Red Bull back to winning ways with Vettel victory
Formula One witnessed almost everything yesterday at the European Grand Prix in Valencia.
Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull returned to winning ways, Vettel’s teammate Mark Webber had a spectacular crash and the post-race reaction of Ferrari over an incident has brought controversy to the sport once again.
After a tricky few races for Red Bull, Vettel delivered the race victory for the team. The German took pole position on Saturday by a fraction from Webber, and was untroubled at the front for the whole race, cruising to the chequered flag.
Momentum at Red Bull seemed to have been lost when the two drivers collided at the Turkish Grand Prix a couple of races ago, throwing away the race victory and a handful of points. When Vettel and Webber went to the top-three drivers’ press conference after qualifying on Saturday, the body language of both didn’t look right.
With Webber starting in second, it was going to be a close call going into turn one between the two drivers.
Vettel got off the line superbly, while Webber fell to ninth at the end of the first lap. The Australian’s day was not going to get better, as a mistake in his pit-stop cost him valuable time, forcing him further back, but that was not going to be the worst of his troubles.
When looking to pass the Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen down the fastest part of the circuit, Webber smashed into the back of him, sending him airbourne and flipping in the air. When he landed back on the track he was sent into the tyre barriers. Onboard footage shows him flying through the air at around 200mph. Webber was just relieved to escape unhurt. “I was going a lot faster than Heikki and then a long, long way before the braking point he braked - about 80 metres before - and at that point I’m a passenger. The car, thank God, was very safe.
“You cannot control where you are going and how hard the hits are going to be, and of course the hits were pretty hard. I was worried about hitting a bridge or something in the air. I knew I was a long way up. Fortunately, the first was not too hard. It was okay because I had a massive forward momentum, so that was good,” said Webber.
The spectacular crash meant the introduction of the safety car, which caused a stir after the race. McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton was on the pit straight in second place when the safety car emerged, but as the white line for the safety car approached, Hamilton was side by side. The rules state he should have waited behind, but instead he effectively overtook the safety car. Behind Hamilton were the Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa in third and fourth, who waited behind the safety car. This meant that Hamilton was able to pit and get out ahead still in second, while the Ferraris lost out badly and lost places. Hamilton was given a drive-through penalty, but ultimately he was able to finish in second place, while Alonso finished eighth.
Alonso was left fuming after the grand prix, believing Hamilton disrespected the rules. “The race was ruined by the safety car and everything that followed on from that. I am disappointed most of all for the thousands of spectators who were here today and saw how the situation was handled. I am very bitter about what happened today. I was in third place, a metre behind Hamilton at the moment the safety car came out on track and, at the chequered flag, he was second and I was eighth. I respected the rules, he didn't,” said the Spaniard.
The double world champion gave sympathy for his home support. “All the kids in the stands know that you cannot pass the safety car. I feel sorry for the public who have come here to watch this race - 70,000 fans came here to see the spectacle of Formula One and they have seen a race decided by the decisions. The attitude of the public is understandable, they were disgusted by what they were seeing and the injustices that were happening. There was a bottle on the track, which is reaction that is not normal and it should not have happened,” said Alonso.
Hamilton thought he had crossed the white line, prompting him to overtake the safety car. “Whenever a safety car comes out, it’s difficult to compute all the information. There are all these beeps in your ear, and lights flashing on your dashboard too. So I pushed past the last safety car line, and was obviously then trying to close the gap to Seb. But as I came out of the first corner, all of a sudden I saw the safety car coming out, so I backed off and went across the line as I did that, so I thought I was okay. I thought I had passed it, so I continued and that was it. That's how I saw it,” said the Briton.
Alonso and Hamilton were bitter rivals at McLaren in 2007, and the both don’t seem to see eye to eye. This incident will set off fireworks between the two once again.
Alonso was also unhappy at the time it took the stewards to penalise Hamilton, feeling it gave Hamilton the time he needed to build up a lead and serve his penalty. “It must have been very hard to know. They must have taken a lot of laps to see the replay of how he overtook the medical car. But that's how it is. Unfortunately everything goes against us and it seems they are allowing everything,” said Alonso.
Ferrari called the whole matter “a scandal”, saying in a statement: “A scandal, that's the opinion of so many fans and employees who are all in agreement: there is no other way to describe what happened during the European Grand Prix. The way the race and the incidents during it were managed raise doubts that could see Formula One lose some credibility again, as it was seen around the world.”
A scandal at the end of a Formula One race. Now where have we seen that before?
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