After
enduring a 2009 season well below its usual expectations,
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro has returned to a much more
acceptable level, getting both F10s onto the front two rows
of the grid for today’s opening round, the Bahrain Grand
Prix. In the new qualifying format, with all three sections
of the session run on minimum fuel, Felipe Massa yesterday
posted the second fastest time of the day in Q3, to close
the final page of a tough chapter that began with his
qualifying accident in Budapest last summer. On his debut
for the team, Fernando Alonso finished just behind his
team-mate in third place.
Red Bull
Racing, probably the strongest team at the end of last
season, continue to show good form, as it was Sebastian
Vettel who denied Ferrari of an all red front row, in the
closing stages of the session. It was certainly an exciting
afternoon; the first time in a few years that cars have run
throughout all of qualifying on the lightest fuel load
possible, thus negating the need to see the list of car
weights to estimate who was running what race strategy. It
means the fastest driver is the one at the top of the time
sheet, However, it is probably a bit too early to regard
this first qualifying of the year as a truly accurate
reflection of how the teams line up in performance terms.
Behind the
two F10s came the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton in fourth
place. The third row sees Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes, with
Mark Webber outside him in the second Red Bull. The
returning Michael Schumacher finds himself seventh for
Mercedes, sharing row four with the reigning World Champion,
Jenson Button in the McLaren, making it four world champions
in the first four rows of the grid. Twenty four cars were in
action yesterday, as Karun Chandok’s HRT F1 car was ready in
time for this morning’s free practice session, having failed
to appear on track yesterday. Inevitably, he is 24th and
last on the grid for his F1 debut.
Today’s
curtain-raising Grand Prix promises to be a fascinating
race, with so many questions yet unanswered, primarily which
team and driver combination does the best job when it comes
to deciding when to change tyres. In the past, the need to
refuel was the key parameter and usually, staying out on
track longer than the car in front, could see the later
stopping driver gain the upper hand. However, now the
opposite could well be true. There are also several rookie
drivers in cars that effectively had their first ever
shakedown in Bahrain. It’s a real recipe for excitement.
“It’s a good
result, coming at the end of a very closely contested
session,” said Stefano Domenicali. “I want to thank all
the staff of the Gestione Sportiva, who have worked hard
these past few months to try and close the gap to what
were the top teams at the end of last season. At least
today, we have returned to breathing in the air at the
top of the pack, even if we are well aware that the
final figures are only totted up on Sunday afternoon
after the race. We can expect quite a long and tough
race, during which the number one priority, as always,
will be reliability: with such hot weather, cars,
drivers and tyres will be put under a heavy strain. It
will also be important to manage the race as well as
possible, finding the right moment to change tyres. I
think this is something of an unknown for everyone,
given that we will be experiencing very different
conditions to those we experienced in the February
tests. I am very satisfied with the way Fernando has
integrated himself within our team: it seems as though
he has been with us for years rather than months. And I
am delighted that Felipe’s return to racing will start
from the front row of the grid: it is well deserved
after everything he went through last year.”
Felipe Massa:
“It’s great to get back to being so competitive after
such a difficult time. It’s a good way to start the new
season and a nice reward for all the work the team has
done over the winter. The race will be very difficult,
but I am happy to be in with a chance of fighting for
the top places. Yesterday, we did good work in preparing
for the race and I think we went in the right direction,
but this is only the first Grand Prix and there are
still many unknown factors to work out, for example,
finding the right moment to change tyres. Today, I gave
it my all, doing a great lap on my last run, while the
previous ones had not been so good. I wish to thank
Sebastian for what he said about me at the start of the
press conference. It pleased me a lot and shows the
great respect that exists between we drivers.”
Fernando Alonso:
“Up until today we did not have a clear reference as to
how competitive we were: with our cars on the first and
second rows we can be satisfied because it means our
championship is getting off on a positive note. I am
pleased with my qualifying debut for my new team. The
F10 was strong in Q1 and Q2, but then Vettel managed to
do better than us. On my last run I lost precious time
in a couple of corners, losing a couple of tenths, which
can happen when you are fighting for pole. I am not
surprised to find Felipe ahead of me: he is my team-mate
and we all know how good he is round this track. We know
we have a good car which we fine tuned during the
February tests: today we showed its potential and now we
have eight months of work to develop it.”
Chris Dyer:
“I am happy to be able to say there’s a whisker of
disappointment after this result, given that I can
hardly remember the last time we managed to get both
cars into Q3! Two cars on the two front rows is a good
basis to start from and tomorrow’s race looks like being
very interesting. We had some minor problems on the cars
during the day, but the team did a good job of managing
the situation as well as possible. During yesterday’s
long run testing, our cars seemed to be pretty
consistent in terms of performance and we didn’t see
anyone who looked particularly stronger than us.
