Brazil analysis - Webber goes out on a high
2011 has been Red Bull’s year, but the spoils for the most part have been claimed by Sebastian Vettel. Mark Webber, lacking both form and fortune, has been pushed firmly into the shadows by his younger team mate, who earned 15 poles and 11 victories in his second successive championship-winning season. All that changed on Sunday in Brazil, however, when Vettel - hamstrung by a failing gearbox - was forced to settle for second, thereby helping Webber to finally enjoy a taste of the limelight as he scored his first win of the year. We take a team-by-team look at the Interlagos race…
Red Bull
Mark Webber, P1
Sebastian Vettel, P2
Vettel and Webber simply owned this race, with the Australian moving ahead to take his first victory of the season - and third place overall in the drivers’ points table - when the German’s gearbox started overheating from the 13th lap. He was obliged to turn down his engine, short shift and use only the higher gears, but though he could not keep pace with his team mate he had no trouble keeping second from Button and Alonso. It was another confirmation of just how strong the Red Bull RB7 has been all season.
McLaren
Jenson Button, P3
Lewis Hamilton, Retired lap 47, gearbox
For some reason the McLarens lacked pace on the softer tyre. They ran fourth and fifth in the middle stages, unable to match Ferrari let alone Red Bull, but a canny decision to switch to the harder tyre from Lap 31 helped Button to catch and overpower Alonso to take third. Hamilton’s unhappy afternoon ended with progressive gearbox failure after 46 laps.
Ferrari
Fernando Alonso, P4
Felipe Massa, P5
Alonso pushed past Button after 11 laps and then ran third until the 62nd. The Ferrari was strong on the softer Pirelli on its three-stop run, but as soon as the Spaniard went on to the harder tyre he struggled for grip and could not hold on to the podium place. That, plus Webber’s victory, cost him his third place overall. Massa ran a two-stop strategy and led briefly during the stops, but could do no better than fifth on his home ground.
Force India
Adrian Sutil, P6
Paul di Resta, P8
Sutil drove a brilliant race in which he made full use of his three-stop strategy to take sixth place after a very feisty scrap with Rosberg. Di Resta was again on a different strategy, a two-stopper, as the team hedged its bets. The Scot finished eighth, advised by the team to ease off as his gearbox showed signs of stress, and the team thus fell only four points short of Renault’s fifth place in the constructors’ stakes.
Mercedes
Nico Rosberg, P7
Michael Schumacher, P15
Schumacher looked racy in the opening stages until he was hit twice by Senna as he overtook him at the start of lap 10. He suffered a left-rear puncture which dropped him to the back of the field, and he was only able to climb to an eventual 15th place finish as he was obliged to switch to a three-stop strategy and his car oversteered after the incident. Rosberg fared better, but got beaten by Sutil after a tough little battle, and finished a lapped seventh in a two-stop strategy which forced him to manage his tyres very carefully.
Sauber
Kamui Kobayashi, P9
Sergio Perez, P13
Kobayashi’s ninth place was more than Sauber needed to keep seventh place in the world championship for constructors as Toro Rosso failed to score, but of course the two points were more than welcome. Perez was also in the hunt for points, until a spin dropped him back. Both drivers ran two-stop strategies.
Renault
Vitaly Petrov, P10
Bruno Senna, P17
Renault’s race fell apart when Senna, running ninth, collided twice with an overtaking Schumacher on the 10th lap and the Brazilian received a drive-through penalty. Later he ran into gearbox trouble too, to complete a frustrating afternoon. Petrov, meanwhile, stayed clear of trouble to score the final point with 10th place.
Toro Rosso
Jaime Alguersuari, P11
Sebastien Buemi, P12
Alguersuari and Buemi gave it all they had but were not able to better 11th and 12th places on a day when Sauber mustered ninth as their cars struggled for grip on the softer Pirellis, so the Toro Rosso team stayed eighth overall in the constructors’ points table.
Williams
Rubens Barrichello, P14
Pastor Maldonado, Retired lap 27, spin
Neither Williams made a great start, leaving Barrichello and Maldonado to scratch their way through the new teams. The Venezuelan spun off after 26 laps, but the Brazilian took 14th in what was his 327th, and possibly final, Formula One appearance.
Lotus
Heikki Kovalainen, P16
Jarno Trulli, P18
Kovalainen drove yet another great race for Team Lotus in its final guise before it becomes Caterham next year, and with Jarno Trulli backing his 16th place with 18th, the team cemented its lucrative status as 10th overall in the world championship for constructors.
Virgin
Jerome d'Ambrosio, P19
Timo Glock, Retired lap 22, lost left rear wheel
D’Ambrosio made his places with a great start and drove strongly on his last appearance for the team. Glock trailed him, until the left-rear wheel parted company with his MVR-02 as he left the pits after his first stop on the 21st lap. The team were subsequently fined US$5000 for an unsafe release.
HRT
Daniel Ricciardo, P20
Tonio Liuzzi, Retired lap 62, alternator
The HRTs lost their advantage over the Virgins early on thanks to D’Ambrosio’s start, but Liuzzi kept him honest and outpaced Ricciardo comfortably until his car stopped with alternator failure on the 62nd lap.
Credit: Formula One Administration Ltd (www.formula1.com)
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