Bahrain Grand Prix

[Zen]

Final qualifying @ 5:30pm (Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne) and race @ 9:30pm.

You can catch the live timing and commentary @ www.formula1.com but only if you're desperate.

Rich

 

[Brad]

11pm, is that for us up here in heaven? Are the mexicans still on daylight saving time?

 

[Brad]

Final qualiying results:

Final qualiying results:

1 5 Fernando Alonso Renault 3:01.902

2 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 3:02.357

3 16 Jarno Trulli Toyota 3:02.660

4 8 Nick Heidfeld Williams-BMW 3:03.217

5 7 Mark Webber Williams-BMW 3:03.262

6 17 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 3:03.271

7 15 Christian Klien Red Bull Racing 3:03.369

8 10 Pedro de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes 3:03.373

9 9 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 3:03.524

10 6 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 3:03.765

11 3 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 3:04.348

12 12 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 3:05.202

13 4 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 3:05.563

14 14 David Coulthard Red Bull Racing 3:05.844

15 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 3:07.693

16 11 Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-Petronas 3:07.983

17 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 3:09.428

18 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 3:10.143

19 21 Christijan Albers Minardi-Cosworth 3:10.422

20 20 Patrick Friesacher Minardi-Cosworth 3:11.261

 

[da_prancin_schu]

Regardless of whether I think Wurz or De La Rosa is better; interesting that DLR managed to pip Raikkonen for McLaren qualifying honours in his return to GP. Will certainly help his case for a full time drive next year somewhere.

Also, Villeneuve, again, is last other than the Minardis and Jordans. 2.8 seconds behind his teammate. Mistake or not.... its a pattern he should not be repeating each race if he wants to see out the season and not have Liuzzi take his place on a lone drive (time to start a rumour )

On that note, Klien is doing everything right to keep his drive at RBR. Smashing DC is certainly a point in his favour, as well as being best of the rest. My opinion on him has definately changed this year... he was always a fighter, but never showed consistent speed until now.

As said - this ones gonna be a cracker.

 

[Zen]

11pm, is that for us up here in heaven? Are the mexicans still on daylight saving time?

Nah, Channel Ten are televising the race at 11pm, an hour and a half delay which will turn out to be a two hour delay after showing qualifying and hearing the commentators words of wisdom.

Rich

 

[purrr-geot]

commentators words of wisdom.
Rich

O YEH!!
I cant wait, make sure you tune in early this week neil crompton will explain to us how the weather works & come to the conclusion that it is hot in Bahrain!YAY!:crazy:

 

[PLAYLIFE]

Also, Villeneuve, again, is last other than the Minardis and Jordans. 2.8 seconds behind his teammate. Mistake or not.... its a pattern he should not be repeating each race if he wants to see out the season and not have Liuzzi take his place on a lone drive (time to start a rumour )

On that note, Klien is doing everything right to keep his drive at RBR. Smashing DC is certainly a point in his favour, as well as being best of the rest. My opinion on him has definately changed this year... he was always a fighter, but never showed consistent speed until now.

As said - this ones gonna be a cracker.

Definitely agree on the above points. Klien for whatever reason seems to do really well at this circuit. Last year he outdrove Webber throughout the whole weekend except the race where his inexperience got the better of him. Again he has outqualified his teammate in Bahrain.

JV has been very disappointing this season, and it seems to be getting worse.

 

[gti138]

I thought I had a major winner there for a sec - I was browsing the web and the BBC were relaying their radio broadcast of the race on the internet! Bonus I thought - sadly after 15 minutes they pulled the pin and said "due to contractual obligations we cant broadcast this event"

Sounds like it's a good race though. Will have to stay up for this one!

 

[Poo-Go]

Definitely agree on the above points.

Me too. I've always suspected JV was a bit soft, now it seems to be confirmed.

And yes, Klien is doing very well. Well done.

I'm also surprised at how aggressive Webber is. Not sure if I'm a fan of how he defends his position.

Oh yeah, and I hate Ralf. He seems to not care about punting other drivers off.

 

[Pug-a-lug]

Webber was just as agressive in the Jaguar over the past two seasons.

I'm not too thrilled with such overly-defensive driving... but when people watch how Schumacher drives...and he gets away with it....I guess there is nothing you can do about it.

Still, as long as Webber only changes his line once before a corner....that's fine by me.

 

[U Turn]

Webber's spin looked a big one..looked almost like he forgot to brake for several seconds!! Didn't like his overly offensive 'defensive' driving to prevent de la Rosa from passing even when it was clearly obvious Rosa was much faster. Then again I have no idea what de la Rosa was doing when behind Webber, looked quite bizarre..maybe he was trying to confuse Webber!?

 

[306XT]

I though Webber raced fair and square. The McLaren are coming along nicely. And will become the biggest threats to the Renault boys. (ahead of the Toyotas). I think the Bridgestone are the reason why the Ferraris aren't up the front, so I won't be surprise if they are back up the front when they go back to the European races in 3 weeks.

I like webber but until he actually win some races, he is still not at the same level as Alonso or Räikkönen, or dare I said Heidfeld who is showing very good speed and race craft. If he doesnt show some decent results he will become the new Trulli of old (lots of hype but no results at the end)

 

[da_prancin_schu]

U-turn; where a point means a million dollars at the end of the year and driver pride, I don't think you can criticise Webber for defending his position. Hes entitled to block once, and De La Rosa repeatedly stuffed himself.

Overall a good race to watch - De La Rosa certainly added to the excitement, and Fisi once again dissapointed with that stupid slide before retiring.

:nownow:

 

[orestes]

Webber's spin looked a big one..looked almost like he forgot to brake for several seconds!! Didn't like his overly offensive 'defensive' driving to prevent de la Rosa from passing even when it was clearly obvious Rosa was much faster. Then again I have no idea what de la Rosa was doing when behind Webber, looked quite bizarre..maybe he was trying to confuse Webber!?

i think rosa was just a bit rusty, but there's no denying he's quick.

 

[CHRI'S16]

...what a very entertaining race overall. Fastest man was Micheal, and 05 ferrari was fast. Micheals fastest lap was faster than Alonso, but "to finish first, first you have to finish!".... De la Rosa had the fastest lap of the race though. He's obviously not race ready, but but he is a fast driver in a fast car.
The biggest thing that stood out for me was, WHERE IS THE CROWD.... (apart from the main straight) Alonso was perading in that blue and yellow bullet waving to the officials and a whole heap of sand.... - Chris

 

[Ray Bell]

Ah yes... well back from the circuit, weren't they?

Here's a press release:

Staff at the Bahrain International Circuit can be justifiably proud on the outstanding success of the second Gulf Air Bahrain Grand prix and the impact that it has had on the Kingdom of Bahrain. Once again Bahrain was the focal point of the sporting world as the race was broadcast to an audience of hundreds of millions around the globe.

Those 47,300 fans lucky enough to be in the circuit for the Middle East’s only Grand Prix were treated to a stunning race by the World’s fastest drivers and run in above average and demanding conditions.

Fernando Alonso thrilled Spaniards and Renault fans with his second win this season putting him on the podium for the third time in as many races.

Martin Whitaker, General Manager of the BIC commented, “Today’s race was the culmination of months of effort on behalf of everyone at BIC and I am absolutely delighted with the result. We sold every available seat and attracted new customers to our corporate hospitality.

As for your the fastest laps, Alonso didn't have to try later in the race, just keep it on the island. At that point, when De la Rosa was flogging his McLaren to catch up to Webber and so on, there would have been better conditions for quicker lap times.

And Webber, I feel, did a good job. He and his team mate have been saying that the car steps out at the back and he proved it. That he only proved it once might be more the measure of the man...

 

[U Turn]

Oh ok. I thought he just overshot the braking zone. That spin though couldn't have resulted from the back stepping out under power since it happened at the approach. Must've stepped out under brakes. Whatever it was, he was very lucky the run off area was huge as he looked to be doing a fair rate of knots.

 

[Billy]

bail out bridgestone

ok are you watching a different broadcast than me?

I think Webber is far too consistent to be compared closely to the temperamental Trulli and Fisichella. Yes he may lack raw pace of Alonso and Kimi, but I think at the moment he seems to be able to get more out of his team than either of these - and is more consistently ahead of his teammate in qualifying and the race.

and you consider Heidfeld at a higher level than webber - with very good speed and race craft???! where and when was this?

I think Heidfield is good, and probably deserved to go to Mclaren in 2002 instead of Kimi.

so now I propose an interesting what if, How would webber have done in these first three races if he had been put in the Renault and Flav sent Fisi to williams?

I like webber but until he actually win some races, he is still not at the same level as Alonso or Räikkönen, or dare I said Heidfeld who is showing very good speed and race craft. If he doesnt show some decent results he will become the new Trulli of old (lots of hype but no results at the end)

The beginning of this race was great, looked like there might be a serious challenge for the race win between 2 fast drivers in 2 fast cars - although this possibility rarely appears these days and usually fizzles out.

So I wondered when was the last time that you remember a race that was a proper battle of skill between two drivers, cars and teams? Recenlty it all seems too often determined entirely by a single aspect like pit strategy or tyres. I think the last serious racing in F1 was when all the contenders were using 1 brand of tyres.

 

[Poo-Go]

And Webber, I feel, did a good job. He and his team mate have been saying that the car steps out at the back and he proved it. That he only proved it once might be more the measure of the man...

Webber has claimed responsibility - he put a wheel in the dirt.

 

[306XT]

I think Webber is far too consistent to be compared closely to the temperamental Trulli and Fisichella. Yes he may lack raw pace of Alonso and Kimi, but I think at the moment he seems to be able to get more out of his team than either of these - and is more consistently ahead of his teammate in qualifying and the race.

So you are saying webber is consistent. Do you want to know how many times he failed to finish (admittedly some from car failures) 8/18 races + 6 non point finishes & the previous year he actually got more points 17pt as oppose to 7 of last year.

As for Fisi who you must agree driving a sh*tbox Jordan (no better then the Jag) only retired once scored some decent finishing & 22pts at the end of 2004. What can you say for Trulli, he's clearly improving as a driver in the past year and show he can fight with the guys up front as oppose to blocking everyone. He's also doing a very good job at the moment comparing to the other Schumacher. Isn't Trulli second on the table, Toyota seems to quite happy with him.

and you consider Heidfeld at a higher level than webber - with very good speed and race craft???! where and when was this?

I always thought Heidfeld was very underrated. He never had the equipment to show what he's worth. He's been doing a very good job at his new team (less time to settle in the team then Webber). He raced brilliantly in Sepang. The two other races he retired from were not from his mistake. So we will have to see how this one pans out.

so now I propose an interesting what if, How would webber have done in these first three races if he had been put in the Renault and Flav sent Fisi to williams?

My guess would be a win in Australia and retirement for the rest, first being punned off by Fisi in the blue & white car! :joker: and have a come together in the next race with Ralf :roflmao: