As a certain virtual rabbit said on many occasions - that's all folks. The inevitability of what's left of this charade of a championship has finally been put to death - for several races now we all knew this was coming, victory after unchallenged victory assassinated anyone else's hopes of being anywhere close. The doors have been firmly closed on both the drivers and constructors championships, both going exactly where they were headed. But unlike last years title, won through in a dramatic recovery drive in changing and challenging conditions, this was another generic display of crushing speed and dominance. The resources and ability Vettel has at the moment and the lack of competition has left us with three remaining races which have no real meaning, but life often works out like that, I suppose there are other battles to look at Sauber vs the mid-field, and Lotus,Ferrari and Mercedes fighting to see who is the best of the losers. In reality we've been in this position for several races now, and it is only until this weekend, our potentially final visit to India that the numbers lined up with the state of play. Here's to 2014, perhaps that'll be worth something
The Race
India unveiled this race to surprising large and very enthusiastic crowds, crowds which want to see F1 back in their country but once again money and financial legislation cripple and destroy actual aspirations and dreams of the people. All this vibrancy and colour has passed over for a bigger pay packet, suffering the problems of hosting a race at a point of the season in this modern era when Red Bull pick up the pace and wipe the floor with everyone else - a 100% pole and victory record sums up that trend - no wonder people can become disillusioned with the 'entertainment' or so the government sees it...
At the very beginning of the race so, so many hours ago now Vettel made another decent getaway and defended from both of the Mercedes and Massa. Webber dropped back off the line and took too much inside kerb at the first corner, this bounced him into Raikkonen and then back into Fernando - only Alonso took front wing damage. Right at the back, the place where the cameras don't go, Chilton reportedly hit Van Der Garde forcing the Caterham to retire to which Giedo branded Max 'an idiot'. Complain all he wants but Chilton has become good at getting involved in accidents where only the other driver retires - started with Maldonado's fort building exercises in Monaco. On the excessive back straight Massa passed both Mercedes cars to go second, while the other Ferrari of Alonso managed to hit Button in turn four knocking the McLaren down the field.
Here was me thinking that this was supposed to be a race, and on lap two as soon as things had started to settle down the pit window opened starting with Vettel and several others - such was the lack of faith in the softer compounds. Pirelli themselves recommended no more than 15 laps on the compound - a memo that clearly never made it to Lotus, but more on that later. The result of this was that cars were in all kinds of weird and wonderful positions Alonso was in 20th Vettel in 17th - and all we learned from this is that it takes more than 17 cars to keep Sebastien from the lead of the race... I recommend that he has to start last for the remaining three races, since it doesn't even matter any more. What this all meant was that Massa was leading the race, which in itself is an extreme rarity, from the two Mercedes'. It was only a few laps before they too pitted and we were greeted by the all too familiar sight of a Red Bull leading... even if it was Webber at the helm this time.
Due to everyone running to the pits to dump the softer tyres so early in the race Vettel had regrouped a lot of the position's he lost from his early stop - but it also promoted those who looked at Pirelli's warning and then chose to ignore it. Perez, Ricciardo, Grosjean and Sutil decided to stay out and were running 2nd-5th behind Webber. Vettel then easily took 5th from Sutil, and because the Lotus was the slowest thing in straight line Grosjean was completely defenceless when the Red Bull merely drove past in the DRS zone for another place. Vettel followed that up with another easy pass on Ricciardo, there is probably something written into his contract already to be subservient to his future team-mate, back onto the podium. Sebastian then closed immediately on Perez for second, to which McLaren just radioed the Mexican effectively to say 'don't bother fighting Vettel, it is utterly, utterly pointless and a waste of tyres'....
As for the other theoretical title contender the race was still going rather badly, Fernando found himself behind Gutierrez - once more demonstrating that the Sauber is impossibly fast on the really big straight. Fernando did make it past... once before being out dragged in the super-charged DRS zone. To add insult to injury, as Fernando wrestled his way past the Mexican on the exit of turn four - Esteban was handed a belated drive through penalty for a jump start... The other Sauber was having just as much fun with Bottas and Raikkonen on the fringes of the points - Hulkenberg was forced wide when passing Valtteri in turn four, and such is the climate of F1 at the minute had to get on the radio immediately to claim there was no advantage gained. In the process Raikkonen slipped past the Williams, while being in the process of completely disregarding Pirelli's limits set for the medium tyres.
At half distance Webber pitted and Vettel took over the lead making the remainder completely irrelevant, if it wasn't already - Mark switched to the softer tyre - 'in case there was a safety car', which seems like a ludicrous statement. A safety car in India is about as likely as Marussia winning the constructors championship. This mid-race stint only lasted four laps, which is strange considering that Grosjean managed to complete 14 laps on the same compound with a heavier car at the start of the race. Have Red Bull completely given up bothering with Webber's car since all the championships were sealed with their favourite driver anyway. That theory gained even more momentum when only a few laps later Red Bull phoned him up to say that 6th gear had stopped working properly, within half a lap of that message being played to the world Webber pulled the car over into retirement. It turns out the alternator had failed, one of famous Renault failures conveniently happen on Webber's car this season.
The folks in the Pirelli booth were getting displeased with both Force India and Lotus who were completely disregarding their tyre limits - Sutil was now passing 40 laps on the same set and Raikkonen and Grosjean were planning to run to the end. This would amount to 52 laps on Raikkonen's car and 46 for Romain, a long way from the recommended 35. However the massive stint was starting to hurt Sutil's pace and through the power of DRS Rosberg was able to simply draft his was past on the main straight, and which point Adrian decided it was time for some new tyres. None of this mattered to Mr Vettel who's lead once more could only be measured with a calendar and several devices from NASA.
Instead we look further back where Sutil having rejoined had gained a train of cars for company, at the end of which was Alonso looking to score at least one point from today's race. But there was the Toro Rosso of Ricciardo in the way before Fernando could challenge for points, and there is probably a special clause in the Australian's contract not to let the Ferrari by. The same amount of defiance could not be said for Raikkonen who's tyres were ruined as his stint closed in on 44 laps - because Rosberg closed the gap very quickly and breezed past the Lotus. Grosjean was the next to pass Raikkonen - as the other Lotus did not have a speed advantage Kimi was able to defend, banging wheels in turn four. But the people at Lotus instructed very forcefully that Raikkonen should get out of the way, because Massa was pressuring Grosjean. Kimi yielded, not without telling his team not to shout, in the final corner allowing Felipe through in the process.
Kimi's sharp drop in pace as the tyres close on 50 laps of a stint, brought Hamilton and Perez up to the back of the Lotus. As Lewis effortlessly drove past the ailing Finn, Perez proceeded to drive round the outside of the both of them down the back straight to take 5th place. The equal highest place for a McLaren in 2013... sums up their year frankly.
But in the end it was another win for Vettel, and a fourth consecutive championship... which he celebrated with some doughnuts on the pit straight in front of the fans. A nice gesture for a country on the brink of losing their place on the schedule... and because it was such a joyous occasion for the team and Sebastian that he wanted to share with the audience... he was fined 25,000 euros... sometimes I despair. Out of the other cars, Rosberg was second, and somehow Grosjean - from 17th on the grid and on a Perez-esque one stop strategy ended up on the podium... to which Pirelli were disappointed. Here we have an event where a team pushed the components beyond the limits and performed brilliantly to which Pirelli complained...fools. Massa scored the only points Ferrari were getting today in 4th, ahead of Perez and Hamilton. A late stop pushed Raikkonen down to 7th ahead of Di Resta and Sutil - a double score for Force India on pseudo home turf. Ricciardo held off Alonso to take the final point.
The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners
Well today was not the greatest race in the world, the DRS made passes too easy, and Vettel could have stopped off for a curry and still won the race, and the title. But there is one championship still going, and that is the bonus points championship and here are the winners from today:
- 25pts - Sebastian Vettel - Suppose winning a 4th championship and dominating a race deserves some recognition - and for doing for doughnuts
- 18pts - Romain Grosjean - 17th to the podium on a single stop, in a race where drivers were pitting on lap two due to poor tyre life, and for annoying pirelli.
- 15pts - Sergio Perez - Equalling McLaren's best finish when they've realistically given up on this season's car
- 12pts - Felipe Massa - Picking up the baton when Fernando had a poor race, for a team who are firing him in three races time...
- 10pts - Adrian Sutil/Kimi Raikkonen - For taking the tyres well beyond the expected lifetime
- 8pts - Nico Rosberg - Proving that Hamilton doesn't have the pace advantage the whole universe seems to think
- 6pts - Max Chilton - Managed to beat Bianchi despite booting out Van Der Garde at the start
- 4pts - Fernando Alonso - For being able to pass a Sauber... it doesn't happen often
- 2pts - Nico Hulkenberg - Should have had some points before retiring, so here's a couple
- 1pt - India - Farewell for now
The Penalties Championship
Despite three investigations that took place over the course of the race - all involving Saubers - only one resulted in a penalty and that was for Gutierrez's jump start... and that 25,000 EUR fine for Vettel
The Penalty Points Championship
In what was a fairly uneventful and very inevitable race, there are a couple things that need settling through the arbitrary medium of bonus points...
- Pirelli - Stop whining, someone does a good job with the materials and you complain they pushed too hard, I thought that was the very ideas upon this sport was based, pushing boundaries and all.
- The Stewards - Fining someone for celebrating a 4th championship with some doughnuts, I know there are rules but surely some sense of reasoning and actual common sense must exist. Well apparently not...
- Romain Grosjean - For complaining needlessly when passing Gutierrez, it seems drivers are more likely to lobby the FIA to move a driver out of the way than try and pass them conventionally.
Looking ahead to Abu Dhabi
So the championship is over and done with now, but we still have races to go starting in Abu Dhabi - where it doesn't matter what happens (because Vettel might win anyway) hopefully this might mean everyone just goes mental and a crazed nothing-to-lose race takes place. Somehow I doubt it. As to the venue itself it is another representation of the Tilke domination of circuit design where the only goal was to cram as many corners into the smallest space available a lot of which are completely unnecessary. These corners were only crushed together to make way for the ridiculous excesses of the oil money fuelled wealth of Abu Dhabi, demonstrated by the extreme architecture and facilities by the side of the track - a long way from the pit lane huts and tents from the days of old.
There may be nothing to look forward to at the front of the championship, but the next three races still need to happen and perhaps they can produce some of the action and racing we want. After all there is nothing else to do here on the bleak and empty sofas of the nation. Until next time farewell from blog HQ
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