Following Monaco, rules got clarified, and Red Bull suddenly had to have less holes than they’d like.
It turned out not to be an issue come the final quail session, but before that Senna, Kovaleinen and Vergne all went about making their cars lighter and with more holes too. Unfortunately, all three did so by sticking their car into a wall.
The trend continued into Q2, when Maldonado (whose talent reserve is now definitely running on fumes) shoved his car into the infamous Wall Of Champions. It’ll probably be the only time in F1 that ‘Pastor’ and ‘Champion’ appear in the same sentence. As the crunch damaged his gearbox too, he wound up a further 5 places back on the grid come Sunday, in a lowly 22nd.
Meanwhile, Das Sebulator was busy annexing pole position ahead of an on-form Hamilton and Alonso, whilst Button’s run of terrible form continued, with a grid slot of 10th.
There will now be a short interlude whilst I regale you with my tale of F1 TV woe. As you know, I’m a BBC viewer so, due to the lateness of the race, for me the highlights were past my bedtime, as this was a non-live weekend. I had at my disposal a not-altogether-legitimate Sky F1 website feed link and, whilst it froze a bit and was pretty pixellated, I felt quite clever and faintly rebellious.
That was until it crashed several times in the last build up to the race. Having got it going again, I sat excitedly at the red lights came on... and then it bombed again. At this point, I gave up. So yes, I did stay up late to watch the BBC coverage, and did require extra coffee to stay awake at work on Monday. See, BBC?! YOU’RE TURNING ME INTO A CAFFEINE JUNKIE!!!
The race started cleanly, with the front-runners scampering away in order, with Rosberg applying pressure to Webber. The hunter rapidly became the hunted as Massa fought Nico for position, grabbing the place on lap 2, with di Resta doing the same a lap later. A promising start for Massa, but his poor form returned on lap 6 as he spun the car, dropping to 12th, and pitting a lap later for new tyres.
Hamilton had seemingly be biding his time and looking after his tyres, but by lap 16 he was into Vettel’s DRS zone. Seb was first to pit, then Hamilton a lap later, with Lewis returning in front. Alonso left it another lap and impressively leapt ahead of both as his rivals battled for position.
Lewis grabbed the place back from Nando on lap 21, whilst Grosjean calmly led the race, seemingly running to a strategy involving one less stop than the big guns.
By half distance, things were looking good for the grumpy McLaren driver, who now had a 3.5 second lead over Vettel. In stark contrast, Button was already way down the field.
Deep into the race, Raikkonen finally pitted, followed by Perez, having done 41 and 42 laps apiece, their obvious intention being to run to the end with fresher rubber. Well, it was going to work out just fine for one of them...
Schumi endured another race from hell as his DRS flap became stuck open, with even the combined weight of 4 burly Merc mechanics unable to force it shut. With nothing in the way of downforce available, he had to park it up yet again. Meanwhile, Vergne blotted his copybook, gaining a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
Inside the last 20 laps, things got really interesting. Hamilton stopped on lap 51, a slow tyre replacement delaying him slightly, and must have assumed Ferrari and Red Bull would be pitting their charges again too. A few laps later it became apparent that Alonso and Vettel were going to try to run to the end on old tyres, risking a visit over ‘the cliff’ for a chance at the win.
Rosberg was busy trying to pass Massa, but missed a chicane and lost position to Perez, Sergio then passing Felipe into the bargain. Massa’s rubbish day then saw him passed by Rosberg too, before the hapless Ferrari driver gave up and pitted for fresh tyres.
With 9 laps left, Hamilton was closing in on Vettel at a second a lap, whilst Perez proved yet again that you can still race on old tyres, setting fastest lap.
Lewis continued his grippy rampage, eventually passing Vettel with 8 laps to go, the Sebulator wisely deciding to stop for tyres before his grip, and chances of points, vanished all together. Hamilton then passed Alonso for the lead with 6 laps left, but Ferrari decided to keep their man out on track, rather than lose places with a late stop. Still, 2nd was OK, right?
Grosjean, another driver managing just fine on very old tyres, rapidly caught the ailing Ferrari and sailed past Alonso with 4 laps to go. Perez was closing fast too, whilst Vettel with his lovely new tyres, was reeling both in fast. As Alonso struggled, Perez nipped past on the penultimate lap, followed by Vettel.
Out front, Hamilton bagged his first victory of the season, and the lead of the championship, becoming the 7th driver in 7 races to see the chequered flag first. With Romain and Sergio sharing the podium, it was clear that one or two stops made little difference: 2012 is all about how well you look after your tyres, not how many times you change them.
Please God – I don’t want to see Martin Whitmarsh’s nipples through a wet shirt just before I go to bed ever again. Thanks.
(Did you know I own 20 Jean Michel Jarre CD's? Tonight, it's the turn of Chronologie from 1993.)
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