Report cards of the Bahrain GP

After two races in the rain, finally a dry race in the Sakhir desert. And in Bahrain the Brawn GP of Jenson Button triumphed, with its third victory of the season. The Briton precedes Vettel, still on the podium, and a tenacious Jarno Trulli, penalized by a strategy that is anything but impeccable. Things are a little better for the protagonists of the 2008 world championship, with Hamilton immediately at the foot of the podium and Raikkonen obtaining the first points of the season for Ferrari. Curiosity: in the hottest race of the year, a very tough test for engines and brakes, only one retired. Enjoy the reading!

Lewis Hamilton: 8 – Great, great race. Although in our opinion Lewis did his best of the weekend in qualifying, when he climbed up to fifth place with the same amount of fuel as Button (4th) and with more fuel than Barrichello (6th). At the start it is memorable, when he comes out of the first corner in third position and even threatens Trulli for second place. Then nothing can be done against the excessive power of Button, who literally strips him of his paint, but he fights throughout the race with a car that is underperforming, squeezing out the maximum and finishing in fourth place. With honor, with humility and with determination. He is overtaken by Vettel in the pits but today's (blunted) Silver Arrows are absolutely not worth the Red Bull. He has learned to suffer, the worst is probably over and the experience of these games played in defense can only have matured him. Gritty.

Heikki Kovalainen: 4,5 – All in all decent in practice, disastrous in the race. He gets the start wrong when, due to excessive aggressiveness, he collides with another car, sinking back in the standings. At that point he was unable to move up positions, despite a slowly recovering McLaren. Of course, the blonde from Rovaniemi pays for the strategy of starting on the hard tyres, but it's not like he later did who knows what with the soft ones, on the contrary. His fastest lap is six tenths slower than his teammate, an enormity. All on a stop&go track, that is, with few fast corners and a prevalence of straights and braking sections. To say that we are not there is an understatement. Maybe the heat cooked him a little, he who was born a few kilometers from the Arctic Circle. It is not by running like this that he will be able to aspire to a better role than the current one (as his palmares would suggest). Which is gregarious, not even very luxurious. Boiled.

Felipe Massa: 5 – Sometimes it's annoying to hear him talk. At the end of the race he says: «For the entire race the telemetry didn't work so my engineers couldn't give me support in managing the car». You think of people like Prost and you want to strangle him. And to think that once upon a time the only communications between the garage and the driver were the slates displayed at the end of each lap. Today the lack of telemetry is invoked as an excuse. There are no longer either the pilots or the men of the past. Not to mention that at the start he breaks the front wing playing bumper cars with his teammate. Without (further) words. Indeed, the heroic battle with Fisichella for fourteenth position also deserves a mention. Half a point more only due to the Kers malfunction. Montezemolo says that you have to work with your head down and stop talking, but it's not like he gives all this good example when before the race he says «I don't know yet if the diffuser (omitting to specify double decker, as if Ferrari doesn't have it 'if at all!!!) is regular.' In this Felipe conforms to the team line in every way, even chatting too much. Corporate expert.

Kimi Räikkönen: 7,5th – Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and give to Kimi what is Kimi's. This time the Finn's performance is almost flawless. He enters Q3 and puts a lot of fuel in the tanks, greatly extending the first stint. Despite this, he starts well and, in the pit stops, manages to gain positions up to sixth place. Too bad for a problem at the pit stop, which cost him the possibility (totally theoretical, in truth) of fighting with Barrichello for fifth place. The best thing about his race, however, was the fight with Glock coming out of the second pit stop, when with cold tires he burned the German (notoriously a tough nut to crack) to gain sixth position, which he held until the finish line. Timid signs of recovery from Ferrari, timid signs also from Kimi, who shows flashes of his former determination. Let's hope for the Red fans that it wasn't a flash in the pan. Decided.

Robert Kubica: 5 – Impossible to rage, but also very difficult to justify. Today's BMW is a tank, not in the sense of robustness but in that of speed. And what are you doing? You'll mess it up even more by smashing your front wing at the start. All this when you qualified in the rear. It's strange to think that three races ago without the unfortunate collision with Vettel he could have won the Australian GP. Today, however, he finishes eighteenth and penultimate, ahead only of his teammate. It would be unassailable, if it weren't for the accident at the start which precludes him from passing. Dark, very dark times are ahead. Disaster (part I).

Nick Heidfeld: 5 – Practically a copy/paste of Kubica's race (and report card). Even he qualifies very badly, even he has problems at the start which cost him the replacement of the front wing, even he drives a car that is slow beyond human conception. A real torment, moreover on a track that was not too demanding for the aerodynamics of the cars. But apparently this is the BMW of today. Impossible to leave, you can only take. And Nick does. Taking the nineteenth and last position. Dubbed, in procession with Kubica. Nothin 'else to say. Disaster (part II).

Fernando Alonso: 6th – He starts seventh, finishes eighth at the end of a race without any jolts whatsoever. The one to overtake him, by virtue of a more effective strategy in the pits, is Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen. In between, many laps without emotions and with a lot of boredom. At the end of the race he very honestly admits that without retirements it is difficult for today's Renault to move up positions, and objectively we can only agree with him. He limits himself to his homework, gets off to a good start and doesn't make any mistakes. Although, to be honest, the fastest lap three tenths slower than Piquet's tells us that perhaps he wasn't struggling that much. But that's it. He collects a point that moves the rankings, waiting for better times. Even if in Barcelona, ​​in the home race, he will be tough. Lazy.

Nelson Piquet jr: 6,5 – Maybe the track isn't particularly demanding from a driving point of view, maybe it's the new chassis floor, maybe it's the hot seat... the fact is that Nelsinho shows off a decidedly positive race, regardless of the final result (tenth, two positions behind his teammate). The fight with his compatriot Barrichello was particularly exciting. With a significantly slower car he manages to keep him behind for several laps. For once it is one of his pursuers who loses patience and not his boss Briatore, who instead praises him at the end of the race, calling his performance "the best of his life". All in all, the 13 seconds achieved by Alonso under the checkered flag are worth it. High, very high rating for someone who was beaten by his teammate anyway... but it's an encouragement!. Force!

Jarno Trulli: 8 – A great achievement in qualifying, when he climbed to pole position despite a car that was heavier than that of his teammate. At the start, however, he gets fooled by Glock despite being on the rubberized part of the track, and follows him until the first stop. From the first lap of pit stops he comes out ahead of the German but behind Button. He pays the price for his garage's unfortunate decision to carry out a long central stint on hard tyres, and is caught and overtaken (in the pits) by Vettel. Unlike Glock, however, he manages to maintain a decent pace even with the hard ones, without losing a lot of time. In the final, with the right tyres, he is unable to pass the Red Bull German on the track and has to settle for third place. It's a shame, because with a more sensible strategy he could have finished second and perhaps fought for the victory. But at Toyota, as we know, they are not geniuses in this sense. However, he makes the best of a bad situation and collects a podium which never hurts, even if given the conditions of the day before... Tenacious.

Timo Glock: 6,5 – He was beaten in qualifying by Trulli but took revenge on the Abruzzo driver at the start, when he passed him despite being on the dirtier side of the track. He leads the way for the entire first stint, then falls back due to the early pit stop and, above all, the unfortunate choice to fit hard tyres. He gets fooled by Raikkonen when the latter comes out of the pits, when with cold tires he first overtakes him and is overtaken. In the last stint, on the soft tires, he starts running again with an acceptable pace and catches up with Raikkonen, putting pressure on him but failing to pass him. A little bit, overall, especially for someone with his reputation as a striker. He finishes seventh, and for someone who started on the front row and led the group after the first corner it's a bit short. Even if we don't believe he chose the strategy. Opaque.

Sebastien Bourdais: 6 – Massi', this time the little Frenchman with the glasses deserves a pass. Not that he committed any disasters, mind you, but for once he beats his teammate and runs with a minimum of determination, without making any mistakes. Finishing thirteenth in a race with only one DNF is, all things considered, an acceptable result. Singular is the fact that the two drivers with the seat most at risk, namely him and Piquet, showed off some good performances in this race. The ninth fastest lap embellished his race, proving that for once Sebastien was able to be effective. He says he looks at Barcelona with optimism. We're honestly a little more skeptical, but who knows. Cheerful.

Sebastien Buemi: 5 – For one Sebastien who goes, another who marks the pace. This time, however, the roles are reversed and the one who suffers is the one who suffers rookie Swiss. Despite a decent qualification in the race he gets lost, he is unable to find the rhythm on an overall easy track and struggles to get the classic spider out of the hole (without succeeding, but whatever). At the end of the race he accused the car of behaving strangely. It's probably just a question of experience (which he doesn't have), and from this point of view, crossing the finish line and accumulating km can only be good for him. And then, if we want, one day he will be able to tell his grandchildren that in the 2009 Bahrain GP he kept two BMWs behind him. Time erases memories, maybe he too will be able to pass it off as an epic undertaking. Confused.

Mark Webber: 4,5 – He qualifies nineteenth, starts well but then gets stuck behind Piquet, losing a lot of time without being able to pass him. In the pit stop game he recovers some positions and finishes in eleventh place. A report like many others, understandable if you have a second or third floor car at your disposal. Unacceptable, however, if your name is Mark Webber and you drive a Red Bull that your teammate takes second place. He justifies the tests – disastrous – with a traffic problem. Of course Sutil damages it, but is setting the time on the first attempt that complicated? He gets 4 tenths behind Vettel in the fastest lap in the race but, above all, nine positions behind. Half a point more for the first two corners, exciting views from the camera. But then, nothing. Embarrassing.

Sebastian Vettel: 8,5st – It's not always Sunday. At least not in a figurative sense, let's say. It sounds strange to talk like this about a driver who comes second, yet that's exactly how it happened. Despite third place in qualifying, in fact, he could easily have won the race. However, he gets blocked first by Hamilton and then by Trulli, and loses the time necessary to catch Button. However, he drives well, and the semi-digressions over the curbs that we saw him make on several occasions demonstrate that he definitely ran at the limit throughout the race. Good at keeping Trulli behind in the third stint despite him having the poorest performing tyres. Does he gain eight points or lose two from Button? Posterity will judge. Raise a hand if you would have predicted a similar fate (for both) until three months ago. Constant.

Nico Rosberg: 5,5th – He achieved another very important success, decisive in terms of the title, in the championship on Friday. In fact, he took the lead with authority in FP2 and remained there until the end. Exceptional. Now this is his reference world championship, and this is what he must commit himself to. However, it continues to remain a mystery, and to be passed over in silence, why his performance should be so declining over the weekend. And to think that even Williams has the double decker diffuser. He gets into the top ten in qualifying but is never incisive in the race. The ninth place finish is a mess that satisfies practically no one. If the car doesn't go, it has to go slow on Fridays too, but if it's good, it has to go fast on Sundays too. At this point doubts arise about its real value. Let's hope he can prove us wrong. Overrated (?)

Kazuki Nakajima: 5 – He has the honor (!) of being the only one to withdraw from a race with nineteen finishers. In any case, we do not believe that with his abandonment his race has lost a leading protagonist. He starts badly, damages the front wing and is forced to make an additional pit stop to replace it. From then on he proceeds without too much trouble (that is, very, very calmly) until the moment of retirement, caused by an anomalous increase in oil pressure. The only ones to complain about his stop are the two from BMW, who lost a leading competitor in the fight to avoid last place. Who knows, maybe Kazuki wasn't the smartest of all. Wise.

Adrian Sutil: 6 – The new diffuser arrives, if we want even more extreme than that of the Brawn GP, ​​and you understand that it is not only thanks to him that the former Ferrari director's team flies. In any case, there is an improvement, and it allows the German to come close to Q2. During the race, however, Adrian overtakes his teammate and is unable to climb up to the positions in which Giancarlo is sailing. After all, he loves wet races, and in the Bahrain desert there is very little rain. Upon closer inspection, however, despite all the good Sutil finished the race in the wake of Fisichella, just three seconds behind. As if to say that after all he wasn't that bad after all. And, with this, sufficiency appears guaranteed. With the current times, we know how to be satisfied. Generous (us).

Giancarlo Fisichella: 6,5 – Feisty and proud performance, even if in the end he doesn't manage to get beyond fifteenth place. However, we liked being able to see him fighting again in the center of the group, in positions that we hadn't seen him occupy for a long time (in normal conditions). He says he enjoyed fighting with Webber, Kovalainen and Piquet, and you have to believe him. In the final stages he is unable to keep Massa behind with the Ferrari, but he can manage. Even in his case his rating is perhaps a little too high, but probably in the past we were too hard on him and we try to make amends. Maybe Bahrain is a turning point, who knows. Good boy.

Jenson Button: 9nd – Impossible to give him a higher rating because, given the superiority shown by his car in the race, he could have done better in qualifying than the fourth place he actually achieved. But they are trifles and trifles, after all. He starts badly but recovers immediately with an overtake on Hamilton which says a lot about the speed of the former Honda. He takes the lead after the first pit stop and never leaves it until the checkered flag, maintaining an unsustainable pace for everyone. The doubt remains as to how the race would have ended if at least one of the two Toyotas had got the strategy right, but with ifs and buts, history is not made and the only concrete fact is that it will arrive in Europe with a consistent advantage over the his pursuers in the world championship. Almost perfect, then. Impeccable.

Rubens Barrichello: 5,5 – This time we really can't help but give him a complete failure. He too was not flawless in qualifying, he ran a comeback race (so to speak) by switching to a three-stop strategy. The results, however, are slow in arriving. And what results... fifth place is a frankly insipid placement. The laps spent behind Piquet are emblematic, with Rubens lavishing continuous rude gestures towards his younger compatriot. Nervousness, bad faith and above all Rudeness (with a capital M). Not even if it had been dubbed. In the end he manages to pass him, but doesn't miss an opportunity to point out at the end of the match how much Nelsinho was an "asshole" towards him. As if all the problems of his match (and his championship) lie in Nelsinho's strenuous and correct defense of the position. It's not done that way. Don't complain (and at Ferrari they know a lot more about it) but this is frankly too much. In short, the nervousness is understandable, but not the behavior. By the way: sorry if we reported the exact word. But if Rubens did it worldwide, we believe we have the right too. Pathetic.

Manuel Codignoni
www.f1grandprix.it