I thought it was an exciting race. Pity Alonso couldn't finish higher up the order. But I think it was basically that the car wasn't fast enough throughout the race, there was no bad luck or circumstances outside his control. Massa fought well for much of the race, though he looked a bit lackluster temporarily when Rosberg passed him and he didn't fight back. But, then he was a real racer coming back through the field after his puncture.
Hamilton and Kobayashi were a racing incident, pure and simple. If Hamilton is going to be bumping into people regularly, then he's going to come off worse at least some of the time. We had quite a few exciting "around the outside" passes in the race where the drivers had to trust the other driver to leave them room. Kobayashi really gave it a go, but Hamilton didn't notice he was there. Result: tears.
Vettel drove well, and deserved his win. I noticed quite a few impressive and brave Vettel passes, which should answer those who claim that he can only win from the front.
Button drove a very good race, and very much deserves his podium from 13th place.
Senna: great qualifying, shame about the race.
I pretty much agree with what you've said here. And I particularly loved Vettel's pass around the outside of Alonso.
I had the privilege of watching the race with a friend, and I tried explaining to him - you don't see Vettel go into wheel-to-wheel battles, because his motto is to extract the maximum without taking too many risks. Some drivers prefer to extract the maximum AND take risks. However, I do hope to see a few more Vettel overtakes - but sometimes he has blistering (better not use that term anymore, aye?
) out-laps where he overtakes 3 or 4 cars fighting for position, if he knows his strategy depends on it.
By the bye, I really do not want to see DRS again next year. I think it's quite clear we do not need it. We already have the mix right with KERS and Tires. I think Vettel has a greater skill in defensive driving, but it's not quite apparent with that bliddy artificial aid.
But Button and Schumacher. And seriously, more so Button - what pedigree he has. He has a completely different approach to racing, which I absolutely detested at first, but I'm starting to really like it. This year I'm really starting to appreciate drivers who are more calculating in "extracting the maximum" and who focus on the greater picture of the race and not the here-and-now and the immediate situation of the drivers around them. The only downside is how that a lot of these drivers are not good at qually - hence why I think Vettel is the real deal.
Sometimes, pushing for overtakes could severely affect the outcome of your race and your strategy, particularly with with the current tires. Hence I do not care too much about Vettel not pushing for overtakes - as long as he doesn't bin it.
