Sunday 20 September 2015

Pole and win .. No .. not a Merc this time !!!!!

There you go, stick him at the front of the grid, give him half a chance and he'll win the race for you. That's why Ferrari poached Vettel from Redbull and you have to say given the results so far in 2015, it's going to be worth every single penny.

On a day when the talk was of Hamilton and how he was going to equal Senna's record of something or other, Vettel is the one that pops up and reminds us that he is walking in the footsteps of another great, another German that went to Ferrari and won a hat full of titles and made the template for greatness.  Senna, for all his natural talent might be lorded as the greatest driver ever, but the stats are dominated by Schumacher. 91 wins, most wins in a season 13 (tied with Vettel), 68 pole positions, 77 fastest laps. Schumacher finished 50% of the races he started on the podium.
Senna had natural talent sure.. But Schumacher has the cupboard full of silverware.
And yes, I know Senna was taken too early. But I still don't think he would have been able to beat Schumacher in the new digital age.

Anyway .. yes Vettel, right if you want to emulate a champion, then Schumacher would be top of the list. And Vettel leaving a very successful team to join Ferrari is doing just that.  I think next year, they could be the team to beat.
But what of Mercedes? Well, Lewis had an off day and Rosberg was his usual nothing spectacular self, I doubt this is the end of an era of anything but on paper there was nothing to suggest Merc would do anything other than win. Yet qualifying was a matter of survival and the race a case of hanging on. Hamilton suggested he had the car to win the race before the throttle problem but he's deluding himself. He had the third best car of the weekend there.
Why though? Why did the tyres suddenly turn to butter after a handful of laps, sure it's a hot circuit but no more than Bahrain and Spain where the Merc were perfectly fine.  Yeah hot like Malaysia where Vettel won though .. hmm Tight and twisty like Monaco yeah that's a street circuit like Singapore, but Hungary is tight and twisty where Vettel won ! Maybe the Merc do have a weakness after all. Vettel is only 49 points behind Hamilton now ...  Do you think the odd of the German taking the title might have shorted considerably tonight .. ?

Okay, Vettel won. Nice and easy. Danny boy was nowhere near him and even if some arse hadn't got lost looking for the toilet halfway through the race, Vettel was going to win this. He wins races he starts from pole, didn't Redbull remember that ?  

Danny Ricciardo second, Redbulls much vaunted "Singapore upgrade" striking pay dirt. And they didn't trouble Ferrari whose engine they're supposed to be getting next year either. Win win.

Kimi third to keep the Italian media sweat for a day or two.

Nico fourth, very quiet. The man is a husk of beateness. Vettel is going to be second in the championship race, just you wait and see.

Bottas, keeps Williams .. oh .. no he doesn't Bottas failes to keep Williams dreams of second in the championship  alive. And Redbull are going to have them soon too.

Kvyat, I 'm not sure but i think he might have been the victim of the safety car. To be honest i wasn't really concentrating.

Perez, missed talking out Hulkenberg at the start, Massa did the job for him. Perez looked pretty handy all weekend actually. Still dull though, you could let him drive your dear old mum with no qualms what so ever. Perfectly safe, just don't let him smile at her, all those teeth in one mouth .. its unnerving  I tell you.

Verstappen... Now, if you want to make a name for yourself, stall the car at the start, then drive back though the field to score a hatful of points. Extra bonus points for telling the team what it can do with its team order rubbishness in the closing stages.  That was a proper full on, "this is me announcing myself as the real deal" drive. And he got the luck with the safety car; you can't buy that sort of luck. If he wasn't on your radar as future world champion material he damn well should be now. This kid is the real deal.

Sainz Jr might well not be. 

Nasr in tenth absolutely did profit from the safety car.

Danny was fastest and low and behold Rossi did beat Stevens for last place. The American did alright there.


Japanese GP next weekend, I might have stuff to write before hand .. or maybe not. 

No comments:

Post a Comment