Rate the race: Bahrain

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The 2010 F1 season is up and running. What did you think of the first round? Rate the race out of ten and have your say below:

Rate the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix out of 10

  • 10 - Perfect (2%)
  • 9 - Fantastic (1%)
  • 8 - Great (4%)
  • 7 - Good (10%)
  • 6 - Not bad (14%)
  • 5 - A bit dull (22%)
  • 4 - Uninteresting (10%)
  • 3 - Boring (24%)
  • 2 - Rubbish (4%)
  • 1 - Terrible (8%)

Total Voters: 6,086

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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183 comments on “Rate the race: Bahrain”

  1. Prisoner Monkeys
    14th March 2010, 13:58

    I voted 1: Terrible.

    Alonso wins, Ferrari get a 1-2, Button can only manage 7th, Petrov out while looking good for points, both Virgins retire and no exicetment on-track. Of all the possible ways to begin the season, this was the worst.

    I sincerely hope that Ferrari have used up all their engines before Valencia.

    1. Apparently banning refuelling was supposed to make it exciting.

      1. and had the opposite effect since it remove a variable from the race strategies. I would only work solving all aero problem that also makes impossible to pass…

        1. and no body wants to push in the first half of the race to save tires..i am worried we might have more of cars running in formation from start to end races this year…unless it rains!

          1. Also add to that nobody pushed at the second half either because they knew they couldn’t catch anyone and needed to turn down the engines. So you are left with 1/4 of the race (the 2nd quarter) where any action happens, the rest is just ‘procedure’. I hope this was just a one off but fear the worst….

          2. that has to be the worst race i have ever seen!!!! turned off after 25 mins.boring,boring boring.the one in usa with 6 cars was better.were are the graphics gone.this is a sad day for f1.mark7066

        2. Looks like the mandatory 2 pitstop idea was good after all if it means the teams will push more. They were discussing it on the BBC forum but as they need unanimous agreement, it’s unlikely to happen this year.

          1. In my opinion there’s no point in mandatory pitstops; they limit freedom, force artificial racing, punish those cars and drivers that look after the tire better and is a waste of time as they may as well bring back refuelling.

          2. Nursing tyres means less overtaking. Only Fernando got into 1:58’s – crazy – we saw that these cars could do a 1:54 in quali. Sorry, but taking away refuelling has reduced overtaking. If they had to 2 stop for fuel, they would be taking on fresh rubber twice during the race, negating need to protect tyres. At least with the refueling we had variance in weight/pitstop strategy. We’ve lost that too. Heard Martin Whitmarsh state that they might have to enforce 2 pitstop minimum if this continues. We had that last year because of refuelling. This is a step backwards.

            Yes, double diffusers are chewing up the air behind the cars, but we had them last year as well.

            This was a disappointing parade – ‘race’ seems a bit inappropriate in this instance. Let’s hope things go better at Melbourne, but I’m concerned.

          3. The mandatory pitstop rule being thrown around will fail imho. When F1 last had no refuelling the teams had a choice of five compounds that they could run in any order and have as many or as few pitstops as they wanted. The compounds were massively different in pace and you had some guys going on a no stop strategy and others with multiple stops.

            IMHO I would get rid of the ‘you must use both compounds’ rule, get Bridgestone to bring all four compounds to the track, and let everyone do what they want.

            The big killer is the double diffusers that have been perfected for 2010. No-one could get close to one another unless you had a big car advantage. We saw that last year and this year is just disgraceful. Get rid of the DDD and you solve a big chunk of the problem.

          4. It used to a single mandatory stop not two.

            As reported on this site Adrian Newey doesn’t believe double diffusers adversely affect overtaking. As, in his words, “there’s no difference in the aerodynamic wake”.

            However, the rules dictating that teams must a) use both available tyre compounds, and b) require the top ten qualifiers to start the race with the tyres on which they qualified do have a significant effect and should be scrapped.

            And maybe refuelling is better but it’s only the first race.

      2. Only way to make it exciting is to remove the limit on engines, gear boxes, tires, and development. Sadly F1 is almost dead for me, all this talk of limitations only **** me off.

        1. Exactly!
          Till this happens we’ll see no real improvement.

          The proposed mandatory 2nd pit stop is just another artificial band-aid. Do we really tune in at ungodly hours to watch a tire changing contest?

      3. I voted 6 may be because I was excited about the race after a long time we are seeing some on track action.
        Banning refueling will never ever solve the overtaking problem,now the drivers will take less risk at the start of the race with heavy cars.I think they should now really concentrate on the aerodynamics.Many people are saying that this may be the best F1 season in all 60 years, with no overtaking I don’t think that will happen.

      4. anakincarlos
        15th March 2010, 2:47

        I’m not an expert, but the people that claim they are must have seen this comming.

    2. The only exciting bit was when Alonso and Massa caught up Vettel it looked like an epic finish and then Seb conked out.

      4/10

      1. Refuelling was missed today imo. Drivers not pushing, worrying about their tyres more than going as fast as they can for a large part of the race. The race would have had more action with refuelling.

        I don’t think it should have been banned until the ability to overtake was improved. Circuits should be redesigned with as many good overtaking spots as is viable and the car aero aspects changed to make following (and hopefully passing) easier. Then they could have removed refuelling.

        Just saw Martin Whitmarsh saying mandating two stops was meant to prevent an uneventful race and I agree with him.

        More boring for me than most of last year’s races. I hope this isn’t the shape of things to come.

        1. Yes, I thought it was very boring as well. I had my doubts about banning refueling, but I had no idea it would make the racing so terrible. Even Hamilton pointed it out during the press conference, and he is normally Mr. Public Relations.

          Maybe the conditions in Bahrain, coupled with driver caution, made it worse.

          1. Does not look good for the rest of the season.

            Where is the incentive to drive the wheels off the car down to the first corner ?
            Where is the incentive to chase down the guy in front ?

            As the astronaut said once upon a time….we have a problem….. !

    3. Thats a rude comment to Team Ferrari, the ones who put in effort have to be acknowledged.

      Last season Ferrari were a disaster , what about that ?

    4. The future of F1 is in Bridgestone’s hands.

      One of the best races of last year was Australia, and it was good because the soft tyres degraded fast, resulting in variation in the relative performance of the cars during the race.

      In Bahrain the hard tyres were indestructible, so there was no reason for anyone to stop twice.

      To sort this mess out, Bridgestone just need to bring along tyre compounds that degrade quickly.

  2. Could’ve been better, but also could have been worse.
    I’d say 6/10

    1. i feel your a bit generous, take away my excitment because it is the first of the season and i only give it a 4/10

  3. tomforpresident
    14th March 2010, 13:58

    i am hoping australia wil be a proper start to the season, this track just felt wrong.

    1. I pray with you, I think Australia should be mandatory to start the F1 season.I am bit optimistic that we may see better racing in Australia,fingers crossed.

  4. I think it was an fantastic race so i voted 9/10. I dont know what you mean by ” no excitement on-track ” because lets see, Virgin vs. Lotus, not long but fun, hulkenberg spins, Kubica & Sutil incident,and Vettle trying to hold Rosberg off with a damaged car. Thats good for me, but then again, everybody has their own opinion.

    1. Some people have been watching racing for many years, and they know what a real race looks like. Therefore, their standards for what is exciting and what is not are higher.

      3/10

      1. Yep. A procession is a procession is a procession. And slow. And like watching paint dry.

        And very, very boring.

        1. Wait one minute Leon… are you saying I could’ve been watching paint dry instead of this race? Why didn’t anyone tell me=(

          Agree with the others that said it was mostly a procession and the fact it was the first race only it more interesting simply because of the anticipation. The backmarkers had some good fights and I did enjoy watching Vettel pull away and then get reeled in, but then the car broke so he just got sliced up by the reds.

      2. That’s not patronizing at all.

    2. 9/10? Seriously?

      It was incredibly dull. I’m a Vettel fan, and even when he was winning I said this is boring. But, it was Bahrain, so lets hope Melbourne will be more exciting :)

    3. i really cant c how u can give this race 9/10, fair enough some people are being a bit over the top in saying it was v. poor but at this point 40 people give it 10/10(what were u watching?)

      1. Ok so maybe 9 was too high but it still gets a 7, specially compared to last year. I could understand a 6 or a 5, but how some gave it a 1 or 2 i still dont see.

  5. Was bit dull
    but it is bahrain!
    when aint it

    1. Good point.

  6. STRFerrari4Ever
    14th March 2010, 14:05

    2/10 I’m sorry but that was a load of tosh, no real entertainment whatsoever cars rarely getting close to each other unless the car infront had a problem ala Vettel.
    Well I hope Melbourne will be different as the circuit is much shorter & usually provides some crazy races with high attrition so I’m sure things can only get better. Commiserations to Vettel that race in my opinion was his, lets hope he can bounce back with Luscious Liz.

  7. Wow, refuelling really made a difference. I was contrary to refuelling ban, but now that I’ve seen a race with it, the excitement, the high amount of overtakes and pure racing as often said here, I’d never turn back.

    p.s. I also voted terrible. No refuelling race followers should apologize right here right now.

    1. Mark Hitchcock
      14th March 2010, 17:22

      Yeah, judging a rule change by one race on a terrible track is really sensible…
      Come on. No-one said there would be much more overtaking, it’s the car design that prevents overtaking, not whether there’s refuelling.

      There’s just more CHANGE of overtaking because they can’t wait for pitstops to get past.

      1. Mark Hitchcock
        14th March 2010, 17:22

        *CHANCE

    2. I have to say I don’t understand the clammer for compuslory stops, this isn’t BTCC and we shouldn’t be overregulating in an attempt to create exciting racing. I think the ban on refueling is great, the problem is with tyres.

      Because they’re restricted to two types of tyre and a compulsory stop there is no incentive to think outside the box. If they were 4 different compounds as there used to be, with one being a Super-soft sprint tyre which would only last for a relatively short stint and you could get a far greater variation in strategy.

      My friends and I watching it today were surprised that somebody didnt try a last stint burst on the soft tyres for 10 laps. If someone had pitted, costing them around 23 seconds and then proceeded to set lap times 2-3 seconds faster than those on the medium they would have gained the time back and possilbe gain a place or two if they could pass.

      I think people are being far too quick to judge the refueling ban and far too concerned with “the show”. Its not a show its a sport and I for one am sick of the year on year overhauls in regulations. The fewer rules the better and it would be daft to try and rectify the problem of bad tyre regualtions by a mickey mouse compulsory stop regulation.

  8. The race was ok, but where are the fights for positions?

  9. A bit dull, apart from all the cars at the back breaking down, not much action, if Vettels car hadn’t have been damaged he would have lead from start to finish which is so boring to watch

  10. its funny how formula 1 is struggling to fulfil their promises to make the races more interesting

    cars still can’t get within 1 second of another car without encountering turbulence .

    still waiting to jump other cars during pit stops .

    Without vettel’s issue , this race would have been a disaster .

    Nice graphics though! :-)

    1. that’s true, graphics were better, and pitstop total time was a good idea which I’ve been asking since I starting watching f1 15 years ago

      1. I didn’t like the fact that you had to wait to see the time spent in the pit box though. I think that should be shown first and then have the total pitlane time flash up at the end?

    2. Mark Hitchcock
      14th March 2010, 17:25

      Without Vettel’s issue the race would have been much better.

      Alonso said himself that he was getting ready to start trying to pass Vettel in the last 10 laps. That would have bunched Vettel, Alonso and Massa together and given us a 3-way fight for the lead.
      Then Vettel’s problems happened which denied us any action.

    3. How were the graphics better? A new font and a black background for the text were the only “new graphics” I saw.

  11. A very dull processional event, I can not even bring myself to call it a race

  12. OH NOES!!! FERRARI IS BACK/10

    Seriously, 7/10.

    More overtaking than I thought, an on-track pass for the lead (granted, Vettel’s engine went south). Did get a bit dull after Alonso took off. But otherwise, much better than I expected.

    And both Loti completed the race!!!

    1. Oh, yeah, everyone rated the race low because we all hate Ferrari.

      Seriously, take off your little conspiracy theory cap and see that there were legit concerns about how bad this race was.

  13. There was a fair bit of excitement and overtaking during the pit stop window, but after that everybody was simply holding station until the finish :(. Cars are still getting stuck behind each other.

  14. Well, this race is really tough for the cars. Hot weather, long fast boring track, sand everywhere. If the top 10 aren’t up to speed with one another in a fortnight, I will be extremely dissapointed. Kudos to Lotus for their remarkeable effort!

  15. Whoever voted 7+ needs to… I don’t know, sit in a chair for several hours to find out that it’s actually more interesting than the Bahrain ‘GP’ was… Oh wait, there wasn’t anything ‘grand’ about it in the first place!

  16. Voted Terrible….

    I would say it was not a F1 race but it was “Limousine Chauffering”

    If this is what F1 2010 has in store. No need to tune in for the races.

    The only overtaking we saw in the race was the Ferraris and Hamilton overtaking a Stricken damaged Red Bull of Vettel….. WOW !!!!.

    Did FIA say they are trying to make F1 MORE INTERESTING WITH MORE OVERTAKING ??????

    Thanks. If this was the first F1 race anybody was watching forget him sticking on to the sport.

    1. TMax do you have any idea what you are talking about? Ferrari and hamilton overtaking Redbull wasn’t the “only” overtaking in the race…. Did you watch the whole thing?

      1. Well it was the only overtake that meant anything… there’s always overtaking mid to back field, that’s never been an issue.

      2. No Offense…..

        I did watch the whole race…. Yeh they were not the “ONLY” overtaking…yeh they were a FEW MORE OVERTAKING….WOW. If you are telling me that the whole 2 hours were filled with overtaking maneuvers maybe I did watch some other race. Sorry. Thanks for reminding me. FIA would be very happy to hear that.

        Just for statistics purposes please let me know how many “ON-TRACK” position changes were there among the points scorers excluding the start.

        1. I just don’t think your comment is fair to the context. The racing itself is not as terrible as you described….

          1. No. You are right. It was worse, far worse.

  17. I voted good, but mostly because it was the first race after the winter.

    The nicest overtaking was in the 15+ places (Kubica was good, Hülkenberg did some nice moves, I liked Kamuj and DelaRosa. Lotus and esp. Kovy impressed, he got in front of Buemi before Buemi had to stop at the side of the track. Nice moves between Glock and Trulli earlier on as well.

    No bad blocking by the new teams, only Hamilton complained of the Hülk.
    I would have liked to see some more action, hopefully next round?

    1. It would be good if we could choose which dispute on the race we want to watch and on which angle…

    2. It would be good if we could choose which dispute on the race we want to watch and on which angle…FOM focus on the lead positions making in a bit dull to watch

  18. The middle section was a bit boring but the opening and closing parts were pretty exciting, especially when Vettel started losing power.

  19. It was rather dull. The new Bahrain circuit sucks a$$, they should change it back as the verdict seems unanimously against it. It was nice to see the racing return but really aside from Rosberg’s move on Hamilton due to his mistake, there were no proper overtakes on track up front. I’d say it was more exciting watching the slow end where there was more overtaking.

    Nevertheless, congratulations to Alonso for beginning his time at Ferrari on such a high. Also to Massa who did very well except for his start. I really feel for Vettel, Luscious Liz let him down.

    1. Do agree there. Go back to the original circuit. The new section added nothing and eliminated the high speed Turns 5-6-7 combo.

      1. there was TONNES more action on the 567 combo last year than there was with the whole new section this year, it was a pointless race.

        f-all happened. more boring season opener ever. hardly worth watching.

        the refueling ban mean even less overtaking is done, everyone is just conserving tires, at least with the fuel stops people overtook in the pits.

        everyone who was for banning refuling should take a long look at themselves… refuling added extra strategy to the game, not only in qualifing but also the race.

        this race was boring as sh-t

  20. Good race for the force indias..Bad luck for sutil though.The excitement level is questionable.. Then again we have not seen an exiting bahrain gp..So cant blame the new rules just yet..

  21. This rule of starting on the same tyre as you qualify combined with the rule requiring drivers to use both compounds in the race is going to make all the races the same as this one. In other words, the top drivers will always qualify on the softer tyre, do about 20 laps on it, then pit for the harder tyre, and then it’s just holding station until the end. They need to get rid of both of these rules and then the racing will improve.

  22. Not all bad. A dull race but bahrain is a very dull circuit and next time round the drivers will be pushing more.

  23. This race showed us really the effects of standardization, enforced reliability and modern aerodynamics, not the effects of the refuelling ban.

    1. Probably right.
      – reliability of parts and tyres means we had only the Vettel exhaust failing in the top runners
      – standard parts means equal performance of the cars, so no differences to enable overtaking.
      – Alonso actually ran on the dirty side of the track to get closer to Vettel, thats aerodynamics!
      – The race was pretty much like last years; some moves in the first half-lap, some changes during pit stops and a little exitement at the end when somebody tried moves on others. The interesting moves were all behind 14th place.

      But the cars were pretty close together at the end. Only 2 cars were lapped, not counting Trulli with hydraulics problems and Buemi who stopped a lap or 2 early.

    2. Hell yes. This shows what a huge problem the aero still is in F1. The OWG has failed miserably. Those fugly front wings have done nothing.

      Just shove the wind tunnels and the supercomputers in the bin, and let them spend the money on engines and other stuff instead.

    3. Standardization???? I thought banning refuelling was part of that????

    4. It does, in part. Yes, Aero is a big issue. Everyone knows that – so why remove refuelling when thats still unsolved?!

      BIG mistake, it should of stayed until more pressing matters were solved first. Even then, its debatable if it should ever be banned.

      1. nail on head….

  24. A lot of comments from people that would be better suited to following short track sprint racing it seems.

    A good season opener with the old guard back on top. The ‘upstarts’ showing very strong promise but with a few chinks in the armour to sort out.
    Alonso was phenomenal once released into clear air, Vettel was outstanding up front also. Lewis drove a superb race apart from his early error, bang on the pace pretty much throughout. Strong showing there.
    I think most disappointing has to be Rosberg – but this has always been a hallmark. Just when you think he [i]is[/i] as quick as the quickest, he fades away to middling pace.
    Personally I think Schuey’s return was a triumph. Because it’s Schuey it just doesn’t look that much. 41 years old, 3 years out of the seat, a completely different approach to a weekend and he still bags half decent points. Sorry but only Schuey could do that on a comeback at this level of F1.
    Good to see Ferrari, the bedrock of the sport back at the top especially on this 60th anniversary having been there at the start.

    Good to have F1 back! :)

    1. Nicely put, perfect I couldn’t agree more about the drives performance at the race, they were perfect, flawless and for this reason I still think that F1 miss some aggressiveness…

    2. I agree on Schumacher: it took 3 years to re delegate him from 1st to 6th? not bad :D Take a look at Fisi last year – he only switched cars and couldnt cope with it. I think we will see Schumacher improving from race to race.

  25. I thought it was pretty good. Quite a few overtakes in the midfield even if it was all a bit static up at the front. Still not convinced the refuelling ban has made things more interesting, but we will see.

    1. I’m not convinced the race was any worse than the Bahrain GP usually is.

  26. A pretty poor race all told. A combination of a poor circuit layout which (i) didn’t offer any overtaking opportunities (ii) caused a massive field spread and (iii) cars which are still far too reliant on aerodynamic grip.

    Don’t give up on the refuelling ban just yet, it could still lead to exciting races. As this was the first race of the season I get the feeling that the teams just wanted to get their cars to the end of the race, rather than try to be too innovative.

  27. disappointing
    qualifying is the race
    race is just a reliability train running
    idiot fia and idiot rule f1 makers
    they should think before making huge changes
    they could have made refuelling more safer instead banning it
    crap
    they will damn that they made the decision
    now they can start thinking about something seriously
    awesome field, great drivers. but now they 90% just follow each other
    damn

    1. Could not agree more.

      I used to love No Re-fuelling Races. Realized now that then there were no other surrounding parameters like limited engines, limited gearbox, hard/soft tyre compounds. Then there was unlimited resources without refuelling. Drivers could push their cars to the limits. The advantage then was the driver who pushes most gets the most rewarding result. It is the contrary today. The driver who conserves most gets the rewarding result. To top that the driver must think of not just this race alone but the following ones.

      After 21 years of F1 watching I am feeling unfortunately that NASCAR this year could be more interesting than F1. I mean I am looking forward to Talladega and Bristol equally nowadays.

      Hope the rest of the season improves a lill bit. Otherwise the race would end with Qualifying. In an effort to make qualifying interesting, the FIA has made qualifying the actual race and the actual race now look like a post race parade.

      Please F1 deserves definitely better than this….It is a great sport. Please keep it that way.

      1. Mouse_Nightshirt
        14th March 2010, 14:54

        Budget cap with complete technical freedom should do the trick methinks.

        1. Technical Freedom is definitely something that must come in soon….

          Some lighter trivia that comes to my mind if things were to continue like today’s race.

          -With so much regulation it will become Green 1 instead of Formua 1 Race.

          -A Master Strategist like Ross Brawn would hang up his boot next year and go back fishing after sitting idle for 2 hours on the pitwall.

          -Bored inside the car or rather feeling sleepy inside car Schumi would retire for ever.

          -Soon Music Systems and TVs would be introduced in F1 cars to keep them entertained.

          – Lewis Hamilton’s dream of racing against his hero Schumi has become now “CRUISING” with Schumacher.

          -Remember Kimi mentioning in the 2007 post race interview at Melbourne that he felt sleepy. Can’t imagine how he would have felt if he drove today’s race. Good for him he is in some real racing action !!!

  28. I’ve just finished watching the race here in Australia and I think it was pretty dull. The odd parts, notably Virgin vs Lotus, were interesting but thats about it. I actually fell asleep for about 15 minutes midway through the race.

    Oh well, bring on Melbourne.

  29. the race is a little bit dull. there are just not enough fast corner in Bahrain.

  30. Who would have known racers actually race and don’t just sit behind those ahead ; ). Its just too difficult to pass. With racers “conserving” the cars for the majority of the race… I don’t have high hopes for too much racing excitement.
    Felt bad for Seb.,happy for Hamilton disappointed in Button.

  31. My complete thoughts on the race:

    The race overall? a bit dull, there was some excitement, but chance put an end to it,

    Reliability… well only 16 finished, but it worries me that the top 4 teams all finished, I hope that they also have reliability concerns so that some lower teams can get up in the places.

    The tyres lasted a lot longer than most of us would have expected, congrats bridgestone, unfortunately this isn’t actually good for us viewers, I would have preferred driver make a choice between stopping multiple times and struggling on a 1 stopper. If the tyres life span was halved it would be much better and create more excitement. Remember that Bahrain is hard on the tyres and also the weather was very hot, I now think that Melbourne will not see any tyre wear at all.

    Tyre wear is in an awkward position, It is not enough to entice gambles, but it is too much for drivers to risk pushing on.

    Ferrari will be smug from this and I suspect we will see people pointing out what they said criticising the new teams and saying how this vindicates that.
    But, Was it only me who thought the fight between the Virgin of Glock and the Lotus’ was the most exciting on track? They were really fighting. I find it ironic that I am most interested in the battles of the slowest cars on the grid.

    Drivers:
    I’m a Schumacher fan so I’ll start here, He did well, He was very close to Rosberg’s pace, He was consistent, and He was calm, A well made return. Button didn’t do so well, but I don’t think his race or even weekend went well, that being said, he must bounce back soon or he will become the number 2. Massa was on par with Alonso or close to, so that can only be considered a Success, as for Alonso, the Ferrari is the fastest, and He only did what he should have, anything else would have been a failure, Sutil was unlucky, Hulkenburg was unlucky, Rubens did quite well, Lotus finishing was as worthy of 25 points as Alonso’s win, Rosberg has just put joined the group of Elite top drivers, and secured his place as an equal to Schumacher, well done. Kubica, did a very very fine job.

    The track, Is a boring Tilkedrome and the only pass I can remember seeing on the new section was Kovi getting out the way of the leaders.

    Australia, my home, Will surely host a better race.

    Also, I note the power of Bernie as my dad informed me that the Islamic religion and Alcohol doesn’t get on. and that he also thinks the spraying of Alcohol is silly, I informed him it was traditional…. but yes I suppose it is a bit…. sometimes he ruins the fun in things ^^ haha.

    And I’m done, thanks!

    1. The bottle at the podium today was non-alcoholic , just some fizzy drink :o

      1. I heard something like rose water with bubbles in it. At least is doesn’t stick!

        1. Wait, bas are you serious?

          1. Well it is not only rosewater, but fruit drink mixed with rosewater. Suppose that must be a real treat, huh.
            I just found some detail – quote: “Out of respect for the culture and traditions of the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Arabic world, the first three drivers in the Grand Prix will mark their success with Warrd, a unique blend of locally grown fruit – pomegranate and trinj – mixed with rosewater.”

            from the official F1 site (http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2004/3/1366.html)

  32. lets hope australia is better :D , at least no embarrassing bumps

  33. Alonso gave the impression, he would have liked to try and get Vettel earlier, but Vettel was just too fast on the soft tyres.
    So there might be some battles with Vettel being super on softer tyres and Ferrari good on the harder ones.

    Shame we didn’t see more of the action with Button chasing Schumacher while keeping off Webber.

  34. Mouse_Nightshirt
    14th March 2010, 14:53

    First race in a long time that I haven’t particularly enjoyed. It was pretty much procession from start to finish.

    I had thought that banning refuelling was going to be rubbish when the rule was announced. I hope I’m proved wrong because otherwise it’s one of those “I told you so” moments that feels rubbish because everyone suffers.

    It was made out to be a great change by many, but it’s not like the old days when tyres would fall apart.

    Big thumbs up to Lotus!

  35. A bit dull procession of cars, with no real fight between drivers. Before the race Vettel said that he wanted a boring race… so here you go Seb, wish granted.

    Thanks to current regulations drivers are forced to be careful, to save their tyres, to save their engines. Seriously, why not encourage the drivers to race?

    FIA, just listen the fans for once:

    1.
    Remove the rule forcing top drivers from Q3 to use the same tyres in the race. It’s bad, stupid rule. It’s supposed to introduce some strategy, but it doesn’t. Why? Everyone wants to be as fast as possible in Q3. So here is the choice:

    A) We can use harder compound and possibly lose good starting position, but have an opportunity to overtake early in the race.

    B) But hey, we can use softer compound and have better starting position to begin with!

    Why it’s bad? Everyone will be using softer tyre in Q3, with very rare exceptions. Everyone in top 10 will be afraid to overtake with heavy car on soft wheels. It’s bad for the sport.

    2.
    Unlock engines, give the drivers more power to control. While you are at it, let them use more engines during the season. If it’s 19 races make it 10-12 engines. Let them drive using 100% of their skill, and still force them to struggle with the power a bit.

    3.
    Introduce weaker brakes, which will lengthen braking zones and encourage overtaking.

    Is it so damn difficult?

  36. I voted 5, a bit dull.

    The action at the back of the field held occasional interest, but at the front it was ‘follow the leader’. Overall, it seemed too much like an exercise in tyre preservation, fuel conservation, and engine protection to be a truly interesting race.

    Let’s hope that Melbourne shows some improvement. Perhaps the lower temperatures and more overtaking opportunities will bring more excitement. It was all a bit too processional this time.

  37. The Bahrain circuit itself was not to blame – the new section added something that was desperately needed in changes in gradient and yet people on here still complain (which must be down to some form of prejudice, but that’s another matter).

    The thing that ruined the race was the ban on refuelling – drivers had to look after their cars throughout the whole race rather than being able to push at any time. Furthermore, the tyre degradation that was supposed to occur towards the end of the race didn’t, and remember that this is one of the warmest, most tyre degrading tracks on the calendar this year.

    Hopefully refuelling will be re-introduced bext year, but I worry for the rest of the season.

    1. The new section added length to the circuit. That’s it. No new overtaking opportunities.

      With the new layout turn 4 is faster, so it’s actually one overtaking opportunity less compared to the last year.

      Last year we had three ideal spots for overtaking: turn 1, turn 4 and turn 14 (penultimate corner, this year’s number 23). We had 57 laps, so it was 171 chances in the whole race. Not great, but not so bad either.

      This year real overtaking corners were number 1 and 23, and we had only 49 laps. Yeah, sure, the Bahrain circuit was not to blame…

  38. 6/10

    I think some people expect to much out of the new rules, and how it will affect the racing.

    It was great to see Alonso win again.

  39. Schumacher sums up his return “overtaking is basically impossible”.

    http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/formula-1-news/230104/overtaking-basically-impossible-says-schumacher/

    I do thing the new section is partly to blame as well.

    Just compare the GP2 Asia races this weekend and a couple of weeks ago on the old circuit configuration. Instead of a great race it was more or less processional.

  40. I round it very entertaining. I loved every minute of it. Despite my team, Williams only scoring one point.

  41. I voted boring, because it was. I’ve been watching F1 now for nigh on 35 years, and if I have to rely upon the back markers fighting over P17 & P18 to give me excitement in the race, then as far as I’m concerned it’s a poor show. Certainly glad I didn’t pay big money to go see this, and I’m certainly not interested in going this year now either.

    As I watched the cars following one another up the long straight, it reminded me of the lorries on the motorway overtaking, speed-restricted, but still trying to make that .001mph difference count, but it takes sooooo long, and you just get frustrated.

    Bang the cars out there on 1 tyre per race (save for punctures). MotoGP can do it. Stop the silly restrictions and regulations, and let the teams actually RACE. I want to see the drivers eeking the b’jeezus out of their car each race. So what if they blow up the engine, at least they were racing! I don’t want them penalised for racing by having to save engines.

    Bahrain today wasn’t a race, it was a farce of silly rules, drivers who really should be fighting it out, jostling for track position, and overtaking one another in a duel of ace driver against another. If it carries on for many more races like today, I’m going to have to rely upon Rossi & Stoner to give me my racing thrills, and I’ll be at the MotoGP this year, but not the F1 – that speaks volumes!

  42. I voted 6/10. It was not bad IMO. Alonso’s move on Massa was good, Kubica and Hülkenberg did some nice moves. It was close between Webber and Button although no real action there. I didn’t expect the complete BMW Sauber team go out, HRT was a joke (expected) and Virgin didn’t do a well enough job to fix their problems. Shame for Petrov btw, he did pretty well.

    As for the drivers: Alonso did very well. He drove a perfect race. He seemed calm untill about lap 32, when he started pushing and probably heated the engine a bit but it was enough to make Vettel ask too much of his RBR, superb drive from the master. Massa did well, he held on to Alonso’s pace for a long time which isn’t for everyone. Hamilton drove a solid race, no real mistakes but nothing special either. Vettel was very strong, especially the first 2 laps of the race, shame his engine died but still managed to get to 4th place, superb effort on his behalf. Rosberg beat Schumey but he should have passed Vettel IMHO. Schumacher was calm and solid. Webber and Button were off the pace. Especially Webber was struggling a great deal with his car today. Kubica stood out, pretty good driving and the renault looks better than last year, then it was a terrible car, good for place 16 or lower but because of Alonso it got to top 10 a lot. Now, with Kubica and Petrov it looks like a top 12 car or something. Kubica was impressive!

    1. Kubica was on the Soft while the rest was on hard that is why he looked impressive in the race.

  43. BORING!!! screw this track!

  44. Formula One has been around since 1950 and during most of it’s history there was no in-race refueling or tire changes. You started the race with a set amount of fuel on-board and 1 set of tires and you went the distance.
    Refueling and tire changes have for the most part been the idea of the FIA to make it more exciting, a “show” for television. They have basically tried to NASCARize Formula One with this as well as tying the hands of the designers/engineers by making the cars more and more “spec-like” just like NASCAR and IndyCar.
    For some of you out there who are more “recent” F1 fans that me be what you want; but for those of us like myself who grew up in the 60’s and 70’s and who remember Clark,Stewart, Brabham, Hill,Rindt,Fittipaldi,Lauda, Andretti,etc. we long for the “golden days” of pure F1 racing that I described at the outset. F1 was always about “pure sport” as opposed to “show” racing like NASCAR.
    So, the FIA took one good step in banning refueling but they should have gone further and made them run the race on one set of tires and then maybe institute some sort of budget cap for all the teams but allow the designers technical freedom like in the past. Also, get rid of this nonsense of starting the race on the same tires you qualified with; that’s crap and they should come down from their pedestals and admit it!
    I am hoping that Jean Todt will be more thoughtful and reasonable as FIA president than Mosley was. Maybe Todt will have the humility to admit things need to change, only time will tell.
    I forgot to mention the mid 80’s and early 90’s when you had the likes of Senna,Mansell,Prost, Piquet,Berger battling it out season after season with some great racing with no refueling and no tire stops. The cars did’nt look like “clones” of each other, the tracks wer’nt “mickey mouse” like so many today; they just went racing in real cars on real tracks and it was awesome! We need to get F1 back to that at least!

  45. 8/10 I said this yesterday and it proved today. New rules remove overtaking from races because position are determined during qualifying and all teams are on very similar strategies in race. THE WORST IS that Bahrain could be actually one of more interesting races in this season because teams are still learning about car behaviour during whole race. Now, or after one more race teams will know optimal setup for new regulation and Sundays will become very boring. We can expect new regulation in 2011 to make F1 more attractive (which is becoming ridiculous).

  46. Schumacher said: “that’s the action we’re going to have, unfortunately, with this kind of environment and race strategies”.

    And what do journalists read from that? He criticizes the refuelling ban! Facepalm…

  47. After the pit stops around lap 15 the racing stopped as everyone was too bothered with getting the cars to the finish line on that set or tires and ensuring the engine will last another few races. Wouldnt read too much into Alonso putting some time on the field after Vettel’s issues, anyone could pull away from a procession like that. Like Button and Hamilton have just said on the Forum they never really had to push in the race so dont feel exerted at all. Too much cost saving and not enough racing.

  48. Whitmarsh said it was his team, Red Bull and another one he wouldn’t name who wanted to bring in mandatory pitstops. Stefan D got a right wave of abuse for saying the teams were just discussing it so I wonder what the reaction will be now.
    I hope it doesn’t happen, I want freedom with the rules but I was shocked and disappointed when Jense said it was easy and he wasn’t flat out. That’s just not how I think it should be but I do want to see how the refuelling ban plays out.

  49. Worst rating I’ve ever given a race on here, 3/10. I love F1 and always have done, but if this is what we’re going to get for the rest of the year then count me out because I struggled to stay interested.

  50. We need to restrict the teams in some way. But artificially reducing performance is clearly not the way forward.

    The designers are clearly having a problem getting one over on their rivals.

  51. Voted boooooooooooooooooooring, Zenyatta’s overtaking in the final stretch at Santa Anita was more exciting.
    What a miserable desolate spectacle, outside of the stands and pits the first time I noticed any sign of life around the track was a guy wearing a white shirt on a bike around lap 35.
    Why on earth do they hold races at a dump like that?

  52. It’s not just us that think F1 needs “tweaks”.

    http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82145

  53. Clinically answering my own question, it’s probably where Bernie stashes the loot.

  54. I think maybe a forced 2nd stop could help, A race with at least 2 stops, then team can try to push harder!

  55. Oops, make that cynically.

  56. I agree with Whitmarsh, that the tyres aren’t ‘on edge’ enough. Not sure about the mandatory two stops however.

  57. I was very suprised *no-one* came in for tyres with 10 laps to go and went for it on super-softs. Surely a pitstop now costs less than 20 seconds overall?

    As I’ve said before, starting the season at Bahrain was a mistake but we all know who to blame for that.

    1. The supersofts wouldn’t have made up the deficit, they’d be shot after a few laps anyway and then you’d be down to the same pace as everyone else.

      Why was starting the season in Bahrain a mistake? What difference does it make where the season starts if the rules are what they are?

  58. 48 people think this race was perfect?????

    I waited all winter for a parade!

    Nursing tyres and engines and no racing.

    Also these new graphics make it quite hard to follow.
    During qualification they haven’t got the ten fastest at the side of the screen which was great, then during the race, no clock on the pits until they have left.

    I’m concerned……………….

    1. Maybe if your driver had won you would not be soooo concerned! :)

      1. To be honest I don’t really support any one driver. I like to see battles going on right the way down the field but I didn’t see any of that today really.

        I think maybe this business of only having eight engines in a season and making gearboxes last 4 races is a bit ridiculous.

        Let the teams use as many engines as they like, if the engine gives up the ghost, that’s tough luck but it’s enough of a penalty. Same with the gearboxes.

        Do away with this Q3 Top Ten rule, it’s very artificial.

        Let the teams decide which of the four compounds of tyres they want to use for qualifying and the race, and do away with the rule that says they have to use both compounds. Let them use whichever compound suits they’re car the best.

        The cars should perform as best they can. Whoever can’t make they’re equipment work then that’s just they’re hard luck.

        We are constanly hearing about wanting to “improve the show”, but from what I say today that plainly hasn’t happened.

        I’ll reserve further judgement for a couple of races.

  59. I voted it was a good race, it was interesting to see Vettel hold off Rosberg near the end and i suppose the retirements spiced it up but i think i just enjoyed seeing F1 back!

    Tbh one rule i’m sick of is the 8 engines per season rule, I’m tired of seeing drivers catching up to someone or having the opportunity to catch up to someone but they decide not to make a move to save their engine or gearbox for the next race. Its difficult though cause it’s good for cost cutting and developing reliability which im all for, it just really annoys me sometimes.

  60. Chris Burland
    14th March 2010, 16:36

    I voted 1 because I was so disappointed.
    I’d been looking forward to the start of the season so much, and watched that procession, with the majority of the top 16 doing lap times within less than 1% of each other, tyre management and engine preservation.
    DULL DULL DULL – and I never thought I would say that about F1. Teams need to be bolder in their strategy, tyres need to be less durable forcing drivers into mistakes or chancing a new set of tyres. Martin Whitmarsh told the BBC on the interactive forum that they could have done the whole race on the hard tyres, and at least half distance on the supersofts. We saw cars at the back of the field pitting not long after the front runners and making the supersofts last.

  61. I found this first GP of the season to be absolutely uninteresting and predictable. No surprise I got the right winner in that pick the first places game.

    As expected, the main reason for the lack of overtaking and excitement is the way modern F1 cars behave aerodynamically. No gimmicks will improve overtaking unless this issue is addressed.

  62. 10/10 from an Alonso fan perspective (which I am), but overall it wasn’t a interesting race. The top 3 in qualifying were flying compared to their followers. I think if it stays this way, the worst place a Ferrari can finish is 4th behind two Red Bull’s and the other Ferrari.

    Although ‘my’ driver won, it would’ve been much more interesting to see a fight between him and Vettel. I thought it was going to happen with 20 laps to go Alonso came within 1.5s of Vettel… so I was thinking, now we gonna see a fight for 1st place finally! But the Red Bull still isn’t over their reliability problems from last year.

    I’ve to say, brilliant job by Hamilton, I really thought he wouldn’t be finishing in the top 6. I think he has surprised himself aswell (didn’t read his comment yet).

    Also a good start for Rosberg who has beaton Schumacher in all three Practice sessions and also in all the Qualifying sessions and in the race!

    I think Force India’s tactical move by starting on medium tyres didn’t work out. Sutil’s first stop came at lap 15 and Liuzzi pitted on lap 20. Still some points for them but only because of the new pointsystem.

  63. Sorry for this second post that looks like spam, but I forgot to mention that, as many others here, I’m sick of all these stupid restrictive rules: engine restriction, tyre restriction, practice restriction. All this is just promoting mediocrity.

    1. It’s all in the name of “cost cutting”, which is what is keeping F1 alive at this moment.

      It kind of makes me smile when I see posts saying that F1 needs to go back to freedom of engines and tyres and all of the other stuff that got F1 into it’s current predicament in the first place.

      1. We should also maybe realise that all bar maybe Ferrari are no longer interested in spending what they haven’t got on making two cars go around a track every other weekend.

  64. In my eyes it was a bit dull. Typical Vettel race, he’s on pole and there is nothing stopping him and although the ferrari’s started to reel him in, I couldn’t see them passing him. The only time it was interesting was the first lap and once Vettel had problems.

    Jenson dropped on finishing 7th and so did Hamilton with the podium, hopefully McLaren can improve from this!

    The podium was some what like that of a few years back, when McLaren and Ferrari dominated, I can see this happening again and feel this may be the case towards the end of the season after numerous updates. Also by then, hopefully the newer teams will be some what closer to the pace.

    Hopefully as the teams, drivers and fans get used to this new era in F1, we will have some exceptional races.

  65. I can’t remember who said it during the BBC coverage, could have been any of them (drivers or pit wall). “It was just a matter of managing the race” once the order had been sorted out after the first. Or doing what Anthony Davidson calls “lappage” like in testing. I must admit I thought there was going to be more to it this season but apart from the character of some circuits favoring different teams like Red Bull vs Brawn circuits last year, we have probably got a seaon of this. Oh yes, it might rain.

  66. I only gave it a 2, would’ve been a 1 if it hadn’t been the first race of the year. If I would like to watch endurance racing were drivers have to save engines, wheels and all the rest i’d go watch ALMS or something.

  67. Mandatory pit stops are not the way to go, thats just artificial racing and something only junior fomula’s do. In my opinion the lack of overtaking was nothing to do with no refuelling, but actually the awful new track layout which caused the field to spread out and as we saw with Rosberg when he was trying to pass Vettel, he was falling behind in the mickey mouse section because the OWG still haven’t worked out how to get the cars to be able to run close to eachother. Personally I think the sooner double diffusers go the better, when only 3 teams had them last year at Australia there was plenty of overtaking and a cracking race. Should never have been legalised.

  68. First: I loved it.

    I think this year is the first step toward the real roots of F1.

    I don’t get all the whining about passes and the apparently missed refueling.

    I saw much more passes and drivers challenging each other than any other Bahrain GP of the past years. Maybe even all the past Shakir GPs combined.

    Drivers don’t push? I saw them push more than the old times, when they simply sat back waiting for the pit stop and hoping for the best.

    May they push more? Absolutely, but they won’t if they have to preserve the engine for the next race. Or if the first 10 drivers have to start with quali Tyrese. That’s what you have to point your finger to if you want more spectacle.

    I ask those who miss refueling:

    Do you like to see a faster car step back and wait for the pit stop to pass a slower car?

    Do you like to see a strong performance ruined by a refueling rig failure?

    I think that if you answer yes to any of those, then you are following the wrong sport.

    Back to the point, I loved it. That’s the first time in years I see all the drivers RACING, and not just some of them occasionally like in the past years.

    But it seems that time makes many people forget fast how things was.

    1. Refuelling gave teams flexibility, and yes, it made the event more interesting – banning it has defiantly removed a dynamic from the race.

      Maybe it’s correct to ban it, maybe not. Personally I liked the strategy aspect it added, and the fact that the teams as a whole had greater involvement on the race outcome. Yes we still have strategy, but we all know even when a team pits, exactly how long that stop will be.

      But in truth that’s another discussion.

      The point is the timing of the ban. Removing that dynamic successfully needed overtaking to be much easier. That needs more work on aero (and, the need to preserve so many components for so many races; too many generic parts/standisation etc etc). Until that’s done, refuelling should not have been banned.

      I think Bahrain has exaggerated these issues, and that other tracks will be better (well, I HOPE that’s the case). Either way, all they can do this year is play with tyre compounds. I’m not that keen on the idea of forced pit stops.

      Either way, it has to improve. IF we have an entire season like today – F1 will suffer massive damage – and in poor economic climates, with sponsors already hard to find, that’s a very big problem.

      1. I agree with you for the most part.

        I agree also with those who says that double diffusers shouldn’t have been legalized in first place.

        There’s too much aero. They should focus on chassis developement, mechanical and hydraulic developement. They should push for engines optimization (W.T.F. they freezed it instead).

        These are vehicles made to run on ground, not to fly. Yet they are more sophisticated than the average jetplane, aerowise.

        I think FIA will legalize the McLaren solution too (the infamous channel), and that would be another wrong thing to do.

        I hated refueling, since it brought the focus away from drivers. We could, of course, discuss the timing of the ban, but I think that’s a false issue.

        We need fast, strong and efficient cars, with less aero involved.

  69. I think I said this as a reply to someone, but I cant emphasize enough how this stupid cost saving idea and having development stop and as well as limits on almost everything has killed F1.

    “Only way to make it exciting is to remove the limit on engines, gear boxes, tires, and development. Sadly F1 is almost dead for me, all this talk of limitations only **** me off.”

  70. I agree with people saying it’s too early to tell, today was a bit lacking but it is just the first race and I think that dullness came more from the circuit than any new rules. Although as far as the no-refuelling rule goes, it’ll be interesting to see whether, over the season, it makes the latter parts of races more interesting as they shed the weight.

  71. i enjoyed seeing the new cars race, but man, Bahrain stinks. This track hardly is fitted to be an f1 circuit. It was ridiculous watching qualifying and seeing the cars literally wobble and shake as they went around a few of the corners. Bahrain was the only gp that I didn’t watch last year. It didn’t really feel like the season opener because it wasn’t in Australia too. Although, I must say, I have enjoyed the last couple of days getting to see some new f1 onboards I haven’t seen before. I was hoping for Red Bull to start out the season strong but it was unfortunate what happened to Mark and Sebastian. It did one thing though, and proved that the RB6 is really fast of which I’m glad. I though the most impressive performance was put on by Kubica though. Looks like he will be able to get along well with the Renault. Maybe he just overtook all those cars because they were so far off the pace. Glad Liuzzi got some points though.

  72. I voted ‘a bit dull’ and am just wondering what would’ve happened if Vettel and Massa didnt have the problems with their cars.

    Maybe we would’ve seen that epic ending I hoped for, with more close racing , more pressure and so possible more mistakes

    On the rulechanges, as others pointed out, let’s wait and see how the rulechanges will affect the next few races. Maybe the chosen tyre compounds will be less suited for the next tracks, making 1 stop strategies very dificult, meaning less ‘saving’ and more racing…

  73. I think everything has been said that should have been said already. I am very, very concerned about the rest of the season. It seems very similar to 2009 – the team having scrapped the previous year’s campaign romping away, with defending champions etc. trailing behind. It’s as if everybody behind is cought up in a wave of confusion (though, good for Ferrari, as Brawn last year, they deserve the spoils).

    What confuses me the most is the vast differences in lap times between cars. At the end of 2009 the field was probably the closest from first to last as it had ever been. But what we have now is absurd. How can people in the same cars have more than a second difference between them? Not because of fuel or softer tyres. Not strategy. And certainly not driver ability. This one leaves me dumbfounded.

    If it is a question of conservation, it is even more absurd than it should be. “I’m not going to race the people around me, as I have to get my car to the end”. They can’t go as fast as they want (and we need) as they are afraid of destroying their tyres, or running out of fuel. Should that be the case they would require another stop (which will wreck their race) – refuelling out of the question. Should they blow an engine or gearbox they are punished for the following race as well – “don’t you dare go drive the living hell out of that car of yours”, “be a good boy and follow in line”.

    It feels to me as if rules are changed every year for the sake of changing them. Just as people are beginning to settle in and understand, something else comes along.

    Reverting back to refuelling would help, but then it would just confirm the sport’s piralling out of control.

    I am very worried.

    1. I think the main reason for the big gap in lap times was mainly down to the length of the lap. At shorter tracks it should ‘look’ a lot closer. Saying that i do get the feeling a number of teams turned this into a test session once there was a bit of field spread and nobody really pushed to the edge

  74. Well if this is the way the 2010 season is going to be im staying away. Barhaian is so boring in its own right to long a track no bunching of cars and back markers to negotiate simply the wrong mixture to create an interesting race, where were the spectators and where was the atmosphere how dare that little man bernie try to do away with the opitomy of motor racing silverstone he must be so money motivated that he does see the track for the desert ???.No refueling thats a joke the pit crew well have just stayed hom 2 men could have done the job.
    I hate the way f1 is becoming to tehcnical not enough daring,the farraris look to be back in form and it was nice to see some lower field mini duals , i hope that the racing improves signifacantly to give us the spectating public what we want the hairs on the back of our necks standing up with excitement

  75. Teams are already talking about the need for immediate changes (Withmarsh interview) – to bring in the mandatory 2 pitstops – not good.

    The alternative looks better (Withmarsh mentions it and James Allen talks about a this alternative as well):

    Have Bridgestone bring tyres that better suit the track (compounds next to each other, i.e. soft and super-soft here), but are hard pressed to make the distance.

    McLaren said they could have done 25 laps with the super softs today and the hards could have lasted for ever! Button rued, that he did not take more out of his tyres today and get a little bit more pressure on the Mercedesses.

    Lets vote for:
    a. do we want to have mandatory pitstops? – NO
    b. do we want Bridgestone to bring adjacent tyres and make tyres last shorter distances? – YES

    1. Before the race, when we all thought 8-10 laps was the best we’d get out of the super soft tires, I was very excited about the possibilities for the race.

      Would anyone dare try a 1-stop race? Would they instead go for 3 stops? Would starting on the hard tires be an advantage? Did any of the top 9 ruin their tires in qualifying?

      Instead the damn tires went forever and there wasn’t enough difference between the compounds to even consider any alternate strategies.

      That’s why I only gave it 3/10.

  76. if this is what 2010 is going to be like then god help F1. Webber was in a car that was on paper a full second faster than button’s but he spent most of the afternoon nailed to his gear box. When my mates ask me why i like F1? days like this make it very hard to defend the sport.

  77. Can’t we just let the teams pick whatever tyre compounds they want?? Is it really too much trouble?

  78. Dull, dull, dull, dull.

    Too many artificial restrictions. Cars that are too similar, and too reliable. Too many drivers nursing cars to fit the artificial restrictions. Not enough driving to the limit.

    If we want to see racing & overtaking, then we need some variability between cars & drivers, and we need some failures. Something to add a difference.

    Someone above said the most interesting thing was the qualy yesterday, and this is true. Perhaps if the cars cannot overtake any more, we now need to have racing against the clock, where overtaking (as we know it today) is not needed any more.

  79. What we really are missing is the performance differential (due to variable fuel, tire choice, weather).
    Having removed one of these variables and the top teams running at similar pace, we are likely to see more of the same rest of the year.Not looking after your tires is too much of a performance penalty right now.

  80. Let’s hope that if that debacle of a boring race is repeated in Melbourne the Aussies in true Aussie style start lobbing a few tinnies at Bernie’s motorhome in protest so he get’s, in no uncertain terms, the message quickly that that was “poop” .

  81. It couldn’t be rated anything but boring, especially after all the preseason expectations. Maybe a “disappointing” category should be included in the next race rating?

    Remember the preseason tire question we discussed? No mystery there. Qualify on the fastest compound and pit early if necessary and hold position for the rest of the race if necessary.

    What I found interesting were Massa’s comments regarding having to save fuel and tires. If this trend persists were in for a long mediocre season. As others have noted it’s Bahrain, let’s hope it gets better at other locations.

  82. Whilst I thought some of the races last year were… tedious, this one took the cake. I think, pragmatically, the only minor tweak that could stop this farce this year would be forcing Bridgestone to bring overly soft compounds.

    I’d rather have fundamental change & an unshackling of the designers, but in the short term this could work.

  83. I was really disappointed in this race especially after being so excited about its prospects. I was hoping the refuelling ban would give lots of close battles of someone on fresh tyres desperately trying to get past someone on worn tyres, like Mansell and Senna at Monaco 92. That battle is also a good example of how F1 can be entertaining without actual overtaking. Mansell never got past but it was thrilling to watch him try and Senna defend. No chance of a repeat of that this season if things continue like today.

    I disagree that two mandatory pit stops would make things better. I think the FIA should go the other way and remove the requirement to use the two compounds. Making it possible to go the whole race without stopping will introduce more permutations of strategy. Teams should be allowed to choose their compounds. Bridgestone also need to make a greater difference between the two types of tyre. The softs should be fast but fragile and the hards should be slow (and a lot slower, a good couple of seconds per lap) but durable. This way there could be some teams no-stopping on the hard tyre, some teams 3 stopping (or even more) and staying on the soft tyre all race, and all sorts of combinations in between.

    Hopefully things will be better in Melbourne, but if not then there need to be some changes.

  84. To me this race was a ruined mostly by an extremely poor job on behalf of the producer.

    Not saying that it was a good or easy race to produce good TV around – but many small skirmishes was missed and that is a no no for a series with this little overtakes.

    If the FIA wants close racing and overtakings they should strongly considder going with a standard issue front end rear wing assembly and ban the use of diffusers once and for all.

  85. The race was a bit boring. The highlight for me was seeing all the old ex world champs. Schekter, Brabham, Andretti, Hill…

  86. Captain Soviet
    14th March 2010, 22:48

    Compared to the second race of Clipsal 500, which I watched right before, that race was awful. I understand that they’re completely different cars and track, but the only exciting things were the start, the pitstops, and seeing how Vettel could manage his half-broken car and how high up he could stay. Hopefully better tracks produce better races, but so far, this is not encouraging at all.

  87. I rated it 7, good have been better, like Alonso, Massa, Schumacher, Kubica and countless others retiring, Hamilton winning, and Senna picking up a point

  88. I just got through watching the race as I’d recorded it earlier and I have to say I’m glad I did…

    …it meant I could fast-forward through most of the race…

    …if F1 carries on like this then it’s going to lose fans, because I would class myself as serious fan and yet I found that boring…

    …I certainly won’t be watching any races live when I can record them and enjoy my sundays…

  89. Murray Walker said it was a bad idea to ban refuelling, and I think Mr Walker has seen enough grands prix to have a valid opinion. To be honest, I find it all a little embarrassing for the sport.
    So much hype has been built up around this season, with the driver lineups being as they are, but something here is very wrong indeed. I think only the real diehards would have found this race interesting, amused to see Clive Owen watching the race by himself from his perch high above the racetrack. He looked almost as bored as I was. I mean, when are we going to sort this mess out, or has (the little man) Bernie Ecclestone finally run out of ideas?

  90. I’ll watch two more “races”, and if they’re not much, much better than this rubbish, I’ll be an EX F1 fan.

  91. Why are people being so negative? It seems to me that people’s expectations are way too high and want every single race to be super-exciting. A good race doesn’t have to he action-packed. Today’s was an interesting race and whilst not a classic by any means, I found it more entertaining than half of last year’s races..

    We had a race today where victory was never going to come from following strategy religiously, where a 5-second lead before the first stop was never going o be a big safety margin, where if Vettel hadn’t suffered problems we would have seen Alonso, with the Ferrari using the harder tyres much better than the Red Bull, close up on genuine pace and produce a good battle for the lead, something near-absent last season. A race, above else, which would have been far more boring if two mandatory stops or last year’s rules applied.

    What is it those saying it was a boring race want? I know what it is, and let me say, they’re not things that can be forced into existence by the rules short of making F1a spec series. I voted a 7, and in my view the race deserved no more and certainly no less. It’s not F1’s fault if you’re not interested in races that have the potential to develop in an exciting way but rather demand everyone be artificially forced to be close together, ironically what people were supposedly against in the off-season when discussing the tyre rules. You can’t have it both ways, freedom in all areas and close racing. Sometimes they will work against each other, and only sometimes come together to make a great race, which is what makes great races what they are. It seems people want an F1 as close as lower series whilst making it less “artificial” or constrained than lesser series. Bad news: there’s a correlation between the two.

    To be honest, if you were bored by today’s race then you deserved to be. If you want the things F1 doesn’t have, watch the series they do, just don’t expect them to have the things in F1 you like. F1 can and hopefully will improve, but it won’t do so through rules governing the race format and it certainly won’t sacrifice the things that made it the pinnacle of motor racng to do so.

    For myself, I hoe Bridgestone move the tyre compounds back to being side-by-side. Having them one stage apart helped liven things up last year, but this year it looks like being a counter-productive policy.

    1. Or better yet, as a poster said above, make the softs fast and fragile and the hards durable but very slow. The medium we have now doesn’t look like it’s going to be a happy one.

      1. Mouse_Nightshirt
        15th March 2010, 3:14

        Disagree wholeheartedly.

        Although it’s not F1’s job to “entertain” per se (although some would argue it is), and it’s more our job to find enjoyment in it, jigging the rules to try and get more “show” is a good intentioned idea, even if flawed in results.

        Remember back to the 80s and early 90s when cars diced with each other with much more regularity. Yes you had domination by one team at times, but at least there was enough else going on. That is the kind of racing that a lot of F1 fans want. You say you can’t have freedom in technology and close racing together. We had the complete opposite today. Severely limited technical freedom and a mostly processional race as well! Sure, the Lotuses diced with the Virgins a bit, but other than that, so little actually happened.

        Times change. With ever increasing technology, especially in the aero department, lack of regulation leads to pure procession. The old cars had enough design and aero “flaws” to mean that close racing was possible – now, that’s simply not the case. Artificiality is always to be expected in any sport, because why have rules at all otherwise?

        I at least expected to see something as exciting as that last couple of seasons. I’m sorry, but in my opinion that race was dull and I’ve seen enough races (13 years of virtually every single race) to determine that for myself. I shouldn’t “deserve” to be bored simply because I found the race today dull. We don’t need swashbuckling overtaking moves all the time, but the only striking feature today was “when is everyone going to pit?” and now we know from that how the rest of the season will pan out!

        And absent battles for the lead last year? Where were you!?

  92. Ye like many have said already this track was pretty dull. The layout is ****, there’s no nice scenery and there is a massive lack of atmosphere. I kinda felt sorry for Alonso on his victory lap that he had no one to wave to apart from the marshalls

  93. Boring boring boring – Kimi must be laughing his socks off!

    Where has all the innovation and characters gone from F1? I want to see the Colin Chapman Lotus for this century!

    Give the designers the freedom to turn up and race with whatever they choose.

    How about a ground effect, turbo charged 6 wheeled Mclaren Vs a big winged fat wheeled supercharged V12 Ferrari & a Lotus with active suspension and a race weight of 300kg! Pit as many times for tyres as you like, refuel or don’t – let the teams decide!

    I want to be entertained on a Sunday – I want Wacky Races, not this endless processsion of advertising clones driven by yes men!

  94. If Vettel’s engine holds up and we get a classic showdown between him and Alonso over the final 10 laps, we’re having a much different discussion here.

    That being said, I still think we’re going to have more parades than races this year, as unless there’s a bigger discrepancy in performance between the tire compounds, there will be one strategy used by every single car, which makes rather uninteresting racing.

  95. For those who remember F1 pre-fuelling, this is deja vu. Logically if you remove on variable such as fuel, you level the performance of the cars so that, as someone else has said, qualifying is the race. If we want to be green, halve race distance and fuel, use one set of tyres and you would have had the same result. What a travesty. I fell asleep watching after waiting for this race for months.

  96. Most boring race I have ever watched! I am driving 8 hours to Melbourne to watch one of the most boring F1 seasons possible? Wish I never bought tickets!

  97. Rotundandproud
    15th March 2010, 7:00

    Whilst I agree that this race was a bit dull, I think this is due to the extension of the circuit length and the drivers adapting to the new regulations, not the actual regulations themselves. I think the most exciting spectacles this year will be the shorter circuits where back markers will play a huge part – just imagine Monaco with all those cars at such vastly different performance levels – should be amazing and will throw some odd results in I think. This should still be a classic season, even if the first race was a tad disappointing.

  98. Very boring race. But my youngest son (11) and I have a cunning plan. All drivers and pit crew are to drink half a bottle of vodka before the race. The top three finishers, if there are any, to be breathalised in park ferme. If not over the limit they are disqualified.
    Can you imagine the excitement during the race.
    But seriously this was the most boring procession I have ever watched, You could just have well been watching a merry go round. In F1 you have the best drivers and the most innovative teams in the world held back by regulations which make no sense. The formula should be a vehicle size limit and an engine size limit then let the teams run with it. This is a sport where the cream comes to the top, but only if you don’t shake the bottle.

  99. I thought it was a bit dull, but it is too early to say it is all the fault of the refuelling ban as there have been other races in recent years like this.

  100. 5/10 i really thought this was a boring race. Problems from the green light. Usually drivers gun it once the lights go out for the first corner in the hope to jump a car or two and we usually see 1/2/3 cars hitting because of this. Generates a bit of excitment. With 6 more cars on the track this season we didnt even see a front nose being damaged. Drivers were FAR to cautious because they didnt want to hurt their tires and because they didnt get enough dry testing in the winter period to fully know how the car would react with a FULL fuel load on board.

    As for the new teams… I have nothing but respect for the 3 teams, that in this climate managed to raise the money to enter the sport. However, i feel that they way in which their enter was handled by the FIA was a joke. I mean 4/6 cars didnt even make half the race distance. They are supposed to add another factor to the race, to mix it up with the other cars and cause exctiment and suprise. Instead what we see are 3 teams so far off the pace that they would just about hold their own in GP2.

    F1 this year for me is still a 10 team sport, because we are not going to see anything from the 3 new teams.

    But i have to say, fair play to Alonso, he has taken to Ferrari like a duck to water and also good job for Cosworth, i thought pre season that their engines would be way off the pace but Williams seem to have made them work. My fingers are crossed for Australia but if i am honest, i am not sure where this sport is going…

  101. I enjoyed the race, and was really happy for Hamilton getting on the podium, aswell as being gutted for Vettel.
    As for the “no refueling” i guess it’s a lot safer for the pit guy’s but i did miss the excitement of the fueling pit stops…. when Hamilton and Schumacher pitted at the same time yesterday we all knew Lewis would get out before Michael, but if the fueling was still allowed, things might of been a bit different.

  102. I think it’s too early to blame the issue of this “uninspiring” race on the no refueling regulation. I see four other problems of bigger concern.
    1) As previously mentioned, the difference in performance and wear between the prime and option rubber at this race was much too small. The harder tire performs too well and the softer tire wears too slowly.
    2) Improved double diffusers down the whole field makes passing basically impossible without a significant pace advantage, like what the podium finishers had over Vettel. Without that advantage, I don’t believe for a moment Alonso’s Ferrari could break out of Vettel’s turbulence in the closing stages.
    3) Because passing is effectively impossible, teams opt to save fuel, tires, engines, brakes, gearboxes by cruising behind their competitors which is what most of the front runners were doing throughout the race distance. This obviously makes for a procession.
    4) Bahrain is an awful featureless Tilkadrome, probably the least inspiring of this season’s venues.

    Solutions should include:
    -Harder hard tires, softer soft tires (primarily)
    -Ban double diffusers before 2011 (not likely)
    -Look at 8-engine/grid drop for replacement rules
    -No Bahrain race for 2011.

  103. 6/10 from me. And 5 of those points were from seeing Nando on the top step of the podium (less 3 for being in a red suit) and the rest were because it was the drought-breaker race I have been waiting, hanging out for 4 months for. Actual racing scored 0/10.

    I don’t agree that the lack of action was because of the re-fueling ban. But I think that it possibly didn’t help matters, as in the past the only overtaking we saw was in the pits. Now there is none (or as close to). Ban the aero, ban the front wings and build cars that can follow closely in the dirty air. Then, and not before, will we see some racing. But in the meantime, bring on Melbourne…

  104. I voted Rubbish. There nothing more to say.

  105. I’m sorry to say that this was the MOST boring race I have seen in the 50 some odd years I have been watching, the new longer track just meant it took longer for the cars to come back round to the straight to parade past the stands. the new rules have effectively handcuffed the teams, they have made it so safe and correct that it is no longer worth watching

  106. I recnently watched some onboard footage of Mark Webbers start & first few laps of last seasons race, he passed about 6 cars in 2 laps, due to being out of postion after quali. He was again out of position compared to his pace, at the start of this years race, but due to the rule changes there was no repeat of last years overtaking. Why do the FIA constantly shoot themselves in the foot. The only rule change that was required for this season was a ban on double diffusers. This years rules are a step backwards and not good for the sport. Infact the rule changes over the last 7 years have created an endurance series, with long life gearboxes and engines, etc etc. How can this be considered the pinnacle of motorsport anylonger…

  107. Oh dear! Pretty damming poll results…

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