Turkish GP - Race Report

Round seven and we've still yet to see a full grid take the formation lap. This time it was Lucas di Grassi's Lotus that had sprung an oil leak. The team worked frantically in the few minutes they had and as the pack formed up for the start they succeeded in getting the car out at the end of the pitlane. Out on the track Charlie Whiting triggered the start lights sequence the moment the last few cars finished moving into their grid slots - no doubt because of the temperature and the visible wafts of smoke rising from some cars on the grid - most noticeably the Mercedes.

Out went the lights and we all held our breath as the pack screamed down to the first corner, renowned for the occasional coming together. This time however it was clean all the way through. Webber converted pole to the lead with Vettel and Hamilton right behind. Jenson Button lost out to a slightly better positioned Michael Schumacher and behind him it was Rosberg, Kubica and Massa. Hamilton almost immediately passed Vettel for second

Button knew that he had to get back in front of Schumacher to stand a chance of a podium place and tracked the German closely through turns eight, nine and ten before making his move. The McLaren passed the Mercedes as they approached turn twelve, and I'm sure that the entire McLaren garage, along with all the Jenson Button fans, heaved a sigh of relief as Button set off to catch the top three.

Further back there was a coming together with Buemi forced to pit at the end of the lap with a right rear puncture, but all 24 cars were still running at the end of the first lap.

With the initial running order established it was clear that although the Red Bulls had the edge through the long turn eight (both drivers taking it flat all weekend), the McLarens were more than able to keep up and in all probability were, in race trim, faster over a full lap. Hamilton harried the lead Red Bull over the first fifteen laps before McLaren called him in for a stop. Red Bull, who had not been intending to pit their drivers quite this early realised that they could cover the McLaren put stop by pitting Webber on the same lap. Thus both cars pitted at the end of lap 15, leaving the pits in the order they pitted but on rejoining they were split by the second Red Bull. With Vettel having pitting on the previous lap this left Jenson Button to run in the lead for two laps before he too pitted.

The order on lap 18, with all the front runners having pitted, was Webber from Vettel, Hamilton, Button, Schumacher, Rosberg, Kubica and Massa.

From lap 21 there were repeated warnings about rain and although this had the potential to spice up the racing somewhat it ultimately came to nothing until the very end of the race. So despite the heat, reliability was good in this race with the first retirement not occurring until lap 33 when Jarno Trulli stopped with hydraulic failure. His team mate retired in sympathy on the very next lap with the very same problem. Scratch two Lotuses.

Things quietened down a bit after that as some of the drivers started to conserve fuel. Mark Webber was one of these, leaning off his mixture around lap 38 or 39. Sebastian Vettel had however used a little less fuel or, depending on your conspiracy theory, was allowed to run with a richer mixture for longer. Anyway on lap 40 Vettel was right on Webber's tail and tried to put one up the inside between turns 11 and 12. Webber being a fair driver left a car's width and just a little bit more for Vettel to play with. The German was definitely the faster of the two drivers at that moment and pulled alongside and half a car length ahead. But to make the move work he needed a better approach angle into turn 12 and inexplicably pulled across and into his team mate. Vettel was out on the spot while Webber was able to continue and after a pit stop to replace a broken front wing was running third.

Vettel was livid, making hand signs that clearly indicated that Webber was to blame. The team were, shall we say, somewhat disappointed. After the race the team tried to pin all the blame on the Australian which in the view of all the pundits on the track was shall we say somewhat scandalous. However the team was unable to sustain this point of view in the face of all the evidence and overwhelming criticism and was forced to change its opinion - at least in public.

Just when we thought we'd had all the excitement we could deal with for one race the McLaren drivers also decided to have a little battle and at the end of lap 48 Button put a move on Hamilton and took the lead. This was short-lived however, Hamilton managing to come back at the current world champion and take back the lead into turn one.

That really was the end of the excitement for the day and the drivers ran in line astern to the end of the race - Hamilton from Button, Webber, Schumacher, Rosberg, Kubica, Massa and Petrov.

With the results in, Mark Webber was left leading the championship on 93 points, ahead of Button (88), Hamilton (84), Alonso (79) bad Vettel (78). So although Red Bull threw away a win, Webber should still be quietly satisfied with the end result which gives him a 15 point advantage over his team mate.

In two weeks time the teams get together in Canada for the return of the Canadian Grand Prix. Interesting times ahead, I think.

author: Phil Haigh     published: 06/06

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