Bahrain GP: Massa Wins
Felipe Massa has won the Bahrain Grand Prix for the second year in succession, with considerable ease. Massa becomes the 3rd different race winner in the 3 races so far.
With Kubica starting from pole, Massa alongside him, and Hamilton and Raikkonen in 3rd and 4th respectively, the start of this years Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix was a critical one for Ferrari.
Massa made a fantastic start and almost immediately jumped past Kubica to take 1st place. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton makes what could possibly is worst start so far in his short F1 career. Raikonnen takes 3rd, and Hamilton finds himself in 10th place.
More misery was to follow for the British McLaren driver, as on the 2nd lap he runs into the back of ex team mate Fernando Alonso, and completely destroys his front wing. After watching replays it looks very much like Alonso touches the brakes giving no time for Hamilton to react. Was this a deliberate ploy by Alonso to ruin Hamilton’s race? It certainly seems to be the kind of petulant, arrogant behaviour we have come to expect of the one-time popular double champion.
Lap 3 sees Ferrai complete a dream start to the race, with Raikkonen taking second place from Kubica, and the Ferrari’s already seemed to be setting the pace.
It soon becomes apparent that Alonso is suffering some form of damage following the collision with Hamilton, as he struggles to hold onto 9th place. However, it seems as though Hamilton is also struggling with his car. BBC 5 Live analyst Maurice Hamilton says;
“The accident might have damaged the defuser at the back. It was an odd accident and I wonder if there might be a bit of discussion about whether Alonso slowed a bit there. We need to have another look at that.”
After 33 laps, the two Ferrari’s are racing amongst themselves. Massa, still leading, is being chased by Raikkonen very competitively. It’s great to see team-mates racing each other and certainly an improvement on team orders and all the controversy that surrounds the policy.
Barring a mechanical failure, the race was pretty much over as a contest by this time. The only entertainment came from the 2 professional Ferrari drivers who continued to swap fastest laps! Great racing from two excellent drivers.
As Massa weaves his way through the last few corners of the Bahrain circuit, and along the finishing straight, you can only presume that Ferrari are back with a vengeance. Raikkonen finishes 2nd to confirm this, and it’s evident that the McLaren Team have a lot to do to compete. For Lewis Hamilton’s sake, who limps home in 13th place, we hope that they are more competitive in Spain in 3 weeks time.
Full Results:
Results of Bahrain Grand Prix after 57 laps of Sakhir circuit on 6 April, 2008:
1 Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari one hour 31 minutes 6.970 seconds
2 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari +3.339 secs
3 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber +4.998
4 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber +8.409
5 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes +26.789
6 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota +41.314
7 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault +45.473
8 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota +55.889
9 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota +1:09.500
10 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault +1:17.181
11 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Honda +1:17.862
12 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India-Ferrari one lap behind
13 Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes one lap
14 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams-Toyota one lap
15 Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Toro Rosso-Ferrari one lap
16 Anthony Davidson (GB) Super Aguri-Honda one lap
17 Takuma Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri-Honda one lap
18 David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault one lap
19 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Ferrari two laps
R Nelson Piquet Jr (Brz) Renault 40 laps completed
R Jenson Button (GB) Honda 19 laps
R Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 0 laps
Fastest lap: Kovalainen, 1:33.193, lap 49.
What did you think of the race? What did you think of Alonso’s and Hamilton’s ‘coming together’?
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