Well, we learned a lot, and not all of it complimentary. In the lead up to the Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel (the precocious finger) arrogantly said he would ignore team orders again, if it gave him a chance of winning. Attempting to save face for the Red Bull management, owner Dietrich Mateschitz decreed there would be no team, orders from now on. Very shortly, that will be “no team”.
Then we had “Qualifying”, another farce brought on by the FIA asking Pirelli to produce tyres that last around five laps, so everyone sat tight and had one run only, and the Precious Finger did not set a time at all.
And it was in Qualifying that Red Bull, the three times world champs (or was that chumps) sent Webber out with insufficient fuel to even get the car home, which resulted in Webber having to start from pit lane. Brilliant!
The start was uneventful (that is nobody crashed into anyone), but after lap two when the silly DRS zones were enabled, this allowed Alonso (Ferrari) to pass Hamilton (Mercedes) and the farce then continued as the majority of the front runners pitted by lap six as their tyres were in shreds. Brilliant, FIA. Six lap tyres which had to be nursed by the drivers to even go that far.
The world chumps then excelled themselves changing Webber’s tyres, but forgetting to fasten the right rear which detached itself from the rear axle and ensured that Webber would get no points. No team orders needed?
After the tyre roulette, and the double DRS zones making it ridiculously easy for drivers to pass, it was Alonso, who had driven with his head, who romped home for the win, followed by Kimi Raikkonen (“Lotus”) and early leader Hamilton (Mercedes) in third. Precious Finger followed close behind in fourth after stopping for new tyres (yet again) six laps from home.
Webber’s woes continued, the racing incident with Jean-Eric Vergne has resulted in Webber getting a pro-active three grid spot penalty for the next race in Bahrain.
The final points scorers did well, under the ludicrous circumstances, with Button (McLaren), Massa (Ferrari), Ricciardo (Toro Rosso), Di Resta (Force India), Grosjean (“Lotus”) in that order and finally in 10th, Hulkenberg (Sauber).
In their bid to make the racing more exciting for the spectators, the FIA with its interminable meddling, has reduced F1 to the lowest possible denominator. Drivers cannot give Qualifying their all, as they will run short of tyres for the race. Drivers cannot ‘race’ any more as they have to conserve the tyres during the race. And in addition, all drivers have to use both grades of tyre in the race, so you see drivers pitting to change into the soft tyres five laps from the end, even though they could have continued for many more laps on the harder compound.
But the FIA stewards did not stop there. When there is a yellow (caution) flag displayed, drivers are not allowed to open up their rear wing in the DRS zone. Eight drivers were named by the headmaster to be kept in after class and ‘please explain’. Turned out that an FIA signal green light was shown in the DRS zone, so the class was dismissed. Pathetic.
Quite frankly, F1 needs the FIA to but out, let drivers use as many tyres as they want, Pirelli to produce tyres that will last the race distance and get rid of DRS. Let the ‘real’ racing begin!
