Rosberg extends his Mercedes contract to beyond 2013

In one of those no-brainer moves, Nico Rosberg has extended his stay with Mercedes to beyond 2013. Michael Schumacher has also said that he intends to still be racing for Mercedes in 2013 as well.

Its one of those moves that benefit everybody. Mercedes have great continuity as they have 2 drivers who’s skill set is by now well known to them, and they can plan their future car development knowing what kind of setup their drivers like and want.

For Rosberg it was the obvious move, the 3 teams above Mercedes being Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren, all have their drivers confirmed for next season and beyond. So Mercedes was by far the strongest seat available.

There has been some rumbling that Rosberg has competed in 106 grand prix and hasn’t won one yet. This is very unfair criticism, he has never been in a front line car that was a race winner.

If you want an excellent example of someone grabbing his chance in a front running car, then you need look no further than Jenson Button. He won his first race at Hungary in 2006, on his 117th start. There can be no doubt that he has gone on from strength to strength since then.

I think its pretty clear that Rosberg is the future of the Mercedes team, the only way he could be usurped as the future is if they manage to somehow wangle Vettel from under Red Bull’s nose. That would be the future Mercedes dream combo.

Imperious Vettel wins inaugural Indian GP

Wow, I have truly run out of superlatives for Sebastian Vettel. His dominance of the Indian GP was so complete that he took every record the circuit had to offer, pole position- check, fastest lap of the race – check, led from lights to flag – check, summed up the 1st Indian GP and paid tribute to the Indian people in a genuine and humble way during the post race interview – check.

Jenson Button finished in a fighting second, and Alonso had a ding dong battle with Webber to finish in the final podium slot. Webbo finished in 4th, despite driving a hard race. My star of the race, besides Vettel, was Schumi. He finished in a best-of-the-rest 5th ahead of Rosberg who was 6th. It must make him wonder how much better his races could be if he didn’t get it wrong in qualifying all the time, he qualified 12th here. Yet again Schumacher got a blistering start and kept his nose clean to be running in 8th on the first lap just behind Rosberg where he stayed till the last round of pit stops when he put in a few blistering laps to leapfrog his young teammate. Vintage Schumi or what!

Hamilton finished in 7th after clashing with Massa yet again! This time it was Massa that got the drive through penalty after the stewards ajudged that he had turned into Hamilton. I couldn’t believe it when I saw them tangle yet again. Surely their teams have to get them together and make them understand that they have to stop tripping each other up. Its become embarrassing not only to Massa and Hamilton, but surely also to McLaren and Ferrari as well.

It also highlights how far ahead each drivers respective teammate is. You don’t see Alonso and Button tangling every race, and they are often around each other during the race too. They race not only on instinct, as Massa and Hamilton seem to do, but also with a clear head and a long term view. If you want to be champion, you must ensure that you finish every race. Felipe and Lewis seem to have forgotten that vital bit of racecraft.

Alguersari finished in a well deserved 8th place after recovering from a poor start. They were very quick and both cars made it into Q3 on Saturday due to their car being great on tracks with long straights.

I think the Indian GP was pretty splendid overall, and I was very happy to see the stands mostly full. Lets hope ticket prices remain reasonable so that the fans can fill it up again next year. I think the track layout is pretty special, that turn 11 reminds me of the lotus wheel in the Indian national flag.

Here’s the full race results:

Results
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h30:35.002
2. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 8.433
3. Alonso Ferrari + 24.301
4. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 25.529
5. Schumacher Mercedes + 1:05.421
6. Rosberg Mercedes + 1:06.851
7. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 1:24.183
8. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
9. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
10. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
11. Petrov Renault + 1 lap
12. Senna Renault + 1 lap
13. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
14. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault + 2 laps
15. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 2 laps
16. D’Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps
17. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 3 laps
18. Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth + 3 laps
19. Trulli Lotus-Renault + 4 laps
Did Not Finish
Massa Ferrari 33
Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 25
Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 13
Glock Virgin-Cosworth 3
Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1

Vettel wins in Korea and makes up for 2010

Vettel does it again! After being cruelly denied the win in 2010 due to a blown engine, Sebastian Vettel made no such mistakes this time as he yet again showed just how far he is ahead of the field in 2011. He led home a fighting drive from Hamilton who finished ahead of Webber. Mark’s 3rd place sewed up the constructors for Red Bull and prompted yet another Red Bull party.

After Saturday qualifying Hamilton and McLaren were the package to beat as Lewis at last broke Red Bull’s monopoly of pole position this season. The McLaren driver got off to a good start but was passed by Vettel on the first lap. Seb’s has firmly banished the reputation he unfairly earned in 2011 of not being able to overtake. His move on Alonso in Monza, and this one on Hamilton, showed everyone that he has a keen eye for a gap, and takes it when presented. It’s hardly his fault that he is at the front 90% of the time!

Once Vettel cleared off at the front, the most heated battle for the rest of the afternoon was between Hamilton and Webber. Mark clearly had the faster car but just could not find a way past Lewis. The McLaren had better traction off the slow corners leading on to the long straight and this proved just enough to keep Lewis ahead. Mark was left to rue his bad luck post race as he would have had a good chance to leapfrog Hamilton if he had stayed out a lap longer or come in 1 lap earlier, as it happened they pitted on exactly the same lap for their tyres and left them locked in a stalemate.

Button ended up in 4th ahead of a late charging Alonso. The Spaniard spent the first half of the race tucked up behind Massa. There were clearly no team orders in this race as Felipe defended his position from Nando. Once Alonso got ahead of him however he disappeared into the distance, leaving many to wonder what might have been if Ferrari had gotten Massa out of his way sooner. But then again, we would have all been crying foul wouldn’t we?

Mercedes had a real mixed bag of a race. Nico ended up so slow towards the end as he was running out of fuel that he was caught and passed by Alguersari for 7th, the Torro Rosso drivers best finish in F1 so far. Schumi was taken out by Petrov who was fighting Alonso at the time and rammed straight into the back of the Mercedes.

Bruno Senna ended up in 13th. Since his strong debut at Spa he seems to be going backwards and will need to turn it up if he wants to have any hope of retaining his drive with Lotus next season.

Special mention for Kovalainen who finished ahead of both Saubers!

Here’s the full results:

01. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h30:01.994
02. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 12.019
03. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 12.477
04. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 14.694
05. Alonso Ferrari + 15.689
06. Massa Ferrari + 25.133
07. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 49.538
08. Rosberg Mercedes + 54.053
09. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:02.762
10. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1:08.602
11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1:11.229
12. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1:33.068
13. Senna Renault + 1 lap
14. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault + 1 lap
15. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
16. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
17. Trulli Lotus-Renault + 1 lap
18. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 1 lap
19. Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth + 1 lap
20. D’Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth + 1 lap
21. Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth + 3 laps
Did Not Finish
Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 31
Petrov Renault 17
Schumacher Mercedes 16

Vettel is champion of the World!

Seb Vettel didn’t quite get the fairytale ending he was hoping for on Sunday but 3rd place was still more than enough to seal the 2011 Driver’s World Championship. Button drove another superb race to win on what proved to be a very emotional day for him, with Alonso in 2nd.

 

The start provided most of the drama, as Vettel who was yet again on pole, was being challenged by Button, Vettel chopped across Button extremely forcefully and the McLaren man went onto the grass. This allowed Hamilton into 2nd and the Ferrari’s were formation flying just behind with Massa ahead of Alonso.

After this things were mostly won in the pitstops. Button won the race by being quick when he had to and good McLaren pitwork. Hamilton by contrast fell back and yet again had his customary tangle with Felipe Massa. If these 2 were schoolkids they would be outside the headmasters office every day! Wait, did I say IF! Massa and Hamilton tangled when Massa tried to pass Hamilton on the outside going into the last chicane, Hamilton later said he didn’t see Massa but to be fair to Massa he left the door open when he went on the inside leading up to the chicane and then cutting across to take his racing line, this time Massa had a bit of front wing damage, but nothing more.

Massa also had to earlier “let” Alonso by again, no pit instructions or anything, but the way Alonso breezed past Massa, it was obvious he had to jump out the way. What must such things do to Massa’s confidence? He must surely know in his heart of hearts that he will never be allowed to challenge Alonso, so should he stay at Ferrari and be Alonso’s lackey, or try and secure a drive at a team where he will be given equal opportunity. All the other top teams allow their drivers to race within reason, even at Red Bull, but the minute Alonso is in Massa’s rearview Felipe has to jump out of the way.

Another strong performance by Schumi, delivering the maximum out of the car to end up in 6th place, ahead of Massa. The old boy is really starting to show strong improvement, he is now just 3 points behind Rosberg! Kop that Schumi haters 🙂

Here are the full results:

01. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1h30:53.427
02. Alonso Ferrari + 1.160
03. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 2.006
04. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 8.071
05. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 24.268
06. Schumacher Mercedes + 27.120
07. Massa Ferrari + 28.240
08. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 39.377
09. Petrov Renault + 42.607
10. Rosberg Mercedes + 44.322
11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 54.447
12. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1:02.326
13. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1:03.705
14. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:04.194
15. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth + 1:06.623
16. Senna Renault + 1:12.628
17. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1:14.191
18. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault + 1:27.824
19. Trulli Lotus-Renault + 1:36.140
20. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps
21. D’Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps
22. Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
23. Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
Did Not Finish
Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 35

Vettel wins Italian GP

Sebastian Vettel was utterly dominant to win his 2nd Italian GP with Jenson Button in 2nd and Fernando Alonso in a consolation 3rd place.

The race started with some high drama as Alonso got a fantastic start to lead going into the first corner from 4th on the grid. Tonio Liuzzi lost control of his car and came careening into the pack sideways by way of the grass at the first chicane to leave a complete mess at the first corner. He took out Rosberg and Petrov. This brought out the Safety car and the restart is where all the magic happened.

Schumi had gotten his customary lightning start and was running in 4th behind Hamilton. As the Safety Car pulled in Alonso and Vettel bolted but Hamilton seemed to be unaware, resulting in Schumacher catching and passing him to setup a ding dong battle that lasted well over 20 laps. Hamilton tried in vain to pass the veteran but kept running into the rev limiter on his Mclaren and even with the DRS couldn’t find a way past.

Brundle and DC were complaining bitterly that Schumi was too harsh in his defence and the FIA did ask Mercedes to tell Michael to “be careful”. Ross Brawn came over the radio and told Michael to leave room at Ascari and after the first message he seemed more “compliant”. However Lewis was still struggling, and by this time Jenson had caught both of them. He made the most of their fight, by passing Lewis and then Michael into Ascari to set about catching Alonso. Michael came in for tyres first and when Lewis pitted 2 laps later he came out behind Michael again.

Their battle commenced again until Lewis eventually passed him but by this stage the race was more than halfway done and Lewis chance of victory had long since evaporated.

There were a lot of retirements as well, far more than I can remember at any other race, with only 15 cars finishing.

The net result is Vettel can be world champion in Singapore if the results go his way, an incredible achievement to show how dominant he has been this season.

Special mention for Bruno Senna who got his first world championship points today. He is impressing many people with his driving and is putting up his hand for a Renault seat next year.

Results:

01. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h20:46.172
02. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 9.590
03. Alonso Ferrari + 16.909
04. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 17.471
05. Schumacher Mercedes + 32.677
06. Massa Ferrari + 42.993
07. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
08. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
09. Senna Renault + 1 lap
10. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
11. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
12. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
13. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault + 1 lap
14. Trulli Lotus-Renault + 2 laps
15. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps
Did Not Finish
Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 40
Perez Sauber-Ferrari 34
Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 23
Sutil Force India-Mercedes 11
Webber Red Bull-Renault 6
D’Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 3
Petrov Renault 1
Rosberg Mercedes 1
Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1

Red Bull back on top in Belgium

Vettel and Webber gave Red Bull a long awaited return to the top step as they took a 1-2 at the Belgian GP held at the majestic Spa Francorchamps Circuit in the Ardennes forest. Jenson Button took a well deserved 3rd place after another storming race from 13th on the grid.

Although the result might indicate Red Bull dominance it most certainly was not the case, in fact Red Bull started the race with serious doubts about their tyres as they had suffered blisters on the front tyres during qualifying. They even went so far as to petition that they be allowed to change the tyres on safety grounds but were rightly refused.

As it turns out they suffered more blistering than anybody else on the Pirelli’s as they setup their car with more camber that was outside the specified bounds set by Pirelli. This caused a bit of ill feeling between the two as Pirelli felt their tyres were being made to look bad where as it was actually Red Bull that were pushing the envelope in terms of setup of their tyres.

In the end all’s well that ends well and Red Bull ended up on the top 2 steps, but the pitwall was extremely anxious throughout the race. Webber stopped for the harder tyres in the first few laps of the race. He is known to be harder on tyres than Vettel and the team erred on the side of caution with him.

The start of the race delivered a lot of helter skelter action as Rosberg got an absolutely brilliant start and was 2nd after the first corner, he then got past Vettel to lead the first few laps. Eventually he succumbed to the faster cars behind him however and slowly started getting passed by the Red Bulls, the McLaren of Hamilton and Alonso.

Speaking of Alonso, he was right in the hunt for the race win until he went on to the medium tyre. This was the moment Ferrari had been dreading, as the second he went on to those tyres, the Ferrari was immediately off the pace of the Red Bull and the McLaren who were able to generate much more heat in their medium tyres. He was eventually caught and passed by Button for the last podium slot.

Schumi celebrated his 20th year in F1 in grand style. His Saturday was a disaster, a loose wheel ended his qualy before he had even done 1 lap and he started in 24th, stone last. By the end of lap 1 on Sunday, he was already 15th, helped in no small part by the carnage at the 1st corner. He then methodically worked his way up the field till with a few laps to go he was running in 6th on the soft tyre behind Rosberg, who was in 5th on the medium tyre. He finally got one over on his teammate to take 5th. A remarkable comeback from 24th on the grid!

Controversial moment of the race involved that man Hamilton yet again. He collided with Kamui Kobayashi at the end of Les Combes straight. He had thought he was past Koba and then swung over to take the racing line plainly unaware that Koba was in fact still alongside him! They touched and Lewis had a heavy collision and was out. He later apoligized on twitter to Koba and said that it was his fault which he could see after he saw the replay footage. Props to Lewis for putting his hand up and accepting the blame.

So there we have it, a pretty fantastic Belgium GP and we didn’t even need the rain! Only downside for me was that DRS made overtaking way too easy. In fact I would say that DRS should be banned for Spa. I think there is a place for it at some tracks but not here at Spa where there is normally lots of overtaking anyway.

Here are the full results:

01. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h26.44.893
2. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 3.741
3. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 9.669
4. Alonso Ferrari + 13.022
5. Schumacher Mercedes + 47.464
6. Rosberg Mercedes + 48.674
7. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 59.713
8. Massa Ferrari + 1m06.076
9. Petrov Renault + 1m11.917
10. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth + 1m17.615
11. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1m23.994
12. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1m31.976
13. Senna Renault + 1m32.985
14. Trulli Lotus-Renault + 1 lap
15. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault + 1 lap
16. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
17. D’Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth + 1 lap
18. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 1 lap
19. Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth + 1 lap
Did Not Finish
Perez Sauber-Ferrari 27
Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 13
Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 12
Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 6
Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1

Button is F1’s Damp-meister as he wins his 200th race start

The Hungarian GP is not well known for dishing up exciting grand prix, but throw in some magic rain water and seemingly any race has the potential to be a titanic epic!

Jenson Button won his 2nd race of the season leading home Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso for back to back McLaren victories at the Hungarian GP.

For most of the race it looked like the other McLaren of Lewis Hamilton would be the one adding another winner’s tropy to Woking’s huge trophy cabinet but it was not to be. A spin while exiting a corner and a resulting drive through penalty for spinning his McLaren in front of Paul di Resta and thus causing a dangerous situation might not have been the end of Hamilton’s charge, but pitting for intermediates too soon when Button, Vettel and Alonso stayed out on dry tyres just long enough for the rain to ease up were the keys to victory.

Button didn’t look that racy early on in the race but towards the end of the first stint he was catching Hamilton by seconds before the first tyre stop. In fact, in the post race conference he said that he was cofident that even if Lewis hadn’t had his drama’s, he was still very positive that he could have won.

The term Rain-meister is overused, but in Button’s case I think the title of Damp-meister is well deserved, his other race win in Canada was also in all kinds of varied conditions and he seems to keep his composure in these mixed conditions. He is the epitome of the F1 mantra, in order to finish first, first you must finish!

Biggest dissapointments of the race for me was the Mercedes team, yet again! Schumi eventually retired after struggling and Rosberg finished in a dissapointing 9th. The Mercedes car seems to devour it’s tyres like a sex addict in an adult store without thought of saving some rubber for later.  I know lots of people berate Schumi and how he is so much slower now but in that car anybody would look slow, Rosberg barely finishes much higher. They are to my mind the strongest driver pairing outside of Hamilton/Button and Vettel/Webber yet on any given Sunday, they have no hope of ever winning a race. I have heard that they are going to increase their workforce by 100 people by next season, lets hope it doesn’t arrive too late.

Vettel got a competent 2nd place with the ever present Alonso in 3rd. Vettel actually extended his points lead in the championship after this race showing that he merely has to finish the remainder of the season in points finishes to clinch his 2nd title.

Here’s the final race standings:

1	Jenson Button	McLaren	3	106:42.337	25.0
2	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	1	+3.50	18.0
3	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	5	+19.80	15.0
4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	2	+48.30	12.0
5	Mark Webber	Red Bull	6	+49.70	10.0
6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	4	+83.10	8.0
7	Paul Di Resta	Force India	11	+1 lap	6.0
8	Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso	23	+1 lap	4.0
9	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP	7	+1 lap	2.0
10	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso	16	+1 lap	1.0
11	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	13	+1 lap	0.0
12	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	12	+1 lap	0.0
13	Rubens Barrichello	Williams	15	+2 lap	0.0
14	Adrian Sutil	Force India	8	+2 lap	0.0
15	Sergio Perez	Sauber	10	+2 lap	0.0
16	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	17	+2 lap	0.0
17	Timo Glock	Virgin Racing	20	+4 lap	0.0
18	Daniel Ricciardo	Hispania Racing	22	+4 lap	0.0
19	Jerome DAmbrosio	Virgin Racing	24	+5 lap	0.0
20	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Hispania Racing	21	+5 lap	0.0
Ret	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes GP	technical
Ret	Jarno Trulli	Team Lotus	hydraulics problem
Ret	Heikki Kovalainen	Team Lotus	mechanical
Ret	Nick Heidfeld	Renault	fire to the engine

Rosberg scares Coulthard around the Nurburgring

We often get to see videos of race drivers scaring passengers around a race track in sports cars. I posted one earlier in the year of Alonso taking some lucky(or should that be unlucky) chap for a spin around Fiorano in a Ferrari 458 Italia.

This video is different however as it shows what happens when a racing driver, David Coulthard, gets to be the passenger when Nico Rosberg goes for his first spin round the Nurburgring in a Mercedes SLS. And this is not the watered down F1 Nurburgring either, its the full 14 mile “Green Hell”.

Needless to say DC is not best pleased about having no control whatsoever on which way the car’s front end is pointing. I am not too surprised that he is a nervous passenger, I would imagine most racing drivers must hate not being at the wheel in normal situations, let alone when a fellow pro is taking them around a high speed track that he is seeing for the first time!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQKfAg5d_AM

 

Can Canada save F1’s collective bacon?

Lets make no bones about it, if Sebastian Vettel wins again this weekend the 2011 F1 season will be all but over. We need a new winner in Canada, and we preferably need a podium without Vettel on it. I heard a stat that even if Hamilton wins the next 8 races and Vettel finishes 2nd for all 8 he will still be leading the championship!

We have been in a similar situation before, Jenson Button won 6 out of the first 7 races in 2009 for Brawn, but a poor second half of the season saw him take the season down to the penultimate race before he finally won it. I fear this won’t happen with Vettel and Red Bull, they have proven their car development never slacks off over the last 3 seasons, and it won’t now.

As I am typing this I am watching Free Practice 3, and Vettel is 2nd, and Rosberg quickest. Lets hope Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari can mount a serious challenge to Red Bull this weekend.

Canada is not as downforce intensive as other circuits and we will have two DRS zones in this race. Its a high speed affair that rewards driver bravery.

Hamilton has won the last 2 races in Canada and he will be hoping for a reversal of his Monaco fortunes. He needs it!

 

Vettel wins Spanish GP cliffhanger

Sebastian Vettel has won the 2011 Spanish GP at the Circuit de Catalunya……….just. He was pushed all the way by Lewis Hamilton who finished just 6/10ths of a second behind Vettel. McLaren teammate Button finished third after the strategy finally went his way.

It was not the start everyone was expecting as Fernando Alonso stormed through from 4th to lead going into the first corner. Vettel got the jump on Webber to get into 2nd with Hamilton just behind. Button got a terrible start and was running in 10th on the first lap.

Michael Schumacher made yet another superb start to be running 6th and ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg.

The running order all changed after the first stop however as Vettel got into the lead and Hamilton also jumped Alonso. This prompted a long battle between Alonso and Webber with the Aussie unable to pass the visibly slower Ferrari. This part of the race saw Webbers race victory chance disappear as Vettel and Hamilton cleared off into the distance.

Button went with a 3 stop strategy against the 4 stops of the other front runners and this time it payed off for him. He managed to pass Alonso and Webber who were on the hard tyres at the time and held them off to take a well deserved 3rd place.

The Ferrari was hopeless on its hard tyres, considering that Alonso was leading the race until the first stop, by the end of the race he ended up being lapped by Vettel and Hamilton, that shows how steep the performance drop off was by the Ferrari on its hard tyres. It also goes some way to explaining why Alonso was so pleased with his 4th in qualifying yesterday, theres no way his car was actually 4th quickest out there by some stretch.

Schumi managed to keep Rosberg behind him for the entire race to take a well earned 6th. Rosberg hounded the elder statesman all race but couldn’t get past.

Star of the race must be Nick Heidfeld, he started last as his car caught fire in FP3 yesterday and he didn’t take part in qualifying. It did mean however, that he had brand new tyres for the race, and didn’t he use them well. He ended up in 8th, just behind the 2 Mercs, and if the race was a lap or 2 longer he may well have gotten past them, that is the “Pirelli effect” that we are seeing this season, being on the right tyre at the right time is key to having a good race.

The 2 Saubers of Perez and Kobayashi finished in 9th and 10th to bring some good points home for the Sauber team, and it has to be said a much improved performance from Perez.

Two notable absentees from the top 10 qualifying on Saturday was Petrov and Maldonaldo, both of whom went backwards once the race was under way. It must be especially disheartening for Petrov, as he qualified a superb 6th, but ended up out of the points while his teammate started last and ended up 8th!

The DRS was notable in this race for not really helping anyone to pass down the straight, it’s activation point may have been a bit too late. Considering that Hamilton was less than a second behind Vettel, who didn’t have KERS, for most of the last third of the race, and still couldn’t get close to pass the Red Bull shows that the DRS zoning wasn’t quite right. Still, it ended up being a better spectacle for it, I think we would have all felt a bit cheated if he was able to breeze past Vettel without much of a fight.

Vettel really showed the mentality of a world champion in this race, his composure under immense pressure from Hamilton was superb to watch, I don’t think he would have been anywhere near as composed last year, what a difference a year and a world championship can make.

Another important thing worth mentioning is that the McLarens are right up there on race pace with the Red Bulls but miles off in qualifying. Some have suggested its due to the way the Red Bull uses its DRS wing in qualy which it doesn’t have access to in the race. Considering that Red Bull had such a huge margin in qualifying, their performance advantage in race trim just didn’t materialise.

Here are the full race classifications:

01. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h39:03.301
02. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 0.630
03. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 35.697
04. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 47.966
05. Alonso Ferrari + 1 lap
06. Schumacher Mercedes + 1 lap
07. Rosberg Mercedes + 1 lap
08. Heidfeld Renault + 1 lap
09. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
10. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
11. Petrov Renault + 1 lap
12. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
13. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
14. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
15. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
16. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 2 laps
17. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 2 laps
18. Trulli Lotus-Renault + 2 laps
19. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 3 laps
20. D’Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth + 3 laps
21. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 4 laps
Not classified/retirements:
Massa Ferrari 60
Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 49
Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 29