Bahrain Grand Prix. Round 3 - 06/04/08

[MikeLane]

Bahrain Grand Prix

BMW leads the Constructors Championship, but Felipe Massa reasserts himself to take the race win.

Sakhir, Bahrain – Apr 6th, 2008 – Round 3.

By
Mike Lane
F1 Correspondent..
…………………………………………………………………..

After the unsavoury revelations in the press concerning the FIA President, Max Moseley, this week, Formula One needed to refocus on the racing.

With Lewis Hamilton’s crash in practice, Kimi Raikkonen’s lack-lustre qualifying and Robert Kubica’s pole position, the first for BMW, the race promised much.


The grid order was:-

1. Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber)…………… 2. Felipe Massa (Ferrari).
3. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)………………. 4. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari).
5. Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren)…………… 6. Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber).
7. Jarno Trulli (Toyota)…………………….. 8. Nico Rosberg (Williams).
9. Jenson Button (Honda)………………….. 10. Fernando Alonso (Renault).
11. Mark Webber (Red Bull)………………... 12. Rubens Barrichello (Honda).
13. Timo Glock (Toyota)………………….….. 14. Nelsinho Piquet (Renault).
15. Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso)……..16. Kazuki Nakajima (Williams).
17. David Coultard (Red Bull)……………….. 18. Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India).
19. Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso)………… 20. Adrian Sutil (Force India).
21. Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri)……… 22. Takuma Sato (Super Aguri).


As the start lights went out, all eyes were on Kubica in the BMW Sauber. Could he keep his cool and get away cleanly or would the fast starting Ferraris steal it off the line? In fact it was Hamilton who got a poor start, with his team-mate, Kovalainen, having to take avoiding action to miss him.

Hamilton was swallowed up in a mass of cars and dropped to 10th place as Massa took the lead from Kubica into turn one.

Vettel in the Toro Rosso was immediately in trouble with what appeared to be mechanical failure and by the next lap, it was apparent that there was a good deal of oil on the track in turns two, three and four. Vettell’s race was over as he retired whilst other drivers fought to keep their cars on the circuit in the slippery conditions.

Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber managed to pass Trulli in the Toyota having lost a place to the Frenchman at the start. However, Hamilton was not to be so fortunate as he closed on Alonso, the Spaniard appeared not to accelerate at normal rate and Hamilton climbed up the back of the Renault thereby damaging his car. He lost the front wing and was having a difficult time trying to stay on track as he made his way back to the pits.

This was a potentially controversial incident, as the closing speed of the two cars whilst under acceleration, seemed to be far too great for two F1 cars accelerating.

Speculation mounted whether this was a follow-on from last year’s acrimony between the former team-mates at McLaren. Did Alonso lift off or brake momentarily or was there a problem with the Renault?

The Stewards would be able to tell from the car’s telemetry and may want to look at that.

Hamilton made the pits and had a new front end fitted but by the time he rejoined the race he was now in 18th place and his race was effectively over unless a lot of people were to drop out. He might have been able to rescue a point or two but a podium was very unlikely.

Coultard in the Red Bull was also in trouble and had to pit to replace a shredded tyre.

Meanwhile up at the front, Raikkonen got past Kubica to take the second place behind his team-mate, Massa, who was back in the dominant form he had shown in qualifying.

The Ferraris maintained their dominance as the race progressed with only the BMWs able to maintain a similar pace. Although Kovalainen was in 5th place in the McLaren, the pace was clearly not there at this stage of the race.

The race settled down into a predictable format broken by the routine pit stops. Kubica’s BMW Sauber was first to pit from the front three, some three laps before Raikkonen. Massa followed one lap later confirming his excellent qualifying pace compared to Kubica and Raikkonen.

The next lap (19) Button and Coultard had a coming together at the entry to turn 8.
Button was clearly in a faster car and as he challenged down the inside in to the right hand bend, Coultard pulled across his path to close the door but it was too late and Button damaged his front wing. Coultard was able to continue but Button returned to the pits and retired from the race. It was a pity after Honda’s strong qualifying in the top ten.

There were a number of good battles in the mid-field including Rosberg chasing Trulli and Barrichello harrying Alonso.

As we finished the last round of pit stops, the race generally settled into it’s final order except for Kubica closing to Raikkonen and Kovalainen finding some real pace, but far too late. Indeed Kovalainen set the fastest lap of the race but was still to finish over 20 seconds behind the race winner.

With seven laps to go Raikkonen lapped Hamilton to cement the humiliation, in a way and it was little consolation when Hamilton took 13th place away from Nakajima in the closing stages.


The final race order was:-

1st Massa in 1hr31:06.970 at an average speed of 202.974 km/h (124.93mph).
2nd Raikkonen +3.3s
3rd Kubica +4.9s
4th Heidfeld +8.4s
5th Kovalainen +26.7s
6th Trulli +41.3s
7th Webber +45.4s
8th Rosberg +55.8s
9th Glock +69.5s
10th Alonso +77.1s
11th Barrichello +77.8s
12th Fisichella +1 lap
13th Hamilton +1 lap
14th Nakajima +1 lap
15th Bourdais +1 lap
16th Davidson +1 laps
17th Sato +1 lap
18th Coultard +1 laps
19th Sutil +2 laps
20th Piquet +17 laps
21st Button +38 laps
22nd Vettel +57 laps.


After two rounds the Driver’s championship looks like this:-

Raikkonen 19 points
Heidfeld 16
Hamilton 14
Kubica 14
Kovalainen 14
Massa 10
Trulli 8
Rosberg 7
Alonso 6
Webber 4
Nakajima 3
Bourdais 2
Coultard 0
Glock 0
Button 0
Barrichella 0
Piquet 0
Fisichella 0
Davidson 0
Sato 0
Sutil 0

The Constructor’s championship looks like this:-

BMW Sauber 30 points
Ferrari 29
McLaren 28
Williams 10
Toyota 8
Renault 6
Red Bull 4
Toro Rosso 2
Honda 0
Force India 0
Super Aguri 0


Heikki Kovalainen had the fastest lap of the race at 1:33.193 min.


Ferrari dominated this race and Massa got that all important win after all the criticism he has received this season.

BMW Sauber now leads the constructor’s championship and put in a fine performance here with both drivers finishing in touch with Ferrari.

McLaren was nowhere and will go back to their factory hoping to regain the momentum when the European campaign starts in three weeks time.

Toyota again showed strong race pace from Trulli and Webber came good for Red Bull with his 7th place.

Honda again showed they are making progress and but for the unfortunate collision, Button demonstrated his talent and potential.

Finally, Force India had a strong showing with Fisichella once again taking 12th place and Sutil finishing his race, albeit in 19th place.


The teams will no doubt be relieved to return to their factories in Europe after the long session away and regroup.

Next race in three weeks time takes us to Spain on the 25th-27th April.

Mike Lane, F1 Correspondent – Home Base - England