24/08/2008
NEWS STORY
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Both GP2 races in Valencia saw the Safety Car take to the track, though in all honesty, its appearance during today's Sprint Race - following a spin at Turn 2 by Marko Asmer - wasn't entirely necessary.
However, its appearance on Saturday, when a number of cars were eliminated in a first lap crash, was.
The fact is that any incident on a street track is likely to result in the appearance of Bert Maylander in the fabulous silver AMG Mercedes, the FIA always opting to err on the side of caution.
Therefore it is not unreasonable to look ahead to today's race safe in the knowledge that there will be at least one Safety Car period, and as we know from experience, that's when the problems usually begin, especially under the current rules.
McLaren lives in fear of the Safety Car, while Renault appears to rely on its appearance - hence those many laps in free practice when Alonso and Piquet cruise around on full tanks, lapping over ten to fifteen seconds off the pace, rehearsing… just in case.
Other than the safety car, and there are a number of deceptive corners here just waiting to catch drivers out - particularly Turn 3, where yesterday's GP2 incident occurred - the other thing to watch out for is the pitlane entry, which is sure to cause a few problems. Due to its location and design, cars entering the pits are actually travelling faster than those cars alongside turning left to start another lap, so watch out for the odd coming together and perhaps even the odd (very) late change of heart as a driver opts to pit/stay out.
As ever, it's hard to say where we stand in terms of strategy, however, as ever, the different tyre options appear to work better for some drivers than for others. Massa and Hamilton, for example, both preferring the super-soft option.
No doubt still smarting from that first corner drubbing in Hungary, Hamilton will be keen to get one over on his Ferrari rival today, however, Valencia does not have the wide run-offs of the Hungaroring, therefore the Englishman might be best served by playing a 'softly, softly' role.
Looking ahead, and despite the visual soullessness of the Valencia Street Circuit, today's race has all the makings of a real thriller, with any one of five, maybe even six, drivers in with a shout of winning.
While Kimi Raikkonen has looked relatively lacklustre in recent races, he has looked good throughout this weekend, and we cannot help but wonder if he is running just a smidgeon heavier than his rivals.
Robert Kubica will no doubt fancy his chances, while Kovalainen, buoyed by his win, albeit fortuitous, in Hungary, will be keen to score another, preferably without the aid of other's misfortune.
However, other than the fight for victory, and indeed the title fight, the battle for the best of the rest should be thrilling as Toyota continues to make progress. After a hugely disappointing qualifying performance, Renault will be keen to make amends, particularly since the success of its number one driver is the prime reason for Spain getting a second Grand Prix. The French team's powerplants are known to be losing out to the opposition - just ask Red Bull - but it would be foolish to write Renault off, especially if we do see Maylander in action.
While Red Bull appears to be losing ground, so Toro Rosso is gaining, in leaps and bounds. Both teams are running the same chassis, and therefore, other than drivers, one has to assume that the Ferrari engine has the better of the Renault unit. Either way, expect to see the Faenza outfit close the gap over the coming weeks.
Despite a positive qualifying performance, we remain unconvinced by Williams, however, it would be nice to be proven wrong and for the Grove outfit to start scoring serious points again.
Honda will be ticking off the races, eagerly awaiting the start of the 2009 season, while Force India will continue to do what it does, like Spyker, Midland and Jordan before.
With half-an-hour before the start, and the drivers coming out for their exploratory laps, it is bright and sunny, with just a few wisps of cloud in the sky.
As the cars gather on the grid, with fifteen minutes to go before the race gets underway, the air temperature is 28 degrees C, while the track temperature is 44 degrees.
As the field prepares to head off on the parade lap, Sutil and Barrichello are in the pitlane, from where they will start the race, both drivers having had their gearboxes worked on overnight.
The tyre options are soft and supersoft, which we will refer to as hard (soft) and soft (super-soft). The top three times in qualifying were set on softs, however, it the hard option will be the more durable - Lewis please note.
They ahead away on the parade lap, all except Sutil and Barrichello, who wait at the end of the pitlane. All but Rosberg are on hards.
They're away, Massa leads, and while Kubica has a look at Hamilton, the Pole has second thoughts. Further back however, Alonso is clouted at the rear by Nakajima, both head back to the pits. While the Williams driver is able to continue, the Spaniard's race appears to be over before it begins as he is pushed back into his garage. That said, his crew tell him to wait on the car as they work on his rear wing.
Back on track, it's Massa, Hamilton, Kubica, Kovalainen, Raikkonen and Vettel. Trulli is ahead of Rosberg, Heidfeld and Glock. Coulthard has dropped to seventeenth having been clouted at the start.
With Heidfeld under pressure from Glock, Fisichella (fourteenth), heads a train of three cars. Elsewhere, Alonso has climbed out of his car, his race over.
After 4 laps, Massa leads Hamilton by 2.2s, with Kubica a further 2.3s behind. Kimi Raikkonen is 1.1s down on his fellow Finn, who is 1.9s behind Kubica.
Sutil is talking to his crew but the conversation - other than "OK mate, OK mate" - is inaudible, it's like listening to a dodgy mini-cab radio transmission.
After 6 laps, Hamilton is 2.9s down on Massa, who posts a new fastest lap (40.095). However, next time around it is Hamilton who goes quickest (40.090). Elsewhere, Coulthard spins after a move on Sutil ends in tears.
Kubica appears to have a problem, he's over 2s off the pace, however, his crew tell him that they can see nothing wrong with his car. That said, he is now 7.5s behind Hamilton with Kovalainen and Raikkonen all over him. Behind the flying Finns, Vettel and Trulli hold station keeping a watching brief.
Suddenly all is clear, Kubica has a small piece of detritus lodged under the left-hand side of his nose - no jokes please - his crew inform him that it will remove it when he pits. Elsewhere, Bourdais has a problem with his front wing.
As Massa extends his lead over Hamilton to 4.3s, Kubica appears to have driven around his problem, leaving Kovalainen 2.2s behind. Outside the Top Ten, Bourdais is running in eleventh, ahead of Webber, Button, Sutil, Fisichella, Piquet, Coulthard, Barrichello and Nakajima.
On lap 14, round about the time we expect the first of the pitstops - for those on a two-stop strategy - Massa posts a new fastest lap, crossing the line at 39.024. At which point, Coulthard promptly pits.
At the end of lap 15, Massa pits, much to the obvious delight of Martin Whitmarsh. The Brazilian rejoins in front of his teammate, which is a disaster for Raikkonen.
Hamilton posts 38.884, which suggests that he too might be stopping. Sure enough, at the end of lap 17 the Englishman pits. 8.9s later he's heading down the pitlane, rejoining behind the two McLarens. This would be an ideal opportunity for Raikkonen to assist his Ferrari teammate, should the Finn agree to ride shotgun. Vettel also pitted.
Next time around, Kubica pits, as do Raikkonen and Bourdais. Consequently, Kovalainen leads from Massa and Hamilton.
Trulli pits at the end of lap 19, as does Sutil. The Italian rejoins behind Raikkonen, having leapfrogged Vettel during the first round of stops.
At the ends of lap 20, Kovalainen finally pits, as does Rosberg. The Finn rejoins ahead in fourth ahead of Heidfeld.
Consequently, Massa lead again, with Hamilton second, ahead of Kubica, Kovalainen, Heidfeld, Glock, Raikkonen, Trulli, Vettel and Rosberg. That said, Heidfeld and Glock still have to stop.
Heidfeld pits at the end of lap 22, like his rivals, the German opts to stick with the hard compound.
Massa is lapping in the mid 1:39s, as Hamilton, lapping in the high 1:40s, falls 4.4s behind the Brazilian.
"Timo, how are your tyres… tell us about your tyres," comes the message over the radio. "They're OK," replies the German who is clearly on a one-stop strategy. The Toyota driver, currently fifth, is 4.6s down on Kovalainen but 3.7s ahead of Raikkonen.
The Toyota crew is on the radio again, this time to inform Trulli that he is catching Raikkonen. Great news for the Italian but bad news for the Finn.
Back in fourteenth, Piquet has some damage to the front bridge wing on his Renault. Although just 1.s behind Fisichella, the Brazilian is losing over 0.5s a lap.
Approaching half-distance (29 laps), Massa is 7.2s ahead of Hamilton, as Webber makes his sole stop of the race, slightly over-shooting his pit slot. Meanwhile, Glock, still on the set of tyres with which he started the race, is one of the quickest men on track.
Glock finally pits at the end of lap 30, fitting a set of the softs (super-softs). Barrichello and Nakajima also pit.
One might wonder how Glock's soft tyre will bear up over the remainder of the race, however, the fact is that all his rivals will have to use the same compound before too long.
Trulli is told that there is no threat from behind, though in all honesty, it seems a little too early to be saying that, what with Vettel only two-thousandths of a second off the Italian's pace.
On lap 33, Massa goes quickest in the first sector, indicating that a pit stop might be on the cards soon. The Brazilian crosses the line at 38.840 - a new fastest lap - extending his lead over Hamilton to 8.9s.
Next time around, the Brazilian posts another fastest lap, a 38.757, the Ferrari looking as though its on rails. In all honesty, Hamilton looks unable to respond.
On his heavy fuel load, Glock is losing ground to Rosberg, proving that a one-stop strategy is pretty much swings and roundabouts.
A 38.708s lap sees Massa extend the gap to Hamilton to over 10s, the Brazilian over 0.6s faster than the McLaren driver.
At the end of lap 37, Massa pits, however it almost ends in disaster, the Brazilian is released into the path of Sutil. Somehow they don't collide, and the Brazilian is able to return to the fray. Bad pit-work by the Maranello lollipop man, which could result in a penalty for Massa.
Indeed, at this point, the Race Steward announce that Massa is under investigation for "unsafe release".
At the end of lap 38, Hamilton pits, as does Vettel. The Englishman rejoins ahead of Kubica, still in second, while Vettel is ahead of Glock.
Next time around, Kubica pits, promoting Kovalainen and Raikkonen to third and fourth.
Fifth placed Trulli pits at the end of lap 41, as does Heidfeld.
Massa leads by 5.7s, but a drive-through would kill off his race, and almost certainly hand victory to Hamilton.
Sutil slides off the track and into the barriers, his race at an end.
Kovalainen and Raikkonen both pit at the end of lap 43, but it's disaster again for Ferrari. Raikkonen pulls away too quickly with the fuel hose still attached, and pulling over the refuelling man. It's a nasty incident, let's just hope the guy is OK.
The Race Stewards announce that the previous pit incident, that involving Massa, will be investigated after the race. A strange decision. Meanwhile, the injured Ferrari crewmember is carried away on a stretcher.
Just as you think it couldn't get any worse, Raikkonen's engine comes to an explosive end, his engine blowing on the pit straight.
Consequently, after 47 laps, Massa leads Hamilton by 7.5s, with Kubica third, ahead of Kovalainen, Trulli, Vettel, Glock, Rosberg, Heidfeld and Bourdais.
Fisichella somehow keeps his Force India on track after losing the rear end on one of the multi-coloured Valencia kerbs.
With 7 laps remaining, there are no serious battles, other than Barrichello and Nakajima scrapping for fifteenth. Massa leads by 6.8s but we have to wait and see whether the stewards will allow the decision to stand. They could give the Brazilian a grid penalty for Spa, or possibly a perhaps even a time penalty to be added to today's result. Either way, one can be sure that all the interested parties will be giving their two-penn 'orth.
With 3 laps remaining, Trulli is warned not to let Vettel get too close, as the Toro Rosso has a speed advantage over the Toyota, and the opportunity of a 'tow' for the German driver would prove costly.
Massa takes the chequered flag, however, it remains to be seen whether he gets the victory and the ten points. Hamilton takes second, having finished 5.6s behind, while Robert Kubica takes third.
Kovalainen takes fourth, but it is Trulli, Vettel and Glock who truly deserve the plaudits.
Rosberg takes the final point, finishing ahead of Heidfeld, while Bourdais is the second of the Toro Rosso finishers.
Talking after the race, Ferrari's Rob Smedley seemed convinced that Massa will keep the win, but time will tell, after all, there are World Championship titles at stake.
While not wishing to be harsh, let's be honest about today's race, for other than Raikkonen's retirement, the top ten finishers are virtually the top ten from qualifying. Indeed, other than Kimi's pit straight detonation the only real action took place in the pits.
Hardly a classic circuit and certainly not a classic race… though it is sure to be discussed for some time, if only for the wrong reasons.