Scirocco Central

Posted: **Sat Mar 06, 2010 10:32 am**

2010 FORMULA 1 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX

The 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix will be a Formula One motor race held on 14 March 2010, at the Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain. It will be the seventh Bahrain Grand Prix and the opening race of the 2010 Formula One season. It will be the first time since 2006 that Bahrain has hosted the opening round. The race will also take place on a lengthened layout of the track, due to the additional number of cars taking part in the 2010 season. For 2010, Bahrain has been promoted to the opening race of the season in response to cost-cutting measures: the final major session of pre-season testing will be held at the circuit a fortnight before the actual race weekend, allowing teams to leave all non-essential equipment at the circuit, thus reducing transport costs.

The race will also see the debut of three new teams: Hispania, Virgin, the new Malaysian owned Lotus (unrelated to Team Lotus), as well as the return of Mercedes which had competed as Brawn GP in 2009. New drivers Nico Hülkenberg, Bruno Senna, Lucas di Grassi, Karun Chandhok and Vitaly Petrov will also take part in their maiden races, driving for Williams, Hispania, Virgin, and Renault. 2009 World Champion Jenson Button will make his debut for McLaren after changing teams from 2009 Constructor's Champions Brawn in November 2009. Seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher will make his return to Formula One with Mercedes, Felipe Massa will return for Ferrari after his head injury at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, and Timo Glock will return with the Virgin team following his accident at the 2009 Japanese Grand Prix.

The race will also see a return to the banning of refuelling of the racing cars during the race, a practice which has been in place since the 1993 Formula One season. Additionally a new points scoring system to decide the World Drivers' Championship will be implemented, the most radical revamp of the system since the formation of the World Championship in 1950. Race winning drivers will now score more than double the number of points previously allocated with points distributed further down the list of finishers.

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2009 - Button (Brawn)
2008 - Massa (Ferrari)
2007 - Massa (Ferrari)
2006 - Alonso (Renault)
2005 - Alonso (Renault)
2004 - Schumacher (Ferrari)

Timetable (All times GMT (Local - 3))

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Fri 12 March 2010
Practice 1 	07:00 - 08:30
Practice 2 	11:00 - 12:30
Sat 13 March 2010
Practice 3 	08:00 - 09:00
Qualifying 	11:00
Sun 14 March 2010
Race 	12:00

[youtube][/youtube]

Ferrari F10

McLaren MP4-25

Renault R30

Sauber C29

Mercedes W01

Toro Rosso STR5

Williams FW32

Virgin Racing VR-01

Force India VJM03

Red Bull RB6

Lotus T127

Hispania Racing HRT

Drivers Championship

Fernando Alonso 11/4
Lewis Hamilton 7/2
Sebastian Vettel 4/1
Michael Schumacher 9/2
Felipe Massa 8/1
Jenson Button 10/1
Mark Webber 14/1
Nico Rosberg 20/1
Robert Kubica 40/1
Kamui Kobayashi 40/1
Rubens Barrichello 66/1
Nico Hulkenberg 80/1
Adrian Sutil 100/1
Pedro de la Rosa 100/1
Heikki Kovalainen 150/1
Jarno Trulli 200/1
Timo Glock 200/1
Bruno Senna 200/1
Vitantonio Liuzzi 200/1
Vitaly Petrov 200/1
Sebastien Buemi 250/1
Karun Chandhok 500/1
Jamie Alguersuari 500/1
Lucas di Grassi 500/1

Constructors Championship

Ferrari 7/4
McLaren 11/5
Red Bull 3/1
Mercedes GP 4/1
Renault 33/1
BMW Sauber 33/1
Williams 40/1
Force India 66/1
Lotus 80/1
Toro Rosso 100/1
HRT 100/1
Virgin 200/1

Posted: **Sun Mar 07, 2010 11:29 pm**

[youtube][/youtube]

Posted: **Sun Mar 07, 2010 11:39 pm**

got to be said the williams is the best looking of the bunch

Posted: **Wed Mar 10, 2010 10:59 am**

Posted: **Fri Mar 12, 2010 10:53 am**

Posted: **Fri Mar 12, 2010 12:47 pm**

FP2

That Hispania looked a real handful. Understeer, oversteer and it was bucking like a donkey under breaking. They only just beat the time set by the GP2 cars earlier!

Posted: **Fri Mar 12, 2010 2:36 pm**

Maybe these new teams should have been limited to one car each so they had more chance of getting it to work instead of having to spend out on two sets of engineers and two whole cars + the bits.

Also maybe the new teams should be given a 'free' days practice on the thursday or monday so they can stand even a slight chance of catching everyone else up.

I'd really like to see them get in to some competitive times but I can't see how they can on such a restricted testing calendar.

Posted: **Sat Mar 13, 2010 12:18 pm**

First grid of the season then

Posted: **Sun Mar 14, 2010 3:41 pm**

Not the most exciting first race. I think they need to make the tyres a bit 'worse' so they can't run the whole way on pretty much one set. And the lack of different fuel loads means you don't have fast and slow cars on track at the same time catching each other.

Good show from the Lotus cars I thought. To run the whole distance in a car that's virtually brand new was a good effort. Unlucky for Vettel as he looked like he was going to win easily.

Posted: **Sun Mar 14, 2010 6:38 pm**

Sorry. If that's a taste of what's to come to come for the rest of the season, I'm taking up knitting. That, as a spectator event, for want of a better word, sucked!! I'm decorating a bedroom, went away to paint a wall 'cos I was bored. Came back half an hour later, nothing had changed

. Ended up as a parade lap that lasted 49 laps.

Roll on the start of the Moto GP season. Half the race time, x10 the entertainment.

Rant over

Posted: **Sun Mar 14, 2010 6:53 pm**

in reality excitement dimished yesterday when it was obvious mobile chicanes had been introduced in the form of three new teams

just clocked the new points system too

Posted: **Sun Mar 14, 2010 6:59 pm**

I think the only overtaking that happened among the "race" leaders, was when Vettels car had mechanical problems.

Posted: **Sun Mar 14, 2010 8:24 pm**

wigit wrote:in reality excitement dimished yesterday when it was obvious mobile chicanes had been introduced in the form of three new teams

But they broke down before anyone had the chance to lap them

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