Well, the first thing we learned was that today’s F1 can put on a crackerjack of a race, provided it has the infrastructure for good racing. Great racing with a truly nail biting finish, in which Alonso (Ferrari) deserved the win. Forget the Red Bull pit problem for Vettel (no fingers today), Alonso ran away with it (and set fastest lap).
Webber in the other Red Bull is still smarting after being told to hold station when it was obvious he could have taken Vettel and the second place. However, I have to agree with the team call. Vettel is obviously the number one driver, being 80 points in front of Webber. Sad but true and Mark will just have to swallow it.
McLaren is suffering from lack of direction and discipline. A championship winning team should not release their driver (Jenson Button) without the front right wheel nut (or any nut, for that matter). They should also be able to calculate by now, how much fuel a car needs (Hamilton) to finish. McLaren have the cars and the drivers – it is the pit wall that needs attention.
Hamilton showed his absolute aggression in the last corner clash with Massa (Ferrari) and was very lucky they had a Brit (Our Nige) in the stewards’ room. In fact I was surprised that Massa, known for the odd whinge or two wasn’t more vocal.
Sauber had a mixed day with Kamikaze Kobayashi being clouted by MS, being released into the path of another car in the pits, getting a stop-go penalty and finally an oil leak. Sergio Perez in the other Sauber showed great pace and grit. These two will continue to be a thorn in the side of the big teams.
Renault did not have a good day. Heidfeld finished in the points but was never in the front bunch, whilst Petrov lost his way, but at least brought a complete car home. Quote of the day from the Russian, “My speed was not too bad, I was quite quick but I felt helpless out there.” We have news for you Vitaly. You were useless.
Rosberg (Mercedes) should ask his team to paint his car in a color that can be seen. This was again a race in which he finished in the points, but totally escaped the notice of the TV cameras. Or perhaps the antics of his illustrious team mate uses up all the Mercedes air time. When Schumacher gets through a race without clobbering someone he could finish on the podium. In the meantime he serves as light relief.
Star of the future, Paul Di Resta (a Scot despite the Italian name) in the Force India had his 6th place after qualifying completely nullified by pit stop stuff-ups, with the team ready for Sutil and not him. His day will come.
I must make mention of the BBC coverage of the race. Entertaining and innovative, with the introduction of Jake Humphrey, David Coulthard and Eddie Jordan pedaling around on a tandem plus one bicycle and the jet ski item wonderful TV. The Beeb makes all other coverage amateur in the extreme.
For those who are unsure, the governing body of F1 has the acronym FIA. At the Silverstone meeting the casual observer would have been excused for thinking that this stands for Frighteningly Incompetent Asses (euphemism). With dithering and counter dithering and last minute reversals over highly technical aspects of the engine design, this left the designers angry and frustrated, the drivers bewildered and the spectators bamboozled. The time to change design rules is at the end of the season. Not 24 hours before the Grands Prix.
