Hamilton finds the light

Sunday, 13 November 2011 17:00

Spotlight, floodlight. Top step of the podium.

Lewis Hamilton says he's been in a dark place, but what better way to dispel the shadows than with a cool, controlled win at the Yas Marina’s 2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix? This was Lewis’s 17th Formula 1 race victory for McLaren and he didn’t put a wheel wrong. He was on fire in every session. Arguably, he could have taken pole but, otherwise: wunderkind.

And who wouldn't forgive him if he'd given a little cheer as Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull car refused the second corner and shot backwards onto the run off, his right rear tyre flapping?

On the one hand we were cheated out of a dice between Lewis and Sebastian. But we were also treated to a bit of variety when Sebastian Vettel was finally deserted by Lady Luck, a lady who is usually firmly at his side, leaving Lewis Hamilton to fight, instead, with Fernando Alonso's scarlet Ferrari. There seems to be a new respect between Lewis and Fernando, a welcome change from the clashes between Lewis and Fernando's teammate, Felipe Massa, over the past few races.

And, even though Jenson Button, in his McLaren, was a victim, I enjoyed Fernando overtaking Mark Webber at the start and Jenson on lap 2. Exciting stuff. I wonder why Fernando was able to chase Lewis all the way to the flag whilst Felipe, in the sister car, was only able to manage fifth—although he might have been able to make that fourth, were it not for an unexplained spin on lap 49, turn 1. It was easier to understand why Jenson Button was a distant third, in the other McLaren. He suffered KERS issues from lap 13, having to reset his system time after time after the KERS went offline every couple of laps.

A double DRS zone gave us an unexpected aspect to the race, the first time I remember seeing it—if a car overtook in zone 1, it almost always lost the place in zone 2. We saw such swapping between Jenson's McLaren and Mark Webber's Red Bull, early in the race, and Sebastien Buemi's Torro Rosso against Paul Di Resta's Force India. It was interesting, we saw some great karting moves, but I can't say I'm hoping it will happen at every race. It became frustrating.

I'm joining the chorus of disappointment over the increasingly durable Pirelli tyres. Looking back at the columns from the start of the season, weren't we all delighted at the way fast-degrading tyres threw out such a wide variety of strategies that every race was full of spills and surprises? I don't know why anyone would want to mess with that. The races were brilliant. Pirelli told us that to produce less durable tyres was what they’d been asked to do. Whoever asked them to do that, please repeat your request!

Still, Fernando's first lap was a dream, Sebastian's was a nightmare, and, along with Lewis Hamilton, we all enjoyed the race.

Except, perhaps, a few backmarkers sent to sit on the naughty chair—or take drive through penalites—for impeding faster cars that were trying to put a lap on them. I don't remember the last time I saw such unco-operative backmarkers, sending the leader off line to lap them or baulking cars that were dicing for points. Pastor Maldonado took a drive through, came out and ... did exactly the same thing again. I know you're fighting for your seat, Pastor, but, c'mon. By Sue Moorcroft

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Comments (1)

|2011-11-14 12:55:19 Pia Fenton - Yeah!

Great stuff, but shame about Jenson's KERS! Would have been even more fun if he'd been in the mix at the very top.
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