Well, well, well - frankly we needed something like that to take place after two fairly dull races by comparison to the rest of the season, and considering the outlook for the race wasn't too promising the outcome was very impressive. It was a very similar story back in Valencia - comparisons were even made between the two track - we had a race peppered with the safety car, and decided by more mechanical failures. As soon as the lights came up and night began to fall the madness started to begin, and here at blog HQ, we like madness something that fits in with the general ethos of this part of the internet. Plans were set in motion for today's entertaining race last night, in the stewards room, because that German bloke - the one who keeps winning was demoted. Sending him to the very back of the grid in 24th place, a mile away from the 3rd place the car was supposed to line up at the start. It turned out that after stopping the car at the end of Q3, the car was deemed to be in violation of a fuel infringement - the same thing that got Hamilton excluded in Spain.
This lead to an interesting prospect, where the championship leader was a long way down the grid and his main rival was sitting in the top 6 - poised wonderfully, and the rest of the race certainly disappoint. It does strike me as a little odd that the two most enthralling races of the season have occurred on tracks where overtaking is considered minimal and the initial prospects on the night before haven't been too promising - it was the same thing with Hungary last season. Texas does have a lot to live up to in the coming fortnight, something that the blog will certainly be looking forward too on the basis of today's race.
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| Image credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk |
In the light of Vettel's grid penalty the team elected not to pull the car up at the back of the grid for the race, instead they opted to start from the pit-lane with a view of avoiding any opening lap contact at the start. This also allowed Red Bull to make adjustments to the car and lengthen the gears to accommodate the DRS, which being behind everyone was going to be important, so all in all was a good call. The German bloke was soon joined at the bottom of the pit lane by Pedro De La Rosa whose car didn't get away off the line for the formation lap and would also start from the pits.
Everyone else lined up in order - readjusted for the Vettel penalty - ready for the start of the race, starting at the short run from the line down into turn one. It was a run that seemed longer for Webber as he got off the line a little slower that he would have liked, losing a position to a fast starting Raikkonen on the inside. Hamilton was clear and safe out front and unopposed into the first corner. It turned out that starting from the pits was the safest idea as the two Force India's got together trying to fit four wide before the corner. Bruno Senna tried to steer around the damaged car of Hulkenberg but got span round on the run-off and was able to continue - Hulkenberg however was out. On the exit of the corner Button and Massa ran two wide through the sweeping corners before Jenson took the place into the chicane - you'd think if the previous races were anything to go by we would be settled for the race now; not this week.
Only half way round lap one Grosjean and Rosberg tried to fit two cars through the turn 8 chicane - inevitably there was contact as the Mercedes front wing clipped Romain's front tyre. So at this point we had Di Resta, Grosjean and Rosberg all trundling round with damaged cars heading to the pits. More free places for Vettel who was scything past the lower end teams, two at a time in places down the straight, sometimes a little too optimistic - trying to pass a recovering Senna and Charles Pic before turn 8, as a result Vettel became the second car to hit the back of Bruno's car trimming parts of his front wing in the process. Which lead to Adrian Newey to stare at the spare wing in the pits as it was brought in an out of the garage. At the same corner Alonso and Webber demonstrated how it should be done, leading to the pair running two wide down the straight rather close before Alonso swept round the outside to take the place.
A moment of weakness from Hamilton at the front of the race, as he ran wide in turn 8, where all the action was taking place in the opening laps of the race, which would move a little further down the track later on in the race. Raikkonen had a look at capitalising on Lewis' mistake but was unable to pass the McLaren, and Hamilton was able to drive away from the Lotus in second while everyone else was catching up to the back of Maldonado in third. Back on Vettel watch and the German took two more places from Petrov and Glock in the same corner - clearly all those additional wing elements didn't make too much difference to the speed of the car moving up into 14th place. A progression which was being helped by Schumacher who was backing up a queue of cars in front of the German bloke.
The camera then cut to a scene of devastation, shards of carbon fibre everywhere and a single lone wheel rolling to a halt, buried in the far barrier was the Mercedes of Rosberg with a broken HRT in the middle of the corner. Several replays later and a picture of the accident fell into place. Nico who was out of position from early wing damage, caught Karthikeyan mid corner before the hotel. Caught out be the speed difference between the two cars Nico crashed into the back of the HRT and went up and over the car to quite a height. His rear wheels straddling Narain's head in the flight, the right rear hitting the chassis in a similar place to where Grosjean hit Alonso in Spa. Both drivers were able to climb out of their ruined cars, while the safety car was called into action.
It had been a hectic start to the race, so perhaps under the safety car things might be a little more controlled. Well apparently not, as Daniel Ricciardo's tyre warming strategy on the back straight seemed a little too erratic for Sebastien Vettel who had to take avoiding action to miss the Toro Rosso ploughing through the DRS marker board, adding more damage to the front wing. The spare wing in the Red Bull pit garage was brought out again, and was sent back, and then brought out again to be applied to Vettel's car. That little piece of carbon fibre had covered more metres than Hulkenberg had done today, but the German bloke was down at the back again - although we were missing some cars by this stage, and crucially had made the mandatory tyre change in the process.
At the restart Hamilton lead away from Raikkonen and Maldonado, a little side from Fernando on the final corner allowed Webber alongside but was unable to complete the position. But the initial moves went once more to Vettel passing Di Resta and De La Rosa at the back of the train of cars before heading after Grosjean in the Lotus. After several laps of easily drafting past slower cars this was the first actual battle for Vettel as Romain was out of position following an early collision, Sebastien initially made the pass when running three wide with Timo Glock's Marussia. But the Lotus repassed him on the exit of the turn 8/9 chicane. Then we have the problem of the overuse of tarmac run-off space, it allowed Vettel to drive past off the circuit, and therefore had to relinquish the place, only to take it back again a lap later.
Were we now going to have some time to at least figure out what had been taking place so far, but as some of the replays filtered through the race took another stark development as the leading McLaren of Hamliton grinds to a halt. The second time mechanical dramas have taken Lewis out of a dominant winning position - therefore the lead was passed to Raikkonen who was pulling away from Alonso behind. It was Maldonado who was running out tyres and speed further back, having already see Fernando drive past in the DRS zone, Webber was on the attack. However as a result of not quite having the same speed advantage of the Ferrari - when Mark tried the same move he didn't quite clear the Williams on turn in and was pitched into a spin. It was Button's turn to pass the Williams and chose the inside of turn 11 compared to the other drivers and made the pass stick without contact.
Webber found himself behind Felipe Massa after the little spin, who was also falling back on wearing tyres, at the end of the second DRS section Mark was in position make a pass, and had on decision - inside or outside. Given how well the latter worked last time perhaps a different approach might have been better, but apparently not. Webber went to the outside and bumped wheels with the Ferrari and went out wide, on returning to the track Massa took avoiding action and clipped an inside curb throwing the car into a spin. Having survived two clashes Webber now found Vettel closing in behind running now in seventh place, as other drivers started to make their pit-stops. By virtue of stopping early Vettel was able to stay out as everyone changed tyres, but was faced with the prospect of running most of the race on the same soft compound set. At the end of the cycle the German bloke was in second behind Raikkonen and ahead of championship rival Alonso - which must have been a little disorientating. It was all quiet out front however, but not as quiet as Raikkonen wanted it to be, updates on the gap to Fernando were waved off as Kimi effectively instructed the team to shut up as he knew what he was doing and frankly didn't care too much.
After 30 laps of all kinds of contact and cars sailing through the air things did calm down a bit as the stops had worked their way through the field and the cars that were out of position had cycled further forward. For example Di Resta and Senna who were involved in the first lap crash, were running with Grosjean another opening lap victim in the middle of the points, alongside Webber who'd hit a few people as well. Of the group it was only Perez who hadn't made contact at some point in the race so far. The problem was that Grosjean was leading the little train in the middle of the points and was there on virtue of making his tyre change on lap one after hitting Rosberg. This meant those tyres were very worn and the cars behind were quite a lot faster - forming a train that lead from 5th place, all the way back to Kobayashi and Schumacher at the far end of the top ten.
Looking at the speed of Grosjean, Vettel could see where his tyre life was going to end up as there were only 12 laps between their early stops, on that basis he decided it was a good time to come in - and in fact it turned into a very good time to come in based on where he was expected to rejoin. The timing sheet indicated Sebastien would rejoin in the middle of the Grosjean train, which may not have been too helpful - if only something was to happen to all those cars to slow them down. A thought which must have been telepathically communicated to One-Stop Perez, who was becoming a little impatient in the queue, as it is not something that is done all that often in Mexico. Therefore deciding to add to the amount of chaos the race had seen already - so lets try and break this little incident down
...It all started with Grosjean running wide in turn 8 allowing Di Resta go get a run on the Lotus down the next straight, pulling Perez along as well. Sergio braked round the outside of the Lotus and just kept going until he as also round the outside of the Force India of Di Resta. However he quite far alongside enough to complete the pass before the next chicane, and the two cars tried to get through side by side. Perez forced Di Resta off the track in the middle of the chicane and ran wide on the exit. This created a gap in the traffic where Grosjean positioned his car, which became a problem as Perez rejoined into the side of the Lotus and was turned around this ruined Grosjean's suspension on one side. Next in the queue was Webber and had nowhere to go when presented with a damaged Lotus in his way, as a result he made contact with Romain and ripped the rear wheel off the car, with veichles stranded on the track it was time for the safety car again - cancelling out Vettels second stop.
It took a while to clear away the debris, and eliminated all of Raikkonen's lead, so how were things on the Lotus pit wall - Kimi was instructed to keep the tyres warm, and responded saying "Yes, yes, yes, yes. I'm doing all of that. You don't have to remind me every single time". As it happened he did know what he was doing and drove away from Alonso on the second restart, while Fernando had Button and Vettel for close company in a duel for the podium. The fact Vettel was even in that category was impressive, if not rather lucky catching the two safety cars at the right time. A third victim of the accident that caused the safety car emerged as Schumacher was forced to pit with a puncture. While Perez was handed a 10s stop-go penalty for causing the crash and pushing Di Resta off for good measure.
With a fair few cars eliminated by this stage or running well down the order after surviving the various accidents everything seemed to calm down a lot and the race turned into a pressure based challenge rather than more madness. Because as Vettel was applying pressure to Button for third, Alonso was allowed to escape and begin the hunt for Raikkonen in the lead, several seconds down the road. The only other action elsewhere was Schumacher passing Vergne for 11th after replacing the flat tyre. Running under the radar was Kobayashi in sixth position one of the few mid-field cars that hadn't hit anyone or been involved with anything and was on for some points as a result. The attrition had also brought Senna into the points having been hit twice in the opening two laps, and in the remaining five laps had comfortable gaps to retain the positions.
Things were less secure up front, as Alonso was setting fastest laps and trimming the gap down to Raikkonen - aiming to get inside the DRS zone. It was much closer to between Vettel and Button - aside from Grosjean early on it was the first car the German bloke had trouble passing, but Jenson's defence couldn't hold against Sebastien and the Red Bull was able to get alongside on the second part of the back straight. Hanging on round the outside of turn 11 and took the place through the chicane - something that Perez and Di Resta didn't manage to sort out among themselves a little earlier. So Vettel was now on the podium from starting in 23rd from the pit lane, only ahead of Pedro De La Rosa's HRT, not bad when you look at it. Further ahead however Alonso was much closer to Raikkonen, only hundredths away from having the power of the DRS at his disposal.
With one lap to go it seemed the life had started to fade from Fernando's tyres as he dropped back from Kimi's Lotus and the gap remained as the Finn crossed the line to claim his first win since the comeback. Alonso followed him home, only to find Vettel was the next car across the line, so only pulled back five points in the run for the title. The fact that the two main contenders were on the podium nullified any advantage Kimi took for the win and falls out of the championship hunt. Back in fourth was Button, his lowest finishing position in Abu Dhabi ahead of Maldonado in a distant fifth. Kobayashi avoided everyone to take sixth place and possible help retain his seat at Sauber for 2013. Felipe Massa and Bruno Senna recovered from various incidents to finish 7th and 8th along with Paul Di Resta completing the train of cars who have had a rather interesting afternoon. And the final world championship point goes to Vettel's best friend at the moment Daniel Ricciardo.
At the end of the race Kimi was congratulated on the radio for taking Lotus' first win in the rebranded format and merely responded with the fact that this was his job after all - we've missed this level of hilarious apathy from the Finn in his absence. Even with the chequered flag having been waved to end the race, the madness continued onto the podium where DC's interview with Kimi was interesting and then Vettel joined in with the profanities and poured the rose water all over Coulthard A crazed end to the maddest race of the season. All summed up in the following video:
The Bonus Points Championship Points winners
Well after a race with so many twists and incidents where on earth are the points supposed to be handed. So after much deliberation - mostly with myself since the cat wasn't contributing too much to proceedings, even after getting points in India - these are the results of the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
- 25pts - Sebastien Vettel - 23rd to 3rd including replacing a front wing was a brilliant performance, even though Button was the only tough pass of the day.
- 18pts - Kimi Raikkonen - More for the brilliant team radio than anything else, but a strong win with enough pace to hold off Alonso at the end
- 15pts - Fernando Alonso - Another very strong drive and a great lap one pass on Mark Webber
- 12pts - Bruno Senna - Spun round in the first corner and then hit by Vettel and still scores points think there should be some bonus points for that
- 10pts - Kamui Kobayashi - For being on of the few cars not involved with any of the accidents and contact going on
- 8pts - Paul Di Resta - Another driver with early damage making it back through to score some points
- 6pts - Pastor Maldonado - First decent points score since the win back in Barcelona, and only one accident along the way not too bad.
- 4pts - Narain Karthekeyan - Deserves some danger points after seeing a car sail over his head - would need to see the on-board from that shunt
- 2pts - Nico Rosberg - For the extreme air time, lost points for a messy landing
- 1pt - John - for the outside broadcast of one of, if not the best race of the year so far, and also there was pie involved.
The Penalties Championship
Because Vettel's demotion to the back of the grid was a technical issue, there was only one penalty handed out following the incidents and accidents of the day, rather surprising considering the quantity of contact and investigations that were carried out. Webber for one evaded two penalties for the two incidents he was involved in mid-race. So it was only One-stop Perez who was penalised for the mad accident that took out Webber and Grosjean.
The penalty points championship
With so much action on track and generally a few seconds later continuing a little further off the track and occasionally finishing up in the barrier there was not too much to throw penalty points at oddly enough. The majority of the collisions were the simple matter of two (or more) cars trying to occupy the same space and not wanting to give in to the other, sometimes that leads to good racing, and other times wheels fall off. Speaking of wheels, the first penalty point goes to HRT, because Karthikeyan's rear wheel came off a little too easy and was only caught by the extensive run-off space the track has. It may turn out that the nose of Nico's car severed the wheel tether on impact, but still getting a penalty point. A second point goes to David Coulthard who has been complaining about the pit lane exit tunnel, which given the layout of the first two corners is a good and innovative solution. We don't want another dodgy exit like the one in Korea frankly.
Looking ahead to USA
Next up is a completely new venue purpose built to join the F1 Calendar, taking over from India as the newest place to host a grand prix. Hopefully this track will be a significant improvement on the last one we used for the American GP, because oval infield tracks are never traditionally an optimal solution especially for an F1 event. What is odd is that there was a need to build a whole new circuit when the US has a plethora of existing tracks - some of which surprisingly are not ovals - which are actually rather good. America tend not to do purpose built tracks, holding a lot of races on street tracks, and if today was anything to go by - unleashing that level of insanity onto a street circuit with concrete walls very close is a recipe for disaster - and hilarity as well.
The images of the track and virtual representations again seems like a layout of two halves, with a very impressive opening sector based on Silverstone's maggots/becketts sequence which is a very promising sequence of corners. There is also some rather interesting elevation changes where the apex of the first corner is placed at the peak of the first climb, and several other blind turn in points. If only the rest of the lap followed suit, the final sector has tried to replicate the arena section of Hokkenheim and it doesn't look so good, a little too tight and clumbsy. But I only have access to an early beta of the track that was produced when the layout was first released a couple of years ago, so there may be inaccuracies and we will only find out when the cars arrive in two weeks time. So until then this is farewell from me here at blog HQ.
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