The season opener began where Fernando Alonso left in 2006; Renault took the win. Schumacher and Ferari were strong all weekend, resulting in a second place. Raikkonen started last on the grid but finished in an amazing 3rd place.

The World Champion Renault F1 Team and Fernando Alonso started their title defence in the best possible way this afternoon at the 2006 Bahraini Grand Prix, with the Spaniard taking victory in a hard-fought battle with Michael Schumacher. However, there were also mixed feelings in the team, as Giancarlo Fisichella was forced to retire on lap 21 following an hydraulic failure on his R26.

Fernando Alonso’s victory centred on three key moments: on lap 8, when he narrowly avoided an accident with Felipe Massa after the Brazilian spun behind him into turn 1; and then two moments around the second pit-stop, both in the laps before his stop when he was able to gain vital time on Michael Schumacher, and then exiting the pits, as he battled wheel to wheel with the German into turn 1, to secure the track position that gave him victory. After this moment, on lap 40, he controlled his performance and the gap to the Ferrari all the way to the flag.

Giancarlo Fisichella started the race from his original P9, after the team had changed a large number of peripheral components on the engine in order to try and resolve the power loss he had suffered in qualifying. Unfortunately the problem continued, leaving the Italian around fifty horsepower short of his potential maximum throughout the opening part of the race. He made his first pit-stop on lap 16, but was forced into retirement five laps later after an hydraulic leak.