[amitoj]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

This is a good series to watch!

Agreed!!
Good to see more teams (and drivers) coming to the party, other than just Ferrari and McLaren.

Btw, it was great to see Fisichella hold back Hamilton for a while and make him sweat hard for the position. That Force India car surprised quite a few out there today.

[Mp421b]

It was a ok type race, i too think Alonso lifted, didnot watch the race complately, just read what happened on the net.

The race was quite good at the back end, but the front runners were so damn boring, with not much happening at the front of the order, other then at the start. The start was very good for the Ferrari's. With Massa leap frogging Kubica as soon as the lights went green. However it seems Hamilton forgot to leave the launch button and thus started around 2-3 secs after the light went green, by that time he was seeing Alonso's rear wing, i mean his renault's rear wing, worse still hamma kissed alonso, causing his front wing to leave his car, and limped back to the pits and only joined back at 18th place. Silly commentators on the T.V i tell ya, were talking crap saying Hamilton on one stop, which is not possible for two reasons, 1. He cant take that much fuel and 2. He needs to run both the option tires in the race. Kimi overtook Kubica at turn 1. However Massa was pulling away, his first pit stop saw his ahead of Kimi while Button and Coulthard engaged in some rough-tuff dash car racing, leading to Button losing his front wing and later on retiring.............................

More here

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by vikram_d

Alonso lifted in the incident with Hamilton. Who else thinks so? I most certainly do. Last year still continuing.

I don't think so, it was a mistake from Lewis

[F50]

A great race for Ferrari and all Ferrari Fans. Mad man Massa has finally got points under his wings. BMW is improving race by race. Im sure they would love to have atleast one win registered against their name in 2008 Season.

And why is no one talking about Force India's 12th position? It was really nice to see Force India get so much coverage(even though Hamilton was behind it) And why was Hamilton showing hand gestures to Fisi? Just because he cant overtake ...

And I guess another controversy, did Alonso lift off or was Hamilton in a hurry? I guess a replay of Alonso with Revv Counter to the left of the screen would answer all questions!

Great win! Hope it continues in Spain too!

[Dippy]

A great 1-2 by Ferrari in the race. Massa finally has kickstarted his season with a win at Sakir. A well driven race by him and nothing to be taken away from Kimi either. But I just loved Robert. He is definately future champion material. Nice to see BMW fighting it out with Ferrari and Mclaren, thats where they should be.

A great race by Fisi to finish 12th. Force India is certainly going places . It was amazign to see Fisi keep Lewis behind him for 3 laps. Hope the red winning trend continues at Spain.

[merve_extreme]

Originally Posted by F50

And I guess another controversy, did Alonso lift off or was Hamilton in a hurry? I guess a replay of Alonso with Revv Counter to the left of the screen would answer all questions!

Renault have rubbished this suggestion,it was 100% Hamilton's fault being a little too over optimistic.
autosport.com - F1 News: Renault rubbish 'brake test' suggestions

[finneyp]

Massa has proved that he is Championship material, Kimi have to slog it out this season to retain his title!

[MaserQ]

That BMW is looking fast! Lets hope they are quick enough to win soon. We havent reached the European leg yet and look at the action we have seen already. Ces't magnifique!

Clean and clinical from Massa. Kimi has learnt the collection game from Alonso it seems. The iceman has to up the ante in qualifying, something Massa has time and again trounced him at.

[AnniHilat0R]

Massa was just dominating. He dominated the Practice, he dominated the Qualifying ( Almost ) and well, he just did exactly the same in the race. As far as Alonso v/s Hamilton battle goes, even Hamilton and McLaren admitted that it was Hamilton's error. Renault gave the best answer by handing over the telemetry. And in any case, it would have been a risk of Alonso and Renault, if Alonso would have brake tested. I mean, already they are struggling for each point and position, if it would have resulted in an bad accident, it would be race over Renault. Thats just my opinion.

[GTO]

Bahrain has an awesome track, so an eventful race was to be expected. Massa won the race, yes, but I am still not convinced on his all-round capability. He needs consistency more than anything else.

The heroes of the day were the BMW's...what pace! They matched the Ferraris lap by lap for a majority of the race, and beat Mclaren by a mile. Is this the year for their first race win? I think so. Fisichella and Barri drove the pants of their cars, making them seem faster than they actually are. Ditto for Alonso who keeps the slow Renault around the 10th position irrespective of the circumstances.

Speaking of Alonso, I think there is more than meets the eye WRT his crash with Hamilton. I am dead sure that he slowed down just a little bit out of that corner, though Hamilton needs to maintain his cool too. Lewis rarely recovers from a bad start or a terrible first lap and needs to take lessons on handling pressure.

[merve_extreme]

Originally Posted by GTO

Speaking of Alonso, I think there is more than meets the eye WRT his crash with Hamilton. I am dead sure that he slowed down just a little bit out of that corner, though Hamilton needs to maintain his cool too.

this is what autosport who saw the telementry had to say

Autosport.com has seen the telemetry data of Alonso's exit from the first corner, and it shows that the Spaniard was flat on the throttle from the exit, did not touch the brake and gained speed in a totally predictable manner.

That clears all the doubt,Hamiltion was just faster out of the corner and misjudged the maneuver.

[Zensible]

Formula1 website : McLaren have confirmed that Lewis Hamilton’s front wing broke immediately prior to his running into the rear of Fernando Alonso’s Renault on lap two of Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

It further states..........

Such a failure would have robbed Hamilton’s car of not only downforce, but also drag, giving it an unexpected burst of acceleration, explaining the unlikely impact.

Here is a link to the full article The Official Formula 1 Website

That should put an end to all the speculation!

Speaking of Hamilton, here is what Mike Gascoyne had to say about him....

Mike Gascoyne, the Force India technical boss, says Giancarlo Fisichella's defeat of Lewis Hamilton in the recent Bahrain Grand Prix provided an extra sense of satisfaction.

Earlier in the Sakhir race, it emerges that during Hamilton's nightmare recovery from his poor start and collisions with Fernando Alonso, he waved his fist at Fisichella, the Roman veteran.

"I don't know why he did that," Gascoyne told the Swiss publication Motorsport Aktuell.

"Fisichella was fighting with him for position, and he can't expect to just be let past.

"The gesture was totally unnecessary," Gascoyne added, "so it was especially good to be in front of him at the end."

[AnniHilat0R]

2008 GRAN PREMIO DE ESPANA TELEFONICA Grand Prix ( Friday Prac ONE ) :

Times
01 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:20.649 17 laps
02 F. Massa Ferrari 1:20.699 9 laps
03 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:21.192 20 laps
04 R. Kubica BMW 1:21.568 20 laps
05 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:21.758 10 laps
06 F. Alonso Renault 1:21.933 18 laps
07 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:21.936 21 laps
08 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:22.118 20 laps
09 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:22.278 24 laps
10 J. Button Honda 1:22.632 16 laps
11 T. Glock Toyota 1:23.002 21 laps
12 N. Rosberg Williams 1:23.003 25 laps
13 M. Webber Red Bull 1:23.015 14 laps
14 J. Trulli Toyota 1:23.141 15 laps
15 K. Nakajima Williams 1:23.153 24 laps
16 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:23.156 22 laps
17 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:23.196 20 laps
18 R. Barrichello Honda 1:23.353 14 laps
19 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:23.952 15 laps
20 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:24.082 15 laps
21 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:24.278 14 laps
22 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:25.068 10 laps

Ferrari's were in total control. Both of heavy fuel and light fuel, they were hitting the higher positions. Hats off to Renault. They have really improved their car. They are looking good in the middle section.

[AnniHilat0R]

2008 GRAN PREMIO DE ESPANA TELEFONICA Grand Prix ( Friday Prac TWO ) :

Times
01 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:21.935 38 laps
02 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:22.019 38 laps
03 F. Alonso Renault 1:22.032 26 laps
04 K. Nakajima Williams 1:22.172 35 laps
05 F. Massa Ferrari 1:22.229 32 laps
06 M. Webber Red Bull 1:22.238 36 laps
07 N. Rosberg Williams 1:22.266 33 laps
08 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:22.289 30 laps
09 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:22.383 38 laps
10 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:22.548 38 laps
11 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:22.685 33 laps
12 R. Kubica BMW 1:22.788 38 laps
13 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:23.130 40 laps
14 J. Trulli Toyota 1:23.224 34 laps
15 J. Button Honda 1:23.263 34 laps
16 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:23.264 8 laps
17 R. Barrichello Honda 1:23.415 31 laps
18 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:23.661 35 laps
19 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:23.684 37 laps
20 T. Glock Toyota 1:23.883 40 laps
21 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:25.110 30 laps
22 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:25.163 31 laps

[2theMax]

He He..know its just practice,but still orgasmic to see hamilton behind force india...kool

And still searching for the other Mcl in the list