Pre-GP Stats Analysis: Bahrain

With his win in Malaysia, Kimi Raikkonen scored his 49th podium and is aiming - like Fernando Alonso - for his 50th podium of the career. Only nine drivers in the history of Formula One have scored more than 50 podiums, and here is the all-time list:

Rank  Driver              Podiums
 1    Michael Schumacher    154
 2    Alain Prost           106
 3    Ayrton Senna           80
 4    Rubens Barrichello     61
 5    David Coulthard        61
 6    Nelson Piquet          60
 7    Nigel Mansell          59
 8    Niki Lauda             54
 9    Mika Hakkinen          51

A tough moment

Alonso scored his first win at the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix, his 29th race start, then had to wait another 22 races to score his second win at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Since then, Alonso has quite frequently visited the top step of the podium and his longest winning drought is seven races, between USA and China in 2006. The last win for the Spaniard was the 2007 Italian Grand Prix, so at the moment his current drought is six races.

Moments to remember from the Bahrain Grand Prix

2004 - Ferrari cakewalk

It was all easy for the red cars as their rivals melted one after the other in the desert sun of the first Bahrain Grand Prix.

The first one was Alonso (Renault), who had to start from the back of the grid after a troublesome qualifying session. Ralf Schumacher (Williams) lost all his chances after contact with Takuma Sato after six laps, then it was Raikkonen's (McLaren) turn, sidelined after only seven laps after an engine failure.

Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello easily left Juan Pablo Montoya (Williams) behind, and at the first pit stop, ten laps into the race, they were already ten seconds clear of the Colombian. Ferrari's rout was completed when Montoya's gearbox broke ten laps before the end, handing third place to Jenson Button (BAR).

2005 - The new weapon fails

Ferrari was caught short by the new rules that imposed a single tyre for the whole race. In the first two races of the season the F2004M, a modified version of the dominant car from the year before, was not up to the task, so the Maranello squad decided to fast-track the debut of the F2005.

The car was quick and for ten laps Schumacher was able to match the pace of the leader Alonso (Renault), but after a couple more laps a hydraulic failure sidelined the German and left Alonso with the simple task of controlling the distant Toyota of Jarno Trulli.

2006 - All in one moment

The race was a close affair between Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) and Fernando Alonso (Renault). The German was quicker in the first stint, but had less fuel than the Spaniard, who ran longer and was able to recover some ground.

For the whole second stint the pair ran nose-to-tail with Alonso, clearly quicker, pressuring Schumacher. The German made his second stop before Alonso, and the second stop from the Spaniard was the key moment: Alonso came out of the pits with Schumacher coming down the straight at full speed.

They approached the first corner side-by-side, and the Renault driver had only half a car's advantage over the Ferrari. Being on the inside line was decisive and Alonso was able to take the lead, going on to win.

It has to be said that Alonso was lucky to escape an accident during the first laps, when Felipe Massa (Ferrari) tried to overtake him, lost control of his car, spun across the track and missed him by only a few centimetres.

2007 - Felipe's revenge

Massa (Ferrari) left the Malaysian stage under heavy fire regarding his race performance: he lost the lead at the first corner despite starting from pole, and then went off track trying to recover the lost ground.

The Brazilian took his revenge in Sakhir, recording pole, the win and fastest lap, with only Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) being able to challenge him for the first stint.

Raikkonen in the other Ferrari came third after spending the first stint behind a slow Alonso (McLaren), who was passed on track by Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) and finished fifth.

Bahrain personal scorecard

• Kimi Raikkonen finished third three times in a row from 2005 onwards. Third is also his best performance in qualifying. The Finn has had to start from the back twice out of four participations. He was 19th after an engine change in 2004m, and 22nd (last) in 2006 after a suspension failure early in qualifying.

• Felipe Massa recorded a hat trick in 2007 and was also able to start on the front row in 2006, his maiden front row appearance. Last year's win was the only podium appearance by the Brazilian in Sakhir; he was 12th in 2004, seventh in 2005 and ninth in 2006.

• Nick Heidfeld scored his only Bahrain points last year with a fourth place out of four starts.

• Fernando Alonso won in 2005 and 2006, also recording pole position in 2005 - his only front-row start.

• Nico Rosberg recorded the only fastest lap of his career in Bahrain in 2006.

• David Coulthard has scored only one point out of four starts, with an eighth place in 2005. His best qualifying performance is a tenth place in 2004. That lonely point is the only one scored by Red Bull cars on the Sakhir track.

• A similar story for the Honda couple, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. They recorded their best results in their first appearance in 2004, when Barrichello was second and Button third. Then their results got worse - Button retired twice out of three races, while Barrichello has not managed better than a ninth place in 2005.

• Giancarlo Fisichella has scored only one point out of four starts.

• Only Ferrari and Renault have won and scored poles in Bahrain, with two wins each and three pole positions for the Italian team. Despite its two wins, Renault has never recorded the fastest lap of the race.

• The best result for McLaren is the second place scored by Hamilton last year.

• Honda has never scored points in Bahrain.

• Toyota enjoyed his best race on the Sakhir track in 2005, when Trulli finished second and Ralf Schumacher was fourth. The only other point-scoring finish recorded by Toyota cars in Bahrain is the seventh place by Trulli last year.

Poleman Andre de Cesaris (Alfa Romeo 182) leads Rene Arnoux (Renault RE30B) and Niki Lauda (McLaren MP4/1B Ford) and the rest of the field around Queens Hairpin at the start of the 1982 United States Grand Prix, Long Beach © LAT

Anniversaries of the weekend

4th of April 1982, 26 years ago, Long Beach, United States

It was a very strange race that started with an unusual pole position set by Andrea de Cesaris (the only one of his career) with the Alfa Romeo.

The Italian cars were in good form on the streets of Long Beach, and in the race they were in the position to fight for the top spots. But they shot themselves in the foot and handed the race to Niki Lauda.

The first mistake was made by Bruno Giacomelli, who rammed Rene Arnoux while trying to pass Lauda.

Then it was de Cesaris's turn. He couldn't handle the pressure being dished up by Lauda behind him, and when he approached Raul Boesel to lap him he got it all wrong and Lauda took the lead. It was only a matter of laps before de Cesaris finished his race in a wall.

Lauda later said that he knew that the Italian would make a mistake because he was driving erratically, so the way to win was only a matter of waiting ...

6th of April 2003, 5 years ago, Interlagos, Brazil

First career win for Giancarlo Fisichella in an event-packed race.