European Grand Prix: Vettel too hot to handle
Defending world champion clinches 16th career win, stretches lead to 77 points.
VALENCIA:
Defending world champion Sebastian Vettel won the European Grand Prix to lead in the overall standings with his sixth win in eight races.
His 16th career win made him the first to finish first or second in the opening eight races of a season in history.
The 23-year-old German coasted home in his Red Bull ahead of Fernando Alonso finishing second. They were followed by Vettel’s Australian teammate Mark Webber.
Vettel’s victory saw him open up a huge 77-points gap in this year’s title race. The reigning champion now has 186 points after eight of the season’s 19 events, ahead of nearest rival Briton Jenson Button on 109.
Vettel ecstatic
“For some reason I enjoy this track, even though we maybe think it doesn’t suit our car because there are no 100 per cent fast corners,” he explained.
“Maybe it looked easy for me from the outside, but it was not like that for me — there was so much going on. It was never a boring race for me.”
Alonso was delighted with his second place.
“It was interesting for the fans today to see my fight with Webber all the way through,” said the two-time world champion.
“In the end, I think second place was the maximum we could hope for. It was a great achievement for the team. We’re definitely moving in the right direction but need to keep working.”
Great Britain’s 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton for McLaren honoured his pledge to restrain his daredevil style and finished the race in fourth place.
Brazilian Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari and Briton Jenson Button, in the second McLaren, finished fifth and sixth.
German Nico Rosberg was seventh for Mercedes and Spaniard Jaime Alguersuari produced a stunning drive to take eighth for Toro Rosso with Germans Adrian Sutil ninth for Force India and Nick Heidfeld 10th for Renault.
Too hot to handle
On a sweltering early summer afternoon by the Mediterranean, Vettel produced a start to match the weather as the air temperature rose beyond 30 degrees Celsius and the track temperature hit the high-40s.
This signalled potential degradation problems for the tyres, but Vettel made light of any concerns as he pulled clear to lead by 1.3 seconds at the end of the opening lap.
Webber plays blame game
Meanwhile, Webber blamed himself for failing to finish second.
“It was all my own fault,” said Webber. The Australian came third behind Vettel, after deciding to pit before Alonso in the final section of the race.
The move backfired and Alonso, who was in front of Webber, managed to make his stop and open a 17-seconds gap in the end.
Webber said, “It was probably my best race of the year, to be honest. It was quite close with all three of us. We were trying to manage tyres. I was very, very happy with how the race was going - and it was my fault basically.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 27th, 2011.
Defending world champion Sebastian Vettel won the European Grand Prix to lead in the overall standings with his sixth win in eight races.
His 16th career win made him the first to finish first or second in the opening eight races of a season in history.
The 23-year-old German coasted home in his Red Bull ahead of Fernando Alonso finishing second. They were followed by Vettel’s Australian teammate Mark Webber.
Vettel’s victory saw him open up a huge 77-points gap in this year’s title race. The reigning champion now has 186 points after eight of the season’s 19 events, ahead of nearest rival Briton Jenson Button on 109.
Vettel ecstatic
“For some reason I enjoy this track, even though we maybe think it doesn’t suit our car because there are no 100 per cent fast corners,” he explained.
“Maybe it looked easy for me from the outside, but it was not like that for me — there was so much going on. It was never a boring race for me.”
Alonso was delighted with his second place.
“It was interesting for the fans today to see my fight with Webber all the way through,” said the two-time world champion.
“In the end, I think second place was the maximum we could hope for. It was a great achievement for the team. We’re definitely moving in the right direction but need to keep working.”
Great Britain’s 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton for McLaren honoured his pledge to restrain his daredevil style and finished the race in fourth place.
Brazilian Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari and Briton Jenson Button, in the second McLaren, finished fifth and sixth.
German Nico Rosberg was seventh for Mercedes and Spaniard Jaime Alguersuari produced a stunning drive to take eighth for Toro Rosso with Germans Adrian Sutil ninth for Force India and Nick Heidfeld 10th for Renault.
Too hot to handle
On a sweltering early summer afternoon by the Mediterranean, Vettel produced a start to match the weather as the air temperature rose beyond 30 degrees Celsius and the track temperature hit the high-40s.
This signalled potential degradation problems for the tyres, but Vettel made light of any concerns as he pulled clear to lead by 1.3 seconds at the end of the opening lap.
Webber plays blame game
Meanwhile, Webber blamed himself for failing to finish second.
“It was all my own fault,” said Webber. The Australian came third behind Vettel, after deciding to pit before Alonso in the final section of the race.
The move backfired and Alonso, who was in front of Webber, managed to make his stop and open a 17-seconds gap in the end.
Webber said, “It was probably my best race of the year, to be honest. It was quite close with all three of us. We were trying to manage tyres. I was very, very happy with how the race was going - and it was my fault basically.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 27th, 2011.