Massa Takes Win In Bahrain GP

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

FIA’s New Qualifying Rule

Following this story on Toro Bloggo after Sepang, the FIA have decided to do something about it.

You may remember the third session of qualifying at Sepang; Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen were relegated five grid places for “impeding” Fernando Alonso and Nick Heidfeld while they were on flying laps. To save fuel, drivers trundle round the track at a fraction of the regular speed, posing a danger to drivers still on their flying lap. Following this, the FIA have decided to impose a rule that states the drivers must complete their in-lap in a pre-determined time.

An FIA spokesman said “Our clarification to the teams and drivers will be that cars returning to the pits having completed their flying lap or laps will be required to do so within a time we will set. This could be approximately 120% of the normal time.” There’s no question, cars going round the track in 3 minutes is dangerous, and thankfully the FIA have done something before it’s too late.

Alonso Could Leave Renault – Hardly News

Splashed across the front page of the BBC’s motorsport section is the breaking news that Fernando Alonso “could leave Renault at the end of the season”.

Are you surprised? I’m not, and I think it was quite obvious that this was a “gap year” for Fernando as he looks to go to Ferrari in 2009. Fernando is a very good driver, but he moans no end… he did nothing but complain at McLaren (Hamilton was no better, by the way), and after just one race this season, he has written off his and Renault’s Championship hopes, and he now says “I have an option to leave so I can be in the best possible car, and it is clear Ferrari is one of the best.”

At the end of 2007, Fernando stated his intentions to leave McLaren, and the only places it looked like he could go was Renault, Toyota or Force India. He went back to Renault, with the hope their car for this year was better, but it doesn’t seem to have moved forward at all.

The only thing is, Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa are contracted to Ferrari for 2009. So if Fernando wants that big drive (which he did have last year, but he just couldn’t be bothered with it all), he’s going to have to impress at Renault in the next two years.

2008 Drivers – Part 3/11: Renault

Fernando Alonso
Nationality: Spanish
DOB: 29/07/81
Races: 105
Wins: 19
Podums: 49
Pole Positions: 17
Total Career Points: 490

Nelsinho Piquet
Nationality: Brazilian
DOB : 25/07/85
Races: 0
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Pole Positions: 0
Total Career Points: 0

Fernando, full name Fernando Alonso Diaz, is one of the biggest names in Formula One this decade, and still has plenty of years left in him. In 2001, Alonso became the third-youngest driver to ever start a race when he signed up for a season at Minardi. Here, he failed to score, but was rewarded with a test drive at Renault for 2002, and was promoted to the main seat in 2003. It was in 2003 where Alonso got his name on the board, by achieving four podium finishes, including his first ever race win, at Hungary.

He stayed with Renault in 2004. He failed to win a race but nevertheless improved his overall position, getting fourth place. In 2005, Renault broke their own personal sound barrier and Alonso stormed the championship, winning seven races, and only failing to make the podium four times. Here, Alonso became the youngest-ever winner of a Championship, taking the world title at the age of 24. He won it again the year after, becoming the youngest double winner. He then partnered Lewis Hamilton at McLaren in 2007, where Alonso finished just one point off a third championship in a row. Now, in 2008, back with a Renault team that failed to impress last season, Fernando hopes to make another title challenge, but I don’t think he’ll have a car that will suit him.

PREDICTION: 5th

Nelson Piquet won the Formula One Championship in 1981, 1983 and 1987. Now, his son, Nelsinho Piquet (also referred to as Nelson Piquet Jr.) is at Renault, hoping to match that feat. In 2001, Nelsinho started racing in Formula 3, following several years of karting. In 2002, he started racing in South American F3, where he became champion, and followed it up with a third place in British Formula 3 in 2003; a championship he would win in 2004, and become the youngest-ever driver to do so. Also in 2004, he first handled an F1 car, testing for Williams. He raced for Team Brazil in the A1 GP in 2005, before returning to GP2, where he finished runner-up to a certain Lewis Hamilton.

He returned to F1 testing in 2007 where he was test driver for Renault. Since then, he has been promoted to partner two-time champion Alonso in the race seats. Piquet isn’t totally new to this, so he may well strike up a few points, but I cannot see a race win on the horizon just yet.

PREDICTION: 10th