04/23/24
March 13, 2006
Alonso edges Schumacher at Bahrain: Spain's Fernando Alonso keeps his championship in place, just coming ahead of Ferrari's Michael Schumacher at the Grand Prix of Bahrain. A sportsfilter column by mgero.
posted by justgary to auto racing at 02:58 AM - 8 comments
I agree Drood.....great race....the new Saturday qualifying session is a lot more interesting than last year, tire changing is back, and it looks like we could see several different race winners. Nico Rosberg was amazing, reminded me a lot of Senna when we first saw him in '84. The ability to take a car less than equal to the front runners and make passes through the field. He has tons of talent, Williams needs to make sure they hold on to him as long as possible. I loved his comment after the race, about how everyone had told him you couldn't overtake in F1, said "I didn't have any problem with it." A star is born.
posted by eccsport78 at 08:41 AM on March 13, 2006
Factual error (or typo) in the column: it was Schumacher 65th pole, not 56th. Great race with lots of action and overtaking, made for a great show. Nice Rosberg was mighty impressive. It's a little early to crown him a future champion, but he showed all the right moves yesterday. Let's not forget Raikkonen's incredible drive from the back of the pack. The Finns can fly.
posted by qbert72 at 08:53 AM on March 13, 2006
It was an exciting race weekend. Good to have F1 back on the schedule. Great to have an American racing. Hopefully, each weekend can be as competitive as this weekend appeared to be. It looks as though it will be amongst four teams. Ferrari looks to be resurgent, although they did extra testing at the Sakhir circuit this year. McLaren are going to be a challenger with both drivers. As long as the car is reliable and you can keep JPM off the tennis court (read:motorcycle) and keep Kimi out of the bars. Renault obviously will challenge as the defenders of both championships. Alonso might be on his own, Fisichella seems to have only bad luck or mental lapses that cost him position and points. Honda seemed to have the pace to contend. Button needs to win this year and it will be interesting to see how Rubens does this year. The biggest surprise to me this weekend was how well Williams did. Both drivers in the points. Rosberg showed he could well be a world champion one day. The biggest disappointment has to be Toyota. Biggest budget of anyone with no results and they looked to be way off the pace. We will get some more answers this weekend with a quick return to racing in Malaysia this weekend. I can't wait.
posted by chuck'n'duck at 08:57 AM on March 13, 2006
By the way, concerning Rosberg, I wonder what they're thinking at BMW, after leaving Williams last year and now realizing that wasn't all they left behind.
posted by eccsport78 at 08:58 AM on March 13, 2006
I wonder if Toyota is spreading out too much trying to get their NASCAR program up and running also?
posted by timdawg at 11:52 AM on March 13, 2006
Nico Rosberg is actually German:) Yeah, Keke is a Finn, but Nico was born in Germany. Great, just what we need. Another cocking German winning races:) Toyota were utterly pathetic. Half a billion dollars buys you that amateur display. If there aren't ritual suicides, or at least firings, I'll be very surprised. Great to see the most spectacular engine failure was BMW. I'm a Williams fan, always have been for the 20 years I've been watching, so naturally to me, BMW are the enemy now. To see JV's grenade itself in spectacular fashion was a true delight:) Three days until the engines fire up again. YEEHAA!
posted by Drood at 03:25 AM on March 14, 2006
Toyota is so stinking wealthy, I'm sure there's plenty left over for NASCAR (that's where the IRL budget went). But motorsports-wise, F1 is clearly their top priority, so these are dire days in Tokyo and Cologne, Germany. We'll know more in a week, but another showing like that and heads will roll indeed.
posted by eccsport78 at 09:11 AM on March 14, 2006
I think it was the best season opener since 1989, when Nige' won in his first Ferrari race. Battles throughout the field, a terrific fight for the lead, the dawning of a future champion (Nico Rosberg). All in all, a brilliant start. And we only have to wait four days for the next one. Happy days.