Rubens Barrichello Wins The European Grand Prix (Valencia)

Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button

It was great watching the 2009 European Grand Prix today. Here are my thoughts on the action:

Despite being first and second respectively, the McLaren team could only manage a finish of second and fourth, with Lewis Hamilton narrowly missing out on taking first place.  Hamilton was due in for a pit stop around lap 36/37, but unfortunately a miscommunication meant that the team were not ready to change the tyres on his car when he arrived.  This delayed the world champion by around 4 seconds, which gave enough of a gap for Barrichello to ensure victory.

Kovaleinen meanwhile seemed to go adrift in terms of pace toward the end of the race, though this could just be symptomatic of the fact that his car doesn’t feature the full raft of upgrades that are loaded on Hamilton’s car.  Surely this will be rectified by the next race?  I do keep hearing talk that they (the factory) only has budget to produce on set of parts – yet it’s the research that costs the money, rather than the manufacture.  Why then, do they consistently provide the improvements for Lewis Hamilton’s car yet fail to do so for Kovaleinen?

Here’s the rundown of the top ten:

1     Rubens Barrichello
2     Lewis Hamilton
3     Kimi Raikkonen
4     Heikki Kovalainen
5     Nico Rosberg
6     Fernando Alonso
7     Jenson Button
8     Robert Kubica
9     Mark Webber
10   Adrian Sutil

Race highlights?  Well actually Valencia is a bit of a dull circuit for my taste.  Raikkonen did however put in a great, steady performance.  I was sad to see Vettel end up retiring the race, but it did add a bit of drama to the day.

Worst part of the day?  Martin Whitmarsh suggesting that the problem pit stop didn’t actually end up costing Hamilton the race.  From where I was sitting, had the stop been conducted correctly, Lewis would have been in a much better position and far closer to Barrichello – possibly even close enough to make a move when the Brazilian next had to pit.  Just my thoughts.

As usual, F1 provides plenty of drama…