John reports on the recent Formula One race in Bahrain.
Ferrari had the best possible start to the season taking the first 2 places.
New Boy on the block.
Fernando Alsonso took first place after cheekily overtaking his team mate at the first corner and later taking advantage of a power loss in Vettel's Red Bull car to take the lead. Massa (Ferrari) and Louis Hamilton (McLaren) were also able to pass the ailing Red Bull to complete the podium.
More a procession than a race.
Sadly, the race could not exactly be described as exciting. The new regulations brought in in 2010 2010 did not improve racing, in fact rather the opposite. The cars had to carry full race fuel from the start as refueling had been banned. This meant the only stops were for new tyres. What this lead to was drivers having to conserve fuel and tyres, meaning even less overtaking than before and consequently a fairly boring race, which was more or less a procession.
Schumacher disillusioned.
The main comment about this was made by Michael Schumacher, who said that it was impossible to overtake and that while these regulations remained in force, that was how it would remain. Having said that, Rosberg (Mercedes) was able to overtake Hamilton early in the race but the former World Champion was only able to regain it during the pit stops. Some other overtaking took place but was due to driver errors, such as Hulkenberg spinning.
As they started, so they finished.
Or more or less. Apart from Vettel's drop from first to fourth, the drivers mainly finished in the positions in which they qualified.
Carnage amongst the newcomers.
As might be expected, the new teams suffered all types of problems and failures and many failed to finish. Hispania suffered first but that was to be expected as they had struggled to make the start, had had a change of ownership weeks before the race and had not done any testing prior to arriving in Bahrain. Chandok spent most of Saturday sitting in the pits, so did not even know the circuit when he started. Actually, he still doesn't - he crashed on the first lap!
Williams didn't shine.
Sadly, Williams, the team with Qatar connections did not shine, Barrichello taking the last available championship point in 10th position. Hulkenberg, who had such a fantastic start to the weekend, looked as if he would out-qualify Barrichello but failed to live up to the early promise and did even worse during the race, with a spin which left him at the back end of the field with a slightly damaged car.
Some overtaking down the field.
Some people are dismissive of the teams lower down the grid but in recent years this is where there is more interest and action and Bahrain 2010 was no exception. Lotus proved to have the best reliability, not only did both its cars finished the race, which was its only target for the weekend but showed a respectable pace, a major achievement considering how little time they had to put the car together and the lack of testing.
World's second longest circuit.
Following a new section of track with 8 more corners being installed after the 2009 race, Sakhir now has the World's second longest circuit at just under 6.3 kilometers and lap times are around the 2 minute mark. Although perhaps slightly overshadowed by the newer Abu Dhabi circuit, the facilities are still excellent. It is a pity then that the racing cannot be more exciting. Something Qatar needs to bear in mind while modifying Losail circuit!
Starting Grid Positions.
1.Vettel
2.Alonso
3.Massa
4.Hamilton.
5.Rosberg
6.Webber
7.Schumacher
8.Button
9.Kubica
10.Sutil
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11.Barrichello
12.Liuzi
13.Hulkenberg
14.De La Rosa
15.Buemi
16.Kobay
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17.Petrov
18.Algosuari
19.Glock
20.Trulli
21.Kovalainen
22.Grassi
23.Senna
24.Chandhok.
Final Placings.
1.Alonso - Ferrari
2.Massa - Ferrari
3.Hamilton - McLaren
4.Vettel - Red Bull
5.Rosberg -Mercedes
6.Schumacher -Mercedes
7.Button -McLaren
8.Webber -Red Bull
9.Liuzi -Force India
10.Barrichello-Williams
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11.Kubica -Renault
12.Sutil -Force India
13.Algosuari -Toro Rosso
14.Hulkenberg-Williams
15.Kovaleinon-Lotus
16.Buemi -Toro Rosso
17.Trulli -Lotus
18.De La Rosa-Sauber
19.Senna -Hispañola
20.Glock -Virgin
21.Petrov -Renault
22.Kobayashi -Sauber
23.Grassi -Virgin
24.Chandok -Hispañola
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