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It was fair enough that Lewis and Rosberg came to this
race with their ten place grid penalty after the idiotic
driving in the pit lane in Canada. Lewis qualified third
which meant he started in thirteenth. Despite being
a track where there is very little overtaking, with
his strategy and aggressive driving, it was likely that
Lewis could have finished in the points. He made a great
move past Vettel in his Toro Rosso but having made the
pass, ran wide, missing the chicane. The team were not
told that Lewis had to give back the place so he continued.
It was only later that the team learnt that Lewis was
to be penalised with a drive through penalty. This penalty
was ludicrous and I have no doubt that if Lewis had
passed any other car, other than a Ferrari powered Toro
Rosso, this would not have been an issue. Lewis carried
on to come home in tenth. The FIA also had a go at Heikki
giving him a five place grid penalty. Having qualified
in fifth, he was dropped to tenth for allegedly blocking
Webber on his flying lap. However, it could be seen
that Heikki tried to get out of Webber's way but he
was in fact held up by Nakajima. Webber still got through
to the next qualifying session and therefore his overall
starting position was not hampered. This was therefore
another ludicrous penalty. It seems this was Max' last
attempt at attacking Ron before he is publicly humiliated
at his forthcoming trial against the News of the World,
and is finally forced to resign. Heikki ran a good race
and finished fourth and the car was working beautifully
for him.
There was a Ferrari 1-2 on the grid with Kimi on pole.
However, this was reversed with Massa coming home first
and Kimi in second. The right exhaust pipe broke on
Kimi's car causing him to lose power. Felipe had a trouble
free race and his win has left him leading the driver's
championship. I think it would be a great result for
Felipe to go into the second half of the season ahead
of Kimi on points. To see Kimi's face when the team
tell him he has to back up Massa's championship charge,
would be hilarious.
The final podium position went to Trulli in his Toyota.
This was no doubt a freak result but a just result.
He defended his position well from Kovalainen and the
team deserved a break particularly in the light of the
sad news following the death of Ove Andersson. The car
showed pace that enabled Trulli to qualify in fourth
and team mate Glock in eighth. Glock made a great start
and was initially chasing Trulli but he lost pace after
his first pit stop and eventually came home eleventh.
It was a strange weekend for BMW Sauber. Having had
such a strong showing in Canada and winning their first
Grand Prix, they were way off the pace. Heidfeld seems
to be going backwards this season and only managed to
qualify eleventh and finish thirteenth. No explanation
was given for his poor showing. Kubica qualified fifth
and finished fifth but never looked to be a contender
this weekend.
Red Bull continued their good results. Webber again
finishing in the points, having qualified sixth and
finished sixth. He lost places at the start and spent
most of the day racing Alonso. Once again he was the
ultimate winner. DC qualified seventh and finished nineth,
having lost three grid places at the start. It is a
shame he was just outside of the points but a good result
for the time overall.
A brilliant result for Nelson Piquet in his Renault.
That is the first time I have been able to say that.
He was once again out qualified by Alonso. He started
in nineth whereas his team mate was third. However,
it is likely that is more to do with strategy and Alonso
being light, trying to grab the glory for the French
based team. Piquet, however, finished seventh, ahead
of his team mate in eighth. Everything worked well for
Piquet and he deserved his points. Alonso had some good
battles and I am enjoying seeing his true quality come
through this year. He is far better than the car under
him and he is therefore having to push and overtake
and outdrive the car. It is clear to see why he is a
two times world champion.
The rest of the field were pretty disappointing. Vettel
in his Toro Ross finished twelfth and Bourdais who was
meant to take the world of Formula 1 by storm, continued
with his dismal performance, finishing seventeenth.
I was disappointed to see the Williams finishing in
fifteenth and sixteenth. Rosberg started in nineteenth
having taken his ten place grid penalty and therefore
his race was always compromised. Finishing sixteenth
was the best he could do. Nakajima qualified fifteenth
and finished there. Both cars lacked pace.
Poor poor Jensen again. He qualified sixteenth but
retired on lap 18 after heading back to the pits for
a second time. He had already been in for a new nose
cone. His team mate Barrichello qualified twentieth
and finished fourteenth. As Barrichello said, it was
a painful weekend.
The Force India boys would have been at the back if
it had not been for Button. Sutil qualified eighteenth
and finished nineteenth and Fisichello qualified seventeenth
and finished eighteen. The team say their aim was just
to finish and they achieved that. It has to be borne
in mind that the reliability of this team is pretty
impressive but that is all they can take away from the
weekend.
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