Bahrain Grand Prix - 14 March 2010

[Guest]

 

So we've made it to the first race of the 2010 season. Have a look elsewhere for the team line ups, but Friday practice put Ferrari and McLaren at the top, with Nico Rosberg consistently outpacing the returning Schumacher...could this be another troublesome comeback?

Anyway, McLaren have a weird venty thing that the drivers knock open with their left knee to help in the corners, which then stalls the rear wing at speed. Deemed to be 'innovative' so far....hmm until someone wins and then it might be deemed not so legal no doubt.

The Renault engine doesn't have the power of the Mercedes...now theres a surprise, and the new teams are struggling for pace. do do do do, is this the twilight zone? Of course they will be slow, their cars have only have minimal development and even less testing...and the FIA is considering bringing back the 107% rule. oh good grief. I know, why don't we tell the teams to borrow a car from Beaulieu for each round and race with the rules that were in force at the time of building?

Still looking forward to it - Go Sutil 

[MadBoB]

 

So we've made it to the first race of the 2010 season. Have a look elsewhere for the team line ups, but Friday practice put Ferrari and McLaren at the top, with Nico Rosberg consistently outpacing the returning Schumacher...could this be another troublesome comeback?

Anyway, McLaren have a weird venty thing that the drivers knock open with their left knee to help in the corners, which then stalls the rear wing at speed. Deemed to be 'innovative' so far....hmm until someone wins and then it might be deemed not so legal no doubt.

The Renault engine doesn't have the power of the Mercedes...now theres a surprise, and the new teams are struggling for pace. do do do do, is this the twilight zone? Of course they will be slow, their cars have only have minimal development and even less testing...and the FIA is considering bringing back the 107% rule. oh good grief. I know, why don't we tell the teams to borrow a car from Beaulieu for each round and race with the rules that were in force at the time of building?

Still looking forward to it - Go Sutil 

[MadBoB]

Bahrain GP grid
Saturday, 13 March 2010 12:07

1  VETTEL           Red Bull
2  MASSA            Ferrari
3  ALONSO           Ferrari
4  HAMILTON         McLaren
5  ROSBERG          Mercedes
6  WEBBER           Red Bull
7  SCHUMACHER       Mercedes
8  BUTTON           McLaren
9  KUBICA           Renault
10 SUTIL            Force India
11 BARRICHELLO      Williams
12 LIUZZI           Force India
13 HULKENBERG       Williams
14 DE LA ROSA       Sauber
15 BUEMI            Toro Rosso
16 KOBAYASHI        Sauber
17 PETROV           Renault
18 ALGUERSUARI      Toro Rosso
19 GLOCK            Virgin
20 TRULLI           Lotus
21 KOVALAINEN       Lotus
22 DI GRASSI        Virgin
23 SENNA            HRT
24 CHANDHOK         HRT


So there we have it - the first grid of 2010. Virgin look the quickest of the newbies. Suaber and Toro Rosso seem a bit off the pace and Kubica pulled the Renault into the top 10. With Force India comfortably in the front of the mid field 'also rans' it'll be interesting to see how the heavy fuel loads play their part early in the race. Ferrari looking good for Massa and Vettel didn't miss a beat in the top 10 shoot out. Rosberg again got the better of Michael in the Mercedes. Can the Renault engine take Vettel to the win? or will the Mercedes (rumoured to be 20-30 bhp more powerful) come through in the race.

So the big question.....how many laps until the first car is lapped? lap 15 HRT is my guess.

Should be good.

[MadBoB]

And the result is:

Bahrain GP result
Sunday, 14 March 2010 14:06


1.  ALONSO       Ferrari
2.  MASSA        Ferrari       +16.0s
3.  HAMILTON     McLaren       +23.1s
4.  VETTEL       Red Bull      +38.7s
5.  ROSBERG      Mercedes      +40.2s
6.  SCHUMACHER   Mercedes      +44.1s
7.  BUTTON       McLaren       +45.2s
8.  WEBBER       Red Bull      +46.3s
9.  LIUZZI       Force India   +53.0s
10. BARRICHELLO  Williams      +62.4s
11. KUBICA       Renault       +69.0s
12. SUTIL        Force India   +82.9s
13. ALGUERSUARI  Toro Rosso    +92.6s
14. HULKENBERG   Williams      +1 lap
15. KOVALAINEN   Lotus         +2 laps
16. BUEMI        Toro Rosso    +3 laps
17. TRULLI       Lotus         +3 laps
R.  DE LA ROSA   Sauber        +21 laps
R.  SENNA        HRT           +32 laps
R.  GLOCK        Virgin        +33 laps
R.  PETROV       Renault       +36 laps
R.  KOBAYASHI    Sauber        +38 laps
R.  DI GRASSI    Virgin        +47 laps
R.  CHANDHOK     HRT           +48 laps


Hmm. ok any one got any comments then?

Sorry its took me a day or two to put this up, I've been away. Tell you what, you can read all about how dull it was elsewhere, but it wasn't that bad really was it?

The track has been messed with because of the extra corners and its 2 minute lap time doesn't help.

Off the start Vettel went away without a care in the world while Alonso went round the outside of Massa, stuck it out knowing he'd have the inside for the narrowing turn two. It worked, and away they went. Hamilton and Rosberg held station and Mark Webber blew an enormous oil cloud out the back of the Red Bull into the face of Kubica exiting turn two. Kubica jinked left in the fog and caught Liuzzi, Liuzzi did the same to avoid Kubica and clipped Sutil....exit left Sutil and Kubica. Both kept it going but from the back.

A little later Hulkenberg went rally crossing in the Williams following a real tank slapping moment, kept it going though.

What else happened then? well Vettel was away really until he suffered a cracked exhaust. Oddly this really messed up his rhythm and the two Ferraris pounced. Hamilton took advantage too before Vettel realised the car was down on power a bit, but actually it still went round corners. doh.

I'd love to say Schuey was a star, but the reality was that he drove like everyone else - benefitting from Webber dropping back at the start.

Pit stops were few and far between with most cars only stopping once on the heavy fuel laden boats they are now. Fast stops were about 4 - 5 seconds. The lower teams stopping in about 8 or 9 seconds.

The Cosworth engine doesn't look too bad on power with Barri holding his place throughout. Kubica and Sutil could have done a lot better had they not got tangled up in the turn two smoke fest.

Of the new teams, Lotus were the only one to build a car that ran the full distance. Maybe with a decent aero upgrade they'll start to move up the grid. Good effort I'd say.

HRT and Virgin could do with a bit of reliability.

I'll have a think, but not much else to add for now.

[halfpint]

it wasnt very exciting, i think they made a big goof getting rid of the refueling. that was what made or broke the race. if it continues i think f1 will go downhill qwik.

[fullpint]

Change the rules PLEASE 

[MadBoB]

The more I think about it, the worse it gets.
Pre-season looked like slow cars with full tanks, bleating about 107% rule and the new cars being slow. Even my guess on running order came in about right which is a bit disappointing.

Oh, and lap 15 HRT lapped I guessed.....neither of the HRTs or the Virgins got past lap 17. At least the Lotus is pretty reliable.

I do have a suggestion for the rules though - throw away these cars and bring back last years ones, with the rules and points to go with them. We had a few well fought races in 2009.

 

[halfpint]

I totally agree with you on that one madbob. They have to do summat. the boredom was cringeworthy.