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
Showing posts with label Bahrain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bahrain. Show all posts
Sunday, 14 March 2010
Saturday, 13 March 2010
SUPER SEBASTIAN RACES TO POLE IN BAHRAIN
It was a German driver on pole for the opener to this F1 season but it was 22 year old Vettel stealing all the headlines. After consistently being near the top of the timesheets in all three qualifying sessions, he produced a memorable lap to secure the first pole position of 2010. Behind him were the fast charging Ferrari’s but the surprise was that it was Massa who got the edge on Alonso.
In a season where there is a massive focus on the performance between team-mates, Massa took first blood over the Spaniard which must have been of some annoyance to Alonso. The double world champion had been faster than Massa in each session and looked favourite to win the battle to take the first position on the grid. However, Vettel’s Red Bull chose to spoil his plans and his lap time of 1:54.101 perhaps came as a small surprise to some people. Has the performance of Vettel and Red Bull been over looked in favour of all the hype concerning Ferrari, McLaren and Michael Schumacher?
Vettel spoke of his delight after claiming top spot in the all important first qualifying session of the year. “It is a big surprise, it was clear that there are four teams close to each other. Yesterday was tough and it was another long night, especially for the mechanics, but everybody was keen this morning. I knew we had a great car but you have to get it together. I am very happy to be on pole thanks to the team, it's a nice feeling to be on top."
The other Red Bull of Aussie Mark Webber could only manage 6th and will be wanting a much better race performance if he doesn’t want to let his team-mate take the early upper-hand in the team for 2010.
As part of the new regulations for this year, refuelling has gone, so the results of this qualifying session were a genuine reflection of speed. No more low fuelling to earn yourselves higher places on the grid, now what you see is what to expect in race conditions tomorrow.
How did the current world champion fare? Button struggled with the McLaren and was edged out by Hamilton who managed a respectable 4th on the grid. Button found himself lucky to squeeze into Q3 and finished 4 tenths behind his team mate with 8th place for the start of tomorrow’s race. Button said, "It was getting better every run but I did struggle with front locking this afternoon. Something felt wrong through qualifying so we are going to have a look at that."
Hamilton had his problems too, after a cooling duct issue in the morning practice, which limited his running time, he still managed to hold it together for a second row start. This was an important factor as previous winners of this race have only ever started in the top 4 positions.
The hype was all about how would 7 time world champion Schumacher perform on his return to F1 after a three year break from the sport. As a very proud man, 7th place on the grid was surely not the result he would have been hoping for, especially considering his compatriot and team-mate was 2 places higher up the grid than him. Schumi was not looking very comfortable with his car, tentative by his previous standards. Rosberg was 0.5 seconds quicker than Schumi and on that he said, “That is a bit too much for my standards. I've got to raise my game a bit and I'm sure I'm able to. "I certainly feel a little bit rusty, certainly on the one-lap issue I can do better.”
However, the old Schumi we all loved to hate was out in force after qualifying was over. In parc ferme he was checking out his competition and having a sneaky look at the McLaren car. Not much has changed there then!
Polish star Kubica was one of the stars of qualifying, managing to make it into the top 10 shoot out with his yellow and black Renault. Force India’s Adrian Sutil rounded out the top ten and showed that the performances in the tail end of 2009 are likely to be repeated again this year, with chances to fight for good points. No more running at the back of the grid for the Dr Vijay Mallya’s team.
Brazilian Rubens Barrichello may be the man to watch tomorrow as he starts 11th on the grid but is the first runner not to be starting with the soft tyres. He will have an advantage that he will have the fresh tyres for the first stint so could be a sneaky tIp for a good points score. When asked if what he thought about his ex-team-mate Schumi being ahead of him on the grid, Barrichello laughed and said “I have new tyres” with a smile, so he clearly feels he can cause some trouble amongst the front runners.
It was not all about the fight at the front of course. Three new teams took part in this qualifying in the super hot conditions of Bahrain. Who won the battle of best newcomers? Virgin Racing took that award with Timo Glock in 19th and Lucas di Grassi in 22nd. This was a particularly rewarding result after the problems they were suffering with a tyre flying off in an earlier practice. It was lovely to hear the famous “Senna” name back in with F1 too with Aytron Senna’s nephew taking his place with the Hispania Racing Team qualifying 23rd.
One of the most astonishing stories of the day must belong to India’s Karun Chandhok. He entered qualifying without even turning a single lap of the Bahrain track. Due to technical difficulties, he was forced to be incredibly patient and hope he would get a chance to appear on track. The FIA agreed that as long as he could make it at least into the pitlane during qualifying, he could take part in the race tomorrow. He did that and completed seven laps of the circuit and finished 1.7 seconds off his team-mate. It was certainly not the easiest debut on track for the seemingly calm 26 year old. Afterwards he said, “"I didn't want to get in anyone's way and got a lot of pickup on the tyres trying to keep out of the way. We're not here to upset anyone; we're just here to be respectable and do the best job that we can."
Results of Qualifying for the Bahrain Race, Round 1.
1. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 54.101s
2. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 54.242s
3. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 54.608s
4. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 55.217s
5. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 55.241s
6. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 55.284s
7. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 55.524s
8. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 55.672s
9. Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault 1m 55.885s
10. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1m 56.309s
11. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth 1m 55.330s
12. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes 1m 55.653s
13. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Williams-Cosworth 1m 55.857s
14. Pedro de la Rosa Spain BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1m 56.237s
15. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 56.265s
16. Kamui Kobayashi Japan BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1m 56.270s
17. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault-Renault 1m 56.619s
18. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 57.071s
19. Timo Glock Germany Virgin-Cosworth 1m 59.728s
20. Jarno Trulli Italy Lotus-Cosworth 1m 59.852s
21. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Lotus-Cosworth 2m 00.313s
22. Lucas di Grassi Brazil Virgin-Cosworth 2m 00.587s
23. Bruno Senna Brazil HRT-Cosworth 2m 03.240s
24. Karun Chandhok India HRT-Cosworth 2m 04.904s
How did the team-mates fare?
Hamilton 1-0 Button, Massa 1-0 Alonso, Vettel 1-0 Webber, Rosberg 1-0 Schumacher, Kubica 1-0 Petrov, Barrichello 1 -0 Hulkenberg, Sutil 1 –0 Liuzzi, De La Rosa 1-0 Kobayashi, Buemi 1-0 Alguersuari, Glock 1-0 Di Grassi, Trulli 1-0 Kovalainen, Senna 1 – 0 Chandhok.
In a season where there is a massive focus on the performance between team-mates, Massa took first blood over the Spaniard which must have been of some annoyance to Alonso. The double world champion had been faster than Massa in each session and looked favourite to win the battle to take the first position on the grid. However, Vettel’s Red Bull chose to spoil his plans and his lap time of 1:54.101 perhaps came as a small surprise to some people. Has the performance of Vettel and Red Bull been over looked in favour of all the hype concerning Ferrari, McLaren and Michael Schumacher?
Vettel spoke of his delight after claiming top spot in the all important first qualifying session of the year. “It is a big surprise, it was clear that there are four teams close to each other. Yesterday was tough and it was another long night, especially for the mechanics, but everybody was keen this morning. I knew we had a great car but you have to get it together. I am very happy to be on pole thanks to the team, it's a nice feeling to be on top."
The other Red Bull of Aussie Mark Webber could only manage 6th and will be wanting a much better race performance if he doesn’t want to let his team-mate take the early upper-hand in the team for 2010.
As part of the new regulations for this year, refuelling has gone, so the results of this qualifying session were a genuine reflection of speed. No more low fuelling to earn yourselves higher places on the grid, now what you see is what to expect in race conditions tomorrow.
How did the current world champion fare? Button struggled with the McLaren and was edged out by Hamilton who managed a respectable 4th on the grid. Button found himself lucky to squeeze into Q3 and finished 4 tenths behind his team mate with 8th place for the start of tomorrow’s race. Button said, "It was getting better every run but I did struggle with front locking this afternoon. Something felt wrong through qualifying so we are going to have a look at that."
Hamilton had his problems too, after a cooling duct issue in the morning practice, which limited his running time, he still managed to hold it together for a second row start. This was an important factor as previous winners of this race have only ever started in the top 4 positions.
The hype was all about how would 7 time world champion Schumacher perform on his return to F1 after a three year break from the sport. As a very proud man, 7th place on the grid was surely not the result he would have been hoping for, especially considering his compatriot and team-mate was 2 places higher up the grid than him. Schumi was not looking very comfortable with his car, tentative by his previous standards. Rosberg was 0.5 seconds quicker than Schumi and on that he said, “That is a bit too much for my standards. I've got to raise my game a bit and I'm sure I'm able to. "I certainly feel a little bit rusty, certainly on the one-lap issue I can do better.”
However, the old Schumi we all loved to hate was out in force after qualifying was over. In parc ferme he was checking out his competition and having a sneaky look at the McLaren car. Not much has changed there then!
Polish star Kubica was one of the stars of qualifying, managing to make it into the top 10 shoot out with his yellow and black Renault. Force India’s Adrian Sutil rounded out the top ten and showed that the performances in the tail end of 2009 are likely to be repeated again this year, with chances to fight for good points. No more running at the back of the grid for the Dr Vijay Mallya’s team.
Brazilian Rubens Barrichello may be the man to watch tomorrow as he starts 11th on the grid but is the first runner not to be starting with the soft tyres. He will have an advantage that he will have the fresh tyres for the first stint so could be a sneaky tIp for a good points score. When asked if what he thought about his ex-team-mate Schumi being ahead of him on the grid, Barrichello laughed and said “I have new tyres” with a smile, so he clearly feels he can cause some trouble amongst the front runners.
It was not all about the fight at the front of course. Three new teams took part in this qualifying in the super hot conditions of Bahrain. Who won the battle of best newcomers? Virgin Racing took that award with Timo Glock in 19th and Lucas di Grassi in 22nd. This was a particularly rewarding result after the problems they were suffering with a tyre flying off in an earlier practice. It was lovely to hear the famous “Senna” name back in with F1 too with Aytron Senna’s nephew taking his place with the Hispania Racing Team qualifying 23rd.
One of the most astonishing stories of the day must belong to India’s Karun Chandhok. He entered qualifying without even turning a single lap of the Bahrain track. Due to technical difficulties, he was forced to be incredibly patient and hope he would get a chance to appear on track. The FIA agreed that as long as he could make it at least into the pitlane during qualifying, he could take part in the race tomorrow. He did that and completed seven laps of the circuit and finished 1.7 seconds off his team-mate. It was certainly not the easiest debut on track for the seemingly calm 26 year old. Afterwards he said, “"I didn't want to get in anyone's way and got a lot of pickup on the tyres trying to keep out of the way. We're not here to upset anyone; we're just here to be respectable and do the best job that we can."
Results of Qualifying for the Bahrain Race, Round 1.
1. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 54.101s
2. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 54.242s
3. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 54.608s
4. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 55.217s
5. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 55.241s
6. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 55.284s
7. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 55.524s
8. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 55.672s
9. Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault 1m 55.885s
10. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1m 56.309s
11. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth 1m 55.330s
12. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes 1m 55.653s
13. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Williams-Cosworth 1m 55.857s
14. Pedro de la Rosa Spain BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1m 56.237s
15. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 56.265s
16. Kamui Kobayashi Japan BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1m 56.270s
17. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault-Renault 1m 56.619s
18. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 57.071s
19. Timo Glock Germany Virgin-Cosworth 1m 59.728s
20. Jarno Trulli Italy Lotus-Cosworth 1m 59.852s
21. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Lotus-Cosworth 2m 00.313s
22. Lucas di Grassi Brazil Virgin-Cosworth 2m 00.587s
23. Bruno Senna Brazil HRT-Cosworth 2m 03.240s
24. Karun Chandhok India HRT-Cosworth 2m 04.904s
How did the team-mates fare?
Hamilton 1-0 Button, Massa 1-0 Alonso, Vettel 1-0 Webber, Rosberg 1-0 Schumacher, Kubica 1-0 Petrov, Barrichello 1 -0 Hulkenberg, Sutil 1 –0 Liuzzi, De La Rosa 1-0 Kobayashi, Buemi 1-0 Alguersuari, Glock 1-0 Di Grassi, Trulli 1-0 Kovalainen, Senna 1 – 0 Chandhok.
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