Chinese Grand Prix 2009 – Another wet race
The next stop in the 2009 Formula 1 season was the Chinese Grand Prix. But, before the action on-track could get underway, there were two ‘issues’ which caught the attention of F1 enthusiasts. The first one was the drama surrounding the McLaren team after their attempt to mislead the stewards at the Australian GP came to light. The
issue showed the team in very bad light after the spying controversy in 2007. Some harsh steps needed to be taken and they were. They had already sent home their sporting director Dave Ryan, after the ‘stewards-gate’ for which the team leadership held Ryan responsible. The next act in the sopa opera involved the team boss, Ron Dennis. He stepped aside from the racing wing of the company leaving the reigns to Martin Whitmarsh. He had served the team for the past 30 years and it’s rather unfortunate that he had to leave at a time when the McLaren F1 team was on one of it’s biggest lows-points.
The second ‘issue’ was the the hearing by the FIA International Court of Appeal regarding the double-decker diffuser controversy. And to the delight of the “Diffuser 3″, the court ruled in their favor much to the chagrin of competitors Ferrari and the others. However, the ruling does ensure that the V-shaped upper panel for the diffusers would soon
feature for almost the entire filed who are playing catch-up at the moment. The points earned by Button and Co would thus, stay as what they are at the moment. Ironically, though, it was a team which didn’t have this innovative diffuser design which left Shanghai as the triumphant party.
The qualifying on Saturday saw the Brawn team and Jenson Button beaten for the first time this season. It was the young and talented German Sebastian Vettel who secured pole position in his Red Bull. Surprising many, Fernando Alonso stormed into 2nd with an interim diffuser at the rear-end of his car. However, many believed that he was lightly-fueled and the pre-race weights published after the qualifying session asserted this. Mark Webber took the second Red Bull car to 3rd on the grid and the Brawns came in 4th and 5th, with Barichello in front this time.
The race seemed to be a continuation of the unfinished race in Malaysia. The rain followed us to China. The wet race got-off under the safety car and that’s how it stayed for the first 8 laps. Fernando Alonso gambled in making a pit stop under the safety car, but just as he was coming into the pits, there came news that the safety car was coming-in. This screwed the race for him as he was left at the back of the field, albeit with a full tank of fuel. Once left with a clear track
in front, Vettel started pulling away from his team-mate. Meanwhile, Button had passed his team-mate and was trying to catch Webber. On lap 12, Webber made the fuel-stop before the race-leader which was pretty surprising, since the pre-race weights showed him heavily loaded compared to his team-mate.
For a while, it seemed like Lewis Hamilton would silence his (as well as team McLaren’s) critics. He showed how good he was in the wet passing many cars, but kept throwing it away as he spun repeatedly. Many believe he was trying just a bit too hard and his race continued in this ‘one step forward, two steps back’ fashion. Sebastian Buemi, Adrian Sutil and Sebastian Vettel seemed to enjoy the wet weather the most as Vettel was seting the pace at the head of the order and the other two managed to pass a lot of cars. Sutil almost won the first points for the Force India team, but unfortunately crashed out with just a few laps to go for the finish. Ferrari misfortunes continued with Massa having reliability issues which forced him into retirement and Kimi Raikkonen probably being the ‘most-passed’ driver during the race.
In the end, Vettel and Webber were able to take their cars home with championship leader Jenson Button coming in 3rd. Vettel had a scare, when Red Bull’s stable-mate Toro Rosso driver Sebastian Beumi hit him from behind. Luckily for Vettel, he didn’t suffer any huge damage. This was Vettel’s second win and both have come under wet conditions. Last season, he gave Toro Rosso their first race win at Monza and this season, he does the same with Red Bull. There are already people who compare the talented German to the F1 legend, Michael Schumacher – another German who was very good in the rain.
Thus, the race finished with the two Red Bulls in 1 and 2 positions, Brawn cars at 3 and 4, and the two McLaren’s at 5 and 6. For Brawn, Jenson Button lead Reubens Barichello and for McLaren, in spite of all the heroics by Lewis Hamilton, he was behind Heikki Kovaleinen (who ran for more than a lap for the first time this season). Timo Glock’s Toyota and Sebastian Beumi’s Toro Rosso were the other point-scorers.
Next stop in the calendar is the Bahrain Grand Prix in a week’s time. With the conditions expected to be extremely hot, it remains to be seen whether the Red Bulls can match this weekend’s performance at Bahrain in the dry. However, the team still has the conventional diffuser-design and predictions are that it could go quicker with the diffuser upgrade. Only Bahrain would tell us whether we are seeing the end of the Brawn supremacy!!!
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