Another race in the season and the complete unpredictability of the season continues once more who'd have thought that the oddities we saw in the qualifying session would carry forward into the race today, and especially with the removal of Hamilton from the front of the grid due to the issue that was under investigation yesterday. The vast majority of the main teams were further down the final order than we would normally expect all in a race which did seem to fluctuate in much the same way the Chinese GP did, an interesting opening phase when the places were initially falling into place - followed by a period of inactivity during the middle of the session and ramping things up towards the end.
While all this was pottering around the Spanish circuit, I was pottering around a field in Corbridge where a whole bunch of rather expensive vehicles were collected for display to the general public with showings from Ferrari, Lamborghini and an interesting contingent of Corvettes. And there is nothing wrong with a field of angry American machinery extended when a possibly original GT40 turned up a strong addition to the line up, but I digress once more, at least this time it isn't a rant like normal, hooray for distractions and all. So as this is being written quite late on in the evening compared to when I'd normally like to get a start it might be an idea to get on with the show.
The Race
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| credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk for the image |
The grid formed up with the Williams accepting the pole position after the Hamilton grid penalty, but it wasn't a position Maldonado would hold onto for very long as Alonso got a better jump off the front row. Running down the inside of the Venezuelan in high speed drag race on the inside of the race track before the local managed to take the place into the first corner. Mimicking his start from last season leading his home race, it was fairly even through the rest of the grid with One-Stop Perez passing Grosjean on the exit of turn two, only to be clipped by the frenchman puncturing the FC Sauber's rear tyre. Sergio hung onto the sliding car, and almost wiping out Hamilton and the two Caterhams on rejoining the circuit. Romain also suffered some slight damage on the left side of the front wing during the contact. Also during the opening laps Charles Pic had a complete 360 spin on the exit of turn three, dodged by the HRTs behind.
We entered a state of equilibrium for a couple of laps as the drivers settled into positions, as all the drivers were in the DRS range of each other so therefore no one was able to get an advantage. As cars were becoming bottled up behind each other they began to use up their tyres faster than they had hoped for, Webber for example was in a queue involving Massa, and Button opted to make his stop early to prevent losing any more time in traffic, seeing the additional pace the newer tyres had gifted Mark, other teams followed suit. So we ended up with cars on different strategies everywhere, Webber and Button - early stoppers were down with the newer teams while Senna and Hamilton by virtue of not stopping at this stage had gained track position and were well inside the points.
With this amount of disparity in cars in different car speeds due to tyre degradation there were going to be problems, starting off with Rosberg making a safe pass down the inside of turn one in the DRS area. This left the door open for Grosjean immediately behind to try and make his way through as well, perhaps there wasn't enough space for the Lotus for fit but Romain widened the door. A little bit of contact later, leaving the Frenchman with matching chipped wing endplates this time using the Williams instead of the FC Sauber. But life was about to get a little more complicated for Bruno Senna as Michael Oh Sch...umacher was approaching the slowing Williams at a high rate of knots. Now Michael has had a habit of hitting cars from time to time, traditionally Lotus or FC Sauber coloured ones last season but clearly decided to add a Williams to the list of victims this time around. Arguably Senna did change direction in the braking zone but at the closing speed the Mercedes had it was another Oh Sh....umacher moment and clattered in to the car in front. In his displeasure he decided to launch his steering wheel detaching one of the paddle shift paddles in the process. Both cars duly retired.
Then the oddities continued a little further down as we saw Mark Webber accumulating a large train of cars behind him, populated by the Force India of Di Resta and the Torro Rosso running in formation as usual this season. Well with the dissolved the Renault Squadron the grid needed a team to adopt the regimental running order. But the Red Bull was beginning to steadily lose places to all the cars in this train of followers as Teh Massa and his best friend Hamilton also passed the Australian. Mark returned to the pits and the team proceeded to change the front nose-wing assembly, although there seemed to have no visible damage to the wing. Theories at the moment suggest that there is a curb somewhere in the final sector which is dislodging the whole nose structure and therefore compromising its effectiveness. On the other side of the Red Bull garage things were also encountering difficulties as Vettel was handed a drive through for speeding in yellows for Michaels crash, a replay showed him using the DRS in the area the flags were out. An identical penalty was also handed to Felipe Massa but no idea if this was due to the use of the DRS too.
It was time for more pitstops and Maldonado came in before Fernando Alonso's Ferrari, and while Alonso was on his in-lap he encountered some rather unco-operative traffic in the form of Charles Pic's Marussia car. So due to the delay we had a change for the lead, Pastor's Williams was now leading the double world champion of Alonso - but those were not bonus points championships so clearly not that important. It was all action in the area of the pit lane, as the race saw the third retirement from the race in the form of HRT's Narain Karthikeyan with an undiagnosed mechanical failure on the pit exit. A little further up the pit lane would we see a completed McLaren pit stop without something going a little wrong... er no Hamilton came in to get some new wheels. On his exit from the pit box, it was the left rear corner that strikes again, this time Lewis managed to hit one of the wheels that was removed from the car, as it was left a little to close - a little hop and a pause but no major delay or damage.
The driver penalties cut short what was going to be another enthralling encounter between Teh Massa and his best friend Hamilton, but Felipe had to pull off to serve his penalty, while another penalty was handed for Pic for his blocking of Alonso. However rather than serve it he pulled the Marussia into the garage and gave up - you can't escape a penalty that easy Mr Pic I have a penalty point for you instead. Elsewhere it was time for Kamui to open that little compartment of madness he had stashed away on the inside of his FC Sauber - as Button eased wide to take the normal line into the fairly straight forward turn five, Kobayashi saw a gap. He threw the car into the space, a little wheel to wheel brush and after the next car in the queue, Nico Rosberg, who in turn just launched one up the inside of Vettel into Campsa corner before the German took his penalty. Not to be outdone Vettel back on track found himself behind Button only to power all the way round the outside of the McLaren into the first corner. Then it was the turn of Hamilton to have a go at raising the overtaking bar a little and his targets were set on the two Torro Rossos who were, surprise surprise, in formation. Lewis went up the inside of Ricciardo out of turn three then darted between the blue cars to pass Vergne on the outside of turn four.
Back in the world of pit lane more issues surrounding the left rear corner of racing cars, this time for One-Stop Perez's garage, as there was a lot of activity on the wheel gun - Sergio's subsequent retirement can't be unrelated. The man famed for spending less time in the pit lane foiled by the very same location. Out on track the two leaders were catching Raikkonen who hadn't taken his final stop and was temporarily leading the race. This packed the two contenders together as they worked their way past the Lotus on worn tyres, Alonso made a couple attempts at taking the lead away from Pastor but the Venezuelan defended enough. But behind them Kimi had a plan, by pitting later his tyres would be in better condition in the dying laps while the two out front will be losing grip.
Speaking of fading tyres, both McLarens were running longer final stints - especially Hamilton aiming to cover 30 laps on the hard compound in a two stop recovery strategy which was working out rather well. But behind the pair of them was Vettel on newer tyres from a much later stop gaining quickly, Jenson was first on his agenda and the McLaren fell victim to a long range pass from that German Bloke into one of the more conventional locations into La Caixa. Tyres were also deciding the battle for the lead as the Ferrari seemed to drop off quicker than the Williams as Raikkonen was closing rapidly on Fernando in the process but laps were running thin. Rubber was getting thing for Hamilton too and it was the German Bloke who was hunting him down, but with the high tyre degradation there was nothing Lewis could do to halt the Red Bull charge and ultimately it was an easy pass round the outside of turn one.
There were more tyre issues for the remaining Mercedes of Rosberg who still - 30 laps later had Kobayashi behind him, granted there were some pit stop interventions in that gap but the two cars ended up together by the end. But the FC Sauber had better tyre condition and pair that with Kamui and positions are not going to stay the same - Kobayashi had his first lunge into turn five again giving Nico a little bump on the way but Rosberg stayed in front. It was only a temporary reprieve as the FC Sauber spotted a gap from a long way back and almost instantly the white car filled it. All without locking a wheel while Nico struggled on the fading tyres finally falling victim to Vettel again in the fast turn nine corner.
Out front Pastor Maldonado claimed his first win in the Williams and their first win since Montoya in the 2004 Brazilian GP, comfortably clear of Alonso by the end who was less than comfortably clear of a rapidly closing Raikkonen. Grosjean claimed forth and another strong team finish for Lotus, Kobayashi finished fifth for FC Sauber and Vettel regrouped to 6th. Nico lead the worn tyre brigade ahead of Hamilton and Button while Hulkenburg took the final point on offer. Well that is except the bonus points of course..
Bonus points championship points winners
Well after such an interesting race, here are the winners from the event
25pts - Pastor Maldonado: Well rather self-explanatory really had a more than decent day
18pts - Lewis Hamilton: 24th - 8th with the grid this close - plenty of points on offer there
15pts - Sebastien Vettel: For the highest quantity of good passes, outside of turn one and inside of turn 9
12pts - Kamui Kobayashi: Also for strong overtaking in turn five and from a week behind in turn 10
10pts - Kimi Raikkonen: A very clever race, using the tyres almost to claim victory
8pts - Fernando Alonso: Totally decimated his team-mate, Teh Massa was last of the non-new teams and keeping an off pace Ferrari competitive
6pts - Lotus: For currently being the most coherently competitive team on race day
4pts - Track Safety Crews: For handling the fire in the Williams garage
2pts - One-Stop Perez: For not spinning with a cut tyre on the outside of turn three, would have been more but for almost wiping out three cars on the return leg
1pt - David Couthard: For stealing a Force India tyre trolley to wheel an ailing Eddie Jordan around the paddock after he managed to fall over.
Penalty Series
We've had a while without drivers being handed official penalties but this time the stewards were a little more active dishing out these penalties.
- Felipe Massa: For speeding under yellows (drive through)
- Sebastian Vettel: For speeding under yellows (drive through)
- Charles Pic: For ignoring blue flags (drive through)
- Michael Oh Sch....umacher: For hitting Senna (5P grid drop for Monaco)
Penalty Points Series
In a race where the Stewards have taken care of most of the indiscretions this over the course of the weekend there isn't much left for me to add to, but of course that doesn't mean they are all off the hook. Here are the penalty points additions following the Spanish GP.
- Charles Pic: Hiding in the garage away from a drive through penalty may work on track but not from me here at Blog HQ.
- KERs: Cited as being the source of the fire that damaged the Williams garage and injured crew members, likely on Senna's car during packing it up resulting from the damage caused by the impact from Oh Sch...umacher. That's my theory anyway of why that system failed catastrophically.
Looking ahead to Monaco
There are few events on the calendar where automatically jump out at you as being special, ones that traditionally ramp up the competition a couple of levels - dialling it all the way up to 11 and beyond. In that list you normally have the Candian GP, the Belgian GP and in recent years the Singaporean GP but there is one other name on that list which generally comes pretty near the top, and it is approaching next time out.
Here it comes, one of the most anticipated race weekends of the entire year, the close, compact and the completely insane race on the narrow steel lined barriers of Monte Carlo. From a venue used for testing and is used on a regular basis to a layout that only exists for this event before being turned back over to the locals to potter around on. With the way this season is playing out the Monaco GP promises to be the most astounding race of the year, it has been a while since the merest prospect of a race appearing as the next step on the calendar will be met with such excitement. Even here in the normally apathetic realm of blog HQ the Monaco GP is a nice idea.
So until next time this is farewell from me here at Blog HQ.
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