Monday, August 24, 2009

EUROPEAN GP RACE RESULTS


Well, as expected it was a boring race. Everything turned out to be a procession as the track doesn't allow the cars to bunch up at certain points for overtaking, all cars were evenly spaced out. The start was as usual the only exciting part of the race. Both McLarens had a good start off the line as did Barichello.

Kimi had a good start also, making a few palces but bad news for Button who lost a few places due to being cut by Vettel and his no-risk approach to the race. In the end it was good news for him as he finished 7th, collecting a safe 2 points. Not so for Red Bull, who lost Vettel with another engine failure making it 2 engines in one weekend. Vettel is running out of engines, with 1 engine left for the next 6 races. Does not look good for his championship hopes. I'd say he has no chance now as after the last engine, he will have a 10 place grid penalty everytime he changes engine. Plus, how long can he stretch that last engine? Over 6 races? No way.

Webber didn't too well also, finishing 9th and out of the points. They just didn't have the pace. The main talking point is how Lewis lost the race to Barichello due to a pitstop blunder. 13.4s is not normal for McLaren. It seems that their strategy didn't work out this weekend. They were definitely racing Barrichello and they would have got the win for Lewis if not for a last minute strategy decision to ask him to stay out another lap. By then Lewis was already in the pitlane entry. To compound the problem, a new set of tyres were not ready for him.

Barrichello managed to get infront of Lewis with 17 laps to go but it was not enough for Lewis to chase him. The Brawn and Barrichello just had too much pace. Funny Button didn't have the same pace though. The other disappointment was Heikki Kovalainnen who was overtaken in the pits twice - once by Barrichello and then by Raikkonnen. What happened McLaren? He had pace this weekend after being told he might lose his job.

The other highlight of the race was that Badoer started last and didn't quite make a dent. On top of that, he almost collided with a Renault in the pits, allowed the Renault to overtake him in the pits (which looked amateurish to me) and crossed the white line after that on the way out. What was he thinking? Was he so shaken up by that? He is an experienced driver. Even the rookies don't make that kind of mistake. Fun though.

The rest of the field didn't make any impression on me. It was just another day at the office. Looking forward to my favorite track next - Spa Francorchamps.

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