Bourdais Wins Classic Showdown for Ferrari

Qualifying:

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Report:

The story in the days leading up to the weekend was the return of Nathan McKane. Optimistic tifosi declared him the savior of Ferrari, whereas more realistic people pointed out that he had been out of a F1 car for quite some time now. Nobody expected big either way, given as this track is a power circuit, something that goes against Ferrari’s current strengths and weaknesses.

However, Ferrari wanted to silence the doubters, starting the race in 4th and 5th. A good start propelled them into contention, making Caterham work very hard. After staying close to the leader, Sebastién Bourdais earned a chance to take the lead when Vettel missed a braking point. Despite Caterham’s desperate efforts to regain the lead, which were crowned by taking the lead shortly after the stops, Bourdais went on to win this showdown for the ages.

Two teams that used the power advantage to further their causes in qualifying were Sauber and Peugeot. However, the race held two very different fates for these teams: whereas Sauber had an anonymous but effective outing, Peugeot died in a blaze of glory as Romain Grosjean, who battled the Ferraris and Caterhams, made an awful driving error, dropping him all the way to ninth and reducing the points earned from 15 to 2.

Some big names failed to impress today, as Haas and Williams had both terrible races. Williams failed to use their own engine power to the highest effect and risky moves by Will Power ruined the Australian’s race. While Dave Cassidy grabbed a point, the damage this does to Williams’ WCC cannot be estimated yet. Haas didn’t even salvage a point, as early chaos ruined Kubica’s race before brake issues ended it and Vandoore made another silly error.

Race:

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Fastest Lap:

Nathan McKane – 1:14.837

Infinite Improbability Drive Of The Race:

Ferrari – Pre-season hype looked like reality today, a great effort to beat Caterham on all accounts.

Reject Of The Race:

Peugeot – Good qualifying meant nothing due to technical problems and driver errors.