La Formula 1 of 2024 is only 43 days away, and to prepare for the return of the single-seaters we do a flashback. Let's warm up the engines with a return to some of the most beautiful or peculiar races of the recent past. The first leap in time sees us return to Bahrain, to the weekend of March 14th 2010.
2010 regulation changes, driver changes and more
With the advent of 2010, Formula 1 is updated in many aspects: the television graphics go from the "historical" rectangular one to a parallelogram, the number of cars eliminated in Q1 and Q2 increases (7 per round), the positions with points change from 8 to 10 (from 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 to the current 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1), refueling is prohibited and Above all, it changes a rule that will be discovered to be fallacious in 2011. We are talking about the time limit, which from this year also includes interruptions. In the event of a red flag, therefore, the race time continues to run, but the duration of the interruption is added to the maximum of two hours.
2010 is also the year of new teams in Formula 1: Lotus Racing, Hispania Racing Team e Virgin racing. Furthermore, the Brawn gp, winner of the drivers' and constructors' titles, is purchased by Mercedes Benz, thus becoming the official team of the three-pointed star. With the passage of the world champion Jenson Button in McLaren, Mercedes relies on the returner Michael Schumacher, paired with Nico Rosberg. In Ferrari, the farewell of Kimi Raikkonen leads to the landing place of Fernando Alonso from Renault, where Robert Kubica replaces it. Also replacement for Romain Grosjean to Vitaly Petrov.
Even then, as for the 2024 calendar, the first race of the year will be held on Bahrain International Circuit of Sakhir, but with a different layout. On the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of Formula 1, in fact, the organizers decide to change the layout of the grand prix with one defined as "endurance“. The track changes in turn 4, taking the riders to a twisting section of track, 900 meters long, and then returning to the classic track in what is now turn 5. In doing so, the length of the track goes from the classic 5.412 meters to 6.299 metres, with lap times close to two minutes.
Free practice and qualifying: disaster for new teams
As expected for the new teams making their debut, the start of the season for HRT and Virgin is not the best. As for HRT, the team begins free practice without having yet finished building the cars, allowing for Bruno senna to carry out an installation lap before returning to the pits for the entire duration of the session. A similar fate befalls Lucas di Grassi, which completes two out laps and thus ends the session. In FP2, Senna completed a few laps, however finishing almost five seconds behind the penultimate time set, that of Di Grassi on Virgin. To cap off a terrible start for Virgin, in FP3 Glock's car loses its left front tire due to a faulty gun.
Qualifying time and the new Ferrari driver immediately Fernando Alonso shows up, emerging in Q1 with the fastest time, followed by Sebastian Vettel on Red Bull and a fantastic Adrian Sutil on Force India. Eliminated the six cars of HRT, Virgin and Lotus, with Jaime Alguersuari who placed his Toro Rosso only in eighteenth place. In Q2 it was Vettel's turn to dominate, going below the 1:54 mark, unlike Alonso who stopped with the second fastest time. The trap of the session eliminates in order Barrichello (Williams), Liuzzi (Force India), Hülkenberg (Williams), de la Rosa (BMW Sauber), Buemi (Toro Rosso), Kobayashi (BMW Sauber) and Petrov (Renault).
Q3, we're going for broke, and Hag wins his first pole of the season and sixth of his career. In the front row, keeping him company, Alonso and his Ferrari, while following are Massa (Ferrari), Hamilton (McLaren), Rosberg (Mercedes), Webber (Red Bull), Schumacher (Mercedes), Button (McLaren), Kubica (Renault) and Sutil (Force India).
Race: many retirements in Bahrain, Red Bull dominance, but one spark plug…
Race Sunday, and right from the start there are some surprising moments. In this case, Mark Webber's Red Bull leaves a nice cloud of oil that causes Sutil and Kubica to spin, without causing any accidents. At the end of the first lap the first DNF emerges: Karun chandhok, which on board the HRT hits a bump and retires with the damaged wing. On the next lap, too Lucas di Grassi and his Virgin withdraw due to a hydraulic problem, a problem that will accompany Virgin for the entire season.
Similar problem to Di Grassi also Kamui Kobayashi, who stops his Sauber on the eleventh lap, while Vitaly Petrov he retires in twelfth after damaging the suspension due to a curb taken too aggressively. Also Timo Glock retires from the race after losing third and fifth gear, while Bruno senna abandons the grand prix with an excessively hot engine. Ahead of everyone, Vettel keeps the lead, followed by the two Ferraris.
Against all odds, almost all drivers will stop only once, with Alonso first of the leading trio to stop on lap 16. The next lap is Vettel and Massa's turn, with the German remaining in the lead of the grand prix. Vettel's advantage quickly disappeared, however, when the German was forced to slow down due to a problem. First Alonso, then Massa and Hamilton pass him, and the young driver from Heppenheim spends the rest of the race fighting with Rosberg.
The final order of arrival sees Fernando Alonso to victory in the first race for Ferrari, like Fangio, Baghetti, Andretti, Mansell and Raikkonen before him. Second, 17 seconds away, Felipe Massa for a 1-2 Ferrari. Hamilton third, then Vettel and Rosberg in the top 5.
Post race: controversy for the track and beyond
As imaginable, the different layout of Bahrain in 2010 caused quite a bit of controversy. The drivers, initially intrigued by this new configuration, immediately after the grand prix commented on the addition as useless for overtaking opportunities. Even the fans viewed the layout negatively, which in fact was no longer used, returning to the classic configuration.
Most of the controversy instead focused on the single stop made by the majority of the drivers. In this sense, in fact, there was a difficulty in overtaking due to problems in closely following those in front. The loudest voice in this sense was Martin Whitmarsh, team principal of McLaren (who showed his own a few days ago new livery for 2024), who accused the entire circus of having brought itself into this situation.
The season went on with a good championship battle between Vettel and Alonso, but it was the German who became weltmeister at the end of the year, with the record of the youngest world champion still in his possession. The 2024 season, however, is about to start! Remember to prepare your team, study the formations and participate in the YawClub FantaF1!
