VETTEL WINS AGAIN!
The opening two races of the 2011 season suggested that we may bwe in the midst of watching the Sebastien Vettel show. Luckilly Lewis's win in China showed that the reigning world champion wouldn't have things all his own way. Then we came to Turkey, a circuit generally seen as the best of the new breed of cuircuits though going into the weekend Bernie was concerned about low attendances. The locals responded by steaming into Istanbul Park with "please save our Grand Prix" signs. Practice though was pretty nutty with a rainstorm partially writing off the Friday sessions, at least from a McLaren perspective. Still, the hope was for another competitive race.
Well the McLarens didn't have the smoothest of Q1s but all three Brits still made it through though Kobayashi failed to set a time and needed the mercy of the stewards in order to race. The McLarens then proceded to have a much smoother Q2 but Di Resta failed to make it into the top ten on this occasion, and would start P13. In Q3 Petrov was the first to set a time, but he was then edged by Jenson who was in turn beaten by Alonso. Webber then beat then lot of them and Vettel then outgunned him to secure his fourth pole in a row. Webber held on for P2, his best qualifying performance of the season so far and completing the first all-Red Bull front row of the season. Rosberg would start P3, his best of the season so far. Lewis would start P4 and further down, Jenson P6.
Di Resta failed to finish the race due to mechanical issues.
Jenson actually made it up to 5th at the start, getting past Lewis and spent most of the early stages of the race duelling with his teammate. In the meantime though those ahead of the McLaren pair were able to cruse on ahead though the 2009 world champion did lead briefly before pitting and then wound up down in 7th. At that point his engineer thought they were going to outsmart the opposition and Jenson certainly went on to have some fun mixing it with Massa and Rosberg for 4th(and outclassing the pair of them!)but further pitstops sent him back down the field and though he still managed to retake Massa, Jenson wound up having to settle for 6th, blaming bad strategy for his poor result.
Lewis in the meantime had a disasterous start, trying to take Webber only to get mugged by Massa and Jenson to drop him down to 6th though ultimately he wound up winning the McLaren bragging rights battle before taking Rosberg for 4th. Tyres were still a concern for him though and Jenson retook him briefly but Jenson himself had to pit. Still, even Lewis was finding himself outgunned by the top three, despite deviating away from the strategy Jenson was complaining about. He wound up settling for 4th though, not the kind of result he needed if he was to keep up the heat on the world championship leader and he'll hope for better next time around.
Ultimately though it was that world championship leader that wound up laughing all the way to the bank, staying out of trouble at the start and over than brief spells during the pitstop windows, not facing any serious challenges to his lead. The concern now has to be that Vettel will wind up dominating the championship race unless someone is able to consistantly get their act together. In Turkey though, he claimed his third win of the season without much effort. The bigger question was, who would finish 2nd? When the dust settled, it was Webber that claimed that spot for his best result of the season so far and Red Bull's 1st 1-2 of the season. Alonso held on for 3rd - his best result of the season so far.
So, the championship now looks like this. Vettel remains in the lead on 93 points, Lewis remains in 2nd of 59. Further down Jenson drops to 4th on 46.
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