Tag Archives: bahrain gp

Cracker of a race in Bahrain – Hamilton finishes on top with Rosberg behind…

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What a team win that was!

That was a race that would be remembered for a long time to come. The V6 era has come to stay and the change in attitude of the teams led to what was a redefinition of the wheel to wheel racing at the first night race ever at Bahrain International Circuit. In an incident filled race, where quite a few teams even traded the fastest laps, Lewis finished P1 and Rosberg finished P2.

The qualifying was an anti climax with Lewis not making it on top though it was a 1-2 Mercedes front grid. He made it up in the first corner going ahead of his team mate and maintained the lead till the chequered flag. Not before we were witness to some of the best wheel to wheel racing moments. There were no team orders and it was fun for the fans, ofcourse they had to intervene to just say ‘Bring home both the cars.’ I think that resonated well with all the teams, the Sahara Force India, the Williams and the Redbulls.

The sun had set and it was an evening of sheer magic for the fans watching the show on television. The way the front lead cars battled out for the prized top spot on the podium was an exhilarating experience that was special in a way the team mates took out on each other at every given opportunity and made come backs too. The camaraderie of the sport was in full glare when Lewis and Rosberg were all smiles and Rosberg acknowledged his teammate’s performance, though he did warn Lewis on a tweet that he is going to be back to see how he can be at No.1.

The other team which delighted us to the core was the Sahara Force India, coming in at P3 and P5 and it was a terrific drive by Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg. The pit stops were clean and then the drive super smooth. Wheel to wheel, overtaking and everything you wanted happening around the racetrack.

The RedBull also had a great race considering that the cars started at 10th and 13th and finally finishing at P4 and P6 with Riccardio and Vettel. There were moments when they were struggling a lot and they managed to overtake and get themselves to the best results they could achieve.

Williams also added to the fury of the speed when at the start Massa went off  a dream start and I thought they had some problems and settled for the best places Massa at P7 & Bottas P8. There were spurts of excellent driving in the race by these two men.  The last 2 in the top 10 were taken by Ferrari Alonso and Kimi in that order.

There was a Safety car moment when Maldonado went straight into the Guiterrez and flipping his car over track. Luckily he was unhurt, which actually wiped off the advantage the race leader Hamilton had built up.

But the Mercedes were at their best check the lead of over 24 seconds that splits the top 2 and the rest of the teams. Now this race is gonna be remembered for long for quite some time!

Well, you now know what happens if the teams can just shut and let the drivers race!

Indian F1 fan

Race Results

1. Lewis Hamilton Britain Mercedes-Mercedes 57 laps 1hr 39m 42.743s
2. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +00m 01.0s
3. Sergio Perez Mexico Force India-Mercedes +00m 24.0s
4. Daniel Ricciardo Australia Red Bull-Renault +00m 24.4s
5. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Force India-Mercedes +00m 28.6s
6. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +00m 29.8s
7. Felipe Massa Brazil Williams-Mercedes +00m 31.3s
8. Valtteri Bottas Finland Williams-Mercedes +00m 31.8s
9. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 32.5s
10. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 33.4s

11. Daniil Kvyat Russia Toro Rosso-Renault +00m 41.3s
12. Romain Grosjean France Lotus-Renault +00m 43.1s
13. Max Chilton Briton Marussia-Ferrari +00m 59.9s
14. Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Lotus-Renault +01m 02.8s
15. Kamui Kobayashi Japan Caterham-Renault +01m 18.3s
Rtd Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +2 laps
16. Jules Bianchi France Marussia-Ferrari +3 laps

Rtd Kevin Magnussen Denmark McLaren-Mercedes 40 laps completed
Rtd Esteban Gutierrez Mexico Sauber-Ferrari 39 laps completed
Rtd Marcus Ericsson Sweden Caterham-Renault 33 laps completed
Rtd Jean-Eric Vergne France Toro Rosso-Renault 18 laps completed
Rtd Adrian Sutil Germany Sauber-Ferrari 17 laps completed

Of Bahrain, Kubica and HRT…

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The cancellation of Bahrain as it comes under circumstances beyond control of organizers makes a for a commentary on the political machinations under which sports are run. Given that Bahrain is one of the most waited circuit since its inception in 2004 has always been a wonderful advertising for the sports in this part of the continent.

There was no other alternative than the cancellation at his hour. We were already given the idea with all the reports and tweets emanating from there after the last test. While the teams were returning they were driving past militia and tanks and camouflaged men. Not a sight to behold on whatever the nationality we may belong to.

It is indeed a great loss and this will only make the other circuits in the Asian region work harder to make it up for the loss of an Asian venue if I may say so.

As I write this we have the first GP coming up at Noida near New Delhi and the f1.com site in its calendar has an * attached which says subject to approval. So the other Asian circuits or rather the F1 circus travels to are China, Malaysia, Korea, Singapore and ofcourse Abu Dhabi. So here we have the fate closing in to make 19 races from 20 as scheduled. It could be that the Bahrain can be back which is remote at this point in time or we may have one more race in some place but it has to be really worked out.

As regards testing Jerez or Barcelona will host the next testing. So there is one more testing which will not be on any of the real race circuits. We can see the best on the day at Australian GP in a totally different dimension that would be real surprise for all the teams.

We can also factor in weather this time around like last year which can play and make or break a race for the current champion and the future champion.

Talking of champions this year is getting sexier with so many champions on the grid. Micheal, Alonso, Lewis, Vettel, Button, that’s an impressive list by any standards and this will be really be great action from the word go. The sheer idea of imagining this is a nice experience I bet.

There is only one seat left to be announced that’s from Hispania, the team mate of Narain Karthikeyan, and hopefully the grid will complete the next week.

Robert Kubica needs a special mention an unfortunate accident at an inopportune moment, just the timing of it was harsh and unexpected in a fashion which shook the whole fraternity, I was filled with tears and had only this question why only Kubica, having seen the Canadian crash was too much on him. Pray he gets back and wish to see him behind the wheel at the earliest opportunity. I am more optimist than ever after seeing one of my superb sweet driver Massa get back in the way only F1 drivers could have done or can do. Kubica has given Nick his life line and hopefully he will enjoy every bit of it.

So will catch up as we watch the next best champion raring to go and also some testing in between.

Will write about the testing and the grid in the next post till then sitting happily fingers crossed.

PS: Here in India people wont listen to you other than Cricket till the final on 2nd April so its a kinda real tough to get them listen in 🙂