The Papers' View On The Bahrain GP

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Editorial | Off On F1 | Letters | Race Features

Monday 7th April 2008

With the Bahrain GP overshadowed by the Max Mosley, it's been a bad weekend for F1. And it certainly wasn't a good weekend for Lewis Hamilton...

'Every champion worth his salt has had to climb off the canvas. Lewis Hamilton finished the Bahrain Grand Prix the equivalent of a boxer on all fours searching for his gumshield. The blows were entirely self inflicted, and served to make the work of posting an ominous one-two straightforward for a Felipe Massa-led Ferrari.

It is far too early to start re-writing the Hamilton fairytale. Given the standards set, he needs no one to tell him that over the past two grands prix they have not been met. This was just the kind of error we expected to see in his rookie year. Twelve months after his historic, record-breaking debut, he suddenly appears mortal' - Kevin Garside, The Daily Telegraph.

'The talk in the paddock is that this season is beginning to look like a three-way battle, with the BMWs showing enough pace to beat the McLarens, though they still lack the outright speed to match the Ferrari race pace. But with a new aerodynamic package coming for the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona in three weeks' time, the team are getting ever closer to their first grand prix win.

'Hamilton started his rookie season last year in astonishing form as he and McLaren produced one error-free performance after another. This year, elevated to de facto team leader in the wake of Alonso's departure, the pressure seems to be getting to him. He started superbly with victory in Australia, but he and the team have since suffered gremlins more typical of the calamitous end to last season than the beginning' - Edward Gorman, The Times.

'Felipe Massa desperately needed a win here and all weekend he looked like a man determined to get it. When the red lights went out at the start, he set off from the front row of the grid, and that was pretty much all anyone else saw of him as he dominated for Ferrari and earned his redemption in style. In his wake, he left Lewis Hamilton trailing' - David Tremayne, The Independent.

'It subsequently emerged that the aerodynamic "bridge" connecting the two sides of the front wing across the nose of the McLaren had failed a couple of seconds before he plunged into the back of the Spaniard. That gave Hamilton a fleeting rush of acceleration which carried him into his collision.

'This was a disastrous weekend for Hamilton, starting when he crashed at almost 130mph during Friday's second free-practice session, wrecking his car. He emerged unhurt but the team's mechanics were faced with working until 4am on Saturday to rebuild the McLaren. He qualified well in third place behind Robert Kubica's pole-winning BMW Sauber and the Ferrari of Felipe Massa, but Massa dominated the 57-lap race from the start, winning by 3.3sec from his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen and Kubica' - Alan Henry, The Guardian.

'Lewis Hamilton made space out of nothing, jinked through a crowded field and was gone. He even found time to wave to his fans. Unfortunately, the nimble display came after yesterday's Bahrain Grand Prix. Too distraught to stick around for the usual two-hour debriefing with his engineers, he snaked a path out of the paddock and into an awaiting car. Destination: the airport.

'Nothing he achieved during the preceding 57 laps was as slick or quick. He was glued on to the grid at the start, pranged his McLaren in a collision with former team-mate Fernando Alonso, finished 13th and surrendered his championship lead' - Jonathan McEvoy, The Daily Mail.