Another race has been completed, but this weekend sitting down to write this post things were a little less complex to follow. There were no monsoon downpours and safety car interruptions to add more dimensions to the race outcome - leaving only a straight forward fastest man wins event. Given the level of racing we have seen this year Valencia has been a bit of a let down - but looking back at previous years it was to be expected.
We've come away from the weekend with the status quo being maintained - that little German man still ends up at the front of the pack and no-one in normal conditions can alter it. The dominance of the Red Bull has become rather tiresome and it would be nice to see a better competition for the victories. But saying that Ferrari were closer and the division one teams are grouping together, and outside there things are close - with different cars filtering into the remaining points positions.
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| Sourced from formula1onlive.com (Afterall it was the only time we saw the mythical button so may as well us his only captured image) |
In completely contrasting conditions to last race in Canada the grid was set in the baking heat and no sign of any moisture except for the in the harbour itself and this year no-one had came close to flying into it. Although I haven't seen the second GP2 or either of the GP3 events but if anything major had happened something probably would have come across in the commentary.
And so the lights one by one illuminated upon the starting gantry and began that moment in time when the world freezes. Those short seconds of time which drag on, staring into the red glow waiting for the thousands of horsepower to be unleashed all at once in a crescendo of power, performance and expectation. Then those lights die out and the grid came to life.
The front three made fairly equal starts with Hamilton slightly the worse, Massa made the best start of the first division powering from 5th up to 3rd in the short stretch to turn one. Alonso followed his team-mate past the McLaren into 4th - Felippe looked to the inside of Webber but had to back out of it, Alonso through into an early podium position. Rosberg also made ground sneaking his division two car into the division one field beating Button off the line. The other notable start of the field belonged to Kovalainen who jumped almost two rows but was consumed by those he passed over the following corners.
The opening laps were very composed and orderly for what is a track surrounded by walls with not too much room for error - and the positions settled down everyone staying in line. There was some movement further back down the field as drivers who made poor starts were trying to recover, Petrov was the main protagonist in this position locked behind both Sauber and Force India cars.
Once the critical first two laps were checked off and in the book, the moment of truth was upon us - the anticipated long dual DRS zones were now activated. We were about to see whether the overtaking potential would be realised and turn the European GP away from it's processional nature. Button was the first one to test the benefits in his ambitions to overtake the Mercedes of Rosberg - but due to the superior traction and decent top speed no DRS was going to move the McLaren in front. However not to be defeated Button was able to get a strong run through turn one and threw the car down the inside of the German in front claiming the position and heading off into anonymity. No-one is quite sure what happened to Button after that but he was no longer to appear on camera - as he spent the rest of the race alone.
During the run up to the first round of pitstops division one of the grid was running in two-by-two order with Red Bull leading Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes. Both Sauber and Force India were also running together on the fringes of the points, additionally the teams at the back of the grid were also in team order. The only team that wasn't running together was oddly enough Renault Squadron where Squadron Leader Heidfeld was several places ahead of Wingman Petrov who was stuck with the Saubers.
Webber was first to take to the pit lane, followed shortly by Hamilton both deciding they were going to get no more out of their tyres. Back on track Squadron Leader Heidfeld regained the position he lost off the grid diving to the inside of Sutil in turn four. Having been demoted down the grid after the stop Hamilton was out of position and was able to demonstrate the first full DRS pass driving straight past Michael Schumacher who hadn't visited the pit lane. Speaking of cars that hadn't entered the pits for a stop there was one notable absentee a certain One-stop Perez hadn't stopped - yet.
The rest of the field were filtering in for new tyres and for the most part were leaving in the same place they entered - with the exception of Massa for who a sticking rear wheel lost ground to Hamilton who recovered one of the places lost earlier. Things were even worse for a certain multiple world champion, Michael Schumacher was not exactly enjoying the level of success of his Canadian GP. Upon leaving the pit lane he proceeded down the pit lane exit and drove into the side of Vitaly Petrov at the apex of turn two. Schumacher's wing was damaged and over the course of the lap repositioned itself near his sidepod. Obviously had to pit for a new nose - and that concludes the total amount of contact for the race.
Alonso had gained time on Webber through this first pit stop phase and had his eyes firmly set on the back of the Red Bull, slowly edging closer over several laps to the point where Fernando had reached that 1s window. Then the DRS was in effect, a few laps later he had narrowed the gap further to the point where he could make a challenge. On lap 21 Webber was no longer able to hold off the Ferrari - and on the run down wo turn 10 - the same straight that saw the Australian soaring into the sky, Alonso drafted past to claim the spot.
There was a period of incactivity - in a race where not a lot happened anyway this phase was even less eventful. The field was holding position and standing their ground - the entire of division one from Vettel down to Rosberg was pretty much set for the rest of the race. Amid this lull in activity there was one change further down the grid - One-stop Perez was falling backwards losing places to Petrov, Di Resta and Kobayashi. His tyres were running out of grip and out of life, they were the same ones he had started the race on after all. Following surrendering to team-mate One-stop Perez pulled into the pits to make his one and only stop, living up to his name in a unique strategy to the rest of the field.
Storming past the halfway point of the race and it was time for the division one entries to make some more stops - this series of tyre changes had only one impact on the order. Reversing Fernando and Mark, dropping the Spaniard behind the Red Bull as the lead cars were heading into the domain of lapped traffic. On a day when there were no cars retiring or driving into solid objects, there was all the lapped cars still circulating and irritating the leaders. Webber was the first to show his annoyance waving his hand around in all manner of gesticulations which I imagine didn't have a pleasant meaning. His victim was Vitantonio Liuzzi who was caught between turns 18, 19 and 20 a place where it is single file running so couldn't reasonable get out of the way.
Driving under the radar was Jaimie Alguersuari who had managed to drive from not making it out of Q1 and into the points the first of the non-division one cars and ahead of Rosberg. The Mercedes being a fundamentally superior car made overtaking the STR entry more of a formality but Alquersuari held his own against the German. However resistance was futile considering Mercedes possess the most effective DRS system of the grid, Nico was able to drive right round the outside of the Torro Rosso in turn 17.
The traffic brought Webber and Alonso up to the back of Massa who hadn't stopped in this sequence. Mark made short work of the slower of the Ferraris round the outside of Turn 17. But then it was Alonso's turn to vent some frustration through the fast final sector coming rather close to a Lotus who was letting Webber and Massa through spotted the second red machine a little late. Fortunately both parties avoided contact and the only repercussion was an angry wave from a frustrated Spaniard.
Once again there was a period of stability where nothing happened, until the final round of pit stops - again there was minimal impact on the division one competitors with the notable exception again of the Webber, Alonso battle for 2nd. The last phase of pitting switched the positions for the final time placing the Ferrari in front but throwing both of them into an epic mid field battle that was brewing outside the top 12.
With the top six cars now settled in their finishing positions - Vettel leading from Alonso and Webber rounding off the podium. Hamilton was 4th ahead of Massa and apparently Button still existed even though no-one had seen him since passing Rosberg. The entertainment shifted back in the field where Buemi had acquired a following in the form of Di Resta, Kobayashi and Petrov, where the Russian was looking like the only one making an impression. And because they were all running in proximity to each other they could all run the DRS and just ended up following each other. Buemi edged away from the group and Kobayashi was bearing down on Di Resta with Petrov in very close attention.
While their battle raged on, further towards the front of the field - Rosberg had came out of his final pits to find the lesser known of Spaniards in the field again. Alguersuari once again found himself in front of Rosberg, and in an exact carbon copy of their last encounter - the German applied his superior DRS and once again went right round the outside of turn 17. And now the entire top 10 was settled to the finish, with Sutil and Squadron Leader Heidfeld playing rear gunner for the points.
Through the magic of strategy and One-stop Perez's special power of only stopping once managed to One-stop his was to 11th perilously close so one-stopping his way into the points. Behind him was Rubens Barrichello who had almost as much of a lonely race as the mythical Jenson Button. Following Rubens was Buemi who was now safely clear of the chasing trio where stability was to become undone - Petrov was no longer content with being at the back of that train and found a way past Kamui Kobayashi.
That ended the sort out of positions and the possibility of a Webber resurgence upon Alonso was thwarted by gearbox issues. So Vettel was able to cross the line safely and contently concluding a race of complete and utter domination in the face of engine mapping changes aimed to hinder Red Bull. Fernando finished second free from pressure from a slowing Webber. Hamilton, Massa and Button who still existed rounded off division one.
Bringing to a conclusion the most uneventful race of the season with the same outcome as so many other races this year illustrating the power of Red Bull and gulf of performance that the entire of division one has over the rest of the grid.
The Official Bonus Points Championship points winners
In a race which had all the excitement of drowning in acid somewhere in the tepid sea of mediocrity points have to be awarded and it is in races like this where you can score points simply by turning up because that's all some of the drivers did. Just by showing some effort or trying something a little different could be the ticket to bonus points.
10pts - Jaime Alguersuari, gets the top points for making the biggest gain from relegation in the first quali round to scoring points
8pts - One stop Perez, for almost making the famous one stop work again finishing just out the points
6pts - Fernando Alonso, for taking the fight to Red Bull he managed to get one of them and for being the only driver in division one to gain a position
5pts - Adrian Sutil, for breaking into the top five teams hold of the points with the Force India
4pts - Nico Rosberg, for two outside passes on Alguersuari to win division two
3pts - Sebastien Vettel, for just being dominating so I suppose that deserves some points
2pts - Vitaly Petrov, had a poor start but unlike most people, passed someone later in the race
1pt - The Grid, for a 100% finishing rate for this race - a record for number of cars making the flag
The Also Official Penalties Championship
Because everyone was so boringly well behaved no-one was given penalties this weekend - even the collision between Schumacher and Petrov was waved off as a racing incident.
The No Less Official Dodgy Dealings Championship
Another consequence of an uneventful race weekend is that there was no-one to shout at, and no-one to chastise with the damming threat of penalty points. But this all boils down to the track - a layout which may be entertaining to drive in a simulation but in a race scenario it seems not to work out too well, Throughout it's short history has offered up a series of dull and lifeless races so this week I send one penalty point to Valencia.
Looking on to Britain
Ah so Formula One works it's way back to our green and not so pleasant lands to somewhere very different to the last three rounds. Gone are the tight wall lined chicanes and hairpins - replaced by the high speed curves and flowing bends. One of the truly great traditional race tracks - no where near as good as Spa or the Nordscheife but still pretty great. Well it was until that pointless new infield section, that aside it is going to be a whole new challenge and who will be disadvantaged the most be the removal of the blown exhaust system. Will Red Bull surrender their dominance - on a layout that should favour the high downforce capability of their car.
But there is a problem - considering the Silverstone layout has changed again this year moving the pit straight to after Club corner - I no longer have an up to date virtual version of the race track. So I apologise in advance for how the video is going to play out as I unless there is a new release in the next fortnight (fingers crossed on that one - any modders it would be appreciated) I will be running the 2010 version which is lacking a little and starts at the old start before Copse.
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