23-09-2013, 21:36
http://www.planetf1.com/race-features/89...ngapore-GP
Vettel was at his brilliant best, while Martin Brundle finally told the crowd what they should have heard a long time ago.
Star of the Race
Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 1st
Vettel was in the predicted race of his own on Sunday. The laps at the start were exceptional - a 4.1 second gap to Rosberg by Lap 2. He was up to 6.2 seconds on Lap 4 and by Lap 5 he was being told to ease off. At the re-start the gaps were breathtaking - 3.2, 5.5, 8.3, 9.9, 11.9, 14.3, 16.5, 18.7, 20.4. He produced a 20-second lead in nine laps. And in case you missed the stat - he's now led more F1 races than Nigel Mansell with only Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna left to tick off the list. Given that Bernie's heading for 25-grand-prix-seasons those three won't take long.
It was another peerless performance from Vettel and good for Sky's Martin Brundle who told those booing Vettel on the podium: "Please don't do that, that's not correct." Because it's not. Vettel joked that it was Ferrari fans who didn't like him winning all the time, but with 17% of the audience made up of Aussies (figures supplied by the race organisers) it was probably more to do with "Multi 21 Seb".
Overtaking Move of the Race
Lap 54: Kimi Raikkonen, on Jenson Button for P3Kimi Raikkonen's pass on Jenson Button was the key element in claiming a podium place. If he hadn't have got past when he did then he could well have been swallowed by the pursuing horde of Webber, Rosberg and Hamilton. A measure of Kimi's brilliance is that he passed Button on the same age tyres, yet Nico Rosberg on much younger tyres struggled to get past the McLaren of Perez. Kimi chose the dirty line round the outside of Turn 14, a corner with no significant run-off and virtually no margin of error. He was helped by Button leaving him room, but it was an audacious move.
Winners
Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 2nd
Fernando made the most of one of those golden path starts when some cars get poor getaways and other cars conspire to move out of the way and he picks the perfect line through the first corner. Alonso likes the outside, even though it can be risky sometimes, but today his Ferrari shot through like a Scalextric car with magnetraction. It would have been interesting to register Fernando's exact emotion as he swooped round Turn 1 and realised he'd made the kind of progress in one corner that some drivers of faster cars spend an entire race not replicating.
From there on it was a question of getting the Safety Car pit-stop call right and making his tyres last till the end of the race, which didn't look as spectacular as anything he did on the opening lap but was immeasurably more difficult.
Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 4th
A fantastic qualifying performance, an almost-perfect getaway but Nico just overran Turn 1 and that was all that Vettel needed to get him back. After that it was a mixed race, often spent querying (almost arguing) with his race engineers. The radio exchange "why do I need to push?" was one of the strangest. Many viewers will have wanted to supply an alternative answer to the one he got from Tony Ross.
Both Mercedes drivers gave the impression they didn't really know where they were. Hamilton said he thought he'd finished third when he crossed the line, not having accounted for Alonso and Raikkonen being in front.
In Monza Lewis had trouble with his radio and in Singapore Nico experienced radio problems too. Given the evolution of other technologies in F1 and the collective billions of dollars spent sucking exhaust gases to unnecessary places on cars, you'd think they might have cracked this one by now.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 5th
Despite working his cahunas off, Lewis Hamilton only had fifth place to show for what he equates to sitting in a sauna for two hours. You expected him to be downbeat afterwards, but no he was very positive after the race. This is probably down to the fact that although he got outqualified by Rosberg, and his start was dreadful, in the closing stages he looked considerably quicker, especially when Rosberg struggled to get past slower cars. In the past Rosberg has been asked to hold back and it was evident that Hamilton had the pace to challenge his team-mate but in the end held back.
Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 6th
Massa outqualified Alonso for the fifth time in 12 races but chose the busy side of the grid for his start and got boxed in. It was a competent performance from Felipe and shows that he is still eminently employable. One factor that is on his side is his size. With weight at a premium in the 2014 cars, he is a lot more cockpit-fitting-friendly than the hulking Nico Hulkenberg.Jenson Button, McLaren, 7th
Sergio Perez, McLaren, 8th
Although Button said there was no real chance of a podium, had Perez skidded into the barriers at Turn 18 on Lap 53 then we'd probably have had a Safety Car up to the two-hour mark. Perez kept his car in one piece despite the marbles and despite a three-way tussle with Hulkenberg and Maldonado that looked certain to end with missing aero parts.
Sigue
Vettel was at his brilliant best, while Martin Brundle finally told the crowd what they should have heard a long time ago.
Star of the Race
Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 1st
Vettel was in the predicted race of his own on Sunday. The laps at the start were exceptional - a 4.1 second gap to Rosberg by Lap 2. He was up to 6.2 seconds on Lap 4 and by Lap 5 he was being told to ease off. At the re-start the gaps were breathtaking - 3.2, 5.5, 8.3, 9.9, 11.9, 14.3, 16.5, 18.7, 20.4. He produced a 20-second lead in nine laps. And in case you missed the stat - he's now led more F1 races than Nigel Mansell with only Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna left to tick off the list. Given that Bernie's heading for 25-grand-prix-seasons those three won't take long.
It was another peerless performance from Vettel and good for Sky's Martin Brundle who told those booing Vettel on the podium: "Please don't do that, that's not correct." Because it's not. Vettel joked that it was Ferrari fans who didn't like him winning all the time, but with 17% of the audience made up of Aussies (figures supplied by the race organisers) it was probably more to do with "Multi 21 Seb".
Overtaking Move of the Race
Lap 54: Kimi Raikkonen, on Jenson Button for P3Kimi Raikkonen's pass on Jenson Button was the key element in claiming a podium place. If he hadn't have got past when he did then he could well have been swallowed by the pursuing horde of Webber, Rosberg and Hamilton. A measure of Kimi's brilliance is that he passed Button on the same age tyres, yet Nico Rosberg on much younger tyres struggled to get past the McLaren of Perez. Kimi chose the dirty line round the outside of Turn 14, a corner with no significant run-off and virtually no margin of error. He was helped by Button leaving him room, but it was an audacious move.
Winners
Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 2nd
Fernando made the most of one of those golden path starts when some cars get poor getaways and other cars conspire to move out of the way and he picks the perfect line through the first corner. Alonso likes the outside, even though it can be risky sometimes, but today his Ferrari shot through like a Scalextric car with magnetraction. It would have been interesting to register Fernando's exact emotion as he swooped round Turn 1 and realised he'd made the kind of progress in one corner that some drivers of faster cars spend an entire race not replicating.
From there on it was a question of getting the Safety Car pit-stop call right and making his tyres last till the end of the race, which didn't look as spectacular as anything he did on the opening lap but was immeasurably more difficult.
Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 4th
A fantastic qualifying performance, an almost-perfect getaway but Nico just overran Turn 1 and that was all that Vettel needed to get him back. After that it was a mixed race, often spent querying (almost arguing) with his race engineers. The radio exchange "why do I need to push?" was one of the strangest. Many viewers will have wanted to supply an alternative answer to the one he got from Tony Ross.
Both Mercedes drivers gave the impression they didn't really know where they were. Hamilton said he thought he'd finished third when he crossed the line, not having accounted for Alonso and Raikkonen being in front.
In Monza Lewis had trouble with his radio and in Singapore Nico experienced radio problems too. Given the evolution of other technologies in F1 and the collective billions of dollars spent sucking exhaust gases to unnecessary places on cars, you'd think they might have cracked this one by now.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 5th
Despite working his cahunas off, Lewis Hamilton only had fifth place to show for what he equates to sitting in a sauna for two hours. You expected him to be downbeat afterwards, but no he was very positive after the race. This is probably down to the fact that although he got outqualified by Rosberg, and his start was dreadful, in the closing stages he looked considerably quicker, especially when Rosberg struggled to get past slower cars. In the past Rosberg has been asked to hold back and it was evident that Hamilton had the pace to challenge his team-mate but in the end held back.
Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 6th
Massa outqualified Alonso for the fifth time in 12 races but chose the busy side of the grid for his start and got boxed in. It was a competent performance from Felipe and shows that he is still eminently employable. One factor that is on his side is his size. With weight at a premium in the 2014 cars, he is a lot more cockpit-fitting-friendly than the hulking Nico Hulkenberg.Jenson Button, McLaren, 7th
Sergio Perez, McLaren, 8th
Although Button said there was no real chance of a podium, had Perez skidded into the barriers at Turn 18 on Lap 53 then we'd probably have had a Safety Car up to the two-hour mark. Perez kept his car in one piece despite the marbles and despite a three-way tussle with Hulkenberg and Maldonado that looked certain to end with missing aero parts.
Sigue
Fernando es de otro planeta