Formula One: Japanese GP- The top five competitors of 2010 season
The Japanese Grand Prix held last Weekend at the Suzuka track marked an exciting Sunday for Red Bull, a satisfactory one for Ferrari, while it brought a lot of disappointment for McLaren.
The two Red Bull drivers gave a wonderful 1-2 finish to the team. Their closest rivals, Ferrari and McLaren were simply not able to chase them. Though the team has had 1-2 finishes earlier as well but this one had been their best weekend of the season.
Firstly, due to the great racing spectacle presented by both the drivers and more importantly because of the timing. At this part of the season, it purely came as a blessing for the team, further strengthening their dominance in both the championships. The
Australian driver of the team, Mark Webber leads the charts with 220 points having an advantage of 18 points over his follower Fernando Alonso of Ferrari.
Moreover, the other team member, Sebastian Vettel has been escalated to third place in the Drivers’ Championship after having bagged the second consecutive victory on this track. With these 25 additional points, Vettel bags a total of 206 now, equal to
Alonso who stands at 2nd place. The German’s flawless race this Sunday brought him forward as a very threatening competitor for this year’s championship.
At the same time, even Ferrari does not seem short of hope and optimism. As Alonso finished at third place on the podium, the team expressed a lot of satisfaction, declaring that their aim for all the rest of the races is to finish on the podium.
On the other hand, the Japanese Grand Prix brought a lot of disappointment for McLaren who faced the worst weekend of the season. Especially its driver Lewis Hamilton met a series of mishaps all through the weekend one after the other.
The Friday’s first practice brought ill-fate for the team as both their drivers went too wide, off the track thus damaging their cars badly. Moreover, the heavy rainfall at the track halted the Saturday morning practice as well as the qualifying, stealing
away any hopes of practice or testing of their latest upgrades.
Later on Saturday, the McLaren engineers found severe gearbox issue in Hamilton’s car which it had to be changed thus giving a five-place grid penalty to the 2008 world champion.
Exactly when the unfortunate driver and his troubled team thought that the worst is over, they met yet another problem. Hamilton’s new gearbox brought further problems as he was not able to put third gear and drove rest of the race between 4th
and 7th gears, ending hardly at fifth place. On the other hand, his teammate Jenson Button only ended a place ahead of him as his strategy of starting on the harder compound tyres did not pay off well.
However, the British team is still hopeful and looking forward for some better rounds ahead. They are prepared to go ahead for the Korean Grand Prix with the updates that they were not able to run in Japan.
Another very positive thing for McLaren at this stage is the way the two drivers are
complementing each other as a team, something not seen in Ferrari or Red Bull at all. Ferrari made it quite clear during the mid-season that their championship priority for this season is Alonso. After the incident of team ordering at the German Grand
Prix, Felipe Massa’s motivation and focus has declined evidently. Though the team has demanded for him to steal points from Alonso’s rivals to make the championship easier for him but Massa’s driving simply does not show any energy or motivation.
If Massa does not support Alonso, as it already seems, the final tug could fall in laps of the two Red Bull men.
However, the same lack of team spirit is seen in the Austrian team as well. If left at the front, the two Red Bull drivers could indulge in poor warfare with the pressure between Webber and Vettel. It is looking increasingly as if the two might be fighting
among themselves for the title.
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