It couldn’t end any other way could it? The threat of rain
that so many wanted to create a thrilling finale to the Formula 1 season didn’t
materialise, but in any case if it had done would it have changed the result? I
don’t think so, Sebastian Vettel has simply been immense and in a way it would
have been wrong for 2013 to finish in any other way other than with Vettel
taking his ninth consecutive win and 13th of the year.
He didn’t have it all his own way this time, Nico Rosberg qualified
alongside him on the front row and took the lead into the first corner. He held
the lead for all of one lap as Vettel tucked into his slipstream on the start
finish straight and was easily through. He pulled a gap and was gone.
Only a fumbled pit stop stopped him from executing an almost
perfect race. When Valtteri Bottas attempted to un-lap himself from Lewis
Hamilton, the Mercedes driver moved over on the Finn just slightly that it
broke the left rear wheel sending the Williams driver careering off the
circuit. Red Bull immediately thought that a safety car could be called so
brought Vettel in a lap early.
Unfortunately and as happened far too often, this
compromised the race of Mark Webber who was due to pit that lap. As they rushed
to get Vettel’s tyres out, the German was sat there losing time. He had only
been 12 seconds ahead of Webber, so now he was stacked behind. It made no
difference in the end, Vettel was released back into the lead while Webber
maintained his second place.
Vettel reeled off the laps, a few drops of water did nothing
to slow him down and he took a comfortable win followed by his now customary
doughtnuts. It typifies just how brilliant he has been this year. He has got
better every year he’s won, and being only 26 years old he can get better
still.
Next year there are plenty of regulation changes including
with the power trains or engines as most people like to call them, aero rules
are also significantly altered and it’ll be a hard task for Red Bull to
continue to repeat their success, especially after they kept on developing this
year’s car longer than most other teams.
However, they have Adrian Newey still heading up the design
team, and they still have Vettel, who I’ve no doubt could mix it with the more
lauded talents of Fernando Alonso and Hamilton. It’s not going to be an easy
task for anyone to beat them next year. As Vettel says on the radio, they’ve
got to enjoy these victorious moments because you don’t know when it could
stop. But right now, you’d be a fool to think that Red Bull won’t be right up
there competing at the front again in 2014.
Webber finishes F1
career in style
Before Mark pops off to the World Endurance Championship
with Porsche he had one more race to take part in, and he gave his all as he
signed off with a superb showing of race craft and passing that puts many far
younger drivers to shame.
He made his traditional poor getaway, and dropped to fifth,
but he was soon pulling the moves to get up the order. His pass of Lewis
Hamilton into turn six around the outside was brilliant, but just another one
to add to a collection of great moves.
He was soon ahead of Rosberg too and set about getting on
the tail of Alonso. These two have had numerous bouts before and this one was
just as good as they Webber stalked the Ferrari. It was so good that after the
first pit stops when Webber had a slow stop and came out behind the Ferrari,
they did it all over again. Webber was just on it all race and even had a go at
closing his team mate down, but just couldn’t manage it.
He’d obviously have liked to go out with a win but
unfortunately Vettel has just become too good with this current generation of
car. It’s all change next year, and Webber deemed it appropriate that this was
a time to get out of the F1 circus. Probably the correct thing to do but after
a race like this it seems like he’s still got much more to give.
However we shouldn’t forget that he has been soundly beaten
this year by his team mate. It’s true that most of the time if a Red Bull had a
problem then it would be on Webber’s car. It’s also true that a few contentious
decisions went in the favour of Vettel. But I think from an outsiders point of
view he got given a good crack at Red Bull.
He nearly and probably should have won the 2010
championship. Things went against him, perhaps Red Bull made a few dodgy calls,
but I feel that he tied up towards the end and let it get away from him. He
still put in a fantastic season but unfortunately he’s only ever equalled that
kind of performance on a few weekends since, and not consistently like that
year.
It’s the one that got away, but Webber has had a great
career, some of the qualifying laps in his early years, especially in the
Jaguar were of the highest quality while some of his race drives in the glory
years of Red Bull could not have been bettered by anyone.
McLaren end year on a
high
Jenson Button had a smile on his face for the first time in
what seems like months. He may have qualified a rather poor 14th,
but he worked his way up quickly and efficiently and made the strategy work for
him. He actually ended up in a rather comfortable fourth place, albeit with
Hamilton and Felipe Massa having suffered drive through penalties.
But the fact Button got ahead of Nico Rosberg on pace and
then kept him back will have pleased him and the team no end as they head into
2014. McLaren will want to forget this year completely, they haven’t even
recorded a podium for the first time since 1980. At least it sets them up for the
winter, especially as the departing Sergio Perez also managed to secure sixth
place after suffering a gearbox penalty that meant he started from 19th
on the grid.
He had a tremendous drive and was only a handful of seconds
behind Rosberg after he’d hounded him for several laps. Perez moves on though
and the exciting talent of Kevin Magnussen moves in but it would have been nice
for Checo to have had another year, I only hope he manages to find a drive for
2014. But with the money that backs him I’m sure he’ll be fine.
Battles in the pack
Despite another Vettel win and the lack of rain, the race
was generally quite exciting. It was an interesting spectacle as teams had to
gamble on the best set up in a wet qualifying while knowing that race day was
probably going to be dry, or at least dryer. In the early laps there were
numerous changes of position as everyone found their wheels on a dry track for
the first time this weekend.
Alonso was an early mover as he made up ground after losing
his third place grid slot at the start. He soon passed Hamilton and Rosberg to
move up to second before he succumbed to Webber’s attacks. The Ferrari though
looked particularly fast in race conditions and Alonso was able to keep in the
number 2 Red Bull’s wheel tracks for several laps before eventually fading, but
he was never too far away.
Alonso finished in third and cemented his second place in
the drivers championship. It’s been a good year for him again as he’s driven as
well as ever although I do feel he suffered a dip in form in the middle as he
realised that yet again Ferrari were not going to deliver the goods.
You’ve got to think that the Alonso/Ferrari relationship has
to deliver at least one championship, but if it’s not next year, a separation could
come sooner than what’s written on the contract especially as the rumours go
that the new Ferrari turbo engine is the weakest of the three manufacturers
behind Mercedes and Renault.
Alonso was apparently meant to give up his podium to Massa
who had another barnstorming start, and got up from ninth to sixth, before
passing a few more to lie fourth. He was holding off Hamilton when he got a
drive through penalty for cutting the pit entrance to much. Apparently he had
been warned before but it seems a particularly churlish penalty, but then rules
are rules. He still fought back to end his last race for Ferrari with a
seventh.
Mercedes had set their cars up for a wetter climate, so it
was not too much of a surprise to see them suffering with a lack of straight
line speed. Rosberg initially took the lead but was easy prey as Vettel hunted
him down over the first lap. He dropped through the field and even had to yield
to his team mate as his tyres went off. He still just about managed to maintain
a decent fifth place.
Hamilton would have finished higher than his eventual ninth
if it hadn’t have been for his clash with Bottas which left him with a puncture
and then his subsequent drive through. He didn’t know what happened but it didn’t
look like he realised Bottas was alongside him, and he moved just slightly
enough that it was probably his fault the clash happened. He managed to
scramble back up to ninth but that was a fairly poor payback from what looked
like a promising race.
Hulkenberg continued to put himself in the shop window with
a decent eighth, but it looks likely that if he is to have a seat next year it’ll
be a midfield one. Lotus don’t seem to be getting the deal with Quantum sorted
to bring more money into the team which means they might have to go for a
driver who brings money to the team which is a sad state of affairs. Paul di
Resta could only manage 11th, but he is a driver who should be in F1
but at the moment it looks like he could end up with no seat at all.
The final point went to Daniel Ricciardo in his last race
for Toro Rosso before he moves to the big team next year. A competent driver,
but when he and Jean-Eric Vergne had locked out the fourth row, you might have
expected Toro Rosso to bring home a few more points than they did. Another team
to suffer from a set up directed too much towards wet weather perhaps?
Lotus had an appalling last race of the year. Romain
Grosjean had qualified sixth but at one point looked like he could snatch pole
position. His engine went after just two laps, but the end of the season has
been a real fillip for Grosjean’s career as he seeks to lead Lotus into a new
era next year.
Marussia maintained their 10th place in the
constructors ahead of Caterham.
It is the end of the
shrill V8, but the dawn of the turbo
So next year it’s all change. Gone will be the V8’s and in
come 1.6 litre Turbo’s with various energy recovery systems which make the cars
far more road relevant. The racing will certainly be different next year and
the sound not quite as loud, but they’ll still be the best and fastest racing
cars in the world.
The main question is can anyone stop Red Bull? As 2014 gets
closer we’ll begin to learn more about how everyone’s doing, but you have to
believe that with such fundamental rule changes, the order is bound to be mixed
up, already we’re getting glimpses of who might be leading the back, with
Mercedes rumoured to be on the right track while Ferrari could face further
struggles next year.
I think we can safely assume that Red Bull will continue to
mix it at the front but you have to believe they won’t have own F1 quite as
much as they have done this year, the future is an exciting one.
There's still things to be sorted with drivers too with a number of seats still up for grabs as the off season starts. There's going to be a lot of negotiations and worrying winter thoughts for a lot of drivers.
But this past season has been good. It might not have been a
battle to the end, but it was one of just a perfect combination of man and machine,
and when that happens, they become unbeatable. Vettel and Red Bull were that perfect
combination and this year they made history.
Final Result after 71 laps:
1. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull
2. Mark Webber - Red Bull
3. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari
4. Jenson Button - McLaren
5. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes
6. Sergio Perez - McLaren
7. Felipe Massa - Ferrari
8. Nico Hulkenberg - Sauber
9. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
10. Daniel Ricciardo - Toro Rosso
11. Paul di Resta - Force India
12. Esteban Gutierrez - Sauber
13. Adrian Sutil - Force India
14. Heikki Kovalainen - Lotus
15. Jean-Eric Vergne - Toro Rosso
16. Pastor Maldonado - Williams
17. Jules Bianchi - Marussia
18. Giedo van der Garde - Caterham
19. Max Chilton - Marussia
R. Charles Pic - Caterham - Suspension
R. Valtteri Bottas - Williams - Accident
R. Romain Grosjean - Lotus - Engine
all photo's taken from autosport.com
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