European Grand Prix

I’m not going to lie; compared to the action we saw at the Grand Prix of Canada, this one was a snooze fest. For the first time in memory, everyone actually finished the race. There were no DNFs due to someone grabbing a poorly fabricated twenty five cent clip and installing it upside down nor were there any significant on track incidents that caused more than a quick trip back to the pits. The sponsors were happy with the marking teams calculating to the split second how much time their brands had TV of face time coverage. Unfortunately, most of the eyes watching were dozing off.

Fernando Alonso was the hometown favorite this weekend and the stands erupted when he passed Mark Webber for second place the first time. Commentators around the globe hailed it that Ferrari was taking the fight and had found speed. But at the end of the day, 10+ seconds is not closing the gap, but just getting ahead of the Australian who is there to make sure the team walks away with the constructor’s title. You don’t have to try too hard when the hot star teammate is on the top step of the podium.

Fourth place went to Lewis Hamilton who was still smarting from being knocked out by his team mate in Montreal. Jenson Button prayed for rain, but could do no better than sixth and a minute off the pace. In a fast car, both McLaren drivers are demonstrated champions. In a car that is off the pace, neither has been shown to miracle workers.

Filipe Massa split the McLarens this weekend. Fans are starting to call for the Brazilian to be replaced with someone with more drive, spirit or talent. All three would be fantastic. But before one gets their hopes up too much, the Scuderia may get stuck with another Burino…

Guess where Nico Rosberg finished? Yes, you in the back? Ahead of Schumacher? Correct. Again.

Alguersuari and Sutil finished in eighth and ninth, much to the disappointment of hack journalists that rely on Microsoft Word’s built in spell checker.

The last points paying position went to Nick Heidfeld in the Renault. Corporation wise, they’re still dealing with the fallout from le Spygate.

Rumblings have already started down the pit lane that Vettel is too far gone to catch this year, the 2012 cars from Woking and Maranello might start taking shape a lot sooner than is typical. The teams are still going to show up and try rather than risk Bernie threatening any of the all important slice of the TV revenues, but to be honest, we’re going to see more testing and development of bits that will be on next year’s car than anything to really make a push at trying to topple Red Bull in 2011.

The European Grand Prix was the start of six races in a row on the continent, F1’s home territory. Unfortunately with a lead that just keeps going, expect the numbers of fans watching to steadily decrease as the gap gets bigger.

Race Results

1	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	1h39m36.169s
2	ALONSO	Ferrari	+ 10.8s
3	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	+ 27.2s
4	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 46.1s
5	MASSA	Ferrari	+ 51.7s
6	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 60.0s
7	ROSBERG	Mercedes	+ 98.0s
8	ALGUERSUARI	STR-Ferrari	+ 1 lap
9	SUTIL	Force India-Mercedes	+ 1 lap
10	HEIDFELD	Renault	+ 1 Lap
11	PEREZ	Sauber-Ferrari	+ 1 lap
12	BARRICHELLO	Williams-Cosworth	+ 1 lap
13	BUEMI	STR-Ferrari	+ 1 lap
14	DI RESTA	Force India-Mercedes	+ 1 lap
15	PETROV	Renault	+ 1 lap
16	KOBAYASHI	Sauber-Ferrari	+ 1 lap
17	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes	+ 1 lap
18	MALDONADO	Williams-Cosworth	+ 1 lap
19	KOVALAINEN	Lotus-Renault	+ 2 laps
20	TRULLI	Lotus-Renault	+ 2 laps
21	GLOCK	Virgin-Cosworth	+ 2 laps
22	D’AMBROSIO	Virgin-Cosworth	+ 2 laps
23	LIUZZI	HRT-Cosworth	+ 3 laps
24	KARTHIKEYAN	HRT-Cosworth	+ 3 laps
Fastest Lap	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	1m41.852s

Driver’s Championship Standings

1	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	186 Points
2	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	109 Points
3	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	109 Points
4	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	97 Points
5	ALONSO	Ferrari	87 Points
6	MASSA	Ferrari	42 Points
7	ROSBERG	Mercedes	32 Points
8	PETROV	Renault	31 Points
9	HEIDFELD	Renault	30 Points
10	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes	26 Points
11	KOBAYASHI	Sauber-Ferrari	25 Points
12	SUTIL	Force India-Mercedes	10 Points
13	ALGUERSUARI	STR-Ferrari	8 Points
14	BUEMI	STR-Ferrari	8 Points
15	BARRICHELLO	Williams-Cosworth	4 Points
16	PEREZ	Sauber-Ferrari	2 Points
17	DI RESTA	Force India-Mercedes	2 Points

Constructor’s Championship Standings

1	RBR-RENAULT	295 Points
2	McLAREN-MERCEDES	206 Points
3	FERRARI	129 Points
4	RENAULT	61 Points
5	MERCEDES	58 Points
6	SAUBER-FERRARI	27 Points
7	STR-FERRARI	16 Points
8	FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES	12 Points
9	WILLIAMS-COSWORTH	4 Points