Webber Untouchable
By Erik Nielsen
Photos courtesy and copyright Ferrari Media
For those that thought Red Bull had recently lost ground to McLaren, the Spanish Grand Prix reiterated that Red Bull is likely the team to beat in the 2010 season.
Mark Webber drove an uneventful race and led from the first corner. Sebastian Vettel was on track to make it a 1-2 finish for the ex-Sauber team, but issues in the pits allowed Lewis Hamilton to advance to second place. His day ended with two laps to go with a tire failure. Vettel was unable to capitalize on the turn of events when his brakes started to fail after a small off, but managed to bring the car home in third. While this was not enough to change the leader boards in the championship races, the points spread is now much closer among the top runners.
Ferrari did not have their best result, but Fernando Alonso was surely happy to finish second at his home grand prix and get within three points of Jensen Button in the driver’s championship. The Spaniard drove a clean race, but was still off the front running pace. Massa did not do well in qualifying, but made the most of a car that just didn’t seem to suit his preferred driving style to finish in sixth place.
The driver that finally seems to be coming back into the sport was Michael Schumacher. Herr Schumacher finished roughly 11 seconds off the podium finish pace, but his fourth place finish was his best this season, and the first time he really was able to differentiate himself from team mate Niko Rosberg. The powers that be seemed to be breathing a little easier in Stuttgart. Several likely were making comments like “I told you so” to others late Sunday afternoon. Jensen Button finished in fifth place, clearly not the result that the Woking based team was hoping for after Hamilton’s failure and likely overshadowed by the finish of the Mercedes Benz powered driver. Adrian Sutil wasn’t able to yet match his best finish of fifth in the season, but his seventh place finish kept Force India in sixth, ahead of all of the also rans that can count their championship points on both hands.
Robert Kubica was the last driver to finish on the lead lap in eighth place in a season that is starting to leave Renault as an also ran. The media is hoping that this does not give Flavio any more ammunition to attempt a come back to the sport.
The last two points paying positions went to Rubens Barichello in the Williams and Jamie Alguersuari in the Toro Rosso. But, not many outside of family members actually noticed.
The race this weekend at the Circuit de Catalunya was basically a day of lapping, which is appropriate considering the amount of testing that actually happens here. Most of the passing still happened in the pit lane, causing some speculation that maybe refueling should make a return, but at least the fans don’t have to deal with “debris flags” being used when the field gets too spread out.
Formula 1 fans only have to wait until this weekend for racing to return when the circus moves to the special track of the Circuit de Monaco. While this may not be the greatest track for high speeds or great passing opportunities, this still seems to be a favorite where people go more to see and be seen rather than just watching the race. Most of the top automakers are in this sport to sell to the target audience in the Principality. Hopefully this year that crowd will not be disappointed.
Race Results
1 | WEBBER | RBR-Renault | 1h35m44.101s |
2 | ALONSO | Ferrari | + 24.0s |
3 | VETTEL | RBR-Renault | + 51.3s |
4 | SCHUMACHER |
Mercedes GP | + 62.1s |
5 | BUTTON | McClaren-Mercedes | + 63.7s |
6 | MASSA | Ferrari | + 65.7s |
7 | SUTIL | Force India-Mercedes | + 72.9s |
8 | KUBICA | Renault | + 73.6s |
9 | BARRICHELLO | Williams-Cosworth | + 1 lap |
10 | ALGUERSUARI | STR-Ferrari | + 1 lap |
11 | PETROV | Renault | + 1 lap |
12 | KOBAYASHI | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | + 1 lap |
13 | ROSBERG | Mercedes GP | + 1 lap |
14 | HAMILTON | McLaren-Mercedes | + 2 laps, accident |
15 | LIUZZI | Force India-Mercedes | + 2 laps, technical |
16 | HULKENBERG | Williams-Cosworth | + 2 laps |
17 | TRULLI | Lotus-Cosworth | + 3 laps |
18 | GLOCK | Virgin-Cosworth | + 3 laps |
19 | DI GRASSI | Virgin-Cosworth | + 4 laps |
20 | BUEMI | STR-Ferrari | + 24 laps, hydraulics |
21 | CHANDHOK | HRT-Cosworth | + 39 laps, suspension |
22 | DE LA ROSA | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | + 48 laps, accident |
23 | SENNA | HRT-Cosworth | + 66 laps, accident |
DNS | KOVALAINEN | Lotus-Cosworth | + 66 laps, gearbox |
Fastest Lap | HAMILTON | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m24.357s |
Driver’s Championship Standings
1 | BUTTON | McLaren-Mercedes | 70 Points |
2 | ALONSO | Ferrari | 67 Points |
3 | VETTEL | RBR-Renault | 60 Points |
4 | WEBBER | RBR-Renault | 53 Points |
5 | ROSBERG | Mercedes GP | 50 Points |
6 | HAMILTON | McLaren-Mercedes | 49 Points |
7 | MASSA | Ferrari | 49 Points |
8 | KUBICA | Renault | 44 Points |
9 | SCHUMACHER | Mercedes GP | 22 Points |
10 | SUTIL | Force India-Mercedes | 16 Points |
11 | LIUZZI | Force India-Mercedes | 8 Points |
12 | BARRICHELLO | Williams-Cosworth | 7 Points |
13 | PETROV | Renault | 6 Points |
14 | ALGUERSUARI | STR-Ferrari | 3 Points |
15 | HULKENBERG | Williams-Cosworth | 1 Point |
Constructor’s Championship Standings
1 | McLAREN-MERCEDES | 119 Points |
2 | FERRARI | 116 Points |
3 | RBR-RENAULT | 113 Points |
4 | MERCEDES GP | 72 Points |
5 | RENAULT | 50 Points |
6 | FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES | 24 Points |
7 | WILLIAMS-COSWORTH | 8 Points |
8 | STR-FERRARI | 3 Points |