Race
Qualifying
Saturday Practice
Friday Practice 2
Friday Practice 1
History
Race Report And Classification
Photos courtesy of Formula One Administration
Massa couldn’t quite do it in qualifying, but his pace was just too much on raceday, as he comfortably led almost from the very off to collect his first win, and first points of the season (pic, bottom left). He was past Kubica after a couple of corners, and Robert then dropped down to third after Kimi Raikkonen overtook him. After the pit stops (pic, bottom right), it was smooth running for Ferrari.
Lewis Hamilton’s race took a nosedive right from the beginning. He got off the grid badly, and dropped seven places. On Lap 2, he ran into the back of former team-mate Fernando Alonso (pic, top left). ITV immediately took Hamilton’s side, claiming that Alonso was “brake-testing” Hamilton, and that he intended to cause an incident. (Interestingly, on the ITV Website, they claim that only the “more cynical viewers” would assume such a thing) Either way, it didn’t get much better as Lewis coasted around Sakhir to finish in thirteenth place.
Lewis’ shunt with Alonso on Lap 2
It rounded off a bad day for McLaren, as Heikki Kovalainen could only manage fifth place behind Nick Heidfeld’s BMW in fourth. Jarno Trulli drove a solid race in the Toyota and finished in sixth. Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg rounded off the point finishers.
Only three drivers failed to finish. Sebastian Vettel failed to get to the end of lap one, while Jenson Button collided with David Coulthard at the back of the grid (pic, top right). Nelsinho Piquet’s Renault gave up the ghost towards the end of the race with a gearbox failure.
Felipe Massa’s first win of the 2007 season also came at Sakhir, and if you don’t remember, he followed it up with victory in Spain a couple of weeks later. Is he going to do it again, or will Kimi or Lewis mount more of a challenge?
1. F MASSA – 1:31:06.970
2. K Raikkonen +3.3
3. R Kubica +4.9
4. N Heidfeld +8.4
5. H Kovalainen +26.7
6. J Trulli +41.3
7. M Webber +45.4
8. N Rosberg +55.8
9. T Glock +1:09.5
10. F Alonso +1:17.1
11. R Barrichello +1:17.8
12. G Fisichella +1 Lap
13. L Hamilton +1 Lap
14. K Nakajima +1 Lap
15. S Bourdais +1 Lap
16. A Davidson +1 Lap
17. T Sato +1 Lap
18. D Coulthard +1 Lap
19. A Sutil +2 Laps
Not Classified
N Piquet
J Button
S Vettel
Qualifying
Felipe Massa only had eyes on the pole – but didn’t take into consideration the other Pole.
BMW’s Polish driver Robert Kubica took the top grid spot in Sakhir by less than three hundredths of a second, to secure his, and BMW’s first ever pole position.
Lewis Hamilton managed to outqualify his teammate Heikki Kovalainen and they picked up third and fourth. Jarno Trulli once again impressed in the Toyota, grabbing seventh place behind Nick Heidfeld. Jenson Button is in a great position to pick up his first points of the season, qualifying in ninth place.
1. R Kubica – 1:33.096
2. F Massa – 1:33.123
3. L Hamilton – 1:33.292
4. K Raikkonen – 1:33.418
5. H Kovalainen – 1:33.488
6. N Heidfeld – 1:33.737
7. J Trulli – 1:33.994
8. N Rosberg – 1:34.015
9. J Button – 1:35.057
10. F Alonso – 1:35.115
——–
11. M Webber – 1:32.371
12. R Barrichello – 1:32.508
13. T Glock – 1:32.5281
14. N Piquet – 1:32.790
15. S Bourdais – 1:32.915
16. K Nakajima – 1:32.943
——–
17. D Coulthard – 1:33.433
18. G Fisichella – 1:33.501
19. S Vettel – 1:33.562
20. A Sutil – 1:33.845
21. A Davidson – 1:34.140
22. T Sato 1:35.725
Saturday Practice
1. N Rosberg – 1:32.521
2. F Massa – 1:32.726
3. M Webber – 1:32.742
4. J Trulli – 1:32.901
5. D Coulthard – 1:32.918
6. K Nakajima – 1:33.020
7. R Kubica – 1:33.024
8. N Piquet – 1:33.074
9. K Raikkonen – 1:33.237
10. H Kovalainen – 1:33.367
11. S Bourdais – 1:33.372
12. G Fisichella – 1:33.392
13. F Alonso – 1:33.445
14. R Barrichello – 1:33.551
15. T Glock – 1:33.595
16. J Button – 1:33.600
17. S Vettel – 1:33.651
18. L Hamilton – 1:33.659
19. A Sutil – 1:33.857
20. N Heidfeld – 1:34.074
21. A Davidson – 1:34.591
22. T Sato – 1:34.952
Friday Practice 2
Lewis Hamilton puts his McLaren into the barrier with ten minutes of the session remaining.
Photo courtesy of Formula One Administration
2. K Raikkonen – 1:32.327
3. H Kovalainen – 1:32.752
4. L Hamilton – 1:32.847
5. R Kubica – 1:32.915
6. N Rosberg – 1:33.022
7. D Coulthard – 1:33.048
8. K Nakajima – 1:33.098
9. S Bourdais – 1:33.197
10. N Piquet – 1:33.247
11. J Button – 1:33.710
12. F Alonso – 1:33.755
13. M Webber – 1:33.782
14. J Trulli – 1:33.822
15. T Glock – 1:33.856
16. R Barrichello – 1:33.966
17. N Heidfeld – 1:34.023
18. G Fisichella – 1:34.388
19. A Sutil – 1:34.405
20. S Vettel – 1:34.787
21. T Sato – 1:35.288
22. A Davidson – 1:35.712
Friday Practice 1
1. F Massa – 1:32.233
2. K Raikkonen – 1:32.350
3. N Rosberg – 1:32.415
4. L Hamilton – 1:32.705
5. H Kovalainen – 1:32.868
6. K Nakajima – 1:33.121
7. R Kubica – 1:33.333
8. J Trulli – 1:33.539
9. D Coulthard – 1:33.788
10. F Alonso – 1:33.815
11. T Glock – 1:33.929
12. M Webber – 1:33.950
13. N Piquet – 1:33.981
14. N Heidfeld – 1:34.106
15. S Bourdais – 1:34.235
16. S Vettel – 1:34.321
17. G Fisichella – 1:34.862
18. J Button – 1:34.915
19. R Barrichello – 1:35.174
20. A Sutil – 1:35.429
21. A Davidson – 1:36.145
22. T Sato – 1:36.536
History
The Bahrain International Circuit is one of the newer circuits on the F1 calendar, having been introduced in the 2004 season. The circuit wasn’t quite complete, but Bernie Ecclestone refused to put the GP back a year. It was suitable, but not finished, but still managed to win the “Best Organised Grand Prix” award.
The first race was won by Michael Schumacher, before Fernando Alonso won it two years on the bounce, and it was in that 2006 season where Bahrain opened the Formula One season. Traditionally, Australia opens the season but the Commonwealth Games were taking place, so it was put down the calendar a couple of races. It was at Bahrain in 2006 where Midland, BMW Sauber, Toro Rosso and Super Aguri all made their debut races.
In 2005, Bahrain hosted what turned out to be the hottest ever Grand Prix, with air temperatures of a massive 42°C, and track temperature up to an astonishing 56°C!
Unlike in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, alcoholic drinks are legal in Bahrain. Despite this, after the race, the drivers do not spray champagne on the podium. They spray a non-alcoholic rosewater drink called “Waard”.
Sakhir is arguably one of the safest circuits in Formula 1. The run-off areas on the track are huge, and sand is a long way off the circuit, and without traction control this season, some drivers may be thankful for them. Felipe Massa won it last year, can he repeat that feat?
