Hamilton moved onto the back of the Ferrari and he slip streamed him to pull halfway alongside the Ferrari into turn 5. Hamilton had the inside line, but you could see him trying to get out of it because Massa wasn’t giving him any room. The Ferrari came across the McLaren resulting in Massa spinning but maintaining position and Hamilton having to pit for a new nose; a disaster for both of them and reflective of their seasons.
The Indian Grand Prix was the next step in Formula 1’s quest to be present in each of the world’s fastest growing economies. They were greeted with one of the best new tracks of recent times; a fast flowing undulating track with the middle sector in particular offering spectacular views of these cars at their best.
In return Formula 1 provided them with the story of the season; Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel winning from pole position and a clash between Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa, the Briton again involved in more controversy.
Why can’t they just leave each other alone? From comments made over the last week by Lewis, he just wants to refocus for next year and would like this season over.
However, he wasn’t setting the world alight by any means in India but had still delivered a great qualifying time for second although he was penalised three places due to speeding through yellow flags in practice. He dropped a position behind Massa at the start and was following both Ferrari’s during the opening stint.
After the first stops Lewis came alive and had great pace closing up on Massa for fifth place. Coming down the fourth longest straight in Formula 1 at just over a kilometre he had activated the DRS and used the KERS but couldn’t make the move. Crucially he had some of the KERS left coming out of turn 4.
It moved him onto the back of the Ferrari and he slip streamed him to pull halfway alongside the Ferrari into turn 5. Hamilton had the inside line, but you could see him trying to get out of it because Massa wasn’t giving him any room. The Ferrari came across the McLaren resulting in Massa spinning but maintaining position and Hamilton having to pit for a new nose.
Immediate thoughts for me was that Massa should have given more room to Lewis, replays confirmed that Massa knew exactly where he was, you see him checking his mirrors several times despite his claims to the contrary. It seemed he wanted to show Hamilton he wasn’t going to be intimidated, but in reality he was in no position to do that.
He should have tried to hold it around the outside as turn 6 would have given the Ferrari the inside line back. Having said that it was probably just a racing incident as Hamilton did realise it wasn’t on but Massa did end up getting a drive through penalty which was actually quite surprising. He later retired from the race cracking his suspension over a raised kerb.
Hamilton has caused a few incidents this year but in this case he went for it and the other driver should have at least given some room, the McLaren was too far alongside just before the corner for it to be ignored. Lewis said afterwards ‘he just turned in on me, didn’t give me enough space’.
He fought back to 7th but wasn’t able to produce his earlier pace, however it’s good to see that despite his current mood and the criticism he’s had Lewis is still going for it.
As much as Hamilton is having a bad year, Massa is equalling it, and this pressure of being considered the number 2 at Ferrari, when only a few years ago he was challenging for the title has got to him.
The incidents with Lewis and the consequent focus on it that Massa is showing are merely symptoms of a much greater problem; that if he doesn’t get back on it soon and start challenging Alonso regularly he’ll not be at Ferrari for much longer.
Vettel takes 11th win, while Button tries to race him
There’s a sense these days of the inevitable; Vettel leads but doesn’t quite get away so as to at least give the illusion a race is happening but at the same time you know he’s probably going to be unstoppable.
And indeed he wasn’t to be beaten today, he won his 21st race and it was another dominant performance. At the start he executed his chop (which is becoming a regular occurrence) across the grid so as to be on the inside for the first corner and from then on he couldn’t be touched.
Nearly five seconds ahead of Jenson Button by lap six, he settled down into a rhythm that couldn’t be broken, lap after relentless lap. Button at least kept him on his toes, the only driver to really have given him a decent race during the second half of the year, he closed during the pit stops, both times pitting a lap earlier than Vettel to maximise the fresh rubber.
Vettel of course had it all in hand, despite his lead being closed to 2.8 seconds by lap 49, he still had over 10 laps left and proceeded to reel off a succession of fastest laps, right down to the end, claiming his first clean sweep of pole, win, fastest lap and leading every lap of the event.
Button gamely tried to hang on, but it was all over and he knew it, settling for second place. Vettel now only needs to win the last two races in Abu Dhabi and Brazil to equal Michael Schumacher’s record of 13 wins in one season, the signs are good, he won both of them last year.
Schumacher stars in India
Good result for Mercedes this weekend with their two drivers performing to type. Nico Rosberg qualified well, raced well for a bit then faded. Michael Schumacher qualified badly, again blaming his inability to get the best out of fresh tyres.
His race performance though was deserving of star of the race. He was quick from the beginning, conserved and used the performance of the tyres when he needed to, made over takes decisively, and generally made his strategy work, a great day at the wheel finishing six places above where he started.
He made another great start climbing three places by saving his KERS for the long straight which enabled him to slot into 8th. He saved his tyres behind Rosberg, but as the race wore on particularly as they approached the second stops and the switch to harder tyres he started to catch his team mate quickly often setting times not too far away from the leaders.
As Rosberg made the switch to harder tyres which weren’t losing as much time as had been expected relative to the soft tyres (they had been predicted to be over a second slower but in fact proved to be of little consequence), Schumacher kept on pounding around, consistently lapping half a second quicker than his team mate on fresh rubber.
By the time he switched tyres he was well ahead and they maintained position to the end of the race, Schumacher 5th with Rosberg 6th, only five points separating them in the championship. I’ve a feeling that the Mercedes bosses will be looking at this year and wondering whether Rosberg is really the driver that should be taking them forward?
He is a good qualifier but if certain clashes hadn’t have happened to his much older team mate, Rosberg would find himself trailing in the points. The comparisons on race pace as I’ve pointed out before make little better reading as he is often slower. Schumacher is still improving and that’s got to be a worry for Rosberg if he wants to lead this team when Schumacher finally retires.
Rest of the top 10
Fernando Alonso didn’t give up today and had an entertaining battle with Mark Webber. After they both lost position to a fantastic opening lap from Button, Alonso trailed behind Mark Webber for the opening stint, sticking fairly close.
Approaching the second stops is when Alonso managed to gain position. Webber stopped on lap 38 to switch to the harder compound. Alonso still had rubber to spare and set some great laps before pitting two laps later and emerging to take the final podium spot.
In 8th came Jaime Alguersuari who yet again impressed for Toro Rosso. Starting 10th he dropped a few spots but charged back into the points, using DRS to surge past Bruno Senna. His team mate Buemi was also charging back but later retired to deny Toro Rosso some extra points.
Alguersuari though carried on fighting, passing Sutil to move up to 9th place. After Massa’s demise he moved into 8th spot where he stayed out of trouble to score another points finish. As the season has gone on Alguersuari has really shone, particularly in this second half, his seat for next year is surely secured.
As Force India look to announce their driver line up in favour of current incumbent Paul di Resta and reserve driver Nico Hulkenberg, Adrian Sutil did well to remind his team that he is still a solid driver and well deserving of a place in Formula 1 next year as he took two points for 9th beating di Resta who could only manage 13th having been one of three mid field drivers to start on the harder tyres.
Sergio Perez was one of those three and he took the final points spot in 10th. He avoided the chaos at the start which took out Kamui Kobayashi and Timo Glock and had a good wheel to wheel battle with di Resta but the Sauber just seems to look after its tyres that much better, holding off the Petrov who had the same strategy.
Narain Karthikeyan in the HRT deserves a mention as the only Indian in the Indian Grand Prix. He out-qualified his hotly tipped team mate Daniel Ricciardo although grid penalties won’t remember that. However, that didn’t stop him out racing him as well to finish 17th. A good results for a driver who’s been out of the car since Silverstone. It was still three places behind the ever improving Team Lotus car of Heikki Kovalainen who at one point was as high as 10th.
Review and a look ahead
So the Indian Grand Prix wasn’t one of the best of the season, but the track promises a lot and certainly offers the prospect of many good races to come. It’s definitely a place Formula 1 needs to be seen in for the manufacturers and sponsors as India becomes one of the most important countries in the world.
The grandstands were mostly full and the crowd was enthusiastic, which some of the other new races that have been introduced are certainly not. It’s all well and good going to places to please the sponsors and the business side of Formula 1, but if no one cares what good does it do them? Next year will be the real test to see if the sport can maintain the support shown from India.
Next is Abu Dhabi; can anyone actually stop Vettel strolling away to his 12th victory of the year? The McLaren’s were quick there last year, but so was Vettel who won the race and his first title. Someone needs to give him something to think about as we approach the end of the year.
all photos from autosport.com
all photos from autosport.com
No comments:
Post a Comment