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Lotus F1 Best of the New Teams
15/12/10
Viewing figures for the start of the 60th year of Formula One season must surely have been at an all time high, and were no doubt boosted by Norfolk residents, tuning into see how their newest home team, Lotus Racing, would fare during their maiden race.
As the lights turned green, all 24 cars got away without problem, but it was Heikki Kovalainen for Lotus Racing who benefited the most going from 21st to 16th. Meanwhile Jarno Trulli did a sterling job of avoiding the carnage at the second corner.
Whilst it was a dream start for the new Lotus boys, the rest of the new teams struggled from the off, and soon began dropping like flies. Bookmakers didn’t have to wait long for their favourite to come in. India’s Karun Chandhok, driving for Hispania Racing; the unfortunately acronymed HRT, was forced to retire during the first lap after hitting a bump. Chandhok was quickly followed by Lucas Di Grassi for Virgin Racing who suffered with hydraulic issues on the third lap.
Despite overtaking Kovalainen on lap 13 to take 17th position, Timo Glock’s Virgin car was last seen being wheeled back into the garage after experiencing gearbox problems. Bruno Senna, nephew of legendary Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna, and Chandhok’s teammate, managed to stay out on track until lap 19 before the inevitable happened, and his HRT car expired in a plume of smoke.
The last to pit was Trulli, who finally pitted on lap 26th and Kovalainen on lap 32, all without problems.
Meanwhile at the front, Sebastian Vettel for Red Bull was charging off into the distance, and a seemingly unassailable lead. He was followed by a duet of Ferrari’s driven by Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa. 2008 Champion Lewis Hamilton for McLaren had to make do with fourth, although he set his fastest time during lap 33.
All was about to change however, when Vettel, who had been leading comfortably from pole, suddenly reported loss of power over the radio on lap 34, at which point Alonso was all over him. Just as it was confirmed that a broken exhaust manifold would end Vettel’s dream of starting the season with a win, Alonso finally overtook him on lap 35, closely followed by Massa. With the two Prancing Horses in the lead, that left Vettel fighting to hold off Hamilton for third.
As the front-runners fought it out for podium space, during lap 43, Trulli’s lap times suddenly plummeted to 2:17 then 2:20. It was soon apparent that he too was having problems. His T127 was suffering with hydraulic problems, but with clear instructions from his team that it wasn’t serious, he continued to nurse it home.
A jubilant Alonso was the first to cross the line, albeit wiggling along the finish straight like an excited five year old – the first display of a personality in two years! Fernado was followed by team-mate Massa in second, with Hamilton taking third. A notably frus Vettal had to make do with fourth, Rosberg for Mercedes fifth, with seven-time world Champion team-mate Schumacher finishing a respectable sixth, having had an uneventful race.
With the new ‘no refuelling’ rules making strategy difficult to call for the teams, and the new teams many mishaps, it certainly made for an entertaining race for those on the sideline. That said, BBC’s presenter and former driver, David Coultard, was completely dismissive of the new teams after Eddie Jordan congratulated the two Lotus’ on finishing the race; one has to wonder why that is. Was he miffed that he didn’t get a drive perhaps?
