Bahrain and a reality check
The danger of scooping up luck by the spade full in one's first Formula One season is that one builds in one's fans an expectation of easy success at every race. Lewis Hamilton had a disastrous weekend in Bahrain and all of the blame for his dreadful showing in Bahrain can be placed squarely at his door. Crashing his car in free practice after an unforced error on Friday was pretty bad, but he made the most of qualifying on Saturday and achieved a respectable third place. Then he threw it all away in the race yesterday . Failing to activate launch control at the start caused his car to go into anti-stall mode. All he could do was sit and watch as half the field went past him. In tenth place, panic seized him and he attempted a clumsy overtaking manoeuvre on the Renault of former team-mate Fernando Alonso. It failed. He ended up climbing into the back of the Renault and ensuring that he would leave Bahrain having spent the afternoon as a back marker without scoring a single point.
McLaren's woes were Ferrari's gain. Starting second and fourth on the grid, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen easily found themselves in the lead and heading for their first one-two of the season. Massa was peerless as he took the chequered flag for his second Bahrain win in a row. Now Raikkonen has a commanding lead of 19 points while Hamilton is not just not in the lead, but now joint third in the championship stakes (with Robert Kubica and his team-mate, Heikki Kovalainen).
I would say that Ferrari will easily walk this season but that is impossible with the performance of BMW thus far. Not only did Robert Kubica gain an imperious pole position on Saturday, he was no more than a couple of seconds behind the Ferraris on Sunday. Team-mate Nick Heidfeld, is in second place in the championship standings and, crucially, two points ahead of Lewis Hamilton
There is a long way to go until the end of the season and far too early for anybody to be counting their chickens, but it is clear that the challenge for Hamilton looks much more formidable than it did last year. The chaps in the best driving seat at the moment must be the boys in scarlet.
Three weeks to regroup before things start up again in Europe. Barcelona could be a crucial race...
Gitau
07 April 2008
McLaren's woes were Ferrari's gain. Starting second and fourth on the grid, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen easily found themselves in the lead and heading for their first one-two of the season. Massa was peerless as he took the chequered flag for his second Bahrain win in a row. Now Raikkonen has a commanding lead of 19 points while Hamilton is not just not in the lead, but now joint third in the championship stakes (with Robert Kubica and his team-mate, Heikki Kovalainen).
I would say that Ferrari will easily walk this season but that is impossible with the performance of BMW thus far. Not only did Robert Kubica gain an imperious pole position on Saturday, he was no more than a couple of seconds behind the Ferraris on Sunday. Team-mate Nick Heidfeld, is in second place in the championship standings and, crucially, two points ahead of Lewis Hamilton
There is a long way to go until the end of the season and far too early for anybody to be counting their chickens, but it is clear that the challenge for Hamilton looks much more formidable than it did last year. The chaps in the best driving seat at the moment must be the boys in scarlet.
Three weeks to regroup before things start up again in Europe. Barcelona could be a crucial race...
Gitau
07 April 2008
posted by Gitau at 3:49 pm
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