2011 Italian Grand Prix - Another cruise and collect for Vettel

UNEXPECTED: RBR's season domination continued at Monza

SEBASTIAN Vettel can mathematically become the youngest ever back-to-back Formula 1 world champion in a fortnight in Singapore after another flawless performance.  The German won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza today by a canter.  It was his eighth win of the season and he could have pitted, had a cigar and a cup of coffee and still exited in the lead.  That’s how dominant he was.  Despite being beaten off the line by a flying Fernando Alonso, the shorter gear ratio gamble that Vettel’s side of the Red Bull garage made yesterday paid off handsomely.  He used grass to re-pass Alonso after a brief Safety Car period and led afterwards throughout the final European race of the season.

     Having stormed to pole position by half a second yesterday on what was supposed to be Red Bull’s weakest circuit; Vettel made an average getaway and had to fend off Lewis Hamilton on the rundown to the tight first chicane.  However, Alonso, coming from fourth on the grid repeated his stunning start in Barcelona to lead the cars into the first corner.  However, there was carnage behind the leaders.  HRT’s Daniel Ricciardo failed to get off the grid, whilst Jerome D’Ambrosio clutch broke yards into the start of the race.  Seconds later, the second Hispania of Vitantonio Liuzzi got onto the grass and spun into the middle of the pack.  His car collected the unfortunate victims; Vitaly Petrov and Nico Rosberg.  All three cars were eliminated, whilst Adrian Sutil, Kamur Kobayashi and Rubens Barrichello all picked up significant damage which ruined their afternoons.

CLASH: Webber clouts Massa, which ultimately ends his race

      Alonso led Vettel, Hamilton, Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa behind the Safety Car, but the Ferrari was simply no match for the Red Bull accelerating out of the chicanes.  On lap four, Vettel made his move stick at the second chicane, despite a robust defence from Alonso and drove into the distance.  A lap later, Mark Webber, who had passed Jenson Button off the restart, attempted the same crushing manoeuvre on Massa.  He hit the high kerbs in the first chicane, clouted Massa and spun the Ferrari around.  With the front wing buried underneath his aerodynamic floor, the Red Bull didn’t even bother turning into Parabolica and Webber went straight to the scene of the accident.  It is the first time since Korea 2010 that one of the Red Bull’s has failed to finish a Grand Prix.

     The main dice on the track was between former champions Michael Schumacher and Hamilton.  Schumacher had pounced on a sleepy Hamilton at the Safety Car restart and the Mercedes GP’s useful speed on the straights, combined with some cautious Hamilton driving kept the Brit frustrated for most of the day.  There were times when Schumacher moved across the track to defend his position more than once, with one instance leaving Hamilton on the grass at Curva Grande.  Button took advantage of the scrapping duo and he passed both cars in quick succession before the first tyre stops, to set off after Alonso.

      Having been warned by the FIA for his defensive driving tactics, Schumacher eventually gave best to Hamilton shortly after the first pitstops.  Button had a near-miss in the pits, when Rubens Barrichello almost squeezed him into the pitwall whilst making his second stop.  This minor delay meant he failed to clear Alonso, but the Ferrari struggled on cold hard tyres and Button pounced on the exit of the first chicane with 13 laps to go to claim second place.  In the closing stages, Hamilton closed right in on Alonso, but ran out of time and opportunity to make a pass stick.

      Whilst all the action was happening behind him, Vettel had a lonely run towards another victory, which now leaves him 112 points ahead of nearest rival Alonso.  He looked emotional on the podium, three years after winning here in a Toro Rosso, largely because Red Bull was expected to struggle around this racetrack.  15 seconds behind and Button finished an excellent second to continue his recent rich vein of form, whilst Alonso picked up the maximum available again, with a podium finish.  With Hamilton and Schumacher next up, it was the first ever race in world championship history that saw five world champions finish in the top five positions.  Massa had to settle for sixth, whilst Jaime Alguesuari collected yet more points for Toro Rosso in seventh place.  With Sergio Perez being ruled out by transmission problems, Paul di Resta finished a creditable eighth for Force India, with Bruno Senna and Sebastian Buemi taking the final points on offer.  For Senna, these were his first ever world championship points since making his Grand Prix debut last season for Hispania.

     So, the European season concludes with yet another Sebastian Vettel dominant performance.  He has the title in the bag now, and it only needs conformation.  If things go his way, it could be settled in a fortnight’s time.  Let’s hope F1 2011 can go out with a bang in the final six flyaway events of the season, beginning with the fourth night race in Singapore in two weeks.    

Italy MotoGP 2011: Lorenzo fights back in Mugello

YAMAHA’s revival in this MotoGP season continued with Jorge Lorenzo’s sensational victory in the Italian Grand Prix yesterday.  Lorenzo rode the race perfectly, biding his time on the Mugello circuit to record his second win of the season and narrow the gap on runaway championship leader Casey Stoner.  His cause was helped by Andrea Dovizioso finding a way past Stoner on the last lap to snatch second place.

     The writing looked on the wall again when Stoner cruised to pole position in a damp Saturday qualifying session.  It looked like those fears were going to be answered as he led the group of 16 riders into the first bend.  Lorenzo rocketed up from fifth on the grid into second, then got involved in a private scrap with Dovizioso, who on his home circuit, was having his best ride of a consistent season so far.

      Further back, Nicky Hayden ruined his chances of a strong finish when he went into the gravel trap on the second lap and there were more woes for Britain’s Cal Crutchlow.  Having started seventh, the rookie, still clearly in pain as he continues to recover from the broken collarbone he suffered at Silverstone slipped to tenth, before retiring for the second weekend running, once again with tyre troubles.

PERFECTION: Lorenzo overpowered the Honda's in Mugello

     Tyre problems also hampered Stoner’s challenge.  The Australian began to run out of grip on his front tyres and Lorenzo, having finally overhauled Dovizioso was ready to pounce, which he did with seven laps to go.  This was a battle of who could look after their tyres the best, and it was the world champion who easily won this duel.  Stoner was powerless to resist Dovizioso, who made a brave and aggressive pass on the last lap, which nearly had his team-mate running into the back of him.  To show Honda is a great team unit, Stoner congratulated Dovizioso afterwards in the paddock, which was good to see – something he won’t have done in his Ducati days.

      With Valentino Rossi struggling, the partisan Italian crowd was left for Dovizioso to provide the podium celebrations.  He was elated with his second spot, one step higher than what he achieved in the corresponding event last season.  It also keeps him in a comfortable third in the standings.  However, he was no match for Lorenzo, who cruised home to record his first dry win of the season.  Behind Stoner, Marco Simoncelli and Assen race winner Ben Spies had a private and intense scrape for fourth spot, which Spies won, bullying his way past on the last corner.  Once again, Simoncelli missed out on the maiden podium he was chasing, but at least he managed to stay on his bike this time around!

     After a great battle with Alvaro Bautista and Hector Barbera, Rossi fought hard to sixth spot on his stomping ground, which was the maximum he was going to achieve here.  Barbera got his best result of the season in seventh, whilst Bautista faded badly to 13^th, another sufferer of the softer Bridgestone tyres.  Finally, Dani Pedrosa made his long-awaited return to the paddock, but clearly wasn’t 100 per cent fit all weekend.  After a shocking start, which saw him second last at the end of the first circuit, he did well to come back to eighth.  Although his championship bid is in tatters, Pedrosa can play a major part in the destiny of where the title may go, depending on his fitness levels.

      After four races in five weeks, the teams will be relieved of a week off, before the next battle at the formidable Sachensring circuit in Germany.  However, Jorge Lorenzo proved here in Mugello that this title scrap in the 2011 MotoGP season isn’t a write-off and is still alive and kicking.

Catalunya MotoGP 2011: Another cruise and collect for Casey

SPRAYING: Stoner sprays the bubbly after a comfortable win

AUSTRALIAN Casey Stoner closed the gap on Jorge Lorenzo at the top of the MotoGP standings, after cruising to victory in Catalunya.  It is the Repsol Honda’s third win of the 2011 season from five starts, and he now only trails defending champion Lorenzo by seven points.

     Stoner dominated the entire weekend, but was pipped to pole position in the dying stages of qualifying by a fired-up Marco Simoncelli.  The charismatic Italian earnt his first MotoGP pole position, but was never a factor in the race.  Simoncelli was gobbled up on the rundown to the first corner and then rode a rather low-key ride to sixth place; probably best for him after all the controversy of the recent races.

     Once again, Lorenzo won the race to the first corner, but the power of the Honda saw Stoner overhaul the Yamaha rider on the start-finish straight at the beginning of the second lap.  Although Lorenzo was able to keep him in touch for the majority of the race, Stoner never looked like he was going to be beaten.  Injuries continue to decimate the field in the premier class of motorcycling.  Dani Pedrosa was declared unfit to ride following the clash with Simoncelli in Le Mans last month, which saw the frail Spaniard suffer a fractured collarbone.  Colin Edwards would join him on the casualty list.  The ‘Texan Tornado,’ went down heavily in practice, and despite being desperate to race, was told not to on medical grounds.  It was the first race the American missed since he broke into MotoGP in 2003.

     Behind Stoner and Lorenzo, Ben Spies earnt his first rostrum as a factory Yamaha rider.  2011 has been a tricky season for Spies, as he has struggled to provide consistency and a stern challenge to his highly-rated team-mate.  Hopefully, Barcelona is a turn in the right direction for him.  The second Honda of Andrea Dovizioso was beaten into fourth place, despite his best efforts to overcome his equivalent in the Yamaha team.  Ducati’s Valentino Rossi was a solid fifth, ahead of Simoncelli, Britain’s Cal Crutchlow and the sister Ducati of Nicky Hayden.  It was another bad day for Randy de Puniet.  The likeable Frenchman was taken out in the early stages by Hiroshi Aoyama.  Fortunately, both got up from the gravel pit unhurt.

     Already, the 2011 MotoGP season is starting to look like a battle between two men for the title.  Silverstone this weekend should be interesting. . .  

Wikipedia celebrates its 10th birthday

THE free online encyclopaedia Wikipedia celebrated its tenth birthday at the weekend.  Launched by Jimmy Wales in San Francisco in 2001, Wikipedia has given the general public a new way to share and collect information, even if it still has its doubters as a valid and creditable source of facts. 

CELEBRATION: Wikipedia is ten not out

Currently, Wikipedia is available in eight different languages, including German, Italian and Spanish.  There is no doubt that its presence on our internet has changed the face of the World Wide Web, alongside the likes of Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.  The site now carries 17million articles in English, adding just over 1,000 new entries a day.

Often derided for allowing almost anyone to edit its pages, Wales has always claimed that this alone proves that its facts are completely true.  Many seem to agree with this argument, and with Wikipedia now the fifth most browsed site on the Internet, it’s hard not to disagree.  Wikipedia has also taken some flak in the past for the failing of academic studies from some students.  Traditional homework does seem to be a thing of the past, but in an interview with Jon Snow last Wednesday for Channel 4 News, Wales defended the allegation of homework shortcomings; “My argument is that teachers also have access to Wikipedia, and once they find out that a student has cut and pasted work, they will get an F.”  “My view is that Wikipedia should be as high quality as we can make it and that necessarily involves an open discussion/debate of people picking over detail as great as possible.” 

In the interview, Wales also confirmed that Wikipedia will always remain user-friendly and user-based, although they might tighten their policies when it comes to editing biographies of famous people.  Wikipedia intents to keep it status as a non-profit organisation so will not use advertising to promote its site. 

Congratulations Wikipedia, I predict this Internet phenomena, no matter the criticism it draws will go from strength to strength.

2010 Italian Grand Prix - Forza Ferrari Rule At Monza

On his maiden outing driving for Ferrari at the Italian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso breathed new life into his faltering championship bid with a faultless drive to victory at Monza infront of a passionate Tifosi.  Alonso’s success was the first for the Italian team on home soil since Michael Schumacher’s triumph in 2006 and threw open the world championship title battle once again.  Just one win covers five drivers as the F1 circus leaves Europe for another season.

After a stunning lap on Saturday afternoon which seized pole position, Alonso was always going to be the favourite to win at Monza, but he made heavy weather of it with a poor start.  This allowed world champion Jenson Button, who started on the front row with Alonso, and badly needing a result himself to stay in the championship hunt to overhaul the Spaniard on the run down to the tricky first chicane.  Alonso tapped Button’s rear end on the exit of the first chicane, damaging the McLaren’s diffuser and compromising the Brit’s handling for the rest of the afternoon.  Just behind them, a frustrated Lewis Hamilton stuck his left-front wheel into trouble at the second chicane, and tagged the rear of Felipe Massa’s Ferrari.  The damage was enough to break the steering arm on Hamilton’s McLaren and send the incumbent world championship leader into the gravel at the Lesmos and out of the race on the first lap.  This rare error of judgement by Hamilton could well cost him the shot at a second world championship.

Although Massa kept the front two honest all afternoon, the scrap for the race victory was between previous championship outsiders Button and Alonso.  The McLaren had more downforce on its car, meaning it was mighty under braking and consequently, nullifying the advantage that the Ferrari had down the long straights with its lower-wing spec.  It was going to take the pitstops to change the order and it did, with Button coming in first on Lap 35.  Alonso put the pedal down, put in a red-hot lap, dived into the pits and managed to jump Jenson in the pits.  The rest is history. 

Behind Massa, Nico Rosberg had another strong afternoon for Mercedes and looked set for a surprising 4^th spot.  However, despite early engine woes and a scruffy first lap, Sebastian Vettel made a very long first stint work and by pitting for the required option rubber with just two laps to go, the German leaped up from 7^th to 4^th in the final classification order.  Rosberg was 5^th, whilst Mark Webber may have regained the championship lead from Hamilton, but the Aussie will be frustrated at having not taken full advantage of Hamilton’s gift.  For the second successive race, Webber was too cautious at the start, and got relegated to 9^th place from 4^th on the grid.  He managed to drive aggressively and fightback past Michael Schumacher, Robert Kubica and after a tense scrap, Williams rookie Nico Hulkenberg.  Sixth place at least earned him some valuable points, but Webber’s expression at the end of the race told its own story.

Hulkenberg recorded an impressive 7^th place finish, though some of his defensive tactics were robust against Webber, including cutting chicanes on at least three occasions.  Kubica was a disappointing 8^th, as the Renault team failed to build on their impressive Spa form with the f-duct.  However, the Pole managed to maximise all he could from his car yet again.  Schumacher was a lonely 9^th and the final championship point went to the second Williams of Rubens Barrichello, which helped the Grove’s team fight with Force India for sixth in the constructors championship. 

There are five flyaway races remaining, with the final journey beginning under the lights in Singapore, in just two weeks time.  With just twenty-four points covering Webber, Hamilton, Alonso, Button and Vettel, it is anyone’s title up for grabs.  However, any more errors from any of the contenders, and it could well be the final curtain for 2010.  This championship is getting to the squeeze-your-bum time!

No Extra Punishment For Maranello

Ferrari has escaped any further punishment from the FIA for their role in the team orders debacle at July’s German Grand Prix.  After a meeting at Paris on Wednesday afternoon, in which the Italian team was asked to explain its actions infront of the World Motor Sport Council, it has been decided that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that the team hadn’t breached the regulations to a severe point.

On Lap 48 of the 67-lap encounter, Brazilian Felipe Massa slowed down to allow his team-mate Fernando Alonso past at Hockenheim.  Massa had been told on the team radio by his race engineer Rob Smedley the lap before that “Fernando is faster than you.”  

After the incident, Smedley’s transmission spoke out trouble for Ferrari infront of millions of worldwide television watchers.

“Good lad, just keep it up now, sorry!”

Alonso went onto win the race, but Massa’s expressions on the podium after the race suggested the bitter taste in the Brazilian’s mouth and in our mouths too.  Ferrari insisted that Felipe let Alonso through by his own accord.  They also used the case that Massa was given a similar coded message at the Australian Grand Prix in March, yet then, there was no switch of position, with Massa ending up 3^rd and Alonso in 4^th.

After the race, stewards at the Hockenheim meeting fined Ferrari the maximum possible fine of $100,000 for breach of two regulations:

39.1: Team orders which interfere with a race result are prohibited.

151. C: any fraudulent conduct or any act prejudicial to the interests of any competition or to the interests of motorsport generally" can be punished.

The WMSC upheld the fine and has also agreed to have a look into removing the rather ridiculous team order regulation, put in place when Rubens Barrichello let Michael Schumacher through to win the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix on the very last corner of the race. 

Ferrari can now gear up for their home race, Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix with Alonso sitting 41 points behind McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton in the drivers title battle, and Ferrari 80 points shy of Red Bull Racing in the constructors championship.  However, most will hope that the Maranello team won’t win either championship, in the aftermath of this latest escapade to hinder Formula One’s image, which has been fairly clean in 2010.