The European Grand Prix was an interesting race rather than an exciting one, I suppose not even Pirelli’s tyres can turn Valencia into a thriller. Nevertheless there were a couple of fine performances that deserve to be noted.
I wrote earlier this week that the Toro Rosso drivers were under pressure to perform and for the second race in a row Jaime Alguersuari produced a fine drive to finish 8th. This one was markedly different though, there was no taking advantage of a wet race and retirements ahead as in Canada. In fact with all 24 drivers finishing today Algersuari really had to work hard.
Driving aggressively at the start he made his way up from 18th on the grid, utilising a two stop strategy to stealthily make his way to the head of the midfield. Alguersuari hasn’t been the best qualifier this year, he’s more often out qualified by his team mate Sebasitian Buemi, but he is proving to be a fine racer, maybe if he keeps this up he’ll find a way into the senior Red Bull set up. It was definitely a fine drive through the pack in a middling car, one of the best of the race in front of his home crowd.
The other Spaniard in the field was a certain Fernando Alonso who gave his fans something to celebrate as he gained his second podium of the season with a fine 2nd place. A good start, he passed Hamilton from fourth and then dived round the outside of Felipe Massa into turn 2 who’d jumped from 5th to 3rd initially. Massa ended up falling to 5th at the finish after a dodgy pit stop. Alonso held onto the Red Bulls at the start and after the final pit stop shake out, ended up ahead of Mark Webber in second place.
The Ferrari on the harder tyres never really had the pace unlike on the softer tyres and Vettel left him behind in the final laps. He was lucky the other Red Bull of Webber developed a gearbox problem and dropped away to finish 3rd, otherwise he may have been under pressure to keep him behind. Overall it was a strong drive with a deserved result, but unlike when McLaren are having their good days, you get the feeling that Ferrari, at the moment at least, can’t quite build up to a race winning challenge.
McLaren were definitely not having one of their good days. Lewis Hamilton drove well but in contrast to the past few races, had quite a lonely race. He was at various times told by his team to speed up and slow down to save his tyres, but he was giving his maximum through out. The tyres didn’t seem able to stay with him, but he still managed to beat a Ferrari to 4th place which is probably the best he could have expected from today.
Jenson Button confirmed McLaren’s poor race pace, and he wasn’t helped by a KERS failure at the half way point leaving him 6th. In Turkey, McLaren were similarly afflicted with poor pace but then the next three they had arguably the fastest car so perhaps it was just circuit orientated and not a genuine step backwards.
Nico Rosberg brought some points back for Mercedes after a race of poor tyre wear for both him and team mate Michael Schumacher. Rosberg managed to get the better of Algersuari just, while Schumacher had a clash with Vitaly Petrov as he exited the pit lane after his first stop losing his front wing. It looked like the Russian could have given the Mercedes a bit more room, although Michael later admitted it was probably his misjudgement as he finished 17th. Just as it was coming good for Schumacher, he reminds us its tough down in the pack.
Adrian Sutil and Nick Heidfeld filled the last points positions. A good result for Sutil in particular who out raced his rookie team mate Paul Di Resta for once and was challenging Algersuari for 8th come the end. Renault will be disappointed they only got a point for the race, they seem to be dropping back as the year goes on.
It was all action down the field, Buemi, Paul Di Resta, Petrov and Kobayashi having a bumper to bumper fight for the last part of the race. They were nose to tail, fighting to the death for what was only 13th place. The new teams of Lotus, Virgin and Hispania finished 2 by 2 in that order a fair way behind.
Finally I think Sebastian Vettel is worth a mention today. In the press conference he said he ‘enjoyed the battle’ between himself and the car today, and that says it all really. He appreciated the challenge of pushing and conserving the tyres at the same time. As if as an after thought he mentioned he felt the pressure from Webber and Alonso at times but this really was a demonstration run.
It was like he had pace in hand all race, only turning it on when he felt like it, Vettel was in complete control. He seems able to keep his tyres fresher while running at a relentlessly fast pace, as when everyone was pitting early he’d still be setting decent times especially towards the final tyre change. There’s the off throttle blown diffuser ban coming up at Silverstone but I think that whatever rule changes are thrown at Red Bull, it’s going to be tough to beat them. In Valencia it was Pole position, fastest lap, race win, job done.
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