The fantastically hectic start to F1 2009 continues, as the teams complete their long eastern-based leg of the early season in the dusty surroundings of Bahrain. Who will be scrapping for the win? It really is very hard to say.
The Talking Points- Red Bull's dry wings
The pace shown by the RB5 pair in the Shanghai race was staggering at times, with Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber comfortably lapping three seconds (and sometimes more) quicker than anybody else. But the performance of the Newey design over the course of a fully dry race may still be some way off race-winning, if the Australian GP and the early stages in Malaysia are anything to go by. Having said that, the RBRs secured a 1-3 in the dry China qualifying session, on a not-massively-uncompetitive fuel load, so perhaps steps forward have already been made. Assuming they are still a distance behind Brawn GP though, the RBR plan must be for tidy, points scoring finishes for the next two races to keep them well placed in the championship, before their magic new diffuser turns up in Monaco.- Testing advantages
Over the course of winter testing, while most of the teams satisfied themselves with what felt like 36 consecutive days at Jerez, Ferrari, BMW Sauber and Toyota chose to splash the cash on a holiday to the Bahrain track for a four day test. Will this bit of extravagance prove to be an advantage for the teams? It's not entirely clear, to be honest, as most of the test was disrupted by either fog or sandstorms. But any running in 09-spec cars at a track is better than none. Frankly, BMW and Ferrari could do with any advantage they can muster right now, while this extra data may be what Toyota need to make the small step (or giant leap, depending on your perspective) up to the top step of the podium.
- Grip levels
The 2009 breed of cars are ugly. I think we've already mentioned that once or twice on Patronise. But despite the eye pain of looking at them, they are at least a spectacular, slip-sliding affair to watch. And with the Sakhir track situated in the middle of a desert (to be fair, you can't really help that in Bahrain), the action should be even better this weekend, as sand starts getting in the way of the tyres.
- Keeping it dry
The Chinese race was thankfully free of controversy, but now it's beginning to get difficult (especially if you drink as heavily as I do) to remember the last properly dry race, which we really need to start having to ultimately test the success of the 2009 regulations as a cue for entertainment. Still, if you can't keep the rain off the track in the middle of a desert, where can you? Unless of course, you're MotoGP, who proved just how easy it was for a race weekend in arid conditions to be ruined by rain a few weeks ago in Qatar.
Track Facts
Bahrain International Circuit, SakhirNumber of Laps: 57
Circuit Length: 5.412km
Race distance: 308.238km
Lap Record: 1:30.252 (Michael Schumacher - 2004)
2008 Pole: Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber)
2008 Winner: Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
Timetable
Friday 24th April
Free Practice 1: 10.00 (Local Time) / 08.00 (BST)
Free Practice 2: 14.00 (Local Time) / 12.00 (BST)
Saturday 25th April
Free Practice 3: 11.00 (Local Time) / 09.00 (BST)
Qualifying: 14.00 (Local Time) / 12.00 (BST)
Sunday 26th April
Race: 15.00 (Local Time) / 13.00 (BST)
Race Revisited - 2006
Bahrain played host to the opening race of 2006, and as such were the hosts of the first ever three-part qualifying session setup that we've all come to know and tolerate. That qualifying session was most famous for Kimi Raikkonen's McLaren disintegrating halfway through his first flying lap, leaving him right at the back of the grid. The Finn though, back when he was a proper driver, performed a stellar recovery to end the race in third, while his team mate Juan Montoya suffered the ignominy of being overtaken by Jenson Button. Point to Kimi! At the front, we saw the first shoots of the season long battle for the title between old stager Michael Schumacher and reigning champion youngster Fernando Alonso. The Renault man survived having Felipe Massa spin across his bows early on, and then tough-guyed it out with Schumie into turn one after his final pit stop to grab the race win from the seven-time champion by just over a second. The times were indeed a-changing.
Watch the decisive bit of the race ("These are the winning laps, mate" says Alonso's engineer) here or watch probably the greatest pass in the history of ever (according to The Head anyway) here.
One Year Ago...
The Bahrain GP last season was not one that will live on in the memory. After Robert Kubica took a slightly surprising pole position, Felipe Massa beat him off the line and dominated the event for Ferrari, with Kimi Raikkonen making it a 1-2 finish for the team and Kubica settling for third. The main entertainment came from Lewis Hamilton, and also from ITV. The Brit collided with Fernando Alonso, a situation that led Martin Brundle to spend the rest of the race pushing the idea that Alonso had brake tested him. Remind yourself of all the preposterous nonsense by going here.
Best Race Odds
Jenson Button - 7/4 (Coral)
Sebastian Vettel - 5/1 (Totesport, Stan James)
Rubens Barrichello - 13/2 (SportingBet)
Fernando Alonso - 16/1 (BlueSq, SkyBet)
Patty's Tip - We're feeling pretty smug at Patty HQ at the moment, having tipped Webbo to podium at 40/1 for China, securing our first tip to actually come off so far this year. Hurrah. Anyway, for Bahrain, where at the risk of sounding a bit repetitive, Timo Glock is looking like a good bet, priced at 20/1 for pole position. If it stays dry, the Toyotas should be right behind the Brawns, so an each way punt on a Glock pole position is Patty's tip for this week.
The Weekend on Patronise
After The Foot's brave solo effort last weekend, the Patty team will recombine for the Bahrain weekend, so every session will be covered in a disappointing, text-based format. We'll also have news, reports and everything else that has come to make this website the 2,210,261th most popular website in the world.
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