Waltz to Bahrein!

[Blueboy]

The shape of things to come?


Fernando Alonso, Michael Schumacher, Bahrain GP 2005© The Cahier ArchiveFernando Alonso won the Bahrain Grand Prix. No, he didn't. Fernando Alonso waltzed to victory, his second in as many weeks and Renault's third win on the trot.

But it was more than that. Alonso saw off Michael Schumacher with a carefree wave of his magic wand. One had the impression that Michael thought that the arrival of the new Ferrari F2005 would put him back on the top of the Formula 1 pile and it must have been a nasty surprise to discover that this was not the case at all. There were signs of it throughout the weekend. When he qualified second on Saturday Michael seemed disappointed. He had not expected that. Experienced Michael-watchers reckoned that Michael was probably running light, taking a risk and trying to pull off a win with a car that was not really up to the job. The only way that was likely was for him to get into the lead and then try to control the pace. If he could do that he might avoid another humiliation of Malaysian proportions. We will never know for certain whether Michael was running light or not because in the end the new Ferrari failed beneath him after just a few laps of the race as Michael was trying hard to get ahead.

"I think he was quicker than me but as we know it is very difficult to overtake," said Alonso. "I was quite sure that my long runs would be better than him. I was not too worried if I had Michael in front of me because I knew that our strongest point would be at the end."

Or to put it another way, Alonso had this thing completely under control.

"To see a driver control a race like Fernando did this afternoon is an impressive sight," said Pat Symonds of Renault. "His performance is even more remarkable when you consider that he did not even use all the revs available on the engine in the opening laps. He seemed capable of increasing his pace when necessary, without putting undue stress on the car."

That will not be something that the people down Maranello will want to be hearing.

Ferrari may say that Michael could have sustained the pace but the evidence is not good. Rubens Barrichello's car faded as the race went on as the rubber gave up the ghost.

"We must work very hard to understand our problems in this area," said Rubens at the end of the day.

The tyres were so shot by the finish that Alonso lapped the number two Ferrari in the closing stages and on the last lap David Coulthard forced his way ahead and deprived Ferrari of the one World Championship point that it might have left Bahrain with.

The evidence points strongly to the fact that the Ferrari-Bridgestone combination may qualify well but when it comes to consistent running there is no-one who has things sorted out as they have between the Renault and Michelin. The Toyota-Michelin combination is close, there is no doubt about that. At the start of the race Jarno Trulli tried to drive round the outside of Michael Schumacher and would have made it if the track had not narrowed at that point. Jarno let Michael go and then sat there, shadowing Michael and Alonso and then, after Michael disappeared with a hydraulic failure (his first mechanical failure in 58 races), the Renault. Trulli was still there as the pit stops approached. We knew that if the Toyota went two laps longer than the Renault, it would be ahead and perhaps we would have a different story. Fortunately for Renault the Toyota went only one lap longer and that was not enough. And after that when they were back out on the track the Toyota begin to slip behind as the tyres faded

[noux]

When he qualified second on Saturday Michael seemed disappointed. He had not expected that.

A mon avis MS sachant sa voiture peu fiable, avait quasiment tout misé sur la pole pour pouvoir essayer de gérer ce qui était gérable après.
Le record de Senna, c'est l'un des seuls qu'il lui manque.

[dex07]

Surtt que s'il prenait la tete, il empechit alonso de partir et pouvait meme lui mm s'echapper alros qu'en partant deuxieme, on l'a vu avec de la rosa plus rapide de 3s au tour que webber, il est presque impossible de doubler ...

[noux]

Surtt que s'il prenait la tete, il empechit alonso de partir et pouvait meme lui mm s'echapper alros qu'en partant deuxieme, on l'a vu avec de la rosa plus rapide de 3s au tour que webber, il est presque impossible de doubler ...

C'était delaRosa (pas fait de course depuis en bail et ce qu'il avait montré dans sa carrière n'en fait pas un grand 'overtaker') face à Webber qui est indoublable quand il le veut...

[dex07]

Vrai que les changements de trajectoires de Webber etaient tout bonnement impressionnant par moments :b009

[noux]

Vrai que les changements de trajectoires de Webber etaient tout bonnement impressionnant par moments :b009

Pire : les p'tits coups de volant.

[HAD RF1]

Fernando en sait quelque chose, justement à Bahreïn l'an dernier...