Fernando Alonso (centre-right) received F1’s hottest-ever race: the 2005 Bahrain Grand Prix (Getty/iStock/@RaceGallery/Formulation 1/YouTube)
Pedro de la Rosa had waited over two years for an opportunity to start out a grand prix. With 63 races in his rear-view mirror, the Spanish driver had sat on the sidelines as a take a look at driver, ready patiently for a possibility. So, when the decision got here from McLaren supremo Ron Dennis to exchange the injured Juan Pablo Montoya on the 2005 , there was no time for nerves. And no time to bake within the Gulf oven.
Commercial
“I used to be so excited concerning the race that I didn’t even sweat,” De la Rosa tells The Impartial. “I didn’t drink in any respect – again then for those who didn’t put in a drinks bottle, you saved weight on the automobile. So, we didn’t even match it.”
Efficiency over well being? He received’t be the final in . But the second iteration of the Bahrain Grand Prix, 20 years in the past, was probably the most excessive instance within the sport’s 75-year historical past of drivers prioritising tempo over bodily situation. At 42.6C, beating 40C temperatures in Dallas and Detroit within the mid-Nineteen Eighties, it was the most popular F1 race ever.
A lot to the shock, actually, of De la Rosa.
“I solely simply realised earlier than this interview that it was the most popular race ever recorded,” he says.
Commercial
“If I look again, I used to be simply so into the race and so concentrated that I felt it was fairly straightforward. I didn’t really feel drained, even with the temperatures being over 40C. I used to be simply so blissful to drive that I’d have been in a position to settle for one other 10C!”
F1’s hottest-ever races
1. Bahrain, 2005 – 42.6C
2. Dallas, 1984 – 40C
3. Detroit, 1985 – 40C
4. Brazil, 2007 – 38.2C
5. Australia, 2008 – 38.2C
What was notable, in dissecting the race protection on ITV 20 years in the past, was the dearth of complaints from drivers and pundits alike. From Martin Brundle’s pit stroll – in denims – to ’s lights-to-flag victory from pole place (in the beginning of what could be his first title-winning season with Renault), your complete paddock merely moved with the occasions. This was the beginning of ’s high-flying, profitable transfer into the Center East – and all of the riches that got here with it. There was no time to wallow within the solar.
Commercial
“The important thing was the humidity ranges – they have been very low,” De la Rosa explains. “You need to shield your self towards dehydration. I had races in Singapore and Malaysia which have been more durable than Bahrain simply due to the humidity ranges.
“Typically, I used to drink an excessive amount of water after which the physique auto-regulates. You needed to be very cautious.”
Given the game’s gradual transfer in direction of evening races, it’s a temperature file which will properly stand. Bahrain grew to become an evening race in 2014 to rejoice its tenth anniversary – and has remained that manner ever since. Occasions in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Singapore, Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi are additionally held below lights.
Pedro de la Rosa stuffed in for McLaren in Bahrain in 2005 (Getty Photographs)
Fernando Alonso received the race, in the beginning of his first title-winning season with Renault (Getty Photographs)
But the 2003 Qatar Grand Prix – with – introduced into the highlight the game’s warm-weather rules. For this yr, a brand new driver cooling system has been launched, which entails a mix of a field with cooling parts and a fireproof shirt worn below the racing go well with.
Commercial
With temperatures within the low 30s over the subsequent few days in Bahrain, the drivers will probably progress by way of the weekend unscathed.
“I felt very relieved after the race, it was a historic level in my profession,” De la Rosa says, on Bahrain 2005, the place he in the end completed fifth for McLaren. “I proved a degree.”
De La Rosa, now an envoy for Aston Martin, would go on to race eight occasions for McLaren in 2006 earlier than stints with Sauber and HRT to shut out his profession in 2012.
Bahrain is now one among six evening races on the F1 calendar (Getty Photographs)
As for this weekend, through which Bahrain hosts race 4 of a season which has began with three totally different winners – the McLaren pairing of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri splitting the primary two grands prix earlier than Max Verstappen’s – De la Rosa has a singular cause to maintain an in depth eye on proceedings.
Commercial
Late on in that scorching ’05 race, the Spaniard set the quickest lap – a 1:31:447. To at the present time, it’s a lap file on the Bahrain Worldwide Circuit which has not been overwhelmed and continues to lift eyebrows when it receives a point out in pre-race protection. With F1 eradicating the additional level for the quickest lap, too, he has cause to be optimistic that his file might be preserved past its twentieth yr.
“It’s the very last thing I’ve in Formulation One!” De La Rosa says, with a chuckle. “I used to be extraordinarily dissatisfied once they launched the additional level for the quickest lap, however it survived.
“Except they resurface the monitor, as they did in China and Japan when lap data fell, it ought to nonetheless be secure. I hope nobody beats it… let’s see if it survives one other 20 years!’
The Bahrain Grand Prix takes place on Sunday at 4pm (BST)
