McLaren rise back to the top at Spa, but what was Vettel doing?
McLaren came back to winning ways in Spa after Red Bull had dominated the last few races, how much of that is to do with the new load tests and how much is to do with McLaren’s improvement is unclear but it does make the championship more interesting. With Hamilton and Webber scoring heavy points and Button, Vettel and Alonso not scoring it puts the Championship into a new light too, it won’t take much to make it a two horse race.
The race itself showed why the drivers love Spa, and why as spectators it can be interesting due to the rain. When it rains at the track is always causes problems as it only gets part of the circuit. This leads to difficult tyre choices and turns drivers into heroes, or makes them look stupid, of course managing to T-bone another car whilst on a straight is still quite an achievement. Several of the drivers fell foul of the tyre changes, Alonso and Vettel included whilst those out front serenely carried on to the end.
Webber’s tardy start seemed to cost him the race as he seemed able to keep pace with Hamilton’s McLaren throughout, maybe Hamilton would have been able to pass him, we’ll never know. The race also provided a boost for Massa with fourth to close the points gap to Alonso – that would be the best end to his season, having more points that Alonso. It was also a good result for Adrian Sutil and would have been an excellent result for Michael Schumacher had he not let Nico Rosberg through during the last downpour.
Vettel was lucky to escape with a drive through for his crash with Button, though I’m sure that the wet played a part, he is still involved in way too many incidents, he even managed to tangle with Liuzzi after the button incident. I wonder what Christian Horner is thinking about his driver choice now.
Overall a good race, they always are at Spa though. Looking forward we have Monza next but before then is the team-orders-gate hearing for Ferrari…
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