Bahrain GP Results Positions
1. F.Alonso. 57 laps
2. J.Trulli. +13.4s
3. K.Raikkonen. +32.0s
4. R.Schumacher. +53.2s
5. P.De La Rosa. +64.9s
6. M.Webber. +74.7s
7. F.Massa. +1 Lap
8. D.Coulthard. +1 Lap
9. R.Barrichello. +1 Lap
10. T.Monteiro. +1 Lap
R. J.Villeneuve. +2 Laps
12. P.Friesacher. +3 Laps
13. C.Albers. +4 Laps
R. J.Button. +11 Laps
R. T.Sato. +30 Laps
R. N.Heidfeld. +32 Laps
R. M.Schumacher. +45 Laps
R. G.Fisichella. +53 Laps
R. N.Karthikeyan. +55 Laps
R. C.Klien. +57 Laps
Fastest Lap
P.De La Rosa - 1:31.447
Another fine race in a potentially very interesting season.
Alonso looked commanding again as he took the lead from pole into the first corner and never looked back. M.Schumacher was able to match Alonso's pace until he had a technical problem on lap 11 - the first time Schumacher has retired from a GP for technical reasons since 2001!
Trulli was able to hold onto Alonso pretty well before the first pit-stop, but afterwards he slowly faded back, unable to keep up with the Renault's pace. Fisichella surely would have been able to finish high up had he not retired early with engine problems.
The McLaren's showed they have the pace to compete strongly over the course of 2005. Had they not been held up for many portions of the race, then Alonso might have had Raikkonen or De La Rosa a lot closer behind him. As it was, they had to settle for 3rd and 5th - their best result so far in 2005. De La Rosa was the most entertaining driver of the day IMO. His attempts to overtake - sometimes ending in running wide into a corner! - came often, but with that lack of GP experience over the last few years evident.
Toyota recorded their best result ever in F1 to date! Trulli was fast and reliable again in second place, while R.Schumacher had an up and down race with several incidents - but he managed to pull through to finish 4th.
Williams were fairly strong - although a bit down on their strentgh in Malaysia. Had Heidfeld finished, they would have been looking at positions of 4th & 5th .. or 5th & 6th. As it was Webber had to settle for 6th place after running wide while in 3rd, which cost him 3rd to Raikkonen and 4th to R.Schumacher. In the closing stages he held back De La Rosa in a very racy McLaren for 7 or 8 laps .. but Webber couldn't hold it! On Lap 54 De La Rosa was past - in a car which was clearly faster and in better shape after a majority of the race.
Ferrari.. oh dear oh dear. You bring a hardly tested car to a race and what do you expect!? Having said that, I doubt the older car would have done much better.. but maybe it would have been enough to get Schumacher a few points. His mistake! It's likely they will have sorted out many problems by Imola, but will that be enough to get a good result!?
BAR were more reliable this time around, but still didn't have pace. Red Bull and Sauber didn't seem to have much pace either.
Reliability! We expected quite a few failures in Malaysia, but yet it didn't happen. Bahrain was another race where reliability problems were expected, which is something we did see. Fisichella and Heidfeld both lost their engine, while both BAR's struggled with front brake problems - which forced Sato out. Villeneuve was also suffering from brake problems late on, forcing him to retire with a few laps remaining. Webber also seemed to be developing a little brake problem in the final 10 laps, but thankfully he was able to hold out for 6th place. Both Ferrai's had technical/reliability problems - but as I've already said, that's what you get for forcing a new car in too early. The only two top teams that seemed very much reliable were Toyota and McLaren. A good sign for both. Renault were also in good condition apart from Fisichella's engine problems. So Renault, Toyota and McLaren all look to be strong contenders throughout 2005.
Prediction League
Points Gained -
Chris - 13
Gert-Jan - 9
Neil - 16
Total Points After Bahrain
1. Neil. 37.
2. Gert-Jan. 32.
3. Chris. 10.
4. Lizzy. 1.
5. Jeremy. 0.
A fine day for my predictions! I like my 5 point lead at this stage, but it's still so early in the season that anyone could win - even if we had someone join up now! Chris is finally off the mark after missing the first 2 races with internet problems, but Jeremy forgot again.. He can't access the forum from home, but he's more than able to e-mail predictions to me. Liz - I don't know where she is atm..
). 
Does anyone know where she is? 
She's simply got really bad sinus problems (even after the op..) and doesn't want to come online atm as sitting in front of the computer makes it worse. Hopefully she'll be better soon. 
