Sunday, 28 July 2013

Lewis shows Vettel how is should be done.

Well then, if you want to win a race you need talent. If you want to sit behind lots of people in slower cars and once again prove that you can’t actually overtake people without fumbling it more often than not, yet still win ... no hang on sorry ... luck into a bunch of Championships... Get Adrian Newey to design you a car.

Lewis gets his first win for Mercedes and this one has to be his most unlikely win of his career to date. When he got pole is was a bit of a surprise, he spent the evening and Sunday morning telling all and sundry he’d be amazed if he was still leading after the warm up lap. Except when the lights went out at the start, Vettel was too busy trying to drive Grosjean off the circuit then actually drive like a champion. It set the tone really for Vettels afternoon as he spent the day not overtaking people and generally acting like a he was driving a Vauxhall Corsa round the local Asda car park to impress the less educated members of society.  Then to top it all off, he complained when Kimi wouldn’t let him past at the end ... hahahahaha what a knob!

Now, also having a fun old time of it was our great friends Grosjean. Who we all know has a bit of previous and certainly to the stewards he looked like he was back to his old ways this weekend.
But you know I think he might just have got a bit of a bum wrap here.  First off the overtake on Jenson. He got a pretty good drive out of the long fast right hand sweeper turn five and a run on Button into the hairpin entry turn six. And he’s pretty much past the McLaren as he drifts back across to the racing line, which was his mistake. He clipped the front right wheel of Buttons car and there’s a bit of tyre smoke and I think an end plate might have been moved, but pretty much both cars were okay.  Jenson as usual was all arms in the air and ranting on the radio about how dangerous the Lotus driver was and they should throw the book at him this instant. But in all honesty Button was beaten and should have got his sorry backside out of the way because he was never going to get the place back was he! He was just going to get in the way well and low and behold that’s exactly what happened. Grosjean will probably get a grid penalty for that.
Then we have the Massa over take into turn four which to my eyes was top draw stuff, except the mistake this time was to avoid tagging Massa and letting the car run 2 inches over the white line marking the edge of the track. By doing so he managed to miss hitting Massa who hadn’t given him enough room to make it round the corner cleanly, and he broke the letter of the law about respecting track limits. If you watched the rest of the race as I did and paid particular attention to the exit of turn four and the number of cars “not respecting the track limits” it’s a wonder that half the field didn’t get a drive through penalty isn’t it! But I guess those other drivers hadn’t been blamed for a bunch of fifty/fifty racing incident the previous year.
Now I don’t want to suggest in any way that I think Grosjean is some sort of talented driver here. But give the guy a break now, he was doing what he’s paid to do, which is over take slower drivers. Not pussy foot around and complain to his pit wall that the bigger boys won’t get out of his way. I think the drive through penalty was a bit harsh and if he’s made to sit on the naughty step next race for tripping over Button I think he’ll have a right to feel aggrieved.

Anyway.

Lewis wins and I think he was more surprised than anyone when it happened.   Considering he spent Friday and Saturday looking at the car and shaking his head wondering where all the speed had gone, then poking the rear tyres with a disconsolate finger and asking why they were melting so quickly.  He wasn’t the only one expecting the Merc to go backwards when the lights went out. But he drove a solid race. AND he showed that to achieve a win you have to overtake the car in front. You can’t sit there; make a couple of half arsed moves and then whinge “it’s all too difficult” and wait for the pit stops.  You might argue that he was lucky Grosjean was hit with the FIA naughty hammer and Vettel got “stuck” behind Button, but you’d be wrong and I'm not going to listen to you rubbish my favourite driver. He won and he’s ace, that all there is to it.

Kimi was second and annoyed Vettel when he didn’t let the German breeze on past. So he’s my second favourite driver.

Vettel was damn lucky to be third and he didn’t deserve it in the slightest. Really, he can’t overtake and he thinks he God’s gift to racing.

Webber was fourth, he did alright after he was hobbled in qualifying with a misfiring KERS unit and gearbox that wasn’t playing the game. Eighth to fourth is pretty good really on a track that is notoriously difficult to pass on if you’re German and a knob.  

Alonso is pretty much dead and buried in the Championship in fifth. This stallion needs taking out the back and putting out of its misery. It is dead, it is an ex title hunt, it is no more. Pack up and go back to Maranello lads, this one isn’t coming back with you. Apparently they still don’t have a wind tunnel that bares any resemblance to the real world. This is the same problem that had last year, new aero bits that were supposed to sort out one problem, caused another problem, usually even worse than the first. They are throwing enough money at this to feed a small West Country primary School for six months, yet still they fail to qualify up the front or take the race to the front. Why ? ...answers on a post card to Maranello marked “get your act together you idiots”

Grosjean was eventually sixth and as I say I think he was a bit picked on here. Yeah, yeah all you Button apologists can throw your hands in the air all you like, but he was well beaten and Grosjean was showing him how it’s done. He got a 20 second penalty as well as the drive through, but it didn’t make any difference to the overall result.  He might get away with a slap wrist here and be fine in Spa, but the FIA do like to wade in with the ban hammer at least once a year, so you never know.

Button was tired and over the hill years ago ...hahahahahaha .. but yeah, seventh in the end.

Massa eighth

Perez, what an excellent signing for McLaren he’s turning into isn’t he. There are rumours that Whitmarsh is going to get the boot at the end of the year unless they get some serious points soon. Perez isn’t going to deliver them now is he? Counting down the days till Honda turn up.

And low and behold look who it is !! the last great white hope and not at all a liability masquerading as a racing driver with a whole shed load of foreign money Maldonado in tenth. Who would have believed they could turn that heap of junk around and actually get a point! And with Maldonado at the wheel too. There must have been some serious planet alignment in a far distant galaxy on the edge of the universe or something. It’s really the only plausible explanation I can think of.

Okay .. oh yeah Webber got the fastest lap

And Max was our last placed driver, The Marussia team had a press conference recently and said they were really happy with Max and his money and had no plans to get a driver with some talent in anytime soon. Good news for Max there.

Right, three week break to come and I might write a half term report on the drivers if you’re lucky and I can afford the red wine. Till then, keep watching the skies and stay vigilant.


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