Cruising through the 2010 season with Ferrari (Part 2)
The next round in Malaysia was a very poor one for the team. A struggling race saw Alonso end only at 13th place while his teammate, Felipe Massa hardly made up to 7th with an uncompetitive car. Another poor
round was waiting for the Italian squad in the mid of April as the Chinese track hosted the fourth round of the season. Here, Massa’s 9th place finish and his teammate’s 4th, was not able to help the team get back to the top. On the other
hand, Red Bull Racing and McLaren were bagging points at one after the other race, while Mercedes GP was also striving hard for points behind Ferrari.
Now, Ferrari’s intentions started showing up. At the Chinese Grand Prix, Alonso went past Massa into the pit stop in a rather rude but skilled manner. Next, at the Spanish round, the dominance of the two-time world Champion was
visible once again, but this time it served the team well as Alonso got his second on the podium, while Massa ended at 6th position. It became obvious by the team’s gestures and policy that Alonso enjoys more favour from the management as compared
to his teammate.
However, even this podium finish was not able to escalate the team to the top as the next two rounds in Monaco and Turkey saw the team performing just average, each time finishing behind the front-runners. By now, Red Bull was
evidently the best team on the track, with its RB6 being the fastest car of the season, while its driver, Mark Webber, topped the drivers’ charts, followed by McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton.
Now, as the Formula One rally entered the Canadian round, the Spanish driver started to show his mastery of handling poor cars brilliantly. Having wrapped this race at third place on the podium not only granted him his third podium
of the season, but also helped him cling to the dim hopes of returning back to the title battle.
After the 15th place finish at the previous race, Massa ended the European GP at 11th position while this time Alonso was also not able to end anywhere better than 8th slot. The consecutive 1-2
finish by McLaren dropped Red Bull down from the top to second place in the constructors’ championship while Hamilton claimed the throne of the drivers’ championship from Webber. Finally, the last disappointing episode of the season, the British GP, came up
for the team, which saw a very disappointing performance by Alonso and Massa finishing at 14th and 15th places respectively, before entering the recovery period of the team.
On 25 July 2010, the German GP unfolded amidst a lot of thrill and anticipation, as the fight between the Red Bull duo and the McLaren twosome was very intense. The race fans and analysts waited to see a nail biting battle between
the top two teams, betting and debating about who would be the stronger among the two. However, as the day came to an end, the 2010 championship had taken a complete new shape, turning the tug of the top two teams to a war of three brutal teams.
To be continued…
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