Event Features
The Highlight Reel: Bahrain
By by: Anooj Shah
Mar 16, 2006, 17:34

Jacques Villeneuve shone on his debut F1 race driving the Williams in Australia in 1996. He managed to usurp his team-mate Damon Hill to take pole at his first ever Formula One qualifying session. The race could have been his had he not met with technical failures on his Williams. This was the first time a driver had managed to take pole position at his debut race.

While new Williams rookie, Nico Rosberg, did not manage to take pole, he did set fastest lap in the race; in a car that is considered to be slower than the Ferrari's, McLaren's, Renault's, and Honda's. A closer look at his lap times show that he managed to have 13 laps in the 1m 32s range while Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso only had 4 & 5 laps respectively in that time bracket. It is good to have pace and consistency, but race craft & intelligence are important as well; Nico demonstrated that by his sublime overtaking moves on the highly experienced David Coulthard as well as Christian Klien. To manage 7th place in the Williams FW28 under normal conditions is respectable, but to manage 7th place after changing the front wing and starting 1 lap down is nothing short of amazing. Just as Villeneuve set the F1 world on fire, expect Nico to do the same. Williams have stated they are bringing some aero and mechanical improvements to the FW28 for Malaysia and they will be running a more aggressive strategy. Don't be surprised to see young Nico on the podium at Sepang!


Kimi Raikkonen once again proved that qualifying is not mandatory. After suffering suspension failure during his qualifying session, Kimi was relegated to start the race from the back. This, of course, did not matter as the flying Finn is used to such grid placements. Using a one-stop strategy, he managed to carve his way up the field to claim the last step of the podium. After similar performances last season, his drive wasn't a surprise. What was a surprise, however, was the pace of the McLaren. Only a few months ago in winter testing they had an unreliable and slow car, but being the efficient organization they are, they managed to solve their problems and find race-winning pace in the final weeks of testing. His team-mate, Juan-Pablo Montoya, suffered engine problems and managed to scrounge 5th place.

Of course it was Alonso who won the race, starting his 2006 campaign with a bang! He had a close battle with the Ferrari of Schumacher throughout the race, managing to take the lead coming out of his final, race-winning, pit stop. As Alonso left the pit exit, he came within inches of Schumacher but still managed to hold his ground. As the cars were evenly-matched, Schumacher could do nothing but pray for Alonso to make a mistake, a rare occurrence.

The biggest disappointment of the race was Toyota, who managed to only beat the Midland & Super Aguri team. For a team that has the biggest budget in the sport, this is not a result they were expecting. The reason for the dismal performance seems to be grip, or the lack of it. According to Toyota, they are not using the tires as hard as they should, and it is a problem they are looking into. Williams and Ferrari managed to make the Bridgestone's work for them, there is no reason why Toyota cannot do the same.

This season opener saw a return to on-track excitement that many thought was lacking in the previous seasons. Many battles were fought on-track and there was lots of overtaking. It seems the new rules for the 2006 season have definitely lifted the sport's appeal. It looks like Max Mosley may have made the right choices for once! Nah, he just got lucky. :)

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