Williams
- Qualifying: Hulkenberg (1st) Barrichello (6th)
- Race: Hulkenberg (8th) Barrichello (14th)
A weekend where Williams, even though they didn’t manage to follow through on their stellar qualifying performance, at least managed to make a splash.
After having made the most of the conditions in qualifying to put Hulkenberg on pole and Barrichello sixth, the team went into the race on Sunday hoping to hang onto what they had.
As it turned out, Hulkenberg was swallowed up fairly early in the race by those at the front. Vettel got him off the line, Webber slipped past soon after, Alonso was held up for four or five laps or so and Hamilton didn’t manage to get past on the track.
What was impressive about the young German was that he didn’t make the same mistake twice. He gradually got better at defending his position against those who were, in all honestly, much faster than him. Impressive, but definitely a work in progress. Let’s hope he keeps his seat for next season.
Barrichello managed to have one of his habitually awful home GPs. A shoddy pit stop followed by an accident with Alguersuari put paid to any hope he had of a top 10 finish. By the end he was sounding almost regretful: “I’m sorry for all the Brazilians who came here wanting a different result. All I can say is that I gave it my all until the very end.” Let’s hope he’s around next year too.
Badger’s best: Hulkenberg
Renault
- Qualifying: Kubica (7th) Petrov (10th)
- Race: Kubica (9th) Petrov (16th)
Not a great weekend for the Renault team, all told.
Kubica managed to qualify seventh, but then spent a frustrating afternoon stuck behind various cars, particularly Hulkenberg. While he probably would have been faster than the Williams, he simply wasn’t fast enough to get past on track.
His pit stop would have been the ideal time to do it, apart from the fact that Williams bought Hulkenberg in on the same lap. Irritating.
Petrov was the only driver in the top 10 in qualifying not to improve when moving from intermediate to slick tyres. He then managed to run wide at the start, compromising his race totally.
If Renault had even a vaguely consistent driver as their number two to Kubica, they’d be easily ahead of Mercedes. Heidfeld, anyone?
Badger’s best: Kubica
Sauber
- Qualifying: Kobayashi (12th) Heidfeld (15th)
- Race: Kobayashi (10th) Heidfeld (17th)
The Saubers didn’t really suffer from anything this weekend apart from being a bit slow.
Kobayashi suffered with understeer during the race, leading to the very strange sight of him not fighting too hard while being overtaken.
He managed to get past both Toro Rossos after coming in for soft tyres towards the end of the race, as well as chasing Kubica down in an ultimately fruitless attempt to finish ninth.
Heidfeld suffered in traffic for much of the race and then gained a drive through penalty for not letting Nico Rosberg past. His reaction afterwards was admirable though: “The penalty was absolutely justified. I just didn’t know that Nico (Rosberg) was lapping me…I had a lack of information, perhaps because the team hadn’t the information either. I apologized to Nico straight after the race.” We at Badger really hope he finds a drive for next season.
Badger’s best: Kobayashi
Toro Rosso
- Qualifying: Alguersuari (14th) Buemi (19th)
- Race: Alguersuari (11th) Buemi (13th)
Not a terribly exciting weekend for the Toro Rosso team.
Buemi was out qualified by his team mate yet again and then dropped another five places after his penalty from Korea. Not ideal.
During the race he hung around in the lower mid order, passing Kobayashi and being re-passed, and then banging into Felipe Massa.
Alguersuari had a far less interesting race than his team mate (and we’re not exactly working from a high starting point here). In other news, this is the third race in a row he’s finished eleventh. Annoying.
Is it just us or does Alguersuari seem like he’s getting the better of his team mate?
Badger’s best: Alguersuari
Driver graphics courtesy of Unlap
