Well here we are, the chequered flag has fallen on the Brazilian GP and bringing to a close the mammoth adventure that has been formula one 2011, all the laps have been run and all the races decided. Championship positions finally settled as the last set of points were handed out this evening, so all that lies in front of us is the dark sprawling abyss of winter and even then at the other end lies the even darker prospect of 2012 on sky television. Where only a gloomy future lies in that prospect future this little corner of the internet is going to have difficulty dealing with next year, lets just hope that the BBC highlights package is going to be any good because that's all I'll have for 50% of the season.
But time to push that all aside it's better to focus on the the event that just took place, where once again the weather folk have become rather obsessed with the idea of rain, even the BBC were forecasting the conditions to be wet. Even drawing pictures of thunderstorms on the website, and things couldn't have been further from the truth, as the temperatures and the blue skies reigned... not rained. Once again proving that the high-tech weather radar system was indeed a lie, just as it was proven in Germany and again this weekend in qualifying. So a race was conducted in completely dry conditions and for a season finale it was a little underwhelming there were a couple of redeeming moments but overall not ideally how 2011 should have been brought to the conclusion.
Before we bid a final farewell to the season, lets take took a look back at the final 71 laps of what has been a revolutionary season with the new technologies, if not a little one sided on behalf of that German Bloke who keeps winning most of the time. Here is the review of the grand finale.
The Race
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| Webber vs Gravity - credit to F1 Fanatic.co.uk for the image |
Well once more the VCR was called into action, and this time I'd finally got round to finally installing the new shiny donated VCR into the upper variation of the blog HQ normally where free practice sessions and additional series are viewed. The tape was played and the screen was illuminated with the bone dry Sao Paulo in complete contradiction to what the reports predicted, what the teams expected and every other person on the planet was expecting. Yes despite the blue skies and significance absence of any significant cloud cover concerns of rain were rife up and down the pit-lane, and sideways too but there was no-one in that direction who cared.
Then the time for the formation lap rolled round and the skies got even clearer, rain became more of a myth, as the cars lined up on the final grid under the baking very rain free Brazilian sunshine, ready for the final time of the season. What would the final start have to offer, some mayhem perhaps, wings sailing through the air, someone ending up upside down maybe.. Well no, it was perhaps one of the most orderly starts of the season everyone got away cleanly (except Rubens who lost position to most of the cars behind him) Alonso managed to pass Hamilton but apart from that nothing happened. I'm all for equality and fairness but sometimes it makes things a little dull, the cars ran two wide for a while but it was all very civilised and sensible. No wheel banging or pushing each other into the wall, and a significant amount respect being shown - now hang one, niceties and cooperation between drivers... what has happened to the field. Even Massa and Hamilton were being well behaved.
For the opening 10 laps even more of this unusual civility took place, and a lack of anything going on clearly didn't sit too well with Michael Schumacher who decided it was time for action and first on the list for the German's attack plan was Force India's Paul Di Resta. Now that's not too bad because Michael hasn't had a record of hitting Force India cars this year preferring Saubers and Wing Commander Petrov as things to make contact with. However after dealing with the Scot the next car in line was Bruno Senna, normally nothing Bruno had to be worried about - just a normal challenge for position. But of course he happened to be driving a Renault Squadron car, and there is history of Schumacher hitting those usually in the hands of Petrov. Yes you can see where this is going, Schumacher went down the outside of turn one, both cars managed to drift into each other banging wheels before turn in. But things didn't end there - both cars then proceeded to enter the corner in the same place so more contact was made and Michael ended up with a puncture, Senna only had a chipped front wing.
Now for such an innocuous incident that just happened to result in a puncture for a certain accident prone former world champion - was sent to the stewards office for an investigation - and a penalty was given to Bruno Senna. I looked at the screen for a moment considering why... and came to the conclusion it was the most literal translation of the regulations imaginable, where one car made contact with another one and hampered their race through damage. Rather overlooking the context of the event, I'm guessing the stewards were looking for penalty points to make a charge at the title in that division, well they've earned one more with that effort I must say.
A little further up the grid, Alonso was also on the move in a bonus points battle with leader Jenson Button, as the McLaren was losing time on the softer tyres which didn't suit the balance of the car. Fernando used the DRS to catch right up to the back of the target vehicle, Button was slow on the exit of turn five allowing the Ferrari to get a run on the McLaren. Alonso was forced to look to the outside of turn 6, not a corner you should be able to pass on the outside of, not even a corner you'd think of even considering making a pass to the outside of. Yet the man in the red car did think it could be done, deciding he no longer gave up and went for the pass. Through some magical power pulled it off in one of the stronger moves of the entire session, something Alonso needed after being on the receiving end of the other great passes of the season.
Proceedings were then struck not by rain as everyone had betted their life savings, and their pet hamsters on, but by some more bright sunshine and some of that emptiness where nothing happened, and who would be the one to break the silence. This time that responsibility was taken in by the Virgin pit crew, in a sort of final race prank, a bit of a laugh - 'hey Timo you thought we put the rear wheel on... but guess what... we haven't' while Glock exited the pit-lane only to be overtaken by his own rear wheel which fortunately didn't clear the pit wall and enter the track. Elsewhere, Vettel - the bloke who happened to be in the lead, as normal - had gearbox issues, and Pastor Maldonado somehow managed to insert his Williams into the barrier on the exit of turn 6.
Those little gearbox gremlins seemed to be spreading like bacteria through a primary school, starting with Vettel, but then the infection spread to Bruno Senna's Renault Squadron machine, but did it stop there - oh no the bacteria were not done yet meandering into Lewis Hamilton's gearbox. Back in the Red Bull, the messages from the gearbox doctors back on the pit-wall confirmed that the condition was declining and he had to concede the lead to Mark Webber in the sister car built with immunity to the infection. At this point in the race the infection of gearboxes was the only thing going on, and by lap 47, it claimed it's first victim striking down Hamilton's transmission in it's prime and culling the McLaren from the field. Oddly enough all the other gearbox issues stabilised and the infection was then contained.
With the little transmission virus taken care it was time to get back to some motor-racing, and this this was handled by points leader Jenson Button, deciding it was time for some payback on that Spaniard who passed him round the outside of turn six several laps ago. This particular manoeuvre was a little more straight forward , Alonso defended into turn one but that compromised his exit into the DRS zone and duly Jenson opened the wing and drove straight past the Ferrari and up onto the podium next up was the highly contagious Sebastien Vettel and his infected gearbox.
As the front of the field was all sorted out now it was time to take a look at the other people who were taking part today in the grand finale - and racing a little under the radar was Adrian Sutil doing a rather impressive job. Taking on the factory Mercedes car of Nico Rosberg and winning - but it wasn't the easiest of passes and did take a couple of efforts: Round one - Sutil was able to get round the outside of Nico on the front straight but Rosberg wasn't having any of that and surprised Adrian a little by diving to the apex and demanding the place right back. Now onto Round two - and the the procedure started off in the same way with the Force India on the outside of the front straight, this time Adrian made a rather aggressive little swerve at Nico as to say 'this time I'm 'aving you', well he might have done if he was from Southern England. Odd imagined accents aside Nico couldn't stop the suddenly cockney Sutil from claiming the sixth position.
With the laps running down HRT's Liuzzi pulled the car off the road at turn one - vanishing down the escape road where the former oval used to continue, no idea what killed the car, but I have a sneaky suspicion there was a gearbox eating bacteria involved. Speaking of gearbox troubles Jenson sensed a vulnerability in the limping Red Bull in front and set about closing the gap, shades of Canada were resonating yet the gap this time was too large and the track was not affected by rain, who would have predicted a dry race. If the weather forecasting people had then the race would have probably been held under enough water they would have to move the pit lane into the sunken city of Atlantis.
Out in the lead of the race Webber was left uncontested setting fastest laps to secure the victory as Vettel fell away from the lead, but that German Bloke was still able to finish a championship winning season on the podium. Rounding off that podium was the ever present Jenson Button seemingly with less of a moustache this weekend even when movember hadn't concluded, beating Fernando to the 3rd position. The second Ferrari of Felipe Massa rounded off division one in 5th, but scores bonus points for performing doughnuts on the cool-down lap, the FIA may frown on it but here it is encouraged. 6th place was forcefully claimed
by Adrian Sutil from Nico Rosberg earlier on and held it to the line, the second Force India concluded the season in 8th position and securing 6th place in the constructors for the team. Behind then finished Kamui Kobayashi, another strong result from the Sauber driver, and the points positions were rounded off by Wing Commander Petrov for Renault Squadron.
Then it was all over, the racing, the spectacle and the season - ready for the final deals to be struck to decide who will end up in which car next season - what little of it will be on the TV of course.
The Official Bonus Points Championship points winners
Well here at the final points allocation of the year, and here I am staring at the screen and thinking that was a rather mediocre race and it is in those races where finding enough people to give points to becomes so much harder, especially considering the ramifications than this list of points could have on who gets the title tomorrow evening. So despite those challenges here are the last points scorers of the day.
10pts - Adrian Sutil - takes the final win for a very strong performance, hunting down and taking the factory Mercedes with the determination of a driver fighting for a drive at the team next year.
8pts - Mark Webber - for the overall win, the guy needed one, but also for the height he managed on the podium jump
6pts - Fernando Alonso - for a brilliant pass on Button in the early stages, that shouldn't have been possible
5pts - Jenson Button - another strong race, catching and repaying the favour on Alonso (less spectacularly so less points) being the only driver to think about competing with Red Bull this weekend
4pts - Felipe Massa - for the doughnut - that's worth points in my book, albeit nearly introducing the Ferrari to the pit wall
3pts - Kamui Kobayashi - from a poor qualifying to score points and securing Sauber's position in the table
2pts - Wing Commander Petrov - after being on a drought of points recently for Renault Squadron
1pt - Ted Kravitz - for seeming to have acquiring some helium while mentioning the gearbox issues from the pit lane in the highest pitched voice of the season.
The Also Official Penalties Championship
There was one drive through penalty handed to Bruno Senna for being in proximity to Michael Schumacher and the resulting racing incident. But there was also in investigation into the lost wheel incident for Timo Glock, which made no sense here was a case where the driver was last and out of the race so a race penalty would be pointless, neither would a grid drop for the next race, on the basis that there is no next race this year. So what evil punishment does the FIA have in store for the German who knows...
The Still Official Dubious Dealings Championship
Well the an obvious penalty point will be handed to the stewards for their decision to penalise Bruno for the contact with Schumacher which was another racing incident where a penalty was thrown on account of a puncture. I reckon if that incident happened in the old spec cars with narrower front wings no puncture would have happened and hence no penalty. Another penalty point goes this time to the weather radar system for whining on about rain, there was no rain, not even the hint of rain - it was wetter in the Attacama desert than it was in Interlagos today
Looking to 2012
Normally at this point I'd look on to the next race of the season, but only the gloomy darkness of winter remains in front of us and it's all consuming silence - there is this thing called Christmas in the middle but the blog doesn't really have any friends - even the cat disrespects the sanctity that is blog HQ. It is impossible to tell precisely what will happen in Australia, I still find it surreal to think that this is the end of the inaugural blog season. That this little corner of the internet that started off as a thought mid last season transforming with an opening post in March and now a whole season under the belt.
Hopefully next year will see an improvement in the blog, maybe a new snazzier name, a few more pages added to the content and a new blogmobile - hoping for a 2012 Indycar chassis if any modding teams can produce one before march. Additionally some more publicity would be nice, the reception already in this opening season has been impressive with readers across the globe and strong reviews from the people I've spoken to. But the only way is up and onwards, and this is not farewell from the from the blog for the year, there will be more posts and contributions before the year runs out. Then attention will focus on the build up to the new season.
I bid you all a more of a temporary farewell for now, and hope you, the people of the internet have enjoyed my little contributions to the world of Formula One as much as I have enjoyed sitting on my sofa or the outside broadcast sofa watching the it.
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