Bahrain Timings
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courtesy of itv-f1.com
(UK GMT)
(SG GMT +8hr)
Bahrain Grand Prix coverage on ITV1
Saturday 11 March 1030-1215 Qualifying LIVE
Sunday 12 March 1030-1330 Race LIVE
Monday 13 March 0010-0110 Highlights
Tuesday 14 March 0245-0345 Highlights -
ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Why is it Kimi's car everytime?! its not even an engine related problem this time!!!
Oh well the ensuring scramble looked just like a race, with people diving down the inside of each other and outbraking each other. Fun! -
1 M Schumacher (Ferrari) 1:31.431
2 F Massa (Ferrari) 1:31.478
3 J Button (Honda) 1:31.549
4 F Alonso (Renault) 1:31.702
5 J Montoya (McLaren) 1:32.164
6 R Barrichello (Honda) 1:32.579
7 M Webber (Williams) 1:33.006
8 C Klien (Red Bull) 1:33.112
Michael Schumacher takes pole for the first Grand Prix of the season with his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa joining him on the front row of the grid. Britain's Jenson Button is third. -
Qualifying
Phase One
Kimi Raikkonen will start from the back of the grid in Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix after the Finn lost his rear wing at the end of Turn 10.
The McLaren star's suspension failed while he was travelling at around 140mph which tore apart the rear of his car.
While Raikkonen recovered what was left of his McLaren to the pits, the red flag was brought out to clear the wreckage with just five minutes left to run in the segment.
This created a wild scramble as many of the top runners had yet to set a lap time and under the new rules the slowest six cars are eliminated at the end of the segment.
With more or less the whole field leaving the pits at the green light together, there was always going to be some unhappy faces and this time they were at Toyota as Ralf Schumacher missed the cut.
Also now out of the session are the Midlands of Christijan Albers and Tiago Monteiro and the Super Aguris of Yuji Ide and Takuma Sato.
Fernando Alonso was fastest of all ahead of Jenson Button, Giancarlo Fisichella, Nico Rosberg and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Phase Two
World champion Fernando Alonso left it very late in the second 15-minute segment to ensure that is in the final shoot-out, by setting the fastest time of the weekend so far.
The Renault star, and team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella waited until the last four minutes to go out and bang in their bankers.
Splitting the blue cars was the sole remaining McLaren of Juan Pablo Montoya.
Nick Heidfeld made the cut with 10s to go as he went fourth ahead of the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Michael Schumacher.
Jenson Button changed his set-up midway through the session to go seventh ahead of Christian Klien, Mark Webber.
Rubens Barrichello, off the pace all weekend, ended the session on the bubble.
Those that missed the cut included Jacques Villeneuve, Nico Rosberg (who spun on his final lap), David Coulthard, Jarno Trulli, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed.
Final phase
Michael Schumacher has equalled Ayrton Senna's record of 65 career pole positions by setting the fastest time in the final phase of qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
As we predicted after free practice, Ferrari still had something left in the bag as Schumacher and Felipe Massa scrapped out the top slot between them.
In fact Massa, was just 0.04s slower than the great man in the end.
Jenson Button was third fastest having never seemed to have the pace of the two Ferraris, although it's possible that he and world champion Fernando Alonso could have been on slightly higher fuel loads.
Juan Pablo Montoya had a quiet sesssion but banged in a quick lap at the end to go fifth ahead of Honda's Rubens Barrichello.
Excellent individual performances from Mark Webber and Christian Klien saw them go seventh and eighth.
Giancarlo Fisichella dropped to ninth in the final shuffle, while Nick Heidfeld blew his best lap by going wide onto the sand. -
Starting grid:
1. M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1m31.431s
2. MASSA Ferrari 1m31.478s
3. BUTTON Honda 1m31.549s
4. ALONSO Renault 1m31.702s
5. MONTOYA McLaren 1m32.164s
6. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m32.579s
7. WEBBER Williams 1m33.006s
8. KLIEN Red Bull 1m33.112s
9. FISICHELLA Renault 1m33.496s
10. HEIDFELD BMW 1m33.926s
11. VILLENEUVE BMW 1m32.456s
12. ROSBERG Williams 1m32.620s
13. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m32.850s
14. TRULLI Toyota 1m33.066s
15. LIUZZI Toro Rosso 1m33.416s
16. SPEED Toro Rosso 1m34.606s
17. R.SCHUMACHER Toyota 1m34.702s
18. ALBERS MF1 1m35.724s
19. MONTEIRO MF1 1m35.900s
20. SATO Super Aguri 1m37.411s
21. IDE Super Aguri 1m40.270s
22. RAIKKONEN McLaren no time -
Well, few surprises there. Ferrari, in typical style, were sandbagging all through testing season and Mac still can't build a reliable car. Can't say I expected Rubens to be that much slower than Button - maybe he's too used to being the #1 driver's b*tch.
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i'd expected the engine to let go. what happens? the engine holds out so far, oh joy. but the bloody suspension goes... -_-"Originally posted by Gedanken:Well, few surprises there. Ferrari, in typical style, were sandbagging all through testing season and Mac still can't build a reliable car. Can't say I expected Rubens to be that much slower than Button - maybe he's too used to being the #1 driver's b*tch. -
this is bad... my McLaren flag just fell off the wall... bad omen?
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Pat Symonds is already accusing Ferrari of using flexible rear wings...but so far Charlie Whiting has allowed them to be used.
And it isn't so bad for Kimi now because he gets to play with his put stop strategy unlike before, when he had to start from the pits and wait for the lights in order to refuel. But Villeneuve in 11th is in prime position to score some points for the same reason. -
tink this is season they will struggle...Originally posted by HENG@:this is bad... my McLaren flag just fell off the wall... bad omen? -
F***ing beautiful from Massa!
Jesus H Christ, I thought Rubens was the ultimate manyouk for Scummaker, but his successsor's willing to go that one bit further and go kamikaze so that his Daddy can win. -
Somebody obviously forgot to brief the f*cking sand niggers about blue flags!!!!!!!!!
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YES! YES MOTHER F*CKER YES! Alosnso's out of the pits ahead of Scumsucker!
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raikonnen did it again.
getting on the podium starting from the 20th position. -
Alonso did good to avoid Massa's kamikaze effort, Raikonnen did good to go from the back of the grid to the podium, but damn, the man of the race is NICO!
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oooo yea! what a race! i was expecting the maccas to break down but kimi 3rd from 22nd! whoa!
looks like pace-wise, theres little to choose from between ferrari, renault, mclaren, and honda... -
from the 22nd! position.Originally posted by dragg:raikonnen did it again.
getting on the podium starting from the 20th position. -
from www.itv-f1.com:
ALONSO BEATS SCHU IN CLASSIC DESERT DUEL
Last Updated: Sunday, 12, March, 2006, 15:11
Fernando Alonso began his title defence in the best possible fashion with a superbly judged victory in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
But, unlike the early races of last year, the Spaniard didn’t have things his own way – not by a long shot.
Instead he was made to work hard all afternoon by seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, whose pace signalled a major Ferrari revival this year.
The ‘old’ maestro and the sport’s youngest ever champion fought a pressure-laden race-long duel, the outcome of which was decided when Alonso emerged from his final pit stops just metres in front.
On an afternoon full of stellar performances, one of the best came from Kimi Raikkonen, who charged through from the back of the grid to claim the final podium spot.
The McLaren driver just held off a rampaging Jenson Button, who gave a magnificent exhibition of overtaking as he fought to make amends for a poor start.
From third on the grid the Briton was left standing when the lights went out and lost three places into the first corner.
Schumacher got away well from pole but his hopes that team-mate Felipe Massa might act as his rear gunner were soon dashed when Alonso outmanoeuvred the Brazilian at turn four.
McLarenÂ’s Juan Pablo Montoya ran fourth while Button spent the first few laps trading fifth with Honda team-mate Rubens Barrichello before settling the matter on lap four.
MassaÂ’s Ferrari debut went sour on lap eight when he spun under braking for the first corner and very nearly took Alonso with him.
When he pitted to change his flat-spotted tyres at the end of the lap, the Ferrari mechanics had to scramble to replace a defective air gun and he was stationary for an agonising 47 seconds.
Now fully into his stride, Button closed in on Montoya and pulled off a superbly opportunistic outbraking move at turn one to snatch third place.
Meanwhile Schumacher slowly but surely extended his lead over Alonso, stretching the margin to six seconds before triggering the first round of pit stops on lap 15.
As expected, AlonsoÂ’s Renault had more fuel on board and did not have to stop for another four laps.
But, whereas last year that would have given him a clear advantage, enabling him to pump in a series of fliers on a low fuel load, the return of tyre changing this season has disrupted that neat equation.
Sure enough, the extra grip afforded by SchumacherÂ’s new Bridgestone tyres offset AlonsoÂ’s lower fuel load and the Spaniard was not able to make any real inroads, emerging from the pits still around four seconds adrift of the leading Ferrari.
Once he was back up to speed, however, Alonso began to lop great chunks off that margin and by lap 26 the protagonists were nose-to-tail.
As ever, catching proved easier than getting past and, unable to break through the FerrariÂ’s turbulent air, Alonso bided his time in the hope that he could leapfrog Schumacher at the next round of pit stops.
Absorbing as the lead battle was, there were tight scraps all the way down the leader board as the Sakhir circuit afforded some thrilling passing and re-passing.
Button had to pass Montoya a second time after losing out at the first pit stop exchange, once again getting the job done with a skilful piece of outbraking at turn one.
Raikkonen, though, had moved ahead of both of them thanks to prodigious pace and a one-stop fuel strategy.
Despite carrying a ton weight of fuel in the back of his McLaren, the Finn had scythed through the field in the opening laps and, although he briefly fell to sixth, he reclaimed third when the pit stop cycle played out.
Meanwhile the drama was building at the front of the field.
When Schumacher peeled into the pits on lap 37, the Renault team told Alonso over the radio: “These are the winning laps, mate.”
But, just when he needed a clear road to capitalise on his superior speed, Alonso found the track littered with traffic.
Frustrated at the lack of blue ‘move over’ flags, Alonso kept up his rhythm as best he could and hoped that his cushion would hold when he pitted two laps after his rival.
It did – just – although it took a muscular move at the first corner to keep the Ferrari at bay.
Schumacher didnÂ’t yield the lead easily, but Alonso had track position turning into the first corner and seized his chance.
The Ferrari loomed large in his mirrors all the way to the chequered flag, but Alonso had the situation covered.
On the slow-down lap he dedicated his win to his Renault pit crew, who pulled out all the stops at the raceÂ’s critical juncture.
Behind Raikkonen and Button, Montoya came home fifth ahead of Mark WebberÂ’s Williams.
Meanwhile WebberÂ’s team-mate Nico Rosberg had a sensational debut, overcoming an early spin and unscheduled pit stop to claw his way back to seventh.
Remarkably, the 20-year-old German set the fastest lap of anybody as he carved his way back up the lap chart!
Christian Klien gave Red Bull Racing some cheer by bringing the hitherto unreliable RB2 in the final points-paying position.
Bahrain Grand Prix results - 57 laps
1. ALONSO Renault 57 laps
2. M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari +1.2s
3. RAIKKONEN McLaren +19.3s
4. BUTTON BAR +19.9s
5. MONTOYA McLaren +37.0s
6. WEBBER Williams +41.9s
7. ROSBERG Williams +1m03.0s
8. KLIEN Red Bull +1m06.7s
9. COULTHARD Red Bull +1m09.9s
10. MASSA Ferrari +1m15.5s
11. LIUZZI Toro Rosso +1m25.9s
12. HEIDFELD BMW +1 lap
13. SPEED Toro Rosso +1 lap
14. R.SCHUMACHER Toyota +1 lap
15. BARRICHELLO BAR +1 lap
16. TRULLI Toyota +1 lap
17. MONTEIRO Midland +2 laps
18. SATO Super Aguri +4 laps
R. IDE Super Aguri +22 laps
R. VILLENEUVE BMW +28 laps
R. FISICHELLA Renault +36 laps
R. ALBERS Midland +39 laps -
What a race in Bahrain we had.
Rosberg was incredible...I didn't expect him to make up 2.4 seconds on Klien and pass him in 1 lap! -
agreed!Originally posted by Kuali Baba:What a race in Bahrain we had. Rosberg was incredible...I didn't expect him to make up 2.4 seconds on Klien and pass him in 1 lap!