Fun F1

The Spanish Grand Prix had such a good build up… Alonso almost on pole… Kubica still mixing it up with the “big boys” (even though he’s physically a bigger boy than all of them :P)… Then the race came… What a let down…

Fernando Alonso - An unbelievable qualifying effort. I thought Nelson Piquet Jr was starting to get closer to Fernando’s pace in previous rounds but the Spanish Grand Prix has just shown how huge the gap is between the two. How ironic that the traditionally reliable Renault couldn’t last the distance. I’m not sure but I think it was James Allen that made a fantastic comment during the race (yes James, we give you cred when it’s deserved! ;)) - something along the lines of “Alonso drives very bad cars very quick and drives very good cars pretty average” (paraphrasing). With that said, hopefully the Renault is no longer a “very bad” car.

Renault - Big ups to the team for all their hard work to make such a quantum leap in performance. I can’t believe I just wrote big ups…

Heikki Kovalainen - Very happy to see him walk out of hospital on the news today. Hope he’s better for the next round. Maybe he might come back even quicker like Robert Kubica did after his terrible Canadian accident.

Kimi Raikkonen - Another day another Finn… I mean win…

Lewis Hamilton - Very good race given where he started from. Seems McLaren is dropping a bit from Ferrari but perhaps they’ll turn that around on slower circuits (like Monaco). 

Mark Webber - Didn’t see much of him but a great qualifying and a great race. Looks like the Renault is a pretty handy engine on the faster circuits.

Giancarlo Fisichella - Have to mention our Italian friend as always because he continues to do a remarkable job in an  

David Coulthard - Bye bye in 09

Robert Kubica - Mr Top 6 himself

Toyota - Just when they seemed to be getting near the top 4 they go backward…

Honda - Honda seem to have gained a little performance on the other hand (compared to Toyota)…

Nick Heidfeld - Hmm. I don’t understand why Robert is outperforming Nick so much lately (both qualifying and now, race).

Channel 10 Australia - Thanks for not showing the driver interviews… not. I guess the Indian Premier League is pretty cool but come on, just show it 5 mins later next time (it is on every friggin night after all, whereas we only get F1 every 2 weeks or so).

I can’t believe Honda is testing a new version of their Dumbo-ear wings again this week. The FIA should step in and ban the device just based on how ugly it is… :) At least in white they look a bit like angel wings or something, and a bit less bulbus than Dumbo wings version 1.

With F1 testing resuming this week, it looks like we’ve been given a sneak peek of the 2009 grid courtesy of McLaren (picture from gpupdate.net):

I have to say, the car looks a lot better. While the rear wing is technically much less effective, it’s cleaner, and thus looks faster (important for the fans ;)). The front wing is still a bit ugly, but the limited flip-ups again make the car look cleaner.

Best feature all up though has to be the return of slick tyres!!

Caitlin had a great theory that the reason Kimi Raikkonen never performs well in Bahrain is because he doesn’t get to enjoy any champagne after the race, as alcohol is banned there. This means there’s absolutely no motivation for him to do well there

We managed to find a picture on the web that suggests Ferrari have been testing some new fuel just for Kimi:

Every litre promised to Kimi after the race is said to be worth up to half a second per lap!

There were 2 standout things about the Bahrain Grand Prix. First was the fantastic performance of Robert Kubica and BMW in general. Second was the fall of Lewis Hamilton (and McLaren in general too). While Ferrari continues to be a benchmark up the front, McLaren seems to be slowly slipping into reach of BMW.

Before we get to the points, a quick video from YouTube (be quick before the FIA take it down ;)) of the start of the race from the view of various drivers. You can clearly see Hamilton’s wing break up well before he rear-ended Alonso:

Felipe Massa - Well, the guy won the race so we have to put him first on the list of points I guess. He did a great job in qualifying and in the race. Bahrain is certainly a track he likes and when he likes a track he’s very hard to beat. For me, there was nothing spectacular about the performance though - but I think that’s because there were so many other highlights in the race and the points tally still leaves Felipe behind par in the champsionship. Still, full credit to him.

Robert Kubica - Very happy to see the Pole on pole. We saw pole position coming for Robert in the last round, but didn’t expect it so fast! His start was a bit poor but he still drove a brilliant race for BMW. Next box on the list is a race win…

Lewis Hamilton - 3 words - lots of mistakes. Crashing in free practice. Messing up the start. Crashing into Fernando Alonso (possibly crashing into someone earlier to dislodge his front wing?). The final result really was worthy of his race weekend (sorry Lewis fans).

Giancarlo Fisichella - Fisi has impressed so much at Force India. He looks like he’s driving better (more inspired) than he did at Renault and he’s certainly punching above his weight.

Jarno Trulli - Another ex-Renault driver doing fantastic work in an under-performing car. Although Toyota certainly does seem to be making some good progress.

Martin Brundle - I find it amazing that someone who has actually raced in F1 would jump up and down and accuse Fernando Alonso of brake-testing Lewis Hamilton when the fault was clearly with Lewis (or at least clear enough to not jump to conclusions without data). Alonso didn’t slow suddenly, Lewis just misjudged where to put his car. Martin is probably the best commentator I’ve heard, but sometimes he sinks down to James Allen’s level. 

Kimi Raikkonen - 2nd place is normally good in most peoples books, but Kimi didn’t look strong at all in Bahrain. It’s the reverse of his teammate. Felipe Massa performs great in Bahrain whereas Kimi always seems to struggle. Again though, 2nds and 3rds aren’t really bad but you just feel Kimi could perform better here.

Nick Heidfeld - Not so strong in qualifying but always strong in the races. A fantastic result for BMW.

Heikki Kovalainen - One minute this guy seems like he could improve to be a star, then the next minute he seems very average.

Jenson Button vs David Coulthard - Face it Jenson, the accident was completely your fault.