Valentino Rossi is serious and points to his tenth World Cup. In Formula 1 Kimi Raikkonen back on the podium and fits between the two Mercedes. The motoring weekend offers new satisfactions to the Italian colors with the comeback second place for Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen and the sensational victory of Valentino Rossi in MotoGP.
GP BAHRAIN: KIMI STRONGER THAN VETTEL
With former world champion Sebastian Vettel not at ease on the Sakhir circuit, in Bahrain, think about it Kimi Raikkonen to give prestige to the Ferrari team with a splendid race, also the result of a different and winning strategy. The Finn, who started from fourth place, was always competitive both with the soft tires but above all with the medium compound.
There are two key moments Bahraini Grand Prix which they offered to Raikkonen the opportunity of second place finish. Key moment No. 1 is that of the first pit stop. While teammate Vettel and the two Mercedes were once again on the soft tyres, the Finn opted for the medium tyres, aiming for a very long central stint and relying on the grip of the tyre. A good choice because, after a few laps from the first pit stop, the tires of Vettel and the two Mercedes were already in oxygen debt while those of Raikkonen were holding up well. Raikkonen's comeback is all in the different strategy and in a renewed feeling with the red already demonstrated in Friday's free practice.
In the finale, with tires reversed after the second pit stop, Raikkonen unleashed all the horsepower of his Ferrari on the new soft tyres, even gaining 2-3 seconds per lap over the two Mercedes ahead of him. A few laps from the end here is the second key moment: the overtaking that is worth the second place on Rosberg. The German from Mercedes, increasingly nervous and frustrated at seeing teammate Hamilton run away from him at every grand prix, delayed braking too much at the end of the first corner and went long. Raikkonen thanks him and puts it in pocketing the second place finish.
disappoints a little Sebastian Vettel, only fifth at the end of the race. The German from Ferrari makes mistakes more than once and is forced to pit one more time than teammate Kimi and the Mercedes after a short excursion off the track which causes some problems with the front wing. Returning to the track after the forced pit stop Vettel is behind Valtteri Bottas of Williams. And he will stay there until the end of the race.
MOTOGP: VALENTINO LIKE MARADONA
Climbs on the highest step of the podium of the circuit Termas de rio hondo with Argentina's number 10 shirt, that of Maradona, or to keep up with the times, that of Messi. Also because yesterday's success of Valentino Rossi he was like a true number 10, like an absolute champion. The rider from Pesaro, astride the Yamaha, did another perfect race overtaking one opponent after another and chasing down Marc Marquez who seemed to be flying away towards a second consecutive success. 15 laps to go Marquez dominated the GP with about 4 seconds ahead of Rossi. Up until then, the Pesaro rider had been engaged in a long comeback from eighth to second place and didn't give up on the pretension of going back to the very young world champion on Honda.
Also for Rossi, in addition to the talent, it was the strategy the winning weapon. While the other riders had opted for hard tyres, the 'Doctor' had preferred to mount an 'extra hard' tyre, hoping for a deterioration in the tires of his rivals in the second half of the race. Also in this case the choice was masterful. Starting from the second half of the race, Rossi's comeback on Marquez was constant and with four laps to go the rider from Tavullia was able to stay in the slipstream of the number 93 Honda that up to a quarter of an hour earlier seemed to Rossi to be a hard-to-reach dot.
The key moment comes two laps from the end with the fight between the two riders for the first position. the 'Doctor' passes Marquez in braking and closes the door to the Spaniard who had attempted to overtake after the crossing of the trajectories. The two touch but remain in the saddle. Rossi opens the gas a moment before Marquez and manages to stay ahead of the Spanish phenomenon coming out of the corners but Marquez doesn't seem to give up and stays in his slipstream, too much in his slipstream. As soon as Rossi hints at the bend to face a new corner, that's it Marquez falls on the rear of Rossi's Yamaha and falls. For Rossi, however, there are no problems. Marquez tries to get back on the saddle but it's all useless: race thrown away. Rossi flies towards success, the second of the season, the number 110 of a legendary career.
On the second step of the podium there is once again Dovizioso (three consecutive second places), in third place the surprise Crutchlow who burns the other Ducati rider Iannone with two corners to go. It would have been another all-Italian podium.
Now the MotoGp standings updated after the Argentine GP show us Valentino Rossi leads with 66 points, 6 more than Dovizioso and 26 more than Iannone. Marquez is now in fifth place with 36 points, -30 from Valentino Rossi.
