The second race of the 2018 F1 season is here, and unlike the excitement of the anticipation of the Australian Grand Prix, there’s just something about the 2018 Bahrain Grand Prix and most of its predecessors that raises more a Meh than a spine tingle.
It is still just the second race of the season, and we shouldn’t be losing interest just yet. Perhaps we need a big can of 44 Monster Energy Drink courtesy of Lewis Hamilton. And some convincing it will be worth the lack of sleep if living in the Pacific region.
That’s why our regular preview before each race tries to answer the question on whether you should bother at all.
But read on if you need more convincing or un-convincing..
THE CONTENDERS?
It’s the usual top three teams at the front, and after qualifying Ferrari look well on top. Vettel has the advantage for the race as is nearest championship rival qualified fourth, and then had a five grid spot penalty applied for a gearbox change. Beside him is team mate kimi Raikkonen who looks a slightly more compeditive beast in 2018. Red Bull too look not too far off, Ricciardo’s P1 performance was promising as they rarely top any session in the dry. He was just 0.4 off pole. Maybe it will be closer than we think.
2018 BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX BETTING – WIN
VETTEL $1.50
RAIKKONEN $5.00
HAMILTON $7.00
BOTTAS $9.00
RICCIARDO $11.00
Odds on for Vettel and rightly so. Plenty of value behind if he fails. Great faith shown by punters in Bottas, $2 behind Hamilton despite starting the race 6 places in front.
Odds courtesy of UBet
Verdict – should we be interested because of The Contenders?
Sort of, although it looks like a Ferrari benefit, it is always interesting to see how a driver like Hamilton fights back from down the grid. Unless he is too far behind or caught up in any sort of melee. Plus the Red Bull looks a little closer to the front. Perhaps not Max back in 15th.
Our Tip for the win.
Has to be Vettel. That lucky-ish win in Australia will be even more beneficial after Hamilton’s woes here.
THE OUTSIDERS
Five different outsider cars in the top 10 after qualifying, Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly and Hass’ Kevin Magnussen the leading contenders in 5th/6th and only 1.4 sec of pole is promising. The two Renaults are there, as they usually are, and a Force India of Ocon. McLaren are disappointingly off the pace after looking half decent in Australia as they couldn’t get into Q3. Another Australian star performer Grosjean didn’t get out of Q1. Williams look truly awful.
The main interest will be how the outsiders go against Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen who are amongst them. Another side interest is the Toro Rosso-Honda battle v McLaren after swapping engines for 2018.
Verdict – should we be interested because of The Contenders?
Yeah. No chance of any of these cars making the podium, so the only decent betting option is Top 6 with some value available. But still will be interesting all the same. Having announcedto the few that would listen that Pierre Gasly is a great driver, he finally gets his chance to prove himself, and ourselves correct. Oh, and whether the Haas team can do a complete pitstop. An attempt in their Formula 2 feeder team didn’t look too good either.
Top 6 Betting
GASLY $2.00
MAGNUSSEN $2.50
HULKENBERG $2.75
SAINZ $5.00
OCON $6.00
PEREZ $9.00
ALONSO $9.00
Odds courtesy of UBet
Tip
Top 6 spots to be claimed by the recovering Verstappen and Hamilton.
ANYTHING NEW?
As it is the second race, there’s still the new season feeling about this race, but much less so than Australia.
Verdict
Not really.
THE CIRCUIT?
It is a typical modern day F1 facility, designed by the man who has sucked most of the life out of F1 Hermann Tilke. The scenery is hardly one to inspire side interest either. The night race makes it look nice and shiny however.
In saying that, not every race has been a boring procession, there was the excellent Rosberg v Hamilton battle a few seasons back. But outside of that, there’s hardly been a memorable race that we can recall.
Although, having seen the Formula 2 cars run around, there’s nothing wrong with the track with the right cars.
Verdict – should we be interested because of The Circuit?
Not Really, boring track and usually bugger all racing.
THE RACE?
As above, it is hard to remember many classic Bahrain Grands Prix. Perhaps F1 bosses know how bad the races usually are and have them early in the season so people forget it by the end of the season. Or have it just after the first race so it rides on the early season anticipation coattails.
Either way it is here to stay.
The night race kick off of 1am early on a Monday morning for the east coast of Australia makes it possibly the worse timeslot to watch a race – another negative. The big question is whether to nap first and get up, go straight through and suffer, get up early and watch on record, or try and avoid the result all day and watch after work. All scenarios suck.
Verdict – should we be interested because of The Race?
No, it shouldn’t be that hard to watch a race. New owners will do well to realise the rest of the world exists, and that Europe/USA only have to suffer a few early mornings/late nights. Although the night race does make BAhrain slighlty more interesting.
THE HISTORY?
The first race was back in 2004, and was the first F1 event in the middle east. So it was a historic moment then, but without cash from oil, there’s no way there would be a race.
Only a few memories come back, a great duel between Hamilton-Rosberg, Alonso winning on his Ferrari debut, and the year they celebrated the race by extended the track by almost 2km making the Bahrain circuit even more dull.
But you wouldn’t think there would be too many classic Bahrain Grands Prix to play on TV before the event.
Verdict – should we be interested because of The History?
Not really.
ANY OTHER REASON?
There’s always the Formula 2, which seemed to be able to race after their first event of the season. Why not check out our brief Formula 2 season preview.
Verdict
Not really
THE FINAL VERDICT…SHOULD I CARE ABOUT THE 2018 BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX?
Up to you really. How much do you need the sleep? Or how loyal an F1 fan are you?
