European GP Review

European GP Review

This years European Grand Prix on the Valencia sea-front, was slightly more exciting than last years drab affair, but was still overall a pretty dire spectacle.

I doubt Rubens Barrichello would agree however, as he finally managed to hook up an entire race weekend from start to finish. Got into the groove quickly on Friday, was fuel-adjusted on pole on Saturday, and unbeatable on Sunday.

Early in the weekend Rubens realized there was no point trying to race the KERS Mclarens from the start, as he would just get swallowed up, better to go longer on the fuel and beat them that way around, when the Brawn and Mclaren’s would be at either end of the circuit.



So at the start, he sat in third, just maintaining the gap to the Mclaren’s of Hamilton and Kovalainen, and at the first round of stops, Barrichello emerged ahead of the finnish drive. He then stalked Hungary winner Hamilton till the second round of stops, when a slow pit-stop from Mclaren coupled with some fast laps from the Brazilian in the Brawn, saw Rubens come out of the pits after his stop a good 7 seconds ahead of the reigning World Champion.

Barrichello was the man to beat this weekend, after seeing team-mate Button storm to 6 wins from the first 7 races, it was Ruben’s time to star in Spain and is now in 2nd place in the world championship.

Red Bull? Well Vettel spent his weekend blowing up engines retired for the second race in a row, and Webber just had no pace. The team expected this race to be a poor one and will be desperate to get back to winning ways in Belgium on a Spa circuit, which should suit their car perfectly. 1-2s are a necessity now if they are to take good points of Championship leader Button.

As for Button, he was squeezed out of turn 1 at the start by Vettel and found himself down in 8th, from there he could do nothing but beat Webber in the pit stops to pick up just 2 points, taking his total for the last 4 races to 11. Barrichello has taken 19 points, Vettel 18, Webber 24, Hamilton 18 and Rosberg 18.

Button really needs to sort out his game, and is in the awkward position of, does he go light in qualy to get a good grid position and avoid first lap incidents but potential a long term poor strategy, or does he go for a better strategy but risk a first lap incident which has been the case lately.

That’s the story from Valencia really, the Mclarens were good, but nobody was Rubens-goodon this circuit which is fast becoming the most boring race of the year.

Raikkonen had a solid drive to out race Kovalainen for third while Rosberg was all over the Mclaren at the finish line to pick up another solid points result. Alonso had a quiet drive to 6th ahead of Button while Kubica edged out Webber for the final point.

New boys Roman Grosjean at Renault did an alright job, close to Alonso’s ultimate pace but a spin in the race was very Piqeut-esque.

And as for Felipe Massa’s replacement Luca Badoer, what did anyone expect him to do? Such a late call up and next to no time in the car, Valencia really was a test session. Perhaps slightly more off the pace than people expected, on Sunday people were still prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt.

And for 7 or 8 corners of the race he performed well, until Grosjean nerfed the Ferrari into a spin. From there Badoer spun once more, got given a drive through penalty for speeding, and allowed the Renault of Grosjean to pass him while exciting the pits, even at the end of the race coming into parc ferme, he overdid it and hit the back of Adrian Sutil’s Force India causing rear end damage on the car. Just what is it with Sutil and Ferrari?

Badoer has one more chance at Spa, where he should be much nearer the pace, q2 is a must and a strong drive after is required, anything short of a top 6 finish however is likely to see him replaced at Monza.

Spa next and the cold temperatures could play havoc with Brawn GP’s tyre issues, while the unpredictable weather could play havoc with everybody. The favourites though are surely the Red Bull men.

Result


1. BARRICHELLO Brawn
2. HAMILTON McLaren +2.3s
3. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +15.9s
4. KOVALAINEN McLaren +20.0s
5. ROSBERG Williams +20.8s
6. ALONSO Renault +27.7s
7. BUTTON Brawn +34.9s
8. KUBICA BMW +36.6s
9. WEBBER Red Bull +44.9s
10. SUTIL Force India +47.9s
11. HEIDFELD BMW +48.8s
12. FISICHELLA Force India +63.6s
13. TRULLI Toyota +64.5s
14. GLOCK Toyota +86.5s
15. GROSJEAN Renault +91.7s
16. ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso +1 lap
17. BADOER Ferrari +1 lap

18. NAKAJIMA Williams +3 laps
19. BUMEI Toro Rosso +16 laps
20. VETTEL Red Bull +34 laps

Fastest lap: GLOCK 1m38.683s (lap 55)

Drivers Championship

1. Jenson Button Brawn GP 72
2. Rubens Barrichello Brawn GP 54
3. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 51.5
4. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 47
5. Nico Rosberg Williams 29.5
6. Lewis Hamilton McLaren Mercedes 27
7. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 24
8. Jarno Trulli Toyota 22.5
9. Felipe Massa Ferrari 22
10. Timo Glock Toyota 16
11. Fernando Alonso Renault 16
12. Heikki Kovalainen McLaren Mercedes 14

Constructors Table

1. Brawn GP 126
2. Red Bull Racing 98.5
3. Ferrari 46
4. McLaren Mercedes 41
5. Toyota 38.5
6. Williams 29.5
7. Renault 16
8. BMW Sauber 9
9. Scuderia Toro Rosso 5