'Boring' F1 hits back with Bahrain bonanza

F1 on Sunday issued the strongest-possible retort to all those playing down the spectacle of the sport's new era.

Even before the race began under Bahrain's spectacular new lights, McLaren supremo Ron Dennis was talking tough after a weekend of what he described as "whinging" about the 2014 rules.

"Most of the moans are coming from uncompetitiveness," he told British television Sky on the grid, telling the naysayers: "Just get on with it and develop your car."

Undoubtedly, his comments were pointed at the likes of Red Bull, and Ferrari's Luca di Montezemolo, whose motives for talking down the sport are arguably political.

Mercedes' Niki Lauda agrees with Dennis.

"Everyone is fighting for his own interests," he told German RTL television.

"It is known that the Ferrari engine is heavier than the Mercedes engine," the great Austrian surmised.

Granted, the spectacle in Australia and Malaysia was questionable, but even Ferrari's own Fernando Alonso pointed out at the start of the Bahrain weekend that two races into a 19-event campaign is too early for judgement.

Likening F1 to football, he said: "Some matches you watch are 0-0 and it's terrible and then the next week you see 5-4 and enjoy the game so much."

Sunday in Bahrain was 5-4.

There were wheel-to-wheel battles throughout the field on every single lap, but the jewel in the crown was the extended fight for victory between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

Team boss Paddy Lowe even tried to impose team orders to ensure an orderly one-two, but Lauda laughed afterwards that the feisty silver-wearing teammates "ignored" him.

"I think today was a day for the sport," said German Rosberg, who although ultimately defeated nonetheless excitedly embraced Hamilton in celebration of a much-needed boost for F1.

Lauda said Sunday made those calling F1 boring look like "idiots", with Mercedes adding on Twitter: "It's absolutely official -- F1 2014 kicks ass!"

RESULTS

Pos	Driver	Team	Time/Retired	Pts
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:39:42.743	25
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	+1.0 secs	18
3	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	+24.0 secs	15
4	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-Renault	+24.4 secs	12
5	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	+28.6 secs	10
6	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	+29.8 secs	8
7	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	+31.2 secs	6
8	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	+31.8 secs	4
9	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	+32.5 secs	2
10	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	+33.4 secs	1
11	Daniil Kvyat	STR-Renault	+41.3 secs
12	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	+43.1 secs
13	Max Chilton	Marussia-Ferrari	+59.9 secs
14	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault	+62.8 secs
15	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham-Renault	+87.9 secs
16	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Ferrari	+1 Lap
17	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	+2 Laps
Ret	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	+17 Laps
Ret	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	Accident
Ret	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham-Renault	+24 Laps
Ret	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Renault	+39 Laps
Ret	Adrian Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari	+40 Lap