Kimi surprised the reporter with his answer




Martin Brundle was thrilled over Kimi's performance in Bahrain GP.

- Kimi's race was separate from the group.

- It's impressive that how he hasn't lost any of his striking ability in races although he stayed away for 2 years. We have seen him in several duels and he has not been in difficulties in starts.

Brundle chatted with Kimi after the race. Kimi was not satisfied.

- I chose the wrong side in the only place where I could have overtaken Vettel, he said to Brundle.

Should you then had changed to the inner side?

- No, I should have just blasted from the outside, Kimi replied and according to Brundle he surprised him completely.

According to Brundle Lotus should had let Kimi past Romain earlier.

- If Lotus had won more often lately, then they would have an advantage over Red Bull.

IL

Courtesy: Nicole

Hamilton fumes at pit stop failures

A furious Lewis Hamilton has called for an inquest into his two disastrous pit stops during the Bahrain Grand Prix that lost his crucial time and track position

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton was not happy to lose almost 20 seconds in total during two disastrous pit stops during the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday.

Hamilton initially kept his second place off the grid, only to be undone by a general lack of pace in the car at the Bahrain International Circuit - and, critically, the two very slow pit stops with problems over the left-rear wheel nut.

"We need to look into this very seriously. There has to be an investigation because we gave away a lot of points again today, that's how championships are lost" he said. "We have to try and make sure we pick up on the next race because we can't afford to lose points like we did today," he added.

"For the driver sitting in the car, that's always frustrating, because you're just waiting and there's nothing you can do to help," he said.

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh explained that two different problems hit Hamilton's pit stops, the first being down to the drive pegs and the drive holes not precisely aligning, while the second incident was a cross-threading issue.

However, he ruled out a switch to the more sophisticated approaches to wheels nuts used by the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes, pointing to the disastrous situation with Michael Schumacher in China that saw the former world champion's wheel detach after a pit stop.

"I would say at the moment the right thing to do is get to a fool-proof system that doesn't cause failure before you get more adventurous," he insisted, before going on to defend the performance of the pit stop crew.

"There is an enormous amount of stress on them," pointed out Whitmarsh, revealing to BBC Sport that the team had even decided to change the left rear wheel man during the race. "We changed him for the last stop because he was stressed but it's our job to protect them. Things go wrong and that's life. We need to make sure we pull together.

"Clearly, our performance was disappointing this afternoon," he admitted. "Having said that, both Lewis and Jenson drove very well in extremely challenging conditions.

"Lewis and Jenson are as resilient as they are competitive, so you can be well sure that in Spain they'll both do their utmost to score as many points as possible," added Whitmarsh.

Source: Crash.net

Räikkönen: We weren't fast enough

Kimi Räikkönen has lamented Lotus' lack of pace which prevented him - along with a mistake of his own - from winning the Bahrain GP

Four races into his Formula One career, the Finn was back on the podium, finishing runner-up to Sebastian Vettel at the Sakhir circuit.

Räikkönen, though, was left to wonder about what could have been if only his one serious attempt to overtake Vettel had come off.

"I think we gave ourselves a chance but I'm disappointed I didn't manage to win it," he said.

"I made a small mistake at the beginning, lost one place to Ferrari, and I had to get that place back.

"In the end we were not fast enough to win.

"I got one chance to get past Sebastian but I chose the wrong side.

"That was the only chance really."

The Finn at least found something to be cheer about as Lotus achieved a ouble podium finish with team-mate Romain Grosjean in third as, unlike in China, the team made the right calls.

"At least we got on the podium with both cars.

"In the last race we failed and probably people thought we were a bit stupid.

"But it turned out to be the right direction and the team deserves what it has achieved today."

Source: Planet-F1

Vettel Reigns Supreme In Bahrain

The familiar finger salute of Sebastian Vettel was back on the podium in Bahrain as the defending World Champion bounced back with a bang

After finishing P11 at last weekend's Chinese GP, the German returned to top form in style as he started on pole position and then held off the charging Lotus of Kimi Räikkönen to claim his and Red Bull's first win of the 2012 season.

It was an impressive afternoon for the Lotus team with Raikkonen securing his best finish since returning to F1 and his team-mate Romain Grosjean making it onto the podium for the first time in his career. Grosjean was also the first Frenchman on the podium in more than a decade.

Vettel's Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber, who was driving by himself most of the afternoon, finished P4 while Chinese Grand Prix winner Nico Rosberg had to settle for P5.

Force India's Paul di Resta equalled his best-ever finish as the decision to opt for a two-stop strategy paid off as he just managed to keep Fernando Alonso behind him in P8.

McLaren had another disappointing afternoon with Lewis Hamilton their only finisher in P9. Two appalling pitstops saw the 2008 World Champion lose valuable time on the front runners.

His team-mate Jenson Button's misfortune was even worse as he was forced to retire on the penultimate lap. He was running P5 when he picked up a puncture and was then ordered to park his car in the garage a lap later.

Button's poor luck meant Felipe Massa finished P9 and Michael Schumacher P10.

Full results
01. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h35:10.990
02. Räikkönen Lotus-Renault + 3.300
03. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 10.100
04. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 38.700
05. Rosberg Mercedes + 55.400
06. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 57.500
07. Alonso Ferrari + 57.800
08. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 58.900
09. Massa Ferrari + 1:04.900
10. Schumacher Mercedes + 1:11.400
11. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1:12.700
12. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 1:16.500
13. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:30.300
14. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1:33.700
15. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
16. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
17. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
18. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 1 lap
19. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps
20. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
21. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
22. Senna Williams-Renault + 3 laps


Did not finish
Bruno Senna Williams-Renault Lap 54
Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault Lap 25
Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth Lap 24

Source: Planet-F1

Inside Track - Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button look forward to the Bahrain GP

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 drivers, and 2008 and 2009 World Champions, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton give an exclusive behind the scenes preview of the 2010 Formula 1 season.

Source: YouTube @VODAFONEUK

Bahrain GP Preview Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa

Fernando Alonso talking about his feelings before the debut in the Championship behind the wheel of a Ferrari single-seater. After the positive winter tests hes ready to reward the fans for their affection with an impeccable race.



Felipe Massa talking about his return behind the wheel in an official race, about the new car and his expectations regarding the first, exciting race of the season, held on the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain.




Source: ferrariworld