Felipe Massa has bounced back from his miserable start to the 2008 campaign to take an impressive victory in the Bahrain GP and silence his critics.The Brazilian led from start to finish, relegating Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen into second and pole sitter Robert Kubica into third. It was a deserved victory for a driver who, with the exception of qualifying three, was the class of the field throughout the weekend. Once Massa had overtaken Kubica into the first corner, his win was all but assured with a subdued Raikkonen unable to make a meaningful impression. But while there was formality at the front, there was controversy elsewhere when Lewis Hamilton crashed into the back of Fernando Alonso's Renault. It wasn't only in the McLaren garage that the suggestion that Alonso had brake-tested his former team-mate was aired.
Race Report
As the cars lined up on the grid, the winds blowing across the Sakhir circuit had picked up with an ambient temperature of 20C and a track temperature of 39C. Felipe Massa was late onto the grid after a problem with his earplugs meant that communicating with his race engineer Rob Smedley was impossible.
Opening Lap
Even though the Ferraris were starting from the dusty side of the grid they got an impeccable get-away and though Robert Kubica was on pole, he'd lost the position well before the first turn thanks to the phenomenal traction of the Ferrari of Felipe Massa. The same couldn't be said of Lewis Hamilton who bogged down at the start and got away disastrously slowly. In fact by the first turn Hamilton was overtaken by up to 10th and 11th on the grid, Alonso and Mark Webber.
Raikkonen dived inside Kovalainen to take 3rd place but Kovalainen took it back, outmuscling his fellow Finn round Turns 2 and 3. A couple of turns later and Raikkonen had it back again as Kovalainen locked the Mclaren's brakes. Further back Jarno Trulli got the jump on Nick Heidfeld for what was now fifth place. Hamilton retook Mark Webber for 10th place, which became 9th place after Alonso's front wing made contact with Jenson Button's rear tyre giving him a puncture. So at the end of the opening lap the order was: Massa, Kubica, Raikkonen, Kovalainen, Trulli, Heidfeld, Rosberg, Alonso, Hamilton, Webber and Nelson Piquet in 11th.
Hamilton was all over the back of Alonso's Renault and exiting from Turn 3 in the acceleration zone Hamilton suddenly slammed into the back of Alonso's Renault which jinked right before the Mclaren hit it. It was a bizarre accident coming as it did in the acceleration zone away from a turn and was either caused by a sudden inexplicable Renault malfunction or Alonso lifting. As a result the McLaren of Hamilton almost rode up the back of the Renault and got launched into the air, as it was it lost its front wing, while the rear wing of the Renault became tyre marked! Even more remarkable, the stewards didn't feel the need to investigate the incident. Hamilton without grip drove a sluggish lap back to the pits, his slim chance of points ended. His lack of a getaway had already robbed him of a podium finish and the accident denied him any shot at 7th or 8th places.
On Lap 2 Heidfeld found his way past Trulli and Nelson Piquet spun out of contention. The only casualty of the opening lap had been Sebastian Vettel who had been hit and exited the race, while both Button and Coulthard limped back to the pits to have tyres replaced. Vettel was to be one of only three retirements from the race. Hamilton rejoined in 18th place and commenced his weary trawl back to the pack with what looked to be an aerodynamically damaged car. By the third lap Kimi Raikkonen had managed to get his way past Robert Kubica with a majestic move around the outside of the Pole going into Turn 1, and the pattern was set for the afternoon.
At the front Felipe Massa quickly opened up a gap and by Lap 8 he had 4.4 seconds on Raikkonen who couldn't shake off Kubica. Behind them, Heidfeld had made it a BMW 3-4 by taking advantage of a mistake from Kovalainen going through turns 9-10. The McLaren driver ran wide, almost like a backmarker letting someone through. In qualifying Massa had the clear edge on Raikkonen, but the Finn was able to put in a greater number of Fastest Laps as he kept the gap to his team-mate at never more than five and a half seconds.
The polesitter, Kubica, was expected to stop early, and he duly came in at the end of Lap 17, however the big surprise was that it was (the much slower in qualifying) Raikkonen and not Massa who needed fuel first. Kimi came in at the end of Lap 20 and Massa a lap later. This really put into context the brilliance of Massa's qualifying performance. The second retirement of the race resulted from a bump between good mates Jenson Button and David Coulthard battling for 18th and 19th positions. Jenson's Honda was clearly quicker than the Red Bull and dived down the inside of the Scot into Turn 8. Both cars were braking as DC turned in and the Honda had nowhere else to go but slither into the Red Bull.
Though it looked to be Jenson's mistake, Button pointed out afterwards that in the drivers' briefings they had all agreed not to move across and close the door (ie change the line) under braking. Which DC clearly had done. The Red Bull was able to survive contact for once, but Button headed back to the pits for his second unscheduled stop of the afternoon - soon to be retirement. After the first round of pit-stops, the order on Lap 23 was Massa, Raikkonen, Glock (not stopped), Kubica, Heidfeld, Kovalainen, Trulli, Webber (ahead of Nico Rosberg after the pit-stops), Rosberg, Bourdais and Alonso in 11th.
McLaren weren't having a great afternoon of it. Hamilton, who had taken on fuel during his front wing stop, struggled to overtake 13th placed Fisichella in the Force India while Heikki Kovalainen had to keep an eye in his mirrors on 6th placed Jarno Trulli. At the front, it was shaping up to be a battle for supremacy between the Ferrari drivers in the middle stint of the race. Massa and Raikkonen swapped fastest lap times as the gap yo-yo'd between three and a half and four and a half seconds. Further back Fernando Alonso indulged in some glove waving at Timo Glock when he couldn't get past the Toyota driver on the track, even though they were racing for position. The definitive moment of the Bahrain GP, though, came when Kim Raikkonen pitted before Massa at the end of Lap 38 just as Felipe Massa set a new fastest lap time of 1:33.600. Raikkonen emerged into traffic and when Massa pitted a lap later, he had established a comfortable seven second gap and the race was his.
Heikki Kovalainen pitted for the second time surprisingly late in the race, with just 10 laps to go at the end of lap 47. Then the order was: Massa, Raikkonen, Kubica, Heidfeld, Kovalainen, Trulli, Webber and Glock in the points paying positions. It didn't change to the flag. And though Robert Kubica kept the Ferrari drivers looking in the rear mirrors with a gap-narrowing charge at the end, it was too little too late. Only three cars had retired in the race, Vettel, Button and Piquet. Though both Ferraris could clearly have gone quicker it was left to Heikki Kovalainen to pick up the Fastest Lap time with a 1:33.193 on Lap 49.
The win for Felipe Massa will restore a lot of confidence for the Brazilian, but the fact that he could so demonstrably outpace Raikkonen in qualifying will be an even bigger boost. McLaren don't look as menacing as BMW right now. Hamilton's bump with Alonso ended his afternoon, but it was his lamentable start that really put paid to his chances. Had he avoided Alonso he was still only looking at 6th or 7th place.
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