Sebastien Vettel Wins Yet Again in 2011, This Time in Catalunya

The 2011 Catalunyian GP will probably go down in history as the best ever held at the circuit. Whilst I will admit that it was a good race by usual standards, I can’t help but feel continually short changed by the changes the 2011 season has brought.

The two top teams are simply too fast for anyone else. Whilst this has been true of nearly every season, I think the addition of DRS, KERS, and these stupid degrading tyres has made the gap so large that I can’t see anyone slower able to hold off the might of McLaren and Red Bull.

Does nobody else think it’s supremely troubling that Fernando Alonso stated after the race that he was simply out of position after a great start? Basically, driver skill was never going to be enough to beat Red Bull or McLaren.

I don’t know, I’m finding it difficult to get to grips with all the changes, and I do think it’s difficult to report on a sport you are passionate about when you don’t really care for the two teams on top. Today’s race was better than many past Spanish GPs and I can see why Red Bull and McLaren fans will be very happy at the moment.

The start was one of the best I have seen for a long time.

It all looked pretty tidy (and I must say extremely slow) from the initial camera angle. However, as Lewis Hamilton tried to move up the outside, and the Red Bulls squabbled with each other (Sebastien Vettel was the winner of that fight), Fernando Alonso expertly darted into tiny pockets of space to take and hold a phenomenal first place going into turn one.

Alonso had done extremely well coming from the dirty side of the track and this coupled with the huge reaction from the crowd really helped build a fantastic first lap atmosphere.

Further back, Michael Schumacher had also had a skilful start, but Jenson Button had struggled and conceded places.

The positions after one lap were as follows:

Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Vettel, Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton, Vitaly Petrov, Michael Schumacher, Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Buemi, Felipe Massa, Jenson Button, Sergio Perez, Jamie Alguersuari, Pastor Maldinado, Paul di Resta, Jarno Trulli, Heikki Kovalainen, Nick Heidfeld, Adrian Sutil, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Rubens Barrichello, Timo Glock, Narain Karthikeyan, Jerome D’Ambrosio, Kamui Kobayashi (who suffered a first lap puncture)

By lap three, Vettel was closing in on Alonso but the Ferrari man was able to hold on.

Jenson Button gave us all some excitement by passing Sebastian Buemi, and Felipe Massa. I’ve got to say, the overtaking today didn’t feel as fake as it has done in previous races, (especially at this stage), as all of the drivers had similar tyre conditions and DRS thankfully seemed pretty ineffective.

Sebastien Vettel was faster, but had as yet failed to pass Fernando Alonso. The Red Bull man was pitted on lap 10 and many commentators began scratching their heads and stating that Red Bull had brought Vettel in too early.

Ferrari had to react to Vettel’s stop because these new bloody tyres break up so damn quickly and there is such a gulf between Red Bull, McLaren and everyone else.

Alonso and Webber both pitted at the same time, Alonso was able to hold on to the lead, but Webber lost out and fell back a bit.

At this stage the top 10 positions were:

Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton, Webber, Button, Di Resta, Trulli, Schumacher, Kovalainen, Petrov

Lewis Hamilton had reacted well to the early stops and had rejoined in P3 (leapfrogging Webber). However, I think my heart began to sink around eight laps later when Vettel again stopped slightly earlier than many predicted.

I’m not quite sure how to explain the way I feel about Formula One at the moment. I guess I just feel that F1 2011 has become too much about strategy and although tyre management is an option, the difference between good tyres and bad tyres is so great that a fantastic driver physically can’t hold off a car with newer tyres.

When you take this with the frankly mammoth gap between Red Bull, McLaren, and everyone else, it’s very hard to get even get an unpredictable result through great strategy or race craft.

I think this was the case at this stage of the Grand Prix. Vettel pitted and Ferrari simply had to react as their race worn tyres simply wouldn’t be anything like as good as Vettel’s new ones.

Alonso pitted, and Vettel’s ultimate speed enabled the Red Bull man to undercut Ferrari and take the lead without even the thought of an on track manoeuvre.

Lewis Hamilton was out in first and flying. Of course I’m not going to deny that Hamilton has skill, but I do believe the McLaren was just so much better than the following non Red Bull cars.

It became clearer and clearer that although Alonso had done a fantastic job to take the lead on lap one, his car was simply out of position and in the current age of F1 I can’t see a weaker car holding on.

Alonso fought well, but slipped into a memory as the real battle developed between Hamilton and Vettel.

Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber had a decent little fight around lap 33, but the Ferrari was just too weak (remember China 2005 when Alonso was able to hold off Schumacher in a far faster car? Yeah well those days are over….)

Vettel pitted a few laps later and was able to leapfrog Hamilton. The two drivers were close for the rest of the afternoon, which I suppose was exciting but they were simply in a world of their own as they lapped cars all the way up to P5!

I will concede that it was pretty exciting to see Hamilton and Vettel so close for so many laps, and of course I’d much rather see that than just one driver pulling away.

I think it is also worth mentioning how well Jenson Button did to recover a podium from a very poor start. Button was probably my driver of the day as he took places through a combination of vital paces, good strategy, and smooth driving.

Webber did well too, but I think the final result truly shows the problems facing the other teams at the moment...the only un-lapped cars were Red Bulls and McLarens.

I hope the rest of the teams can catch up but looking at the Drivers’ and Constructors’ standings it’s hard to see anyone stopping the top guys in time for anything like the excitement we experienced from the past few seasons.

(As I went to press, an issue arose around Hamilton, Button, Webber, and Alguarsuari. Apparently these four drivers failed to slow significantly under yellow flags, but I think it will be very difficult to come to any concrete conclusions at this early stage).

Drivers’ Title Top Three:

Sebastien Vettel: 188

Lewis Hamilton: 77

Mark Webber: 67

Constructors’ Top Three:

Red Bull: 185

McLaren: 138

Ferrari: 75

1 Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull

2 Lewis Hamilton, McLaren

3 Jenson Button, McLaren

4 Mark Webber, Red Bull

5 Fernando Alonso, Ferrari

6 Michael Schumacher, Mercedes

7 Nico Rosberg, Mercedes

8 Nick Heidfeld, Renault

9 Sergio Perez, Sauber

10 Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber

11 Vitaly Petrov, Renault

12 Paul di Resta, Force India

13 Adrian Sutil, Force India

14 Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso

15 Pastor Maldonado, Williams

16 Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso

17 Rubens Barrichello, Williams

18 Jarno Trulli, Lotus

19 Timo Glock, Virgin

20 Jerome d’Ambrosio, Virgin

21 Narain Karthikeyan, HRT