Bah-Rain

Entering Bahrain, this time with a consistent driver lineup, the Manor Mercedes team hoped to make it three in a row. Alas, that was not meant to be.

Unlike their 1-2 qualifying efforts in Australia and Malaysia, Carmen Jordá and Daniel Ricciardo qualified 3rd and 4th, respectively. At the start of the race, Ricciardo passed Jordá for 3rd and the two remained in those positions for the remainder of the race, finishing behind the Mercedes of Nico Hülkenberg and Giedo van der Garde.

Team Principal Macus16 remained calm about the result, stating, “You can’t win em all [MFIA President] Ubuntuz, you can’t win em all.”

With Mercedes gaining steam on the Manors, Mercedes Principal Tomtom615 announced his team, which supplies engines for Manor, intends to end the partnership between the two teams.

The full race results can be viewed here.

Turkish Redemption

Ricciardo and Jordá bounced back from Bahrain to record Manor’s 1-2 start of the season in Turkey.

On lap 6, Ricciardo surrendered the lead to Jordá to pit, dropping him to 7th. From there, he charged through the field, reclaiming the lead on lap 20. Ten laps later, he lost part of his front wing on a kerb, relinquishing first back to Jordá. He fell back once again to Hülkenberg on lap 43, but a final stop gave him strong-enough tires to mount a charge on the German. After Jordá pitted to give Hülkenberg the lead, Ricciardo took 1st on lap 56 and held on to win his 2nd race of the season, with Hülkenberg in a Manor sandwich as Jordá finished 3rd.

The full race results can be viewed here.

Next week, the Model F1 World Championship will travel to Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix.