25.11.10

When this race was on I was at the Walter Hayes Trophy Meeting at Silverstone, held in honour of the late Ford Europe Director who persuaded the company to give £100k to Cosworth to produce the DFV and did much else for motorsport. I'm sure he would have been pleased with this meeting which combined a Formula Ford Kent festival with open and closed wheel all-comer racing. The first provided classic FF racing and the last two an eclectic mix of cars so often missing in today's control formulae.

When I'm doing a GP report I leave it a bit to see what comes out of the woodwork in the days after the race, however it was about the following Thursday that I realised with horror that the season finale in Abu Dhabi was the following weekend! A fortnight is the proper interval for all motorsport events. It gives you time to cogitate on the last one and prepare for the next.

To make it even worse, the website Editor not only actually realized that Brazil was not the last race of the season, but also filed a report on Abu Dhabi in two days! Mind you, he does keep asking what's happened to Alesi and Berger....

All this is a long-winded apology for this report being so late and what's worse it was a cracking race on a proper circuit. I know we keep banging on about Tilkedromes, but this race and the next defined the situation precisely. Also it's interesting that other motorsport media have picked up on this theme. Interlagos is a proper track with things like gradients and overtaking opportunities. Mind you, I wouldn't wish armed robbery and it's near avoidance (as happened to Jenson Button) on anyone. And you thought Oulton Park and Croft were bad!

Qualifying (or practice as Mono racer and occasional website contributor Tony Cotton insists on calling it) was a thrilling affair with an unexpected outcome. It was wet for most of it but the rain ceased in Q3 and the change to slicks was crucial. The leading teams got it wrong and Williams got it right. The vastly experienced Barrichello called it, but it was his first-year team mate Nico Hulkenberg who benefited most. The team called him in and he would have got pole with his penultimate lap, but he just had time for another which secured it by over a second. Vettel and Webber were second and third, Hamilton fourth and Alonso fifth, so it looked OK for him and Ferrari. However he could probably not expect any support from Massa - once so dominant at his home track he was down in ninth. Commentators are suggesting that the "team orders" incident at Hockenheim has broken his spirit.

This was Williams' first pole since 2005 and in the cynical world of F1 apparently they are known as "Tyrrell" to indicate a once-great team in terminal decline. It doesn't help that the teams share blue and white as their racing colours. It may be too soon to write Williams off, but it's not a good sign that Hulkenberg's pole and feisty performances in the second half of the season have not been enough to secure him the seat next year - it will go to someone who can bring cash.

It was dry and warm for race day. Hulkenberg's day in the sun didn't last long as Vettel beat him into the first corner. Webber got past Hamilton in turn 1 and past Hulkenberg a couple of corners later. This was a great racing move as the wily old Digger sold the young German a dummy, forced him wide then nipped up the inside of the oversteering Williams. Hamilton was fourth and Alonso fifth when the Ferrari attempted to pass the McLaren at the end of lap 1. Alonso got a good run out of Arquibancadas (Bleachers) drafted up behind Hamilton up the (uphill) pit straight and went to pass on the outside. As the track flattened out and then began to fall towards Curva 1 it looked like he would get through, but no, Hamilton held the inside and the lead as the track plunged down through the opposite Senna's S; however Lewis ran wide through the Descida do Lago (Drop Lake, Lake Drop?) and Fred was through!

Schuey got past Button in Turn 8, then we saw Alonso harrying Hulkenberg for lap after lap, but the young German kept left up the pit straight, frustrating the Spaniard. Meanwhile the Red Bulls were disappearing up the road. Alonso piled the pressure on Hulkenberg and when he got a good drive off Turn 3 closed down the back straight into 4. Alonso went wide forcing Hulkenberg to cover, consequently he was slow out of 4 and Alonso dived through on the inside of the FW32 skittering about off-line in turn 5. A young charger in a lesser team (sorry Frank) qualifies well due to a brave call in changeable conditions. He is harried mercilessly by a world champion in a better car, but hangs on well until he is forced into making a mistake, which the champ takes advantage of. As Alonso's engineer Andrea Stella said "Eet was beautiful". Who says F1 cars can't pass each other in the dry? However the track layout must allow this to happen. It's interesting that Jean Todt seems to be siding with us fans and has said that any new circuit hoping to get an FIA licence will be assessed as much for spectacle as safety. About time.

Next it was another world champion's chance to get past Hulkenberg, but soon we heard Lewis Hamilton say over the radio "No grip", meanwhile those in front were getting away and there was a queue of cars behind led by Robert Kubica should Hamilton get it wrong. Jenson Button was the first to stop for new tyres, then Massa a lap later. A front wheel nut was cross-threaded and he had to stop again on the next lap which saw him last but one and Rob Smedley thumping the pit perch counter in frustration. His terrible race was to continue as he bashed into a couple of drivers, we have seen how Ferraris are tough, but he could still only finish 14th.

"No grip" Hamilton stopped for new tyres at the end of lap 20, but the Red Bulls could do another 4 and 5 laps on their first sets, such is their superiority in downforce. They were to run untroubled (despite a late Safety Car) to the end, Vettel ahead of Webber to clinch the Constructors' Championship for the glory of that fine Austrian town Milton Keynes. This in the sixth season of Dietrich Mateschitz's ownership after he rescued the "Jaguar" team after Ford pulled out of F1 and the 14th since the team was established as Stewart Grand Prix. Sportingly, Red Bull did not switch their drivers to favour Webber who was higher in the Drivers' Championship and with Fernando Alonso coming home third, Ferrari fans were quietly optimistic.

Hamilton and Button were fourth and fifth, with Rosberg sixth and Schuey seventh for Mercedes. Hulkenberg ended up eighth, with Kubica and Kobayashi securing the remaining points-scoring places. So an excellent race with lots of overtaking. Lets hope Hermann Tilke recorded it and is watching it again and again.....

Click here for FIA lap chart

Stefano Domenicali: “First of all, I want to congratulate Red Bull Racing and Renault for taking the Constructors’ Championship title, which is a very important achievement. I think Fernando did the most he could after yesterday’s qualifying: his opening laps were exceptional and he managed to pass first Hamilton and then Hulkenberg in decisive fashion, but without taking excessive risks. Then he had to manage his race and he did that in impeccable fashion, even after the Safety Car, when the situation could have turned out to be very tricky.

Fernando Alonso: “All things considered, I am pleased with this result. We have only lost three points to our closest rival and, given how things turned out yesterday in qualifying, it went well: if this morning, I had been told it would finish like this, I would have happily signed for it! I want to congratulate Red Bull and Renault for the Constructors’ title. Now, we go to Abu Dhabi: we know what we have to do and taking the title depends on us.”

Felipe Massa:“Everything happened to me today and it is a real shame that I was unable to obtain the result that was within my g.php. When I had a clear track ahead of me, I managed to do competitive lap times, which confirms that the potential was there. I would have liked to have been fighting it out at the front here, but it wasn’t possible."