Felipe Massa needed a win in Bahrain, and all weekend he looked like a man who had come to get it. When the red lights went out at the start, he lit off from the front row of the grid, and that was all she wrote as he dominated in style for Ferrari.
BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica lost second place to Kimi Raikkonen on the third lap, and from then on, pit stops apart, it was an easy one-two for Ferrari.
The start also set the pattern for McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton. He was very slow away, and ended the opening lap in 10th place. Then he clobbered the back of Fernando Alonso’s Renault, and the resultant pit stop for a new nose put him into a cycle of running a heavy fuel load in traffic for the rest of a frustrating afternoon in which he took only 13th place and lost his world championship points lead.
In Ferrari’s wake, BMW Sauber showed that they had the speed to beat McLaren, Nick Heidfeld pushing hard after his team mate to take fourth place, having set fastest lap at one stage before Heikki Kovalainen annexed it during an undramatic drive to fifth in a McLaren that simply wasn’t fast enough.
Toyota’s Jarno Trulli grabbed sixth and held on to it comfortably from Red Bull’s Mark Webber and Williams’ Nico Rosberg, who completed the points scorers.
Alonso survived his brush with Hamilton to take 10th place, unable to stay with ninth-placed Timo Glock in the second Toyota, and by the finish he had a hungry Rubens Barrichello breathing down his neck in the Honda. The Brazilian had earlier fought with and beaten fast-starting Giancarlo Fisichella, who took 12th ahead of Hamilton for Force India.
Kazuki Nakajima was a lacklustre 14th for Williams, ahead of Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Bourdais and the battling Super Aguri teamsters Anthony Davidson and Takuma Sato. David Coulthard was delayed in an early incident and finished 18th for Red Bull, ahead of Adrian Sutil in the second Force India.
Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel retired on the first lap with a mechanical problem, while Jenson Button’s hopes were dashed by the need for a pit stop for damage repair at the end of the opening lap, and another after a passing move on Coulthard went drastically wrong.
The other non-finisher was Nelson Piquet, whose Renault succumbed to mechanical problems.
The result puts Raikkonen into the lead of the world championship for drivers with 19 points, ahead of Heidfeld on 16, Hamilton, Kubica and Kovalainen on 14, and Massa on 10. In the constructors’ chase, BMW Sauber lead with 30, ahead of Ferrari on 29 and McLaren on 28.
I honestly think ferrari can win this if they can put an end to those stupid reliability problems.
Im very happy for massa, he was under an awful lot of pressure today and i was praying for him not to make another mistake. I think if he puts up a good fight this year, perhaps out fighting kimi, he will stay at ferrari. At the moment he doesnt seem to have much support though.
BMW are overtaking mclaren imo. They have some solid drivers and the car looks good too.
btw mark, no need to put spoilers because the title has spoilers in it. Great work in this thread though
sig by shinx04
Quality > Quantity
which is why we give active members who post quality, media and pic room access.
and your right BMW are very solid in the moment and they have a very speedy and talented pilot in the name of Robert Kubica, who, i just started to like him evan more when i see him drive and i think it's a solution for replaceing Massa next season if needed.
evan the commentators say that the problem at McLaren it's Alonso's exit, they say that he before every GP was setting up the car and Hamilton just followed his setup's always, and now when this job falled down on his shoulders as nr. 1 pilot in the team he just found it very difficult to dealt with.
will see in the future how the sitiuation will develop, for the moment let's enjoy Ferrari's double
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Is there any news on whether Hamilton and McLaren are trying to get a look at Alonso's telemetry? I'm not sure on the rules here, but from what I gathered from the commentators any foul-play on Alonso's part can only hurt Alonso, it can't help Hamilton. Am I understanding things correctly?
"Collar turned up, back straight, chest stuck out, he glided into the arena as if he owned the fucking place. Any arena, but nowhere more effectively than Old Trafford. This was his stage. He loved it, the crowd loved him" -Roy Keane on Eric Cantona
Brit fully experiencing the "emotional rollercoaster" of F1
Quote:
Originally Posted by SkySports.com
McLaren-Mercedes boss Ron Dennis reckons that the "fighter" lurking within Lewis Hamilton will enable him to put his Bahrain Grand Prix blues firmly in the past and concentrate on the season ahead.
The 23-year-old labelled his weekend in the Middle East "a disaster" after making two glaring errors in the race.
Firstly, Hamilton failed to operate his car's anti-stall mechanism properly at the start, before subsequently driving into the back of Fernando Alonso's Renault after the first error had dropped him down the field.
Hamilton also suffered a huge shunt during Friday practice - his car being wrecked after it slammed sideways into a tyre wall at the Sakhir circuit at over 100 mph.
The net result for Hamilton was a lowly 13th-place finish - his lowest in 20 F1 starts - and the loss of the Drivers' Championship lead to Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.
But, with the next race on the calendar, the Spanish Grand Prix, not being held until April 27th, Dennis believes his protege's competitive mentality will enable him to take stock and bounce back.
"If you're a competitive person, you're hard on yourself," Dennis said.
"I've said many times I don't think I'm the exception to the rule in this team: we're not great losers.
"We're fighters, and when you don't think you've done a particularly good job, you go away and all you want is for the next race to come because you know if nothing else changes, you're going to be more competitive.
"It's the nature of this sport, it's so full of ups and downs. It is an emotional rollercoaster of grands prix, and it has never been any different."
Cool
Dennis also said that the cool temperament Hamilton normally possesses - sadly lacking at the weekend - will be to the fore as he assesses what went wrong over the coming days.
He continued: "What happens is you rationalise everything for a couple of days, go through a mental dip and then you come back.
"The only thing you look at as you go into the last weekends is the points standings, and they're all so close at this stage it's almost immaterial.
"When it's so close, you don't suddenly start panicking - you concentrate on starting the weekend and working though it and doing a really good job."
After the season's opening three 'flyaway' races, attention now switches to Europe and Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya, where Dennis has long claimed his team will come on strong.
McLaren will need to do just that, with the performance of both Ferrari - who scored a one-two in Bahrain - and BMW Sauber - who now lead the Constructors' Championship - overshadowing their own at the weekend.
However, Dennis hinted his belief that the latter outfit might not be able to mount a consistent challenge as the season progresses.
"We respect all competitors and they (BMW) are doing a better job than they've done at any other time in their involvement in F1," he added.
"But when we get to Europe, this is where the R&D (research and development) and speed of manufacture start to make a difference.
"We'll be very strong, and so I'm not at all unduly worried about the future. It will be a fight right through the season."
Max Mosley's future as FIA president will be decided by a vote of confidence at the organisation's extraordinary general assembly on 3 June.
His position has been under threat after the News of the World newspaper claimed that Mosley took part in a "Nazi-style orgy in a torture dungeon"
Mosley has denied any Nazi connotations and apologised for any embarrassment.
The secret ballot, which will take place in Paris, comes after Mosley himself asked for the meeting.
Mosley has come under intense pressure to resign, with several Formula One car manufacturers and national motorsport organisations expressing their disapproval of his conduct.
But Mosley, the son of former British Union of Fascists leader Oswald, has taken a defiant stand and is taking legal action over the claims.
"There is a great deal of concern in motorsport and the FIA - they are taking a battering over this," said Parsons.
"He isn't denying involvement in the orgy and the element of embarrassment involved but he is denying Nazi references.
"He also says that if he wins the court case, then he will donate the money to the FIA foundation.
"A lot of members (of the FIA) are unhappy with the situation and feel he should reconsider his position, while others feel that it is simply his private life.
"But unless he can convince the FIA that there was no Nazi element, it will be a very, very tough fight ahead for him."
An FIA statement read: "The FIA can confirm that the members of the senate have unanimously approved the proposal of the president of the FIA that further to the recent press coverage relating to his private life, an extraordinary general assembly should be convened."
The 67-year-old missed last week's Grand Prix in Bahrain after F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone admitted the Bahraini royal family "would not like" his attendance in the Kingdom.
Mosley has been FIA president since 1993. His position is elected by the FIA membership of national automobile clubs and motorsport bodies and his latest four-year term does not expire until October 2009.
With the Spanish Grand Prix fast approaching, the Formula One teams are back in action this week, testing at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya. The session, which begins on Monday, is the first opportunity the squads have had to test comprehensively since the season began and ten teams are expected to attend.
Following Felipe Massa’s dominant victory in Bahrain, Ferrari will be keen to maximize their current performance advantage during their four-day schedule. Massa will take charge of the F2008 over the first two days, before world champion Kimi Raikkonen joins the action.
Championship leaders BMW Sauber will also be at the Spanish test from Monday with both Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica spending time in the F1.08. For McLaren’s four-day session, meanwhile, tester Pedro de la Rosa, Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen are all expected behind the wheel of the MP4-23.
The resurgent Williams team will field drivers Kazuki Nakajima and Nico Rosberg for two days each, as the squad validate a number of new aero and mechanical developments. Fellow midfielders Renault will also be out in force as the French team try to rectify their drop in performance, while Honda plan to evaluate a major aero upgrade for the RA108 to up its pace ahead of the European leg of the season.
With Toro Rosso still racing an interim version of their 2007 car, the Italian squad are also expecting a busy time in Barcelona as they start on-track evaluations of their new machine ahead of its scheduled launch at May’s Turkish Grand Prix. Red Bull, Toyota and Force India will all be attendance too, although Super Aguri are expected to be absent, as the Japanese squad waits for their sale to be confirmed.
With nearly all the field present, however, Formula One tyre supplier Bridgestone have decided to use this week to complete another evaluation of their slick tyres ahead of their possible return next season. Runs undertaken on this sample rubber are understood not to count towards the teams’ agreed testing limits, so a busy week is expected.
The Circuit de Catalunya will be open to the public throughout the test, with tickets available for six Euros. If you are unable to attend in person, check Formula1.com for the latest images and daily updates on the teams’ progress. Note that all schedules are provisional and subject to change.
The Renault R28 quickly became one of the most photographed cars at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya on Tuesday morning, thanks to a revised aero package featuring a ‘shark fin’ extension on its engine cover.
The striking modification, which resembles a similar addition introduced by Red Bull to the RB4 back in March, is almost certainly aimed at providing better airflow to the R28’s rear wing and maximising the car’s stability under braking.
Former world champion Fernando Alonso has been charged with assessing the new engine cover, which is just one of a number of aerodynamic modifications Renault are experimenting with this week, as they bid to improve their car’s performance ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix later this month.
Ferrari are also understood to be evaluating a radical change to their car during this week’s test. The F2008 is running with a new slotted nosecone, which has been introduced to improve the car’s downforce.
Hamilton - I'll bounce back
Brit aiming to avenge Bahrain agony
Quote:
Originally Posted by SkySports.com
Lewis Hamilton has vowed to steer his season back on track following a miserable weekend in Bahrain.
The 23-year-old racer endured an error-strewn time in the Middle East as a crash in practice wrecked his McLaren, which was followed on race day by Hamilton temporarily stalling on the grid and also ploughing into the back of Fernando Alonso.
The overall result was a 13th placed finish for Hamilton - the lowest finish in his Formula One racing career so far.
The weekend of misery saw Hamilton relinquish his place at the top of the drivers' standings to world champion Kimi Raikkonen - something the young Brit is keen to overturn in the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix.
"You learn something in every race, even if you win," said Hamilton.
"I think we have come a long way, and looking into the next race I feel very confident we can do a better job.
Productive
"It's great to be back in Europe. This is when it really starts getting busy, and you are closer to home so it's a great feeling.
"You are also closer to the team, so I think we can be a bit more productive when we are back here."
McLaren, along with other manufacturers have been testing new parts on the car in Barcelona as they aim to leapfrog Ferrari and BMW Sauber in the Constructors' Championship.
"There were a few [bits], not a lot, but we definitely made some steps forward," added Hamilton.
"I think at this test everyone is doing something different. Some people are running slick tyres and some are running grooves.
"We just focused on our job and I think the car is feeling better and I feel a little bit more comfortable in it. We feel quite strong here."
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***spoilers***
***spoilers*** -
04-06-2008, 02:52 PM
and McLaren are struggling a bit, but the season it's long and i'm confident they'll find their pace. 
04-06-2008, 03:14 PM
Lewis will fight back -
04-08-2008, 01:19 PM
Barca Tests. -
04-15-2008, 09:04 PM
