HI GUYS!
Sorry for the delay, I have been held up by Kitchen refurbs and the birth of 4 kittens has rather put me off kilter so I have had to watch the race again to get this blog fully accurate and up-to-date. Hope my regular reading base of 12 bazilion people is not too angry with me. I hope I can be forgiven for my grave error.
Anyway, onto the British Grand Prix itself.
Red Bull's current problems began about 5-6 minutes before the end of third practice before Qualifying when Horner and the rest of the team took Webber's updated front wing and gave to Vettel who damaged his. This is the most blatant show of favouritism since 2007 at Mclaren (we all know how that ended for Hamilton and Alonso respectively). What is worse is the dishonesty of it: Red Bull have never publicly said that they are favouring one driver over another but this trick of giving one driver better parts based on Championship standing with (and I state again) no public agreement between the team and the drivers is quite disgusting and actually more shocking than the race fixing scandal within the Renault team in my eyes. Eddie Jordan's interview to Horner asked the right questions but I would much rather have seen that from DC because of his silly Red Bull biased and it showed that compared to Brawn, Whitmarsh, Frank Williams and Domenicalli he has not got the skills to run a team effectively as I fully believe that the mechanics if nothing else are divided much like Brawn last year but it is more to do with bitterness than sheer competition. Mark Webber's "Not bad for a No.2" comment and his instance that he would never have re-signed for the team had he known something like this would happen is a sign of maturity that the rest of this team still don't have which is good on his part but worrying for the rest of them.
Add this to the drama at the start of the race and you have one of the most finely balanced situations since Senna vs Prost: Webber jumping Vettel and then Vettel forcing him and Lewis Hamilton into the pit wall was a stupid move, it not only caused contact between himself and Hamilton, but his puncture from the tire and the rumble strip at turn 1 but also forced the tightness between Hamilton, Kubica, Rosberg and the Ferrari's, which boxed in Alonso and made the collision with Massa utterly inevitable, basically causing chaos. Although he did prove he can overtake this year by passing 6 people including 3 German Compatriots in Hulkenberg, Schumacher and Sutil (although that was utterly rude). If Vettel doesn't calm down I can see this title race going to Hamilton vs Button vs Webber should these three continue to dominate and stay out of trouble (Anyone annoyed that I didn't mention Alonso just wait till later when I mouth off on him again).
He was quite petulant and it ruined the race and the constructors championship for the team as Mclaren made their respective races work out in the end. Webber was never going to be caught but Hamilton did a very good job of being no more than 5 seconds apart at any time (not including the safety car) and being that fast with half the set up time of the rest of the field. Jenson's calm drive from 14th-4th was very Button-esque: Not dramatic, involving managing his soft tires and steering clear of trouble.
Other noteable drives come from Rosberg to third (including a great pass on Algersuari), showing a Mercedes Revival, Barrichello and Kobayashi to 5th and 6th, pulling back some distance to Force India, and Sutil to 8th (including a good pass on Schumacher). It was also a bad day for Renault (they have slowly become my joint 2nd team behind Mclaren with Mercedes) as Kubica retired for the first time this season after his controversy with Alonso (again he comes later) and Petrov had another silent race where he did next nothing aside from be the victim of a mental overtake on lap 1 by Dela Rosa on The Loop (how nobody spotted this move was beyond me). Massa's race (much like Vettel's was ruined by a puncture but unlike Vettel got a bad break when he had to make a second stop and ruin any chances of a massive comeback.
NOW I WILL TALK ABOUT FERNANDO ALONSO.
He made a bad start and while he could not do anything about that or him being relatively boxed in Maggots and Beckets causing his accident with Massa but his pass with Kubica was inexcusable in my view. Not only did he go off the road but he should have let Kubica go straight passed afterwards (which he was told to do by Charlie W. and his team). The fact Kubica retired before he did is a symbol that he took too long to do and I don't subscribe to his drive through being harsh due to the timing as the same thing happened with Hamilton and Raikonnen at Spa '08 and he could well have lost the World Championship because of it so it wasn't harsh at all in my eyes. I am glad he didn't talk to the British Media after the race as not only am I getting sick of the sound of his voice but also what he has to say a lot of time makes him sound like a complete spoilt bitch. Even my mother who quite liked him when he drove his first stint at Renault is now getting a bit sick of him and she doesn't even like F1!!!! So all in, I make my Alonso statement stronger than I did last time out:
Can Fernando Alonso please kindly **** off and just drive!!!!
On an aside note I was developing a dislike for Mark Webber after his moronic drive in Melbourne but now he back into my good books as drivers go. I would prefer either Hamilton, Button, a Mercedes or Kubica to win the championship but I would not be sad if he did as he proving his skills after 8 long years in the sport.
Now at this point I am going to say goodbye before I get any more angry at Horner and Alonso. Next up is going to be my Pro-Wrestling review and look back at my first ever festival, 2000 tree's in Cheltenham!
Love to you all
Nick.
