Another Red Bull Wins The Interlagos Grand Prix

Mark Webber

It was a Red Bull one-two once again. For the first time this season though, Sebastian Vettel wasn’t the one who won. It was his teammate Mark Webber who took his first victory of the season at the final Grand Prix of the year, at the Interlagos circuit in Brazil. iSporter Sahil Bhalla reports

Jenson Button prove a pretty great race too and was putting pressure on Vettel during the final stages but eventually didn’t do enough to overtake him and had to settle for third place. He did however pass Alonso during his charge down the field during the latter stages of the race. Alonso in turn finished well ahead of his teammate Fellippe Massa who had a strong race. Massa passed Lewis Hamilton at the start of the race and then went around the outside of Button early on in the race. His medium tyres didn’t hold up well though and he eventually fell back behind Button in one of the DRS zones. He looked set to be in another duel with is year long nemesis Hamilton but Hamilton’s Mclaren’s gearbox failed him and put him out of the race.

Force India, had a really strong finish to the season with both their drivers finishing in the points scoring position. Adrian Sutil had a very impressive race and finished ahead of Nico Rosberg in sixth. His teammate, Paul di Resta finished the race in eight, ahead of Kobayashi and Vitaly Petrov. Force India got double points finish for only the second time this year but unfortunately it was not enough to overtake Renault who held on to fifth position in the constructors’ championship by just four point. Kobayashi’s ninth position was enough to give Sauber seventh in the constructors’ championship ahead of Toro Rosso.

During the opening part of the race it became very evident that a Red Bull one-two was on the cards. Alonso had the early pace and the edge on the McLaren pair. He was impressive in his overtaking move round the outside of Button through the high speed Ferradura. Michael Schumacher was a little bit unlucky as while he was battling with Bruno Senna for ninth place, the pair of them clashed. Schumacher tried to pass round the outside and just before the breaking zone he turned across on Senna who in turn locked his tyres. They hit each other again at the apex and Senna’s front wing punctured the left read of Schumacher’s Mercedes. The stewards imposed a drive through penalty on Senna for the incident.

It seemed like a day where everyone was having gearbox issues. Vettel was advised to short-shift in second gear to look after the gearbox problem and avoid having to retire. Vettel was three seconds ahead Webber but after the first round of pit stops, his problems got worse and he started to drop pace. Timo Glock retired around then when he lost a wheel after being released in the pits. Pastor Maldonado parked his car in the wall on the outside of Ferradura. His problems were now serious and he told the team that he would drop behind Webber to avoid any problems.

So the one-two had already been decided by mid-race barring any accidents. The fifth place battle was pretty close between Massa and Hamilton. This was the cleanest the pair had fought all season long. Hamilton, who also had a gearbox problem, could not do anything with it and he got a box of neutrals exiting the Cura do Sol and therefore had to retire his car.

The other lying issue with the race, besides the gearbox problems, was whether or not it would rain. It kept on threatening to come but it never came. With it holding off, the race became a three-stop race for most of the teams. Button managed to keep pace with Alonso and after the final stops he was given the all clear to complete the final stint of the race at qualifying pace. This coupled with the fact that he got his harder tyres working much better than Alonso, closed the gap and then overtook Alonso in to Descida do Lago while using the DRS.

For sixth it was a battle between Sutil and Rosberg. The pair has had a few battles all season long but this time it was Sutil who got the better of Rosberg with his superior pace.

In the closing stages, Button couldn’t catch Vettel and was never pressured by the McLaren. Button secured second position in the driver’s championship.

Every time Webber has won, he dominated the field. This time was no exception. He showed clear pace advantage over the rest of the field and will look to take the momentum into the 2012 season and probably beat Vettel for the championship?

This season has been great no doubt even with both the titles wrapped up well before the final race. Next season will be completely different and who knows, we may even have a new world champion.

Look out for the season ending review and drivers review coming out in the next few weeks. It’s sad to say goodbye to Formula 1 for some time but you know we have to. I just cannot wait for the 2012 season to begin.