Bahrain GP – Work goes on at full strength in Sakhir
Sakhir, 18 April
The Sakhir paddock is definitely one of the nicest on the championship trail. It’s size is ideal in that it’s not too small, which means the mechanics have to have the skills of tightrope walkers to balance on the forklift trucks as they move packing cases around, nor is it too vast like Shanghai, where you struggle to recognise anyone from one end to the next and where the catering crews have a tough time, getting food and drink from the kitchen to the garage during the long days spent at the track.
Sand is always a feature in this area. Although it is on an island, the large Arab desert is very close and when the wind blows from a certain direction, the air is full of miniscule grains of it and in fact, three years ago, on two occasions, it was impossible to drive on track during testing because the medical helicopter could not take off. Today, it’s only been as evening falls that the wind has dropped, but the track surface is definitely covered in sand and it’s hard to imagine it will be any different tomorrow, which means there is one more parameter to bear in mind when analysing Friday practice.
Work in the paddock proceeded along its usual lines, with the equipment arriving from China only being available to the teams yesterday. So today, all the Scuderia mechanics worked on re-prepping the cars, a job they had started last Sunday night after the race. The engineers have completed their analysis of the Shanghai weekend data and there was an audio-conference debrief linked to Maranello on Monday afternoon from a hotel in the Chinese city. That was then used to define the broad outline of this weekend’s programme. As already mentioned yesterday, there are no significant updates on the F2012: it means another Grand Prix fought on the defensive and in hope of a well executed counter attack.
Finally, a word about the situation that attracted so much attention last week in Shanghai, regarding the running of this race in Bahrain. On the airport-hotel-circuit routing, everything is exactly as it was in the past and no team members have encountered anything out of the ordinary. No specific instructions have been given to the team personnel, apart from the obvious one of using common sense, which is a minimum requirement for anyone who finds themselves in a foreign country where one does not possess an in-depth understanding of the situation.
The Sakhir paddock is definitely one of the nicest on the championship trail. It’s size is ideal in that it’s not too small, which means the mechanics have to have the skills of tightrope walkers to balance on the forklift trucks as they move packing cases around, nor is it too vast like Shanghai, where you struggle to recognise anyone from one end to the next and where the catering crews have a tough time, getting food and drink from the kitchen to the garage during the long days spent at the track.
Sand is always a feature in this area. Although it is on an island, the large Arab desert is very close and when the wind blows from a certain direction, the air is full of miniscule grains of it and in fact, three years ago, on two occasions, it was impossible to drive on track during testing because the medical helicopter could not take off. Today, it’s only been as evening falls that the wind has dropped, but the track surface is definitely covered in sand and it’s hard to imagine it will be any different tomorrow, which means there is one more parameter to bear in mind when analysing Friday practice.
Work in the paddock proceeded along its usual lines, with the equipment arriving from China only being available to the teams yesterday. So today, all the Scuderia mechanics worked on re-prepping the cars, a job they had started last Sunday night after the race. The engineers have completed their analysis of the Shanghai weekend data and there was an audio-conference debrief linked to Maranello on Monday afternoon from a hotel in the Chinese city. That was then used to define the broad outline of this weekend’s programme. As already mentioned yesterday, there are no significant updates on the F2012: it means another Grand Prix fought on the defensive and in hope of a well executed counter attack.
Finally, a word about the situation that attracted so much attention last week in Shanghai, regarding the running of this race in Bahrain. On the airport-hotel-circuit routing, everything is exactly as it was in the past and no team members have encountered anything out of the ordinary. No specific instructions have been given to the team personnel, apart from the obvious one of using common sense, which is a minimum requirement for anyone who finds themselves in a foreign country where one does not possess an in-depth understanding of the situation.
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