Formula One - Bahrain Grand Prix Preview
From The Sports Network
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| DATE: Sunday, April 22nd |
| SITE: Bahrain International Circuit (2004) -- Sakhir, Bahrain |
| TRACK: 5.411 km (3.195 miles); 15-turn road course |
| CAPACITY: 50,000 |
| ANNUAL: 8th |
| TELEVISION: Speed Channel |
| START TIME: 8 a.m. (ET) |
| LAPS: 57 |
| MILES: 182.115 (308.238 km) |
| DEFENDING CHAMPION: Fernando Alonso (2010 race) |
| RUNNER-UP: Felipe Massa |
| POLE WINNER: Sebastian Vettel (Finished 4th) |
| QUALIFYING RECORD: Michael Schumacher, 2004 (1 minute, 30.252 seconds) |
| RACE RECORD: Michael Schumacher, 2004 (1 hour, 28 minutes, 34.875 seconds) |
| 2010 Finish |
| Finish | Driver | Start | Finish | Driver | Start |
| 1 | Fernando Alonso | 3 | 6 | Michael Schumacher | 7 |
| 2 | Felipe Massa | 2 | 7 | Jenson Button | 8 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | 4 | 8 | Mark Webber | 6 |
| 4 | Sebastian Vettel | 1 | 9 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | 12 |
| 5 | Nico Rosberg | 5 | 10 | Rubens Barrichello | 11 |
| 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix Facts and Figures |
| AVERAGE SPEED: 186.170 k.p.h. |
| TIME OF RACE: 1 hour, 39 minutes, 20.396 seconds |
| MARGIN OF VICTORY: 16.099 seconds |
| FASTEST LAP: Fernando Alonso, 1:58.287, Lap 45 |
| POLE WINNER: Sebastian Vettel (1:54.101) |
| Past Bahrain Grand Prix Winners (Starting Position) Car -- Speed |
| 2011 -- Not Held |
| 2010 -- Fernando Alonso (3rd) -- Ferrari -- 186.170 k.p.h./1:39:20.396 |
| 2009 -- Jenson Button (4th) -- Brawn-Mercedes -- 201.301 k.p.h./1:31:48.182 |
| 2008 -- Felipe Massa (2nd) -- Ferrari -- 202.974 k.p.h./1:31:06.970 |
| 2007 -- Felipe Massa (1st) -- Ferrari -- 197.887 k.p.h./1:33:27.515 |
| 2006 -- Fernando Alonso (4th) -- Renault -- 206.018 k.p.h./1:29:46.205 |
| 2005 -- Fernando Alonso (1st) -- Renault -- 207.082 k.p.h./1:29:18.531 |
| 2004 -- Michael Schumacher (1st) -- Ferrari -- 208.976 k.p.h./1:28:34.875 |
| Past Bahrain Grand Prix Pole Winners (Finish) |
| 2011 -- Not Held |
| 2010 -- Sebastian Vettel -- 4th |
| 2009 -- Jarno Trulli -- 3rd |
| 2008 -- Robert Kubica -- 3rd |
| 2007 -- Felipe Massa -- 1st |
| 2006 -- Michael Schumacher -- 2nd |
| 2005 -- Fernando Alonso -- 1st |
| 2004 -- Michael Schumacher -- 1st |
| Last Race Results |
| RACE: Chinese Grand Prix (April 15th) |
| SITE: Shanghai International Circuit (2004) -- Shanghai, China |
| LAPS: 56 |
| MILES: 189.568 (305.066 km) |
| WINNER: Nico Rosberg |
| RUNNER-UP: Jenson Button |
| THIRD: Lewis Hamilton |
| FOURTH: Mark Webber |
| FIFTH: Sebastian Vettel |
| POLE WINNER: Nico Rosberg (Finished 1st) |
| TIME OF RACE: 1 hour, 36 minutes, 26.929 seconds |
| AVERAGE SPEED: 189.778 k.p.h. |
| MARGIN OF VICTORY: 20.626 seconds |
| Bahrain Grand Prix Entry List |
| Car | Driver, Hometown | Car/Name |
| 1 | Sebastien Vettel (Heppenheim, Germ) | Renault/Red Bull |
| 2 | Mark Webber (Queanbeyan, Australia) | Renault/Red Bull |
| 3 | Jenson Button (Frome, England) | Mercedes/McLaren Vodafone |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton (Stevenage, England) | Mercedes/McLaren Vodafone |
| 5 * | Fernando Alonso (Oviedo, Spain) | Ferrari/Scuderia |
| 6 | Felipe Massa (Sao Paulo, Brazil) | Ferrari/Scuderia |
| 7 | Michael Schumacher (Germany) | Mercedes/AMG Petronas |
| 8 | Nico Rosberg (Wiesbaden, Germany) | Mercedes/AMG Petronas |
| 9 | Kimi Raikkonen (Espoo, Finland) | Renault/Lotus |
| 10 | Romain Grosjean (Geneva, Switzerland) | Renault/Lotus |
| 11 | Paul di Resta (Livingston, Scotland) | Mercedes/Force India |
| 12 | Nico Hulkenberg (Emmerich, Germany) | Mercedes/Force India |
| 14 | Kamui Kobayashi (Amagasaki, Japan) | Ferrari/Sauber |
| 15 | Sergio Perez (Guadalajara, Mexico) | Ferrari/Sauber |
| 16 | Daniel Ricciardo (Perth, Australia) | Ferrari/Scuderia Toro Rosso |
| 17 | Jean-Eric Vergne (Pontoise, France) | Ferrari/Scuderia Toro Rosso |
| 18 | Pastor Maldonado (Maracay, Venezuela) | Renault/Williams |
| 19 | Bruno Senna (Sao Paulo, Brazil) | Renault/Williams |
| 20 | Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) | Renault/Caterham |
| 21 | Vitaly Petrov (Vyborg, Russia) | Renault/Caterham |
| 22 | Pedro de la Rosa (Barcelona, Spain) | Cosworth/HRT |
| 23 | Narain Karthikeyan (Chennai, India) | Cosworth/HRT |
| 24 | Timo Glock (Lindenfels, Germany) | Cosworth/Marussia |
| 25 | Charles Pic (Montelimar, France) | Cosworth/Marussia |
| Leading Contenders (Finish last eight years) |
| Driver | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | |
| Fernando Alonso | 6th | Won | Won | 5th | 10th | 8th | Won | --- | |
| Lewis Hamilton | --- | --- | --- | 2nd | 13th | 4th | 3rd | --- | |
| Sebastian Vettel | --- | --- | --- | --- | 22nd | 2nd | 4th | --- | |
| Nico Rosberg | --- | --- | 7th | 10th | 8th | 9th | 5th | --- | |
| Michael Schumacher | Won | 17th | 2nd | --- | --- | --- | 6th | --- | |
| Jenson Button | 3rd | 14th | 4th | 21st | 21st | Won | 7th | --- | |
| Mark Webber | 8th | 6th | 6th | 17th | 7th | 11th | 8th | --- | |
| Kimi Raikkonen | 20th | 3rd | 3rd | 3rd | 2nd | 6th | --- | --- | |
| Sergio Perez | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | |
| Mover of the Week |
| Bruno Senna - Started in the 14th position and finished 7th |
| Sports Network Selections |
| Pick to Win - Lewis Hamilton |
| Darkhorse - Kimi Raikkonen |
| Last Week's Pick to Win (Lewis Hamilton) - Finished 3rd |
| Last Week's Darkhorse (Sergio Perez) - Finished 11th |
| NOTES: |
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After the race was canceled in 2011, the Bahrain Grand Prix returns to
the Formula One schedule this week, as Nico Rosberg attempts to win his second
consecutive race. Last week, Rosberg won his first career Formula One title in
his 111th start in China.
When this race was last held in 2010, Fernando Alonso raced to victory, as
cruised to a whopping 16 seconds victory over Felipe Massa. Pole sitter Jenson
Button finished seventh.
Alonso, a two-time F1 champion, benefited from Sebastian Vettel's late-race
mishap. Vettel started on the pole and led two-thirds of the 49-lap race, but
the Red Bull driver lost power, allowing Alonso to sweep by and take the lead
for good. The victory was the first of five titles that year.
Jenson Button won the 2009 running of the Bahrain Grand Prix. Button finished
7.187 seconds ahead of runner-up Vettel for his third victory in the first four
grand prix of that season.
Button started fourth on the grid in the scorching desert heat at Bahrain
International Circuit, but after a flawless pit strategy in the first round of
stops, he moved ahead of Toyota drivers Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock, both of
whom started on the front row. Button only relinquished the lead one other
time, during his final stop, before finishing well ahead of Vettel.
Felipe Massa joined Fernando Alonso as a back-to-back champion of this
race in 2008, as Massa defeated Kimi Raikkonen by more than three seconds for
his sixth of 11 career F1 titles. Massa dominated the race, as he took the
lead off the starting grid and only relinquished the advantage during pit
stops.
In 2007, Massa started on the pole and then outdueled Lewis Hamilton to take
the checkered flag. He edged Hamilton by 2.3 seconds. Massa became the third
and last pole sitter to win there.
The Kingdom of Bahrain is an island group located off the central southern
shores of the Arabian Gulf between Saudi Arabia's east coast and the Qatar
peninsula. The Kingdom comprises some 36 islands, with a total land area about
706 square km. The largest of these is Bahrain island where the capital city,
Manama, is situated. Bahrain island is 48 km long from north to south & up to
16 km wide at its maximum point east to west. Bahrain island accounts for
nearly 85 percent of the kingdom's total area. The 2004 race was the first
ever in the Middle East for Formula One.
In 2006, Alonso made it back-to-back wins, as he defeated Michael Schumacher
by less than two seconds. He took the lead after Schumacher pitted with 22
laps to go, and then held it for the remainder of the event.
When Alonso captured the 2005 race, he endured 107-degree heat and finished 13
seconds ahead of Jarno Trulli. Alonso started on the pole and led all but two
of the 57 laps.
Schumacher was the first of three pole sitters to win at Bahrain in 2004, when
he took the checkered flag for the inaugural grand prix there. Alonso (2005
and Massa (2007) also won the from the pole.
The next Formula One race is the May 13 Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona,
Spain. Sebastian Vettel is the defending race winner.
04/17 12:10:13 ET
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As of April 17, 2012, at 12:10 PM ET
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