The tables turn at the Bahrain Grand Prix (SPOILER ALERT)
If you're a diehard fan, you might have gotten up at 7:30 am (Eastern Standard Time) to catch the Bahrain Grand Prix live. But if you're planning on catching the taped rerun or have the race TiVo'd, go no further. For everyone else, though, read on to find out how the tables turned for the leading F1 teams on the shores of the Persian Gulf.
Everyone who speculated that, after two dismal races at the start of the season, Felipe Massa might have lost his edge, were firmly put in their place as the Ferrari driver pulled out a spectacular performance to dominate the race virtually from start to finish. His team mate Kimi Raikkonen battled it out with the likes of countryman Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) and Robert Kubica (BMW) to cross the finish line in second place, giving Raikkonen the lead in the drivers' championship with 19 points. The 1-2 finish for the Italian team, however, was not enough to catapult Ferrari into the lead in the constructors' championship, which is now topped by the BMW Sauber team who had a spectacular day under the Middle Eastern sun. Kubica took the first pole position for the team on Saturday in qualifying, emerging on the final step of the podium by the race's end. His team-mate Nick Heidfeld came in an impressive fourth place, ahead of Kovalainen's McLaren-Mercedes. But while BMW finally showed that it is a serious contender, things did not go so well for McLaren, the British team that came to Bahrain in the lead for both titles. Wunderkind Lewis Hamilton had qualified in 3rd place, only to drop a crushing seven positions at the start of the race before hitting former team-mate Fernando Alonso. Hamilton finally crossed the finish line in a shocking 13th place, a full lap after the Ferraris and behind even Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella.
Follow the jump for the full results and standings, follow the link for more information, check out the images in the gallery below, and tune in at the end of the month for the Spanish Grand Prix.
Gallery: 2008 Bahrain Grand Prix
[Source: Autosport]
2008 Bahrain Grand Prix
1 Massa Ferrari
2 Raikkonen Ferrari
3 Kubica BMW Sauber
4 Heidfeld BMW Sauber
5 Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes
6 Trulli Toyota
7 Webber Red Bull-Renault
8 Rosberg Williams-Toyota
9 Glock Toyota
10 Alonso Renault
11 Barrichello Honda
12 Fisichella Force India-Ferrari
13 Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
14 Nakajima Williams-Toyota
15 Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari
16 Davidson Super Aguri-Honda
17 Sato Super Aguri-Honda
18 Coulthard Red Bull-Renault
19 Sutil Force India-Ferrari
Fastest lap: Kovalainen, 1:33.193
Driver's Championship
(after three rounds)
1 Kimi Räikkönen 19
2 Nick Heidfeld 16
3 Lewis Hamilton 14
4 Robert Kubica 14
5 Heikki Kovalainen 14
6 Felipe Massa 10
7 Jarno Trulli 8
8 Nico Rosberg 7
9 Fernando Alonso 6
10 Mark Webber 4
11 Kazuki Nakajima 3
12 Sebastien Bourdais 2
13 David Coulthard 0
14 Timo Glock 0
15 Jenson Button 0
16 Rubens Barrichello 0
17 Nelsinho Piquet 0
18 Giancarlo Fisichella 0
19 Anthony Davidson 0
20 Takuma Sato 0
21 Adrian Sutil 0
22 Sebastian Vettel 0
Constructor's Championship
(after three rounds)
1 BMW 30
2 Ferrari 29
3 McLaren-Mercedes 28
4 Williams-Toyota 10
5 Toyota 8
6 Renault 6
7 Red Bull-Renault 4
8 STR-Ferrari 2
9 Honda 0
10 Force India-Ferrari 0
11 Super Aguri-Honda 0
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Ian 10:10AM (4/07/2008)
All Hail the new Constructors Cup Championship leaders BMW.
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Luis 12:48PM (4/07/2008)
It was also nice to see Kubica on the podium. Although Kimi wasn't in the posirion I would have wished, it was sweet redemption for Massa. Great race.So far a good year for F1.
John Johnson 10:27AM (4/07/2008)
Alonso should be hung for intentionally causing an accident. Nothing to play around with in F1. Anyone remember the 1994 weekend in San Marino?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_San_Marino_Grand_Prix for those who don't know.
Accidents in F1 are nothing to joke about. Alonso should be severely reprimanded for his actions.
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Ian 11:01AM (4/07/2008)
John,
You give absolutely no support for you accusation against Alonso.
Instead the telemtry given by Renault show that Alonso remained 100% on the pas pedal through and out of that corner and he did not touch his brakes.
The McLaren car and especially their engine is MUCH stronger than the Renault and there is some possibility that Hamilton's fron wing was malfunctioning already and effectively giving less downforce out of the corner and allowing his car to acclerate even faster.
Rather than give standard prejudice against Alonso read the facst given by Renault and McLaren and the words by Hamilton. I guess you watched and soaked in the biased TV reporting from ITV!
Nathan 10:59AM (4/07/2008)
1. This has nothing to do with 1994 San Marino.
2. How do you know Alonso intentionally caused the accident. That is speculation. You haven't seen any supporting data. In fact, Hamilton himself and McLaren are not suggesting that.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7333524.stm
Fernando 11:03AM (4/07/2008)
Alonso is a deuche bag and that's how he acts all the time.
I vividly remember that day it was a very, very sad day indeed. F1 lost one of it's greatest drivers ever, and a true gentlemen. RIP Senna you will never be forgotten.
Franz 11:52AM (4/07/2008)
I hate that bastard Fernando Alonso, but I don't think he intentionally caused anything. Lewis was out accelerating him and got into the back of him. It's just a simple racing incident with no malice on either driver's part.
why not the LS2/LS7? 12:03PM (4/07/2008)
Hamilton made a bonehead move. Deal with it.
John Johnson 12:38PM (4/07/2008)
My apologies, I made an assumption and didn't actually base it on the facts. I just watched it this morning and my initial reaction was that Alonso would do something like that since he is a dick.
But he didn't, as the facts show, so I'll concede and say sorry. Next time I'll try to look at the facts first.
And yes, ITV is my source for F1, could have something to do with it :P.
Ivan 3:31PM (4/07/2008)
And what about Hamilton's behavour, waving his fists at anyone who didn't let him pass as though he were lapping them?
It's the same thing whenever the British have a (potentially) successful sportsman -- the press exaggerates everything so much that the rest of the world ends up hating said sportsman. And in Lewis' case, all the publicity seems to have affected him, and not in a good way.
It's the same thing with Andy Murray.
Ian 4:51PM (4/07/2008)
Good follow up John.
Not many would post with such honesty.
Tagg 11:06AM (4/07/2008)
John:
You are speaking of the Alonso/Hamiltion incident correct?
If you are I am not so sure that was intentional. To me it looked like Hamilton just misjudged the closing rate and ran him over. If Hamilton was pissy afterwards thats too bad because he could have avoided that incident in my judgement.
I don't feel too bad for him though because it was his mistake that put him in the back anyways. His weak start is what put him in that postion so its only his fault from the begining. Had hae gotten away half way clean Alonso would have been nothing but a spec in his rearveiw mirror.
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Colonel Guaranty 11:29AM (4/07/2008)
Lewis Hamilton is starting to look more and more. . . .human.
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Ian 11:37AM (4/07/2008)
These are some of the comments which give background to Hamilton's mistakes.
Symonds confirmed: "Fernando was coming out of the turn and accelerating down the straight.
"He reached fifth gear, at 227km/h (142mph), on full throttle, no touching of the brakes or anything like that. And you can see on the accelerometer the impact. He got hit from behind.
"All I can say from our side is that there is no blame attributable to Fernando, which is what some of the speculation might be.
"There is nothing untoward there. You don't need to be an expert to see that."
McLaren F1 chief executive officer Martin Whitmarsh said the team's on-board computer data showed that Hamilton's car had lost part of its front wing two seconds before the collision.
That would have made the car faster on the straight and may have contributed to Hamilton misjudging his closing speed on the Renault.
Whitmarsh said the wing's "structure may have been weakened by previous contact" - and Alonso said Hamilton had hit him up the rear on the first lap of the race.
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nick 12:03PM (4/07/2008)
Why is this on here? Are you going to post about every F1 race that no one in the US (your target market on this site) watches?
If people want to read about F1, maybe just maybe they would check out Espn instead of AB??
I'm sure all the passing in the pits was exciting..
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why not the LS2/LS7? 12:20PM (4/07/2008)
Yeah, this is ridiculous. With all these damn useless racing articles, there is barely more than one Mustang, ZR1 and/or GT-R article per page!
More glorified press releases and arranged spy shot "leaks" and fewer actual written articles concerning automobiles and motorsports please!
Joe K. 12:32PM (4/07/2008)
I am amazed at how many posts there are on AB that have someone complaining about what Autoblog is posting. If you don't want to read it, treat it like how I (and other rational individuals) treat things they don't want to read. Skim past it. Thats the beauty of blogs, or cable television, if you don't like it, no one is forcing you to. Its not like nothing else is on.
As for me, I am in the US and DID watch, so i wanted to see how other readers that watched were going to react to the standings and accident. So I like it here. Deal with it and move on.
John Johnson 12:39PM (4/07/2008)
I, like 100% of people on the internet, am from the US.
Somehow I watch F1 and my eyes don't burn out of my skull. Odd. Maybe I'm adopted from Canada or something.
Chocolate 1:08PM (4/07/2008)
You bring an interesting point.
There's one little trick you can do ... Look on your computer for a button (usually round) with an open circle and a line going through the top. Press on it, wait for 5 seconds then go to Hell.
Luis 1:13PM (4/07/2008)
And yet you still took the time to post...hmmmm...