Bahrain Grand Prix Review

Generally, what can be said about the spectacle this year, three GPs into this 19-race season? The racing has been comparatively eventful, the two-race engine and one-race tyre rules have caused their fair share of drama and action. The qualifying system has not produced any unworthy grids and has got rid of the boredom factor in last year's system. If this continues to be the trend, then perhaps we won't end up with a season punctuated by seething discontent over the regulations, and that can only be good.

Even the politics seemed to be taking a back seat in the weeks either side of the race. In fact, a lot in this regard has happened. The FIA looks set to be restructured in a way that almost assures Max Mosley another term in the Presidency. Bernie Ecclestone settled with the banks - to his own disadvantage, it would appear. Gasp! And then Eddie Jordan and Paul Stoddart (the man Bernie has repeatedly told in public to get out of F1) came out and urged the banks to let Bernie stay in control. Peace in our time?!?

Then after Bahrain came the news that the 'Group of 9', which is really a nebulous coalition of the nine non-Ferrari teams and the GPWC manufacturers, would not attend the upcoming meeting with the FIA and Ferrari (although recent reports indicate that Jordan and Red Bull will be there after all), but instead would allow their own working groups more time to come up with alternative regulations for an alternative series. Perhaps this is purely wishful, but there is a sense in which, eventually, the various proposals will seamlessly compromise and a schism in F1 will be avoided.

Hypothetically, had Ferrari already romped off into the horizon and this year's titles become non-events already, then the political fervour might still be at Melbourne levels. As it is, it was rather nice that the FIA-related news that seemed to attract the most attention in the Sakhir paddock was the governing body's anti-bling edict, an attempt to ban excessive jewellery usage that seemed to be aimed at that trendy Red Bull duo, Christian Klien's earring and Vitantonio Liuzzi's various chains. Amusing.

So the focus - for the moment, at least - is back on the racing, and so ours will be too. Alonso and Renault continued on their merry way in the Bahrain desert. The Spaniard did not need to push all that hard, such was the balance and therefore superiority of the R25 package. His Michelins remained in superlative shape as others' began to wilt in the 50+ degrees Celsius track temperatures, and in the second half of the race he would have received no more than a minute's television coverage.

Dig a little deeper, and there are overtones of 1994. Alonso's 2003 and 2004 were not unlike Schumacher's 1992 and 1993: brilliant in the first of those years including their respective maiden victories, solid but relatively unspectacular in the second. In 1994, in the Benetton Schumi upset the applecart in the first few races as the established leading team, then Williams, faltered with the onset of rule changes. In 2005, Fernando's doing the same with the Renault (nee Benetton), as Ferrari falters after rule changes.

In the other Renault though, Giancarlo Fisichella's second-straight DNF sounds warning bells in one way or another. Did his engine failure signify chinks in the Renault armour? Even if it was just a one-off, he couldn't match Alonso here, as was the case in Malaysia. Fisi's momentum has stalled since Melbourne; given Benetton/Renault's chequered history when it comes to providing two equal cars, is Fisi geting a fair shot at matching Alonso? If so, then can he himself do it? He's 16 points behind after 3 races ...

Toyota keep going from strength to strength. 2nd and 4th here proved that Sepang was no fluke. It's safe to say that the TF105 is the second-best car in F1 right now, and with a constant development program as befits their budget and Mike Gascoyne's technical directorship, a maiden win for them seems more likely this year than it did for BAR last year. Currently, there is also so much to like about Jarno Trulli's work; he has qualified 2nd, 2nd and 3rd so far this year, and his racing has been largely faultless.

Admittedly, the Italian hasn't had a great deal to do in the last two events, mainly holding the gap to Alonso out front and maintaining a buffer to those behind, but his form seems to be as good as it's ever been. After all, here he thrashed Ralf Schumacher by around 30s by race end. Sure, Ralf can have his excuses, like a poor first qualifying, requiring a brilliant lower-fuel 2nd qualifying run that compromised his race strategy, but in the race he also had two off-track excursions at least...

Ron Dennis was thus forced into the situation where his team had to hurriedly modify one of the chassis for Alexander Wurz's use on Friday, and Pedro de la Rosa, who in effect is really McLaren's second-choice tester except that thus far he had been able to fit into the MP4/20 whereas Wurz couldn't, got the nod to replace JPM. Kimi Raikkonen then seemed to make errors in both qualifying laps, and even started behind de la Rosa, and both drivers then had off-track moments during the race. Niggles, niggles ...

The car is fast in race trim, but apparently a little dodgy over one lap, especially in slower corners. Again, just a little thing which is a thorn in the 'total package' stakes. Raikkonen used that race pace to get that podium which he has deserved, but he looked flushed post-race. This could be quite crucial: if McLaren continues to be weak in qualifying, Kimi might have to expend a lot more energy and work much harder than his rivals just to keep maximising his points scores and stay in championship contention.

It is notable though that here Kimi hardly to make an on-track pass of note. That was certainly not the case for de la Rosa, who took over Montoya's car and the Colombian's 'Mr Excitement' driving style. But although he did pull off some stellar moves and claimed the fastest lap of the race, a lot of the feints, the overshooting of corners etc. cost him a lot of time. Though Pedro called it his best F1 race yet, we'd rate some of his drives for Arrows in 2000, e.g. in Austria or Canada, as being more impressive.

Instead, his wild half-spin, for which he admitted fault, ruined his tyres, which in turn eventually dropped him to 6th. Yet again, his racecraft lacks assurance, and it was not entirely a surprise that he did spin. Later in the race, his defence of 5th place from de la Rosa was pushing the boundaries of robustness. Williams do indeed have a rough-and-tumble diamond in their hands, but the Aussie will need to maximise his and the car's potential in a race soon; Mark cannot afford to underachieve, as he has been doing.

Nick Heidfeld was unlucky to be forced to use the same engine in the searing heat of both Malaysia and Bahrain, but actually he was faster than Webber in first qualifying. It seems as though his confidence has risen after his podium in Malaysia. However, the retirement raises questions about the engine as well, BMW having admitted that both cars had run reduced revs, thereby compromising straight-line speed, in order to make the finish - and, in Nick's case, it couldn't even do that.

What we said in the previous review about Williams, though, is starting to come true. The car is still not a match for Renault and Toyota, and probably not likely to be for a while yet. But that leaves them at the mercy of any resurgence from McLaren and Ferrari. Woking got both cars home in front of Webber here in Bahrain, and in terms of raw speed the Ferrari F2005 should also be faster as well. Williams needs to speed up its development program ASAP.

In fact, all systems generally need much-improved reliability; this was Michael's first technical retirement since Germany 2001. In addition, even Schumi's set-up looked a little out-of-sorts, and perhaps the Bridgestone tyres still can't cope. Whether or not the F2004M would have done better is irrelevant; so too the fact that Ferrari felt they had no choice but to roll out the new car. For what was really a quite embarrassing debut for the F2005, by their lofty standards, Ferrari picks up our 'Reject of the Race' award.

For the statistically-conscious, this is the first time Michael has recorded two DNFs in a season since 2001. It is the worst start he has ever made to a season, his previous lows being two DNFs and a 3rd in the first three races of 1993 and 1996. Including Brazil last year, he has now gone four races without a podium, his longest absence from the dais since a five-race stretch from Canada to Hungary in 1996. If we were still under the old points system, it's also the first time he has ever gone 4 races without a point!

To put it mildly, Schumi has never had to dig so deep in order to fight back in a title chase. The last times he fought back into contention from being significantly behind the eight-ball was in 1997 and 1998, but both were unsuccessful attempts. Yes he had to play catch-up in 2003, but in no time he was back at or near the front of the standings. A 24-point deficit to Alonso with a points system that rewards consistency over results could make it a near-impossible task if Michael slips any further behind.

REJECT OF THE RACE
Ferrari
Embarrassing debut for F2005

Peter Sauber is a man who generally keeps things fairly close to his chest, but even he has come out and admitted that things with Jacques are not working out as either side had hoped. How much grace Villeneuve has got left within the team is unclear, but unless his performances improve, or unless he can so much as match Massa in what is admittedly a bit of a mercurial car at present, the clock continues to tick. It is an unpleasant sight, that of a former champion struggling to hang on in the sport.

BAR remain the only team not to have greeted the chequered flag this year. They showed more decent speed, but also more unreliability. Even if the situation is not hopeless, especially since Geoff Willis has already stated that they have parts which should bring them back to the pointy end by Monaco, it must nonetheless be galling if not a touch humiliating for the team that came 2nd in last year's constructors' title to currently be 2nd last, even behind Jordan on countback positions.

One can't help but feel a little sorry for Jenson Button and Takuma Sato. There's an old adage in motorsport: you can make a quick car reliable, but you can't make a reliable car quick. So, then, how exactly does BAR propose to make a car that cannot last the distance and is simply not speedy enough right now, both fast and reliable? Whereas even the Ferrari F2005, for all its under-preparation, at least seems to be an inherently fast machine.

The news in recent days, though, is that as expected Klien gets the boot for the next three races to give Vitantonio Liuzzi a run as promised. Moves are underway to change the Friday rules to allow Klien to continue to run, or else Christian will just have to sit things out. All of which is blatantly ridiculous, especially when he has been the most improved driver in F1. If Liuzzi doesn't do as well or significantly better, then Red Bull almost has the 'Reject of the Race' award for San Marino well sewn up.

Once again little to say at Jordan, although interestingly Tiago Monteiro came out and admitted he needed to find more pace to match Narain Karthikeyan. No doubt the Indian has been the more impressive of the two thus far, and but for an error in qualifying and an early mechanical failure the trend would have continued in Bahrain. Not that anything Jordan does right at this moment is going to make much of an impression. There seems to be little interest in anything other than building towards '06.

The internal battle between Christijan Albers and Patrick Friesacher is hotting up at Minardi, which in turn has pushed them closer to Jordan; their new car, scheduled for San Marino, can only improve their fortunes further. Albers in particular responded to Friesacher's respectable start to the season by being generally faster here, and were it not for hitting Coulthard on lap 1, he would have been on the coat-tails of the midfield. That's the kind of encouraging thing that Minardi need more often.