Round Three, 2005 Formula One Championship: Bahrain Grand Prix
Spanish drivers rule the day
Fernando Alonso takes his second win (and third for Renault -for 3 out of 3), putting Fernando 10 points ahead of Toyota's Jarno Trulli. Pedro de la Rosa earns 5th place driving for McLaren in stellar performance, emerging the winner of a dying race duel with Australian Mark Webber, driving a VERY WIDE BMW Williams. Pedro de la Rosa replaced injured Colombian star Juan Pablo Montoya, in the process de la Rosa scored the fastest lap of the race, making a great day for Spanish drivers.
The debut of the 2005 Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello disappoint as Michael retires on lap 12 with gearbox failure, and Rubens gets nipped out of the points in the dying minutes of the race, as he nursed his ailing car
So far this season is turning to be substantially more competitive than the last three years as Renault and Toyota have finally put together very competitive packages and have managed to erase Scuderia Ferrari form the podium.
Bahrain turned almost a mirror result of Malaysia only Kimi Raikkonen replacing Nick Heifeld as the third man on the podium, which in deference of Muslim tradition, it became a DRY podium without the traditional champagne spray...
While the weather cooperated a little, as the temperature "cooled off" from a sizzling 122 F to a mere "hot day" of 107, still, it was hot enough to completely cook the brakes of Takuma Sato's and teammate Jenson Buttons clutch, sending both BAR drivers into retirement
Other casualties of the day were Dane Christian Klien whose car refused to start for the warm up lap and the mechanics failed to revive the Red Bull racing car, one of those "it was over before it began". Giancarlo Fisichella Renault engine expired on lap 5, leaving the Italian with 10 points in the standings as a result of his victory in the opening race in Melbourne. Nick Heifeld's BMW engine died slow, agonizing death spilling oil on a good portion of the track, luckily without consequence. The remaining BMW-Williams of aussie Webber found himself fending off (without success) the charging Spaniard de la Rosa, who admittedly, given his limited race experience had a moment or two before successfully disposing of a very wide-driving Webber, earning the Spaniard a fifth spot and 4 valuable points for himself and McLaren, in the process, de La Rosa scored the fastest lap of the race
Ralf Schumacher managed to bring the second Toyota into 4th slot, just missing the podium to the other McLaren driver, Finn Kimi Raikkonen.
Brazilian Felipe Masa drove an uneventful and smart race to bring his Sauber to 7th place with Scot David Coulthard nipping Barrichello's Ferrari earning the final point into 8th for the Red Bull Racing team
Another disappointing race for former world champion Jacques Villeneuve, who spun his Sauber as he tried to pas Barrichelo for 8th place, sending the Canadian out of the points and yet another disappointing finish way back to 11th... (Rumor has it that Monsieur Jacques will not see the end of the championship, opening his seat for another driver ....) |
