2007 Bahrain Grand Prix

Template:F1 race report infobox The 2007 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix is a Formula One motor race and is the third round of the 2007 Formula One season. It took place on the weekend of the 13-15 April at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain.

In practice 1 and 2, Kimi Räikkönen topped the charts. Lewis Hamilton also placed well. Vitantonio Liuzzi got a surprise 8th place result in 1st practice. Felipe Massa won the Grand Prix from Lewis Hamilton, who made history to become the first driver ever to finish on the podium in all his first three races.

Report

Pre-Race

The Friday morning practice session saw both Ferraris top the time sheets with Kimi Räikkönen the fastest with a time of 1 minute, 33.162 seconds with his teammate, Felipe Massa, just over half a second slower then the Finn in second. The Italian team's nearest compeition was the two McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso who were third and fourth respectively, Hamilton just under a second slower then Räikkönen's time.

Räikkönen was fastest again in the afternoon session, clocking a time of 1 minute, 33.527 seconds, just under four tenths slower then his fastest time during the morning session. Unlike the morning session, however, Ferrari did not have both their cars occupying the top two as Massa's fastest time was fourth fastest, with Hamilton and BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica seperating the two Ferraris.

It was six thousandths of a second that prevented Räikkönen from being fastest in all three practice sessions, but his run was ended by Lewis Hamilton with the lead BMW Sauber of Nick Heidfeld in third; Kubica fourth; Anthony Davidson's Super Aguri in fifth and Massa completing the top six, four tenths down on Hamilton's time.

Qualifying

Part One

Qualifying was played out in temperatures of over 34 °C and despite a small shower of rain just after the morning practice session was over, the track itself was dry. Williams' Alexander Wurz was the first out onto the circuit with former Williams drivers David Coulthard and Jenson Button following him. Like the first practice session on friday, the two Ferraris set the early pace, both recording laps in the 1 minute 32 second region, the only two cars to do so during the first qualifying session. The first six to be eliminated from qualifying were Takuma Sato, who was seventeen thousandths of a second slower then sixteenth place Jenson Button; both Toro Rossos of Luizzi and Speed; both Spykers of Albers and Sutil and David Coulthard joined Albers at the back of grid after his Red Bull suffered a gearbox problem.

Part Two

The two Toyotas of Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli left the pits first for the second phase of qualifying. Like in the first session, Ferrari were setting the pace, this time however it was Massa who was leading the way, with both their drivers setting times in the 1 minute 31 region, only to be split to Hamilton's McLaren. Buttton, who only just made the cut for the second round of qualifying, was slowest in the session, over two seconds slower then Massa's time. Joining the Brit was fellow Honda driver Rubens Barrichello; Ralf Schumacher; Davidson; Heikki Kovalainen and Wurz.

Part Three

Hamilton and the two BMW Saubers were first out in the final session of qualifying, with Massa setting the early pace. The final part of the session saw Massa improve his time, lapping with a time of 1 minute, 32.652 seconds. Hamilton came second, just under three tenths slower then Massa, putting him on the front row in his third Formula One race. Kimi Räikkönen and Fernando Alonso made up row two, both BMW Saubers of Heidfeld and Kubica were fifth and sixth respectively; Giancarlo Fisichella and Mark Webber made up row four and Jarno Trulli and Nico Rosberg completed the top ten ninth and tenth respectively.

Race

File:Felipe Massa 2007 Bahrain.jpg

Felipe Massa took the win, pole position and fastest lap - the first time he has completed the treble in a single race weekend.

At the start, the two leaders maintained their positions with Alonso passing Räikkönen into the second corner to take third. Further back, Adrian Sutil, Jenson Button and Scott Speed were involved in a collision in turn four, with Button and Speed out on the spot, while Sutil managed to get back to the pits. The Safety Car was brought out to clear up the wreckage.

The podium ceremony (from left to right: Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa, Kimi Räikkönen and Luca Baldisseri.

Vitantonio Liuzzi had a drive-through penalty on lap nine for overtaking under a safety car. On the same lap, Rosberg had an off-track excursion, losing a place to Coulthard in the process. The front two stayed in the same positions after the first round of stops, but Räikkönen got back past Alonso to take third.

Alonso began to lose ground, and was passed by Heidfeld. He stayed behind the BMW for the remainder of the race. The Renaults also began to struggle, with Coulthard managing to overtake Fisichella. However, both Red Bulls retired in quick succession, promoting Trulli and Fisichella to the points.

Massa won the Grand Prix, 2.3 seconds in front of rookie Hamilton.

After the race, Alonso, Räikkönen and Hamilton were equal on points. The last time the top three were level on points was in 1950 after the Indianapolis 500. By finishing second, Hamilton became the first driver in Formula One history to finish on the podium in each of his first three World Championship Grands Prix.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	Name	Team/Engine	Part 1	Part 2	Part 3
1	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:32.443	1:31.359	1:32.652
2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:32.580	1:31.752	1:32.935
3	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:33.161	1:31.812	1:32.935
4	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Mercedes	1:33.049	1:32.214	1:33.192
5	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	1:33.164	1:32.154	1:33.404
6	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	1:33.348	1:32.292	1:33.710
7	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	1:33.556	1:32.889	1:34.056
8	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:33.496	1:32.808	1:34.106
9	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:33.218	1:32.429	1:34.154
10	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	1:33.349	1:32.815	1:34.399
11	Alexander Wurz	Williams-Toyota	1:33.759	1:32.915
12	Heikki Kovalainen	Renault	1:33.467	1:32.935
13	Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri-Honda	1:33.299	1:33.082
14	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	1:33.923	1:33.294
15	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	1:33.776	1:33.624
16	Jenson Button	Honda	1:33.967	1:33.731
17	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda	1:33.984
18	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:34.024
19	Scott Speed	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:34.333
20	Adrian Sutil	Spyker-Ferrari	1:35.280
21	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	1:35.341
22	Christijan Albers	Spyker-Ferrari	1:35.533

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	57	1:33.27.515	1	10
2	2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	57	+2.360	2	8
3	6	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	57	+10.839	3	6
4	9	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	57	+13.831	5	5
5	1	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Mercedes	57	+14.426	4	4
6	10	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	57	+45.529	6	3
7	12	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	57	+81.371	9	2
8	3	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	57	+81.701	7	1
9	4	Heikki Kovalainen	Renault	57	+89.411	12
10	16	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	57	+89.916	10
11	17	Alexander Wurz	Williams-Toyota	56	+1 Lap	11
12	11	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	56	+1 Lap	14
13	8	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	56	+1 Lap	15
14	21	Christijan Albers	Spyker-Ferrari	55	+2 Laps	22
15	20	Adrian Sutil	Spyker-Ferrari	53	+4 Laps	20
16	23	Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri-Honda	51	Engine	13
Ret	15	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	41	Gearbox	8
Ret	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	36	Driveshaft	21
Ret	22	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda	34	Engine	17
Ret	18	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	26	Hydraulics	18
Ret	7	Jenson Button	Honda	0	Accident	16
Ret	19	Scott Speed	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	0	Accident	19

Notes

• Fastest Lap: Felipe Massa, 1:34.067 (Lap 42)

External links

• Bahrain Grand Prix results (fia.com)
• Detailed Bahrain Grand Prix results