The second part of our review of the F1 season sees racing return to its European heartland, but would Jenson Button still have it all his own way? More importantly, had the sport left the storms behind in Asia?
Monaco
Jenson Button won again but parked in the wrong place and had to sprint 500m to collect his trophy from Prince Albert; it was the only time he struggled for pace all weekend. In other news the team principals got together around a table to think up some new ideas for cost-cutting. Unfortunately, and with little regard for the universal laws of irony, the table in question was located aboard a diamond-encrusted super-yacht moored in Monaco harbour. They emerged, earnestly reaffirming their commitment to a cheaper, more responsible F1 – and couldn’t quite understand why everyone was giggling.
Getty Images
Turkey
If the Circuit de Catalunya is one of F1’s most predictable venues, Istanbul is fast shaping up as one of the least-loved. The circuit is virtually ignored by fans, and the only bonus for teams this year was that getting through the city’s appalling traffic was marginally easier than in previous years. Jenson Button added to the tedium by winning yet again, though this time Mark Webber managed to disrupt the Brawn hegemony by claiming second. Just shy of halfway through the season and Button was a whopping 32 points ahead of nearest non-Brawn rival Vettel.
Great Britain
Vettel cantered to victory at Silverstone. He was so far ahead he could’ve driven the last 10 laps backwards. Red Bull Racing showed up with an all new floor and nosecone, having worked 20-hour days since the Turkish Grand Prix. Christian Horner said it was a fantastic effort, everyone said it made the RB5 look like a disgruntled duck. Elsewhere the disagreements over money and power that characterised the relationship between teams, the FIA and the sport’s commercial rights holder finally reached tipping point. FOTA, the F1 teams association, decided to quit the sport and start their own series. The atmosphere in the F1 paddock was surreal.
Germany
The breakaway threat evaporated with a nervy deal which saw Max Mosley vow to step down and FOTA agree to stay in F1 for the foreseeable future. That was enough to take the pressure off in Germany, though occasional bleating from Mosley that he’d been begged to stay on by weeping colleagues kept the row simmering. None of it mattered to Mark Webber, however. The RBR driver had apparently decided with typical Australian bluntness that he was buggered if any other bludger was going to deny him a maiden win. Indeed, so quick was he that he had the time to make a mistake, pick up a drive-through penalty and still win. Back in a different time zone, the others were wondering how Mark had managed to fit a flux capacitor to his car.
Hungary
Hungary saw the debut of F1’s youngest ever driver. According to the dire predictions in the media, Jaime Alguersuari was the most dangerous man in motorsport, peddling his tricycle with demonic intensity. What actually happened was he drove a very sensible race and didn’t hurt anybody. Not so lucky was Felipe Massa, who was struck in the head by a spring dislodged from Rubens’s Brawn. After surgery on a skull fracture, Massa made a full recovery. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton gave McLaren their first win of the year; the faith and continual investment in KERS finally paying off for Woking’s finest. Sadly for KERS fans, the teams had already agreed to drop the expensive system for 2010. D’oh.
Europe
What are the chances that you could build two anodyne, thrill-free circuits in the same country? If you’re Spain, then the answer is ‘pretty good’. Valencia could have been one of the year’s most exciting races, given that the summer break had been thrilling to the news that Michael Schumacher would cover for Felipe Massa at Ferrari. In the end Schumi’s own accident on a motorcycle, which left him with a neck fracture, put paid to that and we had to put up with Luca ‘last raced a decade ago’ Badoer doing a good impression of a man driving a flame red milk float. At the front, Lewis Hamilton messed up a pit stop and handed a certain win to Barrichello who’d last stood atop the podium five years before in China.
Getty Images
The third and final part will appear tomorrow. Keep up with Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso.
Comments
Add a comment