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'He's made a very, very complete start'
What a role reversal Bahrain was for the Ferrari team and what a difference a week made for Felipe Massa. Having said that, it didn't come as a complete surprise for me. He obviously had a lot more pace than Kimi in Malaysia but he screwed it up with a couple of simple driving errors. In Bahrain he had the pace, he was at the front, didn't need to push to get past anyone and off he went! You have to wonder about Kimi's pace in Malaysia and Bahrain and I expect he is starting to be slightly worried now.
According to Ferrari, Kimi's been off the pace all year. If you ask the guys there, they'll tell you he's been slower than Massa. But Massa has the benefit of knowing the car and the Team better - plus he has had time adjust his style to the way Ferrari operate.
But enough about my old team, the guy everyone's talking about at the moment is Lewis Hamilton. What a performance again! If you look at his first race, he just brought the car home and did a good, consistent job on debut. In Malaysia, he was under immense pressure but never put the slightest foot wrong and in Bahrain he goes and blows away his team-mate. It's unbelievably impressive. You also have to remember that Alonso got beaten by Jarno Trulli quite a lot when he was his team-mate so maybe it is Fisichella who made Alonso look good!
Listen to Eddie’s comments on Lewis Hamilton
We're only three races into the season but I really don't see why Lewis Hamilton can't be world champion this year. He seems to have all the bits and pieces in place. He's got the car, he's got the mentality and he's got the speed so why not? I wouldn't rule it out at all. Nothing seems to faze the kid. The pressure he was under in Malaysia was immense and he just stuck to his guns and did what he had to do. He was catching Massa at the end of the race but perhaps the Ferrari was taking it easy. You only have to win by a second after all, not 15 laps!
What Hamilton's done in three races is turned himself into a contender for driver of the year whether he wins or not. He doesn't make mistakes, he doesn't get involved, he's got the pace and it will be very interesting to see where he goes from here. He's made a very, very complete start and it will be interesting to see whether there's a dip in performance at some stage but I just can't see it happening.
So what of Fernando? I'm not too sure why he was so far off the pace in Bahrain but I know from experience that some weekends you and your car just don't click. Perhaps that's what happened to him but he's got some thinking to do for sure. Of course everyone was expecting him to beat Lewis and he now has the additional pressure of that.
As for the rest, I was impressed by Nick Heidfeld again and the BMW looks a good car. They have the budget, they have a very logical approach to Formula 1 and Heidfeld and Kubica are extremely talented drivers. They certainly seem to know what they're doing.
My mate DC had an awesome race. He's always been a better racer than qualifier and he made some fantastic passes to go from 22nd to 7th before unfortunately retiring. It was one of the drives of the race. He's not an Alonso and he's not a Hamilton but he does a bloody solid job and still works hard at his fitness. He's still very driven to be a Formula 1 driver and if you're as driven as he is, I don't think age really matters as long as you're in shape and have the will. Just look no further than Michael Schumacher as a prime example.
"Kimi's off the pace"
Anthony Davidson also had a great race to be running in sixth in the Super Aguri and didn't put a foot wrong until his Honda engine let go. All he can keep doing is blowing away his team-mate. Keep it up Anthony.
Next up is Spain. The Circuit de Catalunya is purely a car circuit and the driver really is secondary by a long way to the car. You'll consistently see the same teams abreast on the grid, such as a Ferrari front row, McLaren second row and BMW third row. It's what we call a two-by-two circuit because it's all about aerodynamic efficiency. They've changed the circuit a little bit which I don't agree with. It's getting slower and slower and taken away the danger aspect of F1 which makes no sense at to me. I didn't like the danger aspect when I was driving but now I'm not driving I think it should be more dangerous! They're taking away sections where you could have had a big accident and had to have balls and they've thrown that away.
It's going to be a tricky one to call in Spain but Ferrari and McLaren have the best aero packages at the moment and purely by the way Lewis has been driving I'm going to predict a first win for him.
Eddie Irvine
Listen to Eddie’s comments on the Circuit de Catalunya
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16th April 2007
