F1 2011 review - Sebastian's perfect season

THE 2010 Formula One season has gone down as one of the most special seasons ever and it ended with the youngest ever world champion.  Just what would 2011 deliver?  The new season began with new regulations, such as the introduction of DRS which was brought in to make overtaking more possible in races.  KERS made a return after its 2009 failure and Italian tyre manufacturer Pirelli returned to the sport as the sole tyre supplier after a 20-year absence.  Uprisings in the Arab world forced the postponement and eventual cancellation of the Bahrain Grand Prix, so once again, the championship would begin in Melbourne.

     From the moment he arrived at the Australian Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel set a benchmark which no-one could live with.  He was untouchable at Albert Park, controlling qualifying and dominating the race to win the first event.  It was Red Bull’s first Australian victory and a sign of things to come.  McLaren arrived with a car that looked miles off the pace from their winter testing figures.  They were the surprise of the first race, as Lewis Hamilton produced a fighting performance to come home second, underlining the team’s hard work.  Team-mate Jenson Button had a fierce dice with Felipe Massa in the early stages of the race and got a drive-through penalty for cutting a corner and gaining an advantage on the Brazilian.  It left Button down in sixth by the finish.  Vitaly Petrov drove stunningly to register his first ever podium finish for Renault, a brilliant boost for the team deprived of Robert Kubica’s services this season after the Pole sustained serious injuries in a pre-season rally accident.  Both Sauber’s were disqualified for technical infringements which robbed Sergio Perez of points on his F1 debut, but it did allow Scottish rookie Paul di Resta to get a point in his first race.

Vettel started how it meant to go by winning the first two events

     In the heat of Malaysia, a Red Bull weakness was identified.  The tight packaging of their chassis meant they were struggling to keep KERS reliable.  However, this didn’t stop Vettel who was in a class of his own again, looking after his tyres and an intermittent KERS issue and claimed his fifth victory in the last six events altogether.  Button launched his championship assault with a brilliant second place and Kubica’s stand-in at Renault, Nick Heidfeld was an outstanding third, benefiting from a flying start that had him second into the first corner.  Talking of flying, his team-mate Petrov took to the air in a spectacular exit from the race with three laps remaining.  Old rivals Hamilton and Fernando Alonso clashed again, when the Ferrari misjudged an overtaking move.  For a separate weaving incident, a frustrated Hamilton was penalised and wound up eighth, with Alonso in sixth.

     After running out of fresh tyres in Sepang, Hamilton played the strategy game in China and it worked with a brilliant victory.  He overcame a major oil leak in the garage before the race and saved an extra set of tyres in qualifying to use them in a race that went down in the history books as one of the greatest ever.  Vettel beat Button to pole, but made a poor start and looked tense all afternoon, but showed his championship might with second place.  More KERS problems left Mark Webber in a dismal 18^th on the grid, but he put in a sensational fightback to claim the final place on the podium.  Button was a dejected fourth and produced one of the blunders of the season.  Having led the early stages, he made a terrible mistake and stopped at the wrong pit!  A comical moment, but Jenson would make up for it later in the season.  Felipe Massa’s inferior strategy left him down in sixth, but beating Alonso by 15 seconds made it a solid and sweet performance.  Another man who impressed in China was Nico Rosberg.  He led a significant chunk of the race, but faded badly to fifth by the end.  It was the closest Mercedes GP would get to finishing on the podium this season.

     Another tremendous Grand Prix followed three weeks later in Istanbul.  Pirelli’s tyre mileage left us with a four stop strategy for most of the top runners and overtaking galore with the effective DRS.  Despite crashing in wet practice on Friday and losing a day of race setup, Vettel was a comfortable winner on what turned out to be F1’s last trip to Turkey.  Webber ensured Red Bull had their first 1-2 of the season, coming out on top in a feisty scrap with Alonso, who claimed Ferrari’s first rostrum after a difficult start to the campaign.  A sticky wheel nut at a routine pitstop left Hamilton over 40 seconds adrift in fourth place and Button’s gamble on one less pitstop didn’t work and left him behind Rosberg in sixth.  While Rosberg was picking up points for Mercedes, Michael Schumacher’s weekend was a disaster.  Unnecessary contact with Petrov in the early laps and losing out in many midfield battles left him admitting to feeling ‘no joy’ following his 12^th place finish. 

 

Next stop on the Sebastian Vettel crusade was Barcelona, which surprised many with an exciting duel.  Despite being beaten to pole position by team-mate Mark Webber, Vettel showed his superiority on raceday.  However, he was made to work very hard for his 13^th career victory.  Fernando Alonso’s adoring Spanish public witnessed an incredible start as their hero catapulted from fourth on the grid into the lead.  Sadly, dreadful tyre wear left him ending a lapped fifth.  Vettel led from lap 19 onwards, but Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren was the faster package and hunted him down.  The German’s brilliant defensive driving was enough to take victory again and the team rightly praised his driving, rather than his ‘Crazy Frog’ impression.  Having made an awful start and dropping to tenth on lap one; Jenson Button produced two cracking moves on Alonso and Webber to complete the podium.  Michael Schumacher responded to his critics with a solid run to sixth, ahead of his team-mate Nico Rosberg whilst Nick Heidfeld came from last after a fire in practice to eighth.

Perez's rookie season was put on hold after this crash in Monaco

     Any driver will claim that winning in Monaco will be the highlight of the season and Vettel added Monte Carlo to his ever increasing trophy cabinet on a turbulent weekend in the principality.  The weekend started with a sickening shunt for Sergio Perez in qualifying.  The Mexican crashed out of the tunnel in Q3 and suffered a bruised thigh and concussion, keeping him out for two races.  In the race, Vettel, Alonso and Button produced a supreme afternoon of driver skill.  Sebastian survived a bad pitstop on lap 16 and stayed out on weaker tyres to hold off the Ferrari and McLaren.  Hamilton had a nightmare weekend, which included a qualifying demotion, then two more drive-through penalties in the race for controversial clashes with Felipe Massa and Pastor Maldonado.  He attacked race stewards in an unsavoury post-race interview, beginning a dark period for the Brit.  Vitaly Petrov was admitted to hospital after being involved in a multiple crash with Adrian Sutil, Hamilton and Jaime Alguersuari late on which caused a race stoppage.  Fortunately, the Russian escaped serious injury.   

      If anyone thought F1 2011 had been crazy so far, then the drama of the Canadian Grand Prix exceeded everything.  Five safety cars, a two hour stoppage for a torrential downpour and an amazing finish which had avid fans jumping up and around at 10.15pm in the evening!  Vettel drove brilliantly again and led through most of the chaos, until around the last lap, he ran wide and handed Jenson Button a sensational victory.  Button stormed back from 21^st and last at half-distance, following collisions with team-mate Hamilton and Alonso, which ended both of their races.  For once, Vettel showed he was human and still could crack under pressure.  Webber recovered from his own contact with Hamilton to make it two Red Bulls on the podium, just ahead of Schumacher, who ran as high as second and produced the best drive of his comeback.  Further back, a hard-fought eighth place from a pitlane start saved Jaime Alguersuari from the sack at Toro Rosso.

     After that Canadian excitement, the European Grand Prix disappointed with the usual lack of action in Valencia.  Vettel bounced back from his Montreal slip-up to dominate in trademark fashion.  He took pole position and won at a canter, whilst Alonso beat Webber in a straight fight to take an excellent second for Ferrari.  Hamilton had a very quiet run to fourth, followed by Massa and Button.  All 24 cars that started in Valencia made it to the finish; only the third time in history this has happened, after the 1962 Dutch GP and the 2005 Italian GP.

Alonso was in top form at Silverstone, taking his only win of 2011

An incident-packed British Grand Prix at Silverstone saw our fourth different winner of the season.  Alonso benefited from a poor Red Bull pitstop and Vettel being held up behind Hamilton’s slower McLaren in the middle part of the race to take Ferrari’s first victory since Korea last year.  Webber claimed pole position on Saturday, but dropped behind Vettel at the start and was forced by team boss Christian Horner to “maintain the gap,” in the closing stages.  There were time when memories of Turkey 2010 came flooding back, but a 2-3 result kept Red Bull comfortably clear in the constructors championship.  The Brits had a largely miserable day.  Paul di Resta made contact with Sebastian Buemi and had a dismal pitstop to wreck his hopes of points after qualifying a brilliant sixth, whilst a loose wheel nut ended Button’s grand prix prematurely.  Hamilton stirred the motions with fourth, holding off Massa in an exciting final corner duel, despite fuel management issues.

     Next was a trip to the chilly Eiffel Mountains and the Nurburgring, where Lewis Hamilton put a great weekend together to qualify on the front row behind Mark Webber and win the race.  He jumped the Australian at the start and used great strategy and daring overtaking moves on both Webber and Fernando Alonso to take the spoils.  Alonso was second and Webber back in third.  An off-colour Sebastian Vettel spun early on and seemed unhappy on home soil all weekend.  Nevertheless, smart pit work from Red Bull saw him leapfrog Felipe Massa on the last lap to salvage fourth place.  Once again, Jenson Button was out of luck, forced to retire with hydraulic problems, handing Adrian Sutil a best finish of the season for Force India in sixth place.  The pressure was growing on Nick Heidfeld at Renault after a clash with Sebastian Buemi put him out of the race and his seat in severe jeopardy.

      A week later and the McLaren summer renaissance continued at an unseasonably damp Budapest.  In a race decided by getting on the right tyres at the right time, Button mastered everything again to win in Hungary for the second time in his career.  The race was Hamilton’s for the taking, as he led the majority of it.  However, he was left to rue a missed opportunity when he spun into the path of Paul di Resta, forcing his countryman off the road.  Lewis got a drive-through and pitted six times, but still finished fourth.  Second place for Vettel increased his championship lead, with near rivals, Alonso and Webber finishing behind him in third and fifth respectively.  Heidfeld’s Renault career ended spectacularly when his engine air bottle exploded on pitlane exit, leaving his car in flames.  Fans also felt fiery, when news came through of a new TV deal in Hungary which sees Sky Sports receiving live coverage of every race next season and the BBC settling for partial coverage of ten live events.

Hamilton's crash in Belgium summed up a messy championship

After the summer break, Formula One returned at the end of August to Belgium and the daunting Spa-Francorchamps circuit.  Despite safety cars and serious concerns over blistered tyres after qualifying, Red Bull took a 1-2 finish.  Vettel handled it all with his usual panache and Webber recovered from a shocking start which saw him ninth into La Source to finish a very strong second.  Hamilton’s faint championship hopes ended when he had a silly collision with Kamui Kobayashi, which speared the McLaren into the barriers.  Team-mate Button started 13^th after a tactical mix-up in qualifying and had to pit early after first corner contact, but produced a stirring fightback to third.  Alonso was hindered by Ferrari’s decision to use one less set of dry tyres and without the grip levels of his rivals, the submissive Spaniard had to settle for fourth.  On the 20^th anniversary of making his F1 debut, Michael Schumacher stormed through from last on the grid after a wheel hub failure in qualifying to record a fabulous fifth place, narrowly ahead of team-mate Rosberg.  Pastor Maldonado scored his first and only point of the season, whilst Bruno Senna qualified a superb seventh on his Renault debut, but blotted his copybook by running into Jaime Alguersuari at the start of the race.

     The final European race of the season was as ever, at Monza and Ferrari country.  Red Bull feared they wouldn’t be very strong, due to the power disadvantage of their Renault engine, but Vettel blew the opposition away.  He produced a meteoric lap to take pole position by half a second on Saturday and despite Alonso beating him off the startline, made a brave and decisive pass on the grass to record another fantastic victory.  Button overwhelmed Alonso later in the race for second place, but despite poor traction from his Ferrari, Fernando still managed to make the podium to give the Tifosi something to shout about.  Michael Schumacher pushed the boundaries in a vigorous defence from Lewis Hamilton for half the race, with Hamilton eventually coming out on top for fourth place.  Massa was a distant sixth after contact early on with Mark Webber; the Australian having a pathetic off into the barriers on his way back to the pits with front wing damage.  Vitantonio Liuzzi produced his nomination for accident of the season, by trying to move his HRT into the points from the back row into turn one!  His ambition backfired, torpedoing Vitaly Petrov and Nico Rosberg out of the race at the first chicane.

     The flyaway finish began under the lights in Singapore, where Sebastian Vettel eased to another victory and within one point of the title.  Jenson Button came second, which was enough to take the fight to Suzuka, but third and fourth place results ended any mathematical hopes for Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso.  The weekend was dominated by two run-ins between Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton, with a fuming Massa angrily confronting his rival in the interview pen after the race.  Paul di Resta was a notable sixth to achieve his best finish of his 2011 rookie year, whilst Michael Schumacher escaped injury after a nasty looking accident, when he went airborne over Sergio Perez.

Three wins for Button, including an emotional success in Japan

     Sure enough, as expected, Vettel sealed the world championship title at Suzuka, to become the youngest back-to-back champion in the history of the sport and only the ninth driver to achieve such a feat.  Button drove brilliantly once again to take victory, ahead of a hard charging Alonso, but third place was easily enough for Vettel in a gripping Grand Prix.  Once again, Hamilton and Massa made contact during the race, which saw a piece of McLaren bodywork deployed on the racing line and forcing the Safety Car out.  By their 2011 standards, the incident was relatively minor, but it was another flashpoint in a dismal season for both.  Michael Schumacher managed to split Hamilton and Massa at the chequered flag, whilst flu-ridden Perez drove well in his Sauber to eighth, as did Nico Rosberg from 23^rd on the grid to tenth.  However, Suzuka 2011 will be remembered for the place that wrapped up Sebastian Vettel’s glory season.

The German wasn’t finished yet though, as he cruised to his tenth victory of the season in Korea.  Combined with a third place finish for Webber, it sealed the constructor’s championship for Red Bull.  Hamilton blasted to pole, the first non Red Bull pole position of the season, but he was subdued all weekend as he finished second, his split from Nicole Scherzinger seemed to weigh on his mind throughout.  Button, Alonso and Massa completed the top six, leaving slim pickings for the rest.

      F1 made its inaugural visit to India and the sport gave the country the tradition in 2011 of a Sebastian Vettel pole position and a Sebastian Vettel victory.  He led every lap and was simply untouchable.  His 11^th triumph of the season put him within two races of equalling Michael Schumacher’s record of 13 wins in a season.  Once again, it was Button and Alonso who completed the podium positions which provided a great circuit, but sadly, very poor racing.  Massa and Hamilton became attracted again with their sixth collision of the season.  The Brit’s front wing was damaged and he limped home in seventh.  Massa was blamed this time by the race stewards and awarded a drive-through penalty, but it didn’t matter in the end, as he abused his Ferrari over the plastering kerbing and broke his front suspension.  Mercedes equalled their best result of the season, with Schumacher leading Rosberg home to fifth, as he did at Spa earlier in the season.

      However, Vettel’s hopes of equalling Schumacher’s wins in a season record ended on the second corner in Abu Dhabi.  A sudden deflation on the left-rear tyre sent the champion spinning out of the race.  Hamilton took full advantage and returned to form to secure a brilliant win in a very controlled and measured drive.  As so often the case this season, Alonso outperformed his equipment to take second place for Ferrari and despite a KERS failure, Button made it two McLarens on the podium. 

      Red Bull may have finished off the podium in Abu Dhabi, but they showed their class in the finale at Sao Paulo.  Webber finally ended his barren run by taking a magnificent victory in Brazil, although he was aided by a faulty gearbox problem for his team-mate.  Button wrapped up second in the drivers championship with a podium finish, but Hamilton was out of luck, finishing his largely desperate season off with gearbox failure.  At least he ended his public feud with Massa after the race.  Fourth place for Alonso wasn’t enough to hold off Webber for third place in the driver’s championship final positions.

Vettel and Red Bull were the class of the field in 2011

So, after 19 races in 18 countries and five different winners from three teams, the end has arrived for F1 2011.  Sometimes in the sport, you just have to appreciate greatness and we must hail Sebastian’s perfect season!

DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP: Sebastian Vettel 392, Jenson Button 270, Mark Webber 258, Fernando Alonso 257, Lewis Hamilton 227, Felipe Massa 118, Nico Rosberg 89, Michael Schumacher 76, Adrian Sutil 42, Vitaly Petrov 37, Nick Heidfeld 34, Kamui Kobayashi 30, Paul di Resta 27, Jaime Alguersuari 26, Sebastian Buemi 15, Sergio Perez 14, Rubens Barrichello 4, Bruno Senna 2, Pastor Maldonado 1

CONSTRUCTORS CHAMPIONSHIP: Red Bull 650, McLaren 497, Ferrari 375, Mercedes GP 165, Renault 73, Force India 69, Sauber 44, Toro Rosso 41, Williams 5

2011 Brazilian Grand Prix - Webber ends barren run in style

SMILES: Webber finally has something to lookback on in 2011

AFTER 18 frustrating months playing second fiddle to his red-hot team-mate Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber finally tasted the champagne on the top step of the podium on Sunday.  The Australian won the 2011 finale in style in Sao Paulo, taking full advantage of a rare reliability issue that hobbled his team-mate.  From second on the grid, Webber was let through into the lead of the Brazilian Grand Prix on lap 29, as world champion Vettel had to battle on with a serious gearbox problem.  Nevertheless, he still finished second as Red Bull Racing put on a demonstration in a race that will quickly be forgotten by the avid F1 fan.

       On Saturday afternoon, Vettel broke another record with his usual pole position.  It was his 15^th of the campaign, eclipsing Nigel Mansell’s mark of 14 that he achieved in 1992.  From the moment the Red Bulls got into turn one first, the rest might have well parked their cars as they had no chance of getting on terms with the team that has had the best equipment, the best pit crew and the best strategies all season.  Vettel was first warned of his gearbox gremlin on lap 14 by his race engineer Rocky.  He was urged to short-shift in third and fourth and although he set some fastest laps to provoke some nerves within the team, Sebastian did what was asked.  Later, he said on the team radio; “I feel like Senna in 91,” which will go down as one of the sound bites of the season.  This was the famous reference to when the late Ayrton Senna won in 1991 with a major gearbox problem.  Webber caught his team leader and Vettel let him by into turn one in a piece of synchronised driving that is more likely to be seen by a couple of truck drivers on the M1.  It was an overtaking manoeuvre that would have struggled to get anyone excited.

       While the Red Bulls dominated at the front, the fans did witness an exciting dice between the other two standout drivers of the season, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso.  The Ferrari looked to have the measure of the McLaren for much of the race, as Jenson struggled with a balance on the option tyres.  In fact, Fernando pulled off one of the best passes of the entire season, when he swept right around the outside of the Brit into turn six on lap ten.  52 laps later, Button had reeled him in again, as the Achilles heel of the Ferrari team came back to haunt them again.  Alonso couldn’t get decent consistency on the harder prime Pirelli tyre and Button outmanoeuvred him in turn four.  This decisive move meant Webber stole third place in the drivers’ championship from Alonso at the last event of the season.  

       Lewis Hamilton had a difficult race, as he was another driver to struggle with gearbox issues.  He had his from the tenth lap onwards, but unlike Vettel, his gave up the ghost whilst sixth on lap 48.  It completes a tough season for Hamilton, which sees him finish fifth in the championship and although he looked in good spirits, 2011 will largely be a season he’d like to forget.  At least he ended the feud with Felipe Massa that has ruined both of their seasons, by embracing his rival in parc ferme after the race; a gesture that was widely appreciated by Massa, Martin Whitmarsh and Stefano Domenicalli.  

DAMAGE: Senna and Schumacher harmed each other's races

     It was a race where there wasn’t a lot to shout about for the Brazilian fans.  Massa finished a lonely fifth, although he did pull off some donuts after the race to entertain everyone.  Potentially in his final race, Rubens Barrichello ended up in 14^th place for Williams after making a shocking start and dropping from 12^th to 20^th by the end of the first lap.  Bruno Senna qualified well, but was harshly penalised by the stewards for a clash with Michael Schumacher which wrecked both of their races early on.  The contact at turn one was unnecessary and pointless, but a racing incident.  Bruno damaged his front wing and Schumacher collected a left-rear puncture.  Both finished well out of the reckoning, in 17^th and 15^th places respectively. 

       The path was made clear for Webber to record the seventh victory of his career and his first since the Hungarian Grand Prix last July.  Vettel completed Red Bull’s fourth 1-2 of the season, followed by Button, Alonso and Massa.  Adrian Sutil put in his best drive of the campaign to record a fine sixth place for Force India, as he seeks a drive for next season.  His team-mate Paul di Resta completed a fine rookie season with eighth place and took Force India to within four points of snatching fifth in the constructor’s championship from the underachieving Renault team.  Nico Rosberg had his usual unobtrusive run to seventh place and the final points went to Kamur Kobayashi and Vitaly Petrov.  Kobayashi’s two points were crucial, as it kept Sauber ahead of Toro Rosso in the constructor’s championship by three points and could be worth an extra $5million to the team in prize money.

       So, that is it then.  The curtain has come down on a season which has produced five different winners, from three teams, in 19 races across the globe, taking place in 18 countries.  We have seen some vintage races, numerous overtakes, records tumble and ultimately, a team and driver at complete harmony with one another.  Red Bull have set the standard this season and raised the bar once again in Formula One.  McLaren and Ferrari have a lot of hard work to do in the winter to get on terms, otherwise come Melbourne next March; the team from Milton Keynes will be ready to crush everyone again.

      Enjoy the winter break!  

F1 classic races - Brazil

FOR the final time this season and on this blog, I will be looking back at specific events from previous years of the country about to host a round of the FIA Formula One World Championship.  This time, it will be a bit different, as I charter the history of the Brazilian Grand Prix since it returned to Interlagos in 1990.

        The Brazilian Grand Prix had been staged on the Rio de Janeiro circuit in the 1980s, but returned to a shorter Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo from 1990 onwards.  To locals, it is better known as the Autodromo Carlos Pace, a Brazilian driver who won his home event in 1975.  Sao Paulo has certainly put on some special events since its return to the Grand Prix calendar.

        Alain Prost won the first event in 1990 after local hero Ayrton Senna ran into the back of backmarker Satoru Nakajima whilst leading.  Senna had never won his home race, but he ended the barren run in 1991.  He started on pole position and spent the majority of the race, fighting off a stiff challenge from the Williams of Nigel Mansell.  A wild spin for Mansell led to a gearbox failure, which was the Achilles heel of that chassis.  With three laps to go, the unpredictable Brazilian weather played its usual wildcard, with Senna waving furiously for the race to be stopped.  Aided to that, he was struggling with a misbehaving gearbox of his own.  Somehow, he finished the race with just one working gear and the McLaren beat Riccardo Patrese by just two seconds.  Cue euphoria and ecstasy in the crowd.  Senna had worked so hard for the victory; he was in intense physical pain and had to be lifted out of his car by paramedics.  He was suffering from cramp in his arms and shoulders.  Undeterred, he stood on the podium to take the top prize and achieve his remaining ambition of winning his home race.  He repeated the feat in 1993, edging out Damon Hill in another wet/dry race.

      For 1994, Ayrton switched to the all-conquering Williams team.  With Mansell away in IndyCars and Prost retired from racing, surely he was going to steamroller a mediocre field and take his fourth championship.  However, the partnership didn’t work out and as we all know, it ended tragically at Imola.  However, it was already in trouble from the outset in Brazil, with the 34-year old clearly unhappy about the nervous handling of the FW16 chassis.  He did drag the machinery to pole position, but that was more down to his brilliance behind the wheel, rather than the car’s competitiveness.  In the race, he spun off and stalled his engine whilst running second on lap 56.  As Michael Schumacher coasted to victory by a full lap, the Brazilian fans heading out of the gates in their droves, unaware that this was the last Brazilian Grand Prix Ayrton Senna had competed in.

        For years afterwards, Brazil had to largely do with pay drivers in the sport, such as Pedro Diniz, Tarso Marques and Ricardo Rosset.  Their only shining light was the talents of Rubens Barrichello and when he moved to Ferrari for the start of the 2000 season, there were high hopes that he might end their long drought for a home winner.  Sadly, Rubens Interlagos jinx continued to strike at Maranello.  Hydraulics failure twice, an accident with Ralf Schumacher in 2001 and a fuel feed problem in 2003 put him on the sidelines, part of an event that will go down as a special race.

       New tyre regulations meant both Michelin and Bridgestone had not brought a full wet tyre to Sao Paulo in 2003 and with the track soaked, the race started behind the Safety Car.  An aquaplaning river at turn three turned that corner into the car version of Beachers Brook at the Grand National.  Juan Pablo Montoya, Jenson Button and Michael Schumacher were among the six victims who crashed out on this corner.  Barrichello looked set for victory, when he passed David Coulthard’s tyre hungry McLaren, but the fuel pressure issue robbed him of a certain triumph.  The incident-packed race was stopped early after almighty accidents for the Jaguar of Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso’s Renault.  Both escaped unharmed, although Alonso needed precautionary checks in an ambulance, so missed the podium ceremony.  The race was initially awarded to the McLaren of Kimi Raikkonen, but a countback error meant Giancarlo Fisichella was rightfully awarded his maiden success five days later in an FIA enquiry into the incidents in Paris.

      Traditionally, Brazil had been one of the early season races, but it moved to a season ending regular from 2004 onwards.  Juan Pablo Montoya secured the final victory for Williams to the present day that year, before Interlagos became the setting for some gripping championship deciders.  Fernando Alonso was crowned champion in 2005, becoming the youngest driver to achieve this in the process.  A year later, he did it again, although this was overshadowed by Michael Schumacher’s final race of his first career, which involved a storming drive back through the field to fourth, after an early puncture.  In 2007, Kimi Raikkonen pinched the championship from under the noses of McLaren’s Alonso and Lewis Hamilton with a season ending victory and in 2009, Jenson Button put in the drive of his life from 14^th on the grid to clinch the title with a stirring performance to fifth for newcomers Brawn GP. 

      However, if you want drama, try the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix, which will go down as one of the most dramatic finishes of all time.  Going into the event, Lewis Hamilton had a seven point lead over local hero, Felipe Massa.  Massa did nothing wrong all weekend, starting on pole position and never looked troubled to take his sixth win of the season in changeable conditions.  Fifth place would have been good enough for Hamilton to take the title in only his second season in the sport, but when he was overtaken by Sebastian Vettel’s Toro Rosso with three laps to go, Hamilton had been relegated to sixth.  For the second successive year, the championship seemed to be slipping away from Hamilton, but the wet weather intensified on the final lap and left Timo Glock’s Toyota stranded on dry tyres.  He was powerless to resist Vettel and Hamilton, who passed Glock into the final corner on the last lap of the season.  Ferrari celebrated, thinking they had won, as did McLaren.  It was the latter who had it right; Hamilton had secured the title in the most sensational fashion possible. 

      This season’s title battle may have been settled a long time ago, but let’s hope Brazil produces another special event this weekend to conclude the 2011 Formula One season.

2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Controlled Hamilton bounces back in style

SMILE: Lewis Hamilton was back on top form in Abu Dhabi

IN THE twilight of Abu Dhabi today, Lewis Hamilton reminded everyone just what a world class driver he really is.  He took full advantage of a rare bit of misfortune to strike the dominant Sebastian Vettel to win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in the United Arab Emirates.  It is the Brit’s third win of a troubled 2011 season, as he bounced back from recent traumas that have made his private life such a regular feature within the gossip columns of recent weeks.  Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and the second McLaren of Jenson Button completed the podium on the Yas Marina island; the first rostrum without a Red Bull driver for 20 races.

      From the outset of practice on Friday, McLaren turned up in Abu Dhabi and looked very fast.  Vettel bounced back from a rare lapse which saw him crash on Friday to record another pole position in qualifying yesterday.  However, those who presumed it would be another Sunday stroll for the German were about to get the shock of the season so far.  

DEMISE: Vettel's tyre begins to deflate, ending his race very early

     He charged into the lead after a perfect start, but entering turn two, recognised a problem with the rear of his car.  A rear tyre suddenly deflated and sent Vettel spinning onto the grass.  Hamilton probably couldn’t believe his luck as he inherited the lead; a position with which he only relinquished during the pitstops.  Sebastian limped home with the flailing rubber doing sufficient damage to the rear bodywork and rear wishbone, therefore ending his race in the pits.  It is his first DNF since the cruel engine failure he suffered in Korea last October.  It also means that Michael Schumacher’s record of 13 wins in a season can now not be broken.  A bemused Vettel and the team tried to find out what caused the instant puncture, with suspicions of low tyre pressures or debris off the turn one kerb.  As I write this, the cause is still unknown but the champion took his disappointment on the chin and stayed on the pitwall for the remainder of the event to watch proceedings.

       With Vettel out, it gave Hamilton the chance to assert himself at the front of the field again and what a good feeling it must have been.  A charging Alonso overtook Button on the first lap for second and kept the sister McLaren honest throughout the race.  However, Hamilton had better pace and more luck in the traffic to keep a secure lead of between three to five seconds throughout the 55-lap race.  As darkness fell, Red Bull’s problems deepened.  A dreadful nine second pitstop for Mark Webber cost him a shot at the final podium spot.  He seemed very cautious under braking throughout; suggesting that all was not well with the Australian’s car either.  With Button having a major KERS failure from lap 12 until around mid-distance, a significant opportunity was missed for a frustrated Webber.  Felipe Massa briefly took up the challenge, but he faded badly in the final stint and a pathetic spin at turn one had race engineer Rob Smedley shaking his head at another basic error from his driver.  Massa’s mistake allowed Red Bull to do a three stop strategy and enable Webber to pit on the final lap and put the less favourable prime tyre on.  Like at the Nurburgring with Vettel in July, the plan worked and left Massa marooned in fifth place. 

       Back infront and Hamilton completed the distance with little trouble to record his first win since the German Grand Prix in the summer and move him within six points of Webber’s fourth place in the driver’s championship.  Having experienced tough times both in his family and the split from girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger in recent weeks, Hamilton has had to experience a lot this season and he will be delighted with this performance.  He paid special tribute to his mum, who was there this weekend and celebrating her birthday too, making it a very happy Lewis on the podium.  Both he and Button wore the British poppy with pride too in memory of our soldiers on remembrance weekend in the UK.  Alonso seemed pleased with second place which keeps him just ten points shy of Button’s second place in the driver’s battle.  Behind Webber and Massa, Nico Rosberg had one of his strongest events of the season to finish sixth for Mercedes GP.  Team-mate Michael Schumacher survived a late race puncture to come home in seventh ahead of Adrian Sutil, Paul di Resta and Kamur Kobayashi.  Sutil and di Resta’s finishes came on different pit strategies and all but secures Force India a best ever sixth place in the constructor’s championship.  Koabyashi’s point was his first since the Nurburgring race eight races ago, but that is significant, as it moves Sauber back ahead of Toro Rosso in the constructors by a single point.  Sebastian Buemi was unfortunate not to beat all of them, as a suspension failure ended his day early.  There was also a notable effort from Rubens Barrichello, who came home 12^th from the back of the grid in an uncompetitive Williams, beating both Renault’s and Jaime Alguesuari’s Toro Rosso.

        Only one race remains now in the 2011 season, which is the Brazilian Grand Prix in a fortnight’s time.  For Lewis Hamilton, this is the perfect tonic and he will be aiming for similar success at Interlagos; a happy hunting ground for both McLaren drivers in the past.  Hopefully, Sao Paulo can provide everyone with a special finale which this season ultimately deserves.  

2011 Indian Grand Prix: New event, same winner

NICE: Vettel tastes the champagne after another win

IT MAY have been a new event, but there was a lot of predictability yesterday about the inaugural Indian Grand Prix. World champion Sebastian Vettel crushed the field again, as he so often has in F1 2011 to register his 11th win of a record-breaking season. In a fairly processional debut race at the Buddah International Circuit, the German coasted home, having led every single lap of the event. In the process, he broke Nigel Mansell’s record of laps led in a season and now is just two wins away from equalling Michael Schumacher’s record of 13 wins in a single season back in 2004.

     With both championships in the bag for Red Bull Racing, attention focused more on the setting and venue for this new event, rather than the race outcome. Before the race started, there was poignant reflection with a dignified one minute silence held on the grid for racers, Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli, both tragically killed in accidents over the past fortnight which has raised questions again about the safety levels in professional motorsport.

     Once his visor was down, Vettel’s focus was again on producing a dominant display from his customary pole position. Once he got to the first corner first, there was little doubt about who was going to end on the top step of the podium. Further back, Rubens Barrichello outbraked himself and hit the back of his Williams team-mate, Pastor Maldonado. Kamur Kobayashi had to take avoiding action, but was speared by the Virgin of Timo Glock. Two corners later, Daniel Ricciardo ran into the back of Jarno Trulli, spinning the Lotus around and destroying one of his rear tyres. Barrichello and Trulli made it back to the pits for repairs, but their afternoons were severely compromised. Both Kobayashi and Glock retired from the damage picked up in the turn one fracas.

     Behind Vettel, Mark Webber lost second to Jenson Button into turn four on the first lap. After some resolute defending in the early stages from the Brit, Webber began to drop back into the clutches of Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari. Although Button did set four consecutive fastest laps between laps 10-13, Vettel was looking after his tyres by this point and still never looked troubled.

     So, with little going on at the front, it was left to F1’s biggest conflict in 2011 to take centre stage. For the sixth time this season, Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa collided. This incident happened on the 22nd lap, whilst fighting over fifth place. Fighting back from a three-place grid penalty for ignoring yellow flags in Friday practice, Hamilton had the measure of the Ferrari and got within striking distance out of turn four. He slipstreamed the Brazilian and dived down the inside into turn five. Massa looked across no fewer than three times before choosing to turn in, when Hamilton was already into the corner. The resulting connection had both blaming the other again, but it was Massa who this time got the penalty from the race stewards for causing an avoidable collision. Lewis didn’t get off lightly, as he had to limp back to the pits for a new front wing. He resumed in ninth, then toured home in seventh; not the result he wanted after a tough period for the Brit personally, which has concluded in a well-publicised split from his long-term girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger.

     It was worse for Massa, who had to pit soon after his drive-through to replace a front wing that was vibrating heavily on the track. Two laps later, he repeated his qualifying mistake by hitting the inside of the orange plastering kerbing at the turn eight chicane. The end result; a damaged front suspension and his race came to a premature and depressing end.

     Things went better for his team-mate Alonso, who managed to stay out longer than Webber to undercut him in the second round of pitstops. Out front, Vettel was so dominant, he was barely seen by the TV cameras. He cruised home to win his fifth race in the last six events. Button’s fine second place finish, combined with Massa’s DNF ensured McLaren will finish second in the constructors championship. The canny Alonso took another podium ahead of a disappointing Webber, who once again failed to maximise the opportunity of a promising grid slot.

     Michael Schumacher had an excellent afternoon to finish fifth, having started a lowly 11th on the grid. He beat team-mate Nico Rosberg to match Mercedes GP’s best team result of the campaign. Behind Hamilton, Jaime Alguersuari collected more points for Toro Rosso in an impressive run to eighth place. Team-mate Sebastian Buemi suffered a rare Ferrari engine failure, which enabled Adrian Sutil and Sergio Perez to pick up the minor points in ninth and tenth. It was another difficult day for Renault, with both cars finishing out of the top ten and Paul di Resta’s risky tyre strategy didn’t work either, with the Scot coming across the line in a low-key 13th.

     With two races left in this season, the remaining question seems to be; can Sebastian Vettel break more records in this historic season. It is staggering to think that he is still only 24 years of age. He is in another zone to everyone else on the grid at the moment, so I would be very surprised if he didn’t win the final two races of what has been a vintage 2011 season for this incredible German. The twilight of Abu Dhabi awaits, in two weeks time.

2011 Japanese Grand Prix - Button wins the battle; Vettel retains his title

CHAMP: Third place for Vettel was enough for a second title

SEBASTIAN Vettel made history this morning in Japan by securing the one point he required to become the youngest ever back-to-back Formula One world champion.  The German, 24 finished in third place at Suzuka to finally extinguish the final hope from a potential championship challenge in the form of Jenson Button.  However, Button won this tremendous Japanese Grand Prix in style to not only cement his position in second place in the driver’s championship, but lay down a serious marker that things might be significantly different in 2012.

GRASSY: Vettel squeezes out Button on the rundown to turn one

    Vettel arrived in Japan looking very relaxed, with just one point required to finish the job and finally rubberstamp the seal on a dominant season, which has seen his Red Bull dismantle a top-quality field.  Even if he remarkably failed to get anymore points between this race and the season’s conclusion in Brazil on November 27, Button would have to win every single event left on the 2011 calendar.  This weekend, the McLaren looked the better package around this high-speed venue and only an immense lap from Vettel earnt him his customary pole position yesterday.  He didn’t waste his advantage at the start of the race either, which irked Button.  Sebastian moved across the road to defend his position into the first corner, leaving Jenson with the choice of having a silly accident or backing off onto the grass.  Sensibly, Jenson lifted and this forced hesitation allowed Lewis Hamilton into second place.  Button was livid and wanted his title rival to get a penalty for his questionable driving.  Rightfully, the race stewards looked into the incident, but correctly decided not to take further action.

      With high tyre degradation levels from the Pirelli tyres this weekend, managing the rubber was going to always be the decisive factor, with DRS not playing so much of a crucial role in Japan.  Hamilton picked up a slow puncture early on and had to let Button through into second, before being forced to pit.  His podium chances were finished and once again, Lewis would have a run-in with his best mate at the moment, Felipe Massa.  The pair made contact on lap 24 into the final chicane, with a piece of debris coming off the Ferrari in the process.  Again, the stewards took a closer look, but decided that Hamilton’s strong defensive driving was legal.  However, the Safety Car was curiously called out to remove the tiny, offending Ferrari piece of bodywork on the road. 

     Button seemed to have the measure of Vettel on the option tyre and with the champion-elect’s setup indicating higher tyre wear, the McLaren was able to take the lead at the second round of stops and control proceedings from there.  His pace on the Safety Car restart was blistering, whilst Vettel’s tyres kept …blistering.  After another stop, the German got bottled up behind Adrian Sutil for two laps and this enabled the canny Fernando Alonso to leapfrog Vettel into second place.  Slightly ahead of them and Michael Schumacher took the opportunity to lead some laps thanks to the bunching up behind the pace car.  It means Schumacher becomes the oldest driver to lead any racing laps since Sir Jack Brabham in 1961 and that’s a record Vettel will struggle to take.  In the closing stages, Alonso upped the ante and forced Button, who was in fuel saving mode, to respond.  As you would expect from the 2009 world champion, he did and crossed the line approximately two seconds infront of the Spaniard to record his third win of the season.  Vettel kept pushing, but knowing that the podium was safe, held back to take the 15 points on offer for third position and sealed the inevitable of becoming 2011 FIA Formula One World Champion.

     Behind them, Mark Webber drove to fourth in the second Red Bull, to strengthen the team’s constructor’s championship ambitions.  Hamilton described his race as ‘shocking’ afterwards, but still recorded fifth, ahead of Schumacher and Massa, who put in another poor performance in the sister Ferrari, considering he outqualified Alonso on Saturday.  Sergio Perez came eighth for Sauber, holding off the effects of a flu bug that made him look as white as a sheep all weekend.  Vitaly Petrov’s fighting ninth place keeps Lotus Renault well on course for fifth in the constructor’s championship and Nico Rosberg made use of his five sets of fresh tyres after a hydraulics failure eliminated him in Q1.  Rosberg’s point was a good performance, ahead of both Force India’s and the local hero, Kamur Kobayashi.  Although it earnt nothing, Adrian Sutil pulled off the move of the race and potentially the season, when he drilled Kobayashi on the inside of the daunting 130R, on worn tyres and the dirty racing line.  It was a brave and superb piece of driving from Sutil and it earnt him, 11^th place and no points.  The only retirement of the afternoon was Sebastian Buemi, who had to pull off when a tyre wasn’t fitted onto his Toro Rosso properly after his first pitstop.

SOAKING: Winner Button gets a nice champagne shower from Vettel

     The emotion on Button’s face was clear afterwards, as he lives in Japan for most of the year with his beautiful Japanese girlfriend, Jessica.  Having spent several years driving for Honda too, you can understand Jenson’s affection for the place.  This was his first dry race win for McLaren and on this evidence, he will win more before the end of the season.  It was a great performance and in his celebrations, he pointed to his special helmet, which is to be auctioned off for charity to help those still suffering from the after-effects of the devastating tsunami to hit the country in March.

     However, Sebastian Vettel steals the limelight today with his incredible feat, in what has been an almost faultless season.  This won’t be his last title either and many of Schumacher’s records look increasingly under threat now, from this latest German wunderkind.  He joins Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Brabham, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Schumacher, Mika Hakkinen and Alonso in the shortlist of back-to-back world champions and it is a list he fully deserves to be on.  Although the constructor’s championship still needs to be sorted, we can now go racing and enjoy the final four races of the season, starting with next weekend’s Korean Grand Prix.

Congratulations to Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing on their title success; the kings of Formula One in 2011.  

The Finishing Straight - Singapore (by HappyDude88)

ONE point is all that is needed now for Sebastian Vettel and if he doesn’t win the championship, I will flush my head down the toilet seat and film the embarrassing moment on YouTube!  The only man who can now deny the inevitable is Jenson Button and on their driving standards this season, these two have been a class apart from anyone else.

     I have given Vettel so many accolades this season, so it’s only fair for me to praise Button in this blog.  Since his sensational last-gasp victory in Montreal back in June, Jenson has been driving out of skin.  For me, he is in the best form of his career, driving that even outdoes what he was achieving in his championship winning campaign of 2009.  He has put in more consistent and stronger performances than Lewis Hamilton throughout the campaign and has now made himself the default no.1 at McLaren.  Button had a couple of shaky moments at the start of the championship; no-one should forget him driving into the wrong pit when leading in China and he had a dismal weekend at the Nurburgring, but more often than not, he has delivered when the task is set to him.  Once again, he elevated himself to high status in Singapore last weekend, outperforming what the car was capable of.  Late on, he put in a spurt to almost give the viewers a tasty finish and although it never looked like he could usurp Vettel at the front, he kept fighting until the end.  The Red Bull/Vettel combination looks like it could dominate Formula One for a number of years, but carry on with this momentum into next season and Jenson Button does have a chance to win the world championship again. 

      Whilst we continue to see the brilliant from Jenson Button, the bad continue to overweigh the good from Lewis Hamilton.  He got into some unnecessary scraps throughout the Singapore weekend with his nemesis from Monaco earlier in the year, Felipe Massa.  In the dying moments of Q3, Ferrari and McLaren stupidly sent all their cars out together at the same time, which left them squabbling for track space.  Massa and Hamilton took their grudge a bit too far, dicing in a position where an accident was a silly possibility.  On this occasion, Massa looked to be deliberately holding up Hamilton, who wanted to clearly get on with his one qualifying attempt.  There was no need for games for the Brazilian, as he re-stirred a pot that has been brewing all season.  24 hours later, I predicted a potential clash in the race between the two and ultimately, they delivered.  The contact at turn seven damaged a tyre on the Ferrari and left Lewis needing emergency front-wing repairs.  Hamilton was given a drive-through penalty for causing a collision.  Although he has his platinum card from the race stewards, which at this rate, might be upgraded to gold class, I felt the penalty was a bit harsh.  The turn-in point was clumsy from Hamilton and Massa didn’t deserve to have his wheel punctured.  However, it wasn’t an incident that was deliberate, malicious or idiotic, just daft.  Hamilton was penalised just as much as Massa at the end of the day, so the stewards could have let it be as a racing incident.  Says a lot for Massa doesn’t it; he finishes ninth and Hamilton fifth, despite the McLaren driver making five trips into the pits during the race. 

     Felipe took it badly and showed his emotion in an unsavoury moment in the driver’s interview pen afterwards.  Hamilton was talking about his race to the German television station, RTL when Massa applauded him saying ‘well done,’ and shoved him.  Hamilton said ‘don’t touch me; pal’ twice, before concluding his interview and going off to cool down in the hospitality lounge.  There was no need for Massa to do this and his conduct was frankly, appalling.  If he’d been a bit more aggressive, he might be up for an FIA charge against assault and have his racing license taken away.  For me, Lewis did the right thing by not responding aggressively and walking off without murmuring a frustrating word, like his Monaco rant.  If Massa wanted to talk, leave it until behind closed doors and I think Martin Whitmarsh and Stefano Domenicalli need to speak to their drivers and thrash out their differences.  There is no need for this rift; and it’s damaging the reputations of both drivers.

UNDERPERFORMING: Massa is not doing enough

     To conclude this issue, Massa needs to take a hard look at his own performances.  Once again, he hasn’t delivered the results this season.  True, he had an excellent start to the campaign and produced some solid races, especially in Malaysia, China and the Nurburgring.  However, he hasn’t collected a podium finish now since Korea last October.  That is an appalling stat for a Ferrari driver, even Eddie Irvine was a more trustworthy no.2 driver.  No wins in three years, I have had my symphonies for the position that Massa is in on many occasions, but you can’t qualify and finish sixth every weekend and think its okay.  It is probably best he moved onto another team, because his championship challenging days are only a distant memory.  Every time I hear Rob Smedley on the radio, I sometimes think he is wasted as a race engineer and could be a decent driver.  There is more chance of Ed Miliband ever becoming Prime Minister of this country than Felipe Massa has of winning another Grand Prix for Ferrari.

     Other topics of interest over the Singapore weekend and the decline of Lotus Renault alarmingly continued last weekend.  Vitaly Petrov, who has had a very impressive second season in the sport, finished 17^th in the race, having been outraced fair and square by the Team Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen.  Eliminated in Q1, Petrov must be wondering whether this is a nightmare.  He was on the podium at the season opener in Australia and that must feel like last century, not six months ago!  Eric Bouillier can’t use Nick Heidfeld now as his scapegoat anymore either.  This car should be put in the scrapheap, it’s quite possibly the worst ever Renault that has ever been designed.  How can you go from being the third strongest team in the opening two races, to fighting with the class B team’s five races before the season’s end?  Robert Kubica’s impact on the team has been severely felt by his enforced absence this season and whilst I hope he regains full fitness, I sincerely hope Renault pull their finger out next season and actually give the drivers a car that they are capable of delivering the required results.

     The three Formula One rookies in midfield teams this season all put in stirring efforts in Singapore.  Once again, Pastor Maldonado narrowly missed out on points for Williams, but pulled off a classy overtake on his team-mate Rubens Barrichello in the dying laps.  He has had his moments on insane behaviour this season and other events where he has been attempting to make alterations to the circuit design.  However, he has performed credibly in a dismal car and in difficult circumstances.  I actually do hope he gets another season at Williams to see just how good he really is.  Whilst on the point of Williams’s drivers; Barrichello was laughing and so was I when I heard about the story of Kimi Raikkonen coming back to F1 next season as Rubens’s replacement.  Get a fax message through to Sir Frank Williams; you are better off with Rubens, Kimi’s only going to turn up, drive the car and go home.  He couldn’t give a flying monkey’s about all the technical development and although he might bring more points than what Rubens car, I can’t see where the team would go with Raikkonen onboard other than stagnated progress.

HOT: The humid conditions didn't affect di Resta, who scored his best finish

    Back to the rookies and Sergio Perez finished a solid tenth and earnt a deserved point for a weekend where he proved his street fighting capabilities.  Perez’s season will be sadly remembered for that horrific qualifying crash in Monaco, but I think he has performed solidly throughout the season, despite the tendency to get into some unnecessary accidents.  Sebastian Buemi can vouch for that.  However, it is Paul di Resta who continues to take all the headlines in the rookie department.  He drove like a man on a mission in Singapore and finished sixth; his best ever career result.  Backed up by an eighth place result for Force India team-mate Adrian Sutil and the team now look odds-on to finish sixth in the constructors championship.  As the year has gone on, Force India have made drastic improvements to their package, so credit to Vijay Mallya and the technical team back at Silverstone for finding the change in performance.

      However, we must finish this edition of the Finishing Straight talking about Sebastian Vettel.  Nine wins, eleven pole positions, countless fastest laps, immense ability on the first lap, dynamic overtaking, flawless pitstops, his driving at the moment is like poetry in motion.  Once again, Vettel was my Driver of the Day and Driver of the Weekend in Singapore and don’t count on him not winning all the remaining races.  He has destroyed the opposition in Japan, Korea and Abu Dhabi in previous years and will want to finish his dominant season in style.  Michael Schumacher’s almost insurmountable tally of 13 wins from 18 in 2004 is looking incredibly vulnerable now, especially with this new German great in the pound seat now. 

F1 classic races - Italy

IN A new series, I will be looking back at six classic races every weekend from the country about to stage an event in the 2011 FIA Formula One World Championship.  This is my selection, of races from the Italian Grand Prix between 1991 and 2010.  Enjoy the archive!

1993

SOMERSAULT: Fittipaldi hits his team-mate in 1993 and sees sky

WINNER: Damon Hill (Williams Renault), 2^nd: Jean Alesi (Ferrari), 3^rd: Michael Andretti (McLaren Ford)

DAMON Hill received a degree of fortune, which was long overdue at Monza in 1993.  After a first lap clash with Ayrton Senna sent him tumbling down the order, the Brit fought back to second behind his team-mate Alain Prost.  All looked set for Prost to clinch his fourth world championship when his engine spectacularly blew up with just four laps to go, handing Hill victory.  Jean Alesi brought some much needed smiles to Ferrari on home ground, with an excellent second position, whilst Michael Andretti ended his failed F1 experiment and returned to IndyCars after this race.  However, the American did record a podium finish.  Right at the end, Christian Fittipaldi clipped his Minardi team-mate Pierluigi Martini and somersaulted across the line.  Luckily, Fittipaldi finished on three wheels and lived to tell the tale.

1996

WINNER: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), 2^nd: Jean Alesi (Benetton Renault), 3^rd: Mika Hakkinen (McLaren Mercedes)

WILLIAMS’s drivers Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve dominated the championship in 1996, but both had off-days at Monza.  Hill was cruising to certain victory when he clipped the tyre stacks placed on the exit of the first chicane on the sixth lap.  With broken suspension, Hill had to play the role of devastated spectator for the rest of the afternoon.  Luckily for him, Villeneuve finished out of the points in seventh position.  The temporary tyres placed in the first two chicanes also claimed David Coulthard, Eddie Irvine and Heinz-Harald Frentzen and was widely criticised by drivers.  On his first drive at Monza for Ferrari, Michael Schumacher recovered from a slow start and survived a scrape with the tyre stacks to hunt down and pass Jean Alesi in the pitstops and record a popular victory, his second in a row.  Mika Hakkinen recovered from damaging his front wing early on against THOSE tyre stacks to finish a remarkable third, having been as low as 18^th after his unscheduled stop.

1998

WINNER: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), 2^nd: Eddie Irvine (Ferrari), 3^rd: Ralf Schumacher (Jordan Mugen Honda)

FERRARI threw the 1998 title race wide open after this sensational race in 1998.  Michael Schumacher took his first pole position of the season, but made a terrible start and dropped to fifth.  Mika Hakkinen had a great start and took the lead, before letting lighter fuelled team-mate David Coulthard past him.  On lap 14, Coulthard’s engine blew up entering the second chicane.  Hakkinen was wrong-footed through the smoke, and this allowed Schumacher to take a quicker exit from the chicane and snatch the lead.  Hakkinen chased hard, but had problems with the traffic, notably from Giancarlo Fisichella’s dithering Benetton.  Then, with ten laps to go, his brakes exploded into the second chicane, sending the Finn backwards across the gravel trap at high speed.  Amazingly, he didn’t hit anything, kept his composure and rejoined.  However, his lack of braking capacity meant both Eddie Irvine and Ralf Schumacher were able to cruise past the ailing McLaren.  Schumacher won, with Hakkinen having to settle for fourth.  With two races left in this fantastic season, Schumacher and Hakkinen were now locked together on 80 points each.

2000

WINNER: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), 2^nd: Mika Hakkinen (McLaren Mercedes), 3^rd: Ralf Schumacher (Williams BMW)

MICHAEL Schumacher famously broke down in the post-race press conference after winning for the first time since June, equalling Ayrton Senna’s tally of 41 Grand Prix victories.  The success brought him to within two points of leader Mika Hakkinen in the title race.  Hakkinen drove a cautious race to second, whilst Ralf Schumacher held off serious challenges from BAR’s Ricardo Zonta and Jos Verstappen’s Arrows for the final podium spot.  Both Zonta and Verstappen benefited from lighter fuel strategies and misfortune for others.  Jacques Villeneuve looked good for a podium, before engine failure struck his BAR, whilst a slipping clutch lost a lap in the pits for Giancarlo Fisichella.  However, tragedy was the over-riding of the race.  On the first lap, an incident triggered by Heinz-Harald Frentzen caused mayhem.  Frentzen, Rubens Barrichello, Jarno Trulli, David Coulthard, Pedro de la Rosa and Johnny Herbert were eliminated in the second chicane and the flying debris from the crash tragically caused the fatality of 33-year old fire marshal Paulo Ghislimberti.  His death was the first at the racetrack since Ayrton Senna’s death at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

2004

WINNER: Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari), 2^nd: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), 3^rd: Jenson Button (BAR Honda)

FERRARI showed their dominant speed in a race that at least five drivers had the chance of winning.  In the end, Rubens Barrichello’s three-stop strategy prevailed, as he recorded his first win of the season.  This was despite the wrong choice of tyre at the start of the race, going for intermediates on a drying track.  Michael Schumacher spent much of the day fighting up the order, after spinning on dry tyres at the second chicane on the opening lap.  He set lap record after lap record on his recovery drive to second place.  The race could have been won by Jenson Button, but his lack of speed in a straight-line meant he had to settle for a podium finish.  However, that result and fourth place from Takuma Sato was enough for BAR to take second place in the constructors championship from Renault.  Fernando Alonso led the opening stint and was also a winning challenger, but he spun off with 15 laps to go and stalled his engine.  Another contender, Kimi Raikkonen was forced out by engine trouble early on.  There was a lucky escape for Gianmaria Bruni and the Minardi pit crew after a refuelling fire.  Luckily, just Bruni suffered minor injury, as he inhaled some of the smoke from the fire. 

2008

WINNER: Sebastian Vettel (Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari), 2^nd: Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren Mercedes), 3^rd: Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber)

THE battle for the world championship in 2008 paled into insignificance at Monza by the incredible achievement of Sebastian Vettel and Scuderia Toro Rosso.  Toro Rosso, with Minardi DNA achieved their first Grand Prix victory and Vettel became the youngest driver ever to win a Grand Prix race.  The 21-year old’s stunning weekend began with pole position in a rain-soaked qualifying session on Saturday.  His team-mate Sebastian Bourdais started fourth, but a clutch problem left him stranded on the line and he lost a lap in the pits.  Vettel drove away from the field effortlessly, making Heikki Kovalainen’s superior McLaren look like an amateur.  It was one of the greatest drives seen in recent years.  A rueful Kovalainen had to settle for second, whilst Robert Kubica timed his sole pitstop perfectly with a switch to dry tyres.  It earnt him third spot, from a lowly 11^th on the grid.  Title contenders Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton had to settle for sixth and seventh, meaning there was now just one point between them, in Hamilton’s favour.  However, this was Vettel’s weekend.  

2011 Hungarian Grand Prix - McLaren's renaissance continues

MASTERFUL: Button was the expert again in slippery conditions

MCLAREN’S mid-season renaissance continued at the Hungaroring yesterday.  Britain’s Jenson Button celebrated his 200^th Grand Prix start in tremendous fashion, as he recorded his second win of the 2011 season, making it back-to-back wins for the Woking team.  However, Sebastian Vettel took full advantage of errors by Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton to increase his world championship lead to 85 points.

      In very challenging circumstances in Budapest, it was Button’s brilliant ability in these conditions that excelled once again, as he has shown on many occasions in the past, not least five years earlier when he won his first Grand Prix here.  It was Vettel who held off the McLarens in qualifying and halted a ‘supposed’ mid-season slump to take another pole position.  He made a perfect start in unseasonable wet weather in Hungary, leaving the silver cars behind.  The two Ferrari’s and Mark Webber’s Red Bull all made tardy getaways, allowing the underperforming Mercedes GP cars of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher vault up into fourth and fifth places.

     As the Mercedes cars struggled to keep up with the three leaders, it was Hamilton who looked the most comfortable.  He pressured Vettel into a small error on lap five and charged by into the lead.  Quickly, the track began to dry and Felipe Massa was caught out.  At the same place where Vettel and Alonso had ran wide in the opening laps, the Brazilian fought his moment on lap nine, but it left him in a spin and a harmless kiss with the barriers.  Two laps later, Webber was the first driver to make the switch to dry tyres and his solid sector times forced all the major players to make changes shortly afterwards.

EXPLOSIVE: Heidfeld's demise was a scary, fiery moment

     Lap 25 saw a catastrophic fire, which ended the race for Lotus Renault driver Nick Heidfeld.  Heidfeld was having a bad weekend and pitted from a lonely 19^th place for his second stop of the afternoon.  A wheel nut problem at the pitstop led to oil and smoke smouldering from the car on the pit exit, spewing across the pitlane.  As the engine blew up, Nick parked the car on the grass as the fire began to take hold through the exhausts of his car, and for the second time this season too (he had a similar issue in Barcelona practice this season).  Seconds later, something else around the area, possibly the KERS battery pack on the Renault exploded as marshals attended the scene with fire extinguishers.  Luckily, nobody was seriously injured, although team boss Eric Bouillier seemed to hint that Heidfeld had been over-revving the engine before his demise, which will increase the possibility of him being replaced in the team after the summer break.

     With the possibility of a Safety Car to clear away the remains of Heidfeld’s Renault, the leaders all pitted for a second pitstop with Button using the pits to outsmart Vettel and make it a McLaren 1-2.  On lap 40, Webber was the guinea pig again, as he made the move to the prime, harder tyre.  Meanwhile, Alonso on super-soft, option tyres moved upto third, ahead of the Red Bull’s, but within seven laps, his rubber looked very second-hand.  Hamilton went in a similar direction, whilst both Button and Vettel went down the Webber route.  Meanwhile, a gearbox problem after a silly spin ended Schumacher’s day before half-distance.

     Seven laps later and Hamilton spun away his six second lead at the turn six chicane.  As he recovered, Lewis spun his rear wheels up, which forced the lapped Force India of Paul di Resta off the road to take evasive action.  The move was considered dangerous by race stewards, despite Hamilton’s claims that he couldn’t see di Resta when he started the manoeuvre.  A drive-through penalty was awarded, but by then, his race chances had already been ruined.

     A brief rain shower made grip on the slick tyres almost non-existent.  New leader Button and Hamilton enjoyed a great mini battle, swapping lead position on several separate occasions.  It gave Alonso the chance to pit and repair some of his damage, although a later spin lost him any chance of catching Button and Vettel.  Rosberg, Webber and most crucially Hamilton decided to make a gamble for intermediate tyres, but lost their initiative.  The rain quickly stopped and all three were forced to make an extra pitstop.  Plus the penalty, Hamilton was relegated to sixth, but passed Massa, whose tyres were finished on lap 60 and then, with aid from Kamur Kobayashi’s grip less Sauber, overtook Webber with six laps remaining for fourth.

     Button kept his nerve and brilliantly won from Vettel by 3.5 seconds.  On an off-day, Alonso somehow kept his Ferrari pointing in the right direction for a podium, with Hamilton, Webber and Massa ensuring that McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari dominated the afternoon.  The Force India of di Resta survived his near-miss with Hamilton to finish seventh; his first points since Malaysia and also, the Scot’s best ever finish.  Rosberg recovered to ninth in his 100^th GP start, whilst the Toro Rosso team, also in their 100^th GP celebrated the milestone with a double points finish, with Sebastian Buemi in 8^th and Jaime Alguesuari tenth.

     Sebastian Vettel took another big stride towards the title in Hungary, but Jenson Button showed his supreme skill in slippery conditions once again.  Formula One now goes on an extended summer break, with the next action at Spa in Belgium in four weeks time.