- Alonso rules Bore-rain
So the inaugural Formula 1 race of the 2010 season at Bahrain had ended with Ferrari doing a one-two double whammy finish, making Fernando Alonso's maiden run in a Ferrari a very successful one for him. Of course the very unlucky Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull was leading for most of the race but close to the end lost power due to the exhaust manifold suffering from a crack. Imagine that. A manifold crack automatically makes a F1 race car lose something like 20 to 30 bhp and the chances of winning a race straightaway becomes slim.

I did not bother watching out for the rookie teams Lotus Racing, Virgin Racing and Hispania Racing. After noting that most of them were easily 6 seconds off the faster cars pace during Friday and Saturday I somehow knew that they would all feature at the rear and I wasn't rooting for any of them making an upset. I actually couldn't be bothered whether they finished or not because the whole race was not that interesting even when the cars started losing their fuel and gotten lighter although I was quite pleased that both Lotus' managed to finish (officially that is).

The race was supposed to be an eye opener, a fabulous start to a new season filled with suspense and drama plus four world champions dueling it out. The oldest being the seven time world champion 41 year old Michael Schumacher showing that he's still competitive by grabbing sixth place. But somehow after watching the whole race I still feel that there is not enough drama in F1. The only drama that somewhat interests me was the fact that there was some controversy in some teams' double diffuser which took advantage of the small gap which was required for the team to stick the starter motor at the rear of the cars. However, the FIA will clear up all questions by the next race and things will be back to normal after this.


Schummi: "It's the start and then after it is just sort of go your pace and not do mistakes," he told the BBC.

The new rules now state that there shall be no refueling throughout the race and only tire changes, with everyone required to use both compounds in the race. There is also a ban on traction control whereby the driver's right foot is effectively the only traction control they have. Which is a good thing as it would separate the real drivers from the half baked ones. But when the actual race happened, I still noticed that it was still pretty hard to overtake at Bahrain and the ultra skillful drivers were passing people during the pit stops or just lapping slower cars. Now add the fact that the cars have double the fuel load, they run like bloated whales for the first 20 or 30 laps and nothing really happens till after the cars lose all those fuel in their tanks. So basically watching this year's F1 was still like last years F1, not much overtaking and not much track drama even with all the new rules. Even ESPN has called Bahrain, Bore-rain. Heck, even Michael Schumacher said it was good fun but rather boring. That's what he told the BBC post race.

I wonder how things would be for the next race (Australia, 28th March). Maybe we should add 20mm Gatling guns to the side pods or get rid of the front wing and put a battering ram in its place so that things become more interesting. If you can't overtake, shoot 'em or ram 'em out of the way. Mad Max meets F1. Now there's a race that'll be mighty interesting, but rated R for excessive violence instead of a PG13 rating.

Formula 1, F1, motorsport and 3 more...

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