Skip to main content

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe
Live text
Formula 1 Bahrain GP

2009 Bahrain Grand Prix Race day at the Bahrain International Circuit

Live Text

Sort by
Lap 1: Through Turn 4 it is Glock from a battle between Hamilton and Trulli.
Lap 1: Jarno Trulli gets a poor start and loses the lead to Timo Glock in Turn 1.
Lap 1: The five lights go out and we are racing in Bahrain!
The front rows are stopped in position. The field is forming up behind them.

We await the start ...
Jarno exits Turn 15 and moves towards the grid. The field are all in tow behind the Toyota and they begin to move into their grid slots.
Trulli drives down the penultimate straight towards the final corners of the lap. The field are tightly packed behind him.
Jarno Trulli leads the snake of cars through the slow corners at the back of the circuit. He will soon make the turn for home and we can get this race underway.
The softer tyre is a widespread choice for the start. It has demonstrated good performance throughout practice.
The formation lap for the 2009 Bahrain Grand Prix begins. All 20 cars leave the grid without problem.
Vettel and Button also have the popular choice of softer rubber on their cars.
The Toyotas will lead off the front row on super soft tyres.
The engines begin to fire, a minute before the formation lap.
The drivers receive their final good luck handshakes as the start approaches. We are scheduled for 57 laps of the 5.412 km Bahrain International Circuit today.
Kimi Raikkonen's mechanics leave it late to bolt tyres on to the Ferrari, but complete the task before the three minute signal.
All 20 cars made it to the grid when the pitlane was open. We will start this race with a full field.
The safety car roars away from the front of the grid and heads around to wait at the back of the pack.
There are five minutes to go before the formation lap begins in Bahrain.
Front row occupants Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock put their helmets back on, and slowly move towards their cars.

Throughout the field the routine is similar, as the drivers prepare for battle this afternoon.
There is a flutter of colour as the grid girls leave the scene with their national flags.
The aerial entertainment continues with a final flypast of F16 fighter jets, while down on the grid the tension begins to mount.

Ferrari and McLaren need good race performances today to keep in touch in the title race with the flying Brawns, Red Bulls and Toyotas.
The grid begins to clear of non-essential personnel, with ten minutes before the formation lap.
Jenson Button takes a stroll down the pitlane, away from the crowded grid as he collects his thoughts ahead of the race. What can the championship leader do from fourth place on the grid this afternoon? Soon, the answers will come.
Toro Rosso star Sebastien Buemi is in deep conversation with Dr. Helmut Marko as the Bahrain national anthem concludes.
The spectators in the main grandstand rise in respect to the Bahrain national anthem - 'Bahrainona' - as it rings out over the circuit on the public address system.
Quote
"We're suffering a little bit with the heat. We don't really have enough cooling on the car."
Ross Brawn speaking to German broadcaster Premiere
A good crowd is now packing the main 30,000-seater grandstand on the start-finish straight. They are looking forward to an exciting race today.
Robert Kubica jumps out of the BMW on the grid. The Pole starts a disappointing 13th today.
Timo Glock is relaxing on the grass on the spectator side of the grid, towel round his neck to keep his body temperature down, as Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima takes on fluid ahead of this grueling race.
Felipe Massa climbs out of the Ferrari and immediately walks over to the track side of the pitwall, as Jarno Trulli wanders over to the Toyota garage area.
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo is already on the grid to oversee the Ferrari operation. The Italian team will be desperately hoping to score some points today, having failed to do so in the first three races.
Sebastian Vettel arrives at his third-place starting spot and climbs out of the Red Bull to cool down in the heat.
Trulli is pushed into position at the front of the field by his mechanics. They slowly make their way through the mass of team personnel and cars that are already there.
Jarno Trulli is making his way to the grid with super-soft tyres on the Toyota. The polesitter will be hoping for a good early stint to the race with a lighter load of fuel than his competitors.
There are plenty of things for the teams to worry about today. These high temperatures will fully test their engine cooling solutions for the first time this season.

The Brawn and Force India drivers have been told during the weekend to keep their cars cool as they learn about the cooling demands of the Mercedes engine.

This track is also very hard on brakes.
Lewis Hamilton pulls out of the McLaren garage and heads around to his fifth position on the grid.
Jenson Button makes his way onto the circuit. Nico Rosberg is already out their and about to complete his tour to the grid. Button is out with the super-soft tyre on his Brawn Mercedes.
The light at the end of the pitlane flicks to green, allowing the drivers to come out onto the track, and make their way around to the grid. They have 15 minutes to bring their cars round, before the pitlane closes.
The KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) is on eight cars for the race today. With the long straights providing ample opportunity to deploy the power boost provided by the device, all the teams that have the technology ready to race will make use of it today.

This will be the first KERS race for BMW's Robert Kubica, with the team clearly believing the system's advantages here are greater than the concerns over the driver's weight.

The drivers with KERS today are:

Scuderia Ferrari
Felipe Massa
Kimi Raikkonen

McLaren Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton
Heikki Kovalainen

BMW Sauber
Robert Kubica
Nick Heidfeld

Renault F1
Fernando Alonso
Nelson Piquet
Preparations continue down on the grid, with the mechanics setting up their equipment before the cars head around from the pits.
The pit lane will open in ten minutes for the cars to make a reconnaissance lap to the grid.

The drivers will get their first opportunity to check out the track conditions following today's support races. They will also check over the cars to make sure all the systems are functioning properly.

By: Emlyn Hughes, Geoff Creighton

Published: