The Bahrain Grand Prix

[Kicking-back]

Great win for Alonso again.

Also finally pace translates into results for McLaren - although they could have been even better if it hadn't been for poor qualifying.

De la Rosa - what can I say? Marvellous!

Webber disappointed, slipping backwards through the race.


And a race to forget for Ferrari.


Also DC did well again - points at every race so far!

[garcon]

Fascinating race and some great battles - mainly involving Pedro!

Back to back wins for Alonso is significant. Far too early to talk in championship terms, but he's starting to show that if you give him the goods he won't mess up.

[Hazard]

Interesting race. Great battles, but the circuit design wasn't co-operating with that much...if there were more passing points it would have been far more entertaining and the results would have reflected the drivers pace more.

Imola should be fun, to see how many engines that have made it though that.

How long till 'TSF' turns up as an abbreviation?

[Spudgun]

I can't remember the last time I saw the first few laps of a grand prix like that. It looked like it was going to end in tears somewhere down the whole field! Its a far cry from the 'conservative' Oz GP.

I really enjoyed that race. One of the most entertaining for quite a while. Good job by Alonso, Toyota have proved that their recent performance hasn't been a fluke.

De La Rosa? No more to be said!

If McLaren can just get some better luck in qually we could have a right good humdinger of races to come.

[garcon]

As Martin Brundle said - there's been lots of people wanting to ban German drivers in red cars - how long before they want to ban Spanish drivers in blue cars?!

[Dani Filth]

Alonso is looking very good . and no mistakes so far
we were somewhat robbed of a battle for the win . vs Schumacjer ..
but the race was very enjoyable de la Rosa spicing it with a few battles ..

[Kicking-back]

Originally Posted by garcon

As Martin Brundle said - there's been lots of people wanting to ban German drivers in red cars - how long before they want to ban Spanish drivers in blue cars?!

He needs another 80 wins first!

[garcon]

Well, you have to start somewhere...

[Fantasy GP610]

Great race to watch........got to say De la Rosa made that race for me,loved watching him lining cars up and eventually passing them.

Well done to DC with the last point.

Brill to see Renault and Toyota spicing things up.........

Loved Martins interview with Bernie on the grid walk......

Martin........" So what about the banker that took your wheels off your car ??"

Bernie........."Banker did you say ??"

Classic!!!!!!!!

[GP Racer]

I really enjoyed this race, although it was painful to watch my beloved Ferrari floundering around out there. They are in desperate shape right now, and will have to fight tooth and nail the rest of the way to get back in this championship. The Bridgestones are looking very bad right now, but they will hopefully look better in the cooler European races.

Alonso is making it look as easy these days as Michael did the last couple of years. Trulli is also coming into his own. Good run for Kimi today too.

Pedro was easily the driver of the race though.

That's the first mechanical retirement for Michael since Germany, 2001! Incredible!

I wonder how JV spun off at the end. TV missed that one.

Good race in an empty track. Bring on Imola, where I expect Ferrari to begin the fight to get back into this season!

[StickShift]

Fernando Alonso did a superb job this weekend, and was brilliant today. His stake on the WDC is well marked now. Although he never had a chance to show his race pace, Fisichella looked average all weekend again. Can he really challenge Fernando in the WDC?

Trulli and Toyota were very quick again. The TF105's probably weren't as quick as the MP4-20's, but they definitely had the smarter drivers in them today. Ralf was unlucky to get stuck behind Villeneuve after his stop.

McLaren had a decent race, and proved the car has the potential to race the Renault' and Toyotas. However, the drivers just aren't on the same level as Alonso and Trulli at the moment. Kimi, Juan Pablo, and Pedro need to step up their game and stop making so many mistakes.

It was an underwhelming race for Williams. The FW27 was quick during the first half of the race. But as the race developed, they were just hindrances for the quicker cars. That being said, Webber proved that he is a very good at racing with his mirrors. He held off a much quicker De La Rosa for several laps.

Sauber got some points, but let's face it. If it wasn't for attrition, they wouldn't even be in the top 10. Massa didn't stand out today. Villeneuve was still a ways off the pace. I try to keep an open mind about Villeneuve's pace so far, but that seemed like a rather acute case of "brake failure". To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if we have seen the last of Jacques.

Coulthard managed to get a point. I can't comment on him that much, as I only saw him at the start, and at the finish line. It was heartbreaking to see Klien's race finish before it even started. He had done an amazing job for Red Bull this season. I hope Red Bull resigns him for the next set of races.

BAR should be embarrassed again. Brake failure and Clutch failure/Stalling seems like something the #2 team should be on top of. How did Sato make up so many positions at the start?

However, Ferrari should leave Bahrain even more embarrassed. Their F2005 was not ready. If there poor reliability wasn't bad enough. The fact that both Schumacher and Barrichello cooked their tyres so quickly is a bad omen.

Narain was out fairly early on. Tiago Monteiro had a nice clean race.

Albers tripped over himself, and nearly tripped over several frontrunners trying to lap him. I didn't notice Friesacher at all today -- which for a Minardi driver is probably a good thing. A rather underwhelming exit for Minardi's rather underwhelming PS02/PS03/PS04/PS04B chassis design.

[codename_47]

Wow, the F1 excitement graph carries on climing eh! (I wonder if it's related to the temperature at races graph sitting next to it.... )

De La Rosa raced with the "spirit of Montoya" I think, normally it's JPM being the wildman, passing people, making mistakes, making up for those mistakes with more overtaking, but this time his Spanish substiturte was making up for the lack of "Mr excitement" by a long way!

Though the way Webber was slight too robust in his defending makes me think he had a lot more to do with that Fishichella incident that I previously thought......he left his swerving way too late into the braking zone a couple of times....not good mark...

It's a shame we're off to Imola next, where the excitement graph will surely plunge back down to normal, but those drivers enjoying the miles of run off space won't be happy when they find out theres barriers meters from the edge of the track, will they?

[ASCII Man]

I hate those ultra large run off areas, it just leaves way too much room for error...
This is supposed to be the pinnacle of motorsport not some bloody.. swish swoosh show...

Nice race though, especially surprised by Pedro's performance!
Great battles with Rubens and Mark!

Guess he's not that useless as I thought he was then...

Excellent performance by the Ferrari's, top job!

[Knowlesy]

One word sums up that race: SENSATIONAL.

Absolute entertainment from start to finish!

My only regret is that Michael couldn't stick around..........still, maybe that might turn out to be good for the championship battle, should the ferrari turn out to be dominant. Although I doubt that will be the case.

Poor Fisi........he had an average weekend, but today would have been a good points run for him. Who'd have thought that after Australia he would still only have ten points going into round four. Alonso has him on the ropes, it has to be said.....

Ferrari must be regretting bringing F2005 out early. They have embarrassed themselves I'm afraid to say and stained their record of reliability and quality. Still, the car had great pace in Michaels hands.

Well done to Toyota again on a fabulous result and well done to the mcLaren boys......hopefully they'll have a good European season and join the title battle!

Praise also must go to Massa..........capitilising on a race of attrition and outperforming his ex-highly rated teammate again.

The less said about BAR the better, and what happened to Williams? A promising weekend shattered.....

Alonso is displaying all the qualities of a champion and I hope he goes on to win it. The guy is a supreme talent and hasn't faltered yet in three rounds. He has easily been the fastest guy at each round and my driver of the day on each occasion! Well done!

Here's to a (hopefully) competitive title fight though!

[enemy-ace]

Originally Posted by StickShift

Villeneuve was still a ways off the pace. I try to keep an open mind about Villeneuve's pace so far, but that seemed like a rather acute case of "brake failure". To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if we have seen the last of Jacques.

Sauber are saying that DC punted JV, and he had to retire with a bent rear suspension.
JV was on Massa's pace today. He's coming to grips with the car. To bad the car is slow.

PDLR was great to watch today. Very aggressive and fast.
Nice to see the Macs going quickly. They're the team to challenge Renault still IMO.

[StickShift]

Originally Posted by enemy-ace

Sauber are saying that DC punted JV, and he had to retire with a bent rear suspension.
JV was on Massa's pace today. He's coming to grips with the car. To bad the car is slow.

Yes, I have just read that too. From the sounds of it, Villeneuve is not to be blamed the spin and retirement.

I think this next big test will be where Villeneuve proves to himself and his critics whether he deserves to be in F1.

[GP Racer]

Originally Posted by knowlesy

Ferrari must be regretting bringing F2005 out early. They have embarrassed themselves I'm afraid to say and stained their record of reliability and quality. Still, the car had great pace in Michaels hands.

It would take alot for Ferrari to be embarrased, but the important thing is the car has the pace. Michael was all over Alonso early on. They'll straiten out the mechanical problems, and then I think we'll see Ferrari competitive again.

I'm still alittle troubled by the Bridgestones though. Rubens had all he could do to stay in the race. I thought the 2005 was supposed to be easier on the tires, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

[Knowlesy]

Bear in mind Barrichellos car was lacking balance due to his lack of running.

[enemy-ace]

?'s on Ferrari. How much fuel did Scumacher have?
Tire wear? I can only assume that Ruben's ran Michael's setup, so would balane really be the issue?

[Knowlesy]

Well, we don't really know. The new Ferrari is intriguing as we know little about it yet!

[Born Racer]

I'm really delighted for Alonso Ferrari teething troubles in the new car's first race, so this only necessitated a controlled drive from the front from Fernando, but I must say that this guy looks ready to step up to the challenge this year.

In the battle of the Japanese (at least in terms of engine supply) teams, Toyota have thrashed Honda once again.

[pole2pole]

I really enjoyed that race. It had entertainment all the way and the star of the show was De La Rosa. One part of the race that sticks out for me was his attempted pass on rubens at the end of the straight when he completely outbreaked himself and blasted by rubens and you seen rubens looking over wondering where on gods earth are you going mate. De La Rosa was fantastic all weekend and its brilliant to see the McLarens gathering more speed. Alonso and Renault....wow...text book stuff all the way. That's two races in a row where there performance was a blueprint of the Ferrari/Micheal system...stay out front and let the rest race. From all angles that Renault team looks fantastic. I wonder how much fuel Michael had onboard and how long would the bridgestones have lasted at that incredible pace at the start. Another interesting point was when a Sauber passed a Ferrari! I think that sums up the current situation at Ferrari

[luke]

It was a good race, my personal favourite of the season so far.
There was some good side-to-side racing.
Michael had some bad luck for once mechanicaly wise.
Pedro, did well, he could well of finished 3rd, if it wasn't for his two offs, where he braked too late which cost him a lot of time.
You could tell he hadn't been in a race since Japan 2002, as nearly every turn, he stuck his nose in, then as a result on the exit of the turns he lost about 3 car lengths.
It's very well doing 100s of 1000s of miles testing, and knowing the car, like the back of your hand, but as I said he hadn't driven side-by-side with anyone for a long time.
He was certainly very entertaining and put in a good race performance, a pity he had those offs, straight on, onto the dirty tramac, run off strips, then on to the grass.

Ferando did a great job once again. Jarno, again, doing a great solid job.
A shame Klien had technical problems, else he would have had a great overall finish.

Roll on Imola, in three weeks time!!

[ozrevhead]

what did i think of the race.....it was cr@p

not afraid to say how i feel and the words shattered and gutterd come to mind

and if i sound like a sore looser well im to upset to care

[luke]

Originally Posted by ozrevhead

what did i think of the race.....it was cr@p

not afraid to say how i feel and the words shattered and gutterd come to mind

and if i sound like a sore looser well im to upset to care

ozrevhead - I'm sorry to hear you thought the race was crap, why did it upset you?