Bahrain Grand Prix - Part I

The start to the Bahrain Grand Prix was dramatic to say the least. Lewis Hamilton had a terrible start where it seemed like he could just not get off the grid. He dropped down to 7th place before a tangle with Nelson Piquet Jr. (who lost his 2nd gear on the warm-up lap itself) ensured that he lose his nose cone. Massa made a wonderful start which took him past Kubica despite being on the dirty side of the track. Kimi lost out to Kovaleinen at the start but managed to take back the place. Kimi later reeled in Kubica and overtook him with a wonderful mavouevre along the outside of turn 1. Hamilton managed to limp back to the pitstop which dropped him down to 18th place with a lot of work to do in the race. Vettel was out of the race 2 laps into the race. Hamilton took in a lot of fuel in his 11.7 seconds pitstop which could see his race strategy change from a two stop strategy to a one stop strategy. The second Sauber, Hiedfield took fourth place from Kovailenen’s McLaren to leave BMW in 3rd & 4th place. It certainly seems as if Ferrari and McLaren will be given competition from BMW during the course of the season. Two-time world champion Alonso was down in 9th place cutting a sorry figure from his once powerful position. Timo Glock was right on the tail of Alonso, showing where the Renaults figure in the running this season. Massa had another scary moment while lapping Force India F1’s Adrian Sutil. That would have surely caused a lot of anxious moments in the Ferrari camp while all the others would have been watching gleefully. Massa really needs to bring his car home from his winning position if he is to give Kimi any semblance of a fight in this year’s title race.