In a country of so many contrasts and vibrancy there was a hope that this intensity and energy would be transferred from the enthusiasm of India onto the race track. Well that was a hope that ultimately proved to be in vain, because the race picked up exactly where Korea left off a fortnight ago, these Tilke designed efforts may drive well (in rare instances) but the design table does tend to lead to some processional racing. It doesn't inspire that much more hope to consider that the next race on the calendar is another production from the same office out in the middle east. Even before we have packed things up in India teams and drivers have been informed of how difficult it is to pass there, oh joy, even Alonso spent a lot of laps pinned behind Petrov in 2010. But ranting about Abu Dhabi is a matter for next weekend, because earlier on today was the Indian event, it might be a little generous to consider it a race, really.
The overall outcome was virtually decided several races ago when the balance of power seemed to irreversibly shift after the teams left Europe and headed out across Asia. With this run of performances the mathematics of the championship seems to conceal the actual one-sided reality of it when the remaining circuits will play against the challengers - of which that number has fallen since the drop of the flag. With only 75 points to race for now in the last three races (of course there are 105 blog bonus points on offer too) there is an air of finality about the championship but perhaps the new track in the US might throw a spanner into that or some rain in the finale in Brazil. It is a shame that the hopes are being pinned on some theoretical chaos and uncertainty but if how things today were anything to go by, you won't get too much for predicting the winner in three weeks time.
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| Credit to F1Fanatic for the image. |
Twelve months on from the inaugural Indian GP and the track looked much better than it did for the first race, there was a lot less dust on the track surface meaning there was more usable road for potential overtaking.. perhaps. If only the thin veil of cynicism was a symptom of waking up a little earlier than planned on a Sunday morning but it wasn't too much of a surprise to see the race unfold in the manner it did before the lights went out on lap one. Even my culturally relevant curry flavoured toastie wasn't enough to resurrect the prospect of an action packed thrilling event.
One by one the cars filed into position on the grid, in the position they had qualified in for once, without the array of technical infringements that have manipulated the order for the majority of the season. On the basis of qualifying no-one was really starting out of position either meaning the race for the most part would be decided in the first half of the opening lap - something that was built into these Tilke events, to make the most of the first lap and introduce the greatest opportunity for things to kick off early on in the proceedings. It worked last season with a little bit of opening lap contact.
When the lights did go out this time the front pairing seemed leave the grid in synchronicity with each other Webber marginally the quicker making a subtle effort to take the lead from that German Bloke into the first corner. Button made it past Hamilton but for the most part everyone was well behaved and organised, a couple of cars at the very bottom of the grid locked up under braking but all was well. Except of course for in the world of Schumacher who came to blows ever so slightly with Vergne at the start, the merest of contact from the Toro Rosso front wing pierced Michael's tyre and damaged the Frenchman's front wing.
Onto the back straight the two McLarens were running two wide from the exit of the corner, punching a rather large hole in the air in the process, a hole that Alonso took full advantage of. So now we were running three wide - which is always something cool to see, Hamilton in the centre had to see both cars come past towards the end of the straight. The straight was long enough for Hamilton to drop out of the line, pick up the tow from the Ferrari and send it back down the inside of turn four, locking up in the process and sliding back out towards Button on the outside of the corner opening up the space on the inside. That space was eagerly claimed by Fernando's Ferrari which slotted in ahead of Hamilton but behind Button - thus ending the competition up front for a while. At the very back of the field Schumacher parted company with the carcass of his rear tyre through turn five before pitting for a replacement.
Vettel instantly opened up a significant gap out front back to Webber in second, the dominance started early for the Red Bull team driving away as the other contenders were busy contending with each other as Alonso was working passing the second McLaren. A queue was starting to form slightly behind Button who was struggling to get enough pace out of the softer compound tyres, a queue leading back to Raikkonen in 7th caught up behind the second Ferrari of Massa. Behind Raikkonen gap was building to the mid-field runners of Perez and Hulkenberg, the first time in a while a division split has been clearly visible between the top teams and the centre of the grid. But as per normal it was the centre of the grid that was being more entertaining than the top teams. Even though that wasn't by too much overall, but a second train was also collecting behind Rosberg's Mercedes, and due to the high straight line speed of Nico's car it proved very difficult to pass on the only real passing zone in turn 4.
There was some changes in position once the DRS was enabled, both of which went against Jenson Button losing out firstly to Alonso and one lap later he was passed by his team-mate. Which effectively settled the running order among the top cars for the next 45 laps - a summation really of the race. Button next had Massa closing in, but couldn't have any effect on the McLaren despite the longer final gearing Ferrari was using. Raikkonen couldn't make a move on either, hampered by a lack of top speed in the Lotus meaning he'd be staring at the back of the Ferrari for a lot longer. At the opposite end of the race, Karthikeyan received a series of radio calls about his brakes, citing that they were overheating, not an ideal call on a track where 1200m of straight ends in a hairpin. HRT have had previous issues with brakes, De La Rosa's failed in Canada, and Narain's went in qualifying in Korea. It didn't bode well frankly.
With the top runners now being increasingly boring it was the turn of somebody else in the middle of the group to make a move. That responsibility fell to Hulkenberg after catching up with the Sauber of One-Stop Perez, and it was only ever going to happen in one place - the DRS straight (although there are two DRS zones on the latter actually mattered) Nico was able to take the position away from Sergio, only to find an acre of space in front as he had now reached the top of the division with no hope of further progression. More DRS based action now as Senna made it past his team-mate in an inter-team battle outside the points positions setting his sights on Grosjean ahead. It does make you wonder slightly how this race would have played out if there was no DRS in action - according to the commentary team only four non DRS passes were made last season.... things were probably not quite so action packed at this stage.
Despite everything seeming more orderly than an OCD kitchen something really odd happened, something that made me set aside my toastie and question the images on the television. One-Stop Perez pitted first, it was completely unprecedented, however not too much later after rejoining Sergio tried to pass Ricciardo round the outside of turn one. Trying something other than turn four for overtaking didn't work as the Sauber brushed another Toro Rosso front wing and cut a tyre in the process. The band of rubber fell off in turn five, and the car was forced to retire with damage caused by the flailing tyre on the in lap. The rest of the cars started to cycle through the pits to change tyres, as for Hamilton he also managed to swap the steering wheel in a five wheeled stop in 3.3s - it's the little things you notice when nothing else is going on. I also noticed there was a cat sitting outside the blog HQ window for the duration of the race, but didn't want to come in.
This middle phase of the race saw very little happen, even less than in Korea, which is not a stat India will really be wanting to take in. Raikkonen nearly made a place in the stops but Massa just drove past in a straight line to re-take it, so Kimi was back once more - in a faster car trapped behind the Ferrari. The mix of cars on different strategies hurt Button's challenge as he got caught up behind Grosjean who was running longer into the race. A little further back the Williams team were having a similar problem with Kobayashi in the Sauber, Maldonado threw it down the inside into the only overtaking corner only for Kamui to cut back to the inside on the exit. The two cars seemed to gravitate towards each other on the run to turn five, leading to the third of the increasingly lighter wing/tyre touches of the morning and even this contact resulted in a puncture. Maldonado kept it out of the barrier but that was the end of the faint hope for points on that side of the garage.
Entering the final third of the race, and Vettel still existed out front, he was just being boring so hasn't been mentioned in a while, but in Webber's world it wasn't so smooth, as a radio call confirmed his KERs system had died. Without the additional power Alonso closed the gap to the Red Bull rapidly, but the Australian had enough pace just to keep him out of the DRS range where the Ferrari has been very effective. Hamilton was on is own in fourth, same for Button in 5th, the delay behind Grosjean dropped him off the back of the other McLaren. Massa still had Raikkonen behind him, which has to be close to a new record for being stuck behind the same competitor - up there with Coulthard and Enrique Bernoldi at Monaco in 2002. Both Ferraris had received calls to be careful on their fuel loads as it was getting a little tight - more so in the case of Massa, which still didn't allow Kimi a chance of escaping the sight of the red and white rear wing.
After receiving calls earlier in the race, nothing more was heard from the HRT pitwall regarding brake issues, so the car decided to send one back. Ejecting a large plume of brake dust from the left front wheel under braking for the turn four hairpin, this was the front brakes failing sending Pedro De La Rosa spinning into the gravel bumping into the wall gently. Despite Narain being warned earlier it was the sister car that ended up retiring with Brudle described as the second scariest thing to go wrong on a race car. Further ahead, the KERS problem was not going to resolve itself as his race engineer claimed it would, indicating that the problem may have been more than an overheating issue. Alonso had got inside the one second threshold for the DRS - and without the KERs to build a safety buffer off turn three Webber was powerless to defend from the Ferrari. Additionally Hamilton was gaining on the weakened Red Bull as laps were running out.
The TV turned the cameras on Vettel - probably just to check he was still there, which oddly enough he was, but all was not quite right as the Red Bull was trailing a shower of sparks from the front of the under-tray under high load. It didn't last too long as whatever was touching the ground soon wore away and no longer caused a problem, other than some quizzical looks from the pit wall. At the opposite end of the points positions Senna had caught up with Rosberg in the Mercedes, and despite a straight line speed advantage the Williams was able to use the DRS to take the place to the outside of turn four. With only two laps to go Schumacher pulled his Mercedes into retirement, which on the surface seems oddly like another false retirement to be able to change parts for the next race. A problem that like in qualifying receives an automatic penalty point.
Vettel was so far out front it ended up being an easy victory in the end leading every single lap completed in India over both the races contended, which is a little overkill frankly but an impressive achievement nonetheless. Alonso finished second, and was the only car in the top seven to improve on his grid position inside the top 7 drivers, if it wasn't for Fernando's improvement there would have been no change at all. Webber hung onto third despite Hamilton hunting him down to the end of the race so the McLaren drivers finished in the order they started. The same was true for Massa and Raikkonen in 6th and 7th, mimicking their grid order at the end of the race, concluding 60 laps of Kimi staring at the rear diffuser of Felipe's car. Outside the top division it was Hulkenberg leading that charge scoring some points for the home team, ahead of Romain Grosjean placing two Lotuses in the points. While taking home the final point was Bruno Senna for Williams
After the flag had fallen Massa pulled his car over as it was out of fuel, Hulkenberg pulled his over for some unknown reason, and Vettel despite winning parked his car in the wrong part of the pit lane and was pushed by Webber's car down to underneath the podium. Earning a hole in the nosecone in the process.
The Bonus Points Championship points winners
After what could be considered the least eventful race of the season, even beating Korea - two of those races in a row isn't ideal - and Abu Dhabi is not exactly favourite of ending the streak, picking the points has been difficult, very much so. Considering only one driver made progress inside the first division and not much more was going on the middle of the grid either.
- 25pts - Bruno Senna - For passing people because there wasn't much of it going on
- 18pts - Nico Hulkenberg - Also for passing people to be the top mid-field runner
- 15pts - Fernando Alonso - For being the only driver in the top seven to pass anyone even if it was with a car advantage
- 12pts - Jenson Button/Hamilton - For going three wide twice on the opening lap with the Ferrari of Alonso
- 10pts - McLaren - Changing four wheels and a steering wheel in under three and a half seconds has to be worth some points
- 8pts - Sebastien Vettel - Because lots of sparks are cool, more entertaining than his racing
- 6pts - Felipe Massa - Keeping the Lotus behind for 60 laps is rather impressive
- 4pts - Angry Cat - For deciding that sitting outside and staring at a wall was more exciting
- 2pts - Ted Kravitz - For babbling along to himself and spying on the spanish TV presenter - get in there Ted
- 1pt - Romain Grosjean - Points without any penalties or contact, well done have a point there
Penalty points championship
As with yesterday there were no official penalties, an investigation into Kobayashi and Maldonado's contact was rightfully deemed a racing incident, and second investigation into Schumacher ignoring blue flags was also waived off. Meaning we move swiftly on to the penalty points which again involves the other german bloke. Seemingly pulling in at the end of the race for a strategic retirement does warrant the issuing of a penalty point. Additionally because I gave Korea a penalty point for being dull, than on that precedent India will get one for the same rationale. Other than that there was nothing going on contentious enough to warrant penalties
Looking ahead to Abu Dhabi
Out third Tilke-drome in a row comes next and doesn't bring with it a raft of enthusiasm given how the last two have played out but the Yas Arena circuit is a little different - not all in the right direction. Abu Dhabi is an excessive demonstration of over indulgence and opulence, a facility where the track comes a distant second to the amount of time, effort and investment placed in the surroundings and trackside buildings. It seems that the developers wanted a design that would appeal more to the guests, dignitaries and sponsors that are flown in to watch the event. Almost to the point where the requirements of the circuit were forgotten about.
That said the layout isn't that bad in some places, the first couple of corners are decent and in some respects the futuristic scenery and architecture acts to hide the fact that a lot of the track is repetitive and unnecessary. Like so many other of the Tilke tracks the planned overtaking zones are so blatantly obvious and limited that it becomes much easier to plan a defence from an attacking car, for example using KERs in the DRS areas. On race day however there is one factor that could throw in some unpredictability into the mix and that is walls, the presence of the corporate buildings and hotel structure means there is little run off at times. Combine that with the sand coming in off the desert and grip might be limited leading to a Safety car, however there is some support race action from the V8 supercars from Australia and those cars will be all over the place. I can foresee those cars being more entertaining than the F1 race but we shall see. So until then farewell from the blog, as I have a video to make on the Yas Marina circuit.
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