Belated Review: Bahrain Grand Prix

So, I was dead freaking wrong with my predictions this time around. It's really annoying trying to make predictions for Formula One this year, because all the wrong people started winning. Little teams (read: teams that aren't Ferrari or McLaren) started winning, then I thought maybe other little teams could win races.

Then Brawn GP, now that it finally stopped raining for five seconds, made the strategy happen and took the win at Bahrain, with Jenson Button pulling in first position. My pick, Williams' Nico Rosberg looked good on Friday, then fell down the order on Saturday, finishing ninth in the Sunday race. It looked like Williams' Toyota-engined cousins from the factory team might find their way onto the top step of the podium for the first time ever, but ultra-consistent Jenson Button and ultra-excellent Sebastien Vettel could not be beat.

The big story going into this week (Wednesday, the 29th, in fact) will be the announcement of the penalty for McLaren's shenanigans at the Aussie GP. Just to recap, engineer Dave Ryan, who has since been sacked, and driver Lewis Hamilton claimed to the FIA that Lewis had not been told to allow Jarno Trulli to pass him under a safety car after Jarno spun for no reason. A subsequently-released radio transmission showed that Lewis had been told to let Jarno by. Jarno, who had been penalized for passing Lewis, was reinstated to his spot and Lewis was excluded from the results.

Bernie Ecclestone has said the FIA's über-penalty that will be revealed on Wednesday will be considered "fair", but he did not specify what it might be. It can range anywhere from a points reduction (doesn't the exclusion from the Aussie result count as a "points reduction"?) to a one-race suspension. If you ask me, I think this is all a lot of unnecessary smoke that's being blown. The FIA seems to be miffed that they were lied to about something that ended up being rather insignificant. Whatever helps Max Mosely sleep at night...

Bahrain Grand Prix Result:

1. BUTTON Brawn 1h31m48.18s
2. VETTEL Red Bull +7.1s
3. TRULLI Toyota +9.1s
4. HAMILTON McLaren +22.0s
5. BARRICHELLO Brawn +37.7s
6. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +42.0s
7. GLOCK Toyota +42.8s
8. ALONSO Renault +52.7s
9. ROSBERG Williams +58.1s
10. PIQUET Renault +1m05.1s
11. WEBBER Red Bull +1m07.6s
12. KOVALAINEN McLaren +1m17.8s
13. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso +1m18.8s
14. MASSA Ferrari +1 lap
15. FISICHELLA Force India +1 lap
16. SUTIL Force India +1 lap
17. BUEMI Toro Rosso +1 lap
18. KUBICA BMW +1 lap
19. HEIDFELD BMW +1 lap
20. NAKAJIMA Williams +9 laps