Vettel beat off the challenge of Kimi Raikkonen who caught Vettel  halfway through the race even though he started from 11th on the grid.  Raikkonen’s Lotus team mate Romain Grosjean was third, while it was a bad weekend for McLaren’s British drivers as Lewis Hamilton finished in eighth and Jenson Button retired.

The highest place Britain was Paul di Resta who finished in sixth place for Force India after which was a great achievement after problems that started with the team getting involved in violent anti-government demonstrations on Friday.

The Bahrain Grand Prix Sakhir circuit is known for not being one of the most exciting tracks for F1 racing but this race, as with others this season, was a memorable one.  Vettel had a great start from the grid and looked untouchable.  But Kimi Raikonnen fought his way through the field to produce a spectacular drive that pushed Sebastian Vettel all the way.

The result means Vettel now leads the way in the F1 2012 season from Lewis Hamilton.

F1 Bahrain Grand Prix Result

1 Sebastian Vettel  Red Bull-Renault  1:36.379 1:35:10.990
2 Kimi Raikkonen  Lotus-Renault  +00:03.333
3 Romain Grosjean  Lotus-Renault  +00:10.194
4 Mark Webber  Red Bull-Renault +00:38.788
5 Nico Rosberg  Mercedes GP +00:55.460
6 Paul Di Resta  Force India-Mercedes +00:57.543
7 Fernando Alonso  Ferrari +00:57.803
8 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +00:58.984
9 Felipe Massa  Ferrari +01:04.999
10 Michael Schumacher  Mercedes GP +01:11.490

FIA 2012 Formula 1 Drivers’ World Championship

1 Sebastian Vettel (Germany)Red Bull-Renault 53 points
2 Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 49
3 Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull-Renault 48
4 Jenson Button (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 43
5 Fernando Alonso (Spain Ferrari 43
6 Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes GP 35
7 Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Lotus-Renault 34
8 Romain Grosjean (Switzerland) Lotus-Renault 23
9 Sergio Perez (Mexico) Sauber 22
10 Paul Di Resta (GB) Force India-Mercedes 15

But many of the athletes will attain attributes which can be likened to a vehicle such as power, determination, speed and endurance; and these videos will offer a guide into the comparisons.

The films, which have been published on YouTube, focus on an Olympic or Paralympic athlete from the BMW London 2012 Performance Team. In support of the London Games, the documentaries explore what it really takes to deliver the ultimate performance on the world stage be it swimming, gymnastics or more.

Form and Function

This documentary by Richard D’ Argues discovers the tensions between delivering both aesthetics and technical ability in British gymnast Louis Smith’s preparation performance as he aims for gold. And it learns of the equivalents with the development of the new BMW i8.

Beneath the Surface

This film takes a look under the water to see how Rebecca Adlington delivers her ultimate performance ahead of London 2012. Made by Steven Riley, the director of Fire in Babylon, it examines the mental and physical challenges that face the swimming champion.

What are the resemblances to BMW? It explores the surface of the new BMW 3 Series and how its shape, like a swimmer, is important to boost an efficient and dynamic performance.

The German group are looking to grow their automotive empire as confirmation from people close to both companies comes that talks are currently on-going between the two companies. If these talks prove to be successful they could enable to Italian private equity group, Investindustrial, to more than double their current stake in Ducati.

The company, Investindustrial last year hired Goldman Sachs and also Deutsche Bank to gauge the prospects of a flotation of Ducati in Hong Kong. This was knocked on the head as the Chairman of Investindustrial, Andrea Bonomi has said that the growth of Ducati requires the support of a world-class industrial partner.

At the minute, Ducati sell around 40,000 motorcycles each year and they have about 9% of the sports motorcycles market.

VW aim to overtake General Motors by the year 2018 as the biggest carmaker by sales and they also have a desire to build a trucking empire which will be one to rival Daimler and Volvo.

Rosberg followed his debut pole position in F1 with his first Formula One race victory in a thoroughly exciting F1 race today.

Nico Rosberg led from start to finish in a race that was as much about tyre management as it was skill and speed.  Michael Schumacher started second on the grid to give Mercedes poll positions after Lewis Hamilton (second fastest in practice) was docked five places for changing his gearbox.  Unfortunately for Mercedes, Schumacher was forced to retire with a loose wheel nut.  But that didn’t take the shine off Nico Rosberg securing Mercedes’ first victory since the 1955 Italian Grand Prix.

Rosberg had a superb race and won by an amazing 20 seconds.  But the real drama was in the chasing pack where at one point there were as many as seven cars vying for second.

Jenson Button eventually finished in second, though it could have been closer if it weren’t for a poor third pit stop that could have been very costly for Button and McLaren as he dropped to sixth place with just 10 laps remaining.  But fresh tyres and some great overtaking manoeuvres meant Jenson Button was able to once again finish on the podium.  Lewis Hamilton also had some great battles towards the end of the race as he passed the Red Bull’s of Mark Weber (4th) and reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel (5th).

The track was littered with rubber and tyre management was essential; and Kimi Raikonnen was made to pay for losing his grip when on the 49th (of 56) lap he dropped back through the ranks, from second to tenth.

F1 Chinese Grand Prix 2012 Result
1 Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 1:36:26.929
2 J Button (McLaren) 1:36:47.555
3 L Hamilton (McLaren) 1:36:52.941
4 Mark Webber (Red Bull) 1:36:54.853
5 Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) 1:36:57.412
6 Romain Grosjean (Lotus) 1:36:58.420
7 Bruno Senna (Williams) 1:37:01.526
8 Pastor Maldonado (Force India) 1:37:02.572
9 Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) 1:37:04.185
10 Kamui Kobayashi     (Sauber) 1:37:05.649

Lewis Hamilton’s podium finishes sees him leading the F1 Drivers Championship by three points from Jenson Button and sees Nico Rosberg move up to sixth.

FIA Formula One Drivers’ World Championship
1 Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 45
2 Jenson Button (GB) McLaren-Mercedes     43
3 Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 37
4 Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull-Renault 36
5 Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Red Bull-Renault 28
6 Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes GP 25
7 Sergio Perez (Mexico) Sauber 22
8 Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Lotus-Renault 16
9 Bruno Senna (Brazil) Williams-Renault 14
10 Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) Sauber 9

This was Nico Rosberg’s first F1 victory and coupled with the superiority of the Mercedes car over the whole weekend, it could well be the beginning of a very interesting season as Mercedes go head-to-head with McLaren and the Red Bull Team.

They then tested it for themselves in groups on the challenging 4.7 kilometer Autódromo Internacional do Algarve circuit, which hosts the FIM Superbike World Championship and FIA Formula One testing. On the second day, journalists took a road tour on the S20 around the Algarve. Later in the week, Bridgestone invited customers from across Europe to a similar presentation and test drive at Portimão.

Designed with Bridgestone MotoGP technology

Using the “S” (= Sport) symbol for the first time on a Battlax tyre, the premium S20 completes Bridgestone’s Hyper Sport product line-up that includes the Battlax BT-016 PRO and BT-016 amongst other sport specialists for road and track.

The development target for the S20 was to meet the demands of European sport riders of high-powered machines from 600 to 1300cc for the highest handling performance in dry and wet on all types of roads and riding conditions:  highway touring, winding country roads, city streets and track circuits. Bridgestone engineers turned to their MotoGP experience for the answers.

“Test results of the new S20 show that Bridgestone can take MotoGP technology and apply it to a road tyre. To date, the S20 is the closest production tyre to MotoGP and thus benefits more than any other from Bridgestone’s MotoGP successes” says Vincent Van Houtte, Manager Motorcycle Tyre Products, Bridgestone Europe.

Compared to the BT-016 PRO the S20 has superior handling on wet and dry, while maintaining excellent wear life performance. Bridgestone’s proven construction with Mono-Spiral Belt (MSB) and High Tensile Super Penetrated Cord (HTSPC) has been optimized to produce a larger ground contact patch at all riding angles, providing more grip in all conditions. At lower camber angles, this larger contact area improves the contact feel and adds ride comfort; at medium and higher angles, riders enjoy more cornering stability.

The S20 tread pattern is designed with grooves that straighten out in the centre of the tread, improving cornering performance when the angle is low, particularly at turn-in. On the front, the side grooves run up to the shoulder, providing better contact feels at high angles and stronger grip on wet and dry. On the rear, the wider grooves give confident grip in the wet.

“The S20’s large contact area and grip level come from its MotoGP genes. Sporty riders can tackle the angles with full confidence” says Dominique Plom, Assistant Manager, Field Engineer, Bridgestone Europe.

Immediate grip
The new compound with Silica Rich and Bridgestone’s proprietary NanoPro-TechTM polymer, which reduces heat build-up during tyre rotation, provides improved grip in the wet and at low temperatures. This also gives confident grip right from the start during warm-up, without sacrificing mileage performance on front or rear.

The triple-layer compound (3LC) with an optimized segmentation of soft and harder compound has been applied on front and rear, improving dry grip as well as giving high stability in cornering and good mileage.

New wet grip benchmark
Test results versus Bridgestone’s BT-016 PRO tyre show that the new S20 delivers improved grip on dry roads, giving more confidence for cornering, and high-level sporty handling. On the track, riders can expect high cornering stability and faster lap times through better and more balanced grip on front and rear.

Bridgestone tests show that the S20 wet grip is even better than the BT-016 PRO already the established standard in the wet. Results also show the high stability that comes from improved grip, with easy control in heavy rain conditions.

This high-level grip has been achieved without sacrificing mileage performance. Bridgestone tests confirm that the new S20 compound has excellent wear resistance, providing high mileage on front and rear tyres.

The race promises thrills and excitement, as world champion Casey Stoner hopes to make a flying start to his title defence in the first race on 1000cc bikes.

Fans’ favourites Toby Moody and Julian Ryder will provide their unique brand of commentary on the main event, which comes in addition to Eurosport’s usual live coverage of free practice and qualifying, plus the Moto2 and Moto3 races.

British Eurosport is the only place to go for comprehensive MotoGP viewing this weekend, and its live World and British Superbike coverage cements its reputation as the home of motorbikes.

Qatar MotoGP – live coverage on British Eurosport

Friday – 15:50-19:50 – Free practice (all classes)

Saturday – 15:50 19:15 – Qualifying (all classes)

Sunday – 16:45-21:00 – Race (all classes)

On May 7th British Eurosport will take over a giant 12m² video screen in Hastings, East Sussex town centre to show all the action live from the MCE British Superbike round at Oulton Park as part of bike1066 Spring Opener motorcycle trade show and exhibition. This live screening brings the battles between the reigning champion Tommy Hill and his challengers right back on to his home turf as he is local from nearby Edenbridge in Kent.

bike1066 Spring Opener is the biggest free motorcycle trade show and exhibition on the South Coast. Set up three years ago by former TV producer Howard Martin bike1066 Spring Opener welcomes the thousands of bikers who have been heading for Hastings on May Day since way back in mods n rocker days. Last year (2011) was the first May Day of the full Spring Opener welcome and 46,000 motorcycle enthusiasts showed up for a fantastic day of biking by the seaside, even more are expected this year.

British Eurosport is the Home of Bikes, showing all MotoGP, World Superbike and MCE British Superbike races. Bike fans can catch all the action all season long with coverage also available online or on mobile via Eurosport Player.

The live big screen action from Oulton Park starts at 12.30 and is expected to be massively popular with local reigning champion Hill’s fans as well as classic motorcycle race fans who come along to see a support screening of the classic British bike racing flick Silver Dream Racer starring David Essex. Silver Dream Racer is being shown for the benefit of Hastings Trust, a local charity that promotes employment for disadvantaged youngsters and local regeneration initiatives.

bike1066 Spring Opener also features trade stands from all the major motorcycle manufacturers as well as top line biking kit, boys toys and gadgets. Howard Martin of bike1066 says; “The British Eurosport bike1066 tie-in is the perfect match of an exciting and historic motorcycle event with 21st technology and the best motorsport coverage in the world”.

For further information on bike1066Spring Opener visit bike1066.com.

British Eurosport is available on Sky (410/411) and Virgin Media (521/525).

For more information on the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship visit www.britishsuperbike.com.

Lewis Hamilton once again started on the grid in first place. But torrential rain stopped the race after just 10 laps.  After the worst of the rain had passed, the race continued with the safety car out and all cars ordered to resume on wet weather tyres.

Alonso soon built a lead of up to 7 seconds from Sauber’s Sergio Perez who had a great race.  Perez gave chase and had a chance to catch Alonso, but towards the end of the race he over ran a corner and settled for second.

Lewis Hamilton had to settle for his second third place finish once again ahead of Red Bull’s Mark Webber.  Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen was once again in the points with a fifth place finish.
Points were also scored by Bruno Senna (Williams-Renault), Paul Di Resta (Force India-Mercedes), Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso-Ferrari), Nico Hulkenberg (Force India-Mercedes) and Michael Schumacher (Mercedes GP).

Both Sebastian Vettel (who finished in 11th place) & Jenson Button 14th) had frustrating races and finished out of the points after separately colliding in minor shunts in the ever-changing and therefore difficult racing conditions.

This was Fernando Alonso 28th Formula One win and leaves him behind Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell in the all-time F1 race winners list.

F1 Malaysian Grand Prix Result
Sunday, 25 March 2012

1 Fernando Alonso     (Ferrari) 2:44:51.812 25 points
2 Sergio Perez (Sauber) +00:02.263  18 points
3 Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes) +00:14.591 15 points
4 Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) +00:17.688 12 points
5 Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus-Renault) +00:29.456 10 points
6 Bruno Senna (Williams-Renault) +00:37.667 8 points
7 Paul Di Resta (Force India-Mercedes) +00:44.412 6 points
8 Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) +00:46.985 4 points
9 Nico Hulkenberg (Force India-Mercedes) +00:47.892 2 points
10 Michael Schumacher (Mercedes GP)+00:49.996 1 point
The next F1 race is the Chinese Grand Prix, 13-15 April

FIA F1 2012 Drivers’ World Championship

1 Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) 35 points
2 Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes) 30 points
3 Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes) 25
4 Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) 24
5 Sergio Perez (Sauber) 22
6 Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) 18
7 Kimi Raikkonen ( Lotus-Renault) 16
8 Bruno Senna (Williams-Renault) 8
9 Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber)    8
10 Paul Di Resta (Force India-Mercedes)     7
11 Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso-Ferrari)    4
12 Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso-Ferrari)     2
13 Nico Hulkenberg (Force India-Mercedes) 2
14 Michael Schumacher (Mercedes GP)1

Drivers yet to score…

Nico Rosberg (Mercedes GP)
Timo Glock (Marussia-Cosworth)
Charles Pic (Marussia-Cosworth)
Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
Vitaly Petrov (Caterham-Renault)
Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham-Renault)
Narain Karthikeyan (HRT-Cosworth)
Pedro de la Rosa (HRT-Cosworth)
Pastor Maldonado (Williams-Renault)
Romain Grosjean (Lotus-Renault)

The next F1 race is the Chinese Grand Prix on 15 April.

Lewis Hamilton finished in third place behind the current F1 Drivers World Champion Sebastian Vettel.  Red Bull’s Vettel took advantage of the saftey car and on lap 37 took a pit stop while the safety car was out on the track and managed to come out of the pits ahead of Hamilton.

So the F1 2012 season starts as the previous season ended with Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber battling it out with Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren’s.

Mark Webber finished in fourth place, ahead of the surprisingly quick Ferrari of Fernando Alonso. Pastor Maldonado also had a good race until he crashed on the final lap while chasing Alonso.

Sixth place was taken by Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi. While Lotus Team’s Kimi Raikkonen had an impressive return to formula one, after a two year break racing rally cars. Raikkonen started in 17th place on the grid but finished the race in seventh ahead of the second Sauber of Sergio Perez.

Jenson Button told reporters it was great to win the first race of the new season. He said:

“It’s an amazing way to start the season […] we haven’t been so strong at this point in the season before, so all in all a great day. For the last couple of years our first races have been tricky. […] I’d say we’ve been pretty dominant today.”

Button went onto to say:

“We all think this is a very special year in Formula One, having six world champions and so many competitive teams. It’s great to see F1 is in a great place at the moment. I’m very excited heading to [the next race in] Malaysia.”

F1 World Drivers Championship & Australian Grand Prix Result

1 Jenson Button
McLaren-Mercedes 25 points

2 Sebastian Vettel
Red Bull-Renault 18

3 Lewis Hamilton
McLaren-Mercedes 15

4 Mark Webber
Red Bull-Renault 12

5 Fernando Alonso
Ferrari 10

6 Kamui Kobayashi
Sauber 8

7 Kimi Raikkonen
Lotus-Renault 6

8 Sergio Perez
Sauber 4

9 Daniel Ricciardo
Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2

10 Paul Di Resta
Force India-Mercedes 1

The next race is the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang on 25 March.

This season will be the longest in F1 history with no less than 20 grand prix races, ending with the Brazil Grand Prix in November.  Also, there are more world champions on the grid than in any other F1 season including Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, the current world champion Sebastian Vettel, and the return to Formula One of Kimi Raikkonen who joins the Lotus Team.

Other news includes the Virgin Team name being dropped for Marussia - a Russian supercar manufacturer.

Sebastian Vettel is favourite to make it three world championships in a row, while Red Bull are favourites to pick up the Constructors World Championship.  I am keen to see how Lotus and Kimi Raikkonen get on; and believe Lewis Hamilton will be Vettel’s main challenger.

Lewis Hamilton and McLaren Team-mate Jenson Button will start on poll position for tomorrow’s Australian Grand Prix followed by Lotus Team’s Romain Grosjean and Mercedes GP’s Michael Schumacher.  Red Bull’s Mark Weber and Sebatian Vettel have to make do with 5th & 6th respectively.

F1 2012 Season Teams & Drivers

Red Bull-Renault
1 Sebastian Vettel
2 Mark Webber

McLaren-Mercedes
3 Jenson Button
4 Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari
5 Fernando Alonso
6 Felipe Massa

Mercedes GP
7 Michael Schumacher
8 Nico Rosberg

Lotus
9 Kimi Raikkonen
10 Romain Grosjean

Force India-Mercedes
11 Paul Di Resta
12 Nico Hulkenberg

Sauber
13 Kamui Kobayashi
14 Sergio Perez

Toro Rosso-Ferrari
15 Daniel Ricciardo
16 Jean-Eric Vergne

Williams-Renault
17 Pastor Maldonado
18 Bruno Senna

Caterham
19 Heikki Kovalainen
20 Vitaly Petrov

HRT-Cosworth
21 Pedro de la Rosa
22 Narain Karthikeyan

Marussia-Cosworth
23 Timo Glock
24 Charles Pic

F1 2012 Season 20 Grand Prix Races

Australian Grand Prix
Melbourne, 16-18 March

Malaysian Grand Prix
Sepang, 23-25 March

Chinese Grand Prix
Shanghai, 13-15 April

Bahrain Grand Prix
Sakhir, 20-22 April

Spanish Grand Prix
Montmelo, 11-13 May

Monaco Grand Prix
Monte Carlo, 25-27 May

Canadian Grand Prix
Montreal, 8-10 June

European Grand Prix
Valencia, 22-24 June

British Grand Prix
Silverstone, 6-8 July

German Grand Prix
Hockenheim, 20-22 July

Hungarian Grand Prix
Hungaroring, 27-29 July

Belgian Grand Prix
Spa-Francorchamps, 31 August – 2 September

Italian Grand Prix
Monza, 7-9 September

Singapore Grand Prix
Singapore, 21-23 September

Japanese Grand Prix
Suzuka, 5-7 October

Korean Grand Prix
Yeongam, 12-14 October

Indian Grand Prix
New Delhi, 26-28 October

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Yas Marina, 2-4 November

United States Grand Prix
Austin, 16-18 November

Brazilian Grand Prix
Interlagos, 23-25 November