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

Lewis Loses It As Ferrari Fly

Friday Practice 2 delivered the same as what the earlier session had promised – Ferrari dominance. Massa and Raikkonen once again topped the times table, finishing first and second respectively.

But, while pushing to dislodge Ferrari’s stranglehold at the top of the timing sheet, Lewis Hamilton lost control and slid at speed into the barrier. He was already running fourth fastest, just behind team-mate Kovalainen. Felipe Massa has yet to finish a race this season, but so far in Bahrain, he has proved himself as the man to beat. Ultimately though, it’s what they do in qualifying tomorrow what matters.

Kimi Raikkonen Takes Sepang Win

Photos courtesy of Formula One Administation

Well, it wasn’t quite as eventful as Melbourne, but Sepang threw up a couple of surprises which ended up seeing Kimi Raikkonen on the top step of the podium.Polesitter Felipe Massa was sitting in second place before he span it out half way through the race (Picture, top left). Robert Kubica gained, to take second place, and BMW’s second successive podium finish (Picture, bottom right). Heikki Kovalainen took the final place on the podium, which was a good finish considering he started eighth.

Result of the day, though, goes to Jarno Trulli. Many people had written Toyota off at the start of this year, but he qualified fifth fastest (being promoted to third after McLaren’s penalty) and finished just outside the podium places. Team mate Timo Glock, however, got spun round by Rosberg on the opening lap, (picture, bottom left) and the team didn’t want him to stay out. As for Rosberg, following last week’s superb podium finish, his tangle with Glock meant that he needed a new nose cone, and came in a lowly 17th.

No points either for Toro Rosso or Force India. Sutil limped off after a couple of laps with a mechanical fault, and Fisichella could manage only twelfth. Neither Toro Rosso managed to finish the race, with Vettel’s Ferrari engine giving up (picture, top right) and Bourdais was unable to follow-up his two points in Melbourne.

Hamilton came fifth, meaning that McLaren still managed to get both drivers into point scoring positions. Lewis did have a problem in the pits, when the mechanics were unable to get the front-right wheel off the car. For now, McLaren still have the edge over Ferrari, but after Kimi’s torrid weekend in Australia, he’s turned it around and lies three points behind Lewis Hamilton. The normally-scolding heat of Bahrain is coming up in two weeks time – who will have the edge in Sakhir?

Classification
1. K RAIKKONEN 1:31:18.555
2. R Kubica +19.5
3. H Kovalainen +38.4
4. J Trulli +45.8
5. L Hamilton +46.5
6. N Heidfeld +49.8
7. M Webber +1:08.1
8. F Alonso +1:10.0
9. D Coulthard +1:16.2
10. J Button +1:26.2
11. N Piquet +1:32.2
12. G Fisichella +1 Lap
13. R Barrichello +1 Lap
14. N Rosberg +1 Lap
15. A Davidson +1 Lap
16. T Sato +2 Laps
17. K Nakajima +2 Laps

Not Classified
S Vettel
F Massa
A Sutil
T Glock
S Bourdais

McLaren Under Investigation As Massa Takes Pole

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa is in a perfect position to repeat last year’s victory. He was on pole position in 2007 and went on to take the chequered flag. Kimi Raikkonen makes it an all-Ferrari front row, and if Heikki or Lewis are going to grab a win for McLaren, they will have to fight for it. Jarno Trulli qualified an excellent fifth, and Timo Glock also made the final qualifying session.

The McLaren drivers though, have been the source of complaints from Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso. Something that’s cropped up this year which we haven’t seen before are these “three-minute laps” that drivers set once they’ve set their qualifying time. They cruise round at very slow speeds to save fuel, and this can pose a risk to drivers approaching at full speed. Nick and Fernando claim their final hot laps were spoiled by the slow-moving McLarens.

Heidfeld: “Before turn four I lost a lot of time because both McLarens were cruising on the racing line. I think this has cost me about two tenths of a second, which would have meant being third instead of seventh.” Footage of Heidfeld being “impeded” can be found here. Judge for yourselves. Nick also claims he couldn’t brake where he wanted to as a result of McLaren’s cruising. If McLaren are ruled to be impeding, they could both face grid penalties.

After Red Bull’s escapade in Friday practice, the stewards have decided to take no further action. Red Bull did face exclusion from the race after David Coulthard’s car fell apart due to a track rod failure, but team boss Christian Horner has called it an “isolated incident”, and after presenting their case to the race stewards, they are free to race. Good job too, as Mark Webber qualified a very handy 8th place.

1. F Massa – 1:35.748
2. K Raikkonen – 1:36.230
3. H Kovalainen – 1:36.613
4. L Hamilton – 1:36.709
5. J Trulli – 1:36.711
6. R Kubica – 1:36.727
7. N Heidfeld – 1:36.753
8. M Webber – 1:37.009
9. F Alonso – 1:38.450
10. T Glock – 1:39.656
—
11. J Button – 1:35.208
12. D Coulthard – 1:35.408
13. N Piquet – 1:35.562
14. R Barrichello – 1:35.622
15. S Vettel – 1:35.648
16. N Rosberg – 1:35.670
—
17. G Fisichella – 1:36.240
18. K Nakajima – 1:36.388
19. S Bourdais – 1:36.677
20. T Sato – 1:37.087
21. A Sutil – 1:37.101
22. A Davidson – 1:37.481

2008 Drivers – Part 1/11: Ferrari

Kimi Raikkonen

Nationality: Finnish

DOB: 17/10/79

Races: 122

Wins: 15

Podums: 48

Pole Positions: 14

Total Career Points: 456

 

 

Felipe Massa

Nationality: Brazilian

DOB : 25/04/81

Races: 88

Wins: 5

Podiums: 17

Pole Positions: 9

Total Career Points: 201

 

 

Kimi Raikkonen raced just twenty times in Formula Renault before being picked up by the Sauber team in 2001 to race in Formula One. After one season at Sauber, he spent five years filling the boots of fellow Finn Mika Hakkinen at McLaren, where he got the nickname “Iceman”, for his supposed calmness behind the wheel. His first Formula One win came at the 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix, a season that would him see him miss winning the Championship by just two points.

 

In 2007, he took the place of a certain seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher. Some wondered whether he could fill his mighty German boots, but a fascinating 2007 season saw Kimi take the Championship by a single point and grab his first Championship. It is the way Kimi never gave up hope and battled to the end, mixed with Ferrari’s incredible reliability record that gives Kimi a great chance to retain his title.

 

PREDICTION: 1^st

 

Felipe Massa spent 2001 as a test driver at Sauber, where he would get to know Kimi Raikkonen in their early careers. It was in 2002 where Massa made his debut for Sauber, before becoming Ferrari test driver, than returning to Sauber for two years. He made his Ferrari debut in 2006 and finished a respectable third in the Championship; a year in which Felipe saw his first podium finish – a third place in the European GP – and indeed his first victory, taking the chequered flag in the Turkish GP.

 

He followed this up with a fourth place in 2007, where he was once again teamed up with Kimi Raikkonen. Massa won three races, one race more than the previous season, but could not advance on his position. In his 35 races at Ferrari, he has retired just four times, and one of them was a Black Flag. Ferrari have tremendous reliability; reliability that make them reigning constructor champions, but I’m not so sure Felipe has got it in him to be the next champion.

 

And, interesting fact – Mr. Massa goes into the 2008 season as a husband, having married Anna Rafaela Bassi at the end of 2007.

 

PREDICTION: 4^th