at Enstone is up for this challenge and celebrate every success we see on track. We hope to celebrate many more.

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James Allison: “There are things that are special about Bahrain which might make us more optimistic”

Technical Director James Allison talks us through the difference between Kimi and Romain’s cars, how changing the damaged nose in China wasn’t worth it and why he’s cautiously optimistic about the forthcoming Bahrain GP

We’re 2nd in the Drivers’ Championship and 3rd in the Constructors’ Championship which isn’t a bad place to be; talk us through China from your perspective.
It’s not as good as 1st and 1st but it’s definitely ok! The race was good. Considering we had a grim start and were then involved in a tangle with [Sergio] Perez on lap fifteen, it was a reasonably strong second place so we can be quite happy with that. It’s also satisfying to see that the cars have gone adequately well at a number of tracks now; albeit slightly masked by the rain in Malaysia. Having said that, I think we’ll only be properly happy as a team when we’ve got both our cars up where they need to be, and that’s really the main focus now.

Tell us about Romain and the problems he’s having with the car.
The truth is that it’s certainly not Romain causing the problem. Romain is fast, smooth and good at looking after tyres, however we have not yet managed to give him a consistent car that lets him bring his talent to bear. It’s not him; it’s that we haven’t got it quite right for him yet and what seems to be clear from Kimi’s weekends is that the car is a tricky little beast to get just right. We have managed that with Kimi in two of the three races and we need to make sure we’ve giving Romain all the opportunity to shine as well.

Some people might ask why you wouldn’t set up the car exactly the same as Kimi’s if it seems to be working for him. What are the complications between the two different cars?
First of all, both drivers don’t want the exact same thing out of the car. Kimi has a driving style which uses the front tyres a little heavier than Romain, while Romain uses his rear tyres slightly more than Kimi, so they need a different set up anyway. Secondly, we’re not completely certain that even if we were to bolt the same setup onto both cars that we would get the same result in any case, so it’s not just as straightforward as saying we’ll put the same set up on and everything will be fine.

Kimi had a bit of trouble with his nose in China too after that tangle; did it affect his performance and why did we decide not to change it?
We definitely shouldn’t have changed his nose. It probably cost around a quarter of a second a lap and he did it on lap fifteen, so if we multiply that by the remaining forty laps then we lost about ten seconds by the end of the race. A pit stop with a nose change would have cost and extra seven seconds over a standard stop, so you might say we should have changed it and saved ourselves 3 seconds to Fernando [Alonso]. The reality however, is that with Kimi’s position in the race a pitstop would have dropped him down into all the traffic and we would have paid a much heavier penalty than the three seconds difference. The best option was what happened; Kimi adapted his race to make the most of what he had and drove very strongly with a damaged car to come second.

Based on recent form, Bahrain is potentially a strong track for us; do you think it will suit the E21?
We certainly went well there last year and I hope it will be good for us this year as well! There are things that are special about Bahrain which might make us more optimistic. For example, it is one of the most aggressive tracks on the rear tyres and if we have a particular strength it does seem to be that when we get the car set up just right it does seem to use the tyres rather gently. Secondly, in Kimi in particular, we have a driver who is able to get the car to go quickly without really burdening the rear axle. While we are looking forward to the weekend, it is abundantly clear that there are several very strong teams this year, so we can expect a tough fight as always.

What’s in the Bahrain goodie bag?
We won’t be bringing anything particularly revolutionary on top of the China upgrades, but we will trial a suspension modification – internal rather than to the wishbones – which is an evolution of something we ran to good effect during pre-season. You’re always trying to find the right compromise between the mechanical grip that the suspension’s articulation offers to the tyres and holding the aerodynamic platform at the optimum height from the road, and we believe this is a step forward in helping us achieve that.

When could we see the DDRS making an appearance?
Not for this race as we still have work to do with it. We’ll be trialling the DDRS again between the first round of flyaways and the start of the European season when we have an opportunity to do some straight line testing.
Succeeding in Sakhir: An Engineer’s Guide to the Bahrain International Circuit

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The Circuit

TURN 1
Heavy braking into turn 1 provides a good overtaking opportunity. No penalties for overshooting the corner so over-optimism is not unduly curtailed. Exit of this corner calls for driver delicacy on the throttle when tyres are worn.

TURN 2
The more kerb you can take at turn two, the more speed you can take down the straight which follows.

TURN 4
Turn 4 is another overtaking opportunity, with heavy braking from the preceding straight, wide entry and plenty of space on exit.

TURNS 6 + 7
Front wing is set to balance the car through turns 6 and 7

TURN 10
The entry to turn 10 is difficult. You need to be in the correct track position after turn 9 and the un-weighted inside wheel can easily lock. Sufficient speed needs to be carried on entry, but it’s easy to out-brake yourself here. There is a long serrated kerb at the exit to turn 10 which is best avoided.

TURNS 14 + 15
Another heavy braking zone into the final corners, with any mistakes on entry penalised heavily by a lack of exit speed onto the main straight. Snap oversteer is a possibility through here, which again will damage speed onto the main straight.

START / FINISH STRAIGHT
Gearing for the straight is always a difficult call in Bahrain, as the wind can affect matters here.

The Car

FRONT WING
Front wing settings are optimised around turns six and seven.

REAR WING
Relatively high levels of downforce are required for Bahrain, so the car runs with a lot of rear wing. Not to Monaco levels, but comparable amounts to Albert Park and Malaysia. High temperatures mean less dense and aerodynamically effective air to cleave.

SUSPENSION
There are reasonable traction demands here, so the suspension needs to sufficiently compliant for these requirements. Traction demands from the lower speed corners mean a focus on enabling maximum usage of the mechanical grip from the tyres. Kerbs are used in turn two in order to maximise straightline speed before turn three. The long kerb at the exit of turn 10 is generally avoided because its harshness can hurt traction.

BRAKES
Bahrain represents the first proper test of the season for braking systems. Long straights lead into slow corners, meaning brake temperatures and wear levels need close monitoring.

ENGINE
Sand and speed summarise Sakhir from the engine point of view. Dust from the desert is blown onto the track and sand particles in the engine can cause significant wear to the internals. The four straights demand good top end power.

TYRES
Pirelli’s hard [orange] and medium [white] compounds are nominated here. Despite the circuit’s desert domain, the track is not as sandy as you may expect due to the circuit’s impressive track cleaner! The asphalt is has a high level of abrasion which gives good grip, but can lead to high tyre degradation.

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I want those sunglasses!! " title="dreamy" />