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Media, Drivers Slam Rules for Boring Bahrain GP

With 4 world champions on the F1 grid in 2010, all of whom are driving top class cars, the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix should have been a true feast for the diehard racing fans from all over the world. What they've got instead was a pretty boring race, with the majority of action – and by action we mean overtaking – happening in the rear of the field.

Needless to say, the refueling ban introduced by the FIA for the 2010 season of Formula One failed to raise the show in the series. As admitted by Lewis Hamilton in the post-race press conference, the new rules did certainly not help the series in improving overtaking, while the single pit stop throughout the entire race meant pit strategy was also thrown down the drain for 2010.

Under the circumstances, media from all over Europe slammed the FIA for creating one of the most boring series in years, and urged the governing body to quickly change the rules in order to save it before it's too late.

The FIA and teams must look at the problem urgently and see what can be tweaked. The sport is in danger of missing out on its greatest bonanza. There are four champions on the grid, all in competitive cars. The racing should be sparkling rather than as dry as the desert,” said the Daily Mail.

Looking at it objectively, this new and highly anticipated F1 produced a rather boring race, with very few passes and most of the field bunched at the back. But Sakhir is an odd track – we'll see how the season unfolds,” added the Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, while praising the Scuderia for their first 1-2 in more than a year.

Other publications that slammed the action in the Bahrain GP were France's Auto Hebdo, whose reporters admitted that “the lack of excitement did not go unnoticed,” while L'Equipe characterized the race as being “deadly dull.”

The drivers also ditched the new rules after the race, with Fernando Alonso, Michael Schumacher, Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button all criticizing the lack of spectacle the new rules are currently providing.

Adrian Sutil's father Jorge, who was probably disappointed with his son's bad start in the race – when he spun and had to start the race from the rear of the field – put it quite eloquently. “Next time I will take with me something to read,” he said, according to Germany's Bild.
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