IT does blow in the Bahrain desert (in case you thought it didn’t), and this should bring some more changes in the grand prix game as we move to the Middle East this weekend.
Ferrari should again be the red rivals that will cause consternation for Mercedes.
Michael Schumacher still holds the lap record here at 1 min 30.25 secs. Can anyone beat his 12 year long Ferrari record?
I think we are in for an exciting weekend with great challenges coming from Red Bull, and the the ‘Terrible Twins’ at Toro Rosso and Williams.
Race times are: qualifying on Saturday at 4.50pm on SuperSport 2.
The race on Sunday is at 4.30pm on SuperSport 6. Enjoy round two, there are 20 to go!
Now for a bit more news on the cars.
They now have almost 830 horsepower going to the back wheels in total.
This comprises 160hp (120kW) from their electric motor/generator unit and 670hp (503kW) from their 1.6 litre V6 four valve per cylinder turbo charged petrol engines which rev at a controlled limit of 15000rpm.
Cars with driver have to weigh at least 702 kilograms. They have an eight-speed gearbox plus reverse and accelerate from zero to 200km/h in under five seconds.
The cars can only use a maximum of 100kg of fuel per race (about 85 litres) and also cannot exceed a fuel rate of 1.4 litres per minute.
On the track the car and driver are capable of achieving a maximum cornering force of approx. 4.5Gs (4.5 times the 700kg weight of car and driver).
Under breaking from high speed with a downforce of well over one tonne, they can achieve 5Gs and slow down from 100 to 0 km/h in about 1.5 seconds.
No wonder the seasoned drivers who do regular training, which includes sideways head push-ups, have such thick and strong necks!
This weekend we should, I hope see changes in the qualifying format with the silly system of eliminating the slowest driver every 90 seconds, falling away as well as better and more interesting use of the in-car radio to the benefit of all of us enthusiasts.
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