18.3.10

Well, after the endless hype and genuine drama of the closed season, the first time the show actually got on the road was a terrible anti-climax. As a spectacle, especially on TV, the Bahrain GP was a failure. The lap chart says it all. Horizontal lines which don't cross mean basically nothing's happening and this was essentially the story of the race.

Unlike last year, this year's cars are fundamentally all alike; all have double diffusers and there's no KERS. Qualifying is on minimum fuel, refueling during the race has been banned, so all started on more-or-less the same (heavy) fuel load. They couldn't push early on for fear of burning up their tyres, aerodynamics mean that it's very difficult for cars of similar performance to overtake, there wasn't much difference in life between the two grades of tyres. So, after the first lap, but for mechanical malfunction or mishap, we were stuck with a procession. The cars/drivers qualified in order of pure speed and basically held that order through the race, as you would expect.

The lap chart tells much of the story [click to enlarge]. Vettel qualified on pole and took the lead. Alonso was outqualified by Massa but, crucially, jumped him on lap 1. This was when most of the race action occurred. Nico Rosberg got Lewis Hamilton, later to lose the place in the only round of pit stops. Schuey got Mark Webber, whose Renault engine blew out a huge cloud of oil smoke (I had a Renault that did that). Ironically, the fog caused Sutil's quick Force India to hit the Red Bull engine supplier's car of Kubica. This also spoiled Sutil's race as he had qualified ninth - the only one of the top ten to do so on the harder tyres. The top ten have to start on the same set of tyres on which they qualified (with minimum fuel), Sutil had hoped to gain advantage by starting (with maximum fuel) on the harder and (supposedly) more durable tyres. Following it so far? Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India) got up into ninth and Rubens Barrichello into tenth - and that was basically yer top ten for the duration. Dull, eh?

Vettel sped away and the Ferraris followed until lap 32 when his Renault engine went sick. At first this was thought to be a broken exhaust pipe but later turned out to be a duff spark plug. This was very unlucky, when was the last time you can remember that happening? He was reeled in by the Ferraris and powerless to resist them. Hamilton got him a few laps later but, amazingly, Vettel held onto fourth 'til the end. This was ahead of two healthy Mercedes, with a V7 engine which must have been the best part of a 100bhp down! His team later paid tribute to the young German, saying his (twisty) Sector 2 times were stunning. This also confirmed that the Red Bull is the chassis of the moment. Rosberg was fifth and a bemused Schuey sixth. He had been outpaced by his young team mate all weekend and admitted that he's not yet fully on it. Time will tell if he can get there.

This event had the added excitement of the new teams, the first time most of us have seen them in action. Three of them actually made it, but of course USF1 did not. The first time Karun Chandok drove his HRT (Dallara) was in Q1! Fortunately, he kept it out of the way and nothing fell off. Glock (Virgin) was quickest of the new teams, over 5 seconds slower than the fastest in the session (Vettel - Red Bull) and 2.7 slower than the slowest of the establishment (Alguersuari - Toro Rosso).

In the race, the likeable and calm Chandok was the first to drop out, crashing before the end of lap 2. Di Grassi's Virgin was next to go with another of the hydraulics failures which have bedeviled the team. Glock outlasted Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari) and Petrov (Renault) but his gearbox packed up after 16 laps. Senna's HRT went for 17 laps until a water leak caused his Cossie to cook. However, both Loti were classified! Kovalainen went to the very end in 15th and Trulli conking out, but doing enough. For all the new teams to get there was a fantastic achievement, given the short lead time, but Lotus's was especially so. Let's hope they all survive.

There has been a big shout from the media, teams and drivers about the dull race and a few suggestions as to what to do about it, including making two stops compulsory, or no stops, or having a bigger difference between the two grades of tyre, or even re-introducing refueling. Regarding tyres, seeing as Bridgestone are off at the end of the year and what they will have heard was mostly moaning, I cannot imagine they will be particularly motivated to help.

It's clear no-one really has much of an idea of what to do about the lack of racing. The track layout of the Tilkedromes is a major problem as of course is the cars' aero. "Push to pass" buttons that give more revs for a short burst might be an answer, especially when allied to the contrasting need to conserve fuel. The problem is that there are many more, cleverer people trying to beat the regulations than there are setting them. Changes never seem to have the affect intended. I hate to say it, but it may be time for extreme measures such as as reverse grids.

The latest examples of extreme cleverness are McLaren's "F" duct, where the driver shoves he knee into an 'ole in the cockpit on the straightaway, which changes airflow over the rear wing and increases the top speed, something like this I guess. Also, the hole in the rear diffuser to plug in the external starter is now said to be an important factor in making the double diffuser concept work better! These are just the tip of an iceberg of cleverness that we never get to hear about. For example, what is the process whereby someone says "go" and six months later a brand new team fires up their brand new car for practice in a GP on the other side of the world? A great story waiting to be told - if anyone would tell it. The internal cleverness is endlessly fascinating, but needs to be matched by public on-track spectacle.

Still, at least Ferrari won. It was a bit lucky because of Vettel having his problem plus the fact Ferrari had overheating issues; but they all count.

Finally, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the F1 Drivers' Championship, all the champions were present in Bahrain, bar two, Raikkonen (in the pub?) and Piquet (dare not show his face?). All very laudable but, as someone said, why Bahrain rather than Silverstone, where it all started, or Monza or Monte Carlo? The answer is probably another "m" - money.

Stefano Domenicali: “ This amazing one-two is just reward for all the work of the team, both at the track and the factory in Maranello, over these past few months . Today, we had to manage a very complicated situation with Felipe’s car, because of the high temperatures, but we did it and I was very happy to see our driver on the podium on what was a very special day for him. As for Fernando, what can I say? There could be no better way for him to start his adventure in red! Now we can enjoy this wonderful day for a few hours, but as from tomorrow, we must start preparing for the next round in Australia, adopting our usual approach which involves keeping calm, with our feet on the ground and working hard. We have a very long season ahead of us, in which reliability will be crucial, as indeed we saw yet again today and where we will be fighting very strong and determined adversaries.”

Fernando Alonso: “ The first races of the season are very important: we must get to the European part of the year with a lot of points in the bag and a high level of understanding of how the tyres work at various types of track. The key to winning will be to continue to develop the car race by race. Today, on the harder tyres, we went very well, but with the softer ones, I was struggling a bit to stay close to Vettel. I was planning to attack in the final ten laps, but luck gave me a hand: you always need a bit in every race. At the start, I got away well, making the most of being on the clean side of the track and I managed to pass Felipe, going for a space that was big enough to pull off the move without any risk. Then I was lucky not to have any problems with the car, while my team-mate had a more difficult time and had to ease up a bit. Now it’s time to think about Australia. We will see who has the best car at that track, but I think the four top teams will all be in the fight.”

Felipe Massa: “I am very happy with this result and I want to thank all the team and our fans. It is my best opening race of a season since I started in Formula 1 and, given all the problems we had, I am very pleased. We had to manage the temperatures on the car and, for around thirty laps, I was not able to push as hard as I could. At the start, I lost a place to Alonso, but then the car worked well with both types of tyre. With the softer tyres, the Red Bull was quicker than us, but on the harder ones we were much better. I want to thank one more time all those who have been close to me over these past months, writing and sending me messages. Now we must look to Australia to be as well prepared as possible.”