Bahrain Grand Prix 2012

By Pete Vack
Pictures Courtesy and Copyright Ferrari Media, Unless Otherwise Noted

French engines dominate at Bahrain

Four races. Four drivers. Four constructors. Racing “F1 wise” seems to be improving. The drivers love it, the fans love it, and it’s great for racing in general.

However, it was a little disconcerting to find that Vettel is back, dominating the race in his usual superb style with a pole position, a perfect start and pulling away from the field in exactly the same way as he did before the diffuser was diffused (or whatever they did…or did they?). It was as if the first three races didn’t exist. Might we expect a repeat performance, and another, and another, and another?

Maybe not, for hot on his heels was Kimi. Both drivers were equally impaired by tire degradation at about the same time, proving that Kimi’s resurgence and that of Lotus is no fluke. The last time I recall such a rapid re-entry into F1 was with Niki Lauda in the 1970s. The battle between Räikkönen and Vettel enlivened the last laps of an exciting race and Kimi’s Lotus teammate Romain Grojsean finished third in the best run of his short career. Grosjean now joins Perez, Kobayachi, and di Resta as bona fide up and comers who will battle with the established Champions for the rest of the season.

Since we are here to highlight French and Italian cars, let it be clear that Renault engines, which power the Red Bull and Lotus teams, took the first four places at Bahrain, and the duel between Renault, Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz is heating up. Ironically, a competitive engine from the U.K is missing.

On the grid were pole sitter Vettel and Lewis Hamilton, in row two Webber next to Button, in row three was Chinese GP winner Rosberg next to Ricciardo in the Toro Rosso (a fluke) and relative newbies Grosjean and Perez. Alonso was on the fifth row, Massa a few more rows down. The Ferraris were still not up to standards; both Alonso and Massa should be given credit for doing as well as they can with the Maralleno misfires. Alsonso, after all, did win in Malaysia.

Schumacher started in 22nd which was another setback for him. However, he survived and worked his way up to 10th by the end of the race. Lack of luck has been defining factor for Schumacher but how does one define luck?

This time the racing commenced immediately with Räikkönen on Massa, Grosjean on Hamilton, but since everyone aside from Kobayashi was on the soft compound, within eight laps they were pitting for new rubber—the conditions at Bahrain are terrible for tires. By lap nine the pits were grand central station. Since there are no more fuel nozzles to get screwed up, it is now locking hubs that are cross threaded in the search for a 2-second pit stop. Hamilton was beset by bad stops again, and his anger was easily visible.

Mid race, Vettel was still in control and the race was settling down after 30 laps of fighting for position and figuring out the pit stops. Kimi held on to second with Grosjean coming on strong. Webber, Hamilton, Alonso, and Button couldn’t seem to get it all together. Rosberg was happily driving others off the track (or passing them while off the track), fast as sloppy. By the end of the race the McLarens were suffering from exhaust pipes breaking and Button just pulled into the pits and retired with only a few laps left to go. It was a bad day for Woking.

The tire wars are again becoming too complex and sadly, play a far more significant role in any given race than is necessary. The pit stops are fun, but one is sufficient for a 1.5 hour race. Tires should be designed to last at least to the halfway point for both soft and medium compounds. Degradation is presumably designed in, ergo “it can be designed out”. Further, the more pit stops, the more chance there is for accidents, wheels falling off and overall unsafe conditions. One might think, however innocently, that since today’s F1 cars are technological wonders, tires can’t be made to last reliably for less than one hour. Now, how simple is that?

Spain will be up next. Let’s hope Alonso can pull off win number 2 in front of his home crowd.

Race Results

1	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	1h35m10.990s
2	Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	+ 3.3s
3	GROSJEAN	Lotus-Renault	+ 10.1s
4	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	+ 38.7s
5	ROSBERG	Mercedes	+ 55.4s
6	DI RESTA	Force India-Mercedes	+ 57.5s
7	ALONSO	Ferrari	+ 57.8s
8	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 58.9s
9	MASSA	Ferrari	+ 64.9s
10	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes	+ 71.4s
11	PEREZ	Sauber-Ferrari	+ 72.7s
12	HULKENBERG	Force India-Mercedes	+ 76.5s
13	KOBAYASHI	Sauber-Ferrari	+ 90.3s
14	VERGNE	STR-Ferrari	+ 98.7s
15	RICCIARDO	STR-Ferrari	+ 1 lap
16	PETROV	Caterham-Renault	+ 1 lap
17	KOVALAINEN	Caterham-Renault	+ 1 lap
18	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 2 laps, exhaust/differential
19	GLOCK	Marussia-Cosworth	+ 2 laps
20	DE LA ROSA	HRT-Cosworth	+ 2 laps
21	KARTHIKEYAN	HRT-Cosworth	+ 2 laps
22	SENNA	Williams-Renault	+ 3 laps, retired
23	MALDONADO	Williams-Renault	+ 32 laps
24	PIC	Marussia-Cosworth	+ 33 laps, engine
Fastest Lap	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	1m36.379s

Note – Maldonado qualified 17th, Schumacher 18th. Both dropped five grid places as penalty for an unscheduled gearbox changes.

Driver’s Championship Standings

1	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	53 Points
2	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	49 Points
3	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	48 Points
4	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	43 Points
5	ALONSO	Ferrari	43 Points
6	ROSBERG	Mercedes	35 Points
7	Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	34 Points
8	GROSJEAN	Lotus-Renault	23 Points
9	PEREZ	Sauber-Ferrari	22 Points
10	DI RESTA	Force India-Mercedes	15 Points
11	SENNA	Williams-Renault	14 Points
12	KOBAYASHI	Sauber-Ferrari	9 Points
13	VERGNE	STR-Ferrari	4 Points
14	MALDONADO	Williams-Renault	4 Points
15	RICCIARDO	STR-Ferrari	2 Points
16	HULKENBERG	Force India-Mercedes	2 Points
17	MASSA	Ferrari	2 Points
18	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes	2 Points

Constructor’s Championship Standings

1	RBR-RENAULT	101 Points
2	McLAREN-MERCEDES	92 Points
3	LOTUS-RENAULT	57 Points
4	FERRARI	45 Points
5	MERCEDES	37 Points
6	SAUBER-FERRARI	31 Points
7	WILLIAMS-RENAULT	18 Points
8	FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES	17 Points
9	STR-FERRARI	6 Points