Sakhir
24-26 April 2009
Lap Distance 5.412 Km
Race 57 Laps 308.238 Km
Jenson Button produced another flawless drive for Brawn GP to win the Bahrain GP at Sakhir today. That makes it 3 wins from 4 races for Button who extends his lead in the title race to 12 points from team mate Rubens Barrichello. The race was relatively uneventful with Glock seizing the lead from Trulli, and Hamilton blasting through into 3rd place at the first corner. It was at the first round of pit stops that the race began to unravel, with Button briefly hitting the front on lap 13 and then again on lap 22 after which time he was largely unchallenged. He lost the lead briefly to Vettel on lap 37 as he made his 2nd stop but regained it on lap 41 pressing relentlessly on to take the flag. Sebastian Vettel drove a strong race to second place for Red Bull but reliability problems aside, was never quite on an equal footing with Button. It was a somewhat disappointing result for Toyota with pole position man Trulli finishing 3rd and team mate Glock slipping back to 7th after leading the opening laps. Toyota always seem to struggle for true race pace and that elusive first win is still tantalisingly out of reach. Lewis Hamilton had a better race in the McLaren having a race long struggle with Trulli and Vettel but at the end of the day he did not have the pace to catch and pass them. Rubens Barrichello secured more points for Brawn with 5th place but a three stop strategy hampered his chances of a better result today. At last Ferrari scored some points with Kimi Raikkonen in 6th which must have been a relief for the team especially with Luca Di Montezemolo present. Felipe Massa was less fortunate and following an early pit stop to replace a broken front wing he ended the race in a lack lustre 14t place. Fernando Alonso took the final point in 8th for Renault but was never a front runner. For BMW it can only be described as a disastrous race with Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld the last finishers in 18th and 19th places, what a difference a year makes. There was only one retirement today, Kazuki Nakajima, who went out on lap 49 in the Williams.
Nico Rosberg and Williams yet again ended the first day of practice at the head of the time sheets for this weekends Bahrain F1 Grand Prix. Rosberg saw off a challenge from the Renault of Fernando Alonso and Jarno Trulli in the Toyota. Chinese GP winner Sebastian Vettel was 4th fastest with team mate Mark Webber in the sister Red Bull car and Jenson Button's Brawn Mercedes closing out the top six, in a very hot session. It was another torrid day for Ferrari with Massa and Raikkonen way down in 16th and 18th places. There was a glimmer of hope for McLaren in session 1 as Hamilton set the fastest time, but then in the later session he slipped back down to 11th fastest, with team mate Kovalainen further back in 19th. The other pace setters in the earlier session were the BMW Saubers of Heidfeld and Kubica, 2nd and 3rd, with Rosberg, Button and Kovalainen closing out the top 6.
Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock locked out the first row of the grid for the Bahrain GP at Sakhir today. The Toyotas set a blistering pace in the desert heat with Trulli over half a second faster than the Red Bull of 3rd placed Sebastian Vettel. Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello did not enjoy their familiar early season advantage but are both well placed for the race, after finishing the shoot out in 4th and 6th places. Lewis Hamilton enjoyed a better session in the McLaren and is well placed in 5th sandwiched by the Brawn cars. Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa ended the session 7th and 8th fastest with Nico Rosberg and Kimi Raikkonen closing out the top ten. The BMW's of Kubica and Heidfeld struggled for pace and failed to make the final cut, ending down in 13th and 14th. Heikki Kovalainen also lost out in Q2 and will start from 11th on the grid. Mark Webber was certainly the unluckiest driver in qualifying, getting badly blocked by the Force India of Adrian Sutil in Q1 on his fast lap, and he now faces a 19th place grid position. Car weights will be made available later, and then the true pace of the front runners can be more readily analysed.
01 L Hamilton
1m 33.647s
02 N Heidfeld
1m 33.907s
03 R Kubica
1m 33.938s
04 N Rosberg
1m 34.227s
05 J Button
1m 34.434s
06 H Kovalainen
1m 34.502s
07 R Barrichello
1m 34.531s
08 F Massa
1m 34.589s
09 M Webber
1m 34.827s
10 K Raikkonen
1m 34.827s
11 K Nakajima
1m 34.88s
12 S Vettel
1m 34.938s
13 N Piquet
1m 34.974s
14 A Sutil
1m 35.021s
15 J Trulli
1m 35.036s
16 G Fisichella
1m 35.042s
17 T Glock
1m 35.333s
18 F Alonso
1m 35.348s
19 S Bourdais
1m 35.353s
20 S Buemi
1m 35.369s
01 J Trulli
1m 33.431s
02 T Glock
1m 33.712s
03 S Vettel
1m 34.015s
04 J Button
1m 34.044s
05 L Hamilton
1m 34.196s
06 R Barrichello
1m 34.239s
07 F Alonso
1m 34.578s
08 F Massa
1m 34.818s
09 N Rosberg
1m 35.134s
10 K Raikkonen
1m 35.380s
Eliminated Q2<br/>
11 H Kovalainen
1m 33.242s
12 K Nakajima
1m 33.348s
13 R Kubica
1m 33.487s
14 N Heidfeld
1m 33.562s
15 N Piquet
1m 33.941s
Eliminated Q1<br/>
16 S Buemi
1m 33.753s
17 G Fisichella
1m 33.910s
18 M Webber
1m 34.038s
19 A Sutil
1m 33.722s
20 S Bourdais
1m 34.159s
* Adrian Sutil was penalised 3 grid places for blocking Mark Webber.
01 N Rosberg
1m 33.339s
02 F Alonso
1m 33.53s
03 J Trulli
1m 33.616s
04 S Vettel
1m 33.661s
05 M Webber
1m 33.676s
06 J Button
1m 33.694s
07 A Sutil
1m 33.763s
08 T Glock
1m 33.764s
09 R Barrichello
1m 33.885s
10 K Nakajima
1m 33.899s
11 L Hamilton
1m 33.994s
12 G Fisichella
1m 34.025s
13 S Buemi
1m 34.127s
14 S Bourdais
1m 34.366s
15 N Piquet
1m 34.411s
16 F Massa
1m 34.564s
17 R Kubica
1m 34.605s
18 K Raikkonen
1m 34.67s
19 H Kovalainen
1m 34.764s
20 N Heidfeld
1m 34.79s
01 T Glock
1m 32.605s
02 F Massa
1m 32.728s
03 N Rosberg
1m 32.906s
04 L Hamilton
1m 32.975s
05 K Raikkonen
1m 32.986s
06 N Piquet
1m 33.176s
07 R Kubica
1m 33.195s
08 K Nakajima
1m 33.302s
09 J Trulli
1m 33.397s
10 N Heidfeld
1m 33.415s
11 S Vettel
1m 33.443s
12 H Kovalainen
1m 33.478s
13 F Alonso
1m 33.482s
14 A Sutil
1m 33.534s
15 J Button
1m 33.586s
16 R Barrichello
1m 33.686s
17 S Buemi
1m 33.72s
18 M Webber
1m 33.726s
19 G Fisichella
1m 33.962s
20 S Bourdais
1m 34.99s
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01 J Button
02 S Vettel
03 J Trulli
04 L Hamilton
05 R Barrichello
06 K Raikkonen
07 T Glock
08 F Alonso
09 N Rosberg
10 N Piquet
11 M Webber
12 H Kovalainen
13 S Bourdais
14 F Massa
15 G Fisichella
16 A Sutil
17 S Buemi
18 R Kubica
19 N Heidfeld
Retired
L49 K Nakajima
Fastest Lap
J Trulli
1m 34.556s L10
AT&T Williams driver Nico Rosberg (above) was fastest overall yet again in Bahrain on the first day of free practice. Rosberg has ended at the top of the practice timesheets on no less than seven occasions so far in 2009. Image courtesy AT&T Williams F1 Team.
Jarno Trulli boards his Toyota en route to a superb pole position. Image courtesy Panasonic Toyota Racing.