.:: 2010 Bahrain GP - 12-13-14 March ::.

.:: 2010 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX ::.

Welcome to the 2010 Bahrain GP Thread. cjek and mjk1 will keep the thread updated with the latest times as they happen.

RANDOM FACT

Despite there already being six races at the Sakhir International Circuit, McLaren have never won in Bahrain.

CIRCUIT STATS

2010 Race Number: 1
Circuit Event Number: 7
Circuit Length: 3.914 miles
Number of Laps: 49
Lap Record: N/A

2009 Podium:
1. Jenson Button (Brawn GP)
2. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing)
3. Jarno Trulli (Toyota)

POINTS OF DISCUSSION

1. Formula One is back with a bang, and with so many big stories over the Winter, which was the biggest for you?
2. Michael Schumacher returns after a three-year hiatus from the sport - what do you expect him to achieve for this year?
3. The new season sees a change to the points system - what are your views on this?
4. There is also a ban on refueling - has your opinion changed from the Abu Dhabi GP?
5. Which of the new drivers are you expecting the most from: Nico Hulkenberg (Williams), Vitaly Petrov (Renault), Jaime Alguersuari (for full season, Toro Rosso), Karun Chandhok (HRT), Bruno Senna (HRT), Kamui Kobayashi (for full season, BMW-Sauber) or Lucas di Grassi (Virgin Racing)?
6. What about the new teams: Lotus Racing, HRT or Virgin Racing?
7. The layout of the Bahrain GP is changed - do you feel this will add more excitment to the race or is it too much to ask?
8. Have you missed XSamFisherX's witty comments to my points of discussion?
9. Lastly, who is your money on to become World Champion of 2010?

SCHEDULE FOR WEEKEND (All times UK)

Friday 12 Mar: Practice 1 0700-0830; Practice 2 1100-1230

Sat 13 Mar: Practice 3 0800-0900; Qualifying 1100

Sun 14 Mar: Race 1200

WEEKEND WEATHER

FRIDAY: Sunny, Max 33 deg. cent.
SATURDAY: Sunny, Max 36 deg. cent.
SUNDAY: Sunny, Max 37 deg. cent.

PRESS CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

THURSDAY:Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), Jenson Button (McLaren), Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), Felipe Massa (Ferrari) & Michael Schumacher (Mercedes). 12PM GMT.

FRIDAY:Lucas di Grassi (Virgin), Nico Hulkenberg (Williams), Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus), Robert Kubica (Renault) & Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull). 1PM GMT.

BBC CIassic GP's
1978 Argentine GP | 1982 South African GP | 1984 Brazilian GP | 1990 US GP | 2009 Bahrain GP
Extended Highlights: 1982 South African GP

The Red Light: Bahrain GP Preview

BBC Presents the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix

PREVIOUS SESSIONS
Practice 1
Practice 2
Qualifying
Race
Forum

7. If you look at it close enough, the new part looks like a snake trying to eat its tail.XSamFisherX

19 minutes in and already he's already got me laughing! :lol:

1. The uselesness of certain teams to get a car or two onto the race track.
   
2. If the new Mercedes car allows it, I expect he should challenge for regular race wins, but with a return to low fuel quali I expect Mark Webber and Sebastien Vettel to be taking the lion's share of pole positions.
   
3. It was necessary to look after the new teams and make sure there will be enough points to go around.
   
4. I still don't really see how it will spice up the racing given that: The fastest car starts first. It's hard to overtake. All the front runners are within about 1 second of each other in raw pace. The engines are very very very close in terms of performance and fuel economy.
   
5. Nico Hulkenberg has done well in lower categories (most noteably for me A1GP) so I expect good things from him. Kamui Kobayashi has impressed me in both testing and his two races for Toyota so I expect results from him. Senna has the name and some results in lower categories so he should go well but he wont have the car. Jaime Alguersuari will have more to prove given the Toro Rosso is getting to be closer to the front. As for the other two, I don't really know much about them and given they're racing for new teams I don't think we will see them.
   
6. Lotus looks alright and has the best drivers, Virgin has a good looking car and a good driver and HRT probably has the best car of the three but we don't know yet. I predict HRT having more pace than the other two teams once the set-up work is complete, whether that's before quali I don't know.
   
7. It's tight, it's twisty, all it does is add some complexity to the circuit and help level the playing field.
8. Who hasn't?
9. Alonso or Vettel.... or Schumi.... or Massa.... I DOOONNNNN'T KNNNOOOOOOOW

1. Toss up between Schumacher's return and Button to McLaren
2. Podium finishes including race wins but probably not the title - oh yeah and I expect him to show Rosberg who's "da boss"
3. A change for the better - more incentive to win rather than settle for second can only be a good thing
4. I was unhappy about this when it was first announced but having thought about it some more it does add extra dimensions to the whole event so now prepared to give it a fair go
5. Kobayashi or Senna
6. Lotus
7. We can hope :)
8. As someone else said - who hasn't??
9. Hamilton or Alonso

The BBC F1 Team on...

Jenson Button vs. Lewis Hamilton

Return of Michael Schumacher

New rules of 2010

New teams of 2010

Who will be World Champion?

1. Biggest story for me was Schumacher's return definitely.

2. The Mercedes is set for some major upgrades, and according to some estimates it's already quicker than we think. Schumi could pick up some wins this season, but I don't think the car is a title contender.

3. (+) The new point system awards more drivers, (+) The ratio between points has increased, so wins are more rewarding, (-) Still not enough cars awarded points. The championship tables epically fail at ranking drivers and teams when half the grid is ignored. It's an improvement though, and I'm glad they defied the traditionalists who crave their 10-6-4-3-2-1 system which is just boring and elitist.

4. Refuelling ban should be interesting. I'm on the fence until we see what effect it has on strategy.

5. I expect Hulkenburg to be at least challenging Barrichello.

6. Lotus are more reliable, Virgin are faster but the car falls to pieces, and HRT haven't fire up the engine once. I say Lotus will come out top; they'll finish last, but at least they'll finish.

7. It will take a lot for the Bahrain Grand Prix to be spiced up. I'm trying to be optimistic, but it will take some bizarre incidents for it to be a c.lassic.

8. Yes.

9. Hamilton.

Alain Prost is to act as a steward this weekend, alongside three of the more traditional steward types. Also the WMSC will be discussing the 107% rule this weekend which has a lot of support from the FIA to weed out slow teams during qualifying.mjk1

Erm... I'm pretty sure those slow cars will already be going out of Q1 as it is. Bringing back the 107% rule just means less cars for the race, and a worthless effort for all those new teams to actually make it to the grid.

[QUOTE="mjk1"]Alain Prost is to act as a steward this weekend, alongside three of the more traditional steward types. Also the WMSC will be discussing the 107% rule this weekend which has a lot of support from the FIA to weed out slow teams during qualifying.Redders1989

Erm... I'm pretty sure those slow cars will already be going out of Q1 as it is. Bringing back the 107% rule just means less cars for the race, and a worthless effort for all those new teams to actually make it to the grid.

If it does get FIA backing it will also have to be agreed by all teams which won't happen so this rule probably won't be in place this season. For next season it need a 70% approval vote which could happen.

[QUOTE="Redders1989"]

[QUOTE="mjk1"]Alain Prost is to act as a steward this weekend, alongside three of the more traditional steward types. Also the WMSC will be discussing the 107% rule this weekend which has a lot of support from the FIA to weed out slow teams during qualifying.mjk1

Erm... I'm pretty sure those slow cars will already be going out of Q1 as it is. Bringing back the 107% rule just means less cars for the race, and a worthless effort for all those new teams to actually make it to the grid.

If it does get FIA backing it will also have to be agreed by all teams which won't happen so this rule probably won't be in place this season. For next season it need a 70% approval vote which could happen.

Well yeah - none of the new teams would agree since they would be the ones to suffer for it!

New FOM Graphics being used - first change in 6 years.Redders1989

They look pretty nice, no running order graphic on the left of the screen though. I'm sure they'll have one at some point.

The first session of 2010 is complete. No drama to report it seems, but good to see the cars on track again.

Obviously it's understandable, but that Hispania just looked horrific.Redders1989

Didn't it just - I was watching it via the internet ( inbetween getting the kids ready for school :P ) and well, it'll be scary how many times they get lapped even in the reduced number of laps that this race now is.

"Now Jean, you're one of the 18 World Champions here for the once-in-a-lifetime gath... oh wait, you're not!"

:lol:

HRT an incredible 12.5 seconds of the pace !mjk1

Maybe it would help if Senna gets out and pushes :lol:

Karun Chandhok again failed to take part in practice - and, as a result, now cannot participate in qualifying or the race (as a driver must do a minimum of three practice laps). Therefore the Indian will have to wait until Australia to get to drive the HRT.

Interesting - Chandhok's preparing to go out in Qualifying :?

QUALIFYING RESULT

os  Driver         Team                   Q1        Q2        Q3       
 1.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault       1:55.029  1:53.883  1:54.101  
 2.  Massa          Ferrari                1:55.313  1:54.331  1:54.242 
 3.  Alonso         Ferrari                1:54.612  1:54.172  1:54.608 
 4.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes       1:55.341  1:54.707  1:55.217 
 5.  Rosberg        Mercedes               1:55.463  1:54.682  1:55.241 
 6.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault       1:55.298  1:54.318  1:55.284 
 7.  Schumacher     Mercedes               1:55.593  1:55.105  1:55.524 
 8.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1:55.715  1:55.168  1:55.672 
 9.  Kubica         Renault                1:55.511  1:54.963  1:55.885 
10.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes   1:55.213  1:54.996  1:56.309 
11.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth      1:55.969  1:55.330 
12.  Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes   1:55.628  1:55.653 
13.  Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth      1:56.375  1:55.857 
14.  de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari         1:56.428  1:56.237 
15.  Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:56.189  1:56.265 
16.  Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari         1:56.541  1:56.270 
17.  Petrov         Renault                1:56.167  1:56.619 
18.  Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:57.071
19.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth        1:59.728
20.  Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth         1:59.852
21.  Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth         2:00.313
22.  di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth        2:00.587
23.  Senna          HRT-Cosworth           2:03.240
24.  Chandhok       HRT-Cosworth           2:04.904

All Timing Unofficial

AUTOSPORT 

Karun Chandhok again failed to take part in practice - and, as a result, now cannot participate in qualifying or the race (as a driver must do a minimum of three practice laps). Therefore the Indian will have to wait until Australia to get to drive the HRT.

Interesting - Chandhok's preparing to go out in Qualifying :?

Redders1989

you sure about this ? I thought he has to participate in qualifying, which he did, so he can participate in the race.  

[QUOTE="Redders1989"]

Karun Chandhok again failed to take part in practice - and, as a result, now cannot participate in qualifying or the race (as a driver must do a minimum of three practice laps). Therefore the Indian will have to wait until Australia to get to drive the HRT.

Interesting - Chandhok's preparing to go out in Qualifying :?

mjk1

you sure about this ? I thought he has to participate in qualifying, which he did, so he can participate in the race.

Yeah, the rule changed late last year - I wasn't aware of the change.

HRT still doing their shakedown tests in the first period of qualifying, with a driver that has never driven the car before :?

Maybe there should be a pre-season check event carried out by the FIA to ensure all cars are actually ready to race at the start of the season. At best they will be totally uncompetitive and a laughing stock, at worst be a danger on the track to other racers in a slow untested car with drivers lacking in F1 driving experience.

On a positive note I was very glad to see Massa right up there leading the qualifying times, and has made a full recovery. Medical reports can tell you only so much, but seeing his times on the track the crash hasn't held him back.

"I saw that I was P4 but I didn't know that there was loads of people behind me."Lewis Hamilton

*Facepalm*

So guys, how many people will run out of fuel before the end of the race?

Ferrari have changed the engines in both Alonso and Massa's cars - the team have said the engines were both showing "worrying characteristics".

Vettel must feel gutted..

Mediocore. That's how I sum up the opening round of this year's championship.General-Doug

Agreed!

Dotd: Vettel probably should have won even though he may not have had the fastest car

Sotd: Chandok just because it takes alot of guts to start an F1 race with so little track time, plus he seemed like a stand up guy whenever the bbc spoke to him

DotD: Liuzzi

SotD: Kovalainen

I think the teams will be clever enough to not let that happen, however I have heard that HRT are running with steel brakes, which would explain any brake wear issues they may have. It's also been said that some of their suspension components are also made of steel and covered with carbon fibre. If these things are both true then once they sort carbon brakes and wishbones we should see them gain alot more momentum, given how much weight will be saved.KimisApprentice

Bruno Senna said the car would be 20kg lighter when they switch their components to carbon fibre 

VETTEL HIT BY ENGINE, NOT EXHAUST ISSUE

Red Bull Racing has revealed that Sebastian Vettel's chances of winning the Bahrain Grand Prix were hit by an engine problem, and not by an issue with the exhaust as the team initially reported.

Vettel was leading the event from Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa when he reported a loss of power in his Renault engine.

Although the team initially believed the problem was in the exhaust, further analysis has revealed that in fact it was an eletrical problem with the engine.

The team said, however, that there had been no damage to the unit.

After the problem, Vettel dropped three places and finished the race in fourth position while Ferrari went on to score a one-two.

AUTOSPORT

[QUOTE="General-Doug"]Mediocore. That's how I sum up the opening round of this year's championship.SadPSPAddict

Agreed!

I would sum up today's race as a procession - the only excitement seemed to come through either driver error or mechanical failure - neither of which are things you should be hoping for. Apart from that there was very little overtaking, and now with teams taking just one extra short pit stop there seems to be even less opportunity for pit strategy to impact the race result.

The initial 2-3 laps have their usual level of unpredictability, but once that is over the cars settled down into order to complete race distance. There is not enough difference between last year's teams to allow them to really overtake each other, and now with the cars being so heavy from the start and all getting lighter at the same rate, the cars at the front just tend to maintain or grow the gap to the cars behind.

For the new teams it is almost like having GP2 cars on the circuit having their own race. While they can to some extent compete with each other they are so far off the pace of the main teams, that having them on the track serves little more than an overtaking obstacle when it comes to lapping them. While you can't expect much from a brand new team, seeing both Virgin and both HRT cars retire within 18 laps is a very poor performance.

HRT were not ready for this race, and how did Karun Chandhok get to compete in a race having never driven his car before qualifying? That really shouldn't be allowed to happen. I would be very much in favour of some kind of test for new teams before they can compete - run atleast 100 flying laps in practice sessions before the start of the season to atleast demonstrate to the FIA and other teams that the car they have is suitable to compete. Having a totally untested car in a race is doing no-one any favours.

Lotus to their credit did do much better from a reliability standpoint, finishing the race (or atleast 95% of it for Trulli), though fastest lap times were still several seconds behind any of last years teams.

As I said after qualifying, it is great to see Massa back on form and fully recovered. From comments after the race thought it sounds like his Ferrari has quite a thirst, and needed to be eased off for the majority of the race.

From the teams point of view it is pretty much as it was at the end of last season:

McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes competing over the top spots.

Force India, BMW, Renault, Williams and Toro Rosso fighting over the last of the points positions.

and the new entrants just trying to complete the race

ECCLESTONE HAILS "EPIC" RACE

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has claimed that yesterday's Bahrain GP was a success.

The 79 year-old feels that the new section of the circuit added all the excitment that was lacking from the Sakhir circuit.

"I've not seen a spectacle like that since the Schumacher years of 2002 and 2004 - it was brilliant!" said a jubilant Ecclestone.

"The fact that the drivers could run on tyres through just one pit stop was incredible, and shows how advanced the technology is in our sport.

"I hope F1 can be proud of what it accomplished today."

When asked about the mainly processional race where hardly anything happened... at all... unless you were in a new team and pulling off the side of the track, Ecclestone seemed bemused.

"Who's been calling it boring? The people who kiss my feet agreed with me that it was a great show for F1, and even Mosley called me up about it and started screaming "JA! JA! JA!".

"The fact the drivers stayed so close to each other and couldn't pull moves off just show how evenly matched everyone is."

Ecclestone was also pleased with the new teams' performance, although he was disappointed with Kovalainen's result.

"The FIA ensured three new teams came in so we had people to laugh at for being totally awful, but [Heikki] ruined that today by making it to the chequered flag.

"I entrust Lotus to stick magnets in to his car for Australia, and I will ensure organisers of Albert Park stick some in the walls."

Ecclestone was then taken to a local medical facility where he was diagnosed with idiocy.

SOURCE: My Imagination

"I entrust Lotus to stick magnets in to his car for Australia, and I will ensure organisers of Albert Park stick some in the walls."

Redders1989

Funny :lol: I was believing that until the magnets :lol: