Red Bull Ace Silverstone, But It's No Tragedy for Brawn GP

Ok, I’ll admit it...Having just watched that Grand Prix...I can now see what a lot of people’s problem is with this season so far.  I always knew in my heart of hearts it must have been boring for non-Jens fans to watch him blitz through to victory…but I hadn’t appreciated quite how bored they must have been until the middle stint of Silverstone.

Still, Jens and Rubens both put in fantastic performances; Jens with a difficult car, and Rubens fighting a painful back problem.  I also feel as if this article will be a huge defence of Jens as knowing the "Great" British press…I can’t see Jens having a good time on the back pages tomorrow!

Another disappointment on a personal level was that Webber didn’t win.  He was greatly hindered by Raikkonen yesterday, and that mucked his race up really.  Oh well, I suppose the best man truly did win; an outstanding performance by Vettel.

The consolation for Brawn is that after the race Adrian Newey admitted that he always thought the Red Bulls would do better at Silverstone for a multitude of reasons.  Perhaps the gap isn’t quite as large as it now seems to be….

Anyway back to the racing, and as the lights went out, Vettel held off Rubens into turn one as Jens is held up by a combination of a rubbish Trulli start and a fantastic Raikkonen get away.  The championship leader fell back to P9 and was now fighting with Massa, so much so that by the end of lap one he was seven seconds behind Vettel already!

Jenson struggled for a while behind Massa, but on lap two, Massa went wide on the exit of Stowe corner and Jens got through.  However, by just lap three, Vettel was 3:316 ahead of Rubens in P3 and 10:029 ahead of Jens, now in P8.

As the young German leader pulled away, Rubens began to be threatened by Webber and although Jens was pulling away from Massa he was stuck behind Trulli.  Rubens was very much struggling with his tyres as his BGP001 failed to get enough heat through.  As his car struggled, Webber gained time in sectors two and three.

It was over really by lap 10 as Webber had been held up by Rubens who was now 10:849 behind the leader; (Jens was almost 20 seconds down now).  Jenson did gain a place after a Nakajima pit stop on lap 15, and another when Raikkonen pulled in a lap later, but he was really struggling on his tyres.

The Brawn men were out on lap 18, so too were Williams and Toyota.  The question was, should Brawn shortfill Jens to get him out of the pits ahead of the two other cars? They chose not to and added 9.8 seconds of fuel plus new hard tyres. 

Jenson did make a small gain exiting the pits; despite being beaten by Rosberg and Trulli, he did manage to gain a place on Nakajima.

One lap later, Rubens entered the pits and fitted hard tyres, plus 9.7 seconds of fuel.  This meant that on lap 20 and after one stop each, Rubens was P5, and Jenson, P9.  However, both drivers were probably going to struggle in this middle stint on those hard tyres.

Webber pitted earlier than expected, which was great news for Rubens in theory, but in practice the Australian had been very fast and rejoined ahead of Brawn’s best hope for the day; a fantastic strategy for Red Bull then to overtake Brawn in the stops.

After the first stop phase, Vettel was off in winner's land, whilst Webber was the leader of the rest; Rubens was P5 and Jens was fighting with Raikkonen in P9.

At this stage Jens was having immense trouble with understeer in the high speed sections…ummm…unfortunately, Silverstone is pretty much one big high speed section!  This all meant that by lap 25, Rubens was 25:792 seconds behind the leader, with Jens 37:928 back!

At the half way stage, Rubens was P3 and Jens was in the last points paying position.  This is how it stayed really for the next 10 laps.  The only real change was that as the Red Bulls charged away, Rubens began to feel intense pressure from P4 man Rosberg.

The story for Brawn with 20 laps to go was one of Williams pressure!  Rubens was 34 seconds behind the leader and had Rosberg to deal with whilst Jens was 51 seconds behind and fending off Nakajima. 

Jenson was having an awful time (I blame the helmet…but then again I am probably more superstitious than Rafael Nadal!)!  At stages car 22 was fine, only for it to change completely at a different section of the track.  Having said this, car 23 wasn’t much better.

So, this all sounds a bit sad at the moment doesn’t it Brawn fans? Well here is where it got a lot better as Rubens and Jenson both showed us how talented they are.  Rubens consistently lapped quickly to cling onto P3, whilst Jenson, who found himself in P5 also pushed in the hope of gaining as many points as was possible.

We will first look at Rubens, who with just 13 laps left, darted into the pits.  Massa in P4 had already made his final stop and was on a bit of a charge.  Rubens had to have done a good in lap to get himself on the podium. 

As the Brazilian exited the pits Massa’s little marker on the TV graphic looked close! But in actuality Rubens had done a fantastic job and easily breezed back out into P3.  Job done Rubens, you were definately the best of the rest today!

On to Jenson now and please, take notes British press!  The championship leader was now in P3 and the commentators (I thought Jonathan Ledgard was particularly annoying today by the way) were talking about Jens racing for P7 with Trulli.

With just 11 laps left, Jens darted into the pits, but had he done enough?  The team fitted softs and 6.3 seconds worth of fuel went in.  Had he done it though? Had Jenson done enough for P7…well no…he was actually now in P6! A fantastic job from Jenson to claw his way back up to where he began.

However, it got better as the new tyres on the Brawn were at last working well.  Jens gave us all a bit of a show as he began to catch both Rosberg and Massa, both of whom were struggling on the hard compound tyre.

Jenson crushed Rosberg’s sector times and was 1:533 seconds faster than the Williams with just 6 laps left.  He was also 1:075 seconds faster than Massa, but when he reached Rosberg’s dirty air, it was basically game over for Jens.  The Brit pushed to the end, but eventually ran out of time.

It finished with Rubens in P3 and Jenson, P6.  Which when you consider the start, the BGP001’s pace, the pace of the Red Bulls and the difficult weather, was a great result!

In conclusion, from a purely Brawn fan perspective, the race was rather dull to begin with.  However, towards the end, Jenson and Rubens both proved quite how talented they are. 

The weekend didn’t start well and the Red Bulls were untouchable.  I just hope the British press take account of how well Jenson and Lewis did today; yes they both ultimately disappointed, but I think they both drove their socks off.

It’s not the end of the world Brawn fans; hey on the bright side, it’s given the moaners something to be happy about!  Bring on Germany I say! 

Driver’s standings

Jenson: 64
Rubens: 41
Vettel: 39

Constructor’s standings:

Brawn GP: 105
Red Bull Racing: 74.5
Toyota: 34.5