- 10 Oct 11, 03:14#279091
My write up of the race...
Sebastian Vettel claimed his second world drivers title as expected at Suzuka finishing in third place behind Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and winner, McLaren’s Jenson Button to become the youngest ever double world champion. Vettel was disappointed to not win the race and title but ultimately he was let down by the car setup as his Red Bull Racing RB7 chewed up it’s tyres.
Race winner, Jenson Button almost came together with the 2011 world champion off the start line. The Briton getting the better start and attempted to go up the inside of Vettel into turn one but Vettel squeezed Button onto he grass; something Jenson took a very dim view of, saying “he has to get a penalty for that!“, the stewards didn’t agree and not further action was taken! Because Button had to get out off the throttle, that allowed his team mate Lewis Hamilton to pass him around the outside of turn one but Hamilton’s lead over his fellow Briton was short lived, Button retook the position through Spoon corner on lap eight, the cause, Hamilton had a slow puncture and was pitting that lap so allowed his McLaren team mate to pass to not slow his progress.
After the first round of pit stops, the status quo was maintained, Vettel, Button, Alonso and Hamilton in first through fourth respectively, Sebastian Buemi had a JB moment with only three wheels on his wagon as he attempted to go through the ‘S’ curves after his stop. Button was setting fastest lap after fastest lap in his second stint but didn’t quite have enough pace to get past Vettel although did get the gap down to 0.5 seconds as the German pitted for tyres. Button pitted two laps later and managed to leapfrog Vettel in the pits to lead the race outright!
Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton had another coming together on lap 22 going into the Casino Triangle chicane while battling for fourth, Massa attempting a move down the outside as Hamilton moved to take his normal line into the chicane, this time common sense prevailed as no penalty was handed out! This incident between the Brazilian and the Englishman resulted in a safety car period to allow the marshalls to pick up the debris from the coming together. Of course the safety car period bunched the whole field up but no positions changed on the restart, so no damage done.
Button starts to set fastest laps again and pulls out a decent gap to Vettel, but suddenly the German is no longer in second place as Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso leapfrogs Vettel in the third round of pit stops and suddenly the Ferrari is hunting down the McLaren of Button, but it seems like Jenson is just taking it easy and had time in his pocket to fend off Alonso in the final two laps, but it was touch and go for a moment, especially if you are a Jenson Button fan like myself!
The final positions are as follows: 1. Jenson Button, 2. Fernando Alonso, 3. Sebastian Vettel, 4. Mark Webber, 5. Lewis Hamilton, 6. Michael Schumacher, 7. Felipe Massa, 8. Sergio Perez, 9. Vitaly Petrov, 10. Nico Rosberg. A great drive from Rosberg to come from 23rd to 10th, the German was disappointed with 10th but to claim a point from 23rd on the grid is good going!
Well done to Sebastian Vettel for claiming his second title with four races remaining, very professional, kept a level head and drove many of this season’s races without fault, no argument about being a deserving champion, very mature driving from the German this season! Jenson drove an excellent race, proving that he can win races in the dry and wet. It’s a shame that Japan’s Kamui Kobayashi couldn’t have scored a point after starting from seventh, the Sauber had the pace as Sergio Perez managed an eighth place finish but it seems that Kobayashi couldn’t find it!
My write up of the race...
myownalias • The Englishman in Kansas • Twitter: @myownalias
And in the last race lewis wasnt attempting the pass massa was. Read the stewards report.
