Brought to you by TJ13 Courtroom Reporter & Crime Analyst: Adam Macdonald.
The next stop on the F1 circuit was a race around a desert, where the desire to be in control is so great, that even the sand is glued in place. What could possibly go wrong?
Surprisingly not much happened in the end. The protests were minimal, the racing was exciting and the tyres; well they were still the focus, but we couldn’t have it all our own way.
So what really happened?
Fernando Alonso:
As has been covered in many other articles, Ferrari have changed their mentality. Damage control and taking the best they can out of a situation used to be in their ethos, but this is all different this year. Alonso could and probably would have taken 2nd place if it hadn’t been for another car failure, and also would have given Sebastian Vettel something to think about.
Felipe Massa:
A bad day to be sporting the Ferrari red was further compounded by the double tyre troubles for Felipe. With no lap past 48 that was sub 1.40s, he would surely have ended behind Paul Di Resta in 7th position.
Jean-Eric Vergne:
The young Frenchman was forced into yet another retirement for the STR team, after a puncture inflicted on lap 2, following a collision with Giedo van der Garde. At least he will have a new gearbox for the next race, but remains retired.
Adrian Sutil:
His contact with Felipe Massa put pay to his race. With his final stint being so much quicker than that of Massa, he is awarded 6th ahead of him. This was a great shame for the Force India team who would have been hoping for a strong finish, after their qualifying benefitted from penalties elsewhere.
The Verdict
This leaves the revised results table looking like this:
| Revised Race Position | Driver | Result comparison | Points | Points Difference | Grid Position | |
| Start | RevisedPosition | |||||
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | = | 25 | = | 2 | 1 |
| 2 | Fernando Alonso | +6 | 18 | +14 | 3 | 2 |
| 3 | Kimi Raikkonen | -1 | 15 | -3 | 8 | 3 |
| 4 | Romain Grosjean | -1 | 12 | -3 | 11 | 4 |
| 5 | Paul Di Resta | -1 | 10 | -2 | 5 | 5 |
| 6 | Adrian Sutil | +7 | 8 | +8 | 6 | 6 |
| 7 | Felipe Massa | +8 | 6 | +6 | 4 | 7 |
| 8 | Lewis Hamilton | -3 | 4 | -6 | 9 | 8 |
| 9 | Sergio Perez | -3 | 2 | -6 | 12 | 9 |
| 10 | Mark Webber | -3 | 1 | -5 | 7 | 10 |
| 11 | Nico Rosberg | -2 | 0 | -2 | 1 | 11 |
| 12 | Jenson Button | -2 | 0 | -1 | 10 | 12 |
| 13 | Pastor Maldonado | -2 | 0 | = | 17 | 13 |
| 14 | Nico Hulkenberg | -2 | 0 | = | 14 | 14 |
| 15 | Valtteri Bottas | -1 | 0 | = | 15 | 15 |
| 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | = | 0 | = | 13 | 16 |
| 17 | Charles Pic | = | 0 | = | 18 | 17 |
| 18 | Esteban Gutierrez | = | 0 | = | 22 | 18 |
| 19 | Jules Bianchi | = | 0 | = | 19 | 19 |
| 20 | Max Chilton | = | 0 | = | 21 | 20 |
| 21 | Giedo van de Garde | = | 0 | = | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | Jean-Eric Vergne | RETIRED, = | 0 | = | 16 | DNF |
Below, the revised World Drivers’ Championship:
| Driver | Revised WDC | WDC Points Difference | |
| Position | Points | ||
| Sebastian Vettel | 1 | 77 | = |
| Kimi Raikkonen | 2 | 62 | -5 |
| Fernando Alonso | 3 | 61 | +14 |
| Lewis Hamilton | 4 | 41 | -9 |
| Nico Rosberg | 5 | 33 | +19 |
| Felipe Massa | 6 | 32 | +2 |
| Mark Webber | 7 | 25 | -7 |
| Jenson Button | 8 | 19 | +6 |
| Romain Grosjean | 9 | 18 | -6 |
| Paul Di Resta | 10 | 15 | -5 |
| Adrian Sutil | 11 | 14 | +8 |
| Daniel Ricciardo | 12 | 4 | -2 |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 13 | 1 | -4 |
| Sergio Perez | 14 | 2 | -8 |
| Jean-Eric Vergne | 15 | 0 | -1 |
| Pastor Maldonado | 16 | 0 | = |
| Valtteri Bottas | 17 | 0 | = |
| Esteban Gutierrez | 18 | 0 | = |
| Jules Bianchi | 19 | 0 | = |
| Max Chilton | 20 | 0 | = |
| Charles Pic | 21 | 0 | = |
| Giedo van der Garde | 22 | 0 | = |
*Those with 0 points will not be ordered
What they would have said
Once again, people would have focussed on how Felipe Massa’s tyres dropped off so rapidly. Since the move to slicks he has not been the same driver at all. Who knows if he will ever be able to challenge for the title as he did in 2007 and 2008.
Furthermore, the man who is ‘easy on his tyres’, Jenson Button, needed to pit for new boots. A complete role reversal between himself and Lewis Hamilton. Lewis moved up through the field as Mark dropped back into the midfield. The drive of a No.2 driver?
Quote of the Day
“The folly of one man is the fortune of another”, was what Sir Francis Bacon, the English philosopher and scientist, so famously said.
One of the founding theories of ‘Baconism’ (which after research, I have found out Isaac Newton used), could be applied to Ferrari in as much that they are currently ruining Alonso’s title push. As TJ alluded to earlier in the week, something has changed in their mentality from damage limitation – 2012, into risk risk risk – 2013…..
“The folly of one team is the fortune of another”
At this rate, Fernando will be making the TJ13 championship table his weekly read.
Don’t worry, they’ll be a safety car soon. Unless the ‘closed’ winter meeting in Paris decided to abandon using Bernd Mylander and his fancy toy for the season too.
No extra points for HAM starting further up the grid without the 5-place penalty?
Seconded.
Unfortunately qualifying cannot be adjusted otherwise it would lead to too many hypothetical situations. e.g. Potential different tyre strategies
Is it possible to get email notifications on new comments without actually having to make a comment? I just forgot to tick the notify button when I commented, but want to know what people have to say still.
Hi Simon
I believe the RSS feed address for comments is:
feed://thejudge13.com/comments/feed/
Were Massa and Sutil added as Sutil was considered the victim of the accident with Massa, and Massa was assumed to be a ‘victim’ of punctures, rather than his wide line leading him to pick up debris as some have suggested?
I just ask because I don’t remember Alonso being rectified in Malaysia after his incident? If he’s have taken Vettel out, I assume Vettel would have been given rectification, but not Alonso?
yes. The rules we outlined at the start of the year said decisions would be based on the stewards decision to avoid it being too subjective. As neither Massa or Sutil were punished, it is a racing incident, and Sutil is a victim.
And yes again, in the given example, Vettel would be rectified, but not Alonso.