Sunday, March 12, 2006
# posted by Rich @ 1:03 PM
Bahrain race report
The 2006 F1 season got off to a magnificent start, with Fernando Alonso claiming a superb victory over Michael Schumacher. Kimi Raikkonen put in another brilliant drive from the back of the field to finish 3rd, ahead of Button, Montoya, and Webber. Rookie Rosberg, in a drive equally as spectacular as Raikkonen's, came home seventh, after a first lap clash with Heidfeld that necessitated a nose-cone change. Christian Klein occupied the final points paying position.
Alonso was on form from the second the lights went out. As expected, he leapt off the line and into third place by the first corner. He quickly dispatched Massa to move up to second by the end of lap 1. From there, it was just a matter of keeping pace with Michael, who appeared to be on a lighter fuel load, and three stopping.
Alonso cycled into the lead after Michael pitted on lap 15, but dropped back to third after his first pit stop on lap 19. Michael then started to build a small margin over Alonso, and it appeared that Ferrari had switched Michael's strategy to a two-stopper, necessitating a long second stint - classic Ferrari and Schumacher.
Shumacher's second stop came on lap 35. Alonso stayed out until lap 39, and when he emerged from the pits, the two were side-by-side. Alonso held the inside line, and took the lead from Schumacher. From there, he went unchallenged to the end of the race.
Raikkonen's race was quite different. I would say that it was not exactly textbook, tactically speaking, but McLaren seem to have had an awful lot of practice at this, and therefore hold the copyright on the procedures for coming from the back of the field. Raikkonen had a spectacular start, getting up to 13th by the end of the first lap. From there, Raikkonen kept the hammer down, and methodically worked his way through the field. By "methodically" I mean fast. Damn fast. So fast, in fact, that it belied the fact that he started with a very heavy fuel load. His one and only stop came on lap 31, emerging in 6th place. By the end of the race, he had jumped Webber, Montoya, and Button to finish third.
The Hondas of Button and Barrichello started the race strong, even scrapping hard with each other for 5th place in the early laps. Buton eventually won that battle, and drove a solid race to finish 4th. Barrichello, on the other hand, went backwards. Shortly after his pit stop on lap 17, he lost 3rd gear, and finished 15th, 1 lap down.
If Alonso and Schumacher had spectacular races, the same cannot be said for their respective team mates. Fisichella started the race with an engine electronics problem that occured in qualifying. The Renault team thought they had fixed it, but Fisichella was clearly struggling in the first part of the race. When he pitted on lap 17, he angrily blasted over the radio "sorry, but this is f$#@ing stupid". His car did not last much longer. On lap 21, his car began kangarooing, and he eventually coasted back to the pits with hydraulic failure. Coincidentally, this failure occured in the turn 9/10 complex, the same place where Michael Schumacher suffered hydraulic failure on lap 12 of last year's race.
Massa faired little better. On lap 7, whilst following Alonso, he lost the back end of his Ferrari 248 under braking for turn one, spinning and missing Alonso by a hair's breadth. Indeed, quick thinking on Alonso's part avoided a collision. Massa chose to come to the pits, presumably because he had severely flat-spotted his tyres. However, the compressed air system for the right rear wheel gun failed. The Ferrari mechanics proceeded to run around in a panic, in a scene incredibly reminiscent of the fiasco at the 1999 European Grand Prix. The mechanics eventually sequestered the gun for the front right tyre, but further stumbled when they mistakenly put the nut back on without having changed the wheel. After a 47 second stop, Massa eventually rejoined the race dead last. However he impressively managed to claw his way back to 9th by the chequered flag.
In a drive to rival Kimi Raikkonen, rookie Rosberg brought his Williams Cosworth home in 7th place. After a first corner clash with Nick Heidfeld, Rosberg had to pit for a new nose cone, losing 45 seconds. Rosberg rejoined in last place. What followed was a supreme demonstration of raw speed, skill, overtaking, and bravery. The best example of this was he and Coulthard going side by side for half a lap on lap 49, Rosberg eventually taking away 9th position. His pass on Klein for 7th on lap 56 was superb, clean, and he didn't so much as smoke a tyre. On the way to a debut points finish, he set the fastest lap of the race - a 1:32.408 - making him the youngest person in F1 history to set a FLotR. This kid is a future world champion, absolutely for sure.
Elsewhere, most other people had rather anonymous races, although Heidlfeld seemed to be in the thick of it, getting involved in the first corner clash with Rosberg, then incurring a smack on the wrist from the stewards for forcing David Coulthard off track. Coulthard would later return the favour by keeping Heidfeld behind him despite the fact that Heidfeld was much quicker - he was due for a pit stop on lap 35, and thus was on low fuel, but Couthard had just made a stop on lap 31.
The biggest disappointment of the race was the peformance of the Toyotas. Having been slow in qualifying, they were equally slow in the race - Ralf finished 14th, 1 lap down, and Trulli finished a distant 16th, almost 2 laps down.
Attrition was relatively low - only four cars failed to make it to the finish. Albers never really started the race, Fisichella had his hydraulics failure, Villeneuve exited on lap 31 with a case of valves + pistons = smoke + fire, and Ide first retired, then came back out on track, 18 laps down, for some extra track time.
So, what can we learn from the Bahrain GP? Well, 2006 starts off much how 2005 ended - Alonso on top, Raikkonen clearly the class of the field by far but hampered by reliability woes, Honda almost there, but still playing catch up. The differences though are that Ferrari are back on form, and Williams, with Rosberg at the wheel, have a fighting chance of some good finishes this year.
it looks like 2006 will shape up quite nicely.
Alonso was on form from the second the lights went out. As expected, he leapt off the line and into third place by the first corner. He quickly dispatched Massa to move up to second by the end of lap 1. From there, it was just a matter of keeping pace with Michael, who appeared to be on a lighter fuel load, and three stopping.
Alonso cycled into the lead after Michael pitted on lap 15, but dropped back to third after his first pit stop on lap 19. Michael then started to build a small margin over Alonso, and it appeared that Ferrari had switched Michael's strategy to a two-stopper, necessitating a long second stint - classic Ferrari and Schumacher.
Shumacher's second stop came on lap 35. Alonso stayed out until lap 39, and when he emerged from the pits, the two were side-by-side. Alonso held the inside line, and took the lead from Schumacher. From there, he went unchallenged to the end of the race.
Raikkonen's race was quite different. I would say that it was not exactly textbook, tactically speaking, but McLaren seem to have had an awful lot of practice at this, and therefore hold the copyright on the procedures for coming from the back of the field. Raikkonen had a spectacular start, getting up to 13th by the end of the first lap. From there, Raikkonen kept the hammer down, and methodically worked his way through the field. By "methodically" I mean fast. Damn fast. So fast, in fact, that it belied the fact that he started with a very heavy fuel load. His one and only stop came on lap 31, emerging in 6th place. By the end of the race, he had jumped Webber, Montoya, and Button to finish third.
The Hondas of Button and Barrichello started the race strong, even scrapping hard with each other for 5th place in the early laps. Buton eventually won that battle, and drove a solid race to finish 4th. Barrichello, on the other hand, went backwards. Shortly after his pit stop on lap 17, he lost 3rd gear, and finished 15th, 1 lap down.
If Alonso and Schumacher had spectacular races, the same cannot be said for their respective team mates. Fisichella started the race with an engine electronics problem that occured in qualifying. The Renault team thought they had fixed it, but Fisichella was clearly struggling in the first part of the race. When he pitted on lap 17, he angrily blasted over the radio "sorry, but this is f$#@ing stupid". His car did not last much longer. On lap 21, his car began kangarooing, and he eventually coasted back to the pits with hydraulic failure. Coincidentally, this failure occured in the turn 9/10 complex, the same place where Michael Schumacher suffered hydraulic failure on lap 12 of last year's race.
Massa faired little better. On lap 7, whilst following Alonso, he lost the back end of his Ferrari 248 under braking for turn one, spinning and missing Alonso by a hair's breadth. Indeed, quick thinking on Alonso's part avoided a collision. Massa chose to come to the pits, presumably because he had severely flat-spotted his tyres. However, the compressed air system for the right rear wheel gun failed. The Ferrari mechanics proceeded to run around in a panic, in a scene incredibly reminiscent of the fiasco at the 1999 European Grand Prix. The mechanics eventually sequestered the gun for the front right tyre, but further stumbled when they mistakenly put the nut back on without having changed the wheel. After a 47 second stop, Massa eventually rejoined the race dead last. However he impressively managed to claw his way back to 9th by the chequered flag.
In a drive to rival Kimi Raikkonen, rookie Rosberg brought his Williams Cosworth home in 7th place. After a first corner clash with Nick Heidfeld, Rosberg had to pit for a new nose cone, losing 45 seconds. Rosberg rejoined in last place. What followed was a supreme demonstration of raw speed, skill, overtaking, and bravery. The best example of this was he and Coulthard going side by side for half a lap on lap 49, Rosberg eventually taking away 9th position. His pass on Klein for 7th on lap 56 was superb, clean, and he didn't so much as smoke a tyre. On the way to a debut points finish, he set the fastest lap of the race - a 1:32.408 - making him the youngest person in F1 history to set a FLotR. This kid is a future world champion, absolutely for sure.
Elsewhere, most other people had rather anonymous races, although Heidlfeld seemed to be in the thick of it, getting involved in the first corner clash with Rosberg, then incurring a smack on the wrist from the stewards for forcing David Coulthard off track. Coulthard would later return the favour by keeping Heidfeld behind him despite the fact that Heidfeld was much quicker - he was due for a pit stop on lap 35, and thus was on low fuel, but Couthard had just made a stop on lap 31.
The biggest disappointment of the race was the peformance of the Toyotas. Having been slow in qualifying, they were equally slow in the race - Ralf finished 14th, 1 lap down, and Trulli finished a distant 16th, almost 2 laps down.
Attrition was relatively low - only four cars failed to make it to the finish. Albers never really started the race, Fisichella had his hydraulics failure, Villeneuve exited on lap 31 with a case of valves + pistons = smoke + fire, and Ide first retired, then came back out on track, 18 laps down, for some extra track time.
So, what can we learn from the Bahrain GP? Well, 2006 starts off much how 2005 ended - Alonso on top, Raikkonen clearly the class of the field by far but hampered by reliability woes, Honda almost there, but still playing catch up. The differences though are that Ferrari are back on form, and Williams, with Rosberg at the wheel, have a fighting chance of some good finishes this year.
it looks like 2006 will shape up quite nicely.
Labels: Bahrain, Formula 1, Grand Prix
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