It was an interesting weekend in Barcelona – even if it wasn’t an out-and-out exciting one.
A few things became obvious – painfully so, in some cases – and a few things became a little confusing. Why did HRT have no updates? Why did Lotus think their updates would take them forwards, when the exact opposite was true?
The most intriguing and the most interesting observations came courtesy of the big four, however. Power struggles, equality concerns and heirarchy were the main issues of the weekend. Here’s how the top four – McLaren, Red Bull, Merecedes and Ferrari – fared.
McLaren
It was incredible to see how calm and utterly “c’est la vie” Lewis Hamilton was after today’s race. After a brilliant drive, battling in third and then second place, Hamilton’s tyre blew on the last lap – sending him sailing into the barriers and ending his race.
The Hamilton-of-Old was much more likely to have stropped about and given glib, one-word answers when questioned by the press after an incident like today’s. Instead, Hamilton 2.0 was smiling, was slightly rueful about his bad fortune and very relaxed when Lee McKenzie spoke to him only moments after what must have been a massive disappointment for him.
Another interesting moment came during the interview with the lovely Martin Whitmarsh during the BBC’s pre-Qualifying build up. He was showing Jake Humphrey and the insufferable Eddie Jordan the new and improved McLaren garage. The focus was on a central station, which had all the team’s computer monitors on it. Whitmarsh explained that this new set up was designed to bring the team closer together. Instead of their drivers stepping out of their cars and heading to their separate analysis-stations, backs turned to each other, the drivers and their respective mechanics would all be going through the telemetry together in the middle of the garage. No separation, no isolation.
It’s a much more open, relaxed and communal way of doing things and is indicative of Martin Whitmarsh’s management style, so different to that of Ron Dennis. He and both his Champion drivers looked comfortable and quietly comfortable all weekend.
Red Bull
Still the coolest and, by far, the most likeable team on the grid – Red Bull has a pretty good weekend. They ended Qualifying with a 1-2 and ended with first and third place for Webber and Vettel respectively – not bad at all.
The team oozes fairness. From the fabulous Christian Horner – always calm, always full of praise for both his drivers, no matter how they have done in the race to Mark and Sebastian themselves who are very courteous and complimentary about one another.
Mark’s win was without doubt well-deserved and Sebastian’s place perhaps somewhat of a disappointment – although, given the brake problems that Vettel was dealing with towards the end of the race he could have ended up with an outcome far worse than 3rd.
The team is miles ahead on pace and development, even if their reliability still has a question mark over it. The team is staying utterly fair towards their evenly-matched drivers and are fast becoming my favourite team on the grid.
Mercedes
From my favourite team to my absolute least favourite – Mercedes. There is something about Mercedes I really don’t like and it’s not just Michael Schumacher.
The dynamics of the team just don’t feel right. No matter what they say, it seems that this weekend’s updates were brought in with the sole purpose of helping Michael Schumacher. Nico, whilst not my favourite driver, has admittedly had a great season so far – he was lying a fairly close 2nd coming into Spain – and then the updates come in and he is suddenly lagging behind his team-mate for the first time all season.
I believe that favouring one driver over another is sometimes necessary – when the season is further in, when the driver is the only chance of a championship and when the “maths” of the situation say it’s the only option.
Michael is Michael – a 7-time World Champion and a force to be reckoned with, but I believe that Nico deserves his shot on even footing. I’ll reserve final judgement until a few more races are over and done with, but so far – I’m really unimpressed. The team seem much more stoic, less passionate and more downbeat than they did when they were the over-excited Brawn GP and it makes me sad.
Ferrari
Am I the only one baffled by Felipe Massa? In all the build up to this weekend in Spain, everyone was saying that THIS was the weekend to take the fight to Fernando. After Alonso’s move on Massa in China’s pitlane entry, all eyes were on the Brazilian, sure he would be fighting back and giving Alonso a hard time.
Instead he’s off the pace, saying things like “I don’t know what the matter is with me”, unable to set up the car and yet again being told how to drive his car by race engineer Rob Smedley.
Perhaps this just wasn’t the perfect weekend for Massa to bring the fight to Alonso. Often described as needing to be “mind managed” – perhaps being in Alonso’s back yard where every Ferrari cap or flag has Fernando’s name on it did nothing for his seemingly fragile self confidence.
Add to that the fact that Ferrari took the unprecedented move of manufacturing Asturias-blue t-shirts in Fernando’s honour and that the Spaniard finished 2nd in the race, it’s possible that Ferrari may have a very downbeat Massa on their hands. As I have said previously, I think that the Ferrari inter-team relationship is going to be the one to watch over the season. What will happen next weekend in Monaco – a track Massa has openly said he doesn’t like and doesn’t feel comfortable on? Will he become prey to Alonso, or rise to the challenge?
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