Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Stefano Domenicali and Lewis Hamilton
Ferrari Debuts on Top
by Erik Nielsen
Photos courtesy and copyright FerrariMedia
There is nothing like holding the first race of the F1 season in the middle of the desert to remind most northern hemisphere residents that it is still cold outside and that prime driving season is likely still months away. Or at least that is theory to get millions of eyes tuned into the race and one reason the Bahrain government subsidized the weekend.
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The tifosi were soon pleased with the results of the weekend with new pilota Fernando Alonso marking his team debut with a win and team mate Filipe Massa taking second place. With the new points changes this year, the championship will likely be influenced more by shear number of wins than just consistent podium finishes. Maximum points for Ferrari definitely assuaged some fears about bringing Alonso to the team with his less-than-stellar off the track record. But on the other hand, he is less likely to end up drunk in my garden than the driver whose seat he took.
Felipe Massa
Massa’s strong drive showed that the Brazilian has recovered from his season ending incident in which a spring from Barrichello’s car wound up hitting him in the helmet. Hopefully, he will continue to drive in good health.
Lewis Hamilton also wanted to be part of the show and drove a rather dull (not complaining, I’ll explain in a sec) to bring his McLaren to the last podium spot. McLaren was not considerably off the pace, but there seems to be room for improvement in the aerodynamic package.
Based on the pole results, this race should have been Sebastian Vettel’s, but while leading the race, the next-coming-of-Schumacher had mechanical issues and slowly fell back through the pack as he lost power. Could Adrian Newey’s reputation of building fast but not necessarily reliable chassis still be intact?
Fernando Alonso
All eyes were on the new Mercedes Silver Arrows (Brawn GP for those that have slept in the off season) and the return to the sport of Michael Schumacher. The team’s fifth and sixth place finishes proves that Brawn didn’t have an unfair diffuser advantage worked out for the 2010 car, but more surprising, Rosberg was the faster of the two. Good thing that Schumacher drove for Ferrari in the 1996-1998 seasons when he did not blame the car or his team for less than expected results, and he is still a gentleman with his current team. We’ll wait for the German press to start making the excuses for him.
Jenson Button has regained his also-ran title and finished in seventh with his new ride in McLaren. Too bad that Ron Denis is more focused on the car side of the business now, an evil stare may be motivating at this time for Jenson.
Mark Webber drove in traffic to finish eighth.
Felipe Massa
Changes to this year’s rules have also extended points to tenth place, which meant that Luizzi and Barichello made the points table, but it was basically only their family members that noticed.
As for the race, time will tell, but I think we are in for a season of parade laps with no refueling and a mandatory tire change. Qualifying seems to be a bit more exciting, but that is still Saturday and most people don’t even watch that part of the show. I’m wondering if some of the preseason testing had more drama to it, but this was about as exciting as a lapping session.
The teams have two weeks to make any small changes before another fly away race in Australia. Hopefully, the Albert Park circuit will provide a bit more action, but my money is on another snooze-fest.
Fernando Alonso
Race Results
| 1 | ALONSO | Ferrari | 1h39m20.396s |
| 2 | MASSA | Ferrari | + 16.0s |
| 3 | HAMILTON | McLaren-Mercedes | + 23.1s |
| 4 | VETTEL |
RBR-Renault | + 38.7s |
| 5 | ROSBERG | Mercedes Benz GP Ltd | + 40.2s |
| 6 | SCHUMACHER | Mercedes Benz GP Ltd | + 44.1s |
| 7 | BUTTON | McLaren-Mercedes | + 45.2s |
| 8 | WEBBER | RBR-Renault | + 46.3s |
| 9 | LIUZZI | Force India-Mercedes | + 53.0s |
| 10 | BARRICHELLO | Williams-Cosworth | + 62.4s |
| 11 | KUBICA | Renault | + 69.0s |
| 12 | SUTIL | Force India-Mercedes | + 82.9s |
| 13 | ALGUERSUARI | STR-Ferrari | + 92.6s |
| 14 | HULKENBERG | Williams-Cosworth | + 1 lap |
| 15 | KOVALAINEN | Lotus-Cosworth | + 2 laps |
| 16 | BUEMI | STR-Ferrari | + 3 laps |
| 17 | TRULLI | Lotus-Cosworth | + 3 laps, hydraulics |
| 18 | DE LA ROSA | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | + 21 laps, hydraulics |
| 19 | SENNA | HRT-Cosworth | + 32 laps, mechanical |
| 20 | GLOCK | Virgin-Cosworth | + 33 laps, gearbox |
| 21 | PETROV | Renault | + 36 laps, suspension |
| 22 | KOBAYASHI | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | + 38 laps, hydraulics |
| 23 | DI GRASSI | Virgin-Cosworth | + 47 laps, hydraulics |
| 24 | CHANDHOK | HRT-Cosworth | + 48 laps, accident |
| Fastest Lap | ALONSO | Ferrari | 1m58.287s |
Driver’s Championship Standings
| 1 | ALONSO | Ferrari | 25 Points |
| 2 | MASSA | Ferrari | 18 Points |
| 3 | HAMILTON | McLaren-Mercedes | 15 Points |
| 4 | VETTEL | RBR-Renault | 12 Points |
| 5 | ROSBERG | Mercedes Benz GP Ltd | 10 Points |
| 6 | SCHUMACHER | Mercedes Benz GP Ltd | 8 Points |
| 7 | BUTTON | McLaren-Mercedes | 6 Points |
| 8 | WEBBER | RBR-Renault | 4 Points |
| 9 | LIUZZI | Force India-Mercedes | 2 Points |
| 10 | BARRICHELLO | Williams-Cosworth | 1 Point |
Constructor’s Championship Standings
| 1 | FERRARI | 43 Points |
| 2 | McLAREN-MERCEDES | 21 Points |
| 3 | MERCEDES BENZ GP LTD | 18 Points |
| 4 | RBR-RENAULT | 16 Points |
| 5 | FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES | 2 Points |
| 6 | WILLIAMS-COSWORTH | 1 Point |