F1 Ð WEBBER STRETCHS LEAD Ð AND LUCK
- 29 May 2013
Red Bull scored another one-two at Suzuka on Sunday with Vettel leading Webber home by under a second after a dramatic Japanese Grand Prix. The weekend had everything you could ask for and a bit more. A close fight for the lead. Start-line accidents. Courageous, if not crazy, overtaking moves, mostly by Kamikaze Kobayashi. Torrential rain on Saturday. And another fat slice of luck for championship leader, Mark Webber.
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Just consider the last five races. In Hungary Webber had a poor start and was stuck behind Alonso until a safety car was deployed due to debris on the track. Sure the pit call to leave him out was inspired but he was very lucky that Vettel copped a drive-through. Vettel deserved it of course, indeed if they didn’t nick him for falling back too far behind the safety car they should have for his crossing the white line when entering the pits. Still, a driver of Vettel’s talent making both these errors at once is rare and it gifted the race win to Webber. Then came Spa.
Alonso had a shocker from the moment Barrichello drop kicked him off the road and he eventually stuck it into the fence. Meanwhile Vettel had another brain fade and harpooned Button, who was out on the spot, and earning himself yet another drive through. Three championship rivals out and Webber took second behind Hamilton who now led the championship by a few points.
Monza, and guess what, Hamilton is out on lap one, having clumsily clouted into Felipe Massa’s Ferrari at the Rogia Chicane. His other three rivals finished in front of Webber but he was back in the title lead a few points up on the Hoon and almost an entire win ahead of Alonso and Vettel.
Singapore. A poor qualifying means that Webber starts fifth but an early pace car gives him the chance to go off strategy and change tyres early. As the race unfolds he winds up in third behind Alonso and Vettel and ahead of Hamilton. The Hoon has a crack at Webber after another safety car period, the two touch and guess what? The Hoon is out on the spot but Webber can continue. Bridgestone technicians are amazed that Webbers tyre stayed on the wheel rim until the end as it had been forced off its mounting points by the collision.
And now, Suzuka. Webber gets another ordinary start and is third behind Vettel and Kubica. The safety car comes out due to the start line carnage and for no particularly good reason, Kubica’s right rear wheel departs company with the Renault handing Webber second place. The Hoon, having pranged in practice and taken a grid penalty for changing his gearbox, has more gearbox problems in the race and drops to fifth at the finish. With another grid penalty in the wind for Korea the Hoon’s hopes are pretty much over. Meanwhile Webber, despite finishing behind his rivals for the last four races has managed to slowly regain, and then increase his lead.
The weekend began on a bad note for the Hoon’s fading hope when he stuffed the McLaren into the barriers exiting Degna one. The damage was sufficient that, apart from a fairly sizable rebuild, a new gearbox was required. One new gearbox, one five place grid penalty. A storming lap in qualifying gave him the third fastest time which of course, became eighth on the grid. An equally storming start saw him behind Alonso in fifth place, shortly to become fourth courtesy of the Wenault’s wayward wheel. Fourth however was never going to be good enough to keep him right in the title race, but then he lost third gear in his brand new gearbox and he slowed slightly. Enough to be passed by team-mate Button and finish the race back in fifth place.
Saturday was oddly entertaining, but not for the normal reasons. Only two drivers set flying lap times in the entire day due to torrential rain and qualifying was finally postponed until Sunday morning. Pit crews and commentators alike amused themselves, and the TV camera crews by creating ever more intricate model boats and sailing them down the pit lane. There WAS that much rain.
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Qualifying, when they finally got going on Sunday morning, went about as expected with the two Red Rags locking out the front row. The only real surprise was Jenson Button electing to qualify on the harder tyre, thereby running a longer first stint strategy than those around him. This might have worked had there not been a lengthy safety car period after the lap one contretemps. In the end he did not have the pace later in his stint to pull a gap while leading and he finally emerged behind his team-mate in fifth place. That was of course, before the Hoon lost third gear. Still, with his position in the championship it was a risk worth taking. Sometimes they even work.
Button’s gamble was over within a second of the start with four drivers finding that they were not in ideal pieces of the track. Petrov moved across to his left to avoid, he claimed, Nick Heidfeld’s Sauber on the right, only to find that Hulkenberg was already there. Meanwhile, on another piece of track, Felipe Massa got everything entirely wrong, ending up on the grass on the inside and speared across the traffic and into into the increasingly unfortunate Force India of Vitantonio Liuzzi. Four down before turn one to join Lucas di Grassi who had comprehensively stuffed the Virgin into the wall on the warm-up lap.
Then Wobert’s Wenault’s wayward wight wear wheel wandered away. That’s much more fun when written with a lisp. After that the race was much as has already been mentioned apart from the antics of Kamikaze Kobayashi. Kami decided that he could replicate Kubica’s charge at Singapore and dive bombed numerous drivers at the Spoon bend. His strategy of starting the race on hard tyres and make as many laps as possible, and then near the end of the race when the car is light, chance to the softer tyres and make a sprint to the finish, again paid off unlike that of Jenson Button. But then again Jenson doesn’t make passing manoeuvres like Kami does. Nor for that matter does anyone else.
With a bravery that would have seen Admiral Tojo weeping with pride Kami dive bombed Aljuersuari twice, Sutil once, Barrichello once and also got team-mate Nick Heidfeld who had the sense to just get out of the way. Seventh place was a just reward.
Sauber team CEO Monisha Kaltenborn later commented, "The way he overtook several competitors was absolutely spectacular." Kubica was equally impressed, "What Kamui did with his car was super. Because I had to watch on television, he saved my day." And Kamikaze himself? He couldn't even remember how many cars he had overtaken, and calmly commented, "I only know that there were crashes all around me at the start, and later I made some contacts with my opponents. My car is rather damaged!"
Just seven lap from what would have been sixth place Nico Rosberg’s rear wheel did a Kubica and put Nico into the barriers very hard indeed gifting the place to the Unter-ubermensch who was having an almost competent day. And finally, barring miracles, Lotus has tied up the spot as best of the babies with Kovalainen finishing 12th ahead of Trulli in 13th two places higher that either Virgin or HRT have finished all season.
For full results go to;
Sam Snape
13/10/2010