History in the making

Sky Sports F1's David Croft on the record-breaking feats the 2012 season is witnessing and why the heat is now on Mercedes...

First off, big congratulations to Nico Rosberg this week for his first win in Formula 1, the 103rd different driver to win a Formula 1 World Championship Grand Prix and the first since Mark Webber took the 2009 German Grand Prix, 49 races ago. It's been a long time since we've had a different winner - it's been the longest gap between maiden wins in the history of the championship, in fact - and Nico's victory underlines some of the pre-season thinking that this could be a very tight championship battle indeed. Rosberg drove superbly but revealed this week that he wasn't able to race flat out for a single lap. Far better to preserve his tyres. Far more important to make each stint last as long as possible before the lap times increase dramatically. The ability to calculate when to push and when not to, as well as the know-how to find a line through the corners that punishes the rubber less severely, is at the moment every bit as necessary as the instinct to spot a gap and go for it. By midway through the season, drivers and teams may get a better handle on how to keep their tyres alive for longer, but at the moment there's a lot of guesswork going on and whilst that happens we could be in for some very exciting races. But back to Nico who, after a swift Stein to celebrate, returns to the scene of his Formula 1 debut this weekend. Whatever stories lie behind the sporting headlines here in the kingdom of Bahrain, for the Mercedes driver it must be quite comforting to return to a track where he has not only won a title - GP2 in 2005 - but followed that up with a points-scoring F1 debut and a Fastest Lap at the same time. That 2006 race was my Formula 1 debut too, albeit as a commentator and not a driver. If only I was about a foot shorter and five stone lighter, and oh, had some ability as I driver as well! In terms of pace I'm probably more Niki Lada than Niki Lauda. But I certainly remember Nico charging through the field after a first corner spin. One of the drives of the day on an afternoon dominated by the three-time winner here, Fernando Alonso. Can Rosberg make it back-to-back wins? I'm not sure, but then like many in the paddock, I didn't think he'd win in China and look how he proved so many wrong there. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him in pole, but after starting 4th, 3rd and then 2nd, will the sequence continue in the right way for his Mercedes team-mate? 4th, 3rd, 2nd and now Pole, surely it's got to be Schumacher's turn this week! If not Michael, then take your pick from a host of drivers queuing up for a successful weekend on a track that will be very dusty at the start - and possibly still dusty come the start of the race. Sand and wind are always a problem at a circuit that is also punishing on brakes and likely to have a very high track temperature. Good traction is vital coming out of the slow corners at Turns One and Ten. You need to reduce the downforce for the long straights and avoid flat spotting your tyres. It's easily done here and can cost you dear. Plenty will go into this weekend desperate for a good result and to head back from the last of the long flyaway races for a while with a decent points haul in the bag before the European legs of the season get underway. And if Mercedes can pull off another master class in tyre management, then maybe this year has the potential to be a golden one for the Silver Arrows. But let's not get carried away just yet. DC