Tag Archives: overtaking

Lots of action in Malaysia except for Vettel who marches on

The Malaysian GP was full of overtaking, pit stops, accidents, etc… but is was serene for Vettel at the front as he waltzed off to his second victory and a 24pt lead in the championship. Jenson Button who described his own race as “confusing” finished up in second as he put his McLaren where it needed to be and kept hold of his tyres for long enough to make it stick. Heidfeld confirmed the pace of the Renault as he took the last podium place with Webber taking a hard earned fourth spot.
The DRS was used for the first time really in Malaysia and seemed to work quite well at certain points, i.e. getting people along side the other guy (Mark Webber used it a few times), but sometimes it seemed to spoil the show as the car using it just drove clean by – though you have to [...]

McLaren, Hamilton, Button and Istanbul

Going home from Turkey with a 1-2 would have been McLaren’s dream result, no? Well it would have been had they not battled with each other for the lead 9 laps from the end, after the Red Bull incident it all seemed a little strange that they would be allowed to do so but neither driver showed the hot headed nature that ended Vettels race and they both carried on to finish but there were a few questions to be asked afterwards.
Both drivers had driven a good race up until that point and were heading towards 3rd and 4th, Hamilton had been fighting with the Red Bulls all the way and Button had been staying in touch and biding his time – this was the critical thing for the race as it meant he’d saved some more fuel over Hamilton – though that’s not in the most recent description of [...]

Schumacher, Alonso and the punishment

With Schumacher taking a penalty for overtaking under the safety car and Mercedes not appealing that means that Schumacher will go down in the record books as being beaten by Rosberg again – not something that he’s going to enjoy making a habit of. It seems that everyone other than Ferrari thought you could race to the line, even the commentators but then everyone knows which team has the ear of the stewards.
The punishment at first seems fair, a 20sec penalty, but when it’s taken in the context of a safety car finish it’s clear that it’s about as damaging as disqualification as all the cars will be finished. Some have talked about swapping the cars back as punishment but a) that’s not in the rule book, and b) that doesn’t really punish anyone. It seems that the 20s penalty was the lightest reprimand that they could hand out – [...]

Ferrari back to form along with Rosberg

Thursday practice at Monaco shows that the Red Bull isn’t always the fastest way around a race track and that Ferrari did do some work after all. Monaco is an odd track and Ferrari should be concerned even if they can waltz away with the victory here as it’s unlikely to translate elsewhere. Alonso will just be happy to see his name at the top of the times and will be hoping that he can keep it there throughout the whole weekend.
Rosberg also seems to have come back to form, or mastered the new Mercedes as he has put in times that eclipse Michael Schumacher again. Perhaps Spain was a blip, Michael Schumacher will be hoping that it turns around again on Saturday and that it is he and not Rosberg that takes the highest spot on the grid for Mercedes. With it being virtually impossible to overtake in Monaco [...]