Update
Bahrain started the year off right.
Sunday saw a revived Ferrari start the race with both cars on the front row, with Alonso's Renault in 3rd. However, Massa was unable to block Alonso for the whole race. This has been Ferrari's preferred strategy over the years, because it allows Schumacher to put in the fast laps unpressured. Alonso put a good pass on Massa early on, iirc, and Massa proceeded to lock his brakes and flat spot his tires, pushing him way down the order.
Alonso caught up to Schumacher, and due to his team's incredibly fast work on the last pit stop, he was able to come out from the pits ahead of Schumacher, and go on for the win.
This weekend demonstrated that not three, not four, but five teams are all in contention for the two championships. Aside from Ferrari and Renault, Honda did not do well, but this was primarily due to technical glitches. The next race at Malaysia requires good aero design, which is apparently Honda's strength, so we will know on Sunday how much homework they did over the winter.
McLaren almost had a disaster weekend. Raikonnen's car in Saturday qualifying suffered a spectacular suspension failure, catapulting his car across the track. As a result, he started from last place, in 22nd position. However, with one of the weakest engines on the grid and a single stop strategy, he made third place, to the astonishment of just about everyone.
The fifth team is probably the biggest story of the early season. Williams Cosworth, who lost engine supplier BMW (one of the most powerful V10's) over the break, showed ridiculous speed at Bahrain. Webber got into the points, as did rookie Nico Rosberg (son of Keke Rosberg). Moreover, Rosberg hammered out the fastest laps of the race, and would have got the podium if not for a first lap collision. Webber also got 4th fastest lap.
If you missed the action, it's worth finding a rerun. Or you can get the bare results at
http://www.visionf1.com/
which is pretty cool.
Sunday, Sepang, 1:00AM east coast, Speed Channel, Friday thru Sunday.
Me, I got tests all this week.
Sunday saw a revived Ferrari start the race with both cars on the front row, with Alonso's Renault in 3rd. However, Massa was unable to block Alonso for the whole race. This has been Ferrari's preferred strategy over the years, because it allows Schumacher to put in the fast laps unpressured. Alonso put a good pass on Massa early on, iirc, and Massa proceeded to lock his brakes and flat spot his tires, pushing him way down the order.
Alonso caught up to Schumacher, and due to his team's incredibly fast work on the last pit stop, he was able to come out from the pits ahead of Schumacher, and go on for the win.
This weekend demonstrated that not three, not four, but five teams are all in contention for the two championships. Aside from Ferrari and Renault, Honda did not do well, but this was primarily due to technical glitches. The next race at Malaysia requires good aero design, which is apparently Honda's strength, so we will know on Sunday how much homework they did over the winter.
McLaren almost had a disaster weekend. Raikonnen's car in Saturday qualifying suffered a spectacular suspension failure, catapulting his car across the track. As a result, he started from last place, in 22nd position. However, with one of the weakest engines on the grid and a single stop strategy, he made third place, to the astonishment of just about everyone.
The fifth team is probably the biggest story of the early season. Williams Cosworth, who lost engine supplier BMW (one of the most powerful V10's) over the break, showed ridiculous speed at Bahrain. Webber got into the points, as did rookie Nico Rosberg (son of Keke Rosberg). Moreover, Rosberg hammered out the fastest laps of the race, and would have got the podium if not for a first lap collision. Webber also got 4th fastest lap.
If you missed the action, it's worth finding a rerun. Or you can get the bare results at
http://www.visionf1.com/
which is pretty cool.
Sunday, Sepang, 1:00AM east coast, Speed Channel, Friday thru Sunday.
Me, I got tests all this week.
posted by joe at 1:27 PM
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