The first rain free weekend for the Formula One season since the opening round in Bahrain yielded a much deserved, a much needed, dominant victory for Mark Webber at the Circuit de Catalunya. A race that promised so much in terms of upgrades and the closing of gaps between teams, there was a sense of as you were throughout the weekend. Maybe the tight, twisty streets of Monaco will mean a smaller gap between pole and third, but the glitz and glamour may disguise the fact that this years season isn’t as close or as epic as experts were predicting. Another edition of TGTB&TB looks back at Spain and ahead to Monaco, as well as news stories in-between. Ready? Let’s go!

The Good  

To Mark Webber: an apology. Last weeks edition featured a snide comment about his luck in the sport and the weekend I was overwhelmingly proved wrong. The Aussie finally delivered this season, and what a race win it was. He may not be the fastest, or the youngest, driver on the grid, but he ran a perfect race from pole to record his third career win, overshadowing his younger (and arguably faster) team-mate on both Saturday and Sunday to get himself into the title hunt. Sebastian Vettel is worth a mention here too as he nursed his ailing car home, and by the looks of it the last few laps were without much brakes left at all. This may have been down to the incident coming out of the pits with Lewis Hamilton (what is it with those two?). Whether Webber can build on this result remains to be seen, especially as perfection comes along only once, maybe twice, a season. A fourth different winner in five races makes the championship still too close to call, even with Red Bull’s scintillating pace.

Michael Schumacher rolled back the years (well, at least three) to record his highest position of 2010, coming home fourth after holding off Jenson Button for the majority of the race. Mercedes will be happy that their expensive new signing has got some serious points on the board at last, but the competitiveness of the car is still in question following what the designers called a “significant” upgrade. If Vettel was struggling will no brakes, how come the Mercedes didn’t sweep right onto the tail of the Red Bull? The sudden drop off of Nico Rosberg’s pace is also worrying. Has Mercedes made the car faster? Or does it just suit Schumacher better?

Fernando Alonso benefited from Vettel’s and Hamilton’s misfortunes to give the home fans something to cheer for, all 100,000 of them if attendance figures tell the truth. Who says the European economy is failing?

The pace of Red Bull on Saturdays may be too good for the rest of the field, but on a Sunday, running with heavier fuel loads, it’s a different story. Hamilton drive superbly to split the form team heading into the final laps, and Alonso kept within distance of the fight for second as well. On low fuels, the Red Bull is immense, and the moment they transfer that speed into longer runs the constructors is theirs to lose. Somehow, someway, the Red Bull is sluggish in a straight line, but lightning quick in the corners. Whatever it is, it’s conceived totally out of sync to everything else on the grid.

The Bad

If the past few races have been a testament to the strengths of McLaren this year, then in Barcelona all their weaknesses were in full view. Jenson Button may complain about Schumacher’s chop across his front after exiting the pits, but did he really expect anything else? The concern here is how Button couldn’t find a way through, all the while knowing that if it had been Hamilton behind there would have been some attempts at out-braking the wily German. Alternately, had Button been in second place in the final stages, we all know his tyres would have been in a better state than Hamilton’s. A team as experienced and as professional as McLaren will take these events into consideration I’m sure, but other teams will have seen these flaws and be well aware of them.

The cross examination of Felipe Massa will apparently be initiated by Ferrari after, what they consider, another poor showing for the team. Constant radio contact throughout the race showed his race engineer, Rob Smedley, geeing him on, but if only we had the audio from China, especially after Alonso’s cheeky move up the inside coming into the pit-lane. If Massa had any lack of pace, perhaps it was due to the nature of the Ferrari interpretation of the F-Duct. I’m sure taking one hand off the steering wheel to plug a hole in the chassis while travelling at 190mph sounded like a to good idea to everyone except Massa!

The race itself didn’t exactly have the entertainment of earlier rounds, probably due to the lack of rain over a race weekend since the procession at Bahrain. While the upgrades of various teams brought a false hope first thing on Friday morning, the gaps between teams starting from the front all the way to the back turned out to be far bigger than previously thought. Neutrals tuning in for an exciting Grand Prix got the sport at its current state, and if changes aren’t made involving KERS, turbo-charged smaller engines and F-Ducts we’re in for several years of more of the same.

The Backmarkers

News broke at the weekend that established teams were looking to create a fourth qualifying session for Monaco, moving the slower, newer teams away to help with safety and out of the way of faster cars. Although it’s a good idea in principal, it discriminates against the newer teams having at least the slightest chance of moving up the grid on a slower circuit. Every single time a leading driver goes onto a track, one of the hazards they face is running into a slower driver, either in a slower car or on a slower lap (or, if they’re really unlucky, both). Yes, Monaco is a different type of circuit, but the rules still apply.

Lotus made the most of their large upgrade to beat the other start-up teams both in qualifying and the race. Jarno Trulli had the lion’s share of the teams good luck for once, switching places with Heikki Kovalainen, who’s gearbox gave up the ghost before the start of the race. The good news for the team is that now there a substantial gap between them and the new outfits, they can focus on catching the slower, more established teams, like Toro Rosso and, dare I say it, Williams. Trulli was only 0.7 seconds off 17th placed Rubens Barrichello on the grid, so it’s very possible indeed that Lotus could be in Q2 without rain helping them along their way.

Hispania had a weekend to forget, after their positive showings in far more difficult conditions. Bruno Senna’s race lasted only a few corners before heading off into the gravel, and Karon Chandhok’s constant gearbox issues affected him in qualifying and a coming together with Jaime Alguersuari damaged his front wing and suspension beyond repair. The weekend also saw Chris Klien take to the track in Friday practice for the team, but that only led to scathing criticism of the Dallara kit-car the team is running. Soon, the team will have to make a decision on whether 2011 is going to be the focus rather than toil away on a car that’s heading nowhere, and not very fast at all.

Virgin managed to bring both cars home for the first time this season, but the touted upgrade that was only fitted to Timo Glock’s car wasn’t that big a step as first thought. In total, it translated to one tenth faster in qualifying and one place in the race, albeit last and second from last. The positive to take away from the race is the double finish, but other than that, not much else.

Sauber finally had some progress in the right direction. Saturday’s qualifying heralded a Q1 session for the team in the dry and on their own merit. Kumai Kobayashi hauled his car to tenth in that session, while home hero Pedro de la Rosa managed twelfth. Race day was the usual mix of bad luck though. Kobayashi brought the car home twelfth for his first finish of the season, but points were there for taking, while De la Rosa retired after an opening lap puncture. A sad finish to a promising show of speed, but back to the drawing board for the ever-decreasing outfit.

That’s it for another week! As per usual, if you fancy adding your say to subjects mentioned, feel free to add your comments in the box below. You never know, you may get a mention next week! As for the weekend, enjoy the race on Sunday and I’ll see you in seven days.

Related posts: