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STAR Sports race commentator Steve Slater is a veritable encyclopaedia of motor racing and has been a journalist, race-organiser, radio broadcaster, and commentator. Slater offers his insights before the Formula One European Grand Prix this weekend.
This time last year, Ferrari were forced to make a tough decision. Despite scoring three victories, a suspension failure in the 2007 Italian Grand Prix removed Felipe Massa’s bid for the World Championship title. Massa took on a supporting role to Raikkonen, who snatched the title from the duelling McAllen drivers in the final round.
It seems Ferrari are will have make a similar decision this year. The difference is Massa looks like the title contender and one suspects Raikkonen might be less willing to play the supporting role.
Three weeks after being robbed of victory by a blown engine in Hungary, Massa received his due reward after dominating the European Grand Prix in similar style. The Brazilian drove a flawless race to take a comfortable victory.
Behind Massa by 5.6 seconds, Lewis Hamilton’s second place in Valencia was a damage limitation exercise. The McLaren driver admitted to being ‘blown away’ by Massa and Ferrari’s pace. Hamilton still leads the championship with 70 points to the Brazilian’s 64, and Raikkonen on 57.
From the qualifying, it was clear Massa was going to be the driver to beat. His commitment was breathtaking, particularly in the opening series, where he ran the car right up to the concrete walls. It was the same story for every one of the 57 laps of the race. At the entrance to the Astilleras Bridge, no other driver got as close to the parapet as Massa. Yet, he flawlessly skimmed the wall with millimetre precision every lap.
However, Massa’s team was far from trouble free. A few hours after the checquered flag, the result hung in the hands of the FIA Stewards, who could have penalised Massa after the team released his car into the path of Adrian Sutil’s Force India car.
The stewards deemed it an unsafe move and could have invoked a ten-second penalty. It would have handed the win to Lewis Hamilton, which would have been a travesty. Good sense prevailed, the incident resulted in a reprimand and hefty 10,000 Euro fine.
It wasn’t the only pitlane debacle for Ferrari either. Kimi Raikkonen made an unbelievable error of judgement when he began to pull out of the pits before refuelling was completed. Pietro Timpini went along for the ride before being run over by the Ferrari and sustaining a broken foot. Raikkonen was in sixth place when his engine blew, which placed more pressure on the team to give Massa his chance at the title.
The new Valencia track delivered plenty of dramas, but little overtaking. Part of the reason is that the track has curving approaches to slow corners which preclude side-by-side running.
The good news is that the Singapore track while similar in width, layout and speed, has slow corners at the end of long straights. I’ve got high hopes that the Marina Bay track will deliver just as much drama, if not more!
Images courtesy of Action Images.
For more information visit www.espnstar.com and Steve Slater's blog.
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