Bahrain GP: 15 April
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Loaction: Sakhir, Manama
Raceday: Sunday, 15 April 2007
Time: 19:30 (+8 GMT)
2006 winner: F Alonso
Number of laps: 57
Circuit length: 5.142 Km
The 2004 Grand Prix of Bahrain marked the first ever round of the FIA Formula One World Championship to be held in the Middle East and the official culmination of a multi-million dollar project started back in September 2002 when the Kingdom of Bahrain signed a long-term deal to host the event.
Located at Sakhir, 30 km south-west of the island's capital, Manama, the Herman Tilke designed circuit contains no less than five track layouts within one complex. Construction began in November 2002 and in the months prior to its March 2004 completion, work was going on around the clock. Over 12,000 tonnes of stone were used in the build, a third of it Welsh granite, chosen for the track surface due to its excellent adhesive qualities.
The 5.411 km Grand Prix circuit was designed with the spectator in mind, with 50,000 grandstand seats, all providing excellent views. Those spectators (a total of 100,000 over a race weekend) get to see the cars heading into the external desert area, before coming back into the oasis-styled infield. Up to 500 journalists can also witness the action from the venue's purpose-built media centre.
The track offers the driver a unique experience in the way the circuit's width varies at the end of the different straights. This allows for diverse racing lines, and the 12-corner design provides at least three genuine overtaking opportunities. -
* The first Bahrain Grand Prix in 2004 was Formula 1Â’s first visit to the Middle East. Since then Middle Eastern firms' involvement in F1 has grown substantially.
* The Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir was designed by F1's circuit designer Hermann Tilke, with the Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain underwriting the cost of the development which cost around £83 million to build.
* The state-of-the-art facility was built on empty desert land (formerly the site of a camel farm) in the space of 16 months.
* At a peak, more than 3,000 workers were involved in the construction of the circuit, with a total of 8,265,000 man hours worked.
* The 3.366-mile circuit places huge braking demands on the cars due to the proliferation of fast straights connecting tight hairpins. Even so, the average speed is some 135mph.
* Sakhir features 15 corners, nine right and six left, with four straights and race distance comprises 57 laps.
* The kingdom of Bahrain is an archipelago of 33 low-lying islands located in the Arabian Gulf off the eastern shore of Saudi Arabia. The land area is just 440 square miles.
* The largest of these islands is home to the capital city, Manama, and most of the countryÂ’s 650,000 population.
* Bahrain was a British protectorate until 1968, when the late king oversaw a smooth transition to independence. It is one of the most liberal and democratic of the Gulf states.
* For most of its history Bahrain has been a sea-faring country but in the 1930s it first discovered the potential of what has become its most valuable resource: oil.
* Tourism is a fast-growing industry – the country welcomes more than three million visitors per year.
* It is also the financial hub of the Middle East and boasts the regionÂ’s largest number of banks and financial institutions.
* Islam is practiced by 85 percent of the population. However, freedom of religion is granted to other faiths including Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism and Christianity.
* Falconry and horse racing are BahrainÂ’s most popular sporting pastimes.
* Michael Schumacher completed a hat-trick at the circuit's first grand prix in 2004, taking pole, race victory and fastest lap. Rubens Barrichello secured a 1-2 for Ferrari, with Jenson Button taking the final podium place.
* Fernando Alonso swept to pole and victory for Renault in 2005, although the standout performance of the day came from McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa who set the fastest lap. The Spaniard was filling in for the injured Juan Pablo Montoya and provided the entertainment with a fast, if mistake-ridden, run to fifth.
* Bahrain 2005 was also the place where one of the sport's most astonishing sequences came to an end. While chasing Alonso for the lead on lap on lap 14, Michael Schumacher's brand new Ferrari F2005 broke down with a hydraulics failure. It was the first time since Germany 2001 - some 59 races before - that the German had retired with a mechanical failure.
* Last year Bahrain became the first country other than Australia for 11 years to host F1's season-opening race.
* Fernando Alonso began what would become his second successive title season with victory at Sakhir once again, but was pushed all the way by title rival Michael Schumacher. The German took pole ahead of new team-mate Felipe Massa, but Alonso jumped the German at the final round of pit stops to take an important victory.
* Nico Rosberg scored two points and set the race's fastest lap on his F1 debut here last year.
* Only Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber have finished in the points in each of the three visits to Bahrain so far.
* Kimi Raikkonen has finished on the bottom step of the podium in each of the past two years.
* Michael Schumacher's fastest lap from 2004 still stands as the circuit's record. He clocked 1m30.252s. -
Friday morning practice times from Sakhir
1. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m33.162s
2. MASSA Ferrari 1m33.679s
3. HAMILTON McLaren 1m34.110s
4. ALONSO McLaren 1m34.161s
5. TRULLI Toyota 1m34.896s
6. HEIDFELD BMW Sauber 1m35.076s
7. KUBICA BMW Sauber 1m35.248s
8. LIUZZI Toro Rosso 1m35.292s
9. ROSBERG Williams 1m35.375s
10. WURZ Williams 1m35.398s
11. BUTTON Honda 1m35.445s
12. KOVALAINEN Renault 1m35.474s
13. SCHUMACHER Toyota 1m35.573s
14. FISICHELLA Renault 1m35.697s
15. SPEED Toro Rosso 1m35.726s
16. SATO Super Aguri 1m35.856s
17. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m35.911s
18. DAVIDSON Super Aguri 1m36.243s
19. WEBBER Red Bull 1m36.483s
20. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m36.513s
21. SUTIL Spyker 1m37.084s
22. ALBERS Spyker 1m38.258s
Friday afternoon practice times from Sakhir
1. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m33.527s
2. HAMILTON McLaren 1m33.540s
3. KUBICA BMW 1m33.732s
4. MASSA Ferrari 1m33.772s
5. ALONSO McLaren 1m33.784s
6. WURZ Williams 1m33.973s
7. HEIDFELD BMW 1m34.076s
8. ROSBERG Williams 1m34.189s
9. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m34.359s
10. TRULLI Toyota 1m34.366s
11. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m34.391s
12. KOVALAINEN Renault 1m34.585s
13. DAVIDSON Super Aguri 1m34.595s
14. WEBBER Red Bull 1m34.677s
15. FISICHELLA Renault 1m34.796s
16. SATO Super Aguri 1m35.001s
17. LIUZZI Toro Rosso 1m35.268s
18. SCHUMACHER Toyota 1m35.427s
19. SUTIL Spyker 1m35.582s
20. SPEED Toro Rosso 1m35.687s
21. ALBERS Spyker 1m35.835s
22. BUTTON Honda 1m36.079s -
Saturday practice times:
1. HAMILTON McLaren 1m32.543s
2. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m32.549s
3. HEIDFELD BMW 1m32.652s
4. KUBICA BMW 1m32.755s
5. DAVIDSON Super Aguri 1m32.900s
6. MASSA Ferrari 1m32.950s
7. ALONSO McLaren 1m33.235s
8. WEBBER Red Bull 1m33.399s
9. FISICHELLA Renault 1m33.602s
10. KOVALAINEN Renault 1m33.605s
11. ROSBERG Williams 1m33.614s
12. WURZ Williams 1m33.658s
13. LIUZZI Toro Rosso 1m33.700s
14. TRULLI Toyota 1m33.724s
15. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m33.826s
16. BUTTON Honda 1m34.023s
17. SATO Super Aguri 1m34.082s
18. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m34.397s
19. SPEED Toro Rosso 1m34.791s
20. SCHUMACHER Toyota 1m35.144s
21. ALBERS Spyker 1m35.395s
22. SUTIL Spyker 1m35.436s -
Starting grid for the Bahrain Grand Prix
1. MASSA Ferrari
2. HAMILTON McLaren
3. RAIKKONEN Ferrari
4. ALONSO McLaren
5. HEIDFELD BMW
6. KUBICA BMW
7. FISICHELLA Renault
8. WEBBER Red Bull
9. TRULLI Toyota
10. ROSBERG Williams
11. WURZ Williams
12. KOVALAINEN Renault
13. DAVIDSON Super Aguri
14. SCHUMACHER Toyota
15. BARRICHELLO Honda
16. BUTTON Honda
17. SATO Super Aguri
18. LIUZZI Toro Rosso
19. SPEED Toro Rosso
20. SUTIL Spyker
21. COULTHARD Red Bull
22. ALBERS Spyker -
According to David Coulthard, his car lost 7th gear at first, then after the team tried to fix the problem, the car lost 5th and 6th as well.
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Speculation is that Massa and Hamilton are loaded lightly to do a quick first stint. Let's see how that pans out.
Massa's saying that he won't let the Macs go past this time. Given his ability to outbrake himself displayed at Speang, I'm hoping for a clean first lap. -
Race starts in aroud 2 hours time
looks like massa vs hamlton and raikonnen vs alonsoo -
There you have it, Massa takes a pole-to-flag victory. No mistakes this time.
I feel really sorry for DC, he's my driver of the day.
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haha DC really drove well toady! Hamilton too!Originally posted by Kuali Baba:There you have it, Massa takes a pole-to-flag victory. No mistakes this time.
I feel really sorry for DC, he's my driver of the day. -
Bahrain Grand Prix result (57 laps)
1. MASSA Ferrari 57 laps
2. HAMILTON McLaren +2.360s
3. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +10.839s
4. HEIDFELD BMW +13.831s
5. ALONSO McLaren +14.426s
6. KUBICA BMW +45.529s
7. TRULLI Toyota +1m21.371s
8. FISICHELLA Renault +1m21.701s
9. KOVALAINEN Renault +1m29.411s
10. ROSBERG Williams +1m29.916s
11. WURZ Williams +1 lap
12. SCHUMACHER Toyota +1 lap
13. BARRICHELLO Honda +1 lap
14. ALBERS Spyker +2 laps
15. SUTIL Spyker +4 laps
R. DAVIDSON Super Aguri +5 laps
R. WEBBER Red Bull +15 laps
R. COULTHARD Red Bull +20 laps
R. SATO Super Aguri +22 laps
R. LIUZZI Toro Rosso +30 laps
R. BUTTON Honda +56 laps
R. SPEED Toro Rosso +56 laps -
HISTORIC PODIUM FOR HAMILTON
Lewis Hamilton ensured his place in Formula One history after claiming his third successive podium finish in the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday - then warned his rivals that McLaren are going from strength to strength.
The young Briton writes a new chapter with every race this season and his second-place finish on the Sakhir circuit means he becomes the first driver to climb the podium in his first three races.
It was also perhaps the closest he has come yet to a maiden victory but in the end Hamilton ran out of laps as Felipe Massa defeated the 22-year-old by 2.3 seconds.
The Brazilian bounced back in style from his disappointment in last week's Malaysia Grand Prix where he let slip his place at the front of the grid to finish fifth.
Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen finished third, BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld claimed fourth while two-time world champion Fernando Alonso took fifth place.
It means Hamilton is now joint top of the drivers' championship, alongside Alonso and Raikkonen.
"It is fantastic to be joint points with Fernando and Kimi," he said. "I think the team have done a fantastic job.
"We had very good pace this weekend, possibly the pace to be able to be on pole but Felipe did a fantastic job in qualifying.
"In the race, usually the Ferraris pull away but we generally had similar pace if not quicker.
"We have made fantastic steps forward and I am really happy for the team and I know this next race coming up is going to be really, really good.
"We are going to be working extremely hard to make sure we make some more steps forward so we can go to Barcelona even quicker."
Hamilton enjoyed yet another race in which he made few mistakes, although he did struggle to keep the pace on Massa after making his first pit stop.
A third stint in the pit lane rectified that as Hamilton changed to hard tyres and started to make up ground on pole.
"I didn't think I made many mistakes that cost me that much," he continued. " I struggled a bit on the new tyres, the balance was not very good and I locked up a couple of times but that was it. We got back onto the hard tyre and we were able to keep up the pace.
"It was definitely good for experience not having to defend my position and to have the pace to put pressure on Felipe.
"It is great we had pace, especially in the first bit where we were able to keep with him and I think for sure if we were in front we would have pulled away."
Massa, meanwhile, insisted it is still too early to say who is the number one driver for Ferrari with both he and Raikkonen having now scored successes this season.
He said: "Every result is important for me, Kimi and for the team and so I think there will not be any decision until the championship is almost done.
"The team has to work very hard to put both cars in front of McLaren which is quite difficult and our target is the championship.
"We need to keep pushing very hard as a team, trying to improve everything to get even better."
Hamilton was the only Briton to finish the race - the three other representatives retired.
Jenson Button suffered disappointment in his Honda once again when his race came to an end only minutes after climbing into his car when Toro Rosso driver Scott Speed collided with the 27-year-old.
David Coulthard was once again unable to complete a race but it was extremely disappointing for the Red Bull driver as he had climbed from 21st on grid up to seventh before flames under the car brought an end to his race midway through.
Super Aguri's Anthony Davidson also retired late on with smoke pouring from the back of his car. -
Massa makes amends in Bahrain
Felipe Massa made up for his Malaysian disappointments with a great victory for Ferrari in SundayÂ’s Bahrain Grand Prix. Yet again, however, all eyes were on Lewis Hamilton as the 22 year-old rookie stormed into second place only 2.3s adrift of him after a gripping chase in the final stages.
Overshadowed by both all day, Kimi Raikkonen was third, a further 8.4s behind, with Nick Heidfeld driving a superb race for BMW Sauber to keep world champion Fernando Alonso in his mirrors after passing him round the outside in a dramatic move on the 32nd lap.
The result puts Hamilton, Alonso and Raikkonen in the joint lead of the driversÂ’ world championship, with 22 points apiece. Massa moves up to fourth on 17, with Heidfeld fifth on 15.
The race was always a battle between Massa and Hamilton, the Brazilian holding a narrow advantage which he extended after the first stops. The McLarens had the weaker middle stint, but came back with a vengeance in the third on their harder compound Bridgestones.
Crucially for Ferrari, Raikkonen took third place from Alonso after the first stops, but equally important for McLaren a longer middle stint for Hamilton saw him just keep ahead of the Finn when he rejoined after his second pit call. Instead of being the hunted, as he was in Sepang, Hamilton then became the hunter, slashing MassaÂ’s 7.6s advantage to 2.3s in the remaining 13 laps and leaving Raikkonen trailing.
The result answered several questions, not the least of which was how Massa would react in a straight fight with Raikkonen, and how Hamilton would perform in one with Alonso. Three races in, and the rookie not only leads the world championship (albeit jointly) but is the first man ever to finish on the podium in his first three races.
It was a good day for BMW Sauber, as Robert Kubica took a distant sixth for the team. Jarno Trulli put Toyota in the points again with seventh place after a fabulous mid-race scrap with the similarly-powered Williams of Nico Rosberg and Alex Wurz. The latter both fell back, however, allowing Giancarlo Fisichella to take the final point for the once mighty Renault team, ahead of partner Heikki Kovalainen.
The Williams pilots were eventually 10th and 11th, helped on their way by the retirements of the two Red Bulls. David Coulthard drove a stormer, but neither he nor Mark Webber made it home, the former suffering a driveshaft failure, the latter left frustrated first by a sticking fuel flap and then by gearbox problems. Nor did the Toro Rossos, Scott Speed coming together with Jenson Button on lap one, and Tonio Liuzzi being delayed by the same incident and eventually retiring - though not before picking up a drive-through penalty for passing under the safety car that came out briefly following the Speed and Button incident.
Ralf Schumacher was an undistinguished 12th, having been thoroughly drubbed by Anthony Davidson, who was headed for 12th when his Honda V8 went the same way as team mate Takuma SatoÂ’s - up in smoke - after he had outpaced the Japanese pilot.
HondaÂ’s only finisher was thus Rubens Barrichello, in 13th, ahead of the Spykers of Christijan Albers and Adrian Sutil, who was forced to make an early stop after sustaining damage as a result of the first-lap melee.
Reminded of his new status as the only man with successive podiums in the three opening rounds, Hamilton had one word: “Sweet!”
Indeed it was, for him and for Massa.
http://www.formula1.com/race/news/5961/772.html -
Turns out that it was Heidfeld vs AlonsoOriginally posted by SBS9828X:Race starts in aroud 2 hours time
looks like massa vs hamlton and raikonnen vs alonsoo -
I think while ferrari and mclaren are taking up top spots, BMW are slowly clawing at their butt... i think BMW cud get on the podium in the next few races...
Lets wait for spain in the meantime -
Drivers' standings as at 16 April 2007:
Pos Driver Nationality Team Points
1 Fernando Alonso Spanish McLaren-Mercedes 22
1= Kimi Räikkönen Finnish Ferrari 22
1= Lewis Hamilton British McLaren-Mercedes 22
4 Felipe Massa Brazilian Ferrari 17
5 Nick Heidfeld German BMW 15
6 Giancarlo Fisichella Italian Renault 8
7 Jarno Trulli Italian Toyota 4
8 Robert Kubica Polish BMW 3
9 Nico Rosberg German Williams-Toyota 2
10 Heikki Kovalainen Finnish Renault 1
10= Ralf Schumacher German Toyota 1
Constructors' standings as at 16 April 2007:
Pos Constructor Points
1 McLaren-Mercedes 44
2 Ferrari 39
3 BMW 18
4 Renault 9
5 Toyota 5
6 Williams-Toyota 2
7 Red Bull-Renault 0
7= Honda 0
7= Super Aguri-Honda 0
7= STR-Ferrari 0
7= Spyker-Ferrari 0