Brazil race review (Team Mate Wars episode 16)

Wow, what a race! The Brazilian Grand Prix was probably the most exciting race of the season so far with many great drives. Indeed, at the end of the long but eventful race, a champion was crowned in Jenson Button. Of course, I don’t want to go into that too much this entry that is for another time, bur after a champion’s driver, a champion’s season, he was rightly crowned.

But what of this race? Well, there were plenty of talking points that is for sure!

Ferrari

9-Raikkonen-7-Massa-0-Badoer-0-Fisichella

Felipe Massa was back at the race track for the first time since his nasty Hungarian GP qualifying injury all those weeks ago, yet sadly for both himself and the team, he still wouldn’t be driving the car. However, Kimi Raikkonen would be and was targeting a podium and things looked promising after the wet qualifying session. Kimi would line up in 5^th and with his KERS got a great start, getting into 3^rd place and after a fantastic run after the Senna Esses on Mark Webber, but unfortunately hit the back of the Australian and lost his front wing. Then things got worse as after his pit stop, he was briefly set on fire by Kovalainen carrying a fuel hose down the pit lane, thankfully Kimi was unhurt. He drove strong result to 6^th, but disappointing on a race potentially that they could have won at. Giancarlo Fisichella meanwhile, continued to struggle, lining up once again at the back and finishing in 10^th after a strong race.

Summary: Solid but they expected more.

McLaren

10-Hamilton-6-Kovalainen

Despite both drivers dropping out of Q1 in the incredibly wet conditions in qualifying, McLaren looked reasonably and rightly so. They didn’t have a good set-up in the wet with the simple reason that they had a great car for the dry and this was proved with both drivers coming through the field. Hamilton drove an inspired race on one of the rare tracks he has never been on the podium on in his short career, driving from 17^th to 3^rd putting himself in contention for one of the drivers of the season. It would have been interesting to see what he could have done from further up the field although seeing him charge through in the race was one of the main attractions. Kovalainen also drove a solid race, but an unsafe release from the pits, briefly setting countryman, Kimi Raikkonen, on fire saw him take a penalty after the race and drop him to 12^th. Still an improvement from what was originally 16^th on the grid though!

Summary: Impressive drive by both to charge from low grid positions.

BMW

8-Kubica-8-Heidfeld

Like Red Bull last weekend, this was a weekend of contrasting fortunes for the German team as they get ready to quit the sport at the end of the season. Nick Heidfeld struggled in the wet qualifying after briefly being as high as 4^th, but the ever changing time sheet caught him out and he dropped out in Q1, right at the back of the grid. Kubica meanwhile, was seemingly revelling in the conditions being as high as 3^rd place when qualifying was stopped for a long period of time, and briefly seemed to be a pole position contender in Q3 when the session did eventually restart. He would line up in 7^th place, a respectable effort. In the race, both BMWs looked quick with Kubica benefiting from Trulli/Sutil crash and jumping Rosberg at the restart. Heidfeld too seemed to be coming through the pack nicely, until a fuel rig problem meant he ran out of fuel and wouldn’t finish the race. After such a great run before Singapore of having the highest finishing rate, 2 DNFs in 3 races won’t please the German. Kubica was at his brilliant best though, jumping Barrichello and flying, never letting Webber relax and finishing 2^nd, the first podium for BMW since Malaysia!

Summary: Kubica at his brilliant best here.

Renault

14-Alonso-1-Piquet-1-Grosjean

Yes, I’ve given the point to Grosjean this race. Surprising, I know. But with very little to go on for Alonso with him being taken out in a first lap crash, there was no real choice. I was quietly impressed with Grosjean though this race, the French rookie who is still learning every race, seemed to get stuck in and battle really hard with the faster cars. He tried to make it as difficult as he could for people like Button, Hamilton, Vettel and co, but ultimately was passed by them all. He didn’t finish last though, beating fellow rookie, Jaime Alguersuari.m This guy must be looking forward to 2009 being over so he can be some proper winter testing in so he can really learn next year’s car. If, that is, he’s staying for 2010.

Summary: Disappointing weekend with not much to show apart from a second to last.

Red Bull

9-Vettel-7-Webber

Well, it was always going to be a long shot wasn’t it? Or was it? Surely Red Bull will be ruing those few early season mistakes they made that could have lost them both titles. But really, Vettel needed a lot of luck to be able to continue the fight through to Abu Dhabi and sadly for him, it was one of his worst weekends. The qualifying master who has never failed to get through to Q1 so far struggled in the wet (probably the last time I’ll type that!) on a car that was set-up for dry conditions. There was a window to get through when the rain eased, but he had too much traffic in front of him to make the most of it. It was the opposite of last weekend really with Vettel struggling and Webber excelling. After lining up second, he jumped Barrichello in the first round of stops and from there it was really game over. He had to keep Kubica in check, but he never looked likely to lose the race, bringing his race win total to 2 combined with his German win. Vettel had a good race though; another contender for driver of the day coming from 15^th to 4^th and that says it all. A great performance, but understandably dejected after a weekend he knew it got away from him.

Summary: They think it’s all over…..and actually, it is now.

Toyota

6-Trulli-8-Glock-1-Kobayashi

Timo Glock was another driver who’d be watching from the sidelines this weekend after his nasty accident in Japan just a couple of weeks ago. A fracture to a vertebra had been found when further health check ups took place on the German. Therefore, Toyota test driver, who had driven on Friday in Japan when Glock had flu, would finally get a race opportunity and surprisingly but in a good performance. A strong qualifying performance meant he’d line up 11^th on the grid with team mate Trulli in 4^th. In the race though, Toyota were pointless as Trulli collided with Sutil after a few corners, getting close to a fight with the German driver as he was livid with rage. Kobayashi put in a great performance, holding back Jenson Button for many laps and getting in some great battles for position, eventually finishing 9^th. The result was overshadowed a bit for weaving across the track and taking out fellow countryman Kazuki Nakajima, but still a great result and one that surely puts him in contention for a race seat next year.

Summary: Pointless, but great debut for Kobayashi.

Williams

15-Rosberg-1-Nakajima

Williams had strong hopes coming to the Brazilian Grand Prix where after the high results of Japan and Singapore they thought they’d have a good chance. And indeed, for a brief spell of time, it did look very promising, especially in the wet qualifying conditions where Williams with Rosberg, were fastest in the first and second sessions. Indeed, there was even talk that Williams might have their first pole position for many, many seasons if the session didn’t get re-started. Sadly for them, it did, and in the last session, the track started to dry out, by news for a car that was set-up for the wet conditions. Rosberg would line up 7^th and Nakajima 9^th. In the race, it didn’t go to plan though, as after an initial good start for Rosberg, he would retire early into the race with gearbox problems. Nakajima was having a pretty good run, but he too would also drop out as his fellow countryman weaved on him down the straight after the first few corners, meaning he would loose his front ring and skate across the gravel and into the wall. A dangerous move, but no action was taken.

Summary: No points, and two cars that need work before the final race.

Brawn GP

10-Button-5-Barrichello

I have to admit, as I sat thinking about qualifying before the race, with Jenson Button lining up in 14^th place, I thought it would be very unlikely that he’d actually be able to clinch the title at this race, he would seemingly need a miracle or a drive of his life for it to be the case. In a way, he probably did get both as the race being dry was one, and Rubens getting a puncture towards the end of the race was the other miracle, but other than that it was Button’s talent that secured him the title. He drove a brilliant race, overtaking all the time as he charged through the field up through the order to the 5^th place needed. As I say, I don’t want to talk too much about the title until the end of the season, but with this drive he really deserved to wrap it up a race early. Barrichello looked like he’d take more points out of Button after qualifying on pole, but things just didn’t go his way as ever at his home race.

Summary: Both championships done and dusted, a good day at the races!

Toro Rosso

11-Buemi-3-Bourdais-0-Alguersuari

It was a solid race for Sebastian Buemi of Toro Rosso as the team finally got back in the points again after seemingly an age. I believe it was in Monaco that they last scored points with Bourdais, so they’ll be doubtlessly happy with the way that the young Swiss performed, not just in the race, but also in qualifying. Suzuka was embarrassing for Buemi as he crashed multiple times in the qualifying session, but here, in ferocious rain that interrupted the session, he managed to get through to Q3 once again and line up an incredible 6^th place. It seemed unlikely he’d manage to stay with the faster cars in the race though, and indeed after a hectic start to the race, he fell away from the leading group perhaps a mixture of being un-familiar with the track and the car simply not being quick yet. He would finish 7^th, perhaps an achievement in only dropping one place and still finishing in the points, so my point goes to him this week. Jaime Alguersuari on the other hand continued his learning curve and came home last of the classified runners after being involved in some earlier race battles.

Summary: Back in the points for the small Italian team after a great performance by Buemi.

Force India

9-Fisichella-5-Sutil-2-Liuzzi

Force India had a rough weekend at Brazil really, as those memories of those points scored in Spa and Monza must be getting further and further away. The small Indian team looked to get back in the points this time out, and indeed, the wet conditions in qualifying would surely favour them. Sadly, it was the case only for one car as Sutil lined up an impressive 3^rd place, but Liuzzi would start from the back of the grid after crashing heavily in the wet conditions of Q2, badly damaging the gearbox in the rear-wards shunt. In the race it didn’t really get any better with Sutil out on the first lap after a crash with Toyota’s Jarno Trulli meaning he would score no points, so the point for this race goes to Vitantonio Liuzzi climbing from the back to 11^th position, being one of the drivers to gain positions from Heikki Kovalainen’s after race penalty for an unsafe release. Still no points though since Monza and frustrations must be rising as they looked to become a regular points scorer.

Summary: Disappointing doesn’t really sum it up for Force India this weekend.

So, race review for Brazil?

So, what have we learnt? Just how good a track Sao Paulo is. Once again, when people have been criticizing the recent F1 races to be boring, this race came out the blue. This race had it all, action, drama, and once again at Brazil, a champion crowned at the end of the day.  The city might not up to be much and the track might be getting old, but once again, the fans and the drivers were treated to a real action packed race.

Driver of the day? There’s really too many to choose from. Webber, Kubica, Hamilton, Vettel, Button and Raikkonen must all surely be contenders and Kobayashi deserves praise after being thrown in at the deep end to pull out a decent performance. It’ll be interesting to see how he does in Abu Dhabi, a track nobody has been to before.

Race rating? 4 stars out of 5. Easily the best race of this year in my opinion, as I say, it had it all. It seems unusual how year on year this great venue produces some of the best racing of the season, but newer tracks need to be looking at it as a case-study.

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