Type	F1
Country	Bahrain
Grand prix	Bahrain
Date	14 March
Year	2010
Official name	VII Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix
Race no	1
Season no	19
Location	Bahrain International CircuitSakhir, Bahrain
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course km	6.299
Course mi	3.914
Distance laps	49
Distance mi	191.634
Distance km	308.405
Pole driver	Sebastian Vettel
Pole team	Red Bull-Renault
Pole time	1:54.101
Pole country	GER
Fast driver	Fernando Alonso
Fast team	Ferrari
Fast time	1:58.287
Fast lap	45
Fast country	ESP
First driver	Fernando Alonso
First team	Ferrari
First country	ESP
Second driver	Felipe Massa
Second team	Ferrari
Second country	BRA
Third driver	Lewis Hamilton
Third team	McLaren-Mercedes
Third country	GBR
Lapchart

The 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 14 March 2010, at the Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain. It was the seventh Bahrain Grand Prix and the opening race of the 2010 Formula One season. It was the first time since 2006 that Bahrain had hosted the opening round. The race took place on a lengthened layout of the track.

Report

Background

The race saw the debut of three new teams: Hispania, Virgin and the new Malaysian-owned Lotus (not a direct descendent to Team Lotus, even though it is part owned by the same company which at present owns Lotus Cars), as well as the return of Mercedes after Daimler AG's take over of Brawn GP after the end of the season, and of Sauber, having competed as BMW the previous year. New drivers Nico Hülkenberg, Karun Chandhok, Bruno Senna, Lucas di Grassi and Vitaly Petrov also take part in their maiden races. Hülkenberg joined Williams, Petrov joined Renault and di Grassi became part of the Virgin team, while Hispania had an all-rookie line-up of Senna and Chandhok. Petrov became Russia's first ever Formula One World Championship driver; Chandhok became India's second following Narain Karthikeyan; Senna is a nephew of the legendary three-time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna.

was one of three new teams to debut in Bahrain.]]

2009 World Champion Jenson Button made his debut for McLaren after changing teams from 2009 Constructor's Champions Brawn in November 2009. Seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher made his return to Formula One with Mercedes, Felipe Massa returned for Ferrari after his head injury at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, and Timo Glock returned with the Virgin team following his accident at the 2009 Japanese Grand Prix.

All the previous winners of the event were present: Jenson Button won the 2009 Bahrain Grand Prix, with the Ferrari pair of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa were both two-time winners at this circuit. Schumacher won the first event in 2004.

The race also saw a return to the banning of refueling of the cars during the race, a practice which had been allowed since the 1994 Formula One season. Additionally a new points scoring system to decide the World Drivers' Championship was implemented, the most radical revamp of the system since the formation of the World Championship in . Race winning drivers will now score more than double the number of points previously allocated with points distributed further down the list of finishers. The proportions of points available to winners are higher.

At 24 drivers, this was the largest grid at a Grand Prix since .

The race was also the first to feature a revised stewards' panel under new FIA regulations, featuring a former Formula One driver. The driver in Bahrain was four-time World Champion Alain Prost.

Practice and qualifying

set the fastest time in the second free practice session for Mercedes.]]

Adrian Sutil set the fastest time for the Force India team in the first session of free practice on Friday morning. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) was second, ahead of Robert Kubica (Renault), Felipe Massa in the other Ferrari, and the two McLaren drivers, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton. On his return to Formula One, Michael Schumacher set the tenth-fastest time for Mercedes, two positions behind team-mate Nico Rosberg. Of the new teams, both Lotus drivers and Timo Glock set times, but Lucas di Grassi did not complete a full lap in the second Virgin car. The Hispania team was still completing its two chassis when the session started, but Bruno Senna was able to complete two installation laps before it ended.

In session 2 of free practice, Nico Rosberg set the fastest time, with Hamilton in second and Schumacher came third. Senna was struggling to match the pace of the fastest GP2 Asia Series drivers, but eventually did so, four seconds off the pace of the Virgins.

In the Saturday free practice session, Alonso in the Ferrari set the fastest time of 1:54.099, 0.269 seconds faster than Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes. Hispania's Karun Chandhok failed to participate in the practice session due to a hydraulic problem. Elsewhere, the Virgin of Glock lost its left-front wheel in the middle of the session, with the problem being attributed to an under-torqued airgun.

qualified second for Ferrari, behind polesitter Sebastian Vettel.]]

The first qualifying session saw the six drivers from the three new teams eliminated, with Timo Glock – the fastest of the newcomers – 2.7 seconds adrift of Jaime Alguersuari in eighteenth and the only driver from the established teams to be eliminated. Despite a crippling hydraulics problem that saw him unable to take part in any of the free practice sessions, Hispania's Karun Chandhok was able to qualify in 24th and last place with a lap time ten seconds slower than the fastest driver, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

Reigning World Champion Jenson Button narrowly avoided elimination in the second qualifying period, pushing former Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello out of the top ten and into elimination. Barrichello's Williams team-mate Nico Hülkenberg was also eliminated, as were both Saubers of Pedro de la Rosa and Kamui Kobayashi, the second Toro Rosso of Sébastien Buemi, Force India's Vitantonio Liuzzi and rookie driver Vitaly Petrov in the Renault.

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel took pole late in the third session, edging out the Ferraris of Massa and Alonso, with World Champion Lewis Hamilton in fourth. Mercedes' Nico Rosberg and seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher were fifth and seventh respectively, with Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber splitting them. Jenson Button could only manage eighth place, while ninth and tenth were taken by Robert Kubica and Adrian Sutil in the remaining Renault and Force India.

Race

won on the occasion of his first race for the Ferrari team.]]

The first corner of the first lap saw Mark Webber's engine release copious amounts of oil smoke, triggering a sequence of events that saw Adrian Sutil and Robert Kubica spin around and fall to the back of the field. The first lap was otherwise clean, with Sebastian Vettel quickly coverting his pole position into the race lead. Fernando Alonso got past teammate Felipe Massa, to get second, and both Merecedes drivers also gained a place, with Nico Rosberg fourth ahead of Lewis Hamilton, and Michael Schumacher beating Mark Webber to sixth spot. There was little position-changing otherwise, with Vitaly Petrov in the second Renault the biggest mover, up to eleventh from seventeenth on the grid.

It was a race of attrition, with the first major incident of the race being the retirement of Hispania's Karun Chandhok, who, after just a handful of laps in qualifying, hit a bump he did not know existed and retired with a damaged front wing. Virgin Racing's Lucas di Grassi joined him on the sidelines shortly thereafter when his Virgin VR-01's hydraulics — a chronic problem throughout the off-season — gave up. Fellow rookie Nico Hülkenberg was lucky to avoid a similar fate to Chandhok when he missed a corner on the run down to turn seventeen and skipped over the circuit. Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi fell victim to hydraulic failure, and was joined a lap later by Petrov who damaged his front-right suspension when he hit a kerb too hard; at the time of his retirement, Petrov had been the highest-placed rookie and had been racing Rubens Barrichello for tenth place and the final championship point on offer. Renault later clarified the issue as being an unanticipated mechanical fault on both cars that was traced back to Petrov's preference for a lower ride height than team-mate Kubica who went unscathed. Timo Glock in the second Virgin also retired after losing third and fifth gears, while Bruno Senna's debut for Hispania ended when his engine overheated at the end of the main straight. The six drivers retired during the first seventeen laps. At the front, Vettel and the two Ferraris quickly pulled out a sizeable gap to the rest of the field.

finished behind the two Ferrari drivers in third position.]]

The first round of pit stops also proved to be the only round of stops, with Vettel stretching out enough of a lead to prevent the Ferraris from leap-frogging them. Elsewhere, good work from the McLaren crew allowed both their drivers to gain a place in the stops; Hamilton on Rosberg, and Jenson Button on Webber. The list of retirements grew on lap 23 when Pedro de la Rosa in the second BMW Sauber was also struck by a hydraulic issue.

Vettel continued to lead comfortably, two seconds ahead of Alonso and a further three ahead of Massa. However, he began to notieceably slow down during the latter part of the race due to a problem that was later identified within the team as a problem with a spark plug, and was quickly passed by the two Ferraris and Hamilton, and spent the rest of the race trying to hold Rosberg at bay. Alonso went on to win the race, joining Juan Manuel Fangio, Giancarlo Baghetti, Mario Andretti, Nigel Mansell and Kimi Räikkönen as the only men to win for Ferrari on their debut. Massa finished second on his return to full-time racing after his injury at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix. Hamilton completed the podium, while Vettel successfully fended Rosberg off long enough to salvage fourth. Schumacher followed his team-mate home for sixth, with Button seventh, Webber eighth, Vitantonio Liuzzi placing ninth and Barrichello claiming the final point on offer. Kubica recovered from his first-corner spin to claim eleventh while Sébastien Buemi and Jarno Trulli also retired; Buemi's Toro Rosso was struck by electrical issues, while Trulli added his name to the growing list of drivers taken down by hydraulics issues. As they each retired having completed 46 laps, they were classified as finishers as they completed ninety percent of the winner's race distance. Heikki Kovalainen finished fifteenth in the second Lotus, meaning that Lotus became the only entrant of the new teams to have a car finish the race.

Post-race

There was criticism after the race of the "new" Formula One, with it being echoed by Formula One personalities. McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh stated that the F1 community had to "work together to improve it." Former driver and BBC pundit David Coulthard said that two pitstops could be made mandatory as it "would also mean more potential for mistakes (and, by extension, spectator interest) in the pits." Coulthard was critical also of changes made by former FIA president Max Mosley, as the changes were made during his time in charge.

One person to disagree with the criticism, though, was Alain Prost, who said that "after a few races, I am sure the good drivers, the top drivers, will like it [the new format]."

Classification

Qualifying

Race

Notes: :1. - both Sébastien Buemi and Jarno Trulli were classified as they had completed 90% of the winner's race distance.

Standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings ;Constructors' Championship standings {|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;" |- ! Pos ! Constructor ! Points |- | 1 | Ferrari | 43 |- | 2 | McLaren-Mercedes | 21 |- | 3 | Mercedes GP | 18 |- | 4 | Red Bull-Renault | 16 |- | 5 | Force India-Mercedes | 2 |}

Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

External links

Official FIA result

Category:Bahrain Grand Prix B Grand Prix

Name	Timo Glock
Caption	Glock at the 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix
Nationality	German
Date of birth	March 18, 1982
2010 team	Virgin-Cosworth
2010 car number	24
Races	56 (54 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	3
Poles	0
Points	51
Fastest laps	1
First race	2004 Canadian Grand Prix
Last race
Last season	2010
Last position	25th (0 pts)

Timo Glock (born 18 March 1982) is a German motor racing driver, currently driving in Formula One for the Virgin Racing team. At the 2004 Canadian Grand Prix, standing in for Giorgio Pantano who had a contract dispute with Jordan Grand Prix, he joined a select group of drivers who have scored a World Championship point in their first Formula One race.

Early career

Born in Lindenfels, West Germany, Glock began his motorsport career in 1998 at the age of 15. He won several karting championships as well as the BMW ADAC Formula Junior Cup in 2000 and the Formula BMW ADAC Championship in 2001. In his first German Formula Three Championship season in 2002, he finished third in the standings en route to rookie of the year honours. In 2003, he competed in the Formula Three Euroseries, winning three races and scoring three other podium finishes, which were enough to place him in fifth position in the Championship.

Formula 1 (2004)

2004: Jordan

Glock was signed as Jordan Grand Prix's test driver for the 2004 Formula One season and made his Formula One debut at the Canadian Grand Prix replacing Giorgio Pantano for one race. He finished 11th, but inherited 7th following the disqualification of the Williams and Toyota cars and thus scored two points on his debut. He finished the season with Jordan, taking over from Pantano for the last three races. Glock's sponsorship with Deutsche Post helped bring back the colours of DHL to Jordan.

2005: Champ Car

In 2005, Glock shifted his career to the United States, racing in the Champ Car World Series with Paul Gentilozzi's Rocketsports team. His best finish was second place at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve at the Molson Indy Montreal in Canada, where he was defeated by Oriol Servia. In the closing laps of the race Glock twice retained the lead over Servia by missing the track's final chicane. As the rules require drivers who gain or retain a position by driving off the racing surface to give way, Glock was asked to move over by Champ Car officials, and let Servia take the lead. Glock obliged midway through the final lap, giving him enough time to try and take the lead back, but to no avail. Glock finished 8th in the final season points standings and won the Champ Car World Series' Rookie of the Year award.

car during the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix weekend]]

2006–2007: GP2

In 2006, Glock raced in Europe in the GP2 Series, the level immediately below Formula One. He started with the midfield BCN Competicion team, gaining average results. In mid-season, however, he moved to the front-running iSport team and after a string of improved results finished fourth in the drivers' standings. In he tested an F1 car again for BMW Sauber, which led to him being signed in December as the team's second test driver for .

Glock was also re-signed for 2007 by iSport and won one feature race and four sprint races on his way to the championship. Following the serious crash of regular Formula One BMW driver Robert Kubica in Canada, it was speculated that Glock might take over the drive. However, the team instead chose its lead test driver Sebastian Vettel. Vettel's drive as a fill-in helped him get a full-time racing seat with the Toro Rosso team later in the season, starting at the Hungarian Grand Prix, and Glock was then promoted to the main test and reserve driver for BMW.

Formula 1 (2008–present)

2008–2009: Toyota

at the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix]]

After winning the GP2 Series in 2007, Glock was connected to several F1 teams. He signed a contract with Toyota F1, though still under a test driver contract with BMW, which led to the dispute being brought before the Contract Recognition Board. In November, the CRB ruled that Glock was free to race for Toyota in and shortly afterwards Glock signed a three-year contract to replace Ralf Schumacher at Toyota. He scored his first points of 2008 in the Canadian Grand Prix, finishing 4th ahead of Felipe Massa's Ferrari. Glock qualified a career-best fifth at the Hungarian Grand Prix, and finished the race in second place ahead of reigning world champion Kimi Räikkönen. At the Singapore Grand Prix, Glock finished 4th, one of his best of the season.

In the final race of the 2008 season, the Brazilian Grand Prix, Glock was seventh with a few laps to go and opted to remain on the track with dry-weather tyres, while most of the other drivers opted for wet tyres because to rain falling during the final laps of the race. Starting the final lap, Glock was fourth, but he was passed by Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton in the final corners. Hamilton's pass on Glock was enough for him to win the 2008 Drivers' Championship. Glock finished the race in sixth and the championship in tenth position, with 25 points, behind teammate Jarno Trulli.

, which he missed after sustaining an injury during qualifying]]

2009 started well enough for Glock. After being in the top 10 in all 3 practice sessions in Australia, he qualified 6th on the grid. However, the rear wing of his (and team-mate Trulli's) Toyota was deemed to be too flexible and thus illegal, and his time was cleared and he started 19th. During the race, he worked his way through the pack, pulling off forceful manoeuvres, including one on Fernando Alonso and one on Sébastien Buemi to finish in 5th place. However, after the race, Lewis Hamilton was disqualified and stripped of his 4th place finish, and Glock was promoted to 4th. A week later in Malaysia, he qualified 5th, but started 3rd after penalties to both Sebastian Vettel and Rubens Barrichello. At the start of the race, Glock slipped to 8th, but an inspired tyre choice as the rain started, coupled with precise driving, saw Glock finish in 3rd when the race was ended early on lap 32.

Consecutive seventh places for Glock in the rain in China, and in the dry in Bahrain had given him a total of 12 points for the season, although these finishes came in contrasting ways. In China he qualified a disappointing 14th, not making it out of Qualifying 2, whilst in Bahrain he qualified 2nd, led the race in the first stint, but he had a poor second stint on hard tyres which forced him to battle his way back to seventh by the end of the race. Glock earned his second podium of the season when he finished 2nd behind Lewis Hamilton at the Singapore Grand Prix after qualifying in 6th. The race began well when Glock passed Alonso and was given a place by Mark Webber who was forced to let Alonso overtake. Late in the race Glock seemed set for 3rd place until Nico Rosberg crossed the white line exiting the pits, earning him a drive through penalty and allowing Glock to easily take 2nd place.

In qualifying for the 2009 Japanese Grand Prix, Glock crashed heavily at the last corner and was airlifted to hospital with a leg injury. As he was not fit to race, Jarno Trulli was the only driver representing Toyota. On 11 October 2009, Toyota confirmed that its test driver Kamui Kobayashi would make his race debut in the Brazilian Grand Prix, as Glock had suffered further complications from his accident, resulting in a cracked vertebra and he would not be guaranteed to be fit in time to race in Brazil and Abu Dhabi. Toyota pulled out of F1 at the end of 2009, leaving an uncertain future for Glock.

2010: Virgin Racing

at the 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix]] Glock's future for a time appeared uncertain, but on 17 November new team Manor Grand Prix announced that he had signed for them and would be their lead driver for the 2010 and 2011 seasons. It seemed as though Glock would partner Polish driver Robert Kubica at Renault, but following Renault's decision to announce whether it will take part in Formula 1 for 2010, Glock chose an option where he will be guaranteed a drive although the car might be less competitive. Manor became Virgin Racing in November 2009 and that Glock's former GP2 rival Lucas di Grassi would become his team mate.

Racing record

Career summary

As Glock was a guest driver he was ineligible to score points.

Complete Formula Three Series results

(key)

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Half points were awarded at the 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix as less than 75% of the race distance was completed.

American Open-Wheel

() (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Champ Car

Complete GP2 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

References

Sources

Formula One World Championship results are derived from

External links

Timo Glock Official website

Timo Glock career statistics at Driver Database

Category:German racecar drivers Category:German Formula One drivers Category:1982 births Category:Living people Category:Champ Car drivers Category:GP2 Series drivers Category:GP2 Series Champions Category:Formula Three Euroseries drivers Category:German Formula Three Championship drivers Category:Formula BMW ADAC drivers