From the Pulpit

In Bahrain, the place to be, post race, was in or around the Williams compound. Granted, time was when Frank's and Patrick's boys would have regarded sixth and seventh as a bit of a disaster, but now, in 2006-model-year Formula One, those five championship points represent a highly promising start for a team that is still getting used to a new engine partner and a new tyre supplier.

But no part of Williams's success was more promising than that played by 20-year-old Nico Rosberg, who recovered mightily from his first-lap coming-together with Nick Heidfeld to finish seventh at the flag.

His pace, in so doing, was often phenomenal - and, in truth, it surprised not only Williams but also Cosworth and Bridgestone, too. But it was the manner of his overtaking that made everyone - including the hard-bitten hacks in the Sakhir media centre - jump to their feet and issue loud and riotous applause.

The way Rosberg caught Christian Klien in the final laps, then sold a dummy on the young Austrian to force his Williams inside the Red Bull into turn 1, well, it reminded this observer of Nigel Mansell after he'd driven 150-odd Grands Prix. That a rookie, and a young one at that, could evoke such comparisons during his very first Grand Prix was hot stuff indeed.

Believe me, Rosberg/Bahrain/2006 will take its place in motorsport folklore as one of the Grand Prix debuts. Nico became the youngest man ever to score points in his first Grand Prix, and the first debutant of any age to carve fastest lap since Jacques Villeneuve did so at Albert Park in 1996. But Jacques and Damon Hill had an enormous (Williams) car advantage that afternoon; last Sunday, Nico did not.

Last Monday, the day after the race, young Rosberg boarded a Gulf-Air flight to Kuala Lumpur, via Singapore, and he sat in an Economy seat. (That will change, of course.) Some of the mechanics, photographers and journalists he was surrounded by noticed that Nico looked physically uncomfortable as he sat down. One of the journalists asked why.

Nico Rosberg and Fernando Alonso in the Thursday press conference at the Bahrain Grand Prix © LAT

"My back hurts a bit," he explained.

"Why, Nico?" the hack persisted.

"Well, you're going to laugh. But I was pushing the accelerator pedal so hard yesterday that I think I've strained my back a bit," came the cheerful reply.

He's definitely Keke's boy.

(Parenthetically, I want to say something about Klien, whom I've already mentioned briefly and also drove beautifully all weekend. He adapted to the new qualifying format better than did his teammate, David Coulthard - hardly an old dog, but perhaps not as ready as a young pup like Christian to learn new tricks - and drove hard and fast to eighth at the finish.)

But, as I say, the place to be, post-race, was at Williams - and, as it happens, when I arrived, Klien was already there, shaking hands with Cosworth's MD, Tim Routsis, whose V10s he had used at Red Bull last year.

"Bloody good drive, Christian," said Routsis, beaming.

"Thanks, but your engine's just too quick," replied Klien, "Nico just flew past me." Even at this early stage, I reckon that remark may end up being the season's most revealing, for the engine it flew past was none other than a state-of-the-art Ferrari V8 (identical to that used by Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa in the works cars).

Also present at the Williams love-in was Jackie Stewart, who made straight for Keke Rosberg, Nico's father, who was already entertaining a large-ish band of back-slappers.

"Well done, daddy," said Jackie, which chummy greeting elicited a great roars of laughter from Keke. "No, seriously, Keke, your boy drove one hell of a race," said JYS.

"Nearly as good as your debut, Jackie," one of the watching back-slappers remarked [Stewart's first Grand Prix had resulted in sixth place, whereas Rosberg Jnr had just finished seventh].

"Ah yes," said JYS, now addressing the assembled throng, "but Nico scored more points than I did" -in Stewart's day, indeed right up until 2002, sixth place was worth a single point; now seventh is worth two; "now all Nico's got to do is win a Grand Prix in his first year" - as Stewart did.

Will it happen? It just might.

(Parenthetically, again, I want say something about Mark Webber. Mark's sixth place was by his own admission "steady and solid" rather than exuberant and full of boyish brio, as Nico's seventh place was, but it netted three valuable world championship points and delighted his sometimes hard-to-please employers. Inevitably, all the post-race attention was centred on Nico, but Mark's drive was a good one, too, and should be hailed as such.)

Alexander Wurz at speed in the Williams-Cosworth during Friday practice © LAT

If anything, though, Williams's race pace pleased Bridgestone more than anyone else - for, as I suggested last week, not many F1 insiders were expecting the Japanese rubber to be on the same planet as the Michelins.

Michael Schumacher is Michael Schumacher, and his stupendous second place was the kind of feat we've seen from him many times before. No, what warmed the cockles of the Bridgestone boys' hearts was Williams's performance - which was the result of a lot of dogged work by a lot of dogged people and didn't have to be lifted on race day by the staggering ability of the man they call Schumi, one of the sport's all-time geniuses (but give Nico time!).

And here we should pay tribute to Williams's new third driver, Alex Wurz, about whom all at Williams and Bridgestone are now raving. "Alex is bloody brilliant," one senior Williams engineer told me at Sakhir. "He's much quicker than any other test driver we've ever had, and better when it comes to car development, too. I'd say, all things considered, he's probably one of the five or six best F1 drivers in the world today."

Sorry, Ron, but I don't think anyone is saying that about Gary Paffett (the man who replaced Wurz at McLaren) just yet...

Undoubtedly, Wurz's input in terms of tyre development (the front tyre used by Williams and Ferrari at Bahrain was one that Schumi had initially rejected as "too edgy" during early winter testing, but which Alex had then shown the Bridgestone engineers how to improve at Jerez one long, tough, tiring January afternoon) has been crucial - as, as far as Williams are concerned, is his expertise with electronics.

As any McLaren engineer will tell you, Wurz's ability to feel things that aren't immediately apparent in the telemetry, and that other drivers cannot feel, is uncanny.

Toyota, who decided not to go with the Wurz front tyre, didn't make the Bridgestones work at Sakhir, did they? But I gather they'll be making a few changes - yes, including running the Wurz front, among other things - for Sepang.