By Mike Fourie – Editor
Just when the Formula One world championship seemed set to become a two-way battle, Felipe Massa made up for an off-colour performance in Malaysia and jump-started his challenge for the F1 driver’s championship title with a polished drive at Manama on Sunday. I was never a fan of Ayrton Senna and I used to dread hearing the Brazilian national anthem sounding at grand prix ceremonies, but that all changed on Sunday.
Felipe’s colourful character and Latin spirit is exactly what Formula One needs at its sharp end… He produced the goods in qualifying, made a good race start and maintained his composure throughout the grand prix. Lewis Hamilton, who again drove with levels of consistency and competitiveness that belie his rookie status, outshone his McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso and ran Massa’s Ferrari close by the end of the race. However, McLaren was never really in a position to defeat Ferrari in Bahrain and the Woking-based team’s podium finish was principally due to Hamilton’s heroics.
I was one of several commentators who lambasted Massa last week and Felipe still needs to prove to us all that he can turn in performances such as Turkey and Brazil in 2006, and Sunday’s grand prix, at every race. However, Bahrain was all about “the others”: Massa finally made good on his pre-season promise and Alonso never got close to Hamilton following the opening laps – the Spaniard and his Finnish archrival Kimi Raikkonen battled to stay in the hunt and generally shadowed each other while their less-vaunted team-mates streaked into the distance.
We saw some brilliant driving from David Coulthard, who is widely considered a “has been”, and the inconspicuous Nick Heidfeld’s career somehow found a second wind when the German brought his car home in fourth place courtesy of a textbook overtaking manoeuvre on Alonso’s McLaren. Judging by the performances of BMW, Williams and Red Bull Racing in Bahrain, it appears that 2007 could be a good season for the three resurgent teams, while some of last year’s championship protagonists, such as Honda and Renault, may struggle.
Who could have predicted that three drivers would have equal points at the top of the driver’s championship standings after three grands prix? If the top five drivers finish within 15 seconds of one another in every race, 2007 will be a riveting and memorable championship indeed! I expect that Alonso will be back at his best in front of his home crowd at the Spanish Grand Prix… Circuit de Catalunya demands optimum aerodynamic efficiency from F1 cars and therefore McLaren should be quite competitive there.
However, Fernando will by now have realised that he’ll need to defeat not only the Ferrari duo of Massa and Raikkonen to win a third consecutive driver’s crown, but also his young team-mate. Hamilton has virtually announced himself a genuine championship contender by Sunday’s performance. There are cynics who believe the precocious Briton will sooner or later suffer for his inexperience, blot his copybook and come down to earth with the proverbial bump. Well, after three “flyaway” grands prix, the F1 circus will soon begin its European leg – and the prophets of doom have yet to be proven correct.
Bahrain Grand Prix result:
1 F Massa (Br) Ferrari
2 L Hamilton (GB) McLaren +2,360 secs
3 K Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari + 10,839
4 N Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber +13,831
5 F Alonso (Sp) McLaren +14,426
6 R Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber +45,529
7 J Trulli (Ita) Toyota + 1:21,371
8 G Fisichella (Ita) Renault +1:21,701
9 H Kovalainen (Fin) Renault +1:29,411
10 N Rosberg (Ger) Williams +1:29,916
11 A Wurz (Aut) Williams 1 Lap
12 R Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 1 Lap
13 R Barrichello (Brz) Honda
1 Lap
14 C Albers (Ned) Spyker 2 Laps
15 A Sutil (Ger) Spyker 4 Laps
DNF A Davidson (GB) Super Aguri 53 Laps
DNF M Webber (Aus) Red Bull 37 laps
DNF D Coulthard (GB) Red Bull 32 laps
DNF T Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri 34 laps
DNF V Liuzzi (Ita) Toro Rosso 23 Laps
DNF J Button (GB) Honda 0 laps
DNF S Speed (USA) Toro 0 laps
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