Sunday 11 September 2011

Vettel edges closer to second title

Sebastian Vettel can't win the World Championship at the next race in Singapore, but we might as well all go home, this one is over.

A poor start today, or rather a lightning start from Alonso, meant that he had a fight on his hands but such was the superior speed of the Red Bull, again, it was only a matter of time before he was back in front. To give him his due though, Vettel did pull off a very bold move round the outside of Alonso at Curva Grande which left him partially on the grass.

Thereafter it was a case of switching focus to the battles further back in the pack because a Vettel win was all but guaranteed. Hamilton, Schumacher and Button provided much entertainment and while Schumacher was forthright in defence, I saw him doing nothing that every other driver would do. The one move takes you across to the inside but it is a natural second move to take you back to the racing line - Hamilton himself was doing this and much worse on the pit straight in Malaysia so complaints from him were particularly rich.

Hamilton was perhaps a bit more subdued than usual though, and the result was fourth place well shy of his team mate Button who clawed his way up to second - and equal third in the Championship.

So Vettel is now 112 points ahead in the Championship, which means Alonso has to be third or better and Button and Webber second or better in Singapore to stop him winning the title there. It's worth noting Alonso's position in second place in the standings. It's been a season-long case of damage limitation for Alonso who for the most part has had the third fastest car on the grid, one that seems unable to operate effectively in anything other than a very narrow window of conditions. The fight for second place in the Championship is now, unfortunately, the only point of interest that remains this season.

6 comments:

GreenJJ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
haitchjg said...

......I thought Schumi was well out of order, extremely bad mannered and for what? he was never going to make it there till the end of the race. Should have had at least a stern warning from the Stewards after the race. I'm amazed his tactics haven't resulted in major damage. JB was good but why doesn't he have the speed that Lewis has? Think they must have been using at least different gearing. Felipe made a good recovery I thought. Good race tho and DRS didn't manage to spoil it, maybe they should allow one or the other of DRS & KERS use but not both....probably not electronically controllable tho.

I agree unless Webber gets his act together (or is it RB?) Alonso is on for 2nd I think, he is so consistent and McLaren will keep taking points from each other. Think Lewis would have had a different race if he had been awake at the restart, and Nico would have been a player in there somewhere on his different strategy........have to hope for mechanical woes for RB now to save the end of the season, they are about due for some!

GreenJJ said...

Well by that logic why should a driver in a perceived slower car ever fight for his position?! He had every right to try and keep Hamilton behind for as long as possible. Funny how his 'tactics' have resulted in no accidents and yet Hamilton has left a trail of debris in his wake!

Felipe seems to be edging towards some kind of form, he was unlucky to be clobbered by Webber, who is looking increasingly scrappy, and rubbish.

haitchjg said...

well you have a point I suppose....but I can't stop knocking him, particularly when he has that usual supercilious grin when interviewed about it! Pity really , I was almost ready to like him prior to this race.....did I see a report he may move to McLaren? presumably a Mercedes driven swap for JB!?

GreenJJ said...

I think that report is referring to Sam Michael moving to Mclaren, rather than Michael Schumacher - can't see that happening!

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