Although the promised pre-season expectation of greater F1 spectacle, F1 world lost no time in criticizing the new regulations which reduced the Bahrain Grand Prix to something of a parade of F1 cars.
Drivers and insiders are blaming the refuelling ban, with most cars adopting similar race strategies at the Sakhir circuit and then being unable to follow their rivals closely enough to overtake due to their fuel weight.
Qualifying in Bahrain GP dictated the race and had Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull not been slowed by a faulty spark plug while the German was leading, the eventual result would have been a start to finish procession.
Instead it was a straightforward Ferrari one-two, with race winner Fernando Alonso effectively sealing the victory on his debut for the team when the Spaniard overtook in a demanding dominant way his Brazilian team-mate Felipe Massa on the first corner.
The most scathing criticism was in the Times where Kevin Eason wrote: "Far be it for us to worry you, but it might be wise to dig around in the garden shed and find that old tin of Dulux and splash a bit of it on the living-room wall around the start of the next grand prix in Australia in case you need something to watch if the racing is as dull as it was here in Bahrain.
It was difficult not to imagine the click of millions of remote controls around the globe as viewers started scouring the channels for an alternative sporting event a little more exciting, such as international conkers from Rutland or celebrity cheeserolling from Amsterdam."
Michael Schumacher quoted at BBC:
"Overtaking is basically impossible, other than if somebody makes a mistake - Lewis had a little one [mistake] so Nico was able to pass him, but got back past at the pitstop - that's about it. Unfortunately that's [all] the action we are going to have with this kind of environment of race strategy.
Furthermore, reigning world champion Jenson Button played down Alain Prost's claim that the new generation will adjust to the formula that was last in place 17 years ago.
"It's not like the old days," Button said. "We have so much more downforce. You could follow cars [back] then. You could slide up the inside. You could race. It's very different now."
Mercedes chief executive Nick Fry told Autosport:
"I think we've all seen a race that was far from the most exciting that we have ever seen, and what we now need to do is between us have a look at it and establish what we do need to do. I think we should look at both the technical side and the sporting side, with Bernie and the FIA, and see what we can do about it."
For the good of the sport and soon Bernie Ecclestone would experience a dramatic fall at TV broadcasting numbers, FIA should consider criticism and in co-operation with team bosses to bring racing competition back to F1!
