This is certainly an entertaining race, so let me wrap up the closing stages now and tell you who I've picked for Driver of the Day as well...
So, yes, as I mentioned in the last part, disaster struck for Paul Di Resta as he went off and crashed, losing his front with and at least £100,000 worth of damage in a split second!
Before all this, though, Räikkönen managed to get past Button for third position and it looked for all intents and purposes like this would be the order they would finish in, with Webber, Peres, Hamilton and Massa following suit behind.
That all changed as once again Webber was given two messages, first one telling him he needed to short-shift on the gears (again!) and then another one a lap or so later telling him he wasn't doing it soon enough into the corners so needed to do it much sooner; talk about a right royal feck up again!
To give you an idea of the difference this was making on the race pace of the podium, Webber was clocking in at 1:54 whilst Räikkönen was bringing his car around in the 1:51's proving that whatever fault hits Webber's car near the end needs sorting if he wants his final season to not go out with a whimper.
So by this time, I already pretty much had it in mind who was going to be my Driver of the Day and I'll let you in on a little secret before I unveil it a little later on; it's not who you're thinking, HA! :P
What was proving to be vital knowledge was that in the final laps, it certainly did pay to run for longer on the tires even though those on fresher tires naturally had a better advantage over someone for the few laps that they were brand new (or else recently scrubbed).
By now, Mark Webber's race was falling apart around his ears as first Rosberg, then Hamilton got him for position and then... KABLOOEY!!!
His engine caught fire forcing him to pull off the track (this later was proven by Christian Horner to have been caused by the car running out of water to keep the engine cool) before the most talked about incident occurred resulting in a 10-place grid penalty for Mark Webber, but I'll get to that in due course, I promise you!
Out came the chequered flag and Vettel wonwith alonso following suit and, as expected Räikkönen bringing his Lotus home in third position. Behind them was Rosberg, Hamilton and Massa. Jenson Button came home in a largely quiet seventh position (though it wasn't always like that for him, particularly when he was battling for the podium with Räikkönen, bro's!). His team-mate, Checo, was next followed by Nico Hulkenberg and Adrian Sutil (so there was at least some fortune for the Force India team this weekend!).
In his immediate post race comments, Vettel paid particular credit to his team whom he said he 'couldn't have done it without them', so the success hasn't gone to his head just yet, lol!
Now, onto the earlier mentioned incident, Mark Webber, after seeing his car go up in flames caught a ride around turn seven on Fernando Alonso's car back to the pit lane. Race regulations dictate that a driver "cannot return to the track whilst a race is in progress if they have retired", yet he did so naturally he got reprimanded.
So there are two questions at stake here: -
- Did he really deserve the penalty?; and
- Was the punishment fitting the crime?
That punishment far outweighed the crime and yes, though he did need to be told off for what he'd done (unfortunately with the new penalty points system, if you are reprimanded three times in a season it's an automatic 10-place penalty for the following race), it was ridiculous to basically apply a rule as harshly as that to a situation like this when there were clearly extenuating circumstances... he had no car to return to the pits with for goodness sakes'!
You can disagree all you like, the fact of the matter is that Webber got punished through a literal application (once again, like in so many other walks of life where people do not take the circumstances into account!) of a law that, whilst necessary, should be used sensibly!
Discretion the better part of valour and all that...
Anyways, back to the race and it was Vettel's 33rd race win in Red Bull colours putting him fourth in the all-time winners list. Next up is the great, late Ayrton Senna for Vettel to overturn, so let's see if he can do that before getting closer to Michael Schumacher!
Oh, and by the way, before I forget... I may just have a rant coming up about those idiots who think it's acceptable to boo a triple world champion but not now, not here, for this is the place to review the race not the inbreds!
DRIVER OF THE DAY
Fernando Alonso
As I said earlier, the reason I will say for my choice of Driver of the Day is simple; this driver was a genius (having called his team that rather mockingly at Monza!) and pulled out all the stops to do all that he could to ensure that he finished as far up the grid as he could. Sure, he was beaten on the day by someone who's a cut above the rest at the minute, but for me he takes it hands down, just for the way he turned his qualifying performance around and took off like the proverbial scalded cat!
Anyhow, that's enough reviewing for now, next time out it's Korea so let's see if both Alonso and Vettel can keep up the title excitement, huh?! ;)
Peace out!
The Lanky Penguin
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