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25px Template:Country alias Bahrain  2007 Bahrain Grand Prix
Race details
Race 3 of 17 in the 2007 Formula One season
The Bahrain Circuit in Sakhir
The Bahrain Circuit in Sakhir
Date April 15, 2007
Official name IV Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix
Location Bahrain International Circuit
Sakhir, Bahrain
Course Permanent racing facility
5.412 km (3.37 mi)
Distance 57 laps, 308.238 km (191.530 mi)
Weather Sunny, dry, windy
Pole position
Driver 25px Brazil Felipe Massa Ferrari
Time 1:32.652
Fastest lap
Driver 25px Brazil Felipe Massa Ferrari
Time 1:34.067 on lap 42
Podium
First 25px Brazil Felipe Massa Ferrari
Second 25px United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
Third 25px Finland Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari

The 2007 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix is a Formula One motor race and is the third round of the 2007 Formula One season. It took place on the weekend of the 13–15 April at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain.

In practice 1 and 2, Kimi Räikkönen topped the charts. Lewis Hamilton also placed well. Vitantonio Liuzzi got a surprise 8th place result in 1st practice. Felipe Massa won the Grand Prix from Lewis Hamilton, who made history to become the first driver ever to finish on the podium in all his first three races.

Report[]

Practice[]

The Friday morning practice session saw both Ferraris top the time sheets with Kimi Räikkönen the fastest with a time of 1:33.162 with his teammate, Felipe Massa, just over half a second slower than the Finn in second. The Italian team's nearest competition was the two McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso who were third and fourth respectively, Hamilton just under a second slower than Räikkönen's time.[1][2]

Räikkönen was fastest again in the afternoon session, clocking a time of 1:33.527, just under four tenths slower than his fastest time during the morning session. Unlike the morning session, however, Ferrari did not have both their cars occupying the top two as Massa's fastest time was fourth fastest, with Hamilton and BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica separating the two Ferraris.[3][4]

It was six thousandths of a second that prevented Räikkönen from being fastest in all three practice sessions, but his run was ended by Lewis Hamilton with the lead BMW Sauber of Nick Heidfeld in third; Kubica fourth; Anthony Davidson's Super Aguri in fifth and Massa completing the top six, four tenths down on Hamilton's time.[5][6]

Qualifying[]

Qualifying was played out in temperatures of over 34 °C and despite a small shower of rain just after the morning practice session was over, the track itself was dry. Williams' Alexander Wurz was the first out onto the circuit with former Williams drivers David Coulthard and Jenson Button following him. Like the first practice session on Friday, the two Ferraris set the early pace, both recording laps under 1:33.000, the only two cars to do so during Part One of Qualifying. The first six to be eliminated from qualifying were Takuma Sato, who was seventeen thousandths of a second slower than sixteenth place Jenson Button; both Toro Rossos of Liuzzi and Speed; both Spykers of Albers and Sutil and David Coulthard joined Albers at the back of grid after his Red Bull suffered a gearbox problem.[7][8]

The two Toyotas of Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli left the pits first for Part Two of qualifying. Like in the first session, Ferrari were setting the pace, this time however it was Massa who was leading the way, with both their drivers setting times under 1:32:000, only to be split to Hamilton's McLaren. Button, who only just made the cut for the second round of qualifying, was slowest in the session, over two seconds slower than Massa's time. Joining the Brit was fellow Honda driver Rubens Barrichello; Ralf Schumacher; Davidson; Heikki Kovalainen and Wurz.[7][8]

Hamilton and the two BMW Saubers were first out in the final Part of qualifying, with Massa setting the early pace. The final part of the session saw Massa improve his time, lapping with a time of 1:32.652. Hamilton came second, just under three tenths slower than Massa, putting him on the front row in his third Formula One race. Kimi Räikkönen and Fernando Alonso made up row two, both BMW Saubers of Heidfeld and Kubica were fifth and sixth respectively; Giancarlo Fisichella and Mark Webber made up row four and Jarno Trulli and Nico Rosberg completed the top ten ninth and tenth respectively.[7][8]

Race[]

Ralf Schumacher 2007 (crop)

Ralf Schumacher in the pits en route to 12th.

At the start, the two leaders maintained their positions with Alonso passing Räikkönen into the second corner to take third. Further back, Adrian Sutil, Jenson Button and Scott Speed were involved in a collision in turn four, with Button and Speed out on the spot, while Sutil managed to get back to the pits. The Safety Car was brought out to clear up the wreckage.

2007 Bahrain GP podium

The podium ceremony (from left to right: Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa, Kimi Räikkönen and Luca Baldisserri.)

Vitantonio Liuzzi had a drive-through penalty on lap nine for overtaking under a safety car. On the same lap, Rosberg had an off-track excursion, losing a place to Coulthard in the process. The front two stayed in the same positions after the first round of stops, but Räikkönen got back past Alonso to take third.

Alonso began to lose ground, and was passed by Heidfeld. He stayed behind the BMW for the remainder of the race. The Renaults also began to struggle, with Coulthard managing to overtake Fisichella. However, both Red Bulls retired in quick succession, promoting Trulli and Fisichella to the points.

Massa won the Grand Prix, 2.3 seconds in front of rookie Hamilton.[9][10]

After the race, Alonso, Räikkönen and Hamilton were equal on points. The last time the top three were level on points was in 1950 after the Indianapolis 500. By finishing second, Hamilton became the first driver in Formula One history to finish on the podium in each of his first three World Championship Grands Prix; the previous record was two consecutive podium finishes, achieved by Peter Arundell in the 1964 season.

Classification[]

Qualifying[]

Pos Driver Constructor Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
1 25px Brazil Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:32.443 1:31.359 1:32.652
2 25px United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:32.580 1:31.752 1:32.935
3 25px Finland Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:33.161 1:31.812 1:33.131
4 25px Spain Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 1:33.049 1:32.214 1:33.192
5 25px Germany Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:33.164 1:32.154 1:33.404
6 25px Flag of Poland Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1:33.348 1:32.292 1:33.710
7 25px Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:33.556 1:32.889 1:34.056
8 25px Australia Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:33.496 1:32.808 1:34.106
9 25px Italy Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:33.218 1:32.429 1:34.154
10 25px Germany Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:33.349 1:32.815 1:34.399
11 25px Austria Alexander Wurz Williams-Toyota 1:33.759 1:32.915
12 25px Finland Heikki Kovalainen Renault 1:33.467 1:32.935
13 25px United Kingdom Anthony Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 1:33.299 1:33.082
14 25px Germany Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:33.923 1:33.294
15 25px Brazil Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:33.776 1:33.624
16 25px United Kingdom Jenson Button Honda 1:33.967 1:33.731
17 25px Japan Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:33.984
18 25px Italy Vitantonio Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:34.024
19 25px USA Scott Speed Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:34.333
20 25px Germany Adrian Sutil Spyker-Ferrari 1:35.280
21 25px United Kingdom David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:35.341
22 25px Netherlands Christijan Albers Spyker-Ferrari 1:35.533

Race[]

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5 25px Brazil Felipe Massa Ferrari 57 1:33.27.515 1 10
2 2 25px UK Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 57 +2.360 2 8
3 6 25px Finland Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 57 +10.839 3 6
4 9 25px Germany Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 57 +13.831 5 5
5 1 25px Spain Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 57 +14.426 4 4
6 10 25px Flag of Poland Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 57 +45.529 6 3
7 12 25px Italy Jarno Trulli Toyota 57 +1:21.371 9 2
8 3 25px Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 57 +1:21.701 7 1
9 4 25px Finland Heikki Kovalainen Renault 57 +1:29.411 12
10 16 25px Germany Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 57 +1:29.916 10
11 17 25px Austria Alexander Wurz Williams-Toyota 56 +1 Lap 11
12 11 25px Germany Ralf Schumacher Toyota 56 +1 Lap 14
13 8 25px Brazil Rubens Barrichello Honda 56 +1 Lap 15
14 21 25px Netherlands Christijan Albers Spyker-Ferrari 55 +2 Laps 22
15 20 25px Germany Adrian Sutil Spyker-Ferrari 53 +4 Laps 20
16 23 25px UK Anthony Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 51 Engine 13
Ret 15 25px Australia Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 41 Gearbox 8
Ret 14 25px UK David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 36 Driveshaft 21
Ret 22 25px Japan Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 34 Engine 17
Ret 18 25px Italy Vitantonio Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 26 Hydraulics 18
Ret 7 25px UK Jenson Button Honda 0 Collision 16
Ret 19 25px USA Scott Speed Toro Rosso-Ferrari 0 Collision 19

Championship standings after the race[]

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1= 25px Spain Fernando Alonso 22
1= 25px Finland Kimi Räikkönen 22
1= 25px UK Lewis Hamilton 22
4 25px Brazil Felipe Massa 17
5 25px Germany Nick Heidfeld 15
Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 25px Italy Ferrari 39
2 25px Germany BMW Sauber 18
3 25px France Renault 9
4 25px Japan Toyota 5
5 25px UK Williams-Toyota 2
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

External links[]


Template:Wikinews


Previous race:
2007 Malaysian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
2007 season
Next race:
2007 Spanish Grand Prix
Previous race:
2006 Bahrain Grand Prix
Bahrain Grand Prix Next race:
2008 Bahrain Grand Prix

References[]

  1. "Practice 1 - Report" GrandPrix. Retrieved 29 April 2007
  2. "Practice 1 - Results" GrandPrix. Retrieved 29 April 2007
  3. "Practice 2 - Report" GrandPrix. Retrieved 29 April 2007
  4. "Practice 2 - Results" GrandPrix. Retrieved 29 April 2007
  5. "Practice 3 - Report" GrandPrix. Retrieved 29 April 2007
  6. "Practice 3 - Results" GrandPrix. Retrieved 29 April 2007
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Qualifying - Report" GrandPrix. Retrieved 29 April 2007
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 "Qualifying - Results" GrandPrix. Retrieved 29 April 2007
  9. "Race Report" GrandPrix. Retrieved 29 April 2007
  10. "Race Results" GrandPrix. Retrieved 29 April 2007
Smallwikipedialogo.png This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 2007 Bahrain Grand Prix. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


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