F1-Blog

A day for the ‘number 2′ drivers

The number two drivers in each of the front running teams had a good day at Bahrain.

The race winner Filipe Massa managed to stop the eventual second place driver Lewis Hamilton from passing into the first corner.

Massa lead then all the way through the race, with the Ferrari proving that the car had just a little more pace than the McLaren cars.

Surprisingly however the Ferrari’s where both slower in the last stint of the race on the harder compound tyres, with Lewis Hamilton taking nearly 10 seconds out of the lead that Filipe had built up.

Raikkonen had a disappointing race, he seemed not to have the front running pace all weekend, and is obviously struggling to set the Ferrari up to his liking.

Nick Heidfeld had a good race coming in in fourth behind Kimi, with the world champion and joint championship leader Fernando Alonso bringing the second McLaren in for fifth.

Australia - Qualifying

The first qualifying session of the season has been one that we as spectators were not expecting.

Lets have a look at how well the teams went compared to their expected results.

Ferrari - It was a mixed bag for the new look Ferrari team. Kimi Raikkonen ’sandbagged’ for the first 2 parts of qualifying, making Massa and the McLaren’s look quick. He than ran a 1:26.072 in the third part of qualifying, nearly half a second quicker than his nearest rival.

Massa though stopped out on track during the Q2 session with a damaged gearbox. It seemed to happen after he took too much kerb in one of the corners.

McLaren - A good day for both of the new McLaren drivers. With a 1:26.493 Fernando Alonso lines up second on the grid, with his team mate Lewis Hamilton starting in fourth with a 1:26.755. Both drivers seem to be carrying a little more fuel than perhaps the Ferrari of Raikkonen.

If the team has played the strategy right then they will be strong runners on Sunday.

All change at GPDA

The current leaders in the GPDA (Grand Prix Drivers Association) are to step down from the front line.

Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard and Jarno Trulli are to make way for Ralf Schumacher, Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber.

Ralf will be taking up the Chairman position on the new look GPDA, taking over from current Chairman Jarno Trulli.

More 2007 drivers announced

It seems the rumour was true, Mark Webber and David Coulthard have been announced as the 2007 Red Bull F1 Drivers. This will re-unite him with his old 'Jaguar' team, all be it with a few new faces, and an Adrian Newey chassis, with now an almost definate Renault engine (I would assume it's part of the Webber deal).

The other announcement today was the departure of Jacques Villeneuve from the BMW Sauber team, it seems that unless he gets39;s a drive for next year, his German off will be his last in F1.

F1Fanatic have a roundup of the driver line-up so far. The only one however that we are really waiting for is the Michael Schumacher announcement, will he stay? Well his performance at this weekends Hungarian GP was not exactly one of his best, he should have let the two faster drivers past and settled for fourth. So will he call it a day if he believes he can win this year's driver title? I believe he may just do that, if he can go out on the top he will. There is also the belief that Ross Brawn wants to take time out for a break.