2010 Bahrain Grand Prix

2010 Bahrain Grand Prix
Previous←	2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Round	1 of 2010
Next→	2010 Australian Grand Prix
Race Details
Date	March 14, 2010
Official Name	VII Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix
Location	Bahrain International Circuit Sakhir, Bahrain
Course	Permanent racing facility 6.299 km (3.914 mi)
Distance	49 laps, 308.651 km (191.787 mi)
Pole Position
Driver	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault
Time	1:54.101
Fastest Lap
Driver	Fernando Alonso Ferrari
Time	1:58.287 on lap 45
Podium
First	Fernando Alonso
Second	Felipe Massa
Third	Lewis Hamilton
Lap Leaders

The 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix (officially VII Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix) was race number 1 of the 2010 Formula One Season. It took place at the Bahrain International Circuit on March 14 2010. The race was won by Scuderia Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso with Felipe Massa for Scuderia Ferrari in second and Lewis Hamilton of McLaren-Mercedes in third.

Background

Going into the first race of the 2010 season saw the debut of new teams, HRT and Virgin and saw the return of the Lotus F1 team which withdrew from F1 at the end of 1994. Team Sauber also returned as Team Principal Peter Sauber had bought back the team from BMW Sauber who withdrew from F1 at the end of 2009, however he chose to race as BMW Sauber due, for otherwise the team would not receive their share of TV money.

New drivers making their début in Bahrain were Lucas Di Grassi for Virgin, Vitaly Petrov (first ever Russian F1 Driver) for Renault, Nico Hülkenberg for Williams, while Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna (nephew of the late three time World Champion, Ayrton Senna) both made their débuts for HRT.

Seven time World Champion, Michael Schumacher made his F1 return with Mercedes GP after retiring at the end of 2006 with Ferrari. Pedro de la Rosa made his first F1 appearance with BMW Sauber also since 2006 when he filled in at McLaren for half a season when Juan Pablo Montoya quit the sport however he had not been a full fledged race driver since 2002 with Jaguar.

Felipe Massa returned to F1 with Ferrari after being critically injured at the Qualifying of the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix. Timo Glock also returned to F1 with Virgin after sustaining injuries at the qualifying of the 2009 Japanese Grand Prix.

All the past time winners of the Bahrain Grand Prix made a reappearance here in 2010, Michael Schumacher (2004), Fernando Alonso (2005 and 2006), Felipe Massa (2007 and 2008) and Jenson Button (2009).

24 drivers appeared on the 2010 grid, the largest an F1 grid had seen since 1995.

Refuelling was banned during a race for the first time since 1993 in F1 and a new points system took place and also increases to the top 10 drivers (previously top 8). The steward board was also now being represented by one former F1 driver as well. The first former driver to hold this place was four time World Champion, Alain Prost who started the role at the Bahrain GP.

This was the only time that the race was run on the extended circuit at Bahrain. Deviating from the old circuit just after turn four, the extension added nine corners in about 2/3 of a kilometer. Universal criticism of the new section led to the old configuration being restored in 2012.

Entry list

The full entry list for the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix is shown below:

No.	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model	Tyre
1	Jenson Button	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	McLaren	MP4-25	Mercedes	FO 108X	B
2	Lewis Hamilton	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	McLaren	MP4-25	Mercedes	FO 108X	B
3	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes	MGP W01	Mercedes	FO 108X	B
4	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes	MGP W01	Mercedes	FO 108X	B
5	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB6	Renault	RS27-2010	B
6	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB6	Renault	RS27-2010	B
7	Felipe Massa	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	F10	Ferrari	056	B
8	Fernando Alonso	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	F10	Ferrari	056	B
9	Rubens Barrichello	AT&T Williams	Williams	FW32	Cosworth	CA2010	B
10	Nico Hülkenberg	AT&T Williams	Williams	FW32	Cosworth	CA2010	B
11	Robert Kubica	Renault F1 Team	Renault	R30	Renault	RS27-2010	B
12	Vitaly Petrov	Renault F1 Team	Renault	R30	Renault	RS27-2010	B
14	Adrian Sutil	Force India F1 Team	Force India	VJM03	Mercedes	FO 108X	B
15	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India F1 Team	Force India	VJM03	Mercedes	FO 108X	B
16	Sébastien Buemi	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso	STR5	Ferrari	056	B
17	Jaime Alguersuari	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso	STR5	Ferrari	056	B
18	Jarno Trulli	Lotus Racing	Lotus	T127	Cosworth	CA2010	B
19	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus Racing	Lotus	T127	Cosworth	CA2010	B
20	Karun Chandhok	Hispania Racing F1 Team	HRT	F110	Cosworth	CA2010	B
21	Bruno Senna	Hispania Racing F1 Team	HRT	F110	Cosworth	CA2010	B
22	Pedro de la Rosa	BMW Sauber F1 Team	BMW Sauber	C29	Ferrari	056	B
23	Kamui Kobayashi	BMW Sauber F1 Team	BMW Sauber	C29	Ferrari	056	B
24	Timo Glock	Virgin Racing	Virgin	VR-01	Cosworth	CA2010	B
25	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin Racing	Virgin	VR-01	Cosworth	CA2010	B

Practice

Practice 1

At the start of the early morning Friday practice it was the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button that lapped the quickest around the Sakhir circuit however once the Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa came out of the pits, the two then quickly passed the McLarens fastest lap times and stayed there for most of the morning. However to much of the paddocks surprise the Force India of Adrian Sutil took the fastest lap time late in the session with teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi ending up seventth fastest, it showed that Force India had promise. Michael Schumacher struggled in the session with understeer and was the only driver to run off track, he finished 10th fastest two places behind Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg. Robert Kubica was a surprise third in the Renault behind Alonso and Sutil. The Virgin of Lucas Di Grassi only managed to complete two laps until hydraulic issues forced him out of the session. HRT who would be running their car for the very first time in Bahrain were mainly assembling the two cars throughout the session which had only arrived on Thursday night however at the end of the session Bruno Senna managed to get three laps under his belt much to the delight of the HRT team. However Karun Chandhok had major hydraulic issues that would keep him out for the rest of the day.

Race

Results

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	8	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	49	1:39:20.396	3	25
2	7	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	49	+ 16.099	2	18
3	2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	49	+ 23.182	4	15
4	5	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	49	+ 38.799	1	12
5	4	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	49	+ 40.213	5	10
6	3	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	49	+ 44.163	7	8
7	1	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	49	+ 45.280	8	6
8	6	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	49	+ 46.360	6	4
9	15	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes	49	+ 53.008	12	2
10	9	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	49	+ 1:02.489	11	1
11	11	Robert Kubica	Renault	49	+ 1:09.093	9
12	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	49	+ 1:22.958	10
13	17	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	49	+ 1:32.656	18
14	10	Nico Hülkenberg	Williams-Cosworth	48	+ 1 Lap	13
15	19	Heikki Kovaleinen	Lotus-Cosworth	47	+ 2 Laps	21
16	16	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	46	Electrics	15
17	18	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Cosworth	46	Hydraulics	20
Ret	22	Pedro de la Rosa	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	28	Hydraulics	14
Ret	21	Bruno Senna	HRT-Cosworth	17	Overheating	23
Ret	24	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	16	Gearbox	19
Ret	12	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	13	Suspension	17
Ret	23	Kamui Kobayashi	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	11	Hydraulics	16
Ret	25	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin-Cosworth	2	Hydraulics	22
Ret	20	Karun Chandhok	HRT-Cosworth	1	Accident	24

Standings after race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Fernando Alonso 25 2 Felipe Massa 18 3 Lewis Hamilton 15 4 Sebastian Vettel 12 5 Nico Rosberg 10 6 Michael Schumacher 8 7 Jenson Button 6 8 Mark Webber 4 9 Vitantonio Liuzzi 2 10 Rubens Barrichello 1 11 Robert Kubica 0 12 Adrian Sutil 0 13 Jaime Alguersuari 0 14 Nico Hülkenberg 0 15 Heikki Kovalainen 0 16 Sébastien Buemi 0 17 Jarno Trulli 0

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 43 2 McLaren-Mercedes 21 3 Mercedes 18 4 Red Bull-Renault 16 5 Force India-Mercedes 2 6 Williams-Cosworth 1 7 Renault 0 8 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 0 9 Lotus-Cosworth 0

v·d·e

Nominate this page for Featured Article