Felipe Massa silenced his critics with a win in Sakhir. The only downside to an otherwise perfect weekend was his missing out on pole position in a qualifying session, which saw BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica take the honour.

Lewis Hamilton had the worst possible start to the race weekend, as during Friday practice he crashed heavily wrecking his car. He was unhurt in the incident. The McLaren mechanics managed to rebuild the car, and Hamilton did a fantastic job of putting himself into third place during qualifying. Felipe Massa’s Ferrari was looking set to start from pole, until Kubica pulled a sensational lap out of the bag, to snatch the place. Kimi Raikkonen, Heikki Kovalainen and Nick Heidfeld rounded out the top 6 in a clean sweep for Ferrari, McLaren and BMW Sauber.

The start of the race was a shocking spectacle for all Hamilton and McLaren fans as the Briton got the worst possible getaway, and by he reached turn one he was in tenth place. Massa, on the other hand, had the perfect start moving ahead of pole sitter Kubica. The second lap is one that will certainly have the conspiracy theory’s emerging in the coming week. Hamilton hit the back of former teammate, and sparring partner, Fernando Alonso. Their relationship was nothing short of awkward last year, and from footage it seems possible that Alonso may have eased off. However, this is not certain, and cannot be substantiated without use of telemetry data. Hamilton had to go back to the pits for a new nose cone, but Alonso continued without a pit visit. The third lap saw Ferrari take the race by the scruff of the neck, as Kimi Raikkonen passed Robert Kubica for first. Alonso appeared to be suffering from damage to the rear wing from the earlier incident with Hamilton, but was continuing regardless. This was a perfect example of how strong the modern breed of Formula 1 cars are. Two other Briton’s were fairing equally as badly as Hamilton. David Coulthard and Jenson Button headed back to the pits early on to have punctured tyres replaced. Kubica negotiated his stop well form third and re-joined in the pack. More pain was around the corner for the British contingent, as Coulthard and Button came together resulting in terminal damage to Coulthard’s car and Button was forced back to the pits, where he retired from the race. The race-leading Ferrari duo had perfect pit stops, and regained the race lead once everyone had completed their stops. Hamilton, with his new nose cone, was working his way through the field, but not as quickly as he might of hoped. As the second set of pit stops loomed, the two Ferrari’s were trading fastest laps, and again both negotiated their stops without glitch and came back out within striking distance of each other but someway clear of the chasing pack. As the race entered the final phase, there was an exciting battle breaking out between Fernando Alonso and Rubens Barichello. The Brazilian was hustling the former double world champion all the way around the Sakhir circuit, but was unable to find a way past. As Massa crsossed the line to take his first points of the 2008 season, he was closely followed by teammate Raikkonen, who was in turn closely followed by the BMW Sauber of Robert Kubica, who pressed late on in the race to close up to the Ferrari duo. The weekend was perfect for Ferrari, taking a massive manufacturers points haul, and placing their drivers in good positions as far as the Driver’s Championship is concerned. However, it may be worth noting the sheer speed of the BMW Sauber cars, as to throw a cat amongst the pigeons, they left Bahrain in the lead of the Constructor’s Championship.

The next race takes place at the Catalunya circuit near Barcelona on 27th April 2008.

Final Race Standings (Top 10):
    1.  Felipe Massa
    2.  Kimi Raikkonen
    3.  Robert Kubica
    4.  Nick Heidfeld
    5.  Heikki Kovalainen
    6.  Jarno Trulli
    7.  Mark Webber
    8.  Nico Rosberg
    9.  Timo Glock
   10.  Fernando Alonso

Driver's Champtionship Standings (Top 10):
    1.  Kimi Raikkonen       19 Pts
    2.  Nick Heidfeld        16 Pts
    3.  Lewis Hamilton       14 Pts
    3=  Robert Kubica        14 Pts
    3=  Heikki Kovalainen    14 Pts
    6.  Felipe Massa         10 Pts
    7.  Jarno Trulli         8 Pts
    8.  Nico Rosberg         7 Pts
    9.  Fernando Alonso      6 Pts
   10.  Mark Webber          4 Pts

Team's Championship Standings:
    1.  BMW Sauber           30 Pts
    2.  Ferrari              29 Pts
    3.  McLaren-Mercedes     28 Pts
    4.  Williams-Toyota      10 Pts
    5.  Toyota                8 Pts
    6.  Renault               6 Pts
    7.  Red Bull-Renault      4 Pts
    8.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    2 Pts
    9.  Honda                 0 Pts
   10.  Force-India Ferrari   0 Pts
   11.  Super Aguri-Honda     0 Pts