Alright, this one was pretty close, a darn sight closer than I expected it to be, but I still think tomorrow's race will be Vettel's to lose. The only thing that will inject some much needed intrigue will be a spot or two of rain.
The Mclarens and the Red Bulls look a country mile ahead of the rest, the onboard footage of Mark Webber towards the end of the session told the story of a man totally at one with his car - contrast that with the footage from Schumacher's car where he seemed completely at sea. Webber seemed able to put the car wherever he wished and tomorrow I fully expect the front two rows of the grid to sail off into the distance, leaving the rest to fight over the scraps.
Ferrari again struggled, Alonso gamely put his red car in fifth spot but fully six tenths off Button, Stefano Domenicali and his lads need to find something, and quickly, if they are to be considered title-challengers.
If the rain does fall, and I think some is predicted, it will be interesting to see how Red Bull's 'wedge of cheese' configuration copes. I suspect it might make the cars a little difficult in heavy rain. Hamilton and Button should come to the fore in wet conditions, and it might level the playing field just enough for Alonso to come into the picture.
Again I can't help thinking the overtaking zone has been put in the wrong place, someone inside down into turn one will be easy pickings straight into turn two - into the last corner would've been preferable or perhaps even into turn three.
Tyre wear rates may come into the equation as well given the high temperatures, if the Pirellis begin to grain early in a stint we'll hopefully see a bit more overtaking action. All in all I think it will be tough for anyone to break the Mclaren-Red Bull stranglehold currently in place, but I for one hope they do!
Race prediction: 1. Vettel 2. Hamilton 3. Webber (boring, I know - fingers crossed for rain!)
3 comments:
Well mixed up but largely one fears artificially with the new rules and tyres rather than stunning performances.....except for RB & Renault who seem to be able to get the best out of their cars at all stage thru the race....RB's (probably Newey generated) KERS problems aside that is! Seems to me like RB have plenty in hand and even Woking boys are way behind in realtime race performance.....as you say rain or more RB failures is the only chance of an interesting season.
Hamiltons penalty was for "moving twice" while defending the overtake....good spot by someone, the rest of the world certainly missed it. Pirro was driver-rep steward.
I'm not sure Mclaren are a million miles off but they didn't have a great day today. Don't see what Hamilton did as a penalty at all, no idea what went on there!
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