Friday, July 2, 2010

So... did you sleep through the 2010 F1 European GP at Valencia?

Red Bull's Mark Webber sure did, snoozing off the starting line and falling far back... before executing an airborne assault on a hapless DHL sign off the back of Hekki Kovalainen's Lotus.

I'm sure Fernando Alonso wished he had, after the heartbreak of being one of the only two drivers caught behind the resulting safety car. (The other being his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa). Needless to say, the Spaniard was livid, especially since McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, just a second ahead of him, took time out of deciding whether or not to pass the safety car to wag his tail at him. Just to, you know, piss him off. Because we all know Lewis and Fernando just love playing with each other.

Other than that, and an almost race-ending clash between the two wonder boys, Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and Hamilton (boy, did he have an eventful race), it was the typical Valencia snooze-fest. To the point where people are talking about overhauling the circuit for next year. And not just people, but, y'know... people.

The most excitement, actually, was generated when Fernando Alonso had an apoplectic attack on air as Ferrari told him that finally, the stewards had decided to penalize Lewis for his borderline illegal overtake of the safety car (it would have been legal if he hadn't spent an extra millisecond mooning Alonso), and that Lewis's penalty had lost him exactly zero places.

And it only got worse, as other drivers who sped under the safety car got a mere 5 second penalty for this action. Alonso's fair-minded and faithful following of safety car rules landed him in ninth... promoted slightly to eight after the penalties were assigned. Maranello was not amused.

As Ferrari and Fernando continue a conspiracy theory assault on the ears of all and any who will listen, the FOTA looks at clarifying safety car rules... but really... the whining has got to stop. As if Fernando or Ferrari are completely innocent of racing shenanigans in their long and colorful (but separate) histories in F1...

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