Formula 1 2006 by G

[G.Irish]

The Empire Strikes Back!

So, without further ado, Bahrain qualifying:

1. Michael Schumacher Ferrari-Ferrari 01:31.431
2. Felipe Massa Ferrari-Ferrari 01:31.478
3. Jenson Button Honda-Honda 01:31.549
4. Fernando Alonso Renault-Renault 01:31.702
5. Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes 01:32.164
6. Rubens Barrichello Honda-Honda 01:32.579
7. Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth 01:33.006
8. Christian Klien Red Bull-Ferrari 01:33.112
9. Giancarlo Fisichella Renault-Renault 01:33.495
10. Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 01:33.926
11. Jacques Villeneuve BMW Sauber 01:32.456
12. Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth 01:32.620
13. David Coulthard Red Bull-Ferrari 01:32.650
14. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota 01:33.066
15. Vitantonio Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Cosworth 01:33.416*
16. Scott Speed Toro Rosso-Cosworth 01:34.606*
17. Ralf Schumacher Toyota-Toyota 01:34.702
18. Christijan Albers Midland-Toyota 01:35.724
19. Tiago Monteiro Midland-Toyota 01:35.900
20. Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 01:37.411
21. Yuji Ide Super Aguri-Honda 01:40.270
22. Kimi Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes no time

This year's qualifying has changed format again and I must say it was kinda cool. There are three sessions, and in each session the slowest cars get eliminated. The final session has some sort of complicated 110% fuel rule that I'll have to look up, but it was pretty entertaining.

Good
Ferrari is back with a vengeance. True to form, the extra testing they did at Bahrain paid off. Schumacher secured his 65th career pole position which ties him with all time leader, the late great Ayrton Senna.

Schumie's teammate Felipe Massa was less than a tenth of a second off and actually got held up by a little bit of traffic. In the press conference he seemed kind of pissed about it and I get the feeling he might be the type to do something overaggressive just to prove he's not afraid of MS.

Honda's impressive pre-season pace translated into a 3rd place start for Jenson Button. He too got held up on his last qualifying lap where he might have been able to pip Schumacher.

Bad
Not that qualifying 4th is bad but everyone expected Renault to be the class of the field this weekend so I have to say 4th is a bit of dissapointment for the defending champ. However the Renault typically excels at the start so its not all bad for Fernando. However his teammate qualified in 9th which is the kind of performance that will see Fisichella unemployed if he keeps it up.

Ugly
If you're wondering what happened to Kimi` his rear wing broke sending him flying off track in the first session. In for a rough season: McLaren.

Also in for a rough season is Toyota. To have two of the racecars formerly known as Minardis (Scuderia Toro Rosso) qualify ahead of even one of your cars is quite embarassing. Especially considering that Toyota is the number one spender in F1.

The Super Aguri Hondas are about as far off pace as I had expected but damn, Yuji Ide is 3 seconds off Sato. Maybe Super Aguri is gonna have to rethink this whole "All Japanese Team" thing if they don't wanna look stupid. I'll explain their situation later but they're basically running a modified 2002 Arrows chassis but will be running an updated BAR-Honda chassis when the European rounds start.

G, you should be a race commentator

I'd have to come up with some trademark sayings to exclaim at random intervals during the broadcast