Ferrari rediscover the winning formula
At
Interlagos, Sebastian Vettel showed once more that Ferrari possessed
the right assets required to fight for the world title, as they ended a
barren spell dating back to the Hungarian Grand Prix just prior to the
summer break.
However,
despite the fact the Italian team was always competitive over the final
part of the season, they never managed to make the most of the car's
potential, for a variety of reasons.
On
this occasion, all the pieces of the jigsaw came together: the driver,
the car, the reliability, every element delivered to its full potential.
On Saturday, Vettel missed out on pole position by a whisker, his lap just 0.038s slower than that of Valtteri Bottas.
On Sunday,
a great start saw Vettel get the better of the Finn into Turn 1 and
from then on he always appeared to be in control, even if he never quite
shrugged off the attention of his pursuers.
This
result means that Vettel now has a 22-point advantage over Bottas in
the drivers' standings and is now almost guaranteed the runner-up spot
in the championship, something that probably is of less interest to him
than to the statisticians.
However,
it is a morale booster for him and the whole team. Going into the
winter break on the back of a win, with one more opportunity for victory
remaining in Abu Dhabi, is always a fillip and we can look forward to a
great battle at the final race.
Hamilton powers through
For
the second consecutive time, Lewis Hamilton did not finish on the
podium, but the Mercedes driver should be well pleased with his
afternoon's work.
A
couple of weeks ago in Mexico, delight at taking the title would
definitely have cancelled out the disappointment of only finishing
ninth, whereas in Brazil, the champion elect's performance would have
softened the blow of not getting to the podium.
Starting from the pit lane, after his qualifying crash on Saturday,
Lewis staged an exceptional comeback, even leading the race on lap 30,
before coming home fourth, right behind Kimi Räikkönen and just over
five seconds behind his chief title rival, Sebastian Vettel.
It's
true that a new power unit in Hamilton's Mercedes meant he could fully
exploit the car's technical strengths, but his pace and aggression when
it came to overtaking were impressive and worthy of a four times world
champion. And, as he said himself, he had a huge amount of fun.
Massa bows out in style
It
was a special weekend for Felipe Massa. The Williams driver is retiring
from Formula 1 at the end of this season and this was his final race in
front of his home fans.
I
was pleased to see him get a good result and seventh was the best he
could hope for, given the growing performance gap between the top three
teams and the rest of the field. It was good to see him fight with grit
and determination throughout the race, especially in the closing stages
when he was battling with his former team-mate Fernando Alonso. I'm sure
Felipe was really happy to beat him to the chequered flag.
I've
known Felipe since he came to Ferrari as one of the rising young stars
of Formula 1 and I watched him grow up alongside Michael Schumacher,
going on to confirm his place as one of the quickest drivers of his
generation.
I
well remember how happy he was to win the race in Interlagos in 2006,
wearing a race suit in Brazil's national colours and also, two years later,
the pride and dignity he showed at this same circuit when he had to
deal with the terrible disappointment of seeing the world title slip
through his fingers, after, for a few brief moments, it had been within
his grasp.
I
also recall the concern felt in Budapest in 2009, when he was the
victim of a serious but unbelievable accident, followed by the delight
of seeing him back behind the wheel, just as competitive as ever, a few
months later.
Felipe
is a great person, honest and sincere, with a wonderful family around
him and I'm sure that being on the podium after the prize-giving, along
with his son Felipinho will be a moment he will never forget.
Of
course, there's still the race in Abu Dhabi to go, but symbolically,
his new life as a driver and a person, starts now. Felipe, I wish you
all the very best from the bottom of my heart.
Bulls' late season charge falters in Brazil
Ever
since the end of the European part of the Formula 1 season, Red Bull
has become steadily more competitive, taking two wins and four further
podium finishes. It's true that reliability problems have cost them
results, but at every race, they've had the pace to fight for a place on
the podium, at the very least. However, in Interlagos, for whatever
reason, Red Bull was a long way off its Mexican level of performance,
where Max Verstappen dominated proceedings.
Here
the Dutchman finished fifth, over 30 seconds behind Vettel, while
Daniel Ricciardo produced a great climb up the order from 17th after a
first collision to sixth place at the chequered flag. However, the gap
in performance to the front runners was somewhat demonstrated by the
fact that the Australian finished 43 seconds behind Hamilton.
Verstappen's
race fastest lap will bring little consolation, even though the
1.11.044 is a new race record for this track. In fact, with nothing to
lose in terms of position, the Dutchman was able to lap at this pace by
fitting a new set of tyres for the closing laps.
While
this performance was an exception for the team his season, both Red
Bull drivers never ran the risk of finishing lower than sixth, given
that the gap to those behind them, a trio made up of Massa, Alonso and
Perez – finished 20 seconds behind Ricciardo. That highlights that there
is too big a gap between the three top teams and the rest of the field.
But that's a wider topic for discussion for another day.
Racing with real passion
Over
140,000 spectators (141,218 to be precise) attended the Brazilian Grand
Prix over the weekend, an increase of 10% over last year. It's a
significant number, especially given that both the Constructors' and
Drivers' titles were already decided.
The
fact that so many fans wanted to bid farewell to Felipe Massa at his
final Brazilian Grand Prix played its part, but above all, it confirms
that Formula 1 is still incredibly popular in this country. That also
explains why Brazil has one of the biggest television audiences in the
whole world.
There
is a great Formula 1 tradition here, with multiple world champions in
Ayrton Senna, Nelson Piquet and Emerson Fittipaldi, as well as many
other top drivers such as Rubens Barrichello and Felipe, with whom I had
the pleasure of working. Interlagos, too is a special place that
generally produces spectacular racing.
However,
the most important thing is the passion of the fans, which you can feel
more than at almost anywhere else on the calendar. And let's not forget
that the fans are the most important part of this sport we all love.
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