Erik Nielsen reports on the Mayasian GP.
Red Bull Survives
By Erik Nielsen
Photos courtesy and copyright Ferrari Media
Red Bull Racing seems to have fixed their reliability issues and achieved maximum points with Vettel leading Mark Webber to a surprising 1-2 finish. It was surprising in that both cars actually finished, somewhat unexpectedly based on rounds one and two. This week’s result puts the rest of the grid on notice, Red Bull is real and not a flash in the pan.
We knew that they had the speed. Now that they seem to have reliability, they are the team to beat.
The cynic in me also thinks that one of the reasons they did so well was the fact that they were able to capitalize on the absolutely dismal performance of some of the top drivers in qualifying. Both Ferraris and Lewis Hamilton were relegated to the back of the grid after all three were caught out by weather in Q1. It was looking better for the tifosi towards the closing laps of the race with both cars in the points. Massa was able to salvage a few points and finished in sixth place, but Alonso blew an engine with two laps to go while in hot pursuit of Jensen Button, finally coming to rest in thirteenth, and no points. As a result, Massa moved up to the lead of the driver’s table with Vettel and Alonso even at 37. Ferrari is still leading the constructor’s championship, but no one is resting in Maranello.
Felipe Massa
The best thing for that has happened to Rosberg is Schumacher’s return to F1. The son of the 1982 world championship has seen a competitive streak emerge since he is being compared to the seven time world champion. Granted there was a DNF for the Mercedes driver that has helped ticket sales, but one DNF does not explain a 26 point gap in the standings. Maybe Schumacher should have stayed in Switzerland counting his money…
Kubica’s performance shows that the Pole is still the real deal in probably not the best car on the grid to finish best of the rest. The Renault driver held his own and has real world champion potential if the timing will work out for him to get the right ride in the right season.
Sutil drove an uneventful race to finish in fifth place, the best finish for Force India this season. Luizzi was not as lucky and DNF’ed.
Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso
Lewis Hamilton was able to drive through most of the field and finished in sixth place. Had he been able to drive the McLaren MP4-25 as well as his C63 in Australia, he may have done better. But had the Melbourne police shown up, maybe sixth wasn’t so bad a finish. He was able to finish ahead of Button, which surely helps the whining chances within the Woking based team. McLaren never has worried who carries the number one on the front of the car, but is more interested in results, specifically, what have you done for me lately. Too bad Ron Dennis isn’t more involved in the day to day to play peace maker. But then again, he likely saw the fact that both drivers were going to be side by side as an opportunity to exit stage right, mumbling something about not getting paid enough to put up with this sort of…
The last two points paying positions went to Alguersauri in the Toro Rosso and Hulkenberg in the Williams. I’m also convinced that the only reason these two are in the grid is to ensure that the media guides are actually used by the media to ensure that we spell their names correctly on the off weekends that they finish in the points.
Felipe Massa, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso
Three rounds in and the only thing that has been proven are who the back markers are. Lotus still seems to stand for “lots of trouble, usually serious”. No one really has looked up what HRT stands for, and Virgin should stick with transatlantic flights.
Racing stays in Asia with the Shanghai GP in two weeks. Rumors abound that Schumacher’s return is going to be good for ticket sales, but the safe bet is there will be just as many empty seats as last year.
Fernando Alonso
Race Results
| 1 | VETTEL | RBR-Renault | 1h33m48.412s |
| 2 | WEBBER | RBR-Renault | + 4.8s |
| 3 | ROSBERG | Mercedes GP | + 13.5s |
| 4 | KUBICA |
Renault | + 18.5s |
| 5 | SUTIL | Force India-Mercedes | + 21.0s |
| 6 | HAMILTON | McLaren-Mercedes | + 23.4s |
| 7 | MASSA | Ferrari | + 27.0s |
| 8 | BUTTON | McLaren-Mercedes | + 37.9s |
| 9 | ALGUERSUARI | STR-Ferrari | + 70.6s |
| 10 | HULKENBERG | Williams-Cosworth | + 73.3s |
| 11 | BUEMI | STR-Ferrari | + 78.9s |
| 12 | BARRICHELLO | Williams-Cosworth | + 1 lap |
| 13 | ALONSO | Ferrari | + 2 laps |
| 14 | DI GRASSI | Virgin-Cosworth | + 3 laps |
| 15 | CHANDHOK | HRT-Cosworth | + 3 laps |
| 16 | SENNA | HRT-Cosworth | + 4 laps |
| 17 | TRULLI | Lotus-Cosworth | + 5 laps |
| 18 | KOVALAINEN | Lotus-Cosworth | + 10 laps, hydraulics |
| 19 | PETROV | Renault | + 24 laps, gearbox |
| 20 | LIUZZI | Force India-Mercedes | + 44 laps, throttle |
| 21 | SCHUMACHER | Mercedes GP | + 47 laps, wheel issue |
| 22 | KOBAYASHI | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | + 48 laps, engine |
| 23 | GLOCK | Virgin-Cosworth | + 54 laps, spin |
| DNS | DE LA ROSA | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | + 56 laps, engine |
| Fastest Lap | WEBBER | RBR-Renault | 1m37.054s |
Driver’s Championship Standings
| 1 | MASSA | Ferrari | 39 Points |
| 2 | ALONSO | Ferrari | 37 Points |
| 3 | VETTEL | RBR-Renault | 37 Points |
| 4 | BUTTON | McLaren-Mercedes | 35 Points |
| 5 | ROSBERG | Mercedes Benz GP Ltd | 35 Points |
| 6 | HAMILTON | McLaren-Mercedes | 31 Points |
| 7 | KUBICA | Renault | 30 Points |
| 8 | WEBBER | RBR-Renault | 24 Points |
| 9 | SUTIL | Force India-Mercedes | 10 Points |
| 10 | SCHUMACHER | Mercedes GP | 9 Points |
| 11 | LIUZZI | Force India-Mercedes | 8 Points |
| 12 | BARRICHELLO | Williams-Cosworth | 5 Points |
| 13 | ALGUERSUARI | STR-Ferrari | 2 Points |
| 14 | HULKENBERG | Williams-Cosworth | 1 Point |
Constructor’s Championship Standings
| 1 | FERRARI | 76 Points |
| 2 | McLAREN-MERCEDES | 66 Points |
| 3 | RBR-RENAULT | 61 Points |
| 4 | MERCEDES GP | 44 Points |
| 5 | RENAULT | 30 Points |
| 6 | FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES | 18 Points |
| 7 | WILLIAMS-COSWORTH | 6 Points |
| 8 | STR-FERRARI | 2 Points |
great e-newsletter, thanks kindly