F1 Bahrain: Heikki Kovalainen Fifth

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Heikki Kovalainen finished the Bahrain Grand Prix in fifth position. After 57 laps (308.238 kms), Heikki came home 26.7sec behind winner Felipe Massa (Ferrari). Lewis had to make an early and unscheduled pit stop after an incident on lap two and finished 13th. After the third of 18 Grands Prix, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes is third in the Constructors’ Championship with 28 points; BMW Sauber took the lead with 30 points ahead of Ferrari on 29 points. Lewis is third in the drivers’ ranking ahead of Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) and Heikki; all three are tied on 14 points. Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) leads with 19 points ahead of Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) with 16 points.

The start: Lewis and Heikki had qualified third and fifth fastest respectively. Lewis had a bad start and dropped to 10th whilst Heikki moved up to fourth place. At the end of the opening lap Lewis was in ninth position.

The race: At the beginning of lap two, Lewis hit the rear of Fernando Alonso’s Renault and therefore lost his front wing. He came in for repairs and got a new nose cone, new tyres and fuel within 11.7sec. Lewis resumed in 18th place.

Lap 3: Heikki dropped to fifth position behind Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber).

Lap 21: Heikki pitted for the first time and resumed in ninth place; Lewis was 17th.

Lap 24: At the end of the first round of pit stops, Heikki was back in fifth place whilst Lewis moved up to 14th spot.

Lap 31: Lewis came in for his routine stop from 13th place and resumed after 9.9sec in 16th position.

Lap 47: Heikki was third, when he pitted for the second time (7.0sec); he rejoined the race in fifth place. Lewis was 14th.

Lap 49: Heikki posted the fastest lap of the race with a 1m33.193.

Lap 57: Heikki finished the race in fifth place whilst Lewis came home 13th.

Comments

Heikki Kovalainen

“Quite a tough race today. I made a great start and overtook Kimi coming into Turn Two but then outbraked myself in Turn Four and he regained his position. I then went in too deep at Turn Eight and flatspotted my front right tyre which caused a lot of vibration. It vibrated so much that I was worried something would fall off the car. Things improved in the second stint and the car worked really well towards the end when we changed to the prime tyre. Fifth was the maximum I could do today. However we still scored points on a difficult day, and that is the main thing. I have total commitment to the team and a good car, and I know we will keep working hard to improve for the start of the European races.”

Lewis Hamilton

“I am really disappointed and feel like I let the team down today as I always am the first to blame myself. The whole weekend has not been ideal starting with the accident on Friday, but I will keep my chin up and bounce back at the next race. I messed up at the start as I didn’t hit the switch early enough and therefore had not engaged the correct engine setting, and the anti stall kicked in. I lost a lot of places but things were still salvageable at that point. Then I had the incident with Fernando. I was behind him, and I moved to the right, and he moved to the right and that was it – a racing incident I guess. I am confident that we have the pace to be fighting at the front so the confidence is still there. I have had such a good run in Formula 1 until now, and it was almost inevitable that at some point things would go wrong. However there is a long way to go in the Championship and I intend to win it.”

Ron Dennis

“Most of the teams used the same tyre strategy with the exception of those who went for a one-stop-strategy which we switched Lewis to following his incident with Fernando. Heikki’s race was hampered by understeer which we systematically dialled out to a level which allowed him to set the fastest lap during the closing stages of the race. Lewis’s bad start and the incident with Fernando, which extensively damaged his car, seriously hampered his pace, and we then took the early decision to save the engine for the next race in Barcelona. We will continue to work hard in Woking, Brixworth and Stuttgart to make sure we are well prepared for the start of the European races.”

Norbert Haug

“A day to forget. First Lewis lost seven positions at the start and then he lost his front wing in the rear end collision. As a consequence his car was damaged and technically handicapped he was without a chance to score points. Heikki had a reasonable speed only towards the end of the race. The only positive point after today’s race is that the top five in the Drivers’ Championship are within five points and the top three in the Constructors’ ranking within two points. Congratulations to Ferrari on the first one-two victory and to BMW Sauber on their lead in the Championship. We will now focus on the start of the European season in Barcelona in three weeks time and will increase our efforts to be upfront there.”

Mercedes