Bahrain Grand Prix :: 3rd April 2005

Alonso invincible in Bahrain

April 3, 2005

It was one of the hottest Grands Prix ever held - track temperatures in Bahrain peaked at a sizzling 55 degrees Celcius - but World Championship leader Fernando Alonso kept his cool throughout, putting in another dominant performance to take his second consecutive win.

It was almost a re-run of the race in Malaysia two weeks ago, Alonso qualifying P1 on the grid and then driving to what was an almost unchallenged victory, leading except during the two pit stop windows.

Second-placed Jarno Trulli drove another very mature racing, proving that Toyota’s podium finish in Sepang was anything but a fluke. He started the race in P3, behind Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari F2005, but quickly benefited when the World Champion retired with mechanical problems, and managed to keep his comfortable second place all the way to the flag.

Further down the order it was more eventful. Eventual third-place finisher Kimi Raikkonen began the race all the way down in ninth place, but drove an aggressively to his podium place – and benefited as a series of misfortunes decimated the field ahead of him.

Ralf Schumacher drove to fourth place in the second Toyota, one place better than he managed in Malaysia. In fifth Pedro de la Rosa, substituting for the injured Juan Pablo Montoya in the second McLaren, enjoyed an event-filled race to an eventual three-point finish. On two separate occasions the Spaniard out-braked himself into turn one, but recovered both times and managed to pass Mark Webber after a thrilling battle in the closing stages of the race.

Webber finished in sixth, seeming to be suffering from a lack of grip towards the end of the 57 lap race, with Felipe Massa’s Sauber and David Coulthard’s Red Bull in the last two World Championship scoring positions.

It was another disappointing race for Ferrari – the team’s cars running with black nosecones in memory of Pope John Paul II who died on Saturday. Michael Schumacher’s strong P2 grid position quickly faded when, after pushing Alonso hard from P2, he was forced to retire on lap 13 with mechanical failure in the all-new Ferrari F2005. Rubens Barrichello drove a strong race from the back of the grid and looked set to score at least one Championship point until David Coulthard passed his fading Ferrari on the final lap.

And further down the order Jaques Villeneuve will have done little to quiet the paddock rumours that his career with the Sauber team is unlikely to last the season – having qualified down in 15th he struggled for pace throughout much of the race, finishing down in 11th, four places below team mate Felipe Massa.

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