MELBOURNE was fairly tame, Malaysia gave us a lively indication of the season ahead China was simply sensational. The return to Europe last weekend gave us another classic event to lookback on, but a familiar feel of events is beginning to develop at the front of the field.
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| SMILING: Vettel continued his 2011 domination in Turkey |
Once again, Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing completely dominated the entire weekend, and this time, scored maximum points. Vettel was in a class of one in Istanbul and frankly, no one looked close to him all weekend. He even had the luxury to make an extra pitstop against the rest of the field and could have won the race by half a minute. Considering he lost the majority of running on Friday by stuffing his Red Bull heavily into the barriers during wet first practice, it was still staggering to see him destroy the opposition, considering he had at least two hours less track time than anyone else. Vettel’s dominance is starting to gain a feel of the Michael Schumacher cruise campaigns of 2002 and 2004. The new smiling assassin of Formula One can be beaten, as proven in China, but it will have to take a massive effort to do so. You can already start to engrave Vettel’s name on this year’s championship, because I can’t see anyone beating him on a regular basis, unless it is himself of course.
In Turkey, it was Fernando Alonso and Ferrari who were the closest challengers. For the fourth successive race, Alonso qualified in fifth position and raced hard on Sunday afternoon, giving Mark Webber a load of food for thought. Alonso’s first podium of the season will provide a lot of relief to the Scuderia, who have had a disappointing start to 2011 so far. If they can unlock more potential from the car, then they could match Red Bull on occasional circuits, but it will have to take something special to overhaul the Austrian team from Milton Keynes. Alonso wins my ‘Driver of the Day’ in Turkey, as he got the maximum out of his equipment and then some more. It was a determined effort from the Spaniard and one that will rejuvenate his hunger for success.
The DRS system and the Pirelli tyres dictated the pace of the Turkish Grand Prix. Four stops were the way to go for most drivers, and even Jenson Button, one of the best drivers in preserving his tyres, was a sitting duck with no grip in the closing stages from his fading rubber. After the event, even Pirelli admitted that they were disappointed that four pitstops were the prime strategy in Istanbul. This shows that the Italian manufacturer is still striding for perfection. It is however giving us some breathtaking racing. So far, it is very difficult to follow the races in 2011, because strategies and tyre wear are becoming very difficult to forecast. The unpredictable element behind runaway leader Vettel means that this season is turning into a classic. The DRS system excelled again in Istanbul, although the FIA probably made the activation point far too early, hence we saw a lot of easy overtaking and not enough skill from the driver. We probably saw a bit too much of this on Sunday, and it will be interesting to see if Barcelona – normally a track which is almost a no-overtaking zone, provides similar racing. If so, expect some sweeping changes, because the critics will start claiming ‘Overtaking in F1 is simply way too easy.’
The improved pace of Mercedes GP has thrown a spanner in the works at the front of the field. They impressed massively in practice and qualifying, and hinted of a car that is getting closer to the frontrunners. Unfortunately, they damaged their Pirelli tyres massively in the slightly hotter conditions of Sunday. It meant that Nico Rosberg had very little weapons in his defence, especially against the likes of Alonso, Webber and Button. Fifth place was a good result, and Rosberg seemed very happy with this, despite a third place starting position. I think Mercedes will be disappointed with the overall result. A podium was on the cards, even if beating Vettel and probably Webber, was almost impossible. At least one driver from the German team is taking the fight to the frontrunners. Mercedes don’t want to continue underachieving.
Speaking of underachieving, Michael Schumacher! Schumacher looked strong in the early stages of the weekend, but blew his qualifying lap with a mistake at turn one, and then drove like a amateur on raceday. His attempt to keep Vitaly Petrov back on lap two was a grave misjudgement from a great champion. The corner had been lost to the aggressive Russian, yet Schumacher still doesn’t know when to give it up. If he had, Petrov would have had the place, but Michael would still have been in contention for a high points scoring result. He didn’t and the contact broke his front wing, and wrecked his afternoon. Seeing him being barged out of the way by the likes of Adrian Sutil, Kamur Kobayashi and former team-mate Rubens Barrichello was a very sorry sight. After finishing 12th, Schumacher even admitted he felt ‘no joy’ at the moment. When the fun stops, the racing must stop too. Alain Prost walked away at the top of his game, and to a degree, so did Nelson Piquet. Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve and Kimi Raikkonen didn’t and their reputations suffered as a consequence. The comeback by Michael was brave, but it hasn’t worked out. I think it is best for the seven-time world champion to walkaway and as soon as he can. At 42, the glory days of his career are just a distant dream. No-one can take away Schumacher’s achievements and of course, those controversial moments. He will always be known as one of the greats of all-time in Grand Prix history, but he is never going to return to those days, and that’s a fact. When the joy stops coming, the motivation goes and so, there’s little hope of getting that back.
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| PROBLEMS: Dodgy pitstops stalled McLaren's progress |
For McLaren, the 2011 Turkish Grand Prix can only be described as a very average weekend. Different strategies for their drivers didn’t work out, and with two shocking pitstops, the dreams of a podium finish vanished for both Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton. Nevertheless, the pair gave the crowd some wild moments in the early exchanges, as they battled royally for position, just as had in the closing stages of the 2010 event. Button had a resigned look on his face all weekend, and that disappointed me. He seemed to be down in the dumps for most of the event, and I couldn’t put my finger on it. Hamilton had a smile all throughout, despite the struggles that faced, especially against a recharged Alonso/Ferrari attack. Despite the 24 second pitstop Lewis endured during the race, he finished close to 50 seconds behind Vettel at the chequered flag, which is a sobering statistic in any form of terminology. Fourth and sixth was a good save, but McLaren still have work to do, if they want to go toe-to-toe with Red Bull.
A quick mention for one of the under-rated performers of the season so far and that is Sebastian Buemi. Like in Australia, the Toro Rosso driver finished in the points, in ninth place and has worked very hard on his natural abilities. Buemi had a poor 2010, especially after a solid rookie season in 2009. If we believe the speculation, Sebastian and Jaime Alguesuari are battling for one drive at Toro Rosso, especially with the highly talented Daniel Ricciardo waiting in the wings on testing duty. Currently, it is no contest, as Alguesuari is being left in the dust by Buemi’s improvements over the winter. Although the two Renault drivers overhauled the Swiss star in the late laps, Buemi was the only driver who seemed to make a three-stop strategy work in Turkey, so he deserves great credit for going down this route. Plus, he started only 16th, so it was a mighty effort under the radar.
To conclude this edition of ‘The Finishing Straight,’ I want to share my views with a couple of topics that are creating debate within the F1 paddock. Firstly, Bernie Ecclestone will make a decision very soon on the future of the Bahrain Grand Prix. With the unrest in the country having settled down, which forced the postponement of the event, initially scheduled for March 13, the organisers of the Sakhir event were in Turkey, attempting to plead their case to Ecclestone. Bernie told the BBC on Sunday that he wants the race to take place, but there is no place for it on the calendar, unless we have the ridiculous prospect of three races in three consecutive weekends. Bahrain probably does have an F1 future, but I can’t see them holding a race in 2011, I just can’t. Lastly, there has been growing speculation about the plans Rupert Murdoch and his News Corp company have in taking over Formula One. Ecclestone doesn’t want it to happen, and although Murdoch will try what he can to gain power on the sport; what would be the benefits? The teams might get more money, but the chances are, ticket prices will go up and F1 will move into pay-per-view television. We tried this in 2002 and it didn’t work. Why would it work a decade on then? Although I can see some possible negotiations starting soon, I don’t think Murdoch has enough backing to turn his move from a serious bid, into a certain venture.
I’ll be back for more of ‘The Finishing Straight’ in Barcelona. Can anyone stop the Smiling Assassin of Grand Prix racing, Sebastian Vettel? On the evidence of Turkey, it will have to take something special.
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