9 April 2011
Malaysian Grand Prix 2011 – Qualifying Report
Sebastian Vettel will once again begin tomorrow's Malaysian Grand Prix from pole position, but he didn't take the top spot by such a convincing margin as he did two weeks ago. He only beat McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, once again his closest adversary, by a margin of just over a tenth of a second. With the pair's respective teammates Mark Webber and Jenson Button lining up next, both within four tenths of a second of Vettel's pole time, everything would appear in place for a classic Red Bull vs. McLaren confrontation.
Q1
Hamilton was the first of the pole contenders to post a time of a 1'37.4, while the sister McLaren of Button could only get within half a second of his teammate. Mark Webber's first effort left him almost an entire second behind Hamilton's benchmark, though the Aussie's teammate Vettel came within two-thousandths of a second of usurping Hamilton before the Toro Rosso of Sebastien Buemi shed a large chunk of its left-hand sidepod onto the circuit, prompting a red flag. After the debris was cleared, Ferrari, admittedly off the pace, took the decision to send its drivers out on soft tyres, allowing Felipe Massa to put up a 1'36.7 which transpired to be the fastest time of the session despite both McLarens following suit with soft tyres. Red Bull meanwhile opted not to use up a set of softs, leaving Webber in a somewhat precarious fifteenth position by session's end. However, it was the usual suspects who found themselves eliminated – Lotus, Virgin and Hispania all went no further, though the latter looked rather more convincing than last time with both of their men qualifying comfortably within 107% of Massa. The only other man to fall was Pastor Maldonado, with both of the Williams cars looking on the back foot.
Eliminated – Pastor Maldonado (Williams), Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus), Jarno Trulli (Lotus), Timo Glock (Virgin), Jerome D'Ambrosio (Virgin), Vitantonio Liuzzi (Hispania), Narain Karthikeyan (Hispania)
Q2
Reverting to hard tyres, Hamilton was again out early in the session to record a 1'37.3, a time then beaten by over a second by Webber who made use of the advantage of the soft tyres. Vettel managed to take a further tenth off of his teammate, but Button surprised everybody by slashing four tenths off the championship leader's time to assume first. He would remain there for the remainder of the session, with even Hamilton only coming within three tenths of his teammate when he went out on his soft tyres. Both Ferraris and Renaults made the cut, as did Nico Rosberg's Mercedes, but Michael Schumacher for the second time in as many races will begin the race eleventh position, unable to quite do enough to deny Kamui Kobayashi and his Sauber a place in Q3. Neither the Toro Rossos nor the Force Indias were fast enough, all four drivers getting eliminated along with the Williams of Rubens Barrichello and the second Sauber of Sergio Perez.
Eliminated – Michael Schumacher (Mercedes), Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso), Jaime Alguersauri (Toro Rosso), Paul Di Resta (Force India), Rubens Barrichello (Williams), Sergio Perez (Sauber), Adrian Sutil (Force India)
Q3
With only the pole-contending McLarens and Red Bulls posting two times, they were the only cars to go out in the first part of the session. Hamilton set the standard with a 1'35.0, a time that none of his three rivals could initially match, though they were all within three tenths. After a lengthy pause, the other six cars all left the pits to record their only times, with the leading quartet emerging to decide pole position with a second effort each. Webber and Button both failed to improve on third and fourth positions, so it was thus left to Vettel to challenge Hamilton, who improved on his time by another tenth, to maintain provisional pole. The young German was however able to scrape together one final tenth to overcome the Brit and take his seventeenth career pole. Further back, Fernando Alonso assumed the mantle of 'best of the rest' in fifth for Ferrari, ahead of Renault's Nick Heidfeld who put the disaster of two weeks ago behind him with sixth. Massa and Vitaly Petrov line up behind their respective teammates ahead of Rosberg and Kobayashi.
Top 10 – Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), Mark Webber (Red Bull), Jenson Button (McLaren), Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), Nick Heidfeld (Renault), Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Vitaly Petrov (Renault), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber)
My Prediction
As is always the case at Malaysia, there is a distinct possibility of a wet race tomorrow. If that is indeed the case, so runs my prediction:
1. Hamilton, 2. Vettel, 3. Button, 4. Alonso, 5. Heidfeld, 6. Kobayashi, 7. Schumacher, 8. Rosberg, 9. Buemi, 10. Alguersauri
Hamilton, as he has proved on numerous occasions, is a master of wet conditions, and Button is no slouch either, particularly when it comes to the business of shrewd strategy calls. The rain usually brings several high-profile casualties – I've picked Webber, Massa and Petrov as the likely candidates to end their races in the wall or the gravel trap. Kobayashi and Schumacher will be able to use the rain to make considerable gains, whilst Heidfeld will prove his dependability by keeping his car pointing in the right direction for a solid result.
So, all the ingredients look to be in place for a classic confrontation in Malaysia tomorrow. Don't forget to catch up on all the action right here – there promises to be plenty of it.
3 April 2011
The New Faces of 2011
At last weekend's race at Melbourne, four drivers with whom you may be unfamiliar each took their inaugural Formula One start: Pastor Maldonado, Paul Di Resta, Sergio Perez and Jerome D'Ambrosio. In this post, allow me to tell you how they reached the pinnacle of motorsport, how they're likely to get on this year and what kind of future our sport may hold for them.
Pastor Maldonado
As with most South American drivers, Venezuela's Pastor Maldonado made the trip to Europe to make his name in motorsport, competing in low-level Italian series before coming within a technical infringement of winning the World Series by Renault in 2006. He moved up to GP2 with Trident Racing in 2007, finished only eleventh in the points standings after breaking his collarbone, but finished an impressive fifth place for Piquet Sports in 2007. Strangely, he then found himself outshone by his less experienced teammate and eventual champion Nico Hulkenberg the following season at ART Grand Prix, but after returning to the renamed Rapax team in 2010, Maldonado finally took the GP2 title on the fourth time of asking. All in all, a solid, albeit not a sparkling record in the junior formulae in comparison to his forerunners as GP2 champion.
Ironically, Maldonado's F1 berth at Williams has come at the expense of his former ART stable-mate Hulkenberg, whose impressive performances last year have led to accusations that the Grove-based team has chosen cash over talent in its unpopular decision to dump the young German. Obviously, Maldonado does bring considerable financial backing from PDVSA, the state-owned Venezuelan oil company, to the table, but sponsorship and talent don't have to be mutually exclusive. Indeed, few would have predicted that the rookie would have out-qualified his teammate Rubens Barrichello, the most experienced driver in the history of the sport, on his debut. Though it would be very surprising to see Maldonado best the Brazilian over the course of an entire season, expect more than the odd occasion where Maldonado gives Barrichello a serious run for his money, particularly at Monaco where the Venezuelan has a formidable record in the junior formulae.
As for the future, it seems likely that Maldonado will remain put at Williams for at least next year; unless he seriously underperforms, the team will in all likelihood be eager to hang on to the PDVSA cash he brings. Of course, where he can progress from there largely depends on the success he enjoys at Williams. If he was to consistently outdo Barrichello next year (assuming the pair remain teammates), his market value would receive a considerable boost. Sadly, his options thereafter would still look to be somewhat limited, given the elite crop of drivers currently occupying the plum seats of Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren. Maldonado would have to prove with either Williams or a similar midfield squad that he has what it takes to compete at that standard before being given the chance to mix it with the very best of them.
Paul Di Resta
Britain's latest in a long line of F1 talent, Paul Di Resta has taken a rather unorthodox route to reach the highest level. After competing in British Formula Renault and taking the 2006 Formula Three Euroseries title ahead of a certain Mr. Vettel, rather than making the leap to GP2, Di Resta began a rather successful career racing in the DTM (German Touring Cars) championship. Taken under the wing of Mercedes-Benz, Di Resta turned more than a few heads by finishing fifth in the 2007 championship in a two-year old C Class. This led to his promotion to the most up-to-date machinery for 2008, at last taking the championship in 2010 alongside testing duties for Force India. His impressive performances in practice sessions, no doubt along with some casual nudges from Mercedes-Benz, their engine supplier, led to Di Resta being confirmed alongside Adrian Sutil for 2011.
There was a sizable degree of competition for the Force India seat, with incumbent Vitantonio Liuzzi, and the unemployed Germans of Nick Heidfeld and Nico Hulkenberg all vying for the place that eventually went Di Resta's way after much winter-time speculation. Now it's up to the Brit to prove himself worthy of that seat, and by last Sunday's evidence he looks to be just that after keeping Sutil honest for most of the race, even out-qualifying him as fellow debutant Maldonado managed with his own teammate. As per the Venezuelan however, for Di Resta to beat his more experienced colleague would be something of a tall order. If he can regularly get the better of his fellow rookies Maldonado and Perez in what is considered to be an inferior car however, that could definitely be considered a job well done for the Scot.
With the spectre of Hulkenberg, Force India's current reserve driver, looming large however, Di Resta's future at Vijay Mallya's team is far from certain. That's exactly where his Mercedes-Benz connections may one day just come in handy though. Di Resta is already understood to be available as a reserve at Mercedes GP should the need arise (with Hulkenberg filling the void left at Force India), and if the Brit were to be dropped by Force India, there's a strong chance Di Resta could become the German manufacturer's official reserve, or perhaps even second driver alongside Nico Rosberg when Michael Schumacher decides enough is enough. With such machinery at his disposal, we will hopefully discover whether Di Resta has what it takes to succeed Hamilton and Button in Britain's lineage of F1 heroes.
Sergio Perez
Originating from Mexico, Sergio Perez, like Maldonado, came to Europe to ply his trade by competing in Formula BMW and then obliterating all comers in the 'National Class' (for older-spec cars) of the British Formula Three series. Having come not far away from depriving Jaime Alguersauri of the main 2008 British Formula Three crown, Perez progressed to GP2 the following year for the Arden team, but failed to make much an impression save for two podiums at Valencia. Luckily, he was scooped up by the crack Addax squad for 2010, only coming second in the title run-in to the far more experienced Maldonado in a mightily impressive campaign. On the strength of this record, arguably Perez would seem to have more potential than either the Venezuelan or Di Resta, and events at Melbourne last weekend would equally strengthen that assertion.
The Mexican was the only driver in the field to get away with making a solitary stop to change tyres, whilst all the other finishers either made two or three visits to the pits. That means Perez completed a hefty 38 laps on soft rubber, even having enough pace to beat teammate Kamui Kobayashi to the chequered flag before the extremely unfortunate disqualification of both Sauber men. Though it's been speculated that the Sauber is one of the kindest on its tyres of this year's cars, Perez's knack for keeping his tyres in good shape could prove invaluable over the course of the season. If he can keep up the kind of form demonstrated a week ago, then don't be at all surprised if Perez can outscore Kobayashi this season and truly mark himself out as one to watch.
If Perez does indeed do that, then a move to Ferrari in 2012 isn't out of the question. It's no secret that current Ferrari number two Felipe Massa is under pressure to improve this season or else seek alternative employment; Perez could be an attractive replacement. He is part of Ferrari's young driver scheme after all, and he'd be a perfect fit – initially he could hone his skills whilst taking a subordinate role to Fernando Alonso, before either mounting his own title challenge with the Prancing Horse or elsewhere if his contract forbids him from doing so. His form at Sauber this year will naturally dictate his options for next year, but if Perez continues to shine in the way he did at Melbourne, the above scenario could well become fairly close to reality.
Jerome D'Ambrosio
After conquering the Formula Renault series in his native Belgium, Jerome D'Ambrosio proceeded to hone his skills in the equivalent French and Italian championships. After moderate success, he finally reached GP2 via the unusual path of the little-known Euroseries 3000 (now known as Auto GP) and International Formula Master championships, the latter of which he won commandingly in 2007. He was signed up by the French DAMS team in GP2, finishing eleventh in the points with two podiums in his first season in 2008. He moved up to ninth with three podiums the year after, but despite a win at Monaco in 2010, the Belgian slipped back to eleventh. However, four late-season Friday practice outings for Virgin Racing were enough to see D'Ambrosio promoted to the race seat alongside Timo Glock in 2011.
Like his predecessor Lucas Di Gassi however, D'Ambrosio finds himself in something of a predicament. Driving the least competitive car in the field bar the Hispania, and with such a highly-rated teammate as Glock in the other side of the garage, he is going to have precious few opportunities to prove himself. After a year in similar circumstances (with a much more impressive GP2 record as well), Di Grassi has found himself out of a race seat in 2011 after an anonymous season with Virgin last year – a fate that could easily befall D'Ambrosio. Beating Glock, or indeed anybody but the two Hispanias appears to be fantasy for the Belgian at the moment, so all he can hope to achieve is to consistently bring the car home not too far adrift of those ahead.
Luckily for D'Ambrosio however, he is part of the Gravity management scheme, which provides him with a valuable link to the Renault team. The Anglo-French outfit would be able to give the F1 fraternity a far clearer idea of his skill, but with the team ascending the ranks of the pecking order, competition for the two seats is likely to be rife when the contracts of Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov expire at the end of next year. If Virgin dispense with him, the best D'Ambrosio could expect is to become the Renault reserve driver for 2012 with a possibility of a race seat in 2013. That's quite a big ask though, particularly as the casual observer will be tempted to write him off if things fail to improve at Virgin. But to do so would be a tad unfair. Those in the know will reserve their judgement of D'Ambrosio until he is able to get behind the wheel of something more competitive than the Virgin he drives this year.
Don't forget to vote on the poll to have your say as to which of this year's rookies will come out on top in the championship standings. Check back on Saturday morning for a round-up of the qualifying session for the Malaysian Grand Prix, a race that promises to be a thriller.
Pastor Maldonado
As with most South American drivers, Venezuela's Pastor Maldonado made the trip to Europe to make his name in motorsport, competing in low-level Italian series before coming within a technical infringement of winning the World Series by Renault in 2006. He moved up to GP2 with Trident Racing in 2007, finished only eleventh in the points standings after breaking his collarbone, but finished an impressive fifth place for Piquet Sports in 2007. Strangely, he then found himself outshone by his less experienced teammate and eventual champion Nico Hulkenberg the following season at ART Grand Prix, but after returning to the renamed Rapax team in 2010, Maldonado finally took the GP2 title on the fourth time of asking. All in all, a solid, albeit not a sparkling record in the junior formulae in comparison to his forerunners as GP2 champion.
Ironically, Maldonado's F1 berth at Williams has come at the expense of his former ART stable-mate Hulkenberg, whose impressive performances last year have led to accusations that the Grove-based team has chosen cash over talent in its unpopular decision to dump the young German. Obviously, Maldonado does bring considerable financial backing from PDVSA, the state-owned Venezuelan oil company, to the table, but sponsorship and talent don't have to be mutually exclusive. Indeed, few would have predicted that the rookie would have out-qualified his teammate Rubens Barrichello, the most experienced driver in the history of the sport, on his debut. Though it would be very surprising to see Maldonado best the Brazilian over the course of an entire season, expect more than the odd occasion where Maldonado gives Barrichello a serious run for his money, particularly at Monaco where the Venezuelan has a formidable record in the junior formulae.
As for the future, it seems likely that Maldonado will remain put at Williams for at least next year; unless he seriously underperforms, the team will in all likelihood be eager to hang on to the PDVSA cash he brings. Of course, where he can progress from there largely depends on the success he enjoys at Williams. If he was to consistently outdo Barrichello next year (assuming the pair remain teammates), his market value would receive a considerable boost. Sadly, his options thereafter would still look to be somewhat limited, given the elite crop of drivers currently occupying the plum seats of Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren. Maldonado would have to prove with either Williams or a similar midfield squad that he has what it takes to compete at that standard before being given the chance to mix it with the very best of them.
Paul Di Resta
Britain's latest in a long line of F1 talent, Paul Di Resta has taken a rather unorthodox route to reach the highest level. After competing in British Formula Renault and taking the 2006 Formula Three Euroseries title ahead of a certain Mr. Vettel, rather than making the leap to GP2, Di Resta began a rather successful career racing in the DTM (German Touring Cars) championship. Taken under the wing of Mercedes-Benz, Di Resta turned more than a few heads by finishing fifth in the 2007 championship in a two-year old C Class. This led to his promotion to the most up-to-date machinery for 2008, at last taking the championship in 2010 alongside testing duties for Force India. His impressive performances in practice sessions, no doubt along with some casual nudges from Mercedes-Benz, their engine supplier, led to Di Resta being confirmed alongside Adrian Sutil for 2011.
There was a sizable degree of competition for the Force India seat, with incumbent Vitantonio Liuzzi, and the unemployed Germans of Nick Heidfeld and Nico Hulkenberg all vying for the place that eventually went Di Resta's way after much winter-time speculation. Now it's up to the Brit to prove himself worthy of that seat, and by last Sunday's evidence he looks to be just that after keeping Sutil honest for most of the race, even out-qualifying him as fellow debutant Maldonado managed with his own teammate. As per the Venezuelan however, for Di Resta to beat his more experienced colleague would be something of a tall order. If he can regularly get the better of his fellow rookies Maldonado and Perez in what is considered to be an inferior car however, that could definitely be considered a job well done for the Scot.
With the spectre of Hulkenberg, Force India's current reserve driver, looming large however, Di Resta's future at Vijay Mallya's team is far from certain. That's exactly where his Mercedes-Benz connections may one day just come in handy though. Di Resta is already understood to be available as a reserve at Mercedes GP should the need arise (with Hulkenberg filling the void left at Force India), and if the Brit were to be dropped by Force India, there's a strong chance Di Resta could become the German manufacturer's official reserve, or perhaps even second driver alongside Nico Rosberg when Michael Schumacher decides enough is enough. With such machinery at his disposal, we will hopefully discover whether Di Resta has what it takes to succeed Hamilton and Button in Britain's lineage of F1 heroes.
Sergio Perez
Originating from Mexico, Sergio Perez, like Maldonado, came to Europe to ply his trade by competing in Formula BMW and then obliterating all comers in the 'National Class' (for older-spec cars) of the British Formula Three series. Having come not far away from depriving Jaime Alguersauri of the main 2008 British Formula Three crown, Perez progressed to GP2 the following year for the Arden team, but failed to make much an impression save for two podiums at Valencia. Luckily, he was scooped up by the crack Addax squad for 2010, only coming second in the title run-in to the far more experienced Maldonado in a mightily impressive campaign. On the strength of this record, arguably Perez would seem to have more potential than either the Venezuelan or Di Resta, and events at Melbourne last weekend would equally strengthen that assertion.
The Mexican was the only driver in the field to get away with making a solitary stop to change tyres, whilst all the other finishers either made two or three visits to the pits. That means Perez completed a hefty 38 laps on soft rubber, even having enough pace to beat teammate Kamui Kobayashi to the chequered flag before the extremely unfortunate disqualification of both Sauber men. Though it's been speculated that the Sauber is one of the kindest on its tyres of this year's cars, Perez's knack for keeping his tyres in good shape could prove invaluable over the course of the season. If he can keep up the kind of form demonstrated a week ago, then don't be at all surprised if Perez can outscore Kobayashi this season and truly mark himself out as one to watch.
If Perez does indeed do that, then a move to Ferrari in 2012 isn't out of the question. It's no secret that current Ferrari number two Felipe Massa is under pressure to improve this season or else seek alternative employment; Perez could be an attractive replacement. He is part of Ferrari's young driver scheme after all, and he'd be a perfect fit – initially he could hone his skills whilst taking a subordinate role to Fernando Alonso, before either mounting his own title challenge with the Prancing Horse or elsewhere if his contract forbids him from doing so. His form at Sauber this year will naturally dictate his options for next year, but if Perez continues to shine in the way he did at Melbourne, the above scenario could well become fairly close to reality.
Jerome D'Ambrosio
After conquering the Formula Renault series in his native Belgium, Jerome D'Ambrosio proceeded to hone his skills in the equivalent French and Italian championships. After moderate success, he finally reached GP2 via the unusual path of the little-known Euroseries 3000 (now known as Auto GP) and International Formula Master championships, the latter of which he won commandingly in 2007. He was signed up by the French DAMS team in GP2, finishing eleventh in the points with two podiums in his first season in 2008. He moved up to ninth with three podiums the year after, but despite a win at Monaco in 2010, the Belgian slipped back to eleventh. However, four late-season Friday practice outings for Virgin Racing were enough to see D'Ambrosio promoted to the race seat alongside Timo Glock in 2011.
Like his predecessor Lucas Di Gassi however, D'Ambrosio finds himself in something of a predicament. Driving the least competitive car in the field bar the Hispania, and with such a highly-rated teammate as Glock in the other side of the garage, he is going to have precious few opportunities to prove himself. After a year in similar circumstances (with a much more impressive GP2 record as well), Di Grassi has found himself out of a race seat in 2011 after an anonymous season with Virgin last year – a fate that could easily befall D'Ambrosio. Beating Glock, or indeed anybody but the two Hispanias appears to be fantasy for the Belgian at the moment, so all he can hope to achieve is to consistently bring the car home not too far adrift of those ahead.
Luckily for D'Ambrosio however, he is part of the Gravity management scheme, which provides him with a valuable link to the Renault team. The Anglo-French outfit would be able to give the F1 fraternity a far clearer idea of his skill, but with the team ascending the ranks of the pecking order, competition for the two seats is likely to be rife when the contracts of Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov expire at the end of next year. If Virgin dispense with him, the best D'Ambrosio could expect is to become the Renault reserve driver for 2012 with a possibility of a race seat in 2013. That's quite a big ask though, particularly as the casual observer will be tempted to write him off if things fail to improve at Virgin. But to do so would be a tad unfair. Those in the know will reserve their judgement of D'Ambrosio until he is able to get behind the wheel of something more competitive than the Virgin he drives this year.
Don't forget to vote on the poll to have your say as to which of this year's rookies will come out on top in the championship standings. Check back on Saturday morning for a round-up of the qualifying session for the Malaysian Grand Prix, a race that promises to be a thriller.
27 March 2011
Australian Grand Prix 2011 – Race Report
Sebastian Vettel was able to translate his dominant display in qualifying into a comfortable victory at the first round of the 2011 Formula One season at Melbourne. Lewis Hamilton was the closest thing to competition for the German, but in reality nobody ever looked like troubling the reigning champion in his romp to the chequered flag. Once again Red Bull have left all their competitors scratching their heads as to how they might be able to close the gap to the sport's new dominant force.
Indeed, Vettel stuck his Red Bull on pole position by a whole seven-tenths of a second from Hamilton's McLaren without even using KERS, although the other Red Bull pilot, Mark Webber, may have made use of the system to prevent the Brit from lining up alongside Vettel. As it was, he qualified third, ahead of Jenson Button in the second McLaren, Fernando Alonso's strangely off-the-pace Ferrari and an impressive Vitaly Petrov for Renault.
As the lights went out, Vettel, Hamilton and Webber all made clean getaways to remain in that formation after the first corner, but Button did less well – he was passed by Petrov and the fast-starting Ferrari of Felipe Massa from eighth on the grid. Button's poor start forced Alonso to the outside of the track where he fell to ninth, but the two-time champion quickly disposed of Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi and Nico Rosberg's Mercedes to get back into seventh position.
He soon caught up with Button, who seemed to be much quicker than Massa ahead. Alas, Frome's finest simply couldn't find a way past, despite making use of the DRS (Drag Reduction System, previously referred to in this blog simply as 'moveable rear wings') at every opportunity. After many laps of frustration, he finally drew alongside the Brazilian on the exit of turn 10, but couldn't quite edge ahead. As the pair reached the fast switchback of turns 11 and 12, Massa held his line and Button elected to cut the corner rather than drop back behind the scarlet car.
Button was now ahead unlawfully, convention dictating that the McLaren driver should have to drop back behind Massa to avoid a penalty. However, Alonso passed Massa just after Button did so, meaning the Brit would now have to surrender position to both Ferraris to avoid a penalty. He chose not to, and incurred the wrath of the stewards, slapped with a drive-through penalty for his misdemeanour. As Button dropped down the pack, at the front the order remained Vettel from Hamilton, Webber and Petrov prior to the first pit-stops.
Webber was first of the leading quartet to come in on lap 12, followed by his teammate three laps later. Hamilton briefly led for two more laps before he entered the pits for a switch of rubber, along with Petrov. The order of the top four remained unchanged, with Alonso and Massa running in fifth and sixth after their stops. Having not stopped by this stage, Sauber debutant Sergio Perez was in seventh, ahead of a tightly bunched pack consisting of Rosberg, Kobayashi, Rubens Barrichello and Sebastien Buemi. Button, after his penalty and tyre stop was in a lowly twelfth place.
Barrichello made a risky but successful lunge at turn 3 to deprive Kobayashi of ninth place on Lap 22, but two laps later he attempted a repeat on Rosberg at the exact same place. On this occasion however, he clattered into the side of the silver machine, putting the German out of the race to end a miserable afternoon for the Mercedes team – Rosberg's teammate Michael Schumacher had been struck by an over-exuberant Jaime Alguersauri on the first lap, resulting in a puncture for the rear-right tyre of the seven-time champion's car which left him a lap down, ultimately retiring on lap 22.
All of that action made Button's life somewhat easier: having passed Buemi, he was finally able to give us the first (and what would transpire to be the only) DRS-assisted overtake of the race at Kobayashi's expense on lap 25. Now up to seventh after Perez's stop, the Brit set about chasing the Ferrari duo ahead. Alonso came in for his second stop of the afternoon on lap 28, one lap after Webber, with whom the Spaniard had caught up in the battle for fourth position by equipping soft tyres rather than the harder compound like his Australian adversary.
Alonso, much like Button in his battle with Massa, used the DRS repeatedly in an attempt to pass Webber, but again to no avail. It wouldn't be until they both made their third and final stops that Alonso would finally snatch fourth – Webber pitted a lap earlier than his rival, but crucially made a costly error by running onto the grass at turn 3 on his out lap. That was more than enough for the Ferrari number one to emerge ahead when he made his stop. Alonso then proceeded to rapidly close the gap to Petrov in a late bid for the final podium place, but ran out of laps before he was able to get himself in a position to pass the Russian.
Meanwhile, Vettel simply cruised home to his eleventh career win after his second stop, his job made all the easier by a loose undertray for Hamilton. Still, for all the trouble McLaren had in testing, it was an excellent result for the team who were understandably relieved with Hamilton's second place. Petrov kept his head in a remarkable effort for his maiden podium finish, although one couldn't help but wonder what the Renault may have been capable of in the absent Robert Kubica's hands. Alonso and Webber came home fourth and fifth respectively from Button who executed a fine pass on Massa on lap 48 to take sixth.
One lap later, Massa made his third stop which dropped him to tenth place behind both Saubers and Buemi, although the Brazilian was able to make a late pass at turn 1 to deprive the Swiss driver of ninth position. Still, he could do nothing about eighth-placed Kobayashi, and seventh-placed Perez who had quietly sneaked up the order having incredibly only made one tyre stop. Alas, the Mexican's richly deserved first points, along with those of Kobayashi, were stripped after the stewards discovered that the uppermost rear wing elements of both of the Saubers were found to be in breach of the regulations.
That put Massa back up to seventh, with Buemi eighth, followed by the Force India pairing of Adrian Sutil and British newcomer Paul Di Resta who scored one point on a solid if unspectacular debut race. Alguersauri could do no better than eleventh after his early tangle with Schumacher, but he did finish ahead of Nick Heidfeld who had an extremely disappointing run to twelfth which was made all the worse by his Renault teammate Petrov finishing on the podium. Italian veteran Jarno Trulli for Lotus and Belgian novice Jerome D'Ambrosio were the only new-team cars to finish after mechanical retirements for their respective teammates Heikki Kovalainen and Timo Glock.
The Australian Grand Prix, as well as having underlined the superiority of the Red Bull (at least in the hands of Vettel), has called into question the value of the elements brought in for this season in order to spice up the action – for all the hype of supposedly rapidly-wearing Pirelli tyres, DRS and the return of KERS, the race was hardly any more exciting than most of last year's action. The tyres held out better than expected, with the leading trio making only two stops, DRS was only directly responsible for one overtaking move all afternoon, and Red Bull proved that KERS is an unnecessary fad by winning without using it.
We'll have to wait and see if they play any bigger part at the next race at Malaysia in two weeks time, and also to see whether McLaren, Ferrari, or any other team for that matter can have any kind of answer to the mightiness of the Red Bull-Vettel package – the last time anybody really did have was Alonso at Singapore six months ago. Vettel's rivals certainly won't be able to wait that long if they are to prevent him from taking an easy second title.
Indeed, Vettel stuck his Red Bull on pole position by a whole seven-tenths of a second from Hamilton's McLaren without even using KERS, although the other Red Bull pilot, Mark Webber, may have made use of the system to prevent the Brit from lining up alongside Vettel. As it was, he qualified third, ahead of Jenson Button in the second McLaren, Fernando Alonso's strangely off-the-pace Ferrari and an impressive Vitaly Petrov for Renault.
As the lights went out, Vettel, Hamilton and Webber all made clean getaways to remain in that formation after the first corner, but Button did less well – he was passed by Petrov and the fast-starting Ferrari of Felipe Massa from eighth on the grid. Button's poor start forced Alonso to the outside of the track where he fell to ninth, but the two-time champion quickly disposed of Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi and Nico Rosberg's Mercedes to get back into seventh position.
He soon caught up with Button, who seemed to be much quicker than Massa ahead. Alas, Frome's finest simply couldn't find a way past, despite making use of the DRS (Drag Reduction System, previously referred to in this blog simply as 'moveable rear wings') at every opportunity. After many laps of frustration, he finally drew alongside the Brazilian on the exit of turn 10, but couldn't quite edge ahead. As the pair reached the fast switchback of turns 11 and 12, Massa held his line and Button elected to cut the corner rather than drop back behind the scarlet car.
Button was now ahead unlawfully, convention dictating that the McLaren driver should have to drop back behind Massa to avoid a penalty. However, Alonso passed Massa just after Button did so, meaning the Brit would now have to surrender position to both Ferraris to avoid a penalty. He chose not to, and incurred the wrath of the stewards, slapped with a drive-through penalty for his misdemeanour. As Button dropped down the pack, at the front the order remained Vettel from Hamilton, Webber and Petrov prior to the first pit-stops.
Webber was first of the leading quartet to come in on lap 12, followed by his teammate three laps later. Hamilton briefly led for two more laps before he entered the pits for a switch of rubber, along with Petrov. The order of the top four remained unchanged, with Alonso and Massa running in fifth and sixth after their stops. Having not stopped by this stage, Sauber debutant Sergio Perez was in seventh, ahead of a tightly bunched pack consisting of Rosberg, Kobayashi, Rubens Barrichello and Sebastien Buemi. Button, after his penalty and tyre stop was in a lowly twelfth place.
Barrichello made a risky but successful lunge at turn 3 to deprive Kobayashi of ninth place on Lap 22, but two laps later he attempted a repeat on Rosberg at the exact same place. On this occasion however, he clattered into the side of the silver machine, putting the German out of the race to end a miserable afternoon for the Mercedes team – Rosberg's teammate Michael Schumacher had been struck by an over-exuberant Jaime Alguersauri on the first lap, resulting in a puncture for the rear-right tyre of the seven-time champion's car which left him a lap down, ultimately retiring on lap 22.
All of that action made Button's life somewhat easier: having passed Buemi, he was finally able to give us the first (and what would transpire to be the only) DRS-assisted overtake of the race at Kobayashi's expense on lap 25. Now up to seventh after Perez's stop, the Brit set about chasing the Ferrari duo ahead. Alonso came in for his second stop of the afternoon on lap 28, one lap after Webber, with whom the Spaniard had caught up in the battle for fourth position by equipping soft tyres rather than the harder compound like his Australian adversary.
Alonso, much like Button in his battle with Massa, used the DRS repeatedly in an attempt to pass Webber, but again to no avail. It wouldn't be until they both made their third and final stops that Alonso would finally snatch fourth – Webber pitted a lap earlier than his rival, but crucially made a costly error by running onto the grass at turn 3 on his out lap. That was more than enough for the Ferrari number one to emerge ahead when he made his stop. Alonso then proceeded to rapidly close the gap to Petrov in a late bid for the final podium place, but ran out of laps before he was able to get himself in a position to pass the Russian.
Meanwhile, Vettel simply cruised home to his eleventh career win after his second stop, his job made all the easier by a loose undertray for Hamilton. Still, for all the trouble McLaren had in testing, it was an excellent result for the team who were understandably relieved with Hamilton's second place. Petrov kept his head in a remarkable effort for his maiden podium finish, although one couldn't help but wonder what the Renault may have been capable of in the absent Robert Kubica's hands. Alonso and Webber came home fourth and fifth respectively from Button who executed a fine pass on Massa on lap 48 to take sixth.
One lap later, Massa made his third stop which dropped him to tenth place behind both Saubers and Buemi, although the Brazilian was able to make a late pass at turn 1 to deprive the Swiss driver of ninth position. Still, he could do nothing about eighth-placed Kobayashi, and seventh-placed Perez who had quietly sneaked up the order having incredibly only made one tyre stop. Alas, the Mexican's richly deserved first points, along with those of Kobayashi, were stripped after the stewards discovered that the uppermost rear wing elements of both of the Saubers were found to be in breach of the regulations.
That put Massa back up to seventh, with Buemi eighth, followed by the Force India pairing of Adrian Sutil and British newcomer Paul Di Resta who scored one point on a solid if unspectacular debut race. Alguersauri could do no better than eleventh after his early tangle with Schumacher, but he did finish ahead of Nick Heidfeld who had an extremely disappointing run to twelfth which was made all the worse by his Renault teammate Petrov finishing on the podium. Italian veteran Jarno Trulli for Lotus and Belgian novice Jerome D'Ambrosio were the only new-team cars to finish after mechanical retirements for their respective teammates Heikki Kovalainen and Timo Glock.
The Australian Grand Prix, as well as having underlined the superiority of the Red Bull (at least in the hands of Vettel), has called into question the value of the elements brought in for this season in order to spice up the action – for all the hype of supposedly rapidly-wearing Pirelli tyres, DRS and the return of KERS, the race was hardly any more exciting than most of last year's action. The tyres held out better than expected, with the leading trio making only two stops, DRS was only directly responsible for one overtaking move all afternoon, and Red Bull proved that KERS is an unnecessary fad by winning without using it.
We'll have to wait and see if they play any bigger part at the next race at Malaysia in two weeks time, and also to see whether McLaren, Ferrari, or any other team for that matter can have any kind of answer to the mightiness of the Red Bull-Vettel package – the last time anybody really did have was Alonso at Singapore six months ago. Vettel's rivals certainly won't be able to wait that long if they are to prevent him from taking an easy second title.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)