So that's it!! The 2012 Formula One season is over. What an incredible way for the season to end with one of the most exciting race's of the season in my opinion. Where do I start?
Heading into the race RedBull Sebastian Vettel led Ferrari's Fernado Alonso by 13 points. Seb started the race from fourth on the grid with Alonso in 8th. Alonso made a cracking start while Vettel was caught up in an accident with the Williams of Bruno Senna which resulted in Senna going out of the race meanwhile Sebastian lost a lot a lot of place's while Alonso had manged to make to make his way up to third behind Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.
Force India's Nico Hulkenborg made an incredible start and managed to overtook Alonso on a damped track to take third he then managed to overtake the McLaren duo of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button and while other driver's pitted for intermediate tyres the Force India driver and Jenson Button gambled and stayed out on the dry tyres as track conditions began to worsen.
While the battle was hotting up at the front Sebastian Vettel was working his way back up through the field. He had a great battle with his team mate Mark Webber.
Meanwhile Kimi Raikkonen was endured a very difficult day at the office as he ran wide at one point and ended up exiting the confines of the circuit but managed to stay calm and return to the track. The ICEMAN kept his cool and yes I know that sounds extremely cheesy but it's true as he collected a single point coming home in 10th place.
It was an unfortunate day for Lewis Hamilton, who driving in his last race for McLaren before he moves to Mercedes next season had started on pole position and looked on target to take his second win in the space of a week was involved in an incident with Nico Hulkenborg as they were challenging each other for the lead of the race into turn one. The pair collided and as a result Lewis was forced to retire from the race.
As a result of that incident Nico was handed drive through penalty as he was deemed to have caused the crash. So with Lews failing to finish the race, through no fault of his own Kimi Raikkonen finished the season in third in the championship completing an incredible comeback season in F1 after two years away.
The ICEMAN was the only driver to complete every single race this season and with his point's finish in Brazil he only finished outside the points once this season and that was in China where he had been challenging Nico Rosberg for the lead of the race. Kimi finished on the podium an incredible 8 time's this season and that included a win at the Abu Dhabi GrandPrix. He consistent results not only allowed him to finish in third in the championship but it also helped his Lotus F1 Team to finish in fourth place in the Constructors championship.
So with Sebastian Vettel, incurring numerous problem's Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was in the box seat for the championship, however unfortunately for the Spaniard it wasn't to be. Vettel and RedBull recovered extremely well to finish the race in 6th place and with Fernado needing to win the race to secure the championship if Vettel was 6th or lower it was a tough task for the Scuderia and unfortunately for the Italian team they were unable to win the race and Alonso eventually finished second behind Jenson Button and ahead of his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa who took a very emotional 3rd place on the podium in front of his home crowd.
The result meant that Sebastian wins this year's championship by just three points. Now it's a fantastic achievement for Seb who becomes the youngest ever triple world champion and I'm not taking anything away from him, however, in my opinion it was unfair of the the Brazilian TV director to cut away from the podium celebration's to show a shot of the RedBull garage particularly as the Felipe was on the podium in his home race but I just feel it took away the fantastic drive by Jenson Button who won the race.
It was a great race for Mercedes Michael Schumacher, who competing in his last ever GrandPrix finished the race in the points in 7th place. I also thought that it was great to see that before the race started he pitted and was given a massive flag that he drapped over his car that said THANK YOU and it blew in the wind as he drove around to take up his grid slot.
It was an unfortunate end to a great season for the Williams team as neither Pator Maldonado nor Bruno Senna managed to finish the race, however in my opinion the team can head into the winter break with their heads held high, in their first season with renewed Renault involvement the team secured a fantastic first win for Pastor Maldonado at the Spanish GrandPrix, the team's first win since the 2004 Brazilian GrandPrix. The team finsihed 8th in the Constructors Championship with 76 points.
In what could have very well ben their last ever Formula One GrandPrix the HRT driver's of Narain Kartikeyan and Pedro Dela Rosa did a great job to finish the race and bring their car's home in 17th and 18th respectively.
It was also a fantastic race for the Caterham F1 Team, who have been battling Marussia F1 all season to be the best of the three 'new team's in F1. The team based in Leafield UK, their was delight as they managed to bring their cars home in 11th for Petrov ahead of the Marussia of Charles Pic and 14th for Kovalainen ahed of Timo Glcok in the second Marussia who finished in 16th place to take 10th place in the Constructors Championship and as a result they have secured a cash and commercial boost for the team.
So at the end of an epic 2012 Formula One season, all that is left for me to say is a MASSIVE THANK YOU of my own to all of you who have read my blog since January. I have absolutely loved sharing my thoughts on this F1 season and I hope you have enjoyed reading this blog as much as I have writing it.
From next season I will have a new blog as part of a new website that I hope you will all join me on. I will of course be posting details of the new site in due course. But in the mean time as I say THANK YOU!!
THAT HAS BEEN THE 2012 FORMULA ONE SEASON!! MAY 2013 BRING US EVEN MORE EXCITEMENT!!
No comments:
Post a Comment