Alonso shone in the Bahrain sun today to take the first win of the 2006 season from Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen.
In what was a good race for the opening of the season, Schumacher Snr led for the first half, but succombed to Fernando’s breath-taking pace in the final third to lose the lead after the Spaniard’s final stop.
Kimi drove a superb race, coming from the very back of the grid after qualifying issues to finish on the podium, closely followed by the boy Button and McLaren’s other car piloted by Juan Pablo Montoya.
Giancarlo Fisichella continues his bad luck from 2005 with engine-mappng problems and finally a hydraulics failure, forcing him to retire after telling the the team how bad the car was with some rather colourful language! Felipe Massa in the sister Ferrari also had a poor race, spinning out just before turn one and almost taking the reigning world champion with him. Massa managed to lock a rear wheel whilst under braking which forced a spin and ultimately destroyed his chances of success in Bahrain.
The Williams ran well. with both Webber and Rosberg scoring points, and Nico even managed to put some noteworthy lap times, making the car and the Cosworth engine look pretty impressive. Nico has obviously been working hard over the winter, and his performance today was very, very good. I can see the son of former world champion Keke having a bright career in Formula One, and the 2006 Williams could be the signal that the team is once again on the up.
Continue Reading…
) as I’m heading over to Geneva to see the Motor Show. I will catch up with everything and everyone late Saturday night.