Alonso clips wings, Horner flies the bull
It’s part of the Red Bull ethics to allow our drivers to race, and that’s what we’ve done, as I believe McLaren allow their drivers to do likewise. That was a very clear team instruction today that handed the race win from one driv“er to another. It’s wrong that the drivers weren’t allowed to compete with each other.”
- Christian Horner, July 27 2010
I have zero issues with team orders and it's clear that for Red Bull Sunday, it was the right thing to do. Vettel is their number 1 driver and is the one the title sponsor wants to win every race. Webber, to Helmut Marko and company, is just a guy lucky to have a seat who would have been asked to move over had he been ahead. What I don't like are hypocrites so it was quite amusing to hear the Red Bull team manager today proclaiming F1 a "team sport" and squirming the party line of "it would have ended in an accident" after all the bloviating and moralizing he offered almost a year ago after the German GP.
But let's move on, after what was the most boring race of the season in Valencia, Silverstone offered up a classic thanks to the weather but also thanks to the venue. Long live Silverstone even with its new "slow" corners it's magnificent for F1 cars.
The background of the race was one of the biggest regulatory FAILS in recent memory. Nobody seemed to understand what was going on with the blown exhaust re-regualtions and why Red Bull and Mercedes were given dispensation or who ran what at Silverstone.
Conditions at the start were ideal for a Lewis Hamilton comeback from 10th on the grid, a position he found himself in, not because the car was weak but because of the vagaries of British weather in qualifying. Mclaren was right up there in race pace and Hamilton did not disappoint the fans as he clawed his way up the standings.
But here is where I will get my British friends mad at us...again: Hamilton may be a great passer but he's not a smart racer. He has no patience, he seems to think only of what's immediately in front of him, not the long term goal. Sunday, he made a brilliant pass on Alonso who did not fight him especially hard but instead let him go and burn his tires, something Hamilton did as per his usual script.
Contrast with Alonso's patience in the early part of the race and his explosive set of laps just before and right after his final stop. Even more to the point Alonso's ability to keep the long term goals of Ferrari in focus. He has not complained all season when the car was slow, he did not run into other teams motor homes, he did not go to the media blaming overwork for bad results, he did not complain about conspiracies against him.
All that finally paid off at Silverstone on the anniversary of Ferrari's first F1 victory, I'm sure this win must feel very sweet for the Scuderia. I'm equally sure Mclaren wish they had more of that attitude in coming from the Hamilton. (and god, those phony comments after the checkered... eeeck)
We might want to discuss the final incident with Massa and Hamilton, I say good call. I'm sure there would have been a penalty if the roles had been reversed but as it was, it was fine. Great to see Felipe on the charge like that.
Sorry about Jenson, his pass on Massa was the best of the race. Finally, am I the only one impressed by Perez?
I confess I had little time no time this week end to edit the usual Ex Sum but the BBC did a fine job for us, Thanks Beeb!
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