One-two finish for Alonso and Massa in Bahrain F1 GP

A very good start for the Italian manufacturer in the 2010 F1 World Championship with a one-two finish for Alonso and Massa in the Bahrain F1 GP yesterday.

Fernando Alonso finished first after completing 49 Laps in 1:39.20.396 followed by Felipe Massa that ended the race in 1:39.36.495. A very important victory for Alonso as this was hes first race with the Prancing Horse as well as for Massa who recovered very well after last year's accident in Budapest.

The 3rd podium position belonged to Lewis Hamilton and even though it is to early to make speculations we think Ferrari and McLaren Mercedes might be among favorites at wining the F1 World Title this year. 

As for Michael Schumacher, after a 3 season absence from F1, he managed to finish on the 6th position, followed by Jenson Button si Mark Webber.

2010 Season Formula 1 Results after Bahrain's Grand Prix.

1 - Fernando Alonso - Ferrari - 25 Points

2 - Felipe Massa - Ferrari - 18 Points 

3 - Lewis Hamilton - McLaren-Mercedes - 15 Points

4 - Sebastian Vettel - RedBull - 12 Points 

5 - Nico Rosberg - MercedesGP - 10 Points 

6 - Michael Schumacher - MercedesGP - 8 Points 

7 - Jenson Button - McLaren-Mercedes - 6 Points 

8 - Mark Webber - RebBull - 4 Points 

9 - Vitantonio Liuzzi - ForceIndia - 2 Points 

10 - Rubens Barrichello - Williams - 1 Points 

2010 F1 Season - Team Results after Bahrains Grand Prix

1 - Ferrari - 43 Poins

2 - McLaren-Mercedes - 21 Poins

3 - MercedesGP - 18 Poins

4 - RedBull - 16 Poins

5 - ForceIndia - 2 Poins

6 - Williams - 1 Poins

7 - Renault - 0 Poins

8 - Toro Rosso - 0 Poins

9 - Lotus F1 - 0 Poins

10 - Sauber F1 - 0 Poins

Ferrari press release :

F. Alonso 1st 1:39.20.396 -, 49 Laps, Chassis 283

F. Massa 2nd 1:39.36.495 +16.099, 49 Laps, Chassis 281

Weather: air temperature 34 °C, track temperature 47°C, sunny.

Aone-two finish for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro in the Bahrain Grand Prix,the opening round of the 2010 World Championship. Fernando Alonsofinished first on his race debut with the Prancing Horse, while FelipeMassa came second on his comeback after the accident in Budapest lastyear. This is victory number 211 for the Scuderia from 794 Grand Prixstarts, the fourth in the seven editions of this race. For Fernando, itis win number twenty two from 141 Grand Prix starts, his third at theSakhir circuit.

Stefano Domenicali: “Afantastic start to the championship! This amazing one-two is justreward for all the work of the team, both at the track and the factoryin Maranello, over these past few months and I dedicate the result tothem. Today, we had to manage a very complicated situation withFelipe’s car, because of the high temperatures, but we did it and I wasvery happy to see our driver on the podium on what was a very specialday for him. As for Fernando, what can I say? There could be no betterway for him to start his adventure in red! I also want to thank ourtechnical and commercial partners, first and foremost Philip Morris andShell, who have always supported us, even in the most difficult timesand I think there is no better way to also welcome on board a newimportant sponsor like the Santander Bank. Now we can enjoy thiswonderful day for a few hours, but as from tomorrow, we must startpreparing for the next round in Australia, adopting our usual approachwhich involves keeping calm, with our feet on the ground and workinghard. We have a very long season ahead of us, in which reliability willbe crucial, as indeed we saw yet again today and where we will befighting very strong and determined adversaries.”

Fernando Alonso:“I want to dedicate this victory to President Montezemolo, who believedin me and to our mechanics who did a really great job, especially thismorning, when they changed the engine on my car in a very short time.Jumping onto the top step of the podium was a special feeling and Ihope I have matched the expectations of the whole team. We worked somuch this winter and now we are beginning to see the results of that.The first races of the season are very important: we must get to theEuropean part of the year with a lot of points in the bag and a highlevel of understanding of how the tyres work at various types of track.The key to winning will be to continue to develop the car race by race.Today, on the harder tyres, we went very well, but with the softerones, I was struggling a bit to stay close to Vettel. I was planning toattack in the final ten laps, but luck gave me a hand: you always needa bit in every race. At the start, I got away well, making the most ofbeing on the clean side of the track and I managed to pass Felipe,going for a space that was big enough to pull off the move without anyrisk. Then I was lucky not to have any problems with the car, while myteam-mate had a more difficult time and had to ease up a bit. Now it’stime to think about Australia. We will see who has the best car at thattrack, but I think the four top teams will all be in the fight.”

Felipe Massa: “Iam very happy with this result and I want to thank all the team and ourfans. It is my best opening race of a season since I started in Formula1 and, given all the problems we had, I am very pleased. We had tomanage the temperatures on the car and, for around thirty laps, I wasnot able to push as hard as I could. At the start, I lost a place toAlonso, but then the car worked well with both types of tyre. With thesofter tyres, the Red Bull was quicker than us, but on the harder oneswe were much better. I want to thank one more time all those who havebeen close to me over these past months, writing and sending memessages. Now we must look to Australia to be as well prepared aspossible.”

Chris Dyer: “Afantastic result for the whole team. We worked so hard over the winter– in the wind tunnel, in the design office, the engine department, ontrack, everywhere –and today we reaped our reward. It was a greatwelcome for Fernando and an equally nice welcome back for Felipe: itwould be hard to have asked for more in the first race. It was not aneasy weekend, because we had to tackle a whole series of problems whichwe controlled thanks to the efforts of everyone at the track and backhome, but I really hope we have fewer of them in the future. Because ofthe high temperatures, we were not able to run the race we wanted, butespecially with Felipe, we had to adopt a very conservative approach,although I don’t think we were the only ones faced with that particulardifficulty.”

Tags: ferrari, f1, formula1, bahrain, alonso, massa, gp, grand, prix, season, 2010

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Source: Ferrari