Bahrain GP: McLaren race notes
Racing series
F1
Date
2004-04-04


The West McLaren Mercedes team had a disappointing Bahrain Grand Prix as both Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard failed to finish the 57 lap race. Kimi retired with an engine failure on lap eight and David's race finished on lap 50 due to a loss of air in the pneumatic system of the engine. David completed his three stops on laps nine (7.89 seconds), 23 (7.892 seconds) and 38 (9.217 seconds).


David Coulthard:


"A disappointing outcome after an extremely unsatisfying couple of days in Bahrain. I had a few good battles during the race but as has been the case throughout I lacked speed. Another points finish would have been possible but at the end I lost air in the pneumatic system of the engine. I came into the pits to see if we could do something to rectify the situation but it proved impossible and that was the end of that."


Kimi Raikkonen:


"It's been a difficult weekend for me and the entire team. I started the race from last but made a good start and gained quite a few places during the first couple of laps. I was battling with one of the Jaguars for 11th but all of a sudden I lost power and my engine went. There is not really anything else I can say or do. I just want to forget this weekend and look forward to the rest of the year."

Ron Dennis:


"Definitely not the outcome any of us would have liked. Both Kimi and David could have finished in the points today but to do that you have to finish. However the entire team will continue the efforts to optimise our package and whilst we have had a difficult start to the season I'm confident that we will improve."


Norbert Haug:


"The entire team is disappointed with the weekend's performance. We still have to investigate the reason for Kimi's engine failure. David's retirement was caused by loss of air in the pneumatic system of the engine. We now have to work even harder together as a team to put every effort into improving our reliability and competitiveness."


-mclaren-

Bahrain GP: Williams race notes
Racing series
F1
Date
2004-04-04


After an eventful first running of the Bahrain GP, the BMW WilliamsF1 Team drivers Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya came 7th and 13th respectively. Neither of the drivers could exploit their good qualifying positions (3rd JPM and 4th RS) since Ralf had a number of mishaps which pushed him down the field and Juan Pablo had a technical failure in the last part of the race, when he was running in a strong third position.


Ralf Schumacher:


"After all that happened in my race I would define my final position as limitation of damages. The collision with Sato was an unfortunate race incident, from my point of view, however, he was a bit optimistic in thinking to get back the position he had simply just lost. All in all, I am not too disappointed because I have seen from the data that I was running close to Ferrari's pace, whenever I had free track ahead. This leaves some room for hope."


Juan Pablo Montoya:


"It's clear that we are not quick enough to match Ferrari, at the moment, but today we were the quickest on Michelin tyres and this is very important for us. Maybe I went for the wrong tyres, as they didn't prove as quick in the race as I was expecting but still I had a good pace and would have come third, if I hadn't had a gearbox problem with about 10 laps to go. I first lost the seventh gear and then a few more gears and then I eventually lost all drive. There was nothing else to do but try to finish the race which is why I continued and ultimately it was disappointing, of course, because I couldn't even finish in the points."


Sam Michael (Chief Operations Engineer, WilliamsF1):


"Today's result is disappointing for us, in particular due to the gearbox failure on Juan's car. Up until this problem occurred, which was ten laps before the end of the race, it looked like he would finish third. Third place would still not have matched our goals, Ferrari has beaten us fairly here. Ralf had to come into the pits after the early incident with Sato and this compromised the strategy on his car."


Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):


"After we had a good qualifying we have seen today that Ferrari are again in a class of their own in the race. Juan Pablo was losing about 0.5 sec a lap from Michael Schumacher, before he had a gearbox problem which pushed him down. After his problems, Ralf still made his way up from the back of the field to finish in 7th position. Of course we were expecting to come out of the first three flyaway races more successfully. Now it's all about improving our package."


Ralf Schumacher: 7th
Chassis: FW26 03
Best time: 1:30.781 min (lap 56, 3rd overall)


Juan Pablo Montoya: 13th
Chassis: FW26 05
Best time: 1:30.977 min (lap 28, 6th overall)


-williams-

Ripper, много си зле. Не виждам никакъв смисъл да пействаш нескопосаните обяснения за провала на Макларън и Уилямс на Шакир.

Райконен в момента е на нивото на австриеца Клайн, който кара в Заубер по-старата версия на мотора на Ферари.

Даже и да си най-запаления ферарист, когато няма тръпка и гонитба, просто не ти е интересно.

забравих да ти кажа, че Макларън и специално Райконен в момента е на нивото на австриеца Клайн, който кара в Заубер по-старата версия на мотора на Ферари.

През 1999 Шумахер можеше да стане шампион, но не знам дали помниш една катастрофа в дъжда на Спа, която го лиши от 10 точки.

Монтоя е страхотен и се бори достойно с проблемите на Уилямс. Да не говорим, че той имаше най-голямо предимство, защото неговият отбор е участвал в рабработката на пистата в Бахрейн.

чак пък толкова - "Ферари не са били нищо, когато Шуми отиде там". Бяха втори при конструкторите, кмете.

Откога Бахрейн стана на пустиня? Това е един изключително богат на вода остров.

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publication s/factbook/geos/ba.html