The classic black and gold Lotus livery of team Renault crossed the line in third place today in the hands of Nick Heidfeld and this achievement makes the team's prospects of becoming a title front runner more exciting.
Nick Heidfeld's final position was decided in the first lap when he managed to climb to second spot while team mate Vitaly Petrov got himself in the fifth spot before an attempt to convert his car into an airplane during the last stages of the race failed and it crashed heavily and caused the steering column to come loose.
After what happened to Ayrton Senna years ago, drivers are wary about loose steering columns that could pierce through their helmets and so Petrov retired to race another weekend.
While the Renault team and their sponsors Group Lotus and Malaysian father Proton celebrated their second podium, Red Bull Driver Sebastian Vettel proved yet again that last year's result was no fluke and the team can dominate the season again.
Adrian Newey is also proving that he still has the magic touch, turning RBR into a dominant team as he once did with Williams.
Obviously it is still too early to pop the Champagne magnum but the way the team led the race almost uninterrupted except by pit stop position juggling is a clear indication that they have found what it takes to win this year.
Renault's second podium this year is also very encouraging as this also indicates that the team have developed a rhythm for doing well consistently and to find themselves behind RBR and McLaren shows that they can be title contenders this year.
Michael Schumacher finished the race in ninth place, proving that the German driver's assessment of his team's prospects to be accurate.
He had said that they are looking for points and getting on the podium as the team management wanted, was a bit of a stretch.
The yellow and green Lotus backed by Air Asia boss Tony Fernandez sent one car across the finish line in 15th spot, one lap behind race winner.
Armed with this result I am going to hazard a guess about the race in China next week.
It will be a RBR/McLaren/Renault podium again, hopefully this time the top spot will be taken by either Renault or McLaren...
My favourite team in Mercedes GP and I am going to bet that they will hit form when the races go back to Europe in Spain...in the meantime expect the team to snag a point or two.
By China, you can expect Schumacher to have a better handle on the tyre wear issue and he will find himself a few step higher up the finisher's rung.
Results via Formula1.com
No comments:
Post a Comment