They both parked up and in a perfect example of German efficiency, completed and filed their tax returns for the financial year.
Vettel was having a great race. He got a bit lucky with the safety car but he was closing the gap before that and McLaren appeared to have more downforce. Hamilton was outperformed by both Vettel and Button. Maybe still having confidence issues?
Absolutely gutted for Williams. Day looked so proimising from a Hami/williams fan, but can't be too unhappy with both williams' looking as fast as the respective ferrari counterparts, and a vmm 1-3. Lewis was unlucky, but should be happy today was not because he drove out of his skin, but because they have a really good car. could be a four way fight. As an aside, Alonso was fantastic if that cars pace is somewhere in between where he finished and where Massa was.
Button was superb and fully deserved his win. Everything that could go against LH did. He got screwed in the first pit stop then the SC. Over the course of the weekend Mclaren deserved a one-two.
The pace of the car was good and Senna was with Ricciardo when Massa hit him so he might have ended up in that fight for tenth. It wasn't a good race for him, but you cant really blame him for being crashed into. Id also be suprised if that one at the start didn't cause damage.
What? Hamilton limped round insipidly and never put any pressure on his team mate and is unlucky to get a podium? Whilst Vettel splits the faster McLarens after starting 6th and is lucky? Yeah ok. Fantastic start to the season, it's so much better now the field's been compressed a bit, I loved seeing the likes of Perez and Maldonado popping up towards the front of the grid. I was gutted for Grosjean and Maldonado, their races ending how they did. I was expecting the Mercedes to drop back in the race but was disappointed it was by so much, hopefully they, Lotus and Ferrari can push for wins as the season goes on, Alonso was rapid on high fuel, they just need to sort out their balance on low fuel, similar to last season. The end of the race was crazy, just four tenths separating Perez in 8th and Vergne in 11th as they crossed the line, I'm still not sure what happened there.
Lewis was emotionally upset. Shot jenson a glance when walking behind him while jenson was being interviewed, might have meant nothing till you heard his voice when interviewed by sky after...voice shaky and interview short. When asked what went wrong he said he did not know...wrong answer. He is still mentally weak and clearly again underestimates others and then is hurt when does not win. He thinks he should be the best and cannot accept it is also luck and confidence. He needed to win that for his confidence. There is next time but Jenson is mentally much stronger and would love jenson to prove he was not a one shot champion. Looking forward to next week. Different type of circuit.
I'm not saying he was terrible, but he should have been higher up all weekend, especially as Maldonado is supposed to be plain crap, and only in for money
Unlike Kovalainen's Finnish efficiency, felt the problem getting worse for a while and decided to park up on the pit straight bringing out the safety car. I hope the Safety Car rule is amended, it was ridiculous how they worked it with the backmarkers, they should drop to the back of the queue not overtake it. The lorry thing that was leading the safety car at one point was a joke as well, surprised no one retired with an overheated engine.
That was Russian efficiency, Petrov brought out the safety car, Kovalainen pitted whilst it was out and retired.
So I guess the haters who say seb can't cut through the field can eat their words. I haven't even watched the race since my instant reaction was to turn my alarm off and fall asleep lol.
So it was. Petrov: Actually what was wrong with Petrov's car, it was Heikki with the steering issue right? Petrov's excused if his engine went or something.
How many laps did it actually take for Vettel to get within a second of Hamilton? Oh, that's right a couple of laps before the SC. All Vettel could do was keep with Hamilton, never looked close, so stop the bias blinding your judgement. All I said was LH was unlucky. He was only 3 seconds off JB before the first pit stop. That really cost him his second place, I'm in no doubt that Vettel would get anywhere near LH if it wasn't for that. If you can say that Vettel doesn't get any luck is beyond me. He was stuck behind MS and he gets a gear box problem, then the LH pit stop brought LH within range and the SC came at the perfect time.
When does coming from 5th on the first corner become "cut through the field"? He only over took Rosberg seeing as he passed MS due to gear box and LH because of the safety car. Some people that actually cut through the field were Raikkonen and Perez.
Yeah, cause one overtake doth a true racer make. EDIT: Also I agree with AG, make the lapped cars drop through the pack to speed up the process, or make them unlap themselves earlier.
It's going to be interesting to see how the season unfolds for these two. Jenson is clearly on top of his game and brimming with confidence, cementing his place as lead driver. Hamilton is the opposite and needs a win to boost his confidence, for sure. It would be nice to see him scrapping it out more with Button.