Glorious races

As the BIC gears up to host its sixth race on Sunday, rich memories of spills and thrills, ecstasy and agony and of course victory and defeat swarm the mind.

Here are a few vignettes of the last five Formula One races held in Bahrain.

2004: The Ferraris conquered a new frontier as Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello completed a second one-two finish of the season. The Red Barons were virtually untouchable and untroubled racing from pole to podium in spectacular style.

For Renault's Fernando Alonso, who was to win the next two races here, it was a good learning experience. He proved his growing reputation finishing sixth after having started 16th on the grid.

Kimi Raikkonen's retirement on lap eight when his engine blew in spectacular fashion and a minor collision between Bar-Honda's Takuma Sato and Williams' Ralf Schumacher added to the drama.

But for the two Ferrari cars it was just another normal day in the office.

2005: Bahrain got a corner seat as Formula One witnessed a change of guard.

Alonso, who later that year became the youngest champion, made it a pole-to-podium victory. The Spaniard was in a class of his own as Ferrari's hopes of making a winning debut with their new car evaporated in the stifling desert heat.

Alonso further piled on the world champions' misery lapping Barrichello towards the end of the race while Schumacher went off the track on turn 10 of lap 12.

I can never forget the moment Schumacher veered off the track. The Italian corner at the BIC media centre immediately went into mourning while there were cheers at other pockets packed with all those who love to hate Ferrari.

The media centre almost emptied and reporters rushed towards the Ferrari garage.

It was an afternoon of high drama. At one end, it seemed like a one-man super show by Alonso while behind the Spaniard the race was full of multiple sub-plots for minor placings each dishing out its own dramatic moments.

2006: The best race so far. Sadly, it marked the beginning of the end of the Schumacher era. But it was classic Formula One stuff as Alonso won the race with an air of a chess Grand Master.

The 24-year-old Renault star, who started fourth on the grid, outwitted the seven-time champion Schumacher in a magnificent move coming out of the pit lane and held on for a memorable victory.

That deft move was the defining moment of a daring race embellished by six classic overtaking manoeuvres, two spin-offs and a car blaze.

It was as good as a Fide title clash with Schumacher taking the initiative in a thrilling opening and raising hopes of an 85th Grand Prix victory in the tentative middle game.

But Alonso reserved the best for last and, in a breath-taking end game, with Schumacher breathing down his neck and just a little over a second separating the two, the Spaniard checkmated the German.

It all happened at the most unexpected time in the spectacular opening race of the season. But that was the only opportunity Alonso was to get and he grabbed it in style.

Schumacher, who started from pole, made his second pit stop (8.7 seconds) on lap 36 and Alonso went in two laps later. But the Renault champion took a full second less (7.7 seconds) because he had less fuel to fill and charged out of the pit lane with Schumacher's Ferrari a blur in the background.

The two cars almost touched at the mouth of the pit lane exit and hurtled towards the first turn for that all-important advantage. Where Alonso was daring, Schumacher was deft in a deadly situation, but the champion held on and inched forward.

Alonso could have well stopped at that very moment, got out of his car and uttered the famous but fatal words: check and checkmate my friend and walked back to collect his trophy and 10 points.

2007: Felipe Massa held off a persevering Lewis Hamilton in an incident-free race.

But that was only part of the story as nobody could stop the 22-year-old from making history as the first driver to win three podium spots in the first three races of his career.

Massa got off to a nice start from pole and denied a charging Hamilton, starting his first race from the front row, any room for heroics.

The Brazilian stayed ahead for the rest of the race, but was never able to take complete command at any time.

It was a classic duel as Hamilton did a brilliant job of a dual task: stayed agonisingly close to probe and pester Massa and at the same time keeping Ferrari's Raikkonen firmly behind him after the second set of pit stops. That Hamilton succeeded in both augured well for his fairytale start and a bright future.

2008: Massa ended a miserable run of two failed Grand Prix with a meticulous victory to give himself a new lease of life at Ferrari.

The Bahrain International Circuit suits Massa the best. He revels on the long straights and sharp right-handers and if possible he would pack the 5.4-km track into his suitcase and take it to the remaining races of the season.

The BIC can also inspire purple prose from him as was evident in his post-race summation.

"Finally after a start to the championship under dark clouds, I can see the sunshine again," he said sounding more like a struggling poet coming out of a mental block rather than a fiery driver who fancies rhetoric.

The rest of the pack, including his teammate Raikkonen, could do very little behind Massa who kept disappearing deep into the lead. It was Massa's race all the way and Ferrari's Grand Prix right through the weekend.

But even in defeat Hamilton made a strong point for sportsmanship, racing ethics and etiquette. He allowed Raikkonen to pass at a crucial phase in the race and was willing to plough his way from the back of the pack in true racing spirit and hard grind.

Massa may have won the race on Sunday, but Hamilton won my heart for sure.