The fourth race of the 2011 Formula One season proved to be an exciting, if not slightly contrived, race after all was said and done. The defending World Driver’s Champion, Sebastian Vettel, for Red Bull Racing took the checkered flag in what looked like an effortless and perfectly executed weekend. Behind Sebastian Vettel the results were slightly different from what we had seen in the previous 3 races. Missing from this round were the initial (and surprising) pace of McLaren and Renault as well as the problems at Mercedes and Ferrari. While the front of the pack was reshuffled a bit, the back of the pack looked about the same with a few exceptions, including a sublime drive from a driver who’s stock must certainly be on the rise.
Red Bull Racing was finally able to lock out the top two positions in qualifying, although Webber was no match for Vettel in qualifying, or in the race for that matter. Vettel truly seems to be in a class of his own at the moment. Nico Rosberg was able to hoist his improving Mercedes GP car to the third step of the podium with Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren and Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari rounding out the top five in qualifying. Behind the top five were the usual players in their usual order (with some slight shuffling here and there). One exception was Kamui Kobayashi who’s Sauber failed to set a qualifying time and resulted in Kobayashi starting at the back of the grid. Luckily for Kobayashi he had posted times in practice well within 107% of the quickest time set in the first qualifying period which prompted the race stewards to allow him to start despite not setting a time.
The race start was rather tidy and saw a few position changes throughout the field mostly due to the differences in grip from the two starting lanes. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was finally able to get a good start and found himself not losing places as he has done in the previous races this season. One interesting insight I read after the race was in regards to the lack of chaos and crashes that have typically accompanied Grand Prix starts. The author surmised that with the passing opportunities afforded by the Drag Reduction System (DRS), Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) and the Pirelli tires this season the driver’s no longer feel the desperation they once did to make up places at the start of the race. With the various changes this season, it seems the drivers are willing to wait and see how the various strategies play out in favor of trying to squeeze a rocketing F1 car into a tiny gap through the first corner. The result of this is that cars are no longer being taken out in first corner melees this season, which results in more cars battling throughout the race.
The race itself was a combination of confusing strategic wrangling and pointless “push to pass” scenarios using the Drag Reduction System (DRS). One exception to all of this was Kamui Kobayashi’s fantastic drive from dead last to finally ending up 10th and securing a Championship point for himself and Sauber. The usual players found themselves in more or less their usual places by the time the race ended. Sebastian Vettel drove a faultless race from Pole Position to the top step of podium. The Red Bull of Mark Webber finished second after battling Alonso’s ascendant Ferrari throughout the race finding themselves trading places a couple of times courtesy of the DRS “push to pass” button and tire degradation differences. A Red Bull 1-2 followed up with Ferrari finally capitalizing on their consistently high race pace rounded out the podium. The rest of the field crossed the line in the expected order with Renault, McLaren and Mercedes GP trading places to fill in the rest of the top 10 with Sebastian Buemi’s Torro Rosso and Kamui Kobayashi’s Sauber being the major exceptions.
The true star of this race was, and typically is, the Istanbul Park circuit. Like most great circuits there is one defining feature that sets them apart from the rest and in Istanbul this is Turn 8. Watching Formula One cars pull over 4Gs for 4-5 seconds while speeding around this 3-4 apex turn is phenomenal. Unfortunately the nature of this great track was slightly overshadowed by the contrived manner of passing being created by some of the rule changes this season. Particularly the Drag Reduction System (DRS). Perhaps a change in the DRS zone’s location or length could have alleviated some of the ridiculously easy passes we saw, but altogether this system is beginning to irritate some spectators, myself included. In season’s past when one driver passed another it meant something in the overall battle for the season’s championship. With the DRS the passes are no more meaningful than the ones we all make on our daily commutes. I would have rather seen the DRS zone moved between turns 7 and 8. Imagine the courage and skill required to effect a pass while setting up to go through turn 8! Now that would be a spectacle.
