A fantastic start to the new season!
One thing we can immediately see from the Bahrain GP is that Renault, Ferrari, McLaren and Honda are
all close on pace. Alonso, M.Schumacher, Raikkonen and Button are clearly the better (and more fortunate) drivers from those 4 teams; and they are all likely to contest the drivers title this season.
Alonso and M.Schumacher were close all race long. Schumacher clearly had the early pace, but he could only open up a 6-7 second gap before the first round of pit-stops, in which Alonso stayed out 5 laps longer. Alonso was faster after both had pitted and quickly closed the gap to less than second. The race win was decided with Alonso's pit-stop, which was 1.4 seconds faster than M.Schumacher's, and enabled Alonso to just pip him into the first corner. For the rest of the race M.Schumacher hardly got a look in as Alonso's coolness and confidence kept him a second or two in front - a great start to the defense of his title.
Raikkonen finished 20 seconds behind the top 2, but in all fairness he had a car that was just as fast (and maybe faster..
). Raikkonen was 20 seconds back after the first lap, so in effect lost no time to either Alonso or M.Schumacher! He was also held-up by slower cars early on. How much faster could Raikkonen have been throughout the race with a lighter fuel load at more points!? We're sure to find out soon enough.
Button.. well, he had minor problems: slow start, traffic after every pit-stop, being held-up by Montoya several times .. but the pace was certainly there.
Is there a dark horse? Yes! Nico Rosberg. So, he finished in 7th, over a minute down on the leaders, but he had an extra pit-stop - erase that gap to 40 seconds. Rosberg also lost time on the first lap with a spin and in losing his front wing - 10 seconds? So, finishing half a minute behind Alonso would place Rosberg 5th - 7 seconds in front of Montoya. Rosberg has also shown us today that he is more than capable of overtaking other drivers, which he did several times at least. If the Williams car continues performing well, or improves, then Rosberg could find himself on the podium . and who knows!? Who got the fastest lap?
What about the rest? Massa spun early on (almost taking out Alonso in the process..) and had a horrible experience in the pits while changing his tyres a lap or two after that spin, which cost Massa about a minute overall. His pace later on wasn't too fantastic either. Fisichella simply bad bad luck, again.. Barrichello was poor and Montoya was solid, but not fantastic. I don't see the 'second' drivers from these teams challenging for the title. Webber? He may have beaten Rosberg, but if it wasn't for Rosberg's problems, that wouldn't have been the case.
Toyoya - poor poor poor.. lapping 2-3 seconds slower than the leaders.
Red Bull - solid, but Coulthard was being overtaken waaay too easily.
BMW Sauber - solid, with some disappointment over Villeneuve's blown engine.
Toro Rosso - solid and showed some speed (no pun
).
Midland - No better than Jordan..
Super Aguri - they'll get a little better.
Malaysia in a week!
Bahrain GP Results Finishers
1. F.Alonso. 57 Laps
2. M.Schumacher. +1.2s
3. K.Raikkonen. +19.3s
4. J.Button. +19.9s
5. J.P.Montoya. +37.0s
6. M.Webber. +41.9s
7. N.Rosberg. +63.0s
8. C.Klien. +66.7s
9. D.Coulthard. +69.9s
10. F.Massa. +75.5s
11. V.Liuzzi. +85.9s
12. N.Heidfeld. +1 Lap
13. S.Speed. +1 Lap
14. R.Schumacher. +1 Lap
15. R.Barrichello. +1 Lap
16. J.Trulli. +1 Lap
17. T.Monteiro. +2 Laps
18. T.Sato. +4 Laps
Retired
- Y.Ide. +22 Laps
- J.Villeneuve. +28 Laps
- G.Fisichella. +36 Laps
- C.Albers. +59 Laps
Fastest Lap
N.Rosberg - 1:32.406
Prediction League
Points Gained -
Neil - 20
Gert-Jan - 14
Lizzy - 9
Total Points After Bahrain
1. Neil. 23.
2. Gert-Jan. 14.
3. Lizzy. 9.
