The Hindu : Sport : It's Alonso all the way

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 04, 2005

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Sport

It's Alonso all the way

By Vijay Parthasarathy

MANAMA, APRIL 3. Fernando Alonso drove like he was powered by a whirlwind, and led from pole to win his second consecutive Grand Prix at the Sakhir International Circuit in Bahrain on Sunday. The win gives Renault its third win of the season, after Melbourne and Sepang.

Jarno Trulli finished second once again to gift Toyota another podium finish, while team-mate Ralf Schumacher finished fourth. McLaren Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen came third after starting ninth on the grid.

The race, held in stifling desert conditions with the temperature hovering around 36 degrees Celsius, proved chaotic and unpredictable and seven drivers including Michael Schumacher and Narain Karthikeyan failed to finish.

Narain, who had a bad qualifying session in the morning, later said he had encountered trouble with traction control. As a result he began the race in 18th position. But the 28 year-old Indian had an impressive start and quickly moved up two places, ahead of his team-mate Tiago Monteiro and Minardi's Patrick Friesacher — and then ahead of David Coulthard of Red Bull.

Bolt from the blue

But suddenly during the second lap, his car unexpectedly suffered complete electrical failure. An obviously disappointed Narain attributed the problem to a short circuit. "It happened out of the blue," Narain said. "I was really hoping to finish this race. Look at Tiago. He had a great race and finished tenth".

"It's frustrating because I know if my car had carried on I would have been able to pass him. I had a good start; I'd pushed past Coulthard and I was keeping up with Villeneuve. It's a real pity."

Jenson Button came close to finishing with points for the first time this season; but after completing 46 laps his car abruptly stalled in the pits. BAR Honda failed to finish yet again, with Takuma Sato spinning out earlier after 27 laps.

For a while during the initial stages of the race it seemed as if the main contest would take place between Alonso, the young devil, and the seven-time World champion Ferrari overlord.

Schumacher sneaked past Jarno Trulli in the second qualifying session on Sunday morning, and it appeared as if the F2005 could pull off a podium finish in its debut race itself.

Schumacher's near-incident on Turn Four during one-lap qualifying had cost him a little time, but not enough to have lost him pole. And in any case he managed to start the race from the front of the grid for the first time this season.

The German began the race by swerving to his left and adopting Trulli's line to block him out, but the latter gave him a scare by nearly overtaking him on the outside at the first turn. Schumacher survived that manoeuvre; and after that stuck stubbornly to Alonso.

Less than half a second separated the duo after the 10th lap; but as it turned out, the contest didn't last much longer: Schumacher's machine experienced hydraulic failure, and retired after the 12th lap.

It was left to Rubens Barrichello to try and salvage something from the Bahrain weekend; a little ironic that, considering all this while his team-mate had been the focus of all attention. "Realistically, all I can hope for now is that I can finish the race, which will at least serve the purpose of acquiring more data on the new car," Barrichello had said immediately after finishing 15th in the second qualifying session.

Barrichello subsequently opted to start at the back of the grid after coping with gearbox problems all weekend, but from then onwards, drove intelligently — by the 25th lap, he'd roared away to fifth place. The Brazilian was a little unfortunate in the end to miss out on points, finishing ninth after tyre trouble. But that hardly takes anything away from Barrichello, especially considering for long he's had to drive in the shadow of his more illustrious team-mate.

"The only thing that can stop Renault now is a mechanical problem," Alonso proclaimed shortly after the race, and he isn't being cocky in the least. Giancarlo Fisichella spun out of the race early; yet Renault (and Alonso, in particular) is looking invincible at the moment. The teams move on to Europe next and although the season has barely begun, given the circumstances for the first time in years Ferrari looks in serious trouble.

The long-anticipated showdown between Alonso and Schumacher ended a little abruptly, yes, but sooner or later their paths are bound to cross again. But just now, it's time to celebrate the rather belated arrival of the brilliant young Spaniard, the coming of age of a potential Formula One champion.

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