Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso made the perfect start to his Ferrari career with victory in Formula One’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
It looked like it would be a cracker of a season-opening race but it ended up being another dull chasing the guy in front race.
Until the 34th Lap it looked like it was going to be Vettel’s day. The 22-year-old German started from pole and kept that advantage going into turn 1. Behind him Massa and Alonso changed position entering turn 2 which basically decided who would win. The top 3 stayed the same until Vettel’s car suddenly slowed, which was later, diagnosed as an Electrical fault on the engine. Vettel’s lap time slowed by 4-5 seconds allowing the pursuing Alonso and Massa to move past him within a few laps.
After the race Sebastian Vettel commented on his race today: “It’s a pity, but what can you do?
“Overall it’s a positive. We were one of the quickest; we had very good control of the race and were on top of the strategy.
“Everything was running smoothly. Luckily we could continue and finish fourth but we should have won, really.
“It seemed to kind of recover at the end but it wasn’t great and it cost us a lot. The points are still important.”
Michael Schumacher’s comeback race was a lackluster performance although he finished in 6th position one position up from his qualifying result. Bad news for him though that his younger and less experienced teammate Nico Rosberg finished in front of him.
Rosberg started in fifth but managed to get past McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton in the first few corners of the race. He stayed ahead until the one and only pit stop of the day. Hamilton later commented that he was much faster but couldn’t pass him as he was looking after his tires. He also said that if he had kept his position at the start he could have challenged Ferrari for the win.
Rookies Vitaly Petrov and Nico Hulkenberg had tough races, with the Williams spinning in the fast downhill corners following the new loop early on, and Petrov having to park in the pits with a suspension problem
As for some good news about the Malaysian Lotus F1 team debut they managed to finish with both cars. Heikki Kovalainen finished in 15th position and his more experienced team mate Jarno Trulli finished 17th although he had to nurse home a mechanical problem in the final few laps.
The other two new teams did not last long. Karun Chandhok crashed his Hispania on lap two, and teammate Bruno Senna had a suspected hydraulic problem 16 laps later. Virgin also posted two early retirements, with hydraulic issues stopping Lucas di Grassi after two laps and Timo Glock hitting gearbox trouble just after passing Kovalainen for the lead of the unofficial newcomers’ class.
Hopefully the Australian GP in two weeks time will be more exciting than today’s Bahrain GP. And will Michael Schumacher be able to turn up the heat on the young guns taking the limelight away from him.
Written by: Ben Viermann
