With Seb 13 points ahead, it probably involved rain, a shunt/spin that dropped Vettel down the order, a great race by Alonso, some more rain, crashes, more rain and whole heap of tension. Maybe with a British winner. And some rain.
Don’t expect much for Christmas – it looks like all our wishes came true early, in a breathtaking race to finish off a pretty stunning year.
Qualifying took place on a drying track, with Grosjean dropping out in Q1 after a dopey tangle with Karthikeyan, and Hamilton grabbing pole from Button. The title protagonists were 4th (Seb) and 8th (Nando) respectively, each with their team-mate outqualifying them.
The Gods of F1 luck smiled on Fernando again, as 8th became 7th after Maldonad’oh got a penalty for (you’ll like this) failing to go to the weighbridge – this isn’t a penalty in itself, but it does get you a reprimand. Enough reprimands and you get a penalty. D’oh.
Hulkenberg did well to qualify in 7th (6th on the grid) in his last outing for Force India, and Raikkonen and Rosberg also made the top 10, with di Resta promoted from 11th.
Race day saw light misty rain arrive neatly in time for the start, at which point all hell broke loose, and events unfolded so rapidly it was hard to catch your breath between screaming incoherently at the TV.
Massa jumped up into 2nd straight away, but this (and everything else) was overshadowed by the sight of Vettel pointing the wrong way and rolling backwards as cars swerved to avoid him. Hit by Senna (who later claimed it was his corner, honest), Vettel received a huge clout and Perez became entangled too, sending Bruno and Sergio out instantly.
Was Seb’s race over? Despite visible damage to the rear of the car, he somehow miraculously managed to drive away without even a puncture, although it’s possible his underpants weren’t so lucky. Last place, whilst Alonso brilliantly dived past both Massa and Webber to take 3rd, probably wasn’t what he’d been hoping for. At this point, the title was Fernando’s. And we weren’t even at the end of lap 1.
Hulkenberg continued his great qualifying form by nipping past Webber for 4th, and on lap 5 this became 3rd, as Alonso slid off-track. Massa yet again earned his Ferrari pay packet many times over, holding up the pack as Fernando tried to get back up to speed.
As the track dampened on lap 8, Lewis and Jenson swapped places, with Button scrabbling the lead back, whilst Vettel tore through the field to 7th. A lap later it was 6th.
Webber pitted on lap 10 for the intermediate tyre, over-shooting his box slightly and giving the front-jack guy some bruises to remember the season by. Checking out the grip levels for Seb..?
Lap 11 saw Hamilton, Alonso and Vettel all pit for inters too, as did most of the rest of the field. Significantly, two men didn’t – Button and Hulkenberg. JB and Hulkywulky proceeded to slither around on slicks, and it soon seemed this wasn’t a bad decision, as the inter wasn’t any faster, and they hadn’t lost time by pitting.
More team-mate good manners occurred on lap 13, but this time it was Webber, letting Seb go past with relative ease. Two laps later, and Fernando was again gifted a place by Massa.
Lewis was starting to gain on Jenson, but was telling the team his tyres were already losing grip. JB was busy fending off The Hulk though, so probably had other things on his mind. Meanwhile, Seb was past Kobayashi, and now 5th.
As the rain eased again, Jenson and Nico H were 2 seconds faster, their decision to stay out on the slicks fully vindicated. Nico duly celebrated this fact by nailing Jenson for the lead, displaying an impressive level of skill.
Hamilton and Alonso returned to the pits for slick tyres, as did Vettel and Webber, the Red Bull drivers pitting barely seconds apart, the team coping admirably well with the pressure.
The other Nico (you remember – the Rosberg one that won a race earlier in the year? No? Drives a Merc...?) was having yet another crappy afternoon, picking up a puncture on debris.
Fernando clearly thought there was a fair bit of spare car parts on the track too, radioing the team to point this out. Hey presto – Safety Car. Amazing that. The order was Hulky, JB, Hami, Nando and Seb, but not for long – realising the game was up, Nico and Jenson gave up their 47 second lead to get new tyres. Bummer.
And we still weren’t at half distance! The rain picked up a little again, before the Safety Car left the track on lap 30, with Webber and Kobayashi sandwiching Vettel straight away. Mark slithered off the track and down to 14th, leaving the unanswered question of: Would he have stayed on track if he wasn’t making sure he didn’t spoil Seb’s chances?
With Kobayashi now in 5th, Hamilton also passed Button for 2nd, before a flying Kamui passed Alonso for good measure too. 2 laps later, Fernando was back ahead.
Massa kept up the pressure, passing Vettel for 6th, then Kobayashi for 5th, on lap 36, whilst Raikkonen and Schumacher went oh-so-close to each other in a battle that saw Kimi bag 10th, and showed Michael still has the fighting spirit, even if he is packing it in again.
With the 47th tour underway, it seemed to be getting wetter again, and Hulky’s all too brief time at the front came to an end with a half-spin, allowing Hamilton into the lead.
Vettel was having communication problems with the Red Bull pit wall, and at the same time, Kimi was having communication problems with himself, after sliding off-track in the greasy conditions, and then trying to short-cut down an un-used bit of support-race track, before realising he couldn’t get through, and having to go all the way back again.
Hulkenberg’s credit rating dropped significantly as he slid into Hamilton, taking Lewis out of the race on his last, probably winning, outing for McLaren.
Seb was in the pits, but with no way of communicating with the team, they weren’t ready for him, and vital seconds ticked way as the found him a set of inters, got them out of the blankets, and bolted them on his battered car.
Gambling on the conditions stabilising, Alonso stayed out for two more laps on slicks, but the damage was done as the moisture level increased, and he pitted for inters on lap 57. Hulkenberg suffered the embarrassment of a drive-through penalty for his Hamilton misdemeanour, whilst Button finally pitted from the lead as the conditions worsened.
Yet more Ferrari contractually-obligated politeness took place, as Massa let Alonso past into second, but Seb was still doing enough for the title, just, in 7th, aided further by a significant changing-of-the-guard moment, as Schumi let his past easily.
With Jenson 20 seconds clear at the front, an important event occurred at the lower end of the field, as Petrov’s pass on Pic put the Caterham team on for 11th place in the championship, ahead of Marussia.
Unsurprisingly, Seb was being warned by the team that he was a bit quick, a fact that all his peers are only too aware of.
Michael was involved in one final moment of chaos to end his career, as Kamui collided with him, sending the Japanese driver spinning down to 10th.
Di Resta’s crash on lap 70 brought out the Safety Car, ensuring positions remained unchanged, but it was in the bag for Seb already. Title number 3, and membership of a very exclusive club for back-to-back triple champs, alongside Fangio and Schumacher.
Button tidied up the season nicely, winning at the end, as he had at the start and in the middle, setting him up nicely for the team leader role at McLaren next year.
Ferrari snatched second in the championship at the last gasp, which will be some small consolation for the team, but whilst Vettel celebrated his success, Alonso’s 1000-yard stare said it all. So near. And yet so far.
Still... there’s always next year...
Farewell then, Michael, but it also looks like its goodbye to Kobayashi, Kovaleinen, and possibly Senna, Petrov, Karthikeyan and de la Rosa too, not to mention the HRT team. The revolving door of F1 spins fast – the good news is, there’ll be new faces at the races in 2013. Start counting down the days.
(Mike Oldfield CD? Of course! The live 2nd CD from the new Platinum remaster is accompanying this end of season report.)
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