EJ20H-TT Posted March 29, 2004 Share Posted March 29, 2004 First GP in the middle east i think. Bahrain Preview Quotes: Ferrari Monday March 29th, 2004 Michael Schumacher: "I am very curious. It is a new race on a new track and in a different climate. I like visiting new places and coming into contact with new cultures, even if we are not always able to totally understand everything about them. In any case, travel is always something that enriches the soul. In Sepang I hoped to bring home six or maybe eight points. We knew that it would have been a difficult race and so the eventual victory was even better. We know it will be a hot race in Bahrain. We shouldn't forget that it was cloudy in Malaysia and if the sun had come out, things would have been even harder. The real worry in Bahrain is the sand We are all concerned about it and how much the sand will condition the performance of the engine. I am quite confident, though. "Taking on a new track is always exciting, though no more than difficult than driving one that you know well. The computer simulations really do help in giving us an idea of the set up we will need. It is important to remember that every time we take to the track, we have a different set up depending on the temperature, the weather and the track surface. There are lots of factors to consider and, for this reason, a new circuit is a little harder to deal with. It will be very, very exciting though." Rubens Barrichello: "I have never been anywhere in this part of the world and in fact, I am going to spend a couple of days in Dubai before making the trip to Bahrain and I am very much looking forward to discovering another part of the world. I like to approach a new circuit in the old-fashioned way, which is to get to the track and walk round it or maybe cycle. I will probably do a couple of laps, walking, running or cycling to develop a feel for the place. By the time I get in the car, the engineers will have done all the necessary circuit simulation programmes and they will know what speeds we can expect and the most likely gear for each corner. Then all you can do is start driving and learn the track phase by phase. But to be honest, once you are used to finding the limits of a Formula One car, learning a new track is not such a big deal. "I have heard there might not be so many points around the circuit to help the drivers, which is natural I guess given it is in the desert. But I have always been open minded about using markers for my braking or turning points. Sometimes there might be something useful like a bridge across the track or a change in the surface of the asphalt. You first notice these things when you walk the track, but not until you have driven it do you know if these are useful indications or not. Only then can you decide what to take as a reference. Hopefully, after the first ten laps you should know enough to start making changes to the car and be on the limit. I think the specific problem with this circuit is that it is going to be dirty as it is brand new and so the limit is going to be very changeable. So, ten laps is enough to know what you are doing, but until there is a good layer of rubber on the surface, you are going to be learning all the time. The F2004 has proved to be competitive at the first two races. So I don't see any reason why that should not be the same here." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtguy Posted March 29, 2004 Share Posted March 29, 2004 Sand. Everybody's nervous about the sand, not only gumming up engines, but limiting traction at odd spots on the track. Alexander Wurz, McLaren test driver, thinks that Ferrari will win, because Bahrain won't be as hot as everyone thinks. I think if Ferrari wins at Bahrain, it's going to be a long season for anyone not driving a red car. And I mean looooong. You know Ferrari already has the package for Imola. Monaco will test if Bridgestone has the chemical grip, but the Nurburgring should be another Ferrari win. Canada is routinely a Schumacher track, and well, the list goes on and on. In many ways, I wonder if anything will be able to be gleaned, future performance-wise, from Bahrain. I think everybody is waiting until the European season commences to roll out evolutions and other things. Ferrari showed last year that you can have a few clunky races, and still win the title. Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EJ20H-TT Posted March 29, 2004 Author Share Posted March 29, 2004 True but France, Germany and Hungary can be pretty hot. Canada is a marginal Ferrari track - they tend to have to nurse brakes there. One DNF can change everything with this points system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtguy Posted March 31, 2004 Share Posted March 31, 2004 [url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/3585731.stm[/url] Man, no pit babes, no champagne, and lots of sand. Sounds like a party for the F1 lads! :lol: Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtguy Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 We'll see, but it looks like Barrichello is on this weekend. Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EJ20H-TT Posted April 2, 2004 Author Share Posted April 2, 2004 Friday Second Free Practice - Bahrain GP Ferrari finished fastest in the second practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix on Friday when Rubens Barrichello led the field in a thrilling incident-packed session that saw tyres crumbling in the desert heat. Brazilian Barrichello set a time of 1:31.450 but his scarlet team's first session dominance dissolved to nothing as Colombian Williams-BMW driver Juan Pablo Montoya finished just one thousandth of a second behind. World Champion Michael Schumacher could only manage fourth place, 0.282 seconds behind his teammate, after being beaten into third place by British BAR-Honda test driver Anthony Davidson. But the temperatures at the sun-drenched desert circuit, which rose to 31 degrees Celsius ambient and 51 degrees Celsius on the track, caused havoc with Ferrari's rivals Renault and McLaren-Mercedes. McLaren's troubles came early in the second session when Kimi Raikkonen ground to a halt at turn nine with a suspected engine failure that caused a small fire at the back of his car. Raikkonen, who has failed to finish a race this year because of engine and transmission problems in Australia and Malaysia respectively, had been on his first out-lap having completed just 10 laps in the first session. Fernando Alonso, who had topped the times early in the session for Renault, was forced to cruise into the pits after his right rear tyre disintegrated after he went off the track at turn 15 with half the session gone. He finished ninth. His teammate Jarno Trulli spun at turn 10 and was forced to stop at the next corner with fire coming out of the back of his car after the second suspected engine failure of the session. Jaguar driver Christian Klien, of Austria, was fifth fastest with German Ralf Schumacher sixth for Williams, Briton Jenson Button seventh for BAR-Honda and Australian Mark Webber eighth in the second Jaguar. Klien had briefly gone off the track after making a mistake in his Jaguar at turn 11 early in the session but Nick Heidfeld was not so fortunate as he was forced to park his Jordan at the side of the track 12 minutes in. Schumacher proved he is not without fault after 20 minutes when he spun at turn 11. He soon became the first man to break into the one minute 31 seconds with a time of 1:31.732 but was eventually toppled by the end of the session. With five minutes to go David Coulthard was forced to stop when his car's left rear tyre delaminated - the second Michelin tyre to do so in the session - and sent him spinning into the gravel at turn six. Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:31.450 19 2. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:31.451 + 0.001 21 3. Davidson BAR-Honda (M) 1:31.488 + 0.038 26 4. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:31.732 + 0.282 22 5. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:31.789 + 0.339 19 6. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:31.842 + 0.392 25 7. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:31.879 + 0.429 21 8. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:32.041 + 0.591 23 9. Alonso Renault (M) 1:32.234 + 0.784 21 10. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:32.335 + 0.885 26 11. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:32.495 + 1.045 17 12. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:32.680 + 1.230 15 13. Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 1:32.708 + 1.258 17 14. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:32.761 + 1.311 19 15. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:33.031 + 1.581 22 16. Panis Toyota (M) 1:33.049 + 1.599 17 17. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:33.061 + 1.611 23 18. Trulli Renault (M) 1:33.437 + 1.987 12 19. Glock Jordan-Ford (B) 1:33.695 + 2.245 25 20. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:34.054 + 2.604 12 21. Wirdheim Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:34.317 + 2.867 23 22. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:34.791 + 3.341 14 23. Leinders Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:36.248 + 4.798 23 24. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:40.573 + 9.123 5 25. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) no time 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtguy Posted April 3, 2004 Share Posted April 3, 2004 Red cars on the front row for qualifying again. Wow. Even with a crappy lap, M. Schumacher had the stuff. Barrichello was three tenths down, followed by the two Williams cars. Fuel strategy will be interesting. Also interesting was how the Williams cars seemed very difficult to drive. Not so with the Ferrari. That could matter as the race distance wears on, and in terms of tire longevity. Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EJ20H-TT Posted April 3, 2004 Author Share Posted April 3, 2004 Renault hinted that they thought some other runners could have tyre probs - graining etc. It is rumoured Montoya is on the soft compound while Ralf is on the hard compound. MS commented in that it's a very hard to drive track - difficult to get the perfect lap. Note Rubens is on the dirty side of the track - less grip could mean Montoya can get ahead into the first turn. It should be an interesting race to see how it all pans out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtguy Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 JPM is definitely on the soft Michelin, and Ralf on the hard. Apparently, he was planning to get pole, and control the race from the front, as it will be hard to go off line to pass. But the struggle for grip (where the Ferraris had plenty) mean that his and Ralf's plans went awry. What's really interesing about the weekend is that the Ferraris, come hell or high water, were running low 1:30s. Everybody else dipped into the 1:29s for brief moments, but who knows how light they were running? Ferrari was very consistent with its fast laps, which doesn't augur well for the others in the race, but we'll see. Montoya is also counting on it cooling off, which should help his tires. But if it cools off too much, that plays into Bridgestone's hands. All I know is if Schumacher hits the European season with a perfect race score, 3 poles, 3 wins, it will be looking particularly grim for his competitors, who will be needing some Schumacher DNFs to make their moves, in light of the revised points system. Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtguy Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 Another can of Ferrari whoopass was opened in Bahrain. When he was on it hard, Schumacher was lapping almost two seconds faster than Montoya, and a second faster than his teammate, in an idential car. Unreal. Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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