The 2006 Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix

Ed · Post by Ed » Sat Mar 11, 2006 1:28 am

Selected Quotes:

Anthony Davidson - Fastest

It's great to be fastest on the opening day of the season but I wanted more from today, not just for me but for the team. It was disappointing to lose the first session to a gearbox problem but we made the best out of the situation this afternoon and completed most of the tyre programme. Our focus was on the long runs and we achieved a good result, so coupled with the information we got in testing here a few weeks ago, we have a lot of information to work with this evening. The conditions here are very different though; it's been quite windy today and there's a chance that may continue. However we achieved a reasonably good balance by the end of the session so generally we've made a good start

Michael Schumacher - 2nd fastest

It?s been a fairly positive day for us. We?ve completed the programme that we had planned for ourselves and we worked well, so I?m obviously satisfied with the way things went. I think that, compared to the other teams, we are looking competitive but in order to see
whether we really are quick enough to aim for the top, we need to wait till everybody is running on low fuel and with new tyres. I still reckon that there are four teams capable of winning even if today perhaps some of them didn?t want to reveal all their potential: what is clear however is that Renault seem to be very quick straight out of the box which gives them an edge

Alex Wurz - 3rd fastest

It's the first Friday of a new season with a new team, so today was quite a busy day for me. We are very happy with the work we achieved because it was what we were aiming to, in terms of tyre choice, mechanical set-up and electronic set-up. I think we have done quite a good job and the lap times reflect this. I was quite happy with my long runs. We will have to wait until tomorrow to see how competitive we are.

Felipe Massa - 4th fastest

Towards the end of the second practice session I managed to find a good set-up for the car. In the first session and during the first part of the second one we were not really able to extract all the potential out of the car. I think that I could have set an even better time but on the whole I?m satisfied with what we?ve achieved so far because I feel that we now have a good foundation on which we can build in preparation for tomorrow?s qualifying and the race on Sunday.

Fernando Alonso - 5th fastest

We had a good first day. The track conditions will be changing a lot throughout the weekend, and I expect them to get a lot better because it was quite low grip today. The car feels like it did in winter testing: it is comfortable to drive and consistent, so I am quite happy with our situation. It was nice to get back to the emotion of the races today, to check the lap-times and to be back in competition. Also, it was a special moment to go out on the track this morning with the number 1 on the car. In terms of performance, we always see the third cars high on the timesheets on Friday, because they can use more revs and tyres than us. Even so, we are P5, so I think we can have a competitive weekend

Vitantonio Liuzzi - 6th fastest

I'd say my good time was down to the fact we did four days testing here last month and also I managed to do 33 laps today. It was a straightforward day and the car responded well to the changes we made. It's the first time we run with the new car here. In the morning, it was just a case of getting to grips with the track. Then in the afternoon, we began making progress in terms of set-up and tyre work. I am not sure what our qualifying pace will be tomorrow afternoon, but overtaking is tough here, so we need to aim high. I am confident we can do well even though I am not particularly fond of the technical nature of this track.
But we've got off to a good start, so fingers crossed

Robert Kubica - Fastest in 1st session

I think we had a good day, and I managed to do a lot of tyre testing. I picked up a puncture at one stage, which interrupted progress, but we still collected a lot of useful information. My impression is that the circuit is easier to drive with the V8 engine, because the two quickest corners are flat out now

Kimi Raikkonen - Electrical problem - 12th

We didn't do too much in the first session, and then this afternoon we were carrying out Michelin tyre comparisons. Unfortunately I stopped on track due to a suspected electrical problem towards the end of the last session, which meant that we did not manage to complete our rogramme, so we will have to wait and see where we are tomorrow

Jarno Trulli - Electronics problem - 24th

It was a pity that I was not able to complete my afternoon's work today. The Sakhir circuit was initially very dusty and dirty so like many teams we did most of our running in the second session. I was in the start of a long run for tyre comparison when I suffered an electronics problem which brought my session to a premature close. Not the best of days, then, but at least we have some data to work with overnight in preparation for tomorrow. It will be a brand new system of qualifying but the approach will be the same, to put together a quick lap when it matters

Snowy · Post by **Snowy** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 1:29 am

Thanks Ed

I've said it before, I'll say it again u d man

Photos

gimme gimme

Ed · Post by Ed » Sat Mar 11, 2006 1:33 am

Snowy wrote:Thanks Ed I've said it before, I'll say it again u d man

Photos gimme gimme

I'll try to upload a few in a few hours but worst case scenario tomorrow morning. OK

Snowy · Post by **Snowy** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 1:36 am

Thanks Ed

Ed · Post by Ed » Sat Mar 11, 2006 5:12 pm

Looks like the weather could play a major role for Qualifying today. It is very windy and dusty/sandy. This will make the track conditions very difficult for the teams and drivers and that could make things interesting.
Lets hope it doesn't develop into a big sandstorm though!

High still expected around 22 degrees. Weather for the race is expected to be sunny and 23 degrees!

Ed · Post by Ed » Sat Mar 11, 2006 5:24 pm

Ed wrote: I'll try to upload a few in a few hours but worst case scenario tomorrow morning. OK

We are having a few problems uploading images to the server. We will attempt again later in the day.

sgd · Post by **sgd** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 9:17 pm

What happened to Kimi?????

sgd · Post by **sgd** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 10:19 pm

ferrari 1-2 ...

where is honda and renault???
JV??

the race will be bloody....
the new Q - absolutely success!!!!!!!!!!

ffhard · Post by **ffhard** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 11:33 pm

Who would have thought Massa would be so close to Schumacher? Well, I wouldn't have for a start!

And a McLaren mechanical failure? Surely not!

<T-K> · Post by **<T-K>** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 12:38 am

ffhard wrote:Who would have thought Massa would be so close to Schumacher? Well, I wouldn't have for a start!

And a McLaren mechanical failure? Surely not!

If you cycle back through my posts in one of the other threads, I said that Massa will be just as quick as Shumi this year....and I stand by my word...I think Massa will beat Shumi in the drivers this year.......or am I just being silly

Jim Watt · Post by **Jim Watt** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 12:56 am

Remember mates. I said Michael would be on the pole. And tomorrow, Juan Pablo will be on the top step.

Why? Because, tho' it's hard to credit, he's hungrier than any of the others and he's in a fast machine.

The qualifying WAS interesting, no; maybe even exciting? (Note: I didn't say, did it make any sense or would it produce a safe or rational starting grid) I predict they'll stay with it no matter how much the teams complain.

Because it makes for good TV.

Now. If only the race is as exciting as qualifications!

Jim Watt

Ed · Post by Ed » Sun Mar 12, 2006 1:31 am

Michael Schumacher took Pole for the first race of the season ahead of team-mate Felipe Massa and Jenson Button. Fernando Alonso, Juan Pablo Montoya, Rubens Barrichello, Mark Webber and Christian Klien made the top 8 - Full Results

Kimi Raikkonen suffered a rear suspension failure before setting a time in the first session. He will start from the back of the grid.

Ralf Schumacher was 17th fastest and didn't make the second session.

Massa's time was just 0.041 seconds behind Michael and if the 2 are on similar fuel loads, that would be a very impressive time from the young Brazilian.
The top 4 are separated by under three tenths and given that the 3rd session was run with race fuel, it looks like we'll have a close race.

Ed · Post by Ed » Sun Mar 12, 2006 1:43 am

Selected Quotes:

Michael Schumacher - Pole

Amazing result. To be honest I wasn?t expecting to be on pole, I thought we might be in touch with the leaders but not in front of everybody, so it really is a wonderful surprise. I?m so happy for the team because they all worked so hard to achieve this result, especially when one considers where we were at the end of last season. What happened in 2005 really hurt and it forced us to react. We have worked very hard and I would also like to thank all the test team for what they have
done during the winter months. It is always very difficult to reverse a negative trend but last year?s troubles have had the effect of making the team even more closely knit together: this is the mentality that
makes Ferrari such a special team. Today I?ve also equalled a rather special record, that of the number of pole positions set by Ayrton Senna: something I?m very proud of.

Felipe Massa - 2nd

This is a day that won?t be easy to forget. To qualify on the front row at my first race with Ferrari makes me feel very proud of myself and for what the team has managed to achieve. It?s a pity that the traffic on the last lap prevented me from perhaps improving on my time: these are things that happen with this new qualifying format. Maybe next time it might be my turn to take advantage of the situation ! What is important is that now we have a competitive package right from the start of the season. Tomorrow it?s going to be a difficult race: we know that our rivals are very strong but we?ll give it everything we?ve got to try and bring home the best result possible.

Jenson Button - 3rd

"I'm reasonably happy with third place. We had a good qualifying strategy but it was difficult to be consistent and get good clean runs because of the track conditions. The wind was an issue again today but it was gusting in a different direction to yesterday, so the track was still a bit of an unknown quantity. Looking at how the new qualifying panned out, for me it was very exciting. It was non-stop for me in the car and it must have been great for the fans watching at home. Traffic is always an issue with this format but we'll get used to it I'm sure and I think the team did a great job of handling what must have been a very pressured session. On to tomorrow now when we'll see how everyone's fuel strategies play out. It should be a great race and I'm looking forward to it.

Fernando Alonso - 4th

A pretty disappointing result for me really. The qualifying session was very busy, like we expected, and as I had said before the weekend, it didn't change too much for me because the aim was still to complete three quick laps during the hour. The car felt good, and we didn't make any changes to the front wing or anything, but I made a mistake on my first timed lap at the end of the session, and that meant I had to do another one. Obviously, the tyres weren't in such a good condition by then, which meant I ended up only P4. Still, the second row is not too bad, we know the car is quick, so let's see what happens tomorrow.

Juan Pablo Montoya - 5th

I think we did a good job with the new format, and it ran very smoothly for me. I am a little surprised to finish so far up as we had not been looking good in the earlier sessions when I have been suffering from understeer, but that is what the car could do when it counted. I think we have a good strategy for the race, so we will have to wait and see what will happen tomorrow.

Rubens Barrichello - 6th

I think it was okay to be 6th today because I was struggling big time with the set-up of the car through yesterday and this morning. We analysed the problem earlier today and we felt sure there was room for improvement, so we changed things for qualifying and it was a little better. Now we just need to see what the race brings tomorrow.

Kimi Raikkonen - 22nd - No Time

There is not much I can say about today. It is very disappointing to not even complete one timed lap as I believe that the team had a good strategy for the new qualifying system, and I could have been amongst the quickest. Although it is far from ideal to start from the back of the grid, there are overtaking opportunities at this track, and I have done this before and still achieved good results. We will just have to see what happens in the race tomorrow.

Ralf Schumacher - 17th

It is obviously very disappointing that we just missed out on making it through Session 1 today. I was just starting a flying lap when the red flags came out. Then, when everyone went out for their quick laps I was at the back of the pack. I just lost the temperature in the tyres and I couldn't warm up the tyre again before my lap. That meant that I was sliding around for most of the lap and I was not particularly surprised that I didn't make it through to the other sessions. A disappointing day, then, that confirms that we have hard work ahead to force our way up the grid. But it is very early in the season and the full picture of relative performance will only emerge after the first few races.

Ed · Post by Ed » Sun Mar 12, 2006 1:47 am

In terms of fuel loads and after monitoring the final session in qualifying, it appears that Ferrari are lightest followed by Renault then Honda with Montoya on the heaviest fuel load. This is just our observation from that session.

It should be a good race!

Snowy · Post by **Snowy** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 3:15 am

Ed wrote:In terms of fuel loads and after monitoring the final session in qualifying, it appears that Ferrari are lightest followed by Renault then Honda with Montoya on the heaviest fuel load. This is just our observation from that session.

It should be a good race!

Surely Fernando has more fuel on board than Jenson Ed? Fernando was 8tenths quicker than Jense during the second session and that would suggest he felt very confident to go conservative on fuel. And we mustn't forget that this circuit really suits longer stints rather than sprints.

No doubt we shall see in due time.
Thanks for the coverage, we're still envious though