Ferrari suffered a weekend to forget in the stifling heat of the Bahrain desert on Sunday when they failed to score a point on the debut of their new F2005 car in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
It was the first time they had failed to score a point in 33 races stretching back two years to April 2003.
Spaniard Fernando Alonso romped to a comfortable triumph for Renault to score his second straight win and his French team’s third in succession. The result hoisted Alonso and Renault clear at the top of both the drivers’ and constructors’ world championships.
Defending and seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher was forced to retire after 12 laps and his teammate Brazilian Rubens Barrichello limped home ninth, after being lapped by the rampant Alonso.
The result signalled Ferrari’s worst start to a season since Michael Schumacher left Benetton, the team that was later purchased by Renault and renamed, to join Ferrari in 1996. Schumacher’s exit with hydraulics failure was his first retirement forced by a mechanical failure since 2001.
”The race was as tough as it was disappointing,” said Ferrari team chief Jan Todt. ”Michael fought for the lead, but he retired after 12 laps and Rubens staged a great climb from last to fifth place, but he then failed to score points.
”It is disappointing. But we have learned that our new car, the F2005, is competitive. Also we know we have a lot of work to do to improve its reliability. And the overall result of these first three races outside Europe is certainly a negative one for us.
”It is not up to our standards. But I am convinced that we are capable of recovering in time for the home race at Imola, where we will race in front of so many of our fans.”
Schumacher, who showed the pace of the new car without scoring a point, said: ”It is a very disappointing result again for us. But, honestly, there are a lot of positive indications to take away from this weekend.
”We knew that bringing the new car would make for a tough challenge. But it was the right decision. Until I retired, the car was competitive and I am sure it will be even more so in the coming races. I had no hydraulic pressure and I could not change down through the gears.”
Barrichello, forced to start from the back of the grid by a necessary engine change before the race, said: ”This has been a weekend to forget for me.”
He drove only four fast laps in practice and qualifying, suffered reliability problems, raced through the field, using Schumacher’s set-up, but finished ninth and out of the points. — Sapa-AFP