WEBBER FINALLY WINS, JENSON TAKES SECOND IN CHAMPIONSHIP
(Image taken from ITV)
So this was it. Sebastien Vettel had already secured the 2011 world championship in Japan but 2nd place in the title race was still very much up for grabs between Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber. To secure 2nd place in the championship Jenson needed to finish on the podium in the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos other than that it was a case of seeing what happened. Lewis could not claim 2nd place now but could still potentially grab 3rd if he finished in the top two of this final race. Other than that, everything was winding down. However with one last show before the end of 2011, the drivers still had plenty of pride to race for.
In qualifying, well Q1 went pretty smoothly for the Brits and Maldonado was the biggest name to get ditched at the first attempt. Q2 was not so straightforward though and Di Resta found himself missing out by the skin of his teeth, having to settle for P11 but the two McLaren drivers made it through. Well Rosberg was the first guy to set a Q3 time but it wasn't exactly awesome and Lewis's initial effort was only slightly better...and then while everyone else did get their act together to some extent it was Vettel that blew everyone away to grab his third pole in a row. Webber took P2 to complete the seventh all-Red Bull front row of the season. Jenson settled for P3, Lewis P4.
Lewis however suffered with gearbox problems for the whole race and eventually the gearbox shut down and it was game over. Obviously that meant 3rd place in the championship was a writeoff. A guttting end to the season that the 2008 world champion would surely rather forget.
As for Di Resta well his first order of business was a duel with Schumacher for 10th which he lost only to gain a couple of places following a collision further up the field. As the race went on he looked to be a reasonable certainty for points but halfway though, he like half the grid it seemed was having gearbox problems. At that point getting any more points looked to be a writeoff but still, he was able to beep Kobayashi behind him and have a relatively quiet but still very impressive run to 8th. A few more points for Paul in what has proved to be a very impressive rookie season. At the time of writing he has yet to be garunteed a seat for 2012 but you'd have to be very harsh to not give him one.
As for Jenson well he had a go at Webber at the start but it didn't come off and then a few laps later Alonso came up behind him and before Jenson knew it, shot past him. He then came into the pits early and settled into 5th, moving up to 4th later on. A second pit stop saw him drop to 6th only to eventually make his way back up to 5th before taking Massa for 4th but then he came into the pits again. His race looked to be a writeoff but he was right back at Alonso and got payback over the Spaniard before the end. Vettel in 2nd was too far ahead to do anything about though. Still 3rd was all Jenson needed to secure 2nd in the championship, a nice afternoon's work for him.
Up front, well initially this looked to be another straightforward Vettel cruiseaway. However this was an afternoon filled with gearbox trouble and the world champion was the most high-profile victim of the lot. Massa briefly took the lead mid pitsequence but while Vettel retook the lead briefly, he was having to drop too much pace and ultimately had to let Webber past. While Vettel still retained enough pace to keep the rest of the field behind him, Webber went on to claim his first and of course his only win of the season. Vettel settled for 2nd though and completed the third Red Bull 1-2 of the season. Great to see Webber get an overdue win.
So, the dust has settled and the championship looks like this: Vettel on 392 points. Jenson secures 2nd place with 270 points(best championship finish for a Brit since Jenson himself won the title in '09). Further down, Lewis wound up settling for 5th on 227 points(continuing his perfect run of finishing in the top 5 of the championship but other than that, very dissapointing). Even further down, Di Resta finishes his rookie season 13th in the championship with 27 points(the first time three Brits have finished in the championship top 13 since '02 when David Coulthard, Jenson(then driving for Renault) and Eddie Irvine all finished inside the top 9!).
Overall not a vintage season but roll on 2012!
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