2011 European Grand Prix - Back to normality for Vettel

CRUISER: Another perfect weekend for runaway leader Vettel

AFTER his Canadian slip-up, Sebastian Vettel resumed his dominance of the 2011 F1 season, with a comprehensive victory at the European Grand Prix.  Vettel led from start to finish in the traditional Valencia snooze fest to record his sixth win from eight races.  He heads to Silverstone a whopping 77 points clear of Jenson Button and Mark Webber.

     The new regulations, which will see the banning on blowing hot gases off the exhausts of the cars at Silverstone started coming into force this weekend, with the teams being forced to run the same engine map for both qualifying and the race.  However, it did little to change the formbook, as Red Bull cruised to another lockout of the front row of the grid.  Despite a tardy start, Vettel led into the first bend and from there, never looked like he was going to be headed.  The big winner at the start was Felipe Massa, who scorched upto third position and challenged Webber into the second corner.  However, he backed out of a possible move, and this allowed the local favourite, Fernando Alonso to sweep around the outside of his team-mate and claim third spot.

BATTLE: Webber eventually lost out in his scrap with Alonso

     Vettel was having a laugh out there, and although he wasn’t pulling away excessively, he had the race totally in his command.  Webber ended up in a race long dogfight with Alonso and was overtaken by the feisty Spaniard shortly after the first round of stops.  Webber used the undercut to jump Fernando in the second pitstops, but moved onto the less preferred prime option (the medium tyre) earlier than anyone else.  He struggled with initial grip from the Pirelli tyres, and this enabled Alonso the opportunity to earn back second place.  Once behind, a grandstand finish for the runners-up spot behind the runaway winner Vettel was denied by a gearbox problem for Webber, which forced the Aussie to coast to the finish.

     Having arguably had the fastest car in the last three races, McLaren were miles off the pace of both Red Bull and Ferrari.  Both Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button complained afterwards of a lack of rear downforce and need for better aerodynamics.  Button lost a load of time behind Nico Rosberg in the early stages, before pulling off one of the only meaningful passes in the race on the fourth circuit.  The Canada winner was hobbled by a KERS issue, which left him stranded in sixth.  Hamilton had a quiet run to fourth, but after the controversy of the last two races and his questionable manoeuvres, the 2008 champion was probably just pleased to see the chequered flag without any unnecessary hassle.

     After his promising start, Massa faded to fifth and a full half minute behind his team-mate Alonso.  The Brazilian wasn’t helped by a poor second stop, when he was delayed by a sticky wheel nut.  With the top three teams locking down the top six positions, there were precious few pickings for the remainder of the field.  Jaime Alguesuari thrilled the home supporters, by making a two-stop strategy work to perfection.  He matched his Montreal result of eighth place, and more performances like that will keep him in the Toro Rosso hotseat.  He finished narrowly behind Nico Rosberg, who did well to score points on a weak Mercedes GP circuit. 

     Michael Schumacher returned to his crash fest specials in Valencia.  He was lucky to escape a drive-through penalty for crossing the white line on the pitlane exit and then another clumsy overtaking attempt on Vitaly Petrov ended with a damaged front wing.  After that, he was resigned to a dismal 17^th placed finish.  Petrov’s goose was cooked by a diabolical start that saw him lose four positions in the first corner.  He was out of the points and Nick Heidfeld could only muster tenth for his efforts.  Renault need Robert Kubica back, but with the Pole’s comeback not likely until next season at the earliest, face a very tricky second half of the season.  Adrian Sutil drove consistently all weekend and finished a creditable ninth for Force India.  Scotland’s Paul di Resta, who missed all of Friday after reserve driver Nico Hulkenberg crashed his car in practice, did well to finish 14^th.  For the third time in the history of the FIA Formula One World Championship, every single car finished the race.  The other races were the 1961 Dutch Grand Prix and the 2005 Italian Grand Prix.

     After this win, Sebastian Vettel becomes only the second driver to have finished in the top two of the first eight races of any season.  On the other occasion, Fernando Alonso won the title in 2006, though he was pushed all the way by Schumacher in his swansong Ferrari season.  Somehow, I can’t see that happening this season.  It will have to take something like a freak illness or accident that will stop Sebastian Vettel from winning the 2011 world championship.  F1 returns home to Silverstone in a fortnight’s time and hopefully, it will provide the spectacular racing that Valencia simply failed to achieve.