Williams
- Qualifying: Barrichello (6th) Hulkenberg (12th)
- Race: Barrichello (6th) Hulkenberg (10th)
After Hulkenberg’s strong performance in Italy last time out, the natural order of the Williams team was restored this weekend under the lights of Singapore.
Barrichello, proving there’s more than enough life left in the old dog yet (his appearance on the grid on Sunday prompted a lively debate between two Badger staff members about what constituted ‘old’), out qualified and out raced his team mate. After dropping a couple of places off the line he managed to make his way up to sixth, but suffered problems with his brakes after running behind the safety car.
It’s been a tough first season for Hulkenberg; coming into a team with a team mate like Barrichello is both a blessing and a curse. It’s hard to think of anyone who’d be able to help a rookie driver more, but that experience has made it tough for the young German to make an impression, especially when the car proved tricky to manage. After starting outside the top 10 in Singapore he managed to finish ninth on the road, be promoted to eighth after Sutil’s 20 second penalty and then suffer a 20 second penalty himself, dropping down to tenth. Honestly – make up your mind Nico.
Badger’s best: Barrichello
Renault
- Qualifying: Kubica (8th) Petrov (12th)
- Race: Kubica (7th) Petrov (11th)
After Petrov’s mistake in qualifying (he thinks he could have got into Q3 – funny that, especially as his team mate has been doing it all season…), the race went a bit better. Running tenth after the start, he was the first runner on the prime tyres behind Mark Webber, but then things all fell apart a bit. Pushed out by Hulkenberg at turn seven, he lost three places and got stuck in the massive queue with Massa et al. Not ideal.
Kubica was moodling along during the race until his engineers spotted a right rear puncture. Cue an out of sync and additional pit stop which dropped him from sixth to thirteenth. Then, much to the delight of the watching Badger masses, he went on a bit of a passing rampage (yeah, that’s right, a passing rampage), executing a number of brilliant moves on those ahead of him. As he said after the race, the puncture only ended up costing him one place overall – not bad. He must be hoping Ferrari come knocking sooner rather than later…
Badger’s best: Kubica
Force India
- Qualifying: Sutil (15th) Liuzzi (16th)
- Race: Sutil (9th) Liuzzi (ret)
Not a classic weekend for the Force India team. Both drivers qualified well down the field, complaining of problems and saying things like “very disappointing” and “all gone wrong”. That about sums it up really.
Liuzzi’s race was over almost as soon as it had begun, cracking his rear suspension after contact with the wall and Nick Heidfeld.
Sutil had a longer and more successful race, although he was bunched up with other cars nearly all the way through. Apart from that there’s not really much more to say; he was passed by Kubica and incurred a 20 second penalty after the race.
Badger’s best: Sutil
Toro Rosso
- Qualifying: Alguersuari (11th) Buemi (13th)
- Race: Alguersuari (12th) Buemi (14th)
A good performance by Jaime Alguersuari to out qualify Buemi, especially after the young Spaniard didn’t have the greatest of practice sessions.
In the race, Alguersuari didn’t have much fun. Badger can’t improve on his comments afterwards, so here they are: “I am satisfied that I finished the race, but to be honest, it was possibly the most boring race of my career. I was stuck in a train of cars and there was virtually nothing I could do….it went wrong before the start with a coolant leak on the car, which meant I started from pit lane after the others had gone by. At that point, my hopes of having a good day disappeared.” Ah.
Buemi has a similarly tough afternoon. After colliding with Kobayashi (quelle surprise…) he picked up some understeer, which is exactly what you want on a circuit with a lot of walls everywhere. Considering he pitted three times for various problems, fourteenth place was a very respectable finish.
Another case of a Red Bull team not quite fulfilling their potential on a race weekend. Some things never change.
Badger’s best: Alguersuari
