F1 Bahrain Grand Prix 2013: Rising Above Controversy?

             In a week in which F1 has been plagued with controversies regarding sexism, with former champion Sir Stirling Moss arguing that women lack the necessary ‘mental fortitude’ for racing, a relaxing trip to a hot, tranquil country and an exciting but uneventful race seemed precisely what F1 required. Unfortunately, step forward Bahrain. A country currently in the centre of considerable political distress, with arguments over the monarchy and human rights dominating recent headlines. Indeed, such has been the scale of the problems that several British MPs have made suggestions, in the last week, that the F1 roadshow should not roll into Bahrain. The events of 2012 further support the argument not to return to the country this year. Whilst the race itself was relatively uneventful, the event will be best remembered for petrol bombings near the Force India garage, leading to a significant pit lane fire. The hacking of the official F1 website by an anonymous group, wreaking havoc with the live timing also overshadowed the grand prix itself. Recent reports suggest that the latter will reoccur this year, after heavy protests on the streets in recent days. The reason? The belief that F1 coming to Bahrain legitimises the current undemocratic regime, causing the worlds of politics and sport to clash.

 

                Nevertheless, F1 is in Bahrain this weekend, and with all of the discussion over political trouble, we seem to forget that a serious sporting event is taking place. Whilst arguments over postponing the race may be levied at Bernie Ecclestone and the heads of the FIA, it is important to remember that the political concerns are not the fault of the drivers. Therefore, assuming there are no significant security concerns, we can all enjoy the spectacle of the race itself, irrespective of the political issues. The start of the 2013 season suggests that the championship will be every bit as close as last year, which leaves F1 fans a mouth-watering 17 grand prix to enjoy over the next 7 months. Qualifying yesterday gave us much of the same indication, with 6 or 7 teams having the ability to challenge for Q3, and at least 3 teams (Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes) believing they had what it takes to snatch pole. As it was, Mercedes took the top spot. However, it was Nico Rosberg, not Lewis Hamilton, who was fastest, with a stunning lap of 1:32.330. Hamilton, who had outqualified his new teammate at every race previously, started 9^th after a 5 place penalty for a gearbox change in P3. That left Force India’s Paul Di Resta as the highest placed Brit, as he, and his teammate Adrian Sutil, started on the 3^rd row, a very encouraging result for the small team.

 

                The talk before the race was all about rear tyres, as the hot conditions in the desert-based track were considered to take a significant toll on the back end of the cars. Therefore, the winner of the race was considered to be most likely the one who could best look after the rear tyres. This gave assumptions that the race would be fought ‘Ferrari versus Red Bull’. Much of the rhetoric coming from Mercedes pre-race, and Ross Brawn in particular, suggested that they did not believe they would look after the tyres sufficiently to win. This was clearly illustrated by Rosberg falling drastically down the field early on. After starting on pole, and fighting Vettel very hard in the first corner, Rosberg had a disappointing afternoon, eventually ending in 9th. This led to an early fight between Vettel and Fernando Alonso. However, this intriguing battle ended prematurely, with Ferrari driver Alonso developing a DRS problem on lap , wrecking his race. After all of the recent talk of team orders, McLaren drivers Jenson Button and Sergio Perez had obviously not been paying close enough attention to the pre-race team briefings, as they collided on lap 31. Whilst both continued, after their persistent squabbling over position, one can imagine that team boss Martin Whitmarsh would have been unimpressed. After Alonso’s DRS failure, Ferrari’s afternoon imploded, with Felipe Massa suffering 2 separate punctures, leading to questions over the Pirelli tyres supplied. Despite a rousing Alonso fightback, the Tifosi were left in disappointing 8^th and 15^th places. Ferrari’s misfortune was Lotus’s (2^nd and 3^rd) and Force India’s (4^th) gain. This capped a dream weekend for di Resta, having been quoted after qualifying as saying that 4^th would be perfect for the Brit. The problems behind left three-time and reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel free to stroll to a practically lights-to-flag victory, ending with a huge margin of 9.1 seconds from Kimi Raikkonen. Interestingly, the podium was identical to that of last year, with Vettel victorious from the Lotus pair of Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean. The final few laps were lit up with a ferocious scrap between Hamilton (5^th) and Red Bull’s Mark Webber (7^th), where at more than one point it looked like contact was inevitable. Luckily, both managed to make it to the end unscathed in a truly thrilling climax.

Picture from GoogleImages

 

                Those who argue that Formula 1 is boring due to the lack of overtaking clearly failed to tune in to the 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix. Throughout the field there were incidents and accidents, giving F1 fans a fantastic preview into the rest of what promises to be an exciting, competitive and action-packed season. Based on the action on-track, I hope Formula 1 returns to Bahrain for many years to come. The clash of off-track politics with sport, however, threatens to derail F1 in this part of the globe. Until the controversial issues are resolved, I fear we may be seeing similar scenes of protest before future Bahrain Grand Prix, if indeed we see another.