There were no such problems for Vettel during qualifying
however – he stormed to a record-breaking fifteenth pole position of the
season, Webber joining him on the front row. McLaren drivers Jenson Button and
Lewis Hamilton occupied the second row between them, ahead of Ferrari’s
Fernando Alonso, Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes and home hero Felipe Massa in the
second Ferrari.
As per usual, Vettel made a perfect to start to lead the way
initially, but the shorter-than-usual distance between the grid and the first
corner meant Webber’s slightly slow start didn’t cost him any positions. Alonso
however made his customary flyer, vaulting past Hamilton as the pack funnelled
through the famous Senna ‘S’ for the first time.
Not satisfied with fourth place apparently, Alonso was able
to stay close to Button’s tail whilst opening a small gap to Hamilton during
the opening stages. The two-time champion was able to wrest third place away
with a brave move around the outside of Button at the unorthodox location of
turn 5, but by this stage the two Red Bulls were almost five seconds down the
road.
One man who couldn’t make a move around the outside work was
Michael Schumacher, who after overtaking Paul Di Resta for tenth place tried to
dive around the outside of Bruno Senna at turn 1 in a bid to take ninth.
Contact between Senna’s front wing and Schumacher’s rear-left tyre however led
to a puncture for the German, forcing him to trail back to the pits with three
wheels on his Mercedes for almost an
entire lap. He was able to continue, albeit in twenty-fourth and last place.
Back at the business end of the field, it became clear after
the first round of pit-stops that all was not well with Vettel’s car. Race
engineer Guillaume Rocquelin had informed his driver over the pit-to-car radio
that a problem had developed with his gearbox, and that he should therefore try
to short-shift whilst using second and third gears. This impacted upon his
speed, and by lap 30 he had no choice but to surrender the lead to Webber, who
had managed to remain within around three seconds of his championship-winning
teammate.
Button, who was seemingly making no progress on Alonso in
fourth place, decided to attempt an alternative strategy whereby he changed to
medium compound tyres instead of softs as per the rest of the leading group of
drivers. The original plan was for Button to run the remaining forty laps on
that particular set of tyres, but tyre wear necessitated the McLaren driver to
make a third stop with nineteen laps to go; despite this he was still able to
catch and pass fellow three-stopper Alonso on lap 62 with the help of DRS to
re-take third.
At the front though, there would be no stopping Webber from
taking the seventh win of his career, a win which moved him ahead of Alonso
into third place in the championship and will no doubt give him the confidence
boost he needs heading into the off-season. Button was able to somewhat reduce
the advantage of second-place man Vettel, whose gearbox managed to survive for the rest
of the race, but he had to settle for third position behind after running out
of laps.
Alonso finished in fourth place, ahead of teammate Massa who
benefitted from the retirement of Hamilton, gearbox issues bringing an ignominious
end to a trying year for the Brit. Sixth place went to Adrian Sutil after an outstanding
drive that should put him in good stead to remain on the grid in 2012, beating
Rosberg with whom he battled for the much of the race and his Force India
teammate Paul Di Resta. Kamui Kobayashi finished in ninth to safeguard Sauber’s
seventh place in the constructors’ championship, whilst Vitaly Petrov claimed
the final point of the year with a solid drive to tenth place for Renault.
Jaime Alguersauri and Sebastien Buemi both had fairly
anonymous races to eleventh and twelfth places, shedding little light on how
the Toro Rosso line-up will look next year; Sergio Perez could manage no higher
than thirteenth after spinning his Sauber at mid-distance. Rubens Barrichello
finished what could turn out to be his final ever race in a subdued fourteenth
place, ahead of the recovering Schumacher, Heikki Kovalainen for Lotus and
Senna, who was hobbled by a drive-through penalty for the collision with
Schumacher and his own gearbox problem. Jarno Trulli, Jerome D’Ambrosio and
Daniel Ricciardo completed the list of finishers for Lotus, Virgin and Hispania
respectively. Pastor Maldonado ended his race in the barriers, Vitantonio
Liuzzi succumbed to an unidentified mechanical mishap and Timo Glock’s
left-rear wheel simply didn’t feel like staying attached to the rest of his
Virgin car after his first pit-stop.
As the curtain falls on the season of 2011, it’s time for us
to take stock. Vettel may have locked away the title some time ago, but the
fact remains that it has been a year of innovation, excitement, some breathtaking
highs and some heart-rending lows. But that’s not all from me – make sure you’re
back here in a week’s time as my reveal my top ten drivers of the year and rate
the field’s prospects for 2012.
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