Round 2: Bahrain

Justin:

Alonso Vs Herbert
Didn't really see this battle coming around, but it did, sort of. Johnny Herbert wrote about his thoughts on why Alonso should retire. He went in-depth about it all. It's his opinion. As a pundit, he is paid to do this.

Erm, possibly what he didn't count on was waking the Spanish Fighter into a response. Oh dear. Awkward!

Fair play to Alonso for doing it face to face with a handshake (lulling Herbert into a "oh this is going to be a respectful exchange....oh...it's not" false sense of security). Herbert is paid to give his opinion, Alonso was merely airing his with someone who had clearly pissed him off.

Herbert's column is here, as well as the video of the slightly comical put down live on air (snigger).

A thumbs up for Alonso on this one. Thanks to Zeenews India for me nicking their pic!

Rosberg starting strong
The problem Nico had last year was Hamilton destroyed him over the first half of the year and never looked back. Nico just never got going, mostly because Hamilton got up a head of steam and totally crushed him. Rosberg knew he needed to have a strong start to 2016 to stand a chance of matching Hamilton.

He is doing that. No doubt Hamilton will come back strong, once he gets the starts sorted out. Nico admitted as much that it was at the start where he won the race. Lewis went backwards fast. Nico started like a bullet. Lewis bogged down and this resulted in him being involved in a nerfing incident where Bottas clattered into him.

Vettel out and Lewis down to 9th - I was screaming at the TV in joy!

I don't say this often, but it was a shame that Vettel conked out before the start. It robbed us of a potentially more interesting fight at the front. That will come soon enough though.

Carbon fiber carnage
As DC pointed out - was there a points scoring system for people hitting each other through the opening laps?! Blimey!

There was plenty of action away from the front of the field - from 4th down there was some awesome racing for sure (always add a "for sure" in, when "yeah, no, absolutely" isn't used for once!).

Ricciardo drove a great race, as did Kvyat in fact - an awesome drive from 15th to 7th - fair play!

Vandoorne showed what he is made of, picking up the first points of the year for McLaren. Great drive there.

Williams seem to be going backwards, but I absolutely loved the smile Frank Williams gave late on when one of his cars was overtaken around the outside in a properly racy move. He is a pure, pure out and out racer.

Driver of the day
There are simply too many candidates here once again. Lewis for a great recovery drive. Kimi for showing up to a race for once. Nico, doing what he needed to do and leading out front all race. Vandoorne for an astonishing debut. Either Red Bull driver....

At the risk of sounding like a broken record....Grosjean is my driver of the day yet again.

5th! In just the second race of a brand new team. That is insane. The guy just sailed through the field serenely. He is super fast and a super safe pair of hands these days.

Surely Ferrari cannot afford to not look his way in 2017.

Channel 4
Coverage was good. Steve Jones is hitting his stride well. The exchange with Toto Wolff about body blows was hilarious. As was the interview where he couldn't hear his wife's questions.

Bernie
Calling the drivers windbags and referring to your relief that they can read and write (when he spoke about their open letter) was not a good move in my opinion. I'm sure Jackie Stewart had plenty to say about his remarks. The qualifying debacle is still not sorted. Qualifying at the moment is shit. Change it!

Senna, Schumacher and Vettel

Phil: As usual an excellent summary of the last race from my co-blogger, although a detailed account would take more space than we can spare. So much was happening each lap at Istanbul that even a seasoned commentator like Martin Brundle could barely keep up, and commented at one point I believe how the leader pitting doesn't even merit air time, there's so much else happening on the track.

One thing is beyond doubt, though, as my co-blogger admirably explained: Vettel is in a class of his own. I half expected he might be: he certainly had the pace last season but lacked the maturity, as his collision with Webber at Istanbul a year ago showed. A year on, however, and the confidence that being reigning world champion gives, he is in a different class. I confidently expect him to be the first driver in five years to successfully defend his world title.

The funny thing is, last year we had an enthralling, season-long battle for the title that we couldn't really call until about half way through the last race, but of the races themselves, none of them really stick in the mind. This year, although the championship will probably have been wrapped up by Hungary, you can't look away from the races for a minute.

I've said before that I don't really know why Schumi came out of retirement, and still think he'll regret it in the long run. There are two reasons why he probably un-retired: firstly, because he thought he could be genuinely competitive again, and secondly, because he simply enjoys driving a F1 car. I don't think anyone seriously expects him to win a race again, let along a championship, and as he said after Turkey: the joy isn't there. It's hardly surprising. This is a driver who broke all the records, who barring a few years in the late 1990s when he was building Ferrari into the force it is today was accustomed to being virtually unchallenged and unchallengeable. Why would he now enjoy not winning, and being outraced by men half his age? Johnny Herbert, his team mate at Benetton in 1995, thinks he'll retire permanently at the end of this season, and I think he may be right.

Speaking of great F1 drivers of the past, there's a great interview with the man some call the Gavin Winston of F1 in the Guardian (which may even be linked to this blog, or maybe not). Newey, who designed the car in which Ayrton Senna was killed, talks about how his death affected him and how he won't be watching the new film about Senna.

Finally, I think my co-blogger will agree that the only date that needs to be in anyone's diary in the next few weeks is the I Was Having a Blog live event of the year at Monaco. Well, actually in High Wycombe, which is like Monaco. Well, they're both hilly...anyway I digress.