Sebastian Vettel took an easy victory at the Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday, dominating the 2011 so far having 3 victories in four races. Mark Webber completed Red Bull's first one-two victory of the season 2011 after passing Fernando Alonso, who finished 3rd, with six laps to go.
Although the Grand Prix weekend for Vettel started with a crash during Friday's Free Practise 1, the German F1 champion managed to grab pole position without running in the final stint securing an extra set of Pirelli's soft tyres while his rivals in McLaren and Ferrari were struggling for a better time
Even when the action during the Grand Prix race was hot full of DRS and KERS duels and overtaking, Vettel never looked under threat and had a comfortable easy and victorious race. So far he's defintely the man to beat for the world championship.
during the post-race press conference he commented:
"We had a smooth race, obviously a very good start which was crucial and then I was able to pull a gap. All in all I'm very happy. ... All the guys, not only the guys around my car but also Mark's car helped a lot and they fixed the car (after wrecking in P1). It meant some extra hours for them, which I'm sorry for, but I think yesterday and today makes up for it. Big thanks for the team. I think since China we have definitely made a step forward. We have to make sure we keep this momentum."
All top five drivers chose a 4-pitstop strateall stopped four times for tyres although Vettel considerated to maintain his pace with minimal effort by having one pitstop less..
Alonso and Webber had a race-long battle for 2nd place once early front runners Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton fell by the wayside with compromised strategies. Alonso originally passed Webber on lap 27 around the outside at turn 12 and looked likely to hold on to 2nd place until the pair swapped to a second set of hard tyres at the final stop and Webber took his position back after another wheel-to-wheel battle at turn 12.
"I spent a few laps trying to clear Nico, which is never ideal, and Seb (Vettel) built a bit of a gap. The fight with Fernando in the middle of the race was a little unexpected. He drove fantastic today."
Nevertheless, the result was a positive one for Alonso who experienced a significant lack of pace in comparison with the McLarens and RedBulls During the Asian F1 races and driving an upgraded car, was glad that he managed to be competive against Webber.
"Fighting with Red Bull in these days is quite difficult and hopefully next time we'll try again.
Hamilton had a poor start and then a sticking wheel nut at his third stop ruled out any hope of repeating his Chinese triamph. He finished 4rth, 40 seconds behind Vettel, just ahead of Nico Rosberg who managed to recover from a mid-race lack of pace due to his hard tyres and finished 5th.
Jenson Button was the highest placed three-stopper but his strategy proved wrong being unable to threat either his team-mate Hamilton or Rosberg in the final part of the race.
The Renaults of Nick Heidfeld and Vitaly Petrov finished seventh and eighth, prevailing over a series tight midfield duels.
Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi finished a solid ninth being on a three-stop strategy. It was a good result, but 8.6 seconds behind him Kamui Kobayashi was even more impressive, driving from last place on the grid to tenth taking full advantage of his 3 extra sets of Pirelli tyres.
Outside the points Felipe Massa and Michael Schumacher both had very difficult races, finishing 11th and 12th respectively. Although he remains a multiple winner in the Istanbul Park, the Brazilian experienced a significant number of mistakes that ruled out any hope of securing any points. Problems for Massa started when he attempted to hold off Button destroying his front tyres under braking that obliged to compromise his strategy but he also lost positions after a very slow final pit stop, in which he spinned his rear axle while his mechanic was trying to fit the wheel.
Schumacher, who started from eighth, found himself in a number of duels that he probably should have prevailed due to his racing experience. The first and most costly came with Petrov as the pair collided in turn 12 and Schumacher came off worse with a broken front wing. After the race he admitted he should have given the Renault more room.
