This has been an extremely emotional day! I had to go for a long walk before starting to write my blog post as I´m totally overwhelmed with all kinds of thoughts after the eventful race... But first let´s look back to the start.
Kimi in his Lotus had been given a 3-place grid penalty for impeding Rosberg in the qualifying so the Iceman was dropped down to P10. The drivers started to the race with the intermediates as the track was partly damp and partly dry -just like in the qualifying yesterday. The first drama occurred at the start: Alonso tapped to the back of Vettel´s Hungry Heidi and broke his front wing. He didn´t come in to get a new nose as the team was hoping that the wing would last till it was time to put the slicks on. Well, the damaged front wing didn´t last that long! Already on the second lap the wing collapsed and Alonso went off causing a retirement for the Spaniard. Vettel was leading the race followed closely by his team-mate Webber.
Not all teams had problem-free pit stops. Force India had serious technical issues in the pit box with both of their cars! Both Di Resta and Sutil suffered from delayed pit stops and finally they both had to retire due to the technical issues. Hamilton in his Mercedes provided us a hilarious moment in his first pit stop as he headed straight into McLaren´s pit box! Button in his McLaren was also driving a strong race until he came to the pits and was sent on his way with a loose front wheel. So lots of action in the pits today!
Racing on the track wasn´t lacking action either! Kimi had a difficult race at the wheel of his E21. The Iceman had a poor start and he had to fight hard to make his way higher up in the field. He had an intense battle with Sauber´s Hulkenberg and they even touched while battling for position but finally Kimi got past. But Lotus was quite difficult to drive and in spite of making one pit stop less than others Kimi couldn´t make it higher than P7 today. Good points anyway!
The fight for victory seemed to be between the Red Bull drivers. Webber took the lead after the first pit stops but after the fourth and last pit stop Vettel joined right behind his team-mate. I was holding my breath not knowing if I dare to watch or not. The team-mates drove wheel-to-wheel several laps when there were about 10 laps to go. After the intense and thrilling battle Vettel made his move: he forced Mark to go wider than he would have wanted to get a better line to the next corner. And Sebastian took the lead! But against the team orders. The team had told both their drivers to hold position, which meant that Seb wasn´t allowed to overtake his team-mate. Mark had been told to turn down the engine and look after his tyres. So Sebastian chose to disobey the team orders! And what a drama this turned out...!
The Mercedes duo was in a very similar situation. Hamilton and Rosberg were fighting for a podium finish. They too had intense battle going on and they made overtaking moves on each other. Until they were given a team order as well: hold position and no overtaking! Rosberg behind his team-mate seemed to be faster and he was moaning on the team radio about the situation. Nico was asking a permission to get past Hamilton but Brawn said "negative". No wonder Nico was very frustrated! He would have deserved the 3rd place!
So Vettel and Webber made it a double victory for Red Bull. Hamilton finished 3rd and his team-mate Rosberg 4th. Massa came 5th followed by the Lotus duo. But after the race the atmosphere on the podium was ice cold! Webber was obviously furious because of his team-mate´s overtaking manoeuvre. Hamilton felt sorry because he said Nico should have been on the podium instead of him. What a drama!
I feel an urgent need to write a few lines about the team orders seen today. I feel that Vettel did nothing wrong. The race doesn´t end when there´re 10 laps to go. The race isn´t over until the chequered flag wags! This was the second race of the season so it wasn´t question of some decisive moments in the championship battle! The F1 drivers are there to race and to win! It´s in their blood to try to overtake their rivals and gain success! These team orders are definitely a bad thing for the sport. It´s not allowed in any other sport to make a deal before a match which team is going to win. The same applies to F1 in my opinion. You should be standing on the podium because you´ve done a better job than your rivals and because you´ve been faster. It shouldn´t be decided by any team who will stand on the podium and who won´t! That´s not sports any more! And I don´t see any reason why Vettel should apologise for winning the race! Like the Finnish F1 expert Mika Salo said on TV, if the situation had been between Vettel and Alonso or Hamilton for example, it would have been completely acceptable for Vettel to overtake his rival. I can´t understand why it´s so different when it´s his team-mate in question! F1 is about racing your rivals, including your team-mate! And to be extraordinary and successful you just have to push the boundaries sometimes.
I understand Mark´s disappointment and frustration. He relied on his team-mate obeying the team orders. But the point is that those team orders shouldn´t be given at least not at this stage of the season. Team Principal Horner has often stated that there´s no number one driver in the team but the drivers are treated equally. That means they should be allowed to race until the chequered flag. Sebastian really wanted to win today and he completely deserves the victory. I understand that in general you should act like the team tells you. I mean you should respect your boss. But there´s always an exception proving the rule... And I have to admit that I feel attracted to this rebel attitude that Sebastian has shown today. What makes you a winner is the ability to take risks. Even though they sometimes evoke very contradictory feelings.
I understand that the teams want to maximise their result and bring as many points as possible. And I admit that "the worst case scenario" in Red Bull´s situation would have been the collision between the team-mates and no points at all. But they´re the best racing drivers in the world driving those cars! Sebastian has certainly learnt the lession from the collision in Turkey back in 2010 and he wouldn´t have done anything so stupid that would have jeopardised the result. I refuse to see Sebastian as the "bad boy". I admire his courage to push the boundaries and take risks -some more unnecessary than others. Sebastian knows what he wants and doesn´t hesitate to take it. That kind of determination gets a lot of respect from me. F1 racing (as life in general) is about ups and downs and you´ll always have my support, Sebastian! The truth is that when you stand out of the crowd you always get judged by somebody.
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