ALONSO WINS IN DREAM DEBUT FOR FERRARI!

Double world champion Fernando Alonso made his dream debut in the prancing horse with a win in the first race of the season in Bahrain. However, it was pole sitter Vettel, who was super unlucky after leading the majority of the race and suffering exhaust gremlins which cost him victory. It was a Ferrari 1-2 with Massa taking second ahead of McLaren’s Hamilton in 3rd.

Vettel drove an impressive race especially in his first stint. A clear get-away at the start and he seemed to be comfortably maintaining the gap between him and the chasing Ferraris'. After the tyre changes, Alonso seemed to be able to reel the young German in and it was certainly much closer. With 15 laps to go, the Red Bull started to slow quite dramatically and Alonso saw his opportunity to snatch the season opener. Massa followed in quick succession. It must have been heart-breaking for Vettlel to watch his points slipping away after such a dominant drive. After a faultless race from Vettel, it was only reliability issues that cost Red Bull the chance of picking up where they had finished their 2009 campaign. Vettel was clearly a gutted man after the frustrating race. "It's a pity but what can you do. All in all it's been positive all weekend apart from the failure. Everything was running smoothly, but I lost power with about 20 laps to go, we are not sure what it was yet, but it wasn't good. Luckily I could continue and finish fourth but we should have won really."

Alonso seized the opportunity and had been a continuous threat for the race win. With Vettel’s technical difficulties, it cost fans the chance to see whether there would have been a wheel to battle between the Spaniard and the German, as it did appear Alonso had been keeping something in reserve. However, both Ferrari’s were cautious with over-heating after both having to replace an engine Sunday morning and once Alonso was in the dirty air of Vettel, it became apparent that he could not follow him so closely. Would Alonso have taken the gamble and gone for the win or settled with the second place? He said, "I would have attacked, it wouldn't have been easy. it would have been very difficult and almost no chance, but I would have attacked."

He also spoke of his pride for winning his first race with such a legendary team. "It is a very special day for me. Coming back to the top of the podium is special but it is even more special with Ferrari, with all the history behind the team and the expectation the driver has. There is no better way to start the relationship. I'm at the best team in the world. First and second is the result that all the guys deserve."

It was an emotional return for Massa, his first race since the horrendous injury he sustained in Hungary. He was beaten into second place by Alonso at the start of the race, though he maintained good pressure on the eventual winner. Massa was relieved to be back racing, he said, "It's just fantastic to be here. Thanks to God that I am fine. I didn't have a good start and I lost position to Fernando but then after that it was great. It was not an easy race but a fantastic result for the team, we have pushed very hard for the last year. It is my best start to a season so I am delighted."

By the end of the race, Alonso showed magnificent pace and finished sixteen seconds ahead of Massa, an ominous warning to Massa and the rest of the F1 world.

The tifosi must already be welcoming Alonso into open arms and be expecting to hear the Italian anthem on many more occasions this season. It was a welcome sight to see ex-Ferrari F1 driver, Jean Alesi, as a guest of the boys from Maranello and congratulating the team. A previous driver with such raw emotion and really capturing the heart of the fans, perhaps Alonso is ready to step up to that mantle.

Current world champ Jenson Button didn’t set the world on fire in his debut in the McLaren. 7th place was the best he could manage and he must have been disappointed with his own performance compared to Hamilton making the rostrum. Jenson's thoughts, "Set-up wise the car was OK but there are a few things I need to look at to make it more my style but I am reasonably happy with that as a first race."

Everyone was watching to see what Michael Schumacher could do on his long-awaited return to F1 and he ended up in 6th position, one place behind his younger team-mate Rosberg. It wasn’t the most mind-blowing return and by his own exceptionally high standards, 6th place wouldn’t be good enough for a 7 time world champion. Afterwards he said, "It is as good as it could have been. Overtaking here is impossible and that is the action we are going to have with this environment of race strategy. It was good fun. We have to work forward to catch up with what is in front of us."

Rosberg made a great start in the Mercedes by overtaking Hamilton but was caught out by the new regulations in the pits. Rosberg’s team were not allowed to let him leave his pit area as Button was comong past him and this cost him a place to Hamilton. This could be a regular feature to watch in future races, due to the strict new rules in force, a race can be won or lost in the pits as Rosberg found out through no fault of his own.

There was controversy at the start when Webber’s Red Bull poured out tons of smoke causing an incident between Kubica’s Renault and Force India’s Sutil. This pushed them both to the rear of the field and cost them both a good chance of points. Kubica drove a storming race to finish 11th but must have been rueing the opportunity to have got some significant points on board through the mistake of Sutil.

Lotus won the battle of the new boys and what a weekend with the team with so much history. Kovalainen finished the race in 15th place and Trulli was classified in 17th place despite failing to cross the finishing line due to a hydraulic fault. Lotus showed glimpses of their potential with stunning lap times during the end of the race, perhaps Lotus will be grabbing some points and surprising a lot of people.
It was no fairytale ending for Chandhok with the Hispania Racing Team, after the most difficult weekend imaginable to make your debut into the crazy world of F1, Chandhok retired on lap 2 after a crash. Senna, too was unlucky and made it to lap 18, but what a remarkable effort to even make it into the race. Virgin Racing failed to bring home their two drivers, proving how incredibly tough it is to compete with the current contenders in F1 but once again should be applauded for their efforts after such little time and barely any adequate testing time.

So Alonso is the man to catch! He was pre-season favourite and with the new points system in place, Alonso has 25 points on the board and already a seven point gap to his Ferrari-team mate. Proving that this year it’s even more vital to go for the win to increase your championship chances. It may not have been the most scintillating F1 race, with limited over-taking and concerns over whether the new tyre regulations and pit stops have made this even more boring. It was certainly no dull race for Alonso’s start to his Ferrari career, he may have only had the taste of fizzy water on the top step of the podium but he will be welcoming the chance of champagne in Australia in two weeks time!

Race Results 14th March 2010
1. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari 49 laps 1hr 39m 20.396s
2. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 16.0s
3. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +00m 23.1s
4. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +00m 38.7s
5. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +00m 40.2s
6. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +00m 44.1s
7. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +00m 45.2s
8. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +00m 46.3s
9. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes +00m 53.0s
10. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth +01m 02.4s

Championship Scores after Race 1, Bahrain 2010.
1. Alonso 25 pts
2. Massa 18 pts
3. Hamilton 15 pts
4. Vettel 12 pts
5. Rosberg 10 pts
6. Schumacher 8 pts
7. Button 6 pts
8. Webber 4 pts
9. Liuzzi 2 pts
10. Barrichello 1 pt