2007 Bahrain Grand Prix

The 2007 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race and was the third round of the 2007 Formula One season. It was held on 15 April at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain.

2007 Bahrain Grand Prix
Race 3 of 17 in the 2007 Formula One World Championship
The Bahrain Circuit in Sakhir
Race details
Date April 15, 2007
Official name IV Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix
Location Bahrain International Circuit
Sakhir, Bahrain
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.412 km (3.363 mi)
Distance 57 laps, 308.238 km (191.530 mi)
Weather Sunny, dry, windy
Attendance 90,000 (Weekend)[1]
Pole position
Driver
Ferrari
Time 1:32.652
Fastest lap
Driver Felipe Massa Ferrari
Time 1:34.067 on lap 42
Podium
First
Ferrari
Second
McLaren-Mercedes
Third
Ferrari

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

Report

Practice

The Friday morning practice session saw both Ferraris top the time sheets with Kimi Räikkönen the fastest with a time of 1:33.162 with his teammate, Felipe Massa, just over half a second slower than the Finn in second. The Italian team's nearest competition was the two McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso who were third and fourth respectively, Hamilton just under a second slower than Räikkönen's time.[2][3]

Räikkönen was fastest again in the afternoon session, clocking a time of 1:33.527, just under four tenths slower than his fastest time during the morning session. Unlike the morning session, however, Ferrari did not have both their cars occupying the top two as Massa's fastest time was fourth fastest, with Hamilton and BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica separating the two Ferraris.[4][5]

It was six thousandths of a second that prevented Räikkönen from being fastest in all three practice sessions, but his run was ended by Lewis Hamilton with the lead BMW Sauber of Nick Heidfeld in third; Kubica fourth; Anthony Davidson's Super Aguri in fifth and Massa completing the top six, four tenths down on Hamilton's time.[6][7]

Qualifying

Qualifying was played out in temperatures of over 34 °C and despite a small shower of rain just after the morning practice session was over, the track itself was dry. Williams' Alexander Wurz was the first out onto the circuit with former Williams drivers David Coulthard and Jenson Button following him. Like the first practice session on Friday, the two Ferraris set the early pace, both recording laps under 1:33.000, the only two cars to do so during Part One of Qualifying. The first six to be eliminated from qualifying were Takuma Sato, who was seventeen thousandths of a second slower than sixteenth place Jenson Button; both Toro Rossos of Liuzzi and Speed; both Spykers of Albers and Sutil and David Coulthard joined Albers at the back of grid after his Red Bull suffered a gearbox problem.[8][9]

The two Toyotas of Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli left the pits first for Part Two of qualifying. Like in the first session, Ferrari were setting the pace, this time however it was Massa who was leading the way, with both their drivers setting times under 1:32:000, only to be split to Hamilton's McLaren. Button, who only just made the cut for the second round of qualifying, was slowest in the session, over two seconds slower than Massa's time. Joining the Brit was fellow Honda driver Rubens Barrichello; Ralf Schumacher; Davidson; Heikki Kovalainen and Wurz.[8][9]

Hamilton and the two BMW Saubers were first out in the final Part of qualifying, with Massa setting the early pace. The final part of the session saw Massa improve his time, lapping with a time of 1:32.652. Hamilton came second, just under three tenths slower than Massa, putting him on the front row in his third Formula One race. Kimi Räikkönen and Fernando Alonso made up row two, both BMW Saubers of Heidfeld and Kubica were fifth and sixth respectively; Giancarlo Fisichella and Mark Webber made up row four and Jarno Trulli and Nico Rosberg completed the top ten ninth and tenth respectively.[8][9]

Race
Ralf Schumacher in the pits en route to 12th.

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

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

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

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

Massa won the Grand Prix, 2.3 seconds in front of rookie Hamilton.[10][11]

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

Classification

Qualifying
Pos. No. Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Q3 Grid
1 5 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:32.443 1:31.359 1:32.652 1
2 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:32.580 1:31.752 1:32.935 2
3 6 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:33.161 1:31.812 1:33.131 3
4 1 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 1:33.049 1:32.214 1:33.192 4
5 9 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:33.164 1:32.154 1:33.404 5
6 10 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1:33.348 1:32.292 1:33.710 6
7 3 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:33.556 1:32.889 1:34.056 7
8 15 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:33.496 1:32.808 1:34.106 8
9 12 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:33.218 1:32.429 1:34.154 9
10 16 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:33.349 1:32.815 1:34.399 10
11 17 Alexander Wurz Williams-Toyota 1:33.759 1:32.915 11
12 4 Heikki Kovalainen Renault 1:33.467 1:32.935 12
13 23 Anthony Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 1:33.299 1:33.082 13
14 11 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:33.923 1:33.294 14
15 8 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:33.776 1:33.624 15
16 7 Jenson Button Honda 1:33.967 1:33.731 16
17 22 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:33.984 17
18 18 Vitantonio Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:34.024 18
19 19 Scott Speed Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:34.333 19
20 20 Adrian Sutil Spyker-Ferrari 1:35.280 20
21 14 David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:35.341 21
22 21 Christijan Albers Spyker-Ferrari 1:35.533 22
Source:[12]

Race
Pos.No.DriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
1 5 Felipe MassaFerrari 57 1:33:27.515 1 10
2 2 Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes 57 +2.360 2 8
3 6 Kimi RäikkönenFerrari 57 +10.839 3 6
4 9 Nick HeidfeldBMW Sauber 57 +13.831 5 5
5 1 Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Mercedes 57 +14.426 4 4
6 10 Robert KubicaBMW Sauber 57 +45.529 6 3
7 12 Jarno TrulliToyota 57 +1:21.371 9 2
8 3 Giancarlo FisichellaRenault 57 +1:21.701 7 1
9 4 Heikki KovalainenRenault 57 +1:29.411 12
10 16 Nico RosbergWilliams-Toyota 57 +1:29.916 10
11 17 Alexander WurzWilliams-Toyota 56 +1 Lap 11
12 11 Ralf SchumacherToyota 56 +1 Lap 14
13 8 Rubens BarrichelloHonda 56 +1 Lap 15
14 21 Christijan AlbersSpyker-Ferrari 55 +2 Laps 22
15 20 Adrian SutilSpyker-Ferrari 53 +4 Laps 20
16 23 Anthony DavidsonSuper Aguri-Honda 51 Engine 13
Ret 15 Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault 41 Gearbox 8
Ret 14 David CoulthardRed Bull-Renault 36 Driveshaft 21
Ret 22 Takuma SatoSuper Aguri-Honda 34 Engine 17
Ret 18 Vitantonio LiuzziToro Rosso-Ferrari 26 Hydraulics 18
Ret 7 Jenson ButtonHonda 0 Collision 16
Ret 19 Scott SpeedToro Rosso-Ferrari 0 Collision 19
Source:[13]

Championship standings after the race
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
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References
  1. https://joesaward.wordpress.com/2013/04/22/trends-in-bahrain/
  2. "Practice 1 - Report" Archived 2007-05-18 at the Wayback Machine GrandPrix. Retrieved 29 April 2007
  3. "Practice 1 - Results" Archived 2007-04-29 at the Wayback Machine GrandPrix. Retrieved 29 April 2007
  4. "Practice 2 - Report" Archived 2007-04-29 at the Wayback Machine GrandPrix. Retrieved 29 April 2007
  5. "Practice 2 - Results" Archived 2007-04-28 at the Wayback Machine GrandPrix. Retrieved 29 April 2007
  6. "Practice 3 - Report" Archived 2007-04-29 at the Wayback Machine GrandPrix. Retrieved 29 April 2007
  7. "Practice 3 - Results" Archived 2007-04-29 at the Wayback Machine GrandPrix. Retrieved 29 April 2007
  8. "Qualifying - Report" Archived 2007-04-28 at the Wayback Machine GrandPrix. Retrieved 29 April 2007
  9. "Qualifying - Results" Archived 2007-04-28 at the Wayback Machine GrandPrix. Retrieved 29 April 2007
  10. "Race Report" Archived 2007-04-28 at the Wayback Machine GrandPrix. Retrieved 29 April 2007
  11. "Race Results" Archived 2007-04-29 at the Wayback Machine GrandPrix. Retrieved 29 April 2007
  12. "2007 FORMULA 1™ Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix - Qualifying". Official Formula One website. Archived from the original on 31 October 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  13. "2007 FORMULA 1™ Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix - Race". Official Formula One website. Archived from the original on 28 December 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  14. "Bahrain 2007 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
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2007 Malaysian Grand Prix		 FIA Formula One World Championship
2007 season		 Next race:
2007 Spanish Grand Prix
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2006 Bahrain Grand Prix		 Bahrain Grand Prix Next race:
2008 Bahrain Grand Prix

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