BAHRAIN REVIEW BY BEN STEVENS
Friday
Five days after an epic in China, the F1
grid gets back at it with the Bahrain “Consider
this your annual reminder that Bahrain exists”
Grand Prix. No, I don’t know anyone from
Bahrain. Neither do you. Alas, the charade
continues for another year.
In the wake of Fernando Alonso announcing
his participation in the Indy 500, Thursday
kicked off with a confirmation from McLaren
that Jenson Button would return for Monaco.
Having retired at the end of last season,
Button’s return will undoubtedly be a
popular encore for fans of radio communications
that vary between unintelligible and complaints
of “massive understeer”. Unfortunately, the car
he’ll be driving is bound to be awful, but I’m sure
the racer in JB will enjoy a final dance around
Monaco before his engine fails on the eighth lap.
At least he won’t have to travel anywhere.
Speaking of returns, Bahrain also marked
the return of long-time F1 supremo and bad
toupee-aficionado Bernie Ecclestone to the
paddock. The 86-year-old wasted no time
getting back into his sh!t-stirring ways,
professing he would’ve blocked Alonso from
going to Indianapolis. Some things never
change.
Moving onto the on-track action, Friday
practice in Bahrain is a bit of an odd affair,
as while the race and qualifying are run at
twilight, the first practice session takes firmly
under the midday sun, where the only thing
hotter is Felipe Massa in a speedo.