Vettel Wins as Webber Flies

Vettel: Not the only happy German that Sunday.

SEBASTIAN VETTEL won last Sunday’s eventful European Grand Prix in Valencia.

The Red Bull driver won the 57 lap race from pole a time of 1:40:29.571, at an average speed of 114.594 mph. The McLaren duo of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button finished second and third respectively. Button recorded the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1:38.766 (122.726 mph).

The first lap of the race saw Hamilton pass Red Bull’s Mark Webber for second place into the first corner. The 2008 World Champion tried to pass Vettel for the lead in Turn Two but the Red Bull driver closed the door on him. They touched and Hamilton lost momentum. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso tried to take second off of Hamilton but didn’t manage to pull off the pass. Meanwhile Mark Webber was dropping like a stone down the field.

Because of his loss of track position, Red Bull brought Webber in to the pits to change his tyres on lap 8. But his left-front wheel wouldn’t come off quickly and he lost lots of time.  He eventually rejoined the race in 19^th position.

Webber caught the Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen a lap later and tried to get every last piece of the Finn’s slipstream he could as they raced down to Turn 13 at well over 180 mph. But Webber was caught out by his own closing speed and hit the back to the Lotus. Webber’s Red Bull took off and flew through the air and flipped upside down. Fortunately the car flipped back onto his wheels and the wreckage continued on its journey into the tyre barrier. Millions of TV viewers (including me) breathed a collective sigh of relief when they saw Webber throw his steering wheel out of the car. Kovalainen managed to drive his damaged Lotus back to the pits. Not the way the team wanted to celebrate the names 500^th Grand Prix.

Air Webber taking off from Helsinki.

Both drivers were perfectly okay.

The crash itself had spooky similarities with Mark Webber’s 1999 Le Mans crash when his Mercedes flipped upside down, and the Riccardo Patrese / Gerhard Berger crash at the 1992 Portuguese Grand Prix.

Naturally this crash brought out the Safety Car. Vettel and Hamilton decided to pit to keep themselves in the first two places.

At the end of lap 14 the race re-started. Vettel almost spun as he rounded the final corner, and he almost lost his lead to Hamilton. Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi was now third because he didn’t pit during the Safety Car period. Both Ferrari drivers (Alonso and Massa) were now well down the order. Alonso because he was passed by other drivers in the pit lane, Massa because he had to queue behind his team-mate.

By lap 17 Vettel and Hamilton were pulling away from Kobayashi and Button with ease. The reigning World Champion (Button) just couldn’t get close enough to the Japanese driver to make a pass.

Elsewhere in the race, Alonso was spitting his dummy out because Hamilton was so far ahead of him after the Safety Car pit-stops. He told the Ferrari pit wall to: “Just keep on about Hamilton all afternoon. That is all you have to do.”

And lo, on lap 25 Hamilton was given a Drive-Through Penalty for passing the Safety Car. The SC itself was still within the pit lane exit line when Hamilton drove up alongside it. He hesitated, probably thinking: “What’s the rule here?” The Englishman put his foot down just as the SC technically came onto the race track. Hamilton drove off into the distance and Alonso and Massa were caught behind it.

As a McLaren fan I have tried to defend Lewis, but I have to admit that he did transgress the rules on this occasion. However, I do not see how disgraced former Renault team boss Flavio Briatore [spit] can say that Hamilton should’ve been disqualified. Oh wait; it was his Fernando that got the short end of the stick.

So on lap 27 Hamilton served his DTP, and fortunately rejoined the track just ahead of Kobayashi’s Sauber and his McLaren team-mate Jenson Button. This left Ferrari fuming. Team boss Stefano Domenicali told Alonso: “He’s [Hamilton] still second. It’s hardly like a penalty at all.”

The race continued without much incident until, on lap 44 race control issued this statement: “Incident involving cars: 1,9,10,11,12,14,15,16 and 22 to be investigated after the race. Speeding on Safety Car lap.” This meant that: Button (McLaren), Barrichello and Hülkenberg (Williams), Kubica and Petrov (Renault), Sutil and Liuzzi (Force India), Buemi (Toro Rosso) and de la Rosa (Sauber) had all gone faster than the time the F.I.A. had told them to go when the SC was deployed after the Webber / Kovalainen crash. This could mean a 30-second time penalty for each driver at the end of the race.

And guess the name of the driver who would inherit third place if this happened and he finished. Yep, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso in front of his home crowd.    

Back to the racing, and on lap 49 Hamilton was catching Vettel at a fast rate of knots. But three laps later Vettel was pulling away from Hamilton. Nobody was going to beat the Germans today.

To Button’s relief, Kobayashi pitted on lap 54. He rejoined the track in ninth place, just behind Buemi and Alonso.

The Japanese driver took eighth place off of Alonso on lap 56, and robbed Buemi of seventh place on the very last corner of the very last lap. He later admitted that he was so busy passing Alonso and Buemi had he didn’t realise that the race was over.

After the race, the stewards issued a five-second time penalty to all the drivers who went too fast when the SC was deployed. This meant that Buemi lost eighth to Alonso, while de la Rosa and Petrov lost out on places giving Rosberg (Mercedes) a point after he admitted he was: “Just driving around wasting my time.” He was told he had to go easy on his brakes early in the race. His team-mate Michael Schumacher recorded his worst-ever merit finish in his 259 Grand Prix starts. He crossed the line in 15^th place.

Fernando Alonso accused the stewards of “manipulating” the race result. He was unhappy that Hamilton’s DTP took too long to be handed out. But many other teams – Red Bull, Lotus and McLaren for example – have rejected this. The Spaniard has since said that he wants to put this race behind him and concentrate on the British Grand Prix.

I say that Ferrari should shut up moaning and just accept that they got unlucky. They wouldn’t have won the race anyway. F.I.A. stands for “International Automobile Federation” and not (as it has done in the past) “Ferrari International Assistance”.

Now then, my home race is next. The British Grand Prix from the new, even higher speed Silverstone. Hopefully England will have something to cheer on 11 July with another McLaren 1-2 finish.

PS: A certain football match was the main talking point before the race.

Glock and Sutil (both German) were the only ones to predict a German win, whereas: Bruno Senna, Webber and Barrichello were way off.

DRIVERS’ STANDINGS
Pos	Driver	Constructor(s)	Points
1	Lewis HAMILTON (ENG)	McLaren	127
2	Jenson BUTTON (ENG)	McLaren	121
3	Sebastian VETTEL (GER)	Red Bull	115
4	Mark WEBBER (AUS)	Red Bull	103
5	Fernando ALONSO (ESP)	Ferrari	96
6	Robert KUBICA (POL)	Renault	83
7	Nico ROSBERG (GER)	Mercedes	74
8	Felipe MASSA (BRA)	Ferrari	67
9	Michael SCHUMACHER (GER)	Mercedes	34
10	Adrian SUTIL (GER)	Force India	31

 

CONSTRUCTORS’ STANDINGS
Pos	Constructor	Engine	Points
1	MCLAREN (ENG)	Mercedes	248
2	RED BULL (AUT)	Renault	218
3	FERRARI (ITA)	Ferrari	163
4	MERCEDES (GER)	Mercedes	108
5	RENAULT (FRA)	Renault	89
6	FORCE INDIA (IND)	Mercedes	43
7	WILLIAMS (ENG)	Cosworth	20
8	TORO ROSSO (ITA)	Ferrari	12
9	SAUBER (SUI)	Ferrari	7

Vettel puts Red Bull back on pole

RED BULL’S Sebastian Vettel took pole yesterday for the European Grand Prix in Valencia.

The young German’s Q3 time was a 1:37.587 (124.209 mph). Joining him on the front row of the grid is his team-mate Mark Webber, who lapped the circuit in a time of 1:37.662. McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton – who has won the last two Grand Prixs – starts third after posting a lap of 1:37.969.

The rest of the top ten drivers are from fourth to tenth: Alonso (Ferrari), Massa (Ferrari), Kubica (Renault), Button (McLaren), Hülkenberg (Williams), Barrichello (Williams) and Petrov (Renault).

Both the Mercedes of Rosberg and Schumacher failed to reach Q3, and they start 12^th and 15^th respectively. Both of the Force India’s also missed Q3. Sutil and Liuzzi line up next to each other on row seven.

Unfortunately, the Lotus team failed to reach Q2 in what is the names 500^th Grand Prix.

My race prediction: Vettel to win because you just can’t overtake on the very dull and boring Valencia street circuit. But England will beat Germany in the football. 🙂

Hamilton leads home McLaren 1-2 (again)!

OWN THE PODIUM!!!!

LEWIS HAMILTON lead home a second consecutive McLaren 1-2 finish in last Sunday’s thrilling Canadian Grand Prix.

Hamilton won the 70 lap race in a time of 1:33:53.456 at an average speed of 121.226 mph. His team-mate Jenson Button finished just over two seconds behind him. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso came home in third place. This is the first time that we have had three World Champions on the podium since Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost and Nelson Piquet finished 1-2-3 in the 1991 United States Grand Prix. Robert Kubica (Renault) set the fastest lap of the race with a lap of 1:16.972 (126.747 mph).

There was drama before the race even began Red Bull’s Mark Webber had to take a five place grid penalty because the team changed his gearbox.

Lap one saw three separate accidents. Renault’s Vitaly Petrov hit Pedro de la Rosa’s Sauber, causing damage to the Spaniard’s car. Further up the road, Felipe Massa’s Ferrari and Vitantonio Liuzzi’s Force India hit each other three times and resulted in the latter spinning. Sauber’s bad first lap became even worse when Kamui Kobayashi became the latest victim of the infamous ‘Wall of Champions’.

Mark Webber began to make up ground on the leading pack of: Hamilton, Vettel (Red Bull), Alonso and Button. On lap five Webber passed the reigning World Champion for fourth place.

Two laps later both Hamilton and Alonso pitted for fresh tyres. Tyre wear was a real problem in this race for all the drivers, some of whom had to make three stops. As a result of Hamilton and Alonso pitting, the Red Bulls of Vettel and Webber were now first and second. Would we get a repeat of Turkey?

Meanwhile in the pits, Ferrari released Alonso before McLaren let Hamilton go, and the former team-mates exited the pit lane side-by-side. But Alonso had the inside line for the corner after the pit exit and took the position away from the Englishman.

Lap 13 confirmed my suspicions about the racing driver who goes by the name of Michael Schumacher. He exited the pits slowly and left a car shaped gap big enough for Robert Kubica to get his Renault through. Schumacher pushed the Pole onto the grass but Kubica was having none of the German’s shenanigans. So Schumacher tried to run him off the road again but Kubica kept his foot in. Luckily both drivers saw that they weren’t going to make the next corner and went rallying over the grass. Schumacher kept the place.

By now both Red Bull’s had pitted for new tyres (without hitting each other) and had left it to none other than Toro Rosso’s Sébastien Buemi to lead lap 15. But he couldn’t enjoy it as much as he wanted to because he had Alonso and Hamilton breathing down his neck.  Alonso tried to pass Buemi in the tight turn ten but Buemi closed the door on him. This allowed Hamilton to close right up to Alonso and pass him in the last corner. Buemi pitted meaning that Hamilton led Alonso with Button and Vettel in camera shot behind them.

Alonso went to pass Hamilton on lap 26 in the last corner but Hamilton pitted, saving the former double World Champion the fuss. The rest of the leaders pitted soon after and this promoted Mark Webber into the lead of the race.

The order was now: Webber, Hamilton, Alonso and Button with Vettel fifth.

On lap 41 Hamilton and Alonso started to catch Webber who was starting to struggle with his tyres and stuck in lapped traffic.

Nine laps later Hamilton dived down Webber’s inside into turn one and into the lead. The Australian pitted at the end of lap 50, thus giving Alonso second place as well.

After Webber exited the pits the top five was: Hamilton, Alonso, Button, Vettel and Webber.

Halfway round lap 56 Alonso was held up as he tried to lap the HRT of Karun Chandhok. This allowed Jenson Button to catch and pass Alonso for second place. McLaren’s were now first and second.

Lap 64 again proved why Michael Schumacher (to me) can never be called the greatest F1 driver of all time. His former team-mate Felipe Massa was in Schumacher’s slipstream on the back straight and looked certain to pass him. Schumacher pulled out to the inside to break the tow. Massa didn’t follow him and kept to the outside line. Schumacher then made an illegal second move by coming back across the race track and forced Massa onto the grass. The Ferrari’s front wing broke and Massa had to pit for a new one.

Schumacher was in ninth place at the start of the final lap, but both the Force India’s of Liuzzi and Sutil passed him, dumping him out of the points. He even cut the last corner. A vain attempt at preventing Sutil from passing him, who knows?

Felipe Massa was given a 20-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane after he had received his new nose cone. Robert Kubica was reprimanded (rightly) for an unsafe pit entrance, and Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari was also reprimanded for a collision with Rubens Barrichello’s Williams.

But I was outraged when I found out that Schumacher received not even a telling off!

Its official everyone, the Schumacher-Brawn-Todt alliance is still in F1.

But a McLaren 1-2 makes everything better for me, and back-to-back 1-2s are even better. McLaren rock and that is a fact! 😀

Next stop Valencia…oh God. Don’t expect another great race at that pile of EXPLETIVE DELETED.

DRIVERS’ STANDINGS
Pos	Driver	Constructor(s)	Points
1	Lewis HAMILTON (ENG)	McLaren	109
2	Jenson BUTTON (ENG)	McLaren	106
3	Mark WEBBER (AUS)	Red Bull	103
4	Fernando ALONSO (ESP)	Ferrari	94
5	Sebastian VETTEL (GER)	Red Bull	90
6	Nico ROSBERG (GER)	Mercedes	74
7	Robert KUBICA (POL)	Renault	70
8	Felipe MASSA (BRA)	Ferrari	67
9	Michael SCHUMACHER (GER)	Mercedes	34
10	Adrian SUTIL (GER)	Force India	23

 

CONSTRUCTORS’ STANDINGS
Pos	Constructor	Engine	Points
1	MCLAREN (ENG)	Mercedes	215
2	RED BULL (AUT)	Renault	193
3	FERRARI (ITA)	Ferrari	161
4	MERCEDES (GER)	Mercedes	108
5	RENAULT (FRA)	Renault	79
6	FORCE INDIA (IND)	Mercedes	35
7	TORO ROSSO (ITA)	Ferrari	8
8	WILLIAMS (ENG)	Cosworth	8
9	SAUBER (SUI)	Ferrari	1

Hamilton knocks Red Bull off pole perch

LEWIS HAMILTON took his first pole of the 2010 season yesterday in Montreal for today’s Canadian Grand Prix. This is the first time this season that a Red Bull hasn’t taken pole position.

The McLaren driver’s Q3 time was a 1:15.105 (129.898 mph). Championship leader Mark Webber (Red Bull) will line up alongside Hamilton on the first row of the grid, and his team-mate (and man who ruined the team’s Turkish Grand Prix) Sebastian Vettel is third on the grid.

Webber, an Australian will be hoping that his football team will beat Vettel’s (he is German) later today in the World Cup.

The remainder of the top 10 are in grid order: Alonso (Ferrari), Button (McLaren), Liuzzi (Force India), Massa (Ferrari), Kubica (Renault), Sutil (Force India) and Rosberg (Mercedes).

Michael Schumacher starts way down the grid in 13^th place after just not being quick enough in Q2. He has won this race a record seven times in the past in: ’94, ’97, ’98, 2000, ’02, ’03 and ’04, but I can’t see him winning in 2010 unless something stupendous happens.

I was dead right with my race prediction for Turkey (apart from Vettel taking off Webber) so I’m feeling lucky. I reckon Hamilton will win again at the track where he won his first race back in 2007. If Vettel can pass Webber early and chase Hamilton we could have a classic on our hands.

Hamilton leads Button home as Red Bull trip over their own feet

Button and race victor Hamilton. True team-Mates

Lewis Hamilton and his McLaren team-mate Jenson Button finished first and second in last Sunday’s Turkish Grand Prix.

The Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel took each other out of race winning contention in what is surly the incident of the season so far. Webber eventually finished third.

Hamilton won the 58 lap event in a time of 1:28:47.620 at an average speed of 130.117 mph. Renault’s Russian rookie Petrov set the fastest lap of the race with a lap of 1:29.165 (134.044 mph).

The first half of the first lap of the race didn’t go well for either Hamilton or Button. Hamilton was pasted by Vettel and Button was pasted by Schumacher (Mercedes) as everyone hurled down to the first corner. This was as a result of both McLarens starting on the dirty side of the grid. But Hamilton retook second place by going around the outside of Vettel as the pack entered turns three and four. Button also retook his original fourth place back for Schumacher by going around the outside of the German in turn 12. Anything you can do Lewis…

The first lap also saw Massa’s Ferrari touch Kubica’s Renault causing minor damage to both cars. Buemi’s Toro Rosso and Hülkenberg’s Williams also made contact, but they needed to pit for repairs to their cars.

Webber, Hamilton, Vettel and Button all pulled away from the rest of the field led by Schumacher until the tyre stops.

McLaren went through with their plan to bring Hamilton in on lap 16, but Red Bull jumped at the opportunity to bring Webber in ahead of him so that the Australian would come out still in front of the Englishman. The plan worked and Vettel – who had pitted the lap before – slotted in between Webber and Hamilton as the pair exited the pits in the order they entered.

The order was now: Webber, Vettel, Hamilton and Button. Hamilton did try to take second from Vettel on lap 18, but Vettel shut the door on him.

The middle part of the race was dominated by the front four who pulled away from the others with each passing lap. But rain of all things was now expected. Would it be bad enough to bring everybody in to change tyres and turn the whole race on its head? No. It did rain a bit; the track was so hot that the rain droplets just evaporated on contact with it.

But lap 40 of a pretty processional looking race was to provide the biggest moment of the season so far.

Vettel had been closing ever so slightly on Webber over the previous few laps and wanted to take the lead. He didn’t want his team-mate to win three races in a row. As the leaders approached turn 12 Vettel pulled out to Webbers left and pulled alongside him. He edged ahead and tried to cut back across the track to prevent Webber from counter attacking. But the pair touched and Vettel was sent spinning out of the race with a damaged right rear. Webber missed turn 12 and was almost T-boned by Vettel as he spun. The McLarens of Hamilton and Button inherited first and second. Webber limped around to the pit lane to change his nose cone.

Lap 48 made me shriek and cover my eyes, but probably provided you with lots of entertainment. Button dove down the inside of his team-mate on the approach to turn 12 and took the lead in the complex at the end of the lap. But Hamilton got a better run out of the last corner and the pair passed the pit wall side by side. The 2008 World Champion muscled the 2009 World Champion out of the lead in the first corner of lap 49. Now that is what I call racing!

A 1-2 finish looked in the bag, but on lap 52 McLaren told Hamilton and Button to slow down because fuel was “Critical.” Not what they or I wanted to hear with six laps to go and Webber charging like a bull at a red rag. (Red Bull, “Never show a red rag to a bull.” Get it?) 😉

To take my mind off the fuel gage in the McLarens heading to the big E we had Alonso (Ferrari) punting off Petrov’s Renault while they were fighting for points. Ferrari’s 800^th Grand Prix may just as well not have happened. I forgot that they were actually racing. As a result of Petrov falling out of the top ten, Kobayashi capped of a much better weekend for himself and Sauber by securing the team’s first point of the season finishing tenth.

In the end I need not have worried about the fuel. Both Hamilton and Button made it home in a great team display. 😀 But all the talking until the next race in Canada will be about Red Bull and the incident that could cost them both championships.

Drivers’ Standings

1. Webber 93pts
2. Button 88pts
3. Hamilton 84pts
4. Alonso 79pts
5. Vettel 78pts
6. Kubica 67pts
7. Massa 67pts
8. Rosberg 66pts
9. Schumacher 34pts
10. Sutil 22pts

 

Constructors’ Standings

1. McLaren 172pts
2. Red Bull 171pts
3. Ferrari 146pts
4. Mercedes 100pts
5. Renault 73pts
6. Force India 32pts
7. Williams 8pts
8. Toro Rosso 4pts
9. Sauber 1pt

 

PS: This is my 100^th blog. 🙂

Webber and Red Bull in Seven Heaven

MARK WEBBER took his third pole in a row in Istanbul yesterday ahead of today’s Turkish Grand Prix. This is now Red Bull’s seventh straight pole this year.

The Australian’s Q3 time was a 1:26.295, lapping the course at an average speed of 138.502 mph. McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton lines up alongside him, while Sebastian Vettel in the second Red Bull took third on the grid.

The remainder of the top 10 are, in grid order: Button (McLaren), Schumacher and Rosberg (Mercedes lockout the third row), Kubica (Renault), Massa (Ferrari), Petrov (Renault) and Kobayashi (Sauber).

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso had another bad Saturday as he didn’t make it into Q3. He got out of shape before the last few corners and didn’t really have enough fuel to put in another full speed lap. He starts twelfth, not what Ferrari wanted in their 800^th Grand Prix.

And well done to young Bruno Senna of HRT for qualifying 22^nd, ahead of his team-mate Chandhok and di Grassi’s Virgin. This is the first time an HRT has finished qualifying in front of a car from another team in the dry on merit.

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

–          Confucius

Who will win? I reckon it will he Lewis Hamilton. If he can get a good start and use his F-duct to full advantage on the straights he can easily pass Webber and pull away. Hopefully with Button right behind him. 🙂

Webber makes it two in a row

A party in Monte-Carlo Aussie style!

MARK WEBBER won this year’s jewel in the F1 crown – the Monaco Grand Prix – in dominating fashion last Sunday, just as he did in Spain the weekend before. The Australian Red Bull driver led home a 1-2 finish for his team with Sebastian Vettel finishing second. Renault locked out the podium in the Principality as works team driver Robert Kubica came third. Webber won the race in a time of 1:50:13.355 at an average speed of 88.316 mph. Vettel set the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1:15.192 (99.585 mph).

At the very start of the race, Vettel squeezed his way past Kubica who tried in vain to keep the young German behind him. Rubens Barrichello (Williams) had a great start, gaining three places from ninth on the grid. His team-mate unfortunately had a first lap to forget. Young Nico Hülkenberg was due to start 11^th, but stalled his engine on the warm-up lap and had to start last. He then drifted onto the dusty part of the track in the middle of the Tunnel and hit the wall. This brought out the first Safety Car of the race. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso capitalised on this and came in for his mandatory tyre change pit-stop a lap latter. A real no brainer for a driver who was dead last anyway.

Lap three saw last year’s winner, McLaren’s Jenson Button retire with a cooked engine. Embarrassingly the cause of this well done V8 was a bung being left in the air intake by an engineer on the grid. As a team fan I find this totally unacceptable and most un-McLaren like.

The race restarted on lap seven and Alonso set about making up for starting from the pit lane by picking off: Di Grassi (Virgin), Trulli (Lotus) and the second Virgin of Timo Glock by lap 14.

Rubens Barrichello’s race ended on lap 31 at over 170 mph when his suspension failed at the top of Beau Rivage. The most experienced driver in the sports history then threw his £30,000 steering wheel out of his cockpit and onto the road. The collector’s item was then duly picked up by Karun Chandhok in his HRT. This crash brought out the second Safety Car of the race. The race restarted on lap 34, Webber still leading from Vettel.

Ten laps later the third Safety Car of the race was deployed due to a loose drain cover at Massenet. Fortunately the quick fit fitters were in the area and the race was underway again on lap 46.

Mark Webber by now was probably getting bored of going round and round in the lead all the time away from the action. But he got a grandstand seat and a programme of the crash between Trulli and Chandhok on lap 74.

Trulli tried to pass Chandhok on the inside at La Rascasse but his rear wheels drifted and the Lotus and HRT touched. The Italian’s green and yellow Lotus then went up and over the Indian’s grey HRT. Chandhok was seen holding his helmet after the cars came to a halt but he wasn’t hurt. The fourth Safety Car of the 2010 Monaco Grand Prix was dispatched out on track a lap latter.

The race was now going to finish under the Safety Car with Mark Webber taking his second win in as many weekends. But the drama wasn’t over behind him.

On the 78^th and final lap the Safety Car pulled into the pits and: Webber, Vettel, Kubica, Massa (Ferrari) and Hamilton (McLaren) all took off for the finish line just down the road. But Alonso was jumped by Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes and the German beat the Spaniard into sixth place.

Now this would have been illegal last year and many years before that, but the rules have changed for 2010. Article 40.7 of this year’s regs states that:

 “Instead of waiting until you cross the Start/Finish line to be allowed to overtake, you can now pass cars after you have crossed the white Safety Car Line.”

 At Monaco Schumacher did just this. He pulled alongside the Ferrari coming out of La Rascasse, crossed the line in seventh took Alonso on the inside as they entered the finally corner, Anthony Noghes. Ross Brawn (Mercedes team principle) was confident that everything he and Schumacher had done was legal.

But Ferrari protested by bringing up article 40.13 which reads:

 “If the race ends whilst the Safety Car is deployed it will enter the pit lane at the end of the last lap and the cars will take the chequered flag as normal without overtaking.”  

The race stewards found in favour of Ferrari, and Schumacher was given a 20-second time penalty, demoting him to 12^th place and last of the runners. Dastardly and Muttley caught again!

Looking at the championships now, it looks increasingly likely that Red Bull will run away with both of them unless the other teams can raise their game or Red Bull themselves continue to suffer from reliability problems.

Drivers’ Standings

1. Webber 78pts
2. Vettel 78pts
3. Alonso 75pts
4. Button 70pts
5. Massa 61pts
6. Kubica 59pts
7. Hamilton 59pts
8. Rosberg 56pts
9. Schumacher 22pts
10. Sutil 20pts

 

Constructors’ Standings

1. Red Bull 156pts
2. Ferrari 136pts
3. McLaren 129pts
4. Mercedes 78pts
5. Renault 65pts
6. Force India 30pts
7. Williams 8pts
8. Toro Rosso 4pts

Six pack for Red Bull

MARK WEBBER took Red Bull’s sixth straight pole position of this year’s world championship with a barnstorming Q3 lap in Monaco yesterday. The Australian’s Q3 time was a 1:13.826, lapping the principality at an average speed of 101.428 mph.

Renault’s Robert Kubica will start second on the grid after almost ending Red Bull’s pole dominance with a lap of 1:14.120. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel made it three Renault powered cars in the top three with a time of 1:14.227.

Fourth to tenth on the grid is as follows: Massa (Ferrari), Hamilton (McLaren), Rosberg & Schumacher (Mercedes), Button (McLaren), Barrichello (Williams) and Liuzzi (Force India).

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso didn’t take part in qualifying and will start from the pit lane after crashing his car in Saturday morning practice. He hit the Armco at Massenet (the corner before Casino Square).

My prediction for the win today is Mark Webber. He is in the best form of his career so far, and if he can keep Kubica behind him at Sainte Devote on lap one I can see him just running away with the race just like a week ago in Spain.

Webber reigns in Spain

Mark Webber gets his reward for dominating the whole event.

MARK WEBBER of Red Bull dominated last Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, winning the 66 lap race in a time of 1:35:44.101, that’s an average speed of 119.596 mph.  Spaniard Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) came home in second to the delight of the partisan crowd. Webber’s team-mate Sebastian Vettel finished third. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) set the fastest lap of the race with a 1:24.357 lap (123.418 mph).

Unlike last year, everybody got around the first two corners without incident; well that is everyone except for Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus). He couldn’t take the start due to gearbox ‘gremlins’.

Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) lost several places at the start when he went off the track at turn three, Bruno Senna (HRT) went straight on at turn four on the opening lap ending his race early, and Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) also had a poor opening lap when he took to the grass on the front straight. But it wasn’t just a story of bad starts. Mark Webber made up for his opening corner mistake in Malaysia and kept his team-mate and Lewis Hamilton behind him. Toro Rosso’s Jamie Alguersuari also had a monster of a start in his home race.

The first action of note came on lap 17. World Champion Jenson Button (McLaren) failed to keep seven times World Champion Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) behind him as he exited the pits. The ensuing battle between them lasted for the rest of the race, with Button being unable, or failing, to pass Schumacher. Much to my annoyance, Button didn’t vary his overtaking opportunities enough. You can’t hope to pass Schumacher around the outside of turn one lap after lap. You need to do something unexpected.

Hamilton stole second place from Vettel in the pits on lap 18. Red Bull had taken too long during his stop, and Hamilton came out of the pits alongside the German. The Brit used his cunning and a slowing Virgin Racing car that was in their path to his advantage. Lewis went through the middle of the Virgin-Red Bull sandwich and forced Vettel to take the runoff area and yield his position.

Felipe Massa ran his Ferraris’ front wing into Karun Chandhok’s HRT’s rear tyre as he followed the Schumacher-Button fight on lap 24. This twisted an aerodynamic aid on his front wing, but he then started to set his fastest laps of the race so far! Albeit under the continual cajoling of his race engineer Rob Smedley!  “Come On Felipe Baby!”

Vettel came into the pits after taking to the gravel on lap 55 as a result of a loose front right wheel. This promoted the chasing Alonso to third place.

But that wasn’t the end of the young German’s problems as on lap 60 he got a radio message no driver wants to hear.

“Your brakes are about to go.”

It looked like he was going to tip-toe around to fourth place, until…

On lap 65 of 66, Lewis Hamilton’s front left tyre punctured as he rounded turn three and he crashed into the tyre barrier and out of second place and 18 points. NOOOOO! 😦

However, way out in front, Mark Webber eased to his third career win and 25 points.

Personally I didn’t think that this race was as exciting as the last three. But it did have its moments, some which may play a massive part in the championship later in the season.

Bring on Monaco this weekend! The classic of the classics returns for its 68^th running. I’d love a McLaren 1-2 (as always) but the 2010 Monaco Grand Prix is one for the romantics everywhere.

1984: Ayrton Senna in his first season, a slow car, a wet track. Result = Senna leaves the F1 world jaw dropped and announces his arrival by driving biblically well and finishing second to soon to be bitter rival Alain Prost.

2010: Bruno Senna in his first season, a slow car…

(I can dream can’t I?) 

Drivers’ Standings

1. Button 70pts
2. Alonso 67pts
3. Vettel 60pts
4. Webber 53pts
5. Rosberg 50pts
6. Hamilton 49pts
7. Massa 49pts
8. Kubica 44pts
9. Schumacher 22pts
10. Sutil 16pts

 

Constructors’ Standings

1. McLaren 119pts
2. Ferrari 116pts
3. Red Bull 113pts
4. Mercedes 72pts
5. Renault 50pts
6. Force India 24pts
7. Williams 8pts
8. Toro Rosso 3pts

 

PS: I’m feeling much better now. Also, today (May 13), Formula 1 celebrates its 60^th Birthday!

Webber storms to pole in Barcelona

MARK WEBBER secured Red Bull’s fifth consecutive pole position of the season in a qualifying session which was dominated by the Austrian team.

The Australian’s Q3 pole time was 1:19.995 (130.148 mph). He will start tomorrows Spanish Grand Prix ahead of his team-mate Sebastian Vettel who posted a Q3 time of 1:20.101. McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton is third on the grid with a time of 1:20.829.

Yes the Red Bull’s really are that far ahead.

The rest of the top 10 are from fourth to tenth: Alonso (Ferrari), Button (McLaren), Schumacher (Mercedes), Kubica (Renault), Rosberg (Mercedes), Massa (Ferrari) and Kobayashi (Sauber).

Not really much else to say at the moment.

Oh wait…Alonso and Ferrari have been fined $20,000 for an unsafe pit release in Q3. Alonso drove out of his garage and almost forced Rosberg into the pit wall, much to the Germans annoyance. Also, five place grid drops have been given to: Petrov (Renault), Chandhok (HRT) and both Virgin cars.

If we don’t have rain during the race tomorrow, I can only see a Red Bull win. Who the winning driver will be in that team, I can’t say.