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Bahrain GP: The Usual Suspects, With a Twist

Written by George Katinger · April 15, 2007

Felipe Massa did not commit any acts of overt brain fade today, and converted his pole starting position into a convincing win. The podium consisted of the usual suspects, the top three qualifiers, Massa, Hamilton and Raikkonen.


speedtv.com: F1: Massa Wins in Bahrain to Heat Up Title Battle
planet-f1.com: Dennis admits tyre error
autosport.com: BMW celebrate ’strongest’ race to date

All of my concerns over a Massa-Hamilton shunt at turn one were all for naught, as Felipe managed a very tidy start with no challenge from Hamilton. Not that Hamilton didn’t want to; he didn’t have the car today. Once past the initial turns, Lewis pushed the leading Ferrari for all he was worth, but Felipe was unflappable and drove a mistake free race to claim his third career GP win. I guess he only gets anxious when trailing and needs to pass.

Based on his post race comments, Massa was definitely feeling the strain of all the media comments about his Sepang mistakes; he admitted to being grateful to have that behind him. He also said he was thankful for only having to endure the questions and comments for only a week. A good job by Massa all around.

As for the twist, I can’t remember the last time, if ever, the GP series driver’s title was a three way tie. Alonso, Raikkonen and Hamilton (yes Hamilton), are all knotted up at 22 points apiece. Massa trails the trio at 17 with the surprising Nick Heidfeld on 15. Everyone after the race was hailing Hamilton on his unprecedented three consecutive podiums, but not much was said about his leading the driver’s championship after only three races. Truly amazing.

The constructor’s title is nearly as close with McLaren at 44 points, Ferrari with 38 and BMW Sauber a distant third on 18 points. With three weeks until Barcelona, all the teams will be working on their aero-tire packages, as every point will count this year.

As for the rest of the race, it was the usual fare of exploding or crashed Honda’s (except for Barrichello) failing Toro Rosso’s (Speed crashed out) and Red Bulls, and under performing Renault’s, Toyota’s and Williams’. The drive of the race belonged to David Coulthard, who worked his way up to seventh place before his Red Bull expired. Welcome back from the dead David, if Red Bull can only find some reliability you may go into retirement with a podium this year.

And can someone please explain to me why Ferrari have the Marlboro brand on prominent display? What ever happened to the tobacco ban all the teams signed onto?

With the points so closely contested the teams will be all hard at work looking to find that extra measure of speed for Barcelona come May 13. Except for Renault, Honda and Toyota, they will all be in search of major miracles

Bahrain GP - Sunday - Race Results
Bahrain Grand Prix Results - 15 April 2007 - 57 Laps
POS DRIVER NATIONALITY ENTRANT LAPS TIME/RETIRE
1. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari 57 1h33m27.515
2. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 57 2.360
3. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari 57 10.839
4. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW 57 13.831
5. Fernando Alonso Spain McLaren-Mercedes 57 14.426
6. Robert Kubica Poland BMW 57 45.529
7. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota 57 1m21.371
8. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Renault 57 1m21.701
9. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Renault 57 1m29.411
10. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota 57 1m29.916
11. Alexander Wurz Austria Williams-Toyota 56 1 Lap
12. Ralf Schumacher Germany Toyota 56 1 Lap
13. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Honda 56 1 Lap
14. Christijan Albers Netherlands Spyker-Ferrari 55 2 Laps
15. Adrian Sutil Germany Spyker-Ferrari 53 4 Laps
16. Anthony Davidson Britain Super Aguri-Honda 51 Engine

R Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 41 Gearbox
R David Coulthard Britain Red Bull-Renault 36 Driveshaft
R Takuma Sato Japan Super Aguri-Honda 34 Engine
R Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Toro Rosso-Ferrari 26 Hydraulics
R Jenson Button Britain Honda 0 Accident
R Scott Speed United States Toro Rosso-Ferrari 0 Accident
FASTEST LAP:
Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari 42 1:34.067

DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS:
DRIVER NATIONALITY ENTRANT POINTS
FERNANDO ALONSO Spain McLaren-Mercedes 22
KIMI RAIKKONEN Finland Ferrari 22
LEWIS HAMILTON Britain McLaren-Mercedes 22
FELIPE MASSA Brazil Ferrari 17
NICK HEIDFELD Germany BMW 15
GIANCARLO FISICHELLA Italy Renault 8
JARNO TRULLI Italy Toyota 4
ROBERT KUBICA Poland BMW 3
NICO ROSBERG Germany Williams-Toyota 2
RALF SCHUMACHER Germany Toyota 1
HEIKKI KOVALAINEN Finland Renault 1

CONSTRUCTORS CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS:
CONSTRUCTOR POINTS
MCLAREN-MERCEDES 44
FERRARI 39
BMW 18
RENAULT 9
TOYOTA 5
WILLIAMS-TOYOTA 2

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Comments

One Response to “Bahrain GP: The Usual Suspects, With a Twist”

  1. peterg on April 15th, 2007 11:10 pm

    “The drive of the race belonged to David Coulthard’

    Yes & the move of the day was Nick H taking Alonso around the outside, simply brilliant.

    As for the tobacco ban, don’t quote me, but I think that related to Europe & the EU, which Bahrain is not governed by. Same deal with Australia hanging on, until recently, to ciggy advertising for all thos seasons even when it was banned at European races.

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