Bahrain Grand Prix Preview 4 - 6 April 2008
After a gruelling Far Eastern double header in Australia
and Malaysia, the Force India Formula One Team now travels
to the Middle East for the third event of the FIA Formula
One World Championship, the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The 5.412km Bahrain International Circuit is located in the
Sakhir desert area south of Manama, the capital city of the
Kingdom of Bahrain. The Hermann Tilke-designed facility follows
the contours of the rolling sand dunes, giving a gently undulating
track that combines long straights with tight, narrow corners.
The Force India Formula One Team will be looking to carry
forward the strong progress demonstrated in the opening rounds
of the championship. At the previous event in Malaysia the
team missed out on entering Q2 for the first time in over
a season by the narrowest of margins - just 0.05secs - and
Giancarlo Fisichella raced competitively for 12th position
overall. Thanks to strong work at the team's bases in Silverstone
and Brackley, Force India has also improved its average lap
time by over two seconds, the biggest improvement of the F1
grid, and now goes to Bahrain hoping to validate these improvements
under race conditions and achieve its first double finish
of the year.
Team Quotes
Dr. Vijay Mallya, chairman and managing director
'When Force India came into the sport just a few months ago,
some observers expected us to stay in the same position and
just be happy to be on the grid. These last two races have
resolutely shown that we are not just in it for the taking
part: we want to race competitively. We have done the maths,
we have looked at the statistics and have improved by over
two seconds from this time last year. This is not a sign of
a team just pleased to be here.
'In Malaysia I was delighted to see Giancarlo fighting for
12th position - not just lucking into it at the end of the
race thanks to retirements - he was actually able to race
with others and win this position by merit. Formula One has
never been so competitive and to be able to do this is a sure
sign of progress on our part.
'Adrian has been unlucky not to finish the races so far this
year so we have not yet seen how much improvement he has made,
however I am sure this will be his chance. We are all looking
forward to Bahrain now.'
Colin Kolles, team principal
'I am particularly looking forward to the Bahrain Grand Prix
after such a strong showing in the first two races of the
year. Although the results do not ultimately show the full
progress we have made, the improvement we demonstrated in
Australia and Malaysia from this time last year emphasises
the fact we are heading in the right direction.
'Our aims for this race have to be to get into Q2 and achieve
a double finish. This is, I believe, a realistic goal as we
have new aero parts for this race that should give another
improvement and I am confident we have addressed the reliability
issues on Adrian's car.
'Giancarlo did a fantastic job in Malaysia and hopefully
should be rewarded with a position in Q2 in Bahrain and a
good result on Sunday. Adrian was unlucky in the first two
races but I am sure that in this next event he will have the
opportunity to show his real potential.'
Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer
'As part of our aerodynamic programme, we will have several
new aerodynamic parts on the front wing and new brake ducts
in Bahrain, which should bring a further performance increase.
We have also analysed the reasons for Giancarlo's poor start
in Malaysia, which was due to a clutch problem. Hopefully
this shouldn't happen again as, although he drove fantastically
well thereafter, it compromised his race from the outset.
We are also analysing the reason for Adrian's retirement and
are confident we will not have a reoccurrence of the same
problem.
'As we showed in the race in Malaysia we now have a car that
can race competitively and, looking at the data from the first
two races, it is clear that we have made a big step forward
from last season's performance. The most significant reason
for this improvement has been aerodynamic as we have made
large gains with our own tunnel coming on stream coupled with
the continuing use of the Aerolab facility. Now we are really
starting to see the results. We were very close to getting
into Q2, and hopefully this new step will allow us to get
there in Bahrain.'
Driver Quotes
Adrian Sutil
'In Bahrain you need to be quite quick in a straight line,
and the teams will be quite close together, but I think with
the new upgrades we have in Bahrain we will be much closer
than ever to the other teams. It's mainly a hairpin circuit,
a few quick chicanes but mainly second gear corners, so it
should suit us a bit better.
'I think we will be close to reaching second qualifying again.
We saw in both Melbourne and Malaysia that Giancarlo was close,
and it will be similar again I hope. I feel I've been unlucky
in qualifying, and then of course in the race, but I am confident
that we won't have the same problem again. I just need to
have the opportunity to finish to show what we can really
do. We saw in Melbourne that my first lap was very good and
the car is more competitive than last year, for sure. I'm
looking forward to racing again and getting my first finish
of the year.'
Giancarlo Fisichella
'I enjoy the Bahrain Grand Prix. It is a good track with a
long straight that can be very enjoyable if you have a good
engine, which we do. There are of course a couple of tricky
corners and it is very demanding on brakes, so it proves to
be a good challenge.
'My aims will same as in Malaysia: I want to complete the
full distance and improve the race pace if we can, although
in Sepang our lap times were already pretty competitive. The
VJM01 feels well balanced, even if we know there is more to
come from it. Hopefully with the new improvements in Bahrain
we will be able to investigate some more set up options and
should be able to get rid of the understeer that plagued us
in Sepang.
'I think we can also try to get into Q2, but this always
depends on us getting the perfect lap and maybe one of the
others making a mistake - it's very close racing this year,
particularly with Toro Rosso and Honda, and I think this battle
will continue for the rest of the season.
'In Malaysia we were fighting hard with these two teams and
were very close in lap times, especially with Rubens. I think
to beat him we need to have a good strategy, but now we know
what we have to do, we can look into it in Bahrain. With the
race pace we have we can take some risks with the strategies
until we know what suits us best. I am looking forward to
it.'
Bahrain Grand Prix information
The 5.412km Bahrain International Circuit is situated in the
Sakhir desert just outside the capital city of Manama. The
sand and dust from the dunes that surround the circuit can
be blown onto the track by the swirling Gulf winds, which
can make the already coarse surface very gritty. With tight
corners allied with long straights that require good straight
line speed, traction and braking, it can be hard to balance
the need for stability while maintaining grip in the slower
corners such as turns 10 and 13.
The long straights mean engine performance is especially
important and it has one of the highest wide open throttle
times per lap of almost anywhere else in the championship
except Monza. After all these long straights braking down
into the slower corners gives a high wear rate for brakes
- possibly the highest of the year.
After opening the 2006 season, last year the Bahrain Grand
Prix moved back to its traditional slot in early April. It's
the Bahraini springtime, but of course the weather can still
be very hot and the team can normally expect an average temperature
of 30 C, making it the third consecutive 'hot' race.
Unlike Malaysia, however, the humidity in the Kingdom of
Bahrain in the heart of the Arabian Gulf, is far lower. Statistically
the race is far less likely to be afflicted by rain - in fact,
the chance of rain is incredibly slim, with an average one
day of rain in this region in April. Statistically, this makes
it the driest race of the year, although it was decidedly
muggy this time last year!
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