PlanetF1 Winners and Losers - Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Winners and Losers
Sunday 1st November 2009 - PlanetF1.com

It was no desert classic. In fact, if it hadn't been for a late race charge from Jenson Button, Andrew Davies thinks it might have been one of the most boring races of the season.


Star of the Race
Sebastian Vettel
A faultless race from Vettel only served to emphasize what might have been in 2009. Over 55 laps he was significantly quicker than his team-mate who was able to put in Fastest Laps on three occasions in the race, so clearly had the same equipment. Vettel could have won by more than thirty seconds if he'd wanted to, a fact borne out by his late race Fastest Lap of 1:40.279, on lap 54, when the victory was safely in the bag. I wonder when he'll tire of that finger-in-the-air-No.1-celebration?


Overtaking Move of the Race
Lap 1: Robert Kubica on Jarno Trulli
This must go down as one of the longest continuous overtaking moves of the season. Kubica knew that he had to get past the longer-fuelled Trulli and not become part of yet another Trulli Train. The cars hammered along side by side from halfway down the first straight to the exit of Turn 11 after the second. Kubica won out.


WINNERS



Mark Webber, Red Bull, 2nd
Webbo had a better start than Vettel, but was probably ill-advised to try and overtake him into Turn 1. It left a yawning space up the inside which Rubens Barrichello almost dived into. As it was, the Brawn's front wing survived and Mark's rear tyre remained intact.

Despite some Fastest Laps in the first stint, the rest of the race was bringing the car home and expertly defending against Jenson Button with no major blocking moves.


Jenson Button, Brawn, 3rd
Button was quicker than his team-mate, but had more of a front wing. One of the few drivers to get an I-Overtook-at-the-Yas badge, he had more fun with Kobayashi this race - who also gets a badge - and also a lot of fun with Mark Webber.

It was the Jenson of old who decided not to turn in when his car was actually in front of Mark Webber's running down to Turn 8 on the final lap (the fact that there was no room on the exit to accommodate two cars is examined in the Losers section). Jenson should have carried on round the outside, then got a photo printed out like Jarno Trulli did.

Interesting to note how much fitter Button looked than the other two in the podium room. While Mark Webber and especially Sebastian Vettel looked like they'd been strapped into a sauna for two hours, Button appeared as though he had spent the entire race in the air-conditioned garage and just sauntered upstairs afterwards.


Rubens Barrichello, Brawn, 4th
Rubens was philosophical enough to accept that Vettel was a whole heap faster than him this race and only Renault engine frailty or a Red Bull pitstop cock-up was going to deliver him third place in the drivers' championship.

Talking of Renault frailty, has anybody else noticed how careful Red Bull are to mention how great their engines are and how much they value them? Considering it's clearly not as good as a Mercedes and probably not as good as a Toyota, BMW or Ferrari they seem very keen in these last few GPS to big up the unit.

Rubens adapted brilliantly to the fact that his aero package was giving him a lot more understeer and to be only a few seconds short of Jenson Button at the end of the race was a great performance


Nick Heidfeld, BMW-Sauber, 5th
Not a bad way to sign off, if this is indeed the team's last ever GP. From a position of sheer dejection in practice, when Kubica was over a second quicker than him, Nick picked himself up and pushed his car to within smelling distance of a podium and help the team grab 6th place off Williams in the Constructors' championship


Kamui Kobayashi, Toyota, 6th
No sign of the kamikaze in this race, with Kobayashi putting in a drive that vied with Vettel's as the performance of the day. Studying his lap times, as I did, the Japanese put in a metronomic series of green Personal Best times in the first and second stints to drag his Toyota up to 6th place. Impressive stuff to watch on the timing screen alone.

Added to that he positioned his car unflappably in the braking zone of Turn 8 to make Jenson Button outbrake himself on Lap 19 and allow him to sail on through with the minimum of fuss. He didn't overtake him so much as waltz on past.

In a way he was playing the Timo Glock role, which is defined as; qualifying between P11 and P15 then working your way forward as Jarno Trulli, who gets into Q3, works his way backwards.

One and a half swallows don't make a summer, but it's amazing to think he did so badly in GP2, to do so well, so quickly in F1.




LOSERS


McLaren
Considering they were so far ahead in Friday evening's second practice, it's pretty shocking that the Mclaren team leave the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (F1's first Day/Night race) with no points to show from it. Two mechanical failures put paid to Lewis's race and Heikki's qualifying. That'll teach Ron Dennis to turn up.


Ferrari
With six drivers on hand, Piero Lardi Ferrari in attendance, along with Luca Montezemolo, Naomi Campbell, Jay K from Jamiroquai and the megalopolis that is Ferrari World next door, it was frankly a bit embarrassing to finish 12th and 16th in the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Raikkonen was unable to get ahead of Kobayashi on the opening lap and given KK's performance in Brazil that wasn't really such a surprise. It has been one of the Scuderia's worst seasons in years, the first time they have failed to get a pole position since 1993 and is very likely to be the only season where they've qualified last for three races.

However we are guaranteed fun and fireworks for 2010.


Jaime Alguersuari, Red Bull, DNF
Had Alguersuari stalled in the Red Bull garage - when he mistook it for his own just as Vettel was due in - that would have been one of the most interesting ways for a driver ever to lose a grand prix. Thankfully he managed to get out of the way in time and his ailing gearbox lasted beyond the pit lane exit tunnel.

Which is not much of a tunnel, really, it's more like going under a bridge.


Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 7th
Having lost the argument with Sutil out on track, with the stewards at the race, with Charlie Whiting at the driver's briefing, Jarno Trulli found solace brandishing a photo of his car alongside Adrian Sutil's at Interlagos. It's a pity he can't recreate that kind of anger and channel it into a consistent race performance. Which is the reason he won't be driving for Toyota next year. Heidfeld and Kobayashi would be good, though.



Yas Marina Circuit
There could not be a greater contrast in terms of races. We arrived in Abu Dhabi fresh from the enthralling grand prix in Interlagos at F1's shabbiest, least prestigious set of motorsport facilities. Interlagos - we are regularly told by the people who go there - has the worst media centre, garages for the teams etc etc. The fans still pack it out, and it invariably provides a breathtaking race.

At the Yas Marina circuit we saw a dull, processional race alongside spectacular architecture. Call me old fashioned but I don't rate grands prix according to the civil engineering at the side of the track. Or the amount of land reclamation that's been involved, or the speed at which the circuit was transformed from plain old salt marshes, or the integrated transport infrastructure and on-site hotel facilities. I rate races by the ability of cars to race and overtake.

Hermann Tilke has designed a track where a driver who is at least a second a lap faster than the driver in front cannot find a way past despite a clear advantage. His failure to design wide enough exits to supposedly "over-taking friendly corners" is much of the reason. The reason people can get past at Fera Dura at Interlagos is because it's so wide. And because people can go off line because there's no dust there. The Brazilian race venue is testament to the fact that these cars can race and overtake; the designer had a clean sheet of paper to work from, yet still can't engineer a passing place.

This should be Tilke's last F1 track because he can't be trusted to deliver. The UAE have spent $800 million on a race circuit that will require a major revision of the F1 technical rules to generate an exciting race.

Of course all the F1 personnel are delighted to have air-conditioned garages and subsidised hotel rooms so they'll describe the place as perfect. They love not having to leave their hotel room at 5am to get stuck in traffic and risk being mugged on the way to the track.

But F1 is a television sport - and only Jenson Button's late race charge managed to salvage the race from being one of the worst of the season. Believe me, you'll get over the novelty of watching a hotel change colour.


BBC Coverage
You have to say that very few BBC personnel get hugged by European monarchs when they're going about their business. But such was the case with Martin Brundle when King Juan Carlos of Spain embraced the former McLaren two-seater pilot in a spontaneous outburst of royal approval during a pit lane wander. The body language was fantastic to watch as Brundle wasn't quite sure the hug was coming, but obviously knew that he couldn't back out of an embrace with one of Europe's oldest and most respected royals.

Because as Kimi Raikkonen once commented (and you have to remember that Kimi applies the word 'nice' to everything, his lap time, his car, his race) in response to the question: "What do you think of King Juan Carlos?" Raikkonen replied, "He's a very nice king."


Andrew Davies