Turkish Grand Prix 2011: Raceday - Formula One Highlights (Part 15)
The race headed to Lap 58; the final lap of the race. Sebastian Vettel was still 8 seconds ahead of his teammate Mark Webber and after a series of corners that appeared to go by in slow motion, took the chequered flag for the 13th time in his
relatively short career in the six decade old motorsport.
Mark Webber made it a Red Bull 1-2 to wrap up a fruitful outing for the leading constructors. The Australian was under some pressure seeing the hot form his teammate is enjoying in arguably the ‘same’ car.
Fernando Alonso took the final step of the podium; Ferrari’s first podium finish after 4 races this season. The Spaniard seemed to challenge the might of the Red Bulls after overtaking Mark Webber and perhaps looked to knock on Sebastian Vettel’s door but
fell prey to the number’s game – His teammate, Felipe Massa failed to score a single point as he finished 11th, let alone assist Alonso up front against the top runners.
It was a frustrating run for Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg as they finished 4th and 5th respectively – Based on their showings during the practice sessions, both drivers were touted as the pre-race favourites to challenge the might
of the Red Bulls.
Out of all the drivers that opted for a 3 pit stop strategy, Jenson Button proved to be the most successful of the lot. The British driver finished 6th; still nowhere near the potential of his MP4–26. Sebastien Buemi in the Toro Rosso, who was
also on the 3 pit stop strategy, was the only driver that managed to score a point after Jenson Button; finishing 9th.
Vitaly Petrov and Kamui Kobayashi did exceptionally well to finish in the Top-10 point scoring positions. The Russian came in 8th while the Japanese was classified 10th – the duo started their race in 16th and 24th
respectively which further accented their fighting spirit and endurance during the 58-lap test – Petrov’s teammate, Nick Heidfeld finished 7th to round off a hard day’s work for the Renault team.
Out of the 24 cars that started the race, 22 cars were classified as finishers – Timo Glock had problems before the start of the race and pulled out while Paul di Resta retired during the race.
Sebastian Vettel effectively leads the driver’s championship by 34 points – Last season, no driver led the pack by more than 14 points at any point in the season.
Join us again on Bettor.com for the coverage from the Spanish Grand Prix, soon.
Tags: