McLaren: Crash-Bang-Wallop

Sunday, 28 August 2011 19:00

I think everybody can see that qualifying isn't as important as it was in the last several seasons, 'the procession years'.

In today’s Belgian Grand Prix from Spa Francorchamps, Jenson Button brought his McLaren from 13th to 3rd; Pastor Maldonado, for Williams, began on the naughty chair in 21st and ended 10th; Michael Schumacher celebrated his twenty-year anniversary in Formula 1 with an insouciant drive from 24th to 5th for Mercedes GP.

Jenson’s drive, for me, epitomised a weekend of 'what might have been' for McLaren when their Crash-Bang-Wallop season continued. Jenson’s race looked all but over after he lost his front wing and his wing mirror in first corner chaos. But, aided by the safety car closing up the field, Jenson's McLaren seemed coated with butter as he slithered past car after car on his way to third step of the podium. What could he have done if he’d qualified nearer to the front? What would have lain in store for teammate Lewis Hamilton if he hadn't become part of the scenery after his brush with Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi? Could McLaren have taken first or second? Or first and second? To see Jenson storming through the field in a car ragged at both ends, I had to think it a possibility.

I’m beginning to tire of the idea that every incident concerning Lewis Hamilton has got to be at least partly his fault and thought he was hard done to at Spa, both after the chequered flag in second qualifying, when he was casually side-swiped by Pastor Maldonado, and on lap 13 of the race when Kamui Kobayashi drove into the wedge created by Lewis’s McLaren taking up the racing line. Maybe the second was the result of immovable object coming into conflict with unstoppable force, as both Lewis and Kamui are aggressive drivers. Although I think Lewis was ahead and entitled to keep to his line, if I absolutely have to, I can accept it as a racing incident.

But not Pastor Maldonado’s post qualifying-session barging. Sorry, Pastor. Bad sportsmanship, in my book. I never respect that.

It was such a great race, leaders swapping and no easy win. Tyre degradation was an issue, rather than the race being at the mercy of the weather. I’m not against rain-affected races, Formula 1 being an outdoors sport, but a dry race played a joker after Friday practice and Saturday practice and qualifying being wet. The teams hadn’t been able to set their cars up to dry running. That may have been a factor in Red Bull blistering their tyres in qualifying but the rumour was that, to increase grip, they’d set up with more tyre camber than the Pirelli recommendation. Red Bull fought in vain to be allowed fresh tyres but, happily, the rules were enforced and both Red Bull drivers began the race on the tyres on which they’d set their fastest qualifying lap.

I failed to appreciate the Red Bull stance that they should have been allowed fresh tyres because theirs were unsafe. Had that been the case, surely both drivers would have changed their tyres and begun from the pit lane. (That would’ve been fun, wouldn’t it?)

Despite the fiery blisters, Red Bull raced well with Sebastian Vettel taking the win and Mark Webber fighting back from a horrible start to take second. The race ended with lots of Red Bull patting of backs, but I can't blame them. Designer Adrian Newey is such a champion and where he goes, success will surely follow.

Ferrari were impressive in the first part of the race but lost pace from mid-point. I’m not exactly a Fernando Alonso fan but he’s a great racer and I felt a bit sorry for him when the Ferrari turned into a slug on the harder tyres.

Bruno Senna, in his first race for Lotus Renault and after a great qualifying run to 7th place, didn’t get his wish for a top ten slot, when a first corner crash disintegrated his front wing and earned him a drive-through penalty. Senna misjudged the first corner on high fuel and cool brakes. It was a shame, after such a good and fortuitous qualifying. Race rusty, maybe. The track was ‘green’, after so much rain and there seemed to be at least three separate first corner incidents.

Sutil got a good result for Force India, I was pleased to see. The Northamptonshire team keeps showing well in flashes but are a bit accident and incident prone. Di Resta's compromised qualifying no doubt affected his race but he was going pretty well after the first corner incident. It was nobody's fault that he couldn't pit under the safety car and lost three places.

Finally, Germany's F1 pedigree over the past couple of decades is impressive. Although I was not a Michael Schumacher fan (masterly British understatement) in his first F1 career, I find myself quite enjoying his renaissance and thought he deserved every point from today’s 5th place.

And Sebastian Vettel is there to carry on the winning tradition. By Sue Moorcroft

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