So Bahrain GP will take place after all the ambiguities and despite the restless and violent situation in the country. Politics aside, let´s talk about Formula 1 racing! In the burning heat of Bahrain we saw a surprising qualifying session!
Even Q1 was kind of unusual. Who would have predicted that Heikki Kovalainen with his astonishing Angry Birds helmet would have made his way into Q2? And the Finn did it by driving, not due to some bizarre weather conditions or something like that! And even better, it was Michael Schumacher who was knocked out of Q2 thanks to Heikki´s brilliant performance! Not bad, not bad at all! :D Okay, Schumi was reported to have had some technical issues with his removeable rear wing but anyway, well done for Heikki today! Another thing that caught my eye in Q1 was the massive difference between the performance of the Toro Rosso drivers. Ricciardo was able to set the second fastest time in Q1 whereas his French team-mate Vergne qualified 19th and was out of Q2. So far I haven´t read about Vergne having any techincal issues but something must have happened, technical issues or mistakes by the man himself.
Q2 was... surprising as well! In terms of all three practice sessions Lotus´s pace seemed promising and strong but against all odds Kimi didin´t make his way through to the final segment of the qualifying! :( I was soooo disappointed for Kimi! He made only one run at the beginning of the Q2 but didn´t come out again at the end when the track was constantly improving. To me it seemed that the curse of P11 (which haunted Vettel in China a week before) was this time handed to Kimi at Bahrain! But this turned out to be a false conclusion after all as Lotus confirmed that Kimi consciously opted to do only one run to save fresh tyres for tomorrow´s race! It´s true that fresh tyres and the lack of them will play a significant role in the race tomorrow but....
I can´t help thinking about the role of the qualifying nowadays. I mean qualifying used to be about finding out who´s the fastest driver on the track! After the qualifying you used to know which was the fastest car and the fastest driver. That doesn´t seem to be the case anymore! Tactics has started to play a bigger and bigger role in the qualifying. It isn´t about finding out the true speed of the cars but about saving tyres for the race... I find it kind of frustrating! So in a way qualifying has lost its original meaning and I find it sad in a way.
In spite of the growing role of the tactical issues I truly want to believe Sebastian Vettel was the fastest man on the track today! An absolutely stunning, brilliant, amazing but kind of unexpected pole for the German Red Bull ace today!! Hamilton completed the front row and there´re Webber and Button in the second row. Surprisingly Rosberg in his Mercedes qualified 5th, Ricciardo 6th (!!) and Grosjean 7th. Another question in my mind is, if the tyre degradation issues suffered by the Mercedes team have truly been solved or if the superb outcome in China was only due to the cooler weather conditions...? But finally Red Bull´s pace looks what it should be and I can´t wait for tomorrow´s race! I was absolutely delighted to see "the finger" back! :D
There´s also another reason why I can´t wait for tomorrow! :) I and about 50 other lucky Finnish Formula 1 fans were chosen to be part of live TV broadcast at the Finnish MTV3 studio tomorrow. We´ll meet the Finnish F1 commentators Oskari Saari and Mika Salo and we´ll get a chance to ask some questions concerning F1. I´m actually very nervous about tomorrow but at the same time I can´t wait for tomorrow to come! It will be absolutely awesome and interesting to be part of a live broadcast and to watch the race at the studio and maybe have a few photos taken for my blog after that... I´ll wear the Red Bull´s black and gold championship T-shirt and I promise I try not to embarass myself by shouting Vettel´s name out loud ;);) It will be an utterly unique experience as this might well be a one of a kind occasion that the Finnish Formula 1 team isn´t travelling to the venue where the race takes place! I´m sure I´m going to enjoy every second of it and I know I´m privileged that I get to be a part of this historical event! :)
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