It was a Red Bull 1 – 2 for qualifying and all bets were on a Red Bull 1 – 2 for the finish of the race at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya. It shoulda, woulda, coulda, but was not meant to be and Red Bull had to settle for a 1 – 3 finish. Mark Webber had no problems taking his lead from start to checkered flag without incident. But once again, his teammate, Sebastian Vettel, suffered from unreliability issues with his RB6. Vettel had to wait for traffic to clear during his pit stop which put him behind the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton. To make matters even worse, he then suffered a brake failure. Vettel was then forced to limp his car around the track for the remaining 12 laps. Luckily the gap between Vettel and fifth place Schumacher was a substantial one and he was able to maintain his position. A delaminated brake disc turned out to be the culprit.
Lewis Hamilton experienced the largest set-back of the race. Lewis suffered a deflation in his left front tire during his penultimate lap which sent him sailing into the tire wall, ending his race. Had Hamilton finished the race he would have been just one point shy of his teammate, Jenson Button, in the championship points standing. With Hamilton out, Alonso was able to capture second place to a cheering Spanish crowd. Sebastian Vettel managed a podium finish in third.
It was a frustrating race for Jenson Button. His pit stop was slowed due to a dragging clutch which sent him back onto the track behind Michael Schumacher. Even though Button was in a faster car, Schumi didn’t give the Brit any opportunity to get by. Michael Schumacher finished the race in fourth, his best result thus far for the season and Jenson Button claimed fifth.
With five races now completed, the top three contenders for the championship title are Jenson Button with 70 points, followed by Fernando Alonso with 67 and Sebastian Vettel with 60 points. However, with 14 races still to be had, a clear cut winner has yet to be determined. It’s still anyone’s race.
Recent Comments