Bahrain GP, Winners, Losers, and Blaggers!

The Bahrain GP was a dry, hot event filled race that demonstrated the reliability that has been developed this year, if not the pace in the case of some cars. 

At the start of the Race the Toyota team were being favoured to run away from the front of the grid and secure a 1 2 finish for the Japanese team. Vettel was rumoured to be quickest in the field with his fuel load, and the Brawn GP team were having difficulties cooling the car and would be off that pace. 

Ferrari was slow with their KERS problems coming to the fore again, and McLaren were struggling with Hamilton managing to get a decent qualifying position. Both BMWs were off the pace and the Force India cars were both at the rear of the grid, out of contention.

Webber had a lot of work to do given the blocking incident that had plagued Qualifying. 

On the grid prior to the race Massa was pessimistic, stating "THE MOST IMPORTANT THING FOR US IS TO FINISH THE RACE AND TRY AND GET SOME POINTS" whilst Barrichello meanwhile was sat in the shade uttering "IF YOU WENT TO THE BEACH TODAY YOU WOULD SAY IT WAS TOO HOT AND WOULD COME BACK TOMORROW"

Trulli took the field on a slow parade lap, the emphasis today on keeping the cars cool instead of the usual mad panic to heat the tyres and the brakes. Maybe this was to his cost, as his team mate Glock slide past him on the run to the first corner.

Both the Ferrri's and the McLaren's used their KERS system to great effect at the start promoting them up the grid, with Hamilton passing Button by the first corner. All cars were on the supersoft tyres and pushed hard for the first lap, with the BMW of Kubica coming into contact in the first with Kovalainen forcing the Pole to make a pit stop for a new nose and a change of strategy to a one stop. 

Button pursued Hamilton for the first lap, leaving him within the slip steam of the McLaren as they raced down the pit straight, Button was supreme under breaking forcing the world champion to concede the 3rd place to the World Championship leader. 

The lightly fuelled Toyota's began to race away at the front of the pack, whilst the unfortunate Massa had a KERS issue and on lap 3 visited the pits for a new nose cone and a check on the problematic system. 

The early pace of the Toyota team allowed Button clean air, a move which must have pleased Ron Dennis given the concerns over the cooling of the car. 

As the Toyota's pulled into the pits for fuel on laps 10 and 11 Button moved into the lead. Button put the hammer down whilst Toyota opted to go for the medium tyres. Ultimately this proved to be the wrong decision as they were unable to keep the pace up and allowed Button to come out in front of them after his first pit stop. 

After the first round of pit stops Trulli was ahead of Vettel who was looking quick and was a serious contender for the victory. Trulli's slower pace however meant that both he and Vettel were slow and Button was allowed to continue at the front, with only out of place drivers anywhere close. 

Raikkonen for the first time this season was heading the field owing to the pit stops, but with a slower car this was resolved when he made his pit stops. Glock fell away thorough the field despite his early performance. 

With the Toyota team struggling with the medium tyre Button pulled out one second a lap on Trulli, and Button showed the dominance of the Brawn by lapping Massa prior to the second round of pit stops. 

Pit stop number 2 saw Button and Vettel move onto the slower medium tyres whilst Toyota were able to return to the quicker supersoft tyres following their long middle stint on the slow rubber. However, the middle stint saw the Toyota lose out to Vettel who, after Raikkonen pitted, move to second behind Button. 

Raikkonen made hard work of maintaining position over the 8th place Glock after his second stop, but was eventually able to keep sixth place. Trulli started to close on Vettel but was not fast enough to be able to impact the race result. 

Luca Di Montezemolo stood on the Ferrari pit wall looking distinctly unhappy with the performance of the Ferrari team so far in 2009. Perhaps his appearance signals that changes are afoot for the Maranello based outfit. 

BMW continued to show poor form with their drivers occupying the last positions on the grid, with little hopes of improvement in the next race. 

The only retirement of the race came from Nakajima's Williams which exited due to oil pressure failure. 

Massa was again passed by the leader Button. Massa had suffered time loss with a fight against the Force India of Fisichella, surely a battle that the Tifosi will be sad to have seen take place.

Button crossed the line ahead of the rest of the field followed by Vettel and Trulli. Raikkonen scored 3 points for Ferrari, narrowly avoiding 2009 being the worst start to the Ferrari season ever, whilst Heidfeld showed that whilst not fast the BWM is reliable with a record breaking 25th consecutive finish, beating Schumachers 24 consecutive finishes, Schumnchers finishes were all point paying though!

At the weigh in Trulli looked to be disappointed with third place, feeling perhaps that he had been hampered by the long stint on the slower tyres. 

Button stood on the top step, smiling from ear to ear as he held the trophy above his head, showing no signs that he had completed 57 laps in full flame proof overalls in 36* heat. 

Button now heads to Spain with a 12 point lead over team mate Barrichello whilst Brawn GP hold 50 points while Red Bull in second have only 27.5 points. 

Who knows if the Brawn had problems with the heat or if they played their mind games well in order to change other teams strategies, the only thing that is for certain is that the pack has a lot of work to do if Brawn are to be stopped from being un-catchable by the end of the European leg!