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2008 Calendar
Mar 16 - Australia
Mar 23 - Malaysia
Apr 6 - Bahrain
Apr 27 - Spain
May 11 - Turkey
May 25 - Monaco
June 8 - Canada
June 22 - France
July 6 - Great Britain
July 20 - Germany
Aug 3 - Hungary
Aug 24 - Europe
Sep 7 - Belgium
Sep 14 - Italy
Sep 28 - Singapore*
Oct 12 - Japan
Oct 19 - China
Nov 2 - Brazil
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For all you tifosi, we have something new for you... The Tifosi Blog!
For those of you that are regular in our Tifosi Forum already found out about the great news a few weeks ago... the return of our TC founder: Enrico!
Not only is Enrico back, but he will be managing the Tifosi Blog, updating it with great news as only him can do, as he has done for many years here at Tifosi Club.
Click here to access the Tifosi Blog.
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Bahrain 2008 - TC Race Report
“Red Bah-Reign”
 (TC) - Despite victory in Malaysia, the Scuderia Ferrari arrived in Bahrain with significant questions looming. Particularly questions about diver Felipe Massa. After two driver errors in consecutive races, which led to zero championship points, rumors of his pending replacement were rampant both in the media and on internet message boards. The rumors varied from replacement as soon as the Spanish Grand Prix to as late as next season. Replacement names varied from Fernando Alonso to Sebastian Vettel, to the irreplaceable maestro himself, Michael Schumacher.
Rumors rampant outside the Scuderia proved to be quite different from the support Massa received within the team. Scuderia Director Stefano Domenicali vowed his support for the Brazilian, and the team stood tall in the wake of the media storm. Undeniably, this support inspired Massa to perform this weekend, and repay the debts he created with his hard working mechanics when he spun into the gravel trap in Malaysia.
Friday practice left off essentially where the Malaysian Grand Prix ended; with Ferrari significantly faster than the others. 1.4 seconds separated a rejuvenated Massa from the nearest McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen. Perhaps more surprising was that he was almost a second faster than his team mate Kimi Raikkonen. When qualifying began on Saturday, many tifosi expected a Red front row. Alas, that was not meant to be as the BMW of Robert Kubica used a low fuel qualifying run to obtain the first pole position for the BMW Sauber team. Felipe would start second, Kimi fourth, separated only by the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton.
All of Massa’s prior 5 victories came from pole position, and with his driver errors of Malaysia and Melbourne looming, it left a major question of concern for the tifosi, many of whom had already pinned their hopes on a heavy fuel strategy for Kimi. Massa’s starting on the dirty side of the seldom used race track certainly wouldn’t help matters. BMW’s pole position was the first non-Ferrari or McLaren pole position in 22 race weekends, and proved to be a breath of fresh air for F1 fans. Pressure must be mounting on Ron Dennis in Woking as their German rivals are now consistently beating McLaren in all aspects of F1.
Concerns for all the teams during the Grand Prix focused on three items, the gusting desert wind, the tire degradation and the brakes. For the race Ferrari changed their brakes from the standard Brembo to the Hitco brand, used notably by McLaren. There is speculation that Kimi had a hard time adapting to the characteristics of the new brand. The winner of this Grand Prix would be the package that best dealt with these three elements, and of course the driver who made a clean start.
When the lights went out, Massa made a brilliant start from P2 to pull alongside Kubica’s pole-sitting BMW and vault his Ferrari into first place. Conversely, Lewis Hamilton had a disastrous start that landed him from P4 to P11 after the first corner. Kimi kept his nose clean at the start but went wheel-to-wheel with Heikki Kovalainen’s McLaren through the first corner. Kimi wisely backed off and avoided an off track excursion, then subsequently passed Kovalainen for 3rd position two corners later. As they crossed the line for the first of 57 laps, Massa led Kubica who led Kimi ahead of Kovalainen.
On the second lap, more drama unfolded. Raikkonen made a brilliant pass along the outside of Kubica going into the first corner, which put the reds into the same 1-2 position of two weeks prior. 15 seconds after Kimi’s outstanding maneuver, Hamilton inexplicably ran over the back of Fernando Alonso’s rear wing. It seemed like an incident of brain fade, or perhaps the sophomore driver is using his second campaign to use his allotment of rookie mistakes. In any event, the nose of Hamilton’s McLaren lurched into the air and lost his front wing as the car slammed down into the tarmac. Alonso would continue, but Hamilton would be forced to pit for repairs. He would rejoin in P18.
As the Ferrari’s drove away from the field, the question turned to Hamilton. Would he turn the event into a driving clinic, cutting through the field like a hot knife through butter? Or would he languish outside the top 10 and pathetically limp his McLaren home. All of the recent world champions have shown the ability to storm back into the points after a disappointing start. Most notably would be Michael Schumacher’s penchant ability to do so, and most memorably would be his final race in Brazil where he stormed to 4th place after a disastrous tire failure landed him at the back of the field. In 2003 Kimi stormed from last place in Japan to overtake Fisichella for the victory on the final lap of that race, and Alonso for all his problems with Renault in 2006 still found a way to drive himself into a respectable points finishing position in numerous events. Would Hamilton prove that he belonged amongst the sport’s elite today?
The order after Hamilton’s incident was; Felipe leading Kimi, leading Kubica, leading Heidfeld in the second BMW, ahead of Kovalainen in the leading McLaren, with the surprising Toyota of Jarno Trulli in tow, ahead of the final points contenders Nico Rosberg in the Williams and Mark Webber in the Red Bull RB4. Fisichella amazingly took his Force India to 11th position from 18th , a nice start for the Italian.
After 8 laps, Massa has a 4.5 second lead on Kimi, and the gap remained stationary between the two Ferraris. Back to the BMW was another story, as Kubica began to drop back at the pace of ½ a second per lap. Kubica confirmed the feeling that BMW qualified him on low fuel as he was the first car to pit on L17. As Kubica pitted a titanic battle was erupting between the two Ferraris. On L14 Kimi set the fast lap of the race, followed again by another fast lap on L15, and yet another on L17. Massa responded by lowering the gauntlet on his own fastest lap on L18.
The battle between Massa and Raikkonen was interrupted by a tangle between the British-Scottish duo of Button and Coulthard as the Ferraris came around to put a lap on the two. Button retired in the garage after the two came together, but DC carried on. On L20, Kimi shocked his fans around the world by pitting his second place Ferrari, meaning that Massa was significantly faster on this day, and also carried a greater fuel load.
Massa pitted his leading Ferrari on Lap 21 and rejoined in P1 ahead of the consistently driving Mark Webber in P2, with Kimi following in P3. Webber would pit and rejoin in his final finishing position of P7, setting up another battle between the Ferrari duo. On Lap 31 Kimi sets fastest lap, followed again by another on L32. On Lap 34 Massa answers with a fastest lap of his own, only to have his time crushed by Kimi on L35 by a massive 0.6 seconds. The battle came to an end as Kimi pitted on L37 followed by Massa on L38, both remaining stationary in their positions. It appeared that the race between the Ferraris was done for the day, with Massa the victor.
During the pit stop cycle, in what could be foreshadowing for 2009, the BMWs found themselves running 1-2 with the McLaren of Kovalainen following in a distant 5th. Both BMWs pitted and relinquished their 1-2 status to the current reigning world champions, but rejoined in P3 & P4. At this point, the BMW’s came alive. On Lap 47 Hiedfeld sets the fastest lap of the race while chasing Kubica for P3. Kubica responds by taking 3 seconds off Raikkonen’s lead in P2. The subsequent lap, the BMW glimmer of hope was extinguished as Kimi lowered a flying lap, regaining his lead over Kubica and the drivers held stationary through the finish.
The final points standings were; Massa, Kimi, Kubica, Heidfeld, Kovalainen, Trulli, Webber, and Rosberg.
It was a brilliant drive by Massa, which should silence the naysayers for at least the 3 weeks before the next Grand Prix, as F1 returns to it’s native Europe. Kimi finishing second takes the lead in the Drivers Championship, and BMW’s strong performance placed the Swiss-German team into the lead in the constructor’s championship, one solitary point ahead of Ferrari. It was an interesting day for Peter Sauber as he watched the team bearing his name take it’s first pole, it’s first lead in the constructors championship, and additionally all three drivers on the podium drove for him early in their careers.
Massa’s win was significant, in part for Massa’s fickle confidence, but also because he finally won a race from another position other than pole. The timing of this 6th career victory could not have been more important for the Brazilian, as he resoundingly answered his critics.
And what of the storied performance of Lewis Hamilton, storming back through the field after his self induced Lap 2 difficulties? Well much to the chagrin of Ron Dennis, let’s say it wasn’t his protégé’s day, as he languished in the latter parts of the grid and finally crossed the line in P13 behind the Force India F1 of Giancarlo Fisichella. We’ve never seen a performance like this from Schumacher, Raikkonen or Alonso, which makes one question if Hamilton truly belongs to be mentioned in this group. Time will tell.
A period of 3 weeks will pass before the F1 engines fire up again in Spain. For the first time in 4 years Fernando Alonso stands a minimal opportunity of winning his home Grand Prix, yet I suspect the 3 week break is welcome among the mechanics and F1 personnel who have effectively been away from Europe since the lights went out in Melbourne 4 weeks ago. And to Felipe Massa and the entire Scuderia, they should be wished well an enjoy their return to native soil. After 2 successive dominant wins out of the first 3 races, they’ve earned a well deserved trip home.
- Tifosi-Club.com
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Click here for the Malaysia 2008 - TC Race Report!
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Click here for the Australia 2008 - TC Race Report!
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Click here for a sneak peak of the new Tifosi Club!
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