Ferrari- Another phoenix act?

The main talking point leading up to the British Grand Prix was how much would the off throttle diffuser ban affect the racing world and primarily the Red Bull Racing team. But these questions were swept aside after qualifying in which the Red Bull drivers again locked out the front row, this time with Mark Webber on pole. Lining up third on the grid was Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso ahead of his team mate Felipe Massa. But it was interesting to note that the qualifying time difference between pole sitter Mark Webber to that of 3^rd placed Alonso was less than .1 of a second. Just a few races ago the Red Bull drivers had an advantage over their rivals by close to a second almost. Slowly but surely this gap had been coming down race by race.

Once the race started however it was back to normal with the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel after overtaking Webber in the first corner pulling away from the rest of the pack. Webber however could not build up such an advantage over Alonso as his teammate had done over him. After the first round of pit stops all of the drivers switched from intermediates to soft slick tyres, with Vettel leading Alonso and Webber. Alonso had overtaken Webber during the pits. Then on lap 28 Vettel came in for his second scheduled pit stop followed by Alonso. During the stop the left rear caused problem while putting it on. This cost Vettel about 4 extra seconds and more importantly also the race lead. Vettel rejoined in 3^rd place behind Hamilton. Even though he had a faster car than Hamilton he couldn’t pass Hamilton for a few laps. While Vettel was stuck behind Hamilton Alonso with a clear road in front of him slowly extended his lead to 9 seconds over 2^nd place Hamilton. By the time Vettel crossed Hamilton and both of them had done their 3^rd and final stop Alonso in the Ferrari had built up a lead of 13 seconds.

About 10 laps from the end came the radio message from McLaren pit-crew telling Hamilton that his fuel level was low and told him to drive a conservative race till the end. Sensing his opportunity 4rth placed Webber increased his pace. Within a course of a few laps he was right behind Hamilton and eventually passed him without much of a difficulty. 5^th placed Massa also took his chance and closed down a 9 second gap to Hamilton within 5 laps. While Massa was chasing down Hamilton, Webber also started closing down the gap to Vettel who also apparently had lowered his pace. By the start of the last laps both Webber and Massa were right behind Vettel and Hamilton respectively. Both of them tried hard but couldn’t make up another place as Vettel and Hamilton held to their place by a small margin, with Webber told to maintain position during the last section to avoid a repeat of Turkey 2010.

Alonso won with a gap of close to 17 seconds. The increase of pace of his Ferrari was clearly evident. In my books even if Vettel’s 2^nd stop had gone of without any problem then also Alonso could have caught up with him. Whether or not he could have passed him is another question. For the last few races it has been the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso who had been most successful in taking the fight to the Red Bull Racing team. Last season too Ferrari had a strong 2^nd half and eventually had a chance to clinch the championship. But this season had their 1^st half gone stronger they could have been in a position to challenge for the championship. Vettel by winning 6 of the opening 9 races has opened up a big gap to his nearest challenger. Even though the championship still has a long way to go many argue that Vettel has more or less clinched it already. He has 4 main rivals. Over the remaining races they will keep fighting within themselves and taking points off themselves thus the lead would still be preserved (considering Vettel finishes all of them within the points, preferably higher up), like the scenario in 2009. But the coming races will definitely be a treat to watch given the rise of Ferrari challenging the Red Bull’s. Also one can never count out the McLaren drivers too. They have the ability and both have been crowned World Champions previously and have the hunger for their respective 2^nd crowns.