Sakhir Report – Not even a new Ferrari can stop Toyota!

Before the weekend had begun Ferrari had decide to bring their new car to Bahrain, and of course the media spent all day and night camping outside the garage to ask all the pointless questions that no one could answer. Also McLaren’s Big Mac Juan Pablo Montoya hurt is arm during playtime and was forced to take the following week off school, this mean’t Pedro de la Rosa would take over for this Grand Prix at a time when McLaren was struggling enough as it is. Onto more interesting things Panasonic Toyota Racing were relaxed and unflustered about the race weekend, Bahrain would test the engines, tyres and brakes to the full, another test for Toyota to prove they could be an on going front running team.

Friday specialist Ricardo Zonta showed Toyota weren’t going to muck around, and set the fastest time in the first Practice session. The Brazilian has been showing a lot of form lately, and has been consistently running near the top of the time sheets at recent tracks. Toyota race drivers Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli decided to sit out the session, preserving their engines, as they would have to last the following race as well. The next session saw all three drivers wondering around the mid-field as they tried out different set-ups and tyre combinations for the race, Trulli would be the highest of the three in sixth.

Saturday came and for the first time three Toyota race drivers topped the top eight. Narain Karthikeyan India’s answer to Michael Schumacher surprised even himself with eighth position in the first practice session; a stunning performance from the Toyota powered Jordan. Once again Toyota’s main drivers Jarno and Ralf finished the session within the top six, a warming atmosphere greeted the whole Toyota team. In the final practice session of the weekend, Ralf got the better of Jarno and bagged a second and a fourth; a promising qualifying session was upon us.

Qualifying one began in soaring temperatures and Ralf was the first of the two Toyota’s out. But a mistake down at turn four in a car Ralf wasn’t overly confident with lost him under a second and left a potential top three position weeping down in eleventh. Jarno though drove a prefect lap and once again had provisional pole. But, as with Malaysia, Renault’s Fernando Alonso was a tenth quickly stealing provisional pole in the final moments. Not even Michael Schumacher’s new Ferrari could stop Toyota’s and Renault’s star drivers as the defending champion had to settle for third. So on Mike Gascoyne’s birthday, Toyota had one car up at the front and one around the mid-field, but importantly, both cars with some serious pace.

When the teams awoke on Saturday morning, they were saddened by the news of the lose of Pope John Paul II who peacefully passed away on Saturday evening. Jarno Trulli paid his respects with a special message printed on the side of his helmet, whereas Ferrari ran with a black painted nose cone.

On another hot and scorching morning in Bahrain, the final qualifying session got underway. The action on track was intense, as Ralf with a frighteningly quick car jumped up a handful of positions to put him sixth on the grid, a rapid improvement over Saturday. Michael Schumacher in his new Ferrari was able to leap frog Jarno Trulli, denying the team their third front row starting position this season. But once again Renault’s Fernando Alonso did the business with his second pole position of the season, allowing us to encounter another exciting race.

For Christian Klien his race didn’t even make the warm-up lap, as his Red Bull Racing car failed to start on the grid and he would retire a few minutes later in the pit lane. When the lights went out Alonso took an early lead, with Michael Schumacher and Jarno Trulli coming close to contact with Michael putting the squeeze on Jarno as they went side by side round turn 2, Michael holding his second place. Ralf made a similar start to his teammate, holding his top 6 grid position as they completed the opening lap. Then Fernando Alonso’s teammate Giancarlo Fisichella pulled in to retire, his Renault puffing with smoke from a blown engine, Renaults first engine related retirement of the season.

As the first few laps unfolded, Jarno was able to keep the charging Michael Schumacher and championship leader Fernando Alonso within sight. Then on lap 11 Michael’s Ferrari shot off the track and then toured into the pits to retire with gearbox failure, his first mechanical retirement in fifty-eight races. This would be a tragic debut for the new F2005, which has been dogged with reliability problems this weekend but has demonstrated shear pace and speed, which we all fear in races to come.

After the first round of pit stops Alonso held his lead from Trulli, Webber and Raikkonen. Nick Heidfeld’s weekend came to a sudden end when his BMW engine popped, this was the engines second race weekend as he had an engine change before the Malaysian Grand Prix, he will be looking forward to a fresh one at Imola. Then the other Williams BMW of Mark Webber suddenly lost control under braking, the Australian was able to rejoin but lost out to Raikkonen’s McLaren and Ralf’s Toyota which was now up to fourth. Behind McLaren stand in Pedro de la Rosa chased the remaining Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello, de la Rosa on a couple of occasions running off the track in his attempts to overtake, he would later pace the Brazilian. Then near the end of the race de la Rosa again tried effortlessly to overtake fifth placeman Mark Webber and in the dying moments of the race, took that position.

When the chequered flag fell Alonso took Renaults 100 Grand Prix victory in stunning fashion, but Jarno Trulli’s Toyota was just 13 seconds behind. This moved Trulli up to second place in the championship, ten points behind his ex Renault partner Fernando Alonso. Third was Kimi Raikkonen in his McLaren, followed home by Toyota’s Ralf Schumacher who now lies fourth in the championship, and has helped Toyota take an easy second in the constructors. Behind Ralf was the cross country Pedro de la Rosa, who when his tyres were on the black stuff, posted today’s fastest lap. Then came Mark Webber’s Williams in sixth, Felipe Massa celebrated Sauber’s 200^th race with a fine drive to seventh, and after a difficult weekend David Coulthard rounded out the points for Red Bull Racing in eighth.

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