2007 F1 Bahrain

[Jack_Bauer]

Felipe Massa wins a thrilling and highly competitive Bahrain Grand Prix, leading home Lewis Hamilton and teammate Kimi Raikkonen. Crucially in terms of the championship it was a disappointing weekend for reigning champ Fernando Alonso who dropped vital points to the Ferraris and also to his teammate Hamilton. It leaves the standings as close as could be with Alonso, Hamilton and Raikkonen all level on 22 points with Massa not far behind.

The start was always going to be crucial for Massa. He blew his chances last weekend with a scrappy first few laps in Malaysia and couldn't afford another cock-up like that this time round. He kept his nerve this time though, and led through the first two turns. From that point on it was his race to control and he did it very well, particularly with a strong second stint which gave him a some welcome breathing space over Hamilton in second, who got sucked into a tussle for second with Raikkonen. Things got much closer toward the end of the race, though you suspect Massa was probably taking it slightly easy in the final 10 laps, trying to protect his engine for next time round while Hamilton was pushing right to the limit.

Hamilton's big chance was from the start but in truth he did not get away very well off the line. He was too busy trying to fend off Kimi and Alonso into turn one rather than fighting Massa for P1. Things went wrong for both McLaren drivers in the middle stint as they both struggled for pace on heavy fuel loads on the option tyre. Hamilton couldn't keep pace with Massa and nearly got caught by Raikkonen, while Alonso dropped away from Kimi and even got passed by the excellent Nick Heidfeld into turn 4.

Raikkonen might be slightly disappointed by his 3rd place. He lost out to the McLarens at the start again, got caught napping on the restart, and then got stuck behind Alonso. From what I saw it looked as though he had the pace to have a go at Alonso and pass him in the first stint, but I think they probably played it safe and waited until the pitstops to pass the McLaren. The time he lost in this section of the race let Hamilton get away from him and cost him any chance of getting past him in the second stint. Still, that's 3 consecutive podiums for him and a share of the championship lead so there's still plenty of reason to be optimistic for the rest of the season.

Aside from Massa and Hamilton the stars of the race were undoubtedly Heidfeld and Coulthard. Heifeld has been performing well all season but has not had the pace to quite get on terms with any of the top for until today. It will be a great psychological boost for him and the BMW team to really get in amongst the big boys for the first time. It was a superb move around the outside of Alonso who gave as good as he got trying to fight him off. He held his nerve under a lot of pressure from Alonso toward the end and secured a well deserved 4th place. Coulthard was exceptional up until his right driveshaft gave up the ghost 20 laps from the end. He made his way from 21st to 7th with some great pace and some stunning passing manouevres, and looked as though he may have caught Kubica too before his car let him down.

Red Bull will be heartened by their pace but hugely frustrated by their reliability. Webber looked to have a great starting position and good race strategy, but yet again things seemed to go wrong throughout the race with his fuel flap sticking open being the catalyst for his downfall. If they can sort out their reliability woes they should have a half-decent car on their hands. It's a big "if" though. Another lacklustre weekend for Renault. Fisichella grabbed a solitary point, but that was more down to the poor reliability of the Red Bulls than any great pace of the French cars. Fisichella may aswell just drive round with a white flag attached to his rear wing, he is just so un-aggressive whenever he comes under the slightest bit of pressure. Someone needs to tell him that being an F1 driver requires actual RACING, not just driving round a circuit on a racing line.

The Williams team will be bemused at how they have slipped down the grid again. They looked good in Malaysia, yet with exactly the same car in Bahrain they seemed to struggle for outright pace. Very odd. Rosberg did his best to keep those trying to pass him at bay, using all the track and even half the surrounding desert trying to battle the likes of the Toyotas. Speaking of the Toyotas it was something of a repeat of last week for them. Trulli had a decent, steady race to claim a couple of points in 7th, while Ralf looked like he was driving a different car altogether, struggling terribly. He's surely got to be the most overpaid driver in Formula 1 history?

Honda again struggled, unsuprisingly, with Barrichello only beating the Spykers on the track, and Button crashing out on lap one. I guess Spyker will be heartened by the fact that they at least managed to get both cars across the line, but they are still a long, long way behind even the Torro Rossos and Super Aguris. It was a poor race for both of those teams however, with none of their cars making it across the line. Speed went out on lap one tangling with Sutil, while Liuzzi had terminal mechanical problems for STR. The Super Aguris did well for over half the race, but both of their Honda engines lunched themselves in spectacular, smoky fashion before the closing stages. Industrial sabotage perhaps from Honda, trying to slow down their B-team to save face?

The big question now moving on to Barcelona is who can improve their car the most over the month break between now and then. Ferrari have slightly had the upper hand so far in terms of pace but haven't really hammered home that advantage over McLaren, who have clung doggedly to Ferrari and stolen vital points from under their noses. Both teams will be working flat out in the windtunnels and test tracks over the next month to try and squeeze out that vital extra tenth or so before battle recommences in Montmelo, with both titles lookin way too tight to predict and everything to play for.

[Coventrysucks]

I went and cleaned the bathroom to get away from James Allen's tedious Lewis-tibation.

Yes, he's quite good, but we'd gathered that 5 mins into the Australia coverage. Repeating it endlessly doesn't make him go faster.

What I did see of it was a tiresome procession; typical F1 then.