SEBASTIAN Vettel reigned supreme in the Bahrain GP in Sakhir and claimed a comfortable and almost unchallenged win ahead of Lotus F1 drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean. The podium finish, which was similar to last year’s, was also an all Renault lock-out, a first for the season. And given the circuit characteristics (long front and back straights), Mercedes have won only once (out of nine races) out here.
Talking of Mercedes, their German driver, Nico Rosberg clinched a surprise pole position on Saturday ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso. While a Mercedes was on pole in China last weekend, few expected them to clinch pole in Bahrain especially given the laptimes set in the Free Practice sessions. And while Formula1 fans frowned at the lack of qualifying action in China, we had a full track in all sessions in Bahrain.
We probably have Pirelli to thank for this, who after much criticism decided to change their tyre allocations for the Bahrain GP. They ditched the soft compound and brought the medium one instead. While it seemed to work for Bahrain, one isn’t sure if this is the best approach for the remainder of the races. Also, there is news that Pirelli might change (or tweak) their 2013 compounds mid-season itself, which would be a complete no-no. The best part of the race, from a tyre strategy point of view, was that we saw drivers attempt 2, 3 and 4 stoppers to complete the race. And strangely, we had three four stoppers in the top 10.
Come Race Day, Rosberg’s Mercedes was unable to cope with the tyre degradation and slipped backwards to finish P9. Ferrari seemed the unluckiest of the teams as Alonso was hit by DRS issues early race and Massa with delamination on both tyre compounds (even more strange!). Alonso eventually finished 8th and Massa out of the points. Pre-race, from a tyre strategy point of view, Massa seemed to be the strongest driver on the grid (starting from P4 on hard tyres). In fact, Grosjean who used the same strategy as Massa, started P11 and finished on the podium. Had the Ferrari drivers been lucky, we would have had a good scrap for first place. And Raikkonen could have joined this scrap had he qualified his Lotus higher up than P9.
The icing on the cake for Indian Formula1 fans was when both Sahara Force India drivers qualified in the top 10 and started P5 (Paul Di Resta) and P6 (Adrian Sutil) after penalties to other drivers. While an opening lap puncture (after an incident with Massa) for Sutil compromised his race, Paul Di Resta made the most of his row 3 starting position and led the race after fighting for positions with the top teams.
Paul’s two stopping strategy saw him run in third position in the closing stages of the race only to be overtaken by Grosjean on fresher rubber. The British driver finished 4th, equaling his career best Formula1 finish and scored 12 championship points for Sahara Force India. The Indian owned team, who beat the Ferraris, Mercedes, Mclarens and a Red Bull in Bahrain, are now 5th in the Constructors’ Championship with 26 points, 3 points ahead of multiple championship winning team, Mclaren.
From an overall championship point of view, Vettel has cemented his place at the top of the Drivers’ Championship with 77 points, 10 ahead of the super consistent Raikkonen, but crucially 30 points ahead of Alonso. Red Bull Racing leads the Constructors’ Championship with 109 points, 16 ahead of Lotus, who managed to beat Ferrari to third with a double podium in Bahrain.
While the Formula1 teams battled on track, it was the off-track action in terms of large scale protests and demonstrations that also made headlines on the Bahrain GP weekend. The Formula1 race is being used as a platform by Bahraini locals to attract international media attention to promote the pro-democracy voice in the Kingdom of Bahrain. This was the third year in a row that the Bahrain GP was affected by protests. The circuit attendance was low and the traveling teams, drivers and media moved around the city under a heavy blanket of security. When asked by BBC Sport, Bernie Ecclestone termed the organisers (the royal family) as ‘stupid’ for hosting the Bahrain Grand Prix even though the FOM earns a whopping $40 million in race hosting fees!
I have been tracking Twitter India trends off late and on a day when Formula1 competed with the IPL (Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Daredevils; 4pm game) for attention we had two F1 related topics #DiResta and #BahrainGP trending in the top 10 with #DDvs#MI in the second spot. Not bad for a sport that is still finding its footing in a cricket obsessed nation.
And since the column started with Renault’s podium success in Bahrain, the news also is that with the new engine regulations (1.6L, V6) expected next year onwards, Toyota too is contemplating a return to the sport along with Honda. The more, the merrier…!
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