| Sunday Race – Massa Rebounds a Ferrari 1-2!
Felipe Massa rebounded from his shaky start to the 2008 season by beating teammate Kimi Raikkonen to victory in a Ferrari-dominated Bahrain Grand Prix.
Pole-winner Robert Kubica took another podium for BMW in third, ahead of teammate Nick Heidfeld – a result that puts the team into the lead of the constructors’ championship for the first time in their short history.
But it was a disastrous day for pre-race championship leaders Lewis Hamilton and McLaren. The Briton lost seven places off the line with a very poor start, then hit former teammate Fernando Alonso and broke his front wing. He could only finish 13th, while teammate Heikki Kovalainen was a quiet fifth.
Massa instantly shot past front row partner Kubica and into the race lead at the start, with Kovalainen dodging around Hamilton to move up to third. The Finn out-muscled countryman Raikkonen through Turns 1 and 2, but was repassed by the world champion further ahead the opening lap.
Raikkonen then rapidly caught and passed Kubica for second, driving around the outside of the Pole at Turn 1 on lap three, while Kovalainen lost another place to Heidfeld when he ran wide on the same lap.
Hamilton’s bad start had dropped him to 10th, and he was attempting to pass Alonso for ninth when he clipped the back of the Renault as they accelerated out of Turn 2. The McLaren briefly became airborne and lost its front wing, leaving Hamilton down in 18th and a minute behind the leaders after he pitted for repairs.
This tangle was one of several early incidents, with Jenson Button (Honda), Adrian Sutil (Force India) and David Coulthard (Red Bull) all having to pit with damage after a chaotic opening lap. Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel sustained broken suspension, while Renault driver Nelson Piquet spun down the order on the second lap. He recovered several positions before retiring with gearbox failure.
At the front, Massa edged away from Raikkonen and established a five-second early lead. Kubica kept Raikkonen under pressure until pitting on lap 17, three laps earlier than Raikkonen, who was the first Ferrari driver to stop.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Massa Ferrari (B) 1h31:06.970
2. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) + 3.339
3. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) + 4.998
4. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) + 8.409
5. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 26.789
6. Trulli Toyota (B) + 41.314
7. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) + 45.473
8. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) + 55.889
9. Glock Toyota (B) + 1:09.500
10. Alonso Renault (B) + 1:17.181
11. Barrichello Honda (B) + 1:17.862
12. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) + 1 lap
13. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 1 lap
14. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) + 1 lap
15. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 1 lap
16. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (B) + 1 lap
17. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) + 1 lap
18. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) + 1 lap
19. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) + 2 laps
Fastest lap: Kovalainen, 1:33.193
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Piquet Renault (B) 42
Button Honda (B) 20
Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1
Amazing race! It fulfilled my expectations for once – there was so much drama at the start and thankfully Kimi’s race wasn’t hampered because of it. The racing between him, Kovalainen and Kubica was great but I wish the FOM bothered to show onboard replays of it. Hamilton’s start was disastrous, losing some 7 places and then to top that off he ran into the back of Alonso – there was no investigation during the race of that incident however, because it seemed Alonso lifted off his throttle which caused the accident. Could he really do that? He’s done some nasty racing in the past but to put himself at risk like that too? We’ll have to wait and see for further developments on this matter (update: Renault rubbish brake test accusation) To me, it just looked like Hamilton lost concentration on how close he was to Alonso, similar to what he did at Brazil last year when he tried to overtake but got too close, swerved to avoid contact and went off track. Hamilton blames himself however for a poor race, scoring no points for McLaren.
Massa has proved himself successfully at Bahrain again like last year, and the team including Kimi are really happy for him. He’s got those full 10 points after scoring none in the first two races.
But it’s Kimi leading the championship now – yay! I guess that’s something to be relieved about. Kimi’s pace during the the middle stint of the race was pretty good and he threw in various fastest lap times and it became clear that although he wasn’t heavier than Massa in qualifying, he can manage to keep hold onto the leader fairly close. So a generally good race for Kimi, and another dominant win for Ferrari. But I’m sure he knows he has to improve qualifying! He’ll head back to Finland soon to watch the ice hockey final, his favourite team might cheer him up. This was Kimi’s 50th podium result though, a great achievement, so congratulations!
McLaren had a race to forget today and they have 3 weeks before the Spanish Grand Prix to try and close the gap to Ferrari. Kovalainen’s drive wasn’t particularly challenging at all today, but he can be pleased to have not had any trouble like Hamilton and at least scored some valuable points for the team.
BMW are probably the team Ferrari are mostly weary of right now, as they are playing an important role in stacking up those consistant points in their podium finishes and they are now leading the constructors championship. They will also be interfering with what happens between Kimi and Felipe in future races when it comes to fighting for the win. So for the time being, BMW are the one to watch closely. Great result for Kubica who wasn’t that much lighter than the Ferrari’s in qualifying and Heidfeld keeps a solid 4th place, helping the team to take the constructors lead. It’s going to be just a matter of time when BMW now take their first race victory.
Apart from the long awaited dramatic first lap between Ferrari, BMW and McLaren, there were lots of great battles and squabbles within the midfield and the drivers did a great job today (although we still have to wait on news about the incident between Alonso and Hamilton!). Unfortunatly for Button in the Honda, who looked very racey, he got into a racing accident with Coulthard – I think Button was a victim of Coulthard’s uneccessary defense into Button’s overtaking line.
Overall, the Bahrain Grand Prix provided an action packed race and I’ll rate it 7 out of 10! And until next time, keep flying Kimi – plenty of more corners and hills to climb yet
"The whole weekend has been pretty difficult," admitted the Finn. "One of the things were that we couldn’t get the car really right. We look at a bad weekend and we finished second, so never mind, next race will be different.
"We are leading the championship and that is the main thing, but it was not the easiest weekend for sure. It hasn’t been perfect all weekend but the problem is we haven’t found perfect balance, but that is life.
"I never am too happy at this circuit, but I think out of these first three races it is important to get many points. I am happy to be leading and when we go back to Europe we hope we can be strong in the next races."
(Read more of Kimi’s thoughts on the race and weekend in general in the press conference script)
Felipe Massa – 1st: "Sensational! Finally, after a start to the championship under dark clouds, I can see the sunshine again. We kept our concentration all weekend long and this is the result. We knew we could count on a great car and that certainly proved to be the case, given that I never had to push to the maximum once I was in the lead,"…
Kimi Raikkonen – 2nd: "Second place was the best I could hope for on a weekend which was definitely not the best for me. These eight points move me into the lead of the championship and that is definitely a reason for me to leave Bahrain reasonably satisfied. I never found the ideal balance. Sometimes you get weekends like this but I am convinced that in Barcelona, the situation will be different.
"My first pit stop was not very quick because we had a problem with the lights, but it definitely did not affect the final result. Once I had consolidated my position, I managed the situation, trying not to push the car too much, knowing how important it is to always bring home the points."
Stefano Domenicali: "We are very happy about this wonderful one-two finish. After a bad start to the season, we have proved we know how to react with our actions, as usual. We worked well all weekend and the results therefore followed. Now we have to continue down this road, without allowing our absolute concentration to slip for a moment, because in a championship that looks like being very close, it takes almost nothing to lose precious points,"…
Watch videos of the race start, onboard Hamilton’s grid start and his crash with Alonso. And what most of you may want to see, Kimi passing Kubica! See all the lastest pics from race day in the HQ Photo Extra collection
http://www.viddler.com/player/a074107/
Robert Kubica took his and BMW Sauber’s first Formula One pole position with a stunning lap in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Pole beat favourite Felipe Massa (Ferrari), who had dominated Friday practice, by 0.027 seconds.
McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen will share the second row.
Massa held provisional pole after the first flying laps of Q3, but only by 0.011 seconds over Kubica.
Hamilton then briefly beat both when he lapped in 1:33.292 on his second run, but the McLaren driver did not stay on top for long, as Kubica responded with a 1:33.096.
Although Massa’s second lap was sufficient to reclaim the front row position from Hamilton, his time of 1:33.123 was not enough to beat the BMW driver to pole.
World champion Raikkonen could only manage fourth, three tenths of a second slower than teammate Massa. Heikki Kovalainen completed the top five in the second McLaren.
Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps
1. Kubica BMW Sauber 1:32.893 1:31.745 1:33.096 12
2. Massa Ferrari 1:31.937 1:31.188 1:33.123 12
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:32.750 1:31.922 1:33.292 13
4. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:32.652 1:31.933 1:33.418 12
5. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:33.057 1:31.718 1:33.488 12
6. Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:33.137 1:31.909 1:33.737 15
7. Trulli Toyota 1:32.493 1:32.159 1:33.994 19
8. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:32.903 1:32.185 1:34.015 22
9. Button Honda 1:32.793 1:32.362 1:35.057 17
10. Alonso Renault 1:32.947 1:32.345 1:35.115 17
11. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:33.194 1:32.371 12
12. Barrichello Honda 1:32.944 1:32.508 12
13. Glock Toyota 1:32.800 1:32.528 15
14. Piquet Renault 1:32.975 1:32.790 15
15. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:33.415 1:32.915 15
16. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:33.386 1:32.943 15
17. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:33.433 7
18. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:33.501 5
19. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:33.562 9
20. Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1:33.845 6
21. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 1:34.140 9
22. Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:35.725 5
Ferrari weren’t expecting BMW to be so agressive however after missing out by just a tenth of a second with Massa, they look good for the race. Hamilton’s last effort was superb, he had been struggling all weekend and after the crash yesterday he’s managed to maintain a title defense by getting 3rd position. Kimi had a fairly conservative day, not really showing blistering pace as we’d hoped but he’s getting used to going a bit heavier in qualifying, and like he’s said, it should mean a great chance for victory tomorrow. Nice to see Button 9th for Honda and I bet Alonso’s feeling a little grateful getting into the top 10. I can’t wait to see Kimi and Lewis rubbing wheels into the first corner, and especially whether Kubica can hold off Massa in the first lap. Whatever goes on, keep flying Kimi!
Felipe Massa – 2nd: "All things considered, I am still confident after this qualifying. We know we can count on a really good car, as we have seen so far here
in Sakhir. In Q3, I always had a bit of traffic, but these things happen. We must remain concentrated and do the best job we can, making the most of all our resources. Congratulations to Robert, who really drove very well."
Kimi Raikkonen – 4th: "I’m not very happy with the way today went, but fourth place is still a good starting position for the race, given the potential we have. The balance of the car was not perfect right from this morning and I struggled a bit to be as quick as I would have liked to be and could have been.
"Now we have to look at the data to try and find out why. I think that tomorrow in the race, when points are up for grabs, I will be very strong. I think we might have made different choices in terms of strategy, but let’s wait and see in the race if that’s really the case."
Stefano Domenicali: "Obviously, we had hoped for a better result, but it’s definitely not a case of bandaging your head before you’ve broken it. We have two cars on the front two rows and we have seen these past two days what potential we can rely on. Tomorrow, we will have to get a good start, try to manage our race as best as possible and, above all, to be reliable."
Luca Baldisserri: "Today we weren’t at the top of our game at the key moment, which means the final qualifying session. A shame, because up until them, it was clear we had everything in place to do well. All the same, it is as always the race that matters over a Grand Prix weekend, so better to wait until tomorrow before drawing conclusions. We know our car is very good over a long run and we must try and get the most out of it if we want to be ahead of our rivals."
See all the coolest pics from Bahrain in the HQ Photo Extra collection and the last minute of qualifying and Kubica claiming pole position below.
http://www.viddler.com/player/8ea6d521/
FUCK ISRAEL 
I’m from China.I’m really fond of your blog very much.So as a a faithful fan of Kimi Matias Raikkonen, I just wanna express my superficial comment on Kimi & F1,including Raikkonen’s history professional career in Mclaren and etc…
Extremely well done for Ferrari in Bahrain GP!Kimi begins to lead in Drivers’ Championship.It’s exciting for all the Kimi’s fans… It seems that F2008 has gotten rid of all the problems they met with in the last two races.
From next GP—Catalunya Circuit, the real competition this year will start.
I’ve been watching & concerning it for 5 yrs,since 2003. The season of 2003 was extremely fantastic & fascinating. It was a suffocating competition between Kimi Raikkonen & Michael Schumacher who are my favourite drivers.It was known to public the public that the MP4-18 of Mclaren at that time was just somewhat a junk car, even the updated edition,MP4-18D was also full of all aspects of problems, e.g. suspension,gear box,engine problems,what was the most ridiculous,the Mercedez-Benz exploded & stopped working in the warm lap. Nevertheless Kimi still drove the fucking bullshit car & remained the unknown result until the last Grand Prix of 2003, the Japanese Grand Prix. But in the last GP, altho kept leading the way, but just in the last lap, he missed the brake point & rushed out of the circuit at the Casio Curve, the last curve before the straight lane & the starting grid, meanwhile he was overtaken by Michael Schumacher… After all the Grand Prixes of 2003, Kimi got the runner-up & Schumacher raised his 6th World Championship finally. What was more important, it was only 2 points that he was less than Schumacher for. His excellent technique thoroughly attracted me & I became one of his faithful fans at that time.From then on,I began to appreciate that Finnish Ice Man. But he seems to be a sorrowful driver with bad luck. Having experienced uncountable terrible seasons, ecounted various mechanical breakdowns of car & out when being in the leading position for uncountable times during his career in Mclaren, Kimi transferred to Ferrari at the beginning of this season. I think he will get good luck after getting rid of the Mercedez-Benz engine & Mclaren, but the fact doesn’t seem to be what we imagined originally.
Looking back upon the results of 7 Grand Prixes passed this year, I’m sure a lot of his fans will be somewhat disappointed. Except he made the hat-trick( the pole positon at the starting grid, the fastest lap, the champion of the Grand Prix) in the Australian Grand Prix, which was the 1st GP of this year, he didn’t make any overtaking, was overtaken by Lewis Hamilton 3 times at the staring grid, made a fault in the qualifying session in the Monaco GP… etc… all above was what he performed in the other 6 GPs this year. I saw a great deal of Ferrari fans, countaining some Schumacher"s fans criticize Kimi in their weblog or on some F1 forums. They doubt Kimi’s technique & his driving style prevalent. From my viewpoint, I admit that his ability of controlling the match ought to be improved especially in the leading position. However there is nothing wrong with his driving technique, which is obvious to see in many classical campaign, e.g. the Japanese GP of 2005, he overtook Fisichella in the last lap….et cetera. With regard to the doubt to his driving style, I just wanna take Mika Hakkinen as the e.g. He is another top driver second to Schumacher & the possessor of the 2 World Championships who is generally acknowledged. He also experienced lots of engine problems & out for several matches when he drove for Mclaren. Could it be said that there was also tarnish with Hakkinen’s driving style & his technique???
What is furthermore, plz don’t forget that even Schumacher, the Lord,the King of F1 did not gain the World Championship in his first season in Ferrari, let alone the other excellent drivers. It’ll not be surprised at all if Kimi doesn’t gain the World Championship this year. ‘Cuz ditto this season is Kimi’s first season in Ferrari, too. In other words, Kimi has been considered as the inheritor of Michael Schumacher since the beginning of this season, meanwhile the audience take it for granted that he should achieve great success rightly after he tranfer to Ferrari, but I personally doesn’t quite agree this viewpoint. Kimi is also a mortal. It is obvious that there is totally different emphasis between the car of Ferrari & Mclaren, thereforehe also needs time to adapt Ferrari. And the fact is that he did spend the least time in adapting to the Bridgestong tyre and the Ferrari Car,F2007 last year. On the other hand,he also tried to change his driving style gradually.He was once called "the Engine Killer",which was a extremely ironic title.But right now he knows how to control the race especially when he is leading at 1st place of a race instead of driving the car radically in the whole race all the time.He knows the reliablity is the most critical factor of winning a Grand Prix,and the World Championship as well. No matter he is in favorable circumstances or in adverse circumstances, he is always extraordinarily calm.Last year,he ultimately got his first world champion by one point versus Lewis Hamilton. I resolutely believe that his darkest days have passed away and he’ll be sure to accomplish the champion retrieval during your 2nd year in Ferrari Team!
P.S. If probably,can u tell me your MSN address or E-mail address,and I can add u on MSN.
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Hi~this is the first time i visit your space , it’s so attrcative to me! it’s so great that kimi nao is taking the championship lead!
by the way,a video about bahrain (a collection of choice specimens)(maybe call this )
i’m so sorry for my poor english~
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