Report cards of the Bahrain Grand Prix

The F1 World Championship is back and the report cards are back on time f1grandprix.it. The season of the 4 world champions on the track, the new teams, the new rules and the new scores opens with a Ferrari double. Starfighter, or rather Matador, is Fernando Alonso who has just arrived at the court of Maranello. The last driver to win on his debut with the Red team was Kimi Raikkonen. But the great protagonist of the race was Vettel, stopped only by a mechanical problem. Enjoy the reading!

Jenson Button: 5,5nd – He takes them from Hamilton in qualifying, and in the race he takes 22 seconds from his teammate. Frankly, a little bit for a world champion, even if he's making his debut with Mclaren. Webber passes at the pit stop but is unable to mount a single attack against Michael Schumacher, who precedes him at the finish line. At the end of the race he admits that he drove perhaps a little too conservatively. We had noticed it. He finishes seventh. We hope it serves as a wake-up call for him. Prudent.

Lewis Hamilton: 7,5 – His race is compromised at the start, he remains bottled up behind Rosberg and loses an eternity from the top three. Since, after the pit stop, he gets rid of the Finno-German (we insist on calling him that, out of respect for the great Keke) his times drop significantly and he gains ground on Massa, but without ever really getting close to him. However, the time gained means that, unlike Rosberg, he is able to take advantage of Vettel's problems by grabbing a place on the bottom step of the podium. The McLaren at the beginning of the season is probably not worth Ferrari and Red Bull, but for this very reason it is essential to maximize the potential on days like this, avoiding overdoing it and causing damage. Cynical.

Michael Schumacher: 6,5 – His vote is for the race - or rather for the weekend - and not for the character. Much more has already been said about that, and about his return, in the writer's opinion. Slower than Rosberg in qualifying, he did well to overtake Webber on the way and gained sixth position, just behind Hamilton. He controls Button easily in the second half of the Grand Prix and finishes in sixth place, behind his teammate. There were those who expected miracles and those who expected disasters: he doesn't enchant but offers an overall honest, regular and concrete performance. If you think about the character in question, what we are about to write may make you smile, but that's how it is: it can only improve. Solid.

Nico Rosberg: 7th – 2010 is the most important season of his career, and he knows well that starting on the right foot is fundamental. Fifth in qualifying, fifth in the race after occupying fourth place for a long time, he suffers greatly from the ultra-soft tires, losing a lot of time in the first stint. He is good at not being intimidated by Hamilton, who in fact only passes him in the pits. In the end, however, he was unable to overtake the struggling Vettel, a feat all in all within his reach. But overall it's fine. It's not easy to be in a team called Mercedes with a teammate like Michael Schumacher and not make a mess. (For now) it's okay.

Sebastian Vettel: 9,5st - Sin. He dominated the weekend until 16 laps to go, when a spark plug problem interrupted his peremptory ride and slowed him down to fourth place overall. It's a shame especially because there was a lot of him in the performance. Ask Webber for further details. Very comfortable on the Sakhir circuit, he dominated the qualifying, started well and maintained a pace that would lead him straight to the first step of the podium. He is very good at not losing concentration after the crash and maintaining his clarity to at least resist Rosberg, gaining a valuable fourth place. The performance remains, as does the optimism for the next events. Good boy!

Mark Webber: 5 – Massacred, literally massacred by his German teammate. He takes them in practice, starts badly and in the race is incapable of carrying out any overtaking maneuver (but not even an attack) against those in front of him - first Button and then Schumacher. He even finishes eighth, very far behind. At the end of the race he admits that it wasn't the most exciting GP that he has raced. On this we perfectly agree with him. but he must wake up immediately if he doesn't want to lose credibility and weight within the team from the start. Beaten.

Felipe Massa: 8 – With a spectacular qualifying he shouts to the world that the accident in Budapest is just a bad memory, with a solid race he shows that for the world championship we will have to deal with him too. However, because there is a however, he suffers from the aggressiveness of Alonso - who although expert is still in his first race in red - and gets fooled at the start, losing second place. But, above all, he suffers the change of pace imposed by the Asturian, who when he decides to push hard digs a deep furrow between the two reds. To be honest, he also suffers from overheating problems, which partly but not overall justify the gap he accumulated towards the end. However, he remembers that this is his best debut of the season, so... Welcome back.

Fernando Alonso: 9th – An animal. Racing. He qualified one position behind Massa but immediately re-established the distance at the start, overtaking the Brazilian at the second corner. He follows Vettel without being able to catch him but, when he prepares to launch the final offensive, the victory is handed to him on a silver platter due to the problems of the German from Red Bull. But it must be said that the progression with which he overtakes Massa and the sequence of fast laps put together one after the other is amazing. Especially if they're talking about a driver making his debut with a new team. The bad year with Renault didn't weaken him, on the contrary. And the victory immediately projects him as one of the most accredited contenders for the title. Peremptory.

Rubens Barrichello: 6,5 – Grandpa Rubinho does not deny himself and in the first match of the season he takes home the loaf, gaining a precious and, all things considered, deserved little point. Also because there have been no withdrawals among the top teams and the position gathered is therefore real. He keeps his young teammate at a safe distance, who has his own problems trying not to cause damage, and with skill and experience he finishes in tenth place, even taking away the whim of making one of the rare overtakings. Imperishable.

Nico Hulkenberg: 5 – He messes up at the start to avoid hitting other cars, but then ends up off the track after a few laps at turn 6. Furthermore, he admits that he didn't understand, at the time, whether it was his mistake or a mechanical problem. Put bluntly, we don't think it's the debut he was expecting. From the off-track excursion, his race is a procession aimed more at gaining experience and accumulating km than trying to get back into the points. He finishes 14th, lapped. He will have a chance to make up for it. He postponed.

Robert Kubica: 5 – Maybe he deserves even more for the determination he showed on the track, but the accident at the start – although the responsibilities are to be shared with Sutil – is frankly unforgivable. He recovers from the bottom to eleventh place, showing that Renault is still there and that he could have picked up some nice points, but this only exacerbates the responsibilities linked to the contact. Races are not won at the first corner (or the second, in this case) and certain naiveties should be avoided. Clumsy.

Vitaly Petrov: 6 – We are perhaps a little loose with Russian, but all in all we can be good enough. He doesn't look too bad when compared to a talented driver like Kubica - excluding qualifying - he starts off well and would have what it takes to finish in the points. Then, by his own admission, he forgets a little too aggressively and damages a suspension, nullifying what has been shown so far. But the material is there. And we don't feel like beating him, perhaps because - rightly, wrongly, who knows - we didn't have high expectations of his performance. Until next time.

Adrian Sutil: 5 – For explanations on the bad vote see the Kubica entry. He nullifies the good things he put together in qualifying with a contact at the second corner which sends him to the back of the group. Among other things, it must be said, it's also good for him, because he also grazes his teammate. Imagine Mallya's face if he had spun Liuzzi too. He admits that he didn't quite understand what happened to him, probably distracted by the smoke coming out of Webber's car, but the mess remains. He finishes twelfth, not bad, but not good either. Clumsy #2.

Vitantonio Liuzzi: 7 – We left him angry at the end of qualifying, in which he couldn't explain the reason for the delay, we found him at the end of the race in ninth place, with two points in the standings and lots of pats on the back from the mechanics. Not always the Village Saturday it's absolute truth, one might say. His race is concrete, solid, he avoids trouble and runs at regular times, thanks to the good shape of the car. And in the end he says he is confident for Australia, where new technical details should arrive. Well done Tonio. Optimistic.

Sebastien Buemi: 5 – At the start he didn't get one right, not even by mistake. Listen: «I'm not sure what happened at the start, but I had a lot of wheelspin, so I didn't get a good start and everyone passed me. After that, the first lap was very hectic and I lost some positions." Luckily there aren't 100 of us racing, otherwise it would have been a real disaster. Once he gets over the shock he tries to get back into the rhythm but gets stuck behind his teammate. So the car abandons him in the very last stages of the race, but frankly it seems like the lesser evil to us. Honestly it could have been better. Shocked.

Jaime Alguersuari: 6 – Big sleeve with him too, but all in all he deserves it. Thrown into the fray a bit last year, in Bahrain he showed off greater maturity by running a regular race, being careful not to cause any damage and to bring the car to the finish line. The thirteenth place finish isn't something to scratch one's hands, of course, but it could be a decent starting point on which to base 2010. He admits that he would never have been able to get to the points unless he had a few retirements, and even this makes him honor. Grown up.

Jarno Trulli: 6 – He too is a victim of the chaos at the second corner: he ends up wide and slips to the back of the group. Not that he was in the lead before, mind you, but still he wastes a lot of time. He complains about understeer, but considering the genesis and history of the car it seems like the lesser evil. In the end he was also slowed down by a hydraulic problem, which sent him to last position but which however did not prevent him from completing the race. If we exclude the mistake at the start of the race, it was honestly hard to ask for more from him. Minimal.

Heikki Kovalainen: 6,5 – From McLaren to Lotus. If it were 30 years ago it would be a transition between top teams, unfortunately today the story is different. But he doesn't care, he fights, he fights, he elbows, he engages in a duel with Glock, he pushes. In the end, the fifteenth place finish doesn't do justice to the Finn's commitment, who honestly couldn't have done much more. Both Lotuses cross the finish line, however, and among the new teams it is a record. For speed, come back later, please. But Heikki is there. Motivated.

Karun Chandhok: 5 – Five, like the number of laps he finishes over the weekend. The Indian driver's race lasts 2 laps, when he ends up off the track, damaging his HRT. Given the times set in qualifying, one would say that there is no silver lining... nastiness aside, it is difficult to criticize the Indian deb given the conditions in which his performance was achieved. But if he avoided doing damage he would also be able to accumulate a little more experience... Clumsy #3.

Bruno Senna: 6 – HRT is what it is, there's no point in expecting miracles. He knows it well, he's good at not getting messed up looking for them and not getting buried by the pressure caused by the high-sounding surname. More skilled than his teammate, he does no damage and accumulates km until the car - afflicted by deadly understeer - leaves him in the lurch. An overall positive debut for him, a little less so for the car, but which gives us a mature and down-to-earth boy. Decent.

Pedro De La Rosa: 5,5 - Sometimes they come back. After a period of inactivity the Spaniard, with a good past in Jaguar, Arrows and McLaren, returns to the wheel of an F1. The return is certainly not one with a bang: he is involved in the chaos of the first corners, he ends up wide and loses positions. However, he was twelfth when the Sauber hydraulic system, on the twenty-ninth lap, decided that the moment in his life also came when he had to have the courage to say enough. Sin. He says he had the speed to be able to aim for points. Maybe it's a bit much, but we'll never have confirmation. Half a point less, however, for presumption. Naughty.

Kamui Kobayashi: 6 – He starts well and recovers four positions in the space of an amen, thus straightening out a failed qualification. He gets too carried away, however, and immediately flattens a tire, with consequent balance problems. Not bad: on the twelfth lap the gearbox throws in the towel, making even the strategic mistake of starting with the harder tires irrelevant. The Japanese certainly don't lack grit and personality. Maybe he'll even be able to convert them into placings later on. For now we have nothing to reproach him for, other than a subpar qualification. Bold.

Timo Glock: 6,5 – Seventeen laps. This is the duration of his race. Seventeen laps contested, however, with the knife between the teeth, as usual, and seasoned with an overtaking against Heikki Kovalainen's Lotus at the end of a good duel, one of the few seen in Bahrain. Virgin is what it is, it struggles and is fragile, so much so that it leaves him stranded already on the seventeenth lap. But he is the usual bulldog who bangs, fights, climbs up to nineteenth place in qualifying and fights with a gearbox that denies him first third then fifth. Priceless.

Lucas Di Grassi: sv – In qualifying he takes them from Glock, and there is a rookie. However, his race started well with a decent start. But after just nine laps he was forced to retire due to a mechanical problem. Unjustifiable, really. See you next time!

Manuel Codignoni
www.f1grandprix.it