Hamilton tips Ferrari to be stronger in Bahrain heat

2017 Bahrain Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton expects Ferrari to be a stronger threat in this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

Hot conditions in Bahrain will play into Ferrari’s hands, according to the Chinese Grand Prix winner.

2017 Chinese Grand Prix in pictures
“Being that it’s often a warmer race, Ferrari is very good in hotter conditions,” said Hamilton.

Shanghai saw very low track temperatures of less than 15C on race day. “These were quite good conditions with our car,” said Hamilton.

“When it steps up in temperature, so far in the first race it’s been shown as not the greatest for us just yet, so we’re just learning on the tyres.”

Hamilton believes his car’s performance in warmer conditions will “definitely be better than it was in Melbourne”, where Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari outraced him to victory.

“I think they will be very very quick in the next race but there’s a lot of straights there as well and we’ve obviously got, I think, still the strongest power unit on the grid, so I think that will come into play, for sure.”

Vettel said he “doesn’t know what to expect” from this weekend’s race.

“I think if we can challenge Mercedes again, that’s very good news. They are very very strong. They have had a very very strong run the last couple of years. This year as well, so a good package.”

“If we can be close it’s good. I think we need to look after ourselves. I think there’s stuff that we can do better, must do better, can improve so I’m happy to get a surprise, but expectation I don’t really have.”

2017 Bahrain Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
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    38 comments on “Hamilton tips Ferrari to be stronger in Bahrain heat”

    1. Hamilton seems to contradict himself:

      “Being that it’s often a warmer race, Ferrari is very good in hotter conditions,” said Hamilton.
      Shanghai saw very low track temperatures of less than 15C on race day. “These were quite good conditions with our car,” said Hamilton.

      “When it steps up in temperature, so far in the first race it’s been shown as not the greatest for us just yet, so we’re just learning on the tyres.”

      Hamilton believes his car’s performance in warmer conditions will “definitely be better than it was in Melbourne””

      1. He’s not contradicting, he’s just saying that based on the first race, the warmer temperatures suited the ferrari, however, his team will likely have improved their warm condition performance based on what they learned in Melbourne.

        1. As per Kevin (no point typing the same thing). No contradiction….

      2. Fukobayashi (@)
        11th April 2017, 17:15

        He’s saying they have improved on their warm weather performance from things they learned in Melbourne.

      3. “Hamilton seems to contradict himself”

        Please… go ahead and point out the contradiction

      4. You seem to lack reading comprehension skills, but that’s OK too. ;)

    2. Hamilton seems to really like that Ferrari. Maybe we’ll see Hamilton replace Kimi at Ferrari next year.

      1. Hope so. If he wins the title this year he would be the most succesful current driver (using wins to seperate from the other 4 time champ) and the most charismatic. He would then be joining the most succesful and charasmatic team.

      2. I doubt it. Arrivabene wouldn’t tolerate Hamilton’s image, and I don’t think Hamilton would be happy driving for Ferrari.

        Hamilton is A) being honest and B) managing expectations. It’s obvious that at the moment, Ferrari is the only serious competitor to Mercedes. By praising their abilities, if he wins against them, he has overcome a formidable opponent. If he loses to them, it’s because they have a superior car.

        It’s not like he’s said anything crazy this season– that’s still for Marko and Jos.

    3. Regarding the weather conditions of Bahrain: As of now the ambient temperature there could reach as high as 40 degrees Celsius on both practice day and qualifying day (remember that two practice sessions will be run in the afternoon, so hopefully we aren’t in for a ‘Mansell 1984 Dallas GP fainting incident’ deja vu.)

      1. Yeah, but qualifying itself, and the race itself will be quite a bit cooler since they are in the late afternoon/evening (closer to 23-28 degrees) @jerejj

        1. @bascb I know that, but the point is that as FP1 and FP3 are run in the afternoon, the possibility of the temperatures in the high 30s region could make those sessions problematic.

          1. Yeah, but that just means we will have to disregard the panicky UK commentators spelling doom for Hamilton @jerejj, as Mercedes will be there when it comes to Qualifying and would be fine in the race.

      2. Practice 2 is a day/night session.

        1. @kgn11 I was referring to FP1 and FP3, not FP2 as it’s a floodlit session as well as QLF and the race itself.

          1. @jerejj QLF? What are the Qatar Limbo Fanatics up to this time round? I’ll be watching Q so, an update would be most appreciated, cheers!

            1. @psynrg I didn’t know ‘QLF’ also stands for ‘Qatar Limbo Fanatics.’ Thanks for letting me know, LOL.

            2. @psynrg I didn’t know QLF also stands for ‘Qatar Limbo Fanatics.’ Thanks for letting me know, though, LOL.

            3. @jerejj Sorry for the double click. My intention wasn’t to post the same comment twice.

    4. Fukobayashi (@)
      11th April 2017, 17:17

      It’s a shame Button won’t be competing this weekend! It could be the first monster fitness challenge of the season which he would have relished.

      1. Fukobayashi (@)
        11th April 2017, 17:17

        Saying that, he could end the race fresher than anyone else but his car certainly wouldn’t be.

        1. @offdutyrockstar
          Vandoorne will probably end the race fresher than anyone else, after his engine eats itself ten laps in he can go get an icecream.

          1. We can make a bet of who’ll be fresher at the end of the race. Personally I would bet for Stroll. His ability to “finish” his races first outclasses Honda’s.

    5. Can he just focus on his own season and let the fans decide the rivalry, and make the arguments!

    6. No you’re better! No your cars better! No you!

      1. I like humility. I don’t know if it’s completely sincere, but even if it isn’t, it’s still great of him to always praise his rivals and downplay his own success.

    7. As long as there is a battle like Lewis and Rosberg had in 2014, but with Merc vs Ferrari. That would be awesome! Would be even better if the other 2 drivers can mix it up and be on their “A” game. Icing on the cake would be for a red bull to be able to compete also.

      Am i asking for too much?

      1. No. Bottas is definitely in his A game. Remember, he has only raced twice with the team, Hamilton has raced about eighty times.

      2. Kimi is not in his A game, but he’s not too far either. His poor results have been magnified. They’re half his own doing, but the other half is horrible team strategy.

    8. Hamilton really wants that underdog tag. Every weekend this year he has been saying Ferrari are better. I find it annoying TBH. It reminds me of Alonso saying that the he is “Driving like and animal” to show that he is outdriving the car. Self promotion on both parts. Don’t get me wrong, Alonso did outdrive the car in the previous 2 races, but the McLaren isn’t as bad as he is making out either. However, Alonso was in the points though on both occasions, which is more than it deserves. I am not slating Alonso or Hamilton. They are both class acts and deserve their top billing.

      Back to Hamilton though. Does anyone actually believe that the Ferrari is better than the Merc? If you do, how much do you think the margin is? I would bet 0.5% in race trim at the most and even then it come down to the conditions at the time. The Merc is faster in qualifying conditions. Of that I am sure. In race trim, I think it is 55/45 to Merc at the moment. At best, it is 50/50. Hamilton claiming the underdog tag though is a far stretch of the imagination.

      1. I think Lewis is paving the way for a possible move to Ferrari in the future. Or riding in his red plane has affected him somehow. I think he is just using mind games to gain an advantage by bigging up then beat Vettel.

      2. Can we stop saying that “Alonso outdrove the car”? No driver can do that. What happens when they try is they go off the track like Ricciardo in Melbourne.

        It’s a fair statement to say that Alonso gets the most out of any car’s potential, and at times that gives a better result than a superior car with a driver not extracting everything it has.

        But no, he doesn’t outdrive a car.

        1. Why should we? It’s a figure of speech, and a pretty good one, actually. Do you also have a problem when someone says “that was an otherwordly performance”?

      3. 0.5% sounds like a good guess. And it’s huge. It roughly means an advantage of 5 tenths per lap. All things being equal, that’s an advantage of about 30 seconds at the finish line. That’s a lot.

    9. All you probably need for some excitement is for the number 2 drivers at both Ferrari and Mercedes to step-up.. Kimi and Botas getting into the mix for the top podium position should be fun
      It’ll augur well for the rest of the season :)

    10. Hey I have a question which is related a bit to the heat. Since they have these cars which produce higher G forces, could they be excausted at the end of the race and almost faint just like Senna did?

      1. @phil9079
        possibly. However when Senna fainted he was also fighting with a broken gearbox in addition to the heat + g-forces

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