My Life and Times

Alonso crushes the opposition at Sakhir
Bahrain GP - Race
Alonso takes his third win of his career
today at the Bahrain Grand Prix

Fernando Alonso took his second dominant win in as many weeks this afternoon at Sakhir as he took the chequered flag ahead of Jarno Trulli and Kimi Raikkonen. While the Renault driver extends his lead in the drivers? championship to ten points, Toyota celebrate another fine performance from Trulli, while Kimi Raikkonen secured McLaren Mercedes? first podium position of the season after a strong drive to third.

Like the Malaysian Grand Prix two weeks ago the interest for much of the race was not at the front, as no one looked like challenging Fernando Alonso once Michael Schumacher?s Ferrari had cried enough and broken down. Alonso cruised across the line to take the win by just over 13s from Trulli with Raikkonen recovering from his poor qualifying run to finish 30s down in third.

"It was hotter than it was in Malaysia and felt it," said Alonso. "But I knew my car was perfect and we would be strong in the final part of the race on the long run after the pitstops. Michael put me under pressure in the early part of the race but I wasn't worried. I knew that even if he overtook me I could regain the lead later on and win the race. At every stage I felt confident and it is fantastic to win here. To be on top of the championship is, for me, a dream coming true."

Ralf Schumacher finished in fourth position in his Toyota to make it another very impressive day for the German-based Toyota team while Pedro de la Rosa drove an energetic and entertaining race to a fine fifth position. The Spaniard was the driver of the day in many ways as he battled his way to the position. Standing in for the injured Juan Pablo Montoya, da la Rosa battled hard to pass Takuma Sato, Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello and finally Mark Webber.

There were a few mistakes from de la Rosa but he had the car right on the limit for much of the race and he did enough to secure valuable points from McLaren, while also impressing many with his race-craft.

Over at BMW Williams, it ended up being a disappointing third race of the season. From the start the team showed little race pace and while Webber got the jump on Heidfeld to run fourth early on, it was clear he did not have the speed in the FW27 to stay with the front runners. Nick Heidfeld, the only driver on track running an engine for the second straight race, suffered an engine failure mid-race which will be a disappointment for BMW. Webber finished in fifth position following a high-speed spin that cost him position to Kimi Raikkonen and Ralf Schumacher and was then passed by de la Rosa in what was a most entertaining battle.

The final points paying positions went to Felipe Massa in the Sauber Petronas and David Coulthard in the Red Bull Cosworth who made contact with Jacques Villeneuve in the closing stages. Both drivers were however fortunate to be in the points and the result came largely through race attrition rather than race pace. Still for Sauber, seventh place give them the first two points of the season while Coulthard continues to score for Red Bull.

Rubens Barrichello finished in ninth position and was very unfortunate not to finish in the points in what has been a nightmare weekend for him and the Ferrari team. Starting at the back of the field following an engine change, Barrichello soon fought his way into the top ten. Late in the race however his F2005 seemed to suffer with yet more gearbox problems and he dropped off the pace, losing the final point to Coulthard on the final lap of the race.

For Ferrari, they leave the race pointless after Michael Schumacher?s failed to finish with what seemed to be a hydraulic problem with his F2005. Schumacher pushed Alonso hard in the opening laps, but the car did not go the distance. Three races in and Michael Schumacher has just two points to his name and the championship is quickly slipping away.



An early shower for Schumacher in Bahrain

Tiago Monteiro finished the race in tenth place in his Jordan Toyota two laps down on the leaders while team-mate Narain Karthikeyan had a short race before retiring the sister EJ15. Jacques Villeneuve was classified in 11th although he retired his Sauber with three laps to go with suspension damage after contact with David Coulthard who got the final point. Patrick Freisacher and Christijan Albers finished the race for Minardi but were three and four laps adrift respectively. Of the non finishers, Christian Klien?s race was over before it began when an electrical problem left him stranded on the grid in his Red Bull Cosworth, while Melbourne winner Giancarlo Fisichella was an early retirement when his Renault V10 failed. It was a poor weekend from Fisichella who never had the pace to challenge his team- mate but he can take some comfort as at least he will have a new engine for his home event at Imola.

Finally, BAR Honda failed to finish the race once again although this time both drivers ran reasonably well before they stopped. Takuma Sato retired with braking issues while Jenson Button had a clutch problem. For a team on the podium at Sakhir 12- months ago, they have a long long way to go to get even close to such a feat in 2005.

The F1 circus packs up and heads back to the test tracks of Europe and the nest race takes place at San Marino in three weeks time. The question now is not can Ferrari get back on the pace, but can Ferrari make a car go the distance?

Earl ALEXANDER
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