BEFORE I round-up the weekend’s events at the final European race of the season, I want to apologise for not producing any blogs of ‘The Finishing Straight,’ for the Hungarian and Belgian rounds of the 2011 FIA Formula One World championship. I had a busy time in my own life and never found the required time to sum up my weekend’s feelings. However, I’m back now with this kind of blog for the remainder of the 2011 season, although the competition for the title is now well and truly over.
The hopeful purists were praying that Spa and Monza would show the weaknesses of the Red Bull Racing Renault package. It didn’t, it just enhanced itself as one of the best ever cars to have graced Formula One. In Sebastian Vettel, not only are we witnessing domination of the Schumacher Ferrari days (2001, 2002, 2004 spring to mind,) we are witnessing one of the ultimate legends in the sport. There will always be comparisons with the likes of Senna, Prost, Fangio and Schumacher in his peak and it’s difficult to judge where you rank Vettel in the various categories. However, he is the ultimate driver now and has been the class of the field for over a year now. Anyone who says that he doesn’t deserve his second world championship needs to go and see a brain surgeon before it’s too late! His win at Monza was so easy; it looked like he hadn’t broken a sweat in achieving it. He had to make a crucial pass in the race to earn his win and the bravery he showed when Fernando Alonso stuck him on the grass like an animal on lap five was amazing. Against Alonso, many would have backed off in this situation, but Vettel didn’t and reaped his rewards with the decisive overtake in this race. Time and again, he has been criticised for his lack of racecraft, but he has pulled off race-winning passes on Felipe Massa in Malaysia, Jenson Button in Barcelona and Alonso again in Belgium, so there’s nothing wrong in this department. In fact, Sebastian Vettel is for me, one of the top ten drivers to have ever sat in a racing car. It couldn’t happen to a nicer bloke either. Schumacher’s records could now be under severe threat when you consider Vettel’s age – maybe HMV should approach the champion-to-be for a job in a desperate boost to improve its failing record sales!
While Vettel is coasting to the title, fellow compatriot Schumacher is starting to roll back the years, which I’m pleased to see. He drove superbly to fifth from 24th on the grid in Spa and repeated the result at Monza, with his strongest outing of the season. The Mercedes GP chassis, which frankly has been a real letdown this season, looked much better in Italy and Schumacher comfortably had the measure of Nico Rosberg. Some fantastic positioning combined with a few borderline movement directions saw MS keep a rather cautious Lewis Hamilton at bay for almost half the race. Was Michael playing with the rules and regulations in his defending? Well, the race stewards felt no action was required, despite a couple of irritable messages from Mercedes GP boss Ross Brawn on the team radio. I felt he was pushing his luck a bit, but Michael Schumacher has always done that. That’s why he’s clever, cunning and a seven-time world champion. You don’t achieve his feats by accident. It’s nice to compliment Schumacher, rather than slam him for shocking events he has had in his comeback. The nightmare of his Istanbul performance in May seems like a long time ago.
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| DESTROYED: Petrov, Rosberg and Barrichello were innocent victims |
Whilst Schumacher’s driving was legitimate, Vitantonio Liuzzi has some explaining to do, for causing mayhem in the first chicane. Annoyed at being out-qualified by his team-mate, Daniel Ricciardo for the first time, he lost the plot completely and ruined many races. He did make a great start, but with Liuzzi’s experience, he should know that you can’t win the race at the first corner. He couldn’t control the car on the grass and yes, he did get an HRT into the top eight of a Grand Prix for the first time, but not in glorified fashion. Vitaly Petrov’s fury as he got out of his destroyed Renault and Nico Rosberg’s comment of being ‘torpedoed’ said it all really. Liuzzi took them out, ruined Rubens Barrichello’s race and scuppered the chances of points for Adrian Sutil and Kamur Kobayashi. A five-place grid penalty for Singapore doesn’t do justice, especially as he will qualify last anyway. Then, he has the cheek to blame Heikki Kovalainen for squeezing him on the grass!! Nice try Tonio, but I think it’s time you find alternative motorsport employment before you destroy anyone else’s race chances.
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| MOVING: Sam Michael will be in McLaren colours next season |
McLaren’s decision to appoint the outgoing Williams technical director Sam Michael, as sporting manager is a shrewd decision. Michael, responsible for Williams best recent period, (2001-03) under Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher will bring some much-needed stability to the team that has been all too evident in missing this season. Jenson Button is having his best season for a long while, even better than his 2009 championship winning campaign. Michael will work closely with Hamilton too, which should be a good thing for Lewis, after what has been an erratic season to say the least for Hamilton. If he can get results out of the likes of Montoya and Schumacher Jnr, who let’s be honest, were mediocre drivers, then I think McLaren are onto a real winner with this appointment. At least the second and fourth places finishes at Monza all but guaranteed second place in the constructors’ championship for McLaren again. However, in the words of Ron Dennis; ‘second is the first of the losers.’
One team that has got their act together as the season has gone on is Scuderia Toro Rosso. The upgrades they keep bringing have moved them right into the hunt for points on a regular basis. Jaime Alguesuari’s stunning second-half of the season continues, with a career-best seventh place finish, despite being knocked out in the first part of qualifying. Despite getting hit in the first corner, Sebastian Buemi was a solid tenth. Six points finishes for Buemi and five for Alguesuari is really good going and they have closed right onto the tails of the Sauber/Force India squabble for sixth place in the constructors’ championship. This is a battle I’m looking forward to in the final six flyaway races and I’ve got a feeling that Toro Rosso might sneak the position. When Paul di Resta has a good weekend, Adrian Sutil doesn’t and vice versa, which is hurting Force India’s potential for double points finishes. Sauber can’t seem to qualify very well and with Sergio Perez making a few too many mistakes, plus reliable Kamur Kobayashi going off the boil, I think it is Toro Rosso’s position for the taking.
One team that won’t be featuring in this scrap is Williams. Just five points all season is a dismal return for a team with such established pedigree in Formula One. On a day when points were up for grabs, Pastor Maldonado and Rubens Barrichello missed out, in 11th and 12th place. Ninth place will be the worst finish for the team since Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head came together to form Williams Engineering in 1978. Maldonado has shown on his day that he is worthy of a place in the sport, but other times, drives like a total hooligan (Belgium qualifying incident with Hamilton in thought here!). I’m afraid Rubens Barrichello is struggling and looks like a sorry figure in the paddock nowadays. I don’t quite know what is keeping Rubens around because he doesn’t seem to be enjoying his racing anymore, despite his claims he is. I’ve been very supportive of Barrichello’s career, particularly in the no.2 job he had to play at Ferrari, but his painful campaign is having echoes of Damon Hill’s pitiful final season in the sport in 1999. Maybe it is time for Rubens to move aside and give youth a chance. Romain Grosjean has won the GP2 Championship, is basically owned by Renault and unless Robert Kubica doesn’t return, will be frozen out. Bruno Senna, Adrian Sutil, even a shock Nico Hulkenberg return have also been mentioned with Williams. What would be their strongest team? Probably Sutil/Senna would be good, but Maldonado/Grosjean is more likely, largely because of the millions that Pastor is bringing to the drive for sponsorship. While I’m talking high sponsorship levels, I wonder what happened to ex-Forti, Sauber and Arrows driver Pedro Diniz. Answers on a postcard please!
Finally, there is no doubt who was the driver of the day and the driver of the weekend at Monza. Solid mentions have to be given out to Bruno Senna, Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button, but Sebastian Vettel was once again, supreme and in a class of one.
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| IMPERIOUS: Singapore would be ideal for Vettel's title |
So, six flyaway races remain in 2011. The night spectacular in Singapore begins the long haul next weekend, followed by the classic Suzuka circuit in Japan. A second visit to Korea beckons, before a new adventure for the inaugural Indian Grand Prix in New Delhi. The twilight of Abu Dhabi stages the penultimate event, before we wrap up four weeks before Xmas in Brazil on November 27.
It’s no longer a question of if, but when the sensational Mr. Vettel wraps it all up and the setting of night racing in Singapore would be a fitting way to clinch it.
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