What an utterly dramatic race day it was today! The very first shock after waking up and turning my computer on was to see the news about the engine maps of the RB8 being declared illegal. So the first concern naturally was if there was going to be a penalty given for Red Bull... I have to admit that I actually didn´t even have a clue what this engine mapping discussion was all about! But I do recall there were some talks about this topic already last season... But what I understood was that there actually was some kind of a loophole in the regulations so no penalties for Red Bull -in this case at least! So I could take a deep breathe and focus on the race -without knowing that this wasn´t the only case today that would make my heart jump into my throat!
Alonso on pole had a perfect start and stayed in the lead. Vettel followed him closely. Kimi in P10 had a dream start as well and he was able to pass Hamilton although he lost the position back to the Briton a moment later. Hamilton suffered a puncture on lap 3 and was forced to pit. Grosjean, Massa and Senna lost their front wings in a collision on the opening lap and had to pit, too. On lap 5 Kimi made a stunning pass on Di Resta in his Force India! After a few corners of wheel-to-wheel driving the Iceman managed to overtake the Briton in an impressive way!
Button in his McLaren had superb race pace and it seemed that the battle for victory was going to be within three drivers: Alonso, Vettel and Button. Kimi had jumped up to 4th but podium seemed to be out of the Finn´s reach. During the second pit stops Button managed to get past Vettel! The gaps between these three were minimal so I knew anything could happen... Button locked his front right tyre at a breaking so I hoped the flat spot in his tyre would give Vettel a chance to try and overtake the Briton... And Vettel did overtake Button on the second last lap! But what an overtaking move it was... Vettel went off track when he passed Button and it soon became clear that the stewards were investigating Vettel´s pass on Button... At that moment I knew Vettel´s second place was jeopardised!
Alonso claimed victory today although Ferrari wasn´t even the fastest car on the track. I´m not a fan of Alonso but I have to admit that Alonso was definitely out of his rivals´ reach today and the Spaniard totally deserved to win. Vettel and Button joined the Ferrari driver on the podium. Kimi drove an excellent race by finishing 4th. Sauber had an impressive race as well as Kobayashi finished 5th and his team-mate Perez 6th. No points for Hamilton who retired the race at the end. This meant that Kimi jumped up to 4th in the championship standings!
I didn´t want to start writing this blog post until I had heard about the possible penalty given to Vettel. And when I came home from a walk I heard it... A 20-second time penalty given to Vettel for his illegal pass on Button which dropped the German Red Bull driver from 2nd to 5th (making Kimi 3rd and Kobayashi 4th in the race results)! Even the 2nd place felt like a setback because at the same time Alonso claimed already his third win of the season and was increasing his lead in the championship quite significantly... But the 5th place means even huger difference in points! At first Vettel´s pass seemed absolutely worth the risk but thinking about it afterwards he shouldn´t have tried it in the first place. I know, very easy for me to say now but there´s no room for "what ifs" in Formula One. Hopefully Vettel will arrive in Hungary next week and have a fresh start... But he can´t afford letting Alonso out of his reach!
Vettel´s pass on Button can surely be seen from various angles but the stewards´ decision must be respected. This wasn´t the only thing to invite reflexion in this race. Another story was Hamilton being a lap down making a pass on Vettel who was fighting for victory with Alonso! Surely it´s not directly forbidden in the regulations but whether it´s good sportsmanship or not... At least Vettel was quite emotional about the incident after the race because certainly Hamilton was intervening in the battle for victory although he was far back in P18 or something! But this is motorsports and all the contradictory situations make it even more interesting!
Alonso is leading the championship clearly with a 34-point margin over his closest rival Webber. Vettel is 3th 44 points behind Alonso. Hungarian GP will be a whole new story... Vettel mustn´t let Alonso walk away with 25 points in Hungary! I do believe with all my heart that Vettel has all the skills, speed and determination to challenge the Ferrari driver in the remaining 10 races of the season! Go Vettel, I believe in You!
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