Sebastian Vettel celebrates a most unlikely victory3 years ago, you may have heard of a small Italian team, the perennial backmarkers, the great survivors, the team that lived and breathed grand prix racing, well they were based at a small workshop in the little town of Faenza in North-Eastern Italy, they were known simply as MINARDI. Now under new ownership (Dietrich Maeschitz), a new identity (Scuderia Toro Rosso) and a new belief. They are a completely different beast to the group of tail-end charlies that scored just a total of 38 points in the original guise's 20 year existence. And all the hard work put into the team by the grandfather of the team, Giancarlo Minardi finally paid off as the young but immensly talented German, Sebastian Vettel scored an emotional lights to flag win and at the same time, hailed the birth of a new superstar in the making. Vettel himself was not even born when the Minardi team made their debut in the Brazillian Grand Prix in 1985.
THE RACE
The race itself did not start well for the Toro Rosso squad, Vettel qualified on Pole with his team-mate Sebastien Bourdais in 4th, the championship challengers were well back on the grid, Felipe Massa down in 6th, Robert Kubica down in 11th, with Kimi Raikkonen AND Lewis Hamilton down in 14th and 15th respectively, this was all down to the atrocious weather conditions that had marred the whole weekend.
The decision was taken to start the race behind the safety car, but Bourdais had stalled his engine on the line, it took his mechanics nearly 5 minutes to fire up his engine again, but by that time, he was already a lap down and his race practically over before it had started, after 2 laps, the safety car pulled in and the race began, Vettel took full advantage of being the only car not hampered by following another car's spray to open up a big lead over the 2nd placed Heikki Kovalainen. From then on, it was pretty much status quo throughout the field as the drivers settled down to get used to the conditions, Giancarlo Fisichella crashed out on lap 13 and amazingly, he would prove to be the only retirement. As the first pit-stops drew nearer and nearer and the track began to dry out, Lewis Hamilton began an almighty charge, when Vettel came in as the first to pit, Hamilton had fought his way up from 15th to 6th in just 23 laps.
Hamilton was one stopping so he needed the track to continue drying out so he could come into the pits for intermediates (all the 2 stoppers continued with their extreme wets) but it didnt, a light drizzle of rain meant that no-one was willing to take any risks at the half way point so Hamilton pitted for wets, bad call, the drizzle stopped, Intermediates were the way to go and Hamilton's (along with Raikkonen's) chances of victory were gone. As expected this played into the hands of the 2 stoppers but also the one stoppers that had an extremely long first stint like Robert Kubica and Fernando Alonso, both drivers ended up finishing up in the top 4 thanks to their strategy and a bit of luck with the weather.
Amidst all this, Vettel continued to lead and lead well ahead of Kovalainen and despite the clear performance advantage of the McLaren, Vettel's sublime car control allowed him to increase his lead over the Finn to 12.5 seconds when he crossed the finish line with head in hands thinking it was a dream. Kovalainen finished 2nd with Kubica 3rd, as for the championship challengers, Massa finished 6th, Hamilton 7th (therefore limiting the damage to a single point) and Raikkonen 9th out of the points and (realistically) out of the championship running.
But on the day, the championship battle didnt really matter, everyone left the track talking about one man Sebastian Vettel, and it wont be the last time we see that name next to the word "Winner" either.
DRIVERS STANDINGS: 1. Hamilton 78, 2. Massa 77, 3. Kubica 64, 4. Raikkonen 57, 5. Heidfeld 53, 6. Kovalainen 51, 7. Alonso 28, 8. Trulli 26, 9. Vettel 23, 10. Webber 20
CONSTRUCTORS STANDINGS: 1. Ferrari 134, 2. McLaren 129, 3. BMW Sauber 117, =4. Renault 41, =4. Toyota 41, 6. Toro Rosso 27, 7. Red Bull 26, 8. Williams 17, 9. Honda 14, 10. Force India 0
THE RACE
The race itself did not start well for the Toro Rosso squad, Vettel qualified on Pole with his team-mate Sebastien Bourdais in 4th, the championship challengers were well back on the grid, Felipe Massa down in 6th, Robert Kubica down in 11th, with Kimi Raikkonen AND Lewis Hamilton down in 14th and 15th respectively, this was all down to the atrocious weather conditions that had marred the whole weekend.
The decision was taken to start the race behind the safety car, but Bourdais had stalled his engine on the line, it took his mechanics nearly 5 minutes to fire up his engine again, but by that time, he was already a lap down and his race practically over before it had started, after 2 laps, the safety car pulled in and the race began, Vettel took full advantage of being the only car not hampered by following another car's spray to open up a big lead over the 2nd placed Heikki Kovalainen. From then on, it was pretty much status quo throughout the field as the drivers settled down to get used to the conditions, Giancarlo Fisichella crashed out on lap 13 and amazingly, he would prove to be the only retirement. As the first pit-stops drew nearer and nearer and the track began to dry out, Lewis Hamilton began an almighty charge, when Vettel came in as the first to pit, Hamilton had fought his way up from 15th to 6th in just 23 laps.
Hamilton was one stopping so he needed the track to continue drying out so he could come into the pits for intermediates (all the 2 stoppers continued with their extreme wets) but it didnt, a light drizzle of rain meant that no-one was willing to take any risks at the half way point so Hamilton pitted for wets, bad call, the drizzle stopped, Intermediates were the way to go and Hamilton's (along with Raikkonen's) chances of victory were gone. As expected this played into the hands of the 2 stoppers but also the one stoppers that had an extremely long first stint like Robert Kubica and Fernando Alonso, both drivers ended up finishing up in the top 4 thanks to their strategy and a bit of luck with the weather.
Amidst all this, Vettel continued to lead and lead well ahead of Kovalainen and despite the clear performance advantage of the McLaren, Vettel's sublime car control allowed him to increase his lead over the Finn to 12.5 seconds when he crossed the finish line with head in hands thinking it was a dream. Kovalainen finished 2nd with Kubica 3rd, as for the championship challengers, Massa finished 6th, Hamilton 7th (therefore limiting the damage to a single point) and Raikkonen 9th out of the points and (realistically) out of the championship running.
But on the day, the championship battle didnt really matter, everyone left the track talking about one man Sebastian Vettel, and it wont be the last time we see that name next to the word "Winner" either.
DRIVERS STANDINGS: 1. Hamilton 78, 2. Massa 77, 3. Kubica 64, 4. Raikkonen 57, 5. Heidfeld 53, 6. Kovalainen 51, 7. Alonso 28, 8. Trulli 26, 9. Vettel 23, 10. Webber 20
CONSTRUCTORS STANDINGS: 1. Ferrari 134, 2. McLaren 129, 3. BMW Sauber 117, =4. Renault 41, =4. Toyota 41, 6. Toro Rosso 27, 7. Red Bull 26, 8. Williams 17, 9. Honda 14, 10. Force India 0
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