2009 British GP: Bulls on Rampage as Vettel Conquers Silverstone

Sebastian Vettel started his impossible championship quest against Jenson Button’s massive lead in what could be the last British GP at Silverstone.

Vettel had a perfect weekend, as he not only won the race but also managed a triple crown of getting his car on pole and also having the fastest lap of the race. Vettel showed total dominance as he was a good half a second faster than any other car of the field, and even his teammate Webber who came second was not fast enough to catch up with the young German who is tipped to be the future of F1. 

Rubens Barrichello said before the race that he will try to win the British GP, but though he managed to come third and get the last podium place it was very important for him to come ahead of his teammate Button and prove that he is no way behind Button.

Though this result does not see a major shift in the driver’s championship, but it was important for Barrichello to close in the gap and also try to challenge Button for the world title. Brawn has to be a bit worried about the pace of Red Bull; though they may have a good enough lead to get Button to the driver’s championship, the constructor’s title is still wide open and Red Bull is fast catching up. A few more races like this could make it neck and neck. 

Ferrari had a very decent weekend; they are fast catching up with Toyota and trying to go after the third spot among the constructors, as Massa had a very solid drive and good strategy and managed to come fourth while his teammate scored the last of the points by coming in eighth. Ferrari is still behind Brawn and Red Bull, but they are definitely ahead of the rest of the pack and it is very important for them to get both the cars on points consistently.

Nico Rosberg had a very good race as he even had a chance of getting on to the podium but he had to fight for his fifth place with an inspired Button chasing him right through the end. His teammate Kazuki Nakajima, though at one stage was as high as fourth, but his strategy was not good enough throughout the race and he could only come in 11th.

Trulli came in seventh for Toyota, while Glock just could not upstage Kimi for the last of the championship points. Though it was disappointing for the Toyota team, who at one stage of the season were as fast as the Brawn cars, but now they are way behind not only Red Bull and Brawn, but also Ferrari who seem to have a slight edge over them. Williams seem to be catching up on them too. 

It was a miserable race for the McLaren team as neither driver scored points or even remotely looked like challenging for them. Hamilton did provide some entertainment in his scrap with the likes of Alonso and Kubica at the back of the field, while teammate Heikki Kovalainen is classified last after having a racing incident where he and STR’s Bourdais both had to retire after that.

It should also be noted that Williams have overtaken McLaren in the constructors title and are now sitting in fifth, while former champions Renault failed to score points, but Alonso once again put up a determined show.

BMW had a race to forget as I think the best for the team is to give up on this season and just focus on the upcoming season while Toro Rosso must be happy having score some points early on in the season as they seem to be behind everyone else and even Force India seem to be pretty strong and this season they had a package which was faster than the likes of McLaren, BMW, and Renault which is very impressive for the smallest team on the grid.

It was a very good race, and hopefully this should not be the last race at this historic venue as over the years Silverstone has produced some brilliant moments. This year it was a very impressive show by Vettel and Webber for Red Bull, while Barrichello showed that age does not matter.

Hopefully Vettel and Barrichello can challenge Button for the title, and we can all hope that the 2009 season goes down the wire and have a similar finish to the 2007 and 2008 seasons, where the titles were decided at the last race.