Thoughts on the Bahrain Grand Prix

[Tim]

So what are your thoughts on the Bahrain Grand Prix ?

Once again Alonso led from start to finish driving a faultless race. His teammate Fisichella though suffered an engine failure which would be a bit of a worry to Alonso as he has another race to go on this engine.

Jarno Trulli finishing second and his team-mate Ralf Schumacher finishing 4th was another impressive result from Toyota. It certainly looks that they are for real!

Kimi Raikkonen finished on the podium for the first time this season. de la Rosa replacing the injured Montoya did well too. I doubt many expected him to out-qualify Raikkonen. In the race we certainly enjoyed his battles with Barrichello and Webber.
McLaren need to improve their qualifying though

Mark Webber managed to salvage 3 points after struggling in the race. Team-mate Nick Heidfeld retired with an engine problem that was expected to survive Malaysia and Bahrain!

Felipe Massa and the Sauber team must have been delighted to be able to pass a Ferrari on the track. Meanwhile Villeneuve continues to struggle.

Coulthard somehow managed to score a point after passing Barrichello on the final lap. Team-mate Klien was unlucky failing to start after having a very strong qualifying session.

Barrichello started strongly but mid race started to fade and was passed by many. The Bridgestones didn't work in Bahrain.
Michael retired with a hydraulic failure. The F2004M was bullet proof. The new F2005 is clearly not. Clearly Ferrari took a big risk

BAR are still scoreless after 3 races. Button finished on the podium last year!

Thoughts ?

You can also vote on the driver of the day. Only the top 8 are showing If you want a driver that isn't listed, send me a PM or email

[K-D]

Anyone voting Pedro driver of the day did not see the race. The driver of the day can not miss breaking points, and skiddadle all over the breaking area. Had this been any other track in the world, he would have been knee-deep in gravel.

I think that Pedro drove a great race, I think that Montoya should pay VERY close attention to what it takes scoring points in the McLaren. But driver of the day is Fernando Alonson, who is currently in the zone way beyond any other driver.


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K-D

[K-D]

And just to confuse every one.

Were the poll for "Drive of the day" instead of "Driver of the day" - Then I would vote Pedro..


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K-D

[Graham Ross]

Was tempted to log in after the race but thanks to channel 10 we had to wait for some show to end first
Why do we put up with this ? Lets move to Denmark and live in a castle

It was a great race. We saw a glimpse of a fast Ferrari which is good (we don't want another team to fully dominate) but only for a few laps. What really annoys me is that we didn't get to know for sure the fuel load. Like Alonso and Trulli said though, I suspect they were light!

Too many things to talk about but two drivers really didn't put a foot wrong and they are Alonso and Trulli. All the others had an excursion here or there but not those two. Michael tried putting as much pressure on Alonso all weekend but Alonso kept telling him give me more Sadly the F2005 couldn't handle being pushed that hard for that long
I used to joke about Trulli but I'v got to respect him after Malaysia and Bahrain.
Pedro de la Rosa, wow I think we saw more from him in this race than we ever saw. He never gave up and it was great watching the 2 ex Jaguar drivers fight.

Good to see McLaren doing well in the race but yes they need to qualify well

The heat took its toll on everyone, BAR, Heidfeld, Klien, even Fisichella's engine problem maybe. But as predicted the Bridgestones MELTED

Wasn't it nice to see Alonso and Trulli congratulate each other at the end. Good to see a nice winner

[Graham Ross]

[JayVee]

First of all shame on you channel 10. Letting us wait that long to watch the race is ridiculous.

But after the wait, the race was just great. Can't remember getting so excited since Jerez '97

Good to see the Ferrari quick (but it maybe a fluke )
Michael did put pressure on Alonso but ended up putting too much pressure on his car. Alonso was impressive not putting a foot (tyre) wrong. More impressive after reading what Pat Symonds said "His performance is even more remarkable when you consider he did not even use all the revs available on the engine in the opening laps"

Out-thinking Michael, that's something

Trulli was good too and Toyota have arrived (K-D no ?)

Many drivers made mistakes but that isn't an excuse for going off. I suppose the drivers take extra risks knowing if they go off they can recover. I think it is a great idea to have such huge runoff areas.

There was plenty of racing which was great and the new tyre rules did make an exciting finish to the race. Not just the hopeless Bridgestones but all those Michelin runners who stuffed their tyres.

San Marino will be interesting but it is too far
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I'm back and yes supporting Alonso "The Cute" in the Ferrari!

[K-D]

[JayVee]

What about Ferrari/Bridgestone K-D, not rubbing it in, just wondering what you thought and how long you think it will take them to be reliable and have tyres that last the distance competitively
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I'm back and yes supporting Alonso "The Cute" in the Ferrari!

[K-D]

Bahrain over and done with, three races into the season and Renault have yet to lose a race. Fernando Alonso is shaping up to be worth all the hype and attention.

Sunday we saw yet another masterful performance, having what it took throughout the weekend. Took pole, and could have set fastest lap, had the pits not told him to take it easy. He is already now enjoying an advantage in the points, which it will be extremely difficult for any driver to claw back.

Qualifying under the aggregate system appeal to me, I like that the drivers are being forced to show their ability in both full qualifying mode, as well as the race-setup.

Alonso, Michael Schumacher and Trulli gave us a tremendous qualifying, and their respective laps Sunday morning showed us all how good they can be.

Ferrari is obviously caught on their back foot. The F2005 was not ready, Rubens had problems all weekend, and Michael lost his hydraulics after 13 laps. It has speed though, and I am sure they will use the next 3 weeks to improve reliability.

The McLarens are somewhat of an enigma, they obviously have speed, but for some reason they are not able to show that in qualifying. Kimi cooked his qualifying, but made up for that in a fine race to the podium. Somewhat helped by attrition, but in order to finish first, first you have to finish.

Toyota is for real. They have speed and now two podiums in a row. Trulli is as he has always been very very good at qualifying, and that have given him the initial upper hand over Ralf Schumacher. However I do not see him dominating Ralf as some want to make it out. Ralf made it back from a poor Saturday qualifying, all the way to 6th on the grid. And he finished a fine fourth.

BAR is a mess, and they will have an extremely poor 2005.

Villeneuve is done. He is unable to adapt to the type of driving that is needed under the regulations in F1 2005 ? And will not score a single point in 2005, unless through attrition. He is unable to earn a points scoring finish.


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K-D

[K-D]

[JayVee]

Reasonable points.

I too like how the qualifying system shows the driver skill but I would prefer the flexibility in the first qualifying (no parc ferme).
This format also means that finishing a race is very important for the next race. I don't like the timing of it. Should be Friday/Saturday or 2 sessions on Saturday

I don't think Villeneuve is happy about his situation and I won't be surprised if he leaves soon. While we only hear rumours, some of them may turn out to be true

I don't think a team can get reliable in 3 weeks without a compromise. Neither can a tyre manufacturer. They will improve no doubt but not dramatically. These are organisations that are running at 99% all the time, I can't see how they can improve faster, in fact when under pressure you tend to stuff up. It is all propoganda nothing more
Remember what Bridgestone said before Bahrain ?

I was hoping to know how light Michael was but we won't know, guessing from the team statements it seems he was.

[K-D]

[K-D]

[JayVee]

[F1greyhound]

I would also say FERRARI should be able to get reliability to their usual standard within reasonable time(3 weeks is reasonable by their ressources....)

The Bridgestones have been desperate in Malaysia but showed pace in Bahrain. Rubens biggest problem were not the tyres but the gearbox.

I doubt Michael was particularly light, according to Ross Brawns statement they had the right strategy, which doesnt mean 3 stops because then they would have been struggling.

Talking reliability its interesting to see GianCarlo struggle at RENAULT as it would have been expected that Fernando is actually harder on the car?!

Altogether it seems the teams are extremely evenly matched and that makes Qualifying absolutely essential. A season for Michael, Fernando and Jarno - I expect this trio to have the best qualifying index for this season. Biggest struggle might be expected from the MCLAREN drivers, it looks as if the current system doesnt help them at all.

Anyway I agree with K-D, pole, lap and win for Michael in Imola, with Rubens coming second. If Fernando doesnt finish, Ralf might come 3rd...
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