[Dippy]

The Bahrain GP was speculated to be the come back race for Ferrari. But that was not the case. The race had an amazing start with Alonso and Schumi shooting ahead into turn 1 followed by Trulli . Barichello started last due a gear box change but clawed his way back into 10th place within the first 2 laps.

A stage was set for a close battle between Alonso and Schumi for the lead. The new Ferrari was looking fast and there was hardly distance between the 2 cars. But it wasnt Schumis day again .. he went off track when trying an overtaking move on Alonso. He came back on track losing just one position but then disaster struck . Schumi just limped his way back to the pits and retired.

After that thre was no stopping the Renault . He lead the entire race except in between pit stops. Indian home hero ran out of luck and retired on lap 2 . Fisichella was with engine gremlins as is Nick Heidfeld. The day wasnt any grea for the BARs with both cars retiring.

The star of the race was no doubt Pedro De la rosa. Perdro worked his way up the field and got himself a great points finish . Kimi gave Mclaren a reason to celebrate by getting his first podium for the season. Barichello just lost it in the latter half of the race losing positions and getting his car home in 9th place.

A very interesting race this with lots of wheel to wheel racing. Toyota is in top form and it wont belong before we see them win. There are absolutely no words for Renault's success and the hard work they have done shows off.
Ferraris are in tatters. Time is running out for the current world champions. The car has speed but is no where reliable when compared to the Renaults. Ferrari leave sakhir with no points and they are in deep trouble. Renault are running away with the season with 3 wins in 3 races. They really deserve their success.

So will Ferrari fight back or are we seeing the making of a new champion and the end of the Ferrari Era? Will Renault continue its winning form or will Toyota take the fight to them.

Over to San Marino then ..Home ground for Ferrari . Everything will be to fight for

Dippy

[aveek]

MUHOHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA!!! NO POINTS FOR FERRARI!!!

But I gotta hand it to Renault - they were tipped to be the ones to look out for this year, bt I'm sure that they have outdone everyone's expectations... fantastic.

The Ferrari car is a piece of sh*t. I personally never liked the Ferraris much, being a die-hard McLaren fan, and enjoyed the Barrichello mauling by De La Rossa.

The Toyota team were very good too, with 2nd and 4th places. Very nice drive by Trulli... had a peaceful race along wit Alonso. Pity the other Renault died - would have been interesting to c the outcome then.

And lets not forget McLaren. They're back, and very much in form. Not good enough to beat the Renaults just yet, but they're looking extremely strong indeed. Raikkonnen clinched 3rd after piling on heaps of pressure on Heidfield, and had quite a quick pace anyway. Pedro (De La Rossa) was easily the more entertaining of the 2 McLarens, infesting the back of Sato's BAR, stalking Rubens Ferrari, and patiently waiting for Webber to overcommit and pounced on the opportunuty - after no less than 3 underbraking errors, that cost him 4 places. Still, on losing positio on Rubens, he was back on his tail in a flash, and ate the Ferrari alive, partly due to the depleting nature of the mechanics on the Ferrari. Then, he buried Webber under tremendous pressure to gain another position over 7 laps of nose-to-tail action. Webber fought brilliantly, but his brakes were fading, and his car no match for the McLaren. All in all, Pedro set a blistering pace in Bahrain, and raced a race that out-shone everyone, including the sun.

ALL HAIL McLAREN (even thought they havnt got P1 yet... they'll get it soon...)!!!!

Cheers!!
Aveek


P.S. This season closes the chapter of Schumi's dominance in F-1, and will usher in another Hakkinnen type era, where another Finn will rule!!! MUHOHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

[haryan]

Originally Posted by aveek

P.S. This season closes the chapter of Schumi's dominance in F-1, and will usher in another Hakkinnen type era, where another Finn will rule!!! MUHOHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Ha ha ha thats a very tall dream ... This is the year of raging bull VS Red Baron .... it will be a close championship battle between Michael and Fernando .... Ferrari will be back and Todays pace of F2005 was just an forewarning to all those Ferrari Nonbeleivers .. Just wait for Ferrari to become Reliable ....

[haryan]

Originally Posted by Dippy

he went off track when trying an overtaking move on Alonso. He came back on track losing just one position but then disaster struck . Schumi just limped his way back to the pits and retired.

Dippy

this is a very good write up Dippy ...
But i do not think Michael was attempting a overtaking maneouvre on Alonso when he slid of the track ... His Gearbox got jammed and he couldnt shift to lower gears before the corner ...

[haryan]

I'm starting to get used to hear the Spanish anthem
It sound s very earpleasing ..... French anthem also is quite apealing ... LOL
It was a solid race with a number of fights to see, and a lot of retirements and mistakes.
Alonso easily won the race, good, clean, and fast driving. he had the race in his bag as soon as Michael slid off his back .......

About Renault, the picture is not as happy as Alonso's.
It's the second time in a row that Fisi's car is having problems, more embarassing this time as the car did not last long. This could happen with Fernando later. I feel the competition is slowly, but steadily improving.
Still, Renault is dominant early season, but can they manage to walk away with the whole season?
It will be a long way...
and Ferrari just need to get F2005 reliable
Toyota was again impressive, with another fine drive by Jarno Trulli. Toyota is Renault's closest challenger so far, and Bahrain proved that we have to count with Toyota in the championship.. Jarno was closer to Alonso this time. and Ralf has found his Race Finishing touch ....

Mclaren improved! It was there to see, the Mclaren drivers outpaced the Williamses, made it to the podium, and scored the fastest lap of the race. Spectacular drive by De la Rosa, I was impressed. It was not a flawless drive, but he was the main entertainer today, and was a fine replacement for JPM.
With better grid positions, Mclaren can score podium regularly.

Williams was dissappointing to me this time. Nick broke down early, and Webber was clearly slower than the Mclaren's, only his magnificent defensive skills could keep Pedro behind him.
Still De la Rosa managed to overtake, and Webber finished in a lowly sixth..

Ferrari improved too.. but so far, it was not enough for anything.It was unusual from Ferrari to see reliability problems, and those were not "minor" problems. Scuderia really need that 3 week between Bahrain and Imola to sort out these..
Barrichello's car was a disaster, and I'm not sure about Michael making it to the podium without his gearbox-problem..
Imola will be interesting..

BAR seemed better this time, still if not the engine, than something else falters in the car (like the new radical gearbox.) At least, it was the first time I seen a potential to score points with BAR.. they need the 3 weeks gap just as much as Ferrari..

About the others, I'm happy about Sauber's two points and totally disgusted with Jacques , RedBull's downfall has started ... Dc's 8th place was just because top cars failed to finish and felt sorry for Klien..
Jordan has the season's best finish with Tiago finishing 10th but it was a Major disappointment for me about NARAIN .... Sad ....
Minardi ... Great finish .. Both the cars finished ... Minardi was the one of the FIVE teams who had Both car finish ......

IMOLA ..... 23rd April .... 3 00 PM ... STAR SPORTS ....

[shravan316]

What an awesome race! De La Rosa rocks!! He was simply F-A-B-U today...... wild overtaking moves...... great racing. He had nothing to lose really, just go out there and prove his talent.... and boy did he do it! Sure, he did a couple of mistakes, but hey, cant blame him for trying....... He was the highlight of the race....... if F1 ever had an award for the "most spectacular drive" along with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place awards..... today, De La Rosa deserved it completely.
Apart from this, Schumi retired!!! Now, finally people like me, Aveek and other can rejoice at Ferrari's demise! (no offense to Ferrari fans). After a really long time did we see Ferrari struggling so badly. Rubino actually nursing the car to the chequered flag...... wow, when was the last time we saw that?? It showed that F2005 wasn't still up to the mark. Now, time to see what will Ferrari come out with, in San Marino.... i'm sure they'll try super-hard to make F2005 a winner. It has the pace no doubt, but reliability was a problem.
McLaren are back baby!! Kimi drove beautifully, except for one spin. De La Rosa.....err...did i mention about him ?? He was simply awesome. McLaren seemed to be very reliable, the way Pedro was pushing the car, he was simply flying through the track. I guess it doesnt have the pace of the Renault as yet, but, it can all change.
"Bravo Fernando bravo..... fantastico fantastico...... bravo..." by Flavio said it all.... he drove a perfect race, and so did Trulli, never did they seem in any sort of trouble. Renault at the moment seem invincible, flatout through the weekend, and the car seemed to take it all and still have more in the offering.

All in all, a great race! Not so much for ferrari fans, but, i enjoyed it and after a really long time! Hope the good times role on.

P.S:

MUHOHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA!!! NO POINTS FOR FERRARI!!!

Sorry to break it to you pal, but, Ferrari did get a couple of points.

[Rudra Sen]

Originally Posted by aveek

The Ferrari car is a piece of sh*t.

Don't say this kind of thing so fast. Agreed they did a rush job by putting this car for this race but Ferrari will come back. They have no choice. F1 is the most important part of Ferrari's credentials.

Originally Posted by aveek

P.S. This season closes the chapter of Schumi's dominance in F-1,

Don't think so. I'm not a F1 fan but Schumi has far too much to lose than his past record..his ego . Probably you can connect when you reach that age

[ported_head]

Just Ferrari F2005 teething troubles, almost literally, gearbox failure, get it? They will come back, 500 million dollars is a lot of money for a car which DNF. Alonsoand Trulli could have been Renault's dream team, but Toyota's engine development budget seems to be paying off now.

[iceman91]

well as i am not a schumi fan all i can say is am very happy with the outcome. its seen that the cars are being pushed to their limits with the new rules.

[F50]

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

Don't say this kind of thing so fast. Agreed they did a rush job by putting this car for this race but Ferrari will come back. They have no choice. F1 is the most important part of Ferrari's credentials.

Exactly, it is possible to make a reliable car quick but very tough to make a quick reliable car.

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

Don't think so. I'm not a F1 fan but Schumi has far too much to lose than his past record..his ego . Probably you can connect when you reach that age

He'll do anything to save his pride and ego and this makes him the best.

[Gordon]

I'm just very very disappointed with Ferrari. I know they are trying their best, but still, three races are over and you can see whats happening. I know they'd do it in the next race.

[F50]

And even the start to the 2003 season was the same. No victory for Ferrari in first three races all started from San Marino GP and im hoping for the same this year.
Many will think im too optimistic but its just the beginning.....

[Gordon]

Originally Posted by Dippy

The star of the race was no doubt Pedro De la rosa.

Very true. And it looks like he's gonna a get a good seat soon.

[Hatari]

A very interesting race..it has made a few things clear
Ferrari are back.. michael was quicker than alonso in the 1st 12 laps
introducing their new car a month before it was due will have its own set of consequences
but atleast it has given ferrari the consolation that they are not down & out
they will have 3 weeks to sort out their reliability problems before imola and i think they will

the other point is that mclaren seem to be the quickest car on the grid, over a race distance !
De la rosa set fastest lap of the race a 1:31.447.. 3 tenths quicker than alonso
despite the fact that pedro did a good job, overtaking isnt one of his strengths, he was much quicker than the guys he ( eventually)overtook..
whats holding them back is their poor qualifying form.. they need to extract more performance over a single lap
and remember, kimi wasnt pushing in the latter half of the race as he too far behind trulli (22 secs odd ) and ralf was well behind him as well

toyota continue to impress.. especially jarno
they have a very strong development program in place and shud get stronger as the season progresses
and imagine.. they finished 8th in the constructors last season !

Williams look to have started sorting out the aerodynamic miscalibrations that they had with their wind tunnel..

i'm not suprised with BAR's lack of pace..
the main reason behind this is that they dont know why the BAR 006 was so quick last year..
therefore arent sure of which direction to carry their development of the BAR 007 forward !

Renault & alonso shine on.. they are doing a brilliant job with the limited budget that they have
FA is just too quick and to think that he had started taking it easy from half distance on !
i'd put money on him to be world champion !
anyway.. having said that, come the cooler temperatures of europe, the bridgestone will start performing better and make it tougher on the michelin runners
which sets up an all mighty battle !
i cannot tell u how much i look forward to schumi vs alonso
both of them HATE losing more than anyone else on the grid

[gamerno1]

Alonso is a classy driver & the future m schumacher. i somehow dont like the attitude of m sch. no doubt he's a driver of class but hey, HE'S driving a ferrari. well the f2005 is surely below expectations & i have started watching F1 again since ferrari has started to fall back in the grid. i quitted watching f1 in 2002 since it was an all ferrari game. but this season is very promising.
Bahrain GP was sad for NK as he "may" would have got some points had he finished the race. however, he's got potential & i hope a better team (red bull/sauber/bar) signs him for the 2006 season.