Vettel shows how its done
“It’s important to have a close relationship with a car,” said Sebastian Vettel before climbing into his car, driving imperiously through rivers of water and never-ending rainfall and winning his second ever Grand Prix (he won his first last year at Monza in Red Bull B car, Toro Rosso). Later, having been doused with winner’s champagne, Vettel expanded on the theme. "Like a ship, a car should be named after a girl as it's sexy," he said. "My original car was called Kate. But then it got smashed at the opening race in Australia. So we called this one Kate's Dirty Sister because it is more aggressive and faster." He is a man after my own heart this young driving genius. Until I decided to burnish my environmental credentials and give up automobiles, I had a series of sexy motors. One of them, Keiko, was so selfless that she gave up her life so that I could live. Another, Gretchen, guaranteed me lifelong notoriety.
It was clear last year that greatness beckoned for young Vettel. He seems to do things so effortlessly that it is very surprising to learn that he is yet to see his 22nd birthday. Pole position was secured without breaking a sweat on Saturday and he took command of a difficult race in atrocious conditions yesterday as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Between Vettel and Lewis Hamilton, one wonders who would have the measure of the other if put in the same car. After four years hard graft Red Bull seem finally to have a competitive car which Vettel and Mark Webber are putting to good use this season. I mean to say, what can be more satisfying than occupying the top two slots at the end of a race which could easily have ended up with both cars wrecked against a barrier? Contrast that with Ferrari who, with Force India, are yet to score a single point this season and the scale of Red Bull’s achievement comes sharply into perspective.
The race itself was weird. Heavy rain and standing water meant that it was deemed too dangerous to have a normal start and the first eight laps were driven behind the safety car. This irritated me a lot. What’s wrong with a decent crash at the first corner? That usually makes for excellent entertainment. This obsession with health and safety is emasculating the sport methinks…
Yesterday was all about grip. The cars with the best grip – Red Bull – easily stayed well ahead of the opposition. Rain master Lewis Hamilton found his car to be such a dog that no amount of kicking it would help. Lap after lap he would charge through the field and then aquaplane messily on standing water, spin and have to do all the hard work again. He even managed to get past Kimi Raikkonen three times. Raikkonen, meanwhile, was having one of those days when he could barely wait until the chequered flag came down so that he could pour himself a restorative martini.
If things were bad for Ferrari and McLaren, they were better than acceptable for Brawn GP. Although Jenson Button struggled to keep up with the two Red Bulls he was able to salvage third place and thus stretch his lead at the top of the championship standings. The man closest to him in points, team-mate Rubens Barrichello, squeezed in behind Button at fourth place so as to underline the supremacy of the Brawn cars in this year’s barmy season. Consistency is everything in Formula One. Race by race, Brawn are underlining their supremacy. If they keep this up they will be impossible to catch.
There is a chap who seems to have annoyed the Gods at some point in his life. Remember when Adrian Sutil in a crappy Force India was only four laps from finishing in an incredible fourth place when he was rear-ended by Kimi Raikkonen at Monza and forced to retire? Well, Raikkonen didn’t do it to him again but Sutil managed to aquaplane and smash his car against a barrier six laps from a brilliant sixth place. This was doubly cruel because it would have left Ferrari as the only pointless team.
So onward and upward. Three races into 2009 and Formula One does not look likely to give up on the thrills. As they say down my local pub, I am loving it!
Gitau
20 April 2009
It was clear last year that greatness beckoned for young Vettel. He seems to do things so effortlessly that it is very surprising to learn that he is yet to see his 22nd birthday. Pole position was secured without breaking a sweat on Saturday and he took command of a difficult race in atrocious conditions yesterday as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Between Vettel and Lewis Hamilton, one wonders who would have the measure of the other if put in the same car. After four years hard graft Red Bull seem finally to have a competitive car which Vettel and Mark Webber are putting to good use this season. I mean to say, what can be more satisfying than occupying the top two slots at the end of a race which could easily have ended up with both cars wrecked against a barrier? Contrast that with Ferrari who, with Force India, are yet to score a single point this season and the scale of Red Bull’s achievement comes sharply into perspective.
The race itself was weird. Heavy rain and standing water meant that it was deemed too dangerous to have a normal start and the first eight laps were driven behind the safety car. This irritated me a lot. What’s wrong with a decent crash at the first corner? That usually makes for excellent entertainment. This obsession with health and safety is emasculating the sport methinks…
Yesterday was all about grip. The cars with the best grip – Red Bull – easily stayed well ahead of the opposition. Rain master Lewis Hamilton found his car to be such a dog that no amount of kicking it would help. Lap after lap he would charge through the field and then aquaplane messily on standing water, spin and have to do all the hard work again. He even managed to get past Kimi Raikkonen three times. Raikkonen, meanwhile, was having one of those days when he could barely wait until the chequered flag came down so that he could pour himself a restorative martini.
If things were bad for Ferrari and McLaren, they were better than acceptable for Brawn GP. Although Jenson Button struggled to keep up with the two Red Bulls he was able to salvage third place and thus stretch his lead at the top of the championship standings. The man closest to him in points, team-mate Rubens Barrichello, squeezed in behind Button at fourth place so as to underline the supremacy of the Brawn cars in this year’s barmy season. Consistency is everything in Formula One. Race by race, Brawn are underlining their supremacy. If they keep this up they will be impossible to catch.
There is a chap who seems to have annoyed the Gods at some point in his life. Remember when Adrian Sutil in a crappy Force India was only four laps from finishing in an incredible fourth place when he was rear-ended by Kimi Raikkonen at Monza and forced to retire? Well, Raikkonen didn’t do it to him again but Sutil managed to aquaplane and smash his car against a barrier six laps from a brilliant sixth place. This was doubly cruel because it would have left Ferrari as the only pointless team.
So onward and upward. Three races into 2009 and Formula One does not look likely to give up on the thrills. As they say down my local pub, I am loving it!
Gitau
20 April 2009
posted by Gitau at 4:37 pm
1 Comments:
Fabulous recap on a Malaysian GP race that will be memorable for many years to come. Watching young Vettel seamlessly stitching that RB5 in the wet amidst all that pressure was bound to draw comparisons to what Lewis achieved in his first two seasons. I too did wonder who would win if the two went up against each other in similar cars. I think its safe to say that although we are still some way off from seeing Vettel and Lewis driving for the same team, I am certain that later in season we are likely to see them going head to head when developments bring the two cars closer together. All in all the rise and rise of Vettel is bound to boost F1 profile ever higher, in much the same way Lewis did.
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