Finally the most awaited decision [yet] of the 2009 season was out last week. The FIA ended the diffuser saga and ended it right. They ruled the protest in favour of the diffuser three teams – Brawns, Toyota and the Williams [BTW].
After an 8 hour long meeting in Paris, the governing body concluded that the diffusers were legal and that the teams had not breached the regulations. The Ferraris, BMWs and all other protesting teams of course cried foul. Ferrari of course are not used to protests not going their way. The Renaults [especially Flavio] loudly voiced their discontent and BMW of all the teams still haven’t withdrawn their protest!
However, Formula1 hit the Land of the Dragons last weekend and it was the new pecking order that was back in business. A late start of the GP meant that we had yet another ‘wet’ race and thankfully this one wasn’t much of a lottery like Malaysia.
After reliability issues right through Friday practice and Saturday’s qualifying, the Red Bulls of Vettel and Webber outpaced the entire field on a wet Shanghai circuit. The Brawns were less dominant in the wet and whether they would’ve scored their third consecutive victory had it been dry will only remain speculation.
While Vettel comfortably led and set the pace at the front, Webber and Button had their own little fights for the second place, which made interesting viewing – and yes of course how can one forget the fast paced Lewis Hamilton – who had a few spins too many enroute to a 5th position.
The Ferraris had yet another miserable weekend. Let alone challenging the front runners, but scoring their first point itself of 2009 seems like a distant dream. The Renault of Fernando Alonso too had a miserable race after starting from 2nd – a faulty pit strategy that saw him re-join the race dead last. Alonso and Rosberg’s strategy to pit during the Safety Car period failed miserably. The one thing that did succeed about their strategy was proving that the teams and drivers are much closer this year and it will be a while till we see a front running driver start at the bottom and work his way on to the podium.
However, the last week has also made one more thing certain. Barring the BTW trio, the other teams have to play catch up –not just on track but also off it! Go get ‘em diffuser!
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