Finally managed to watch the race, thanks BBC for the iplayer!
Well done to Vettel for a strong performance, but still, can't wait for this guy to actually have to overtake someone on track in order to get a win.
Double well done to Webbo for keeping the new champ at bay nice and clean!
Triple well done to Kobayashi, the kid is a natural, here's hoping he'll have a seat in F1 next year now that Toyota are rumored to be pulling out..
Quadruple well done to Brundle for making a complete fool of himself with his comments on Button's amazing overtaking abilities...right before he failed to pass Webbo despite being up to 1 sec/lap faster than him!
Shame on Ferrari for losing that 3rd place in the WCC, should have been able to defend it.
Roll on 2010!

Having only one useful driver made it quite difficult to defend against two useful drivers from McLaren.

Who was the second useful McLaren driver???

At least Kovalainen scored some points for his team, Fishichella didn't score a single point for Ferrari.

One point from Fisichella would have tied the two teams, and two points would have assured 3rd in the championship.

But both second drivers sucked, no argument about that.

If only Ferrari had hired Kobayashi to replace Massa!!!

andartop wrote:If only Ferrari had hired Kobayashi to replace Massa!!!

Although I'm very impressed with Kamui, I wonder how much of it is down to Toyota handling? It is clear that Toyota has a lot of downforce clearly much better than Renault, so maybe it is easier to adapt to it.

Don't forget Ferrari stopped development on the car a few races ago as well. That and going back to what I said about Lewis throwing away good points in Monza. Had he finished there McLaren wouldn't have had to count on Heikki.

andartop wrote:If only Ferrari had hired Kobayashi to replace Massa!!!

I believe that the Glock vertebra story was fabricated to give Kobayashi a platform to show his wares. He did it very nicely and it may be enough to find him alternative employment while Japan Inc. walks away from F1. There are new teams who would hire a future star.

mx_tifosi wrote:At least Kovalainen scored some points for his team, Fishichella didn't score a single point for Ferrari.

One point from Fisichella would have tied the two teams, and two points would have assured 3rd in the championship.

But both second drivers sucked, no argument about that.

2points from Kimi would have done the same, but both ferraris sucked so no go,

Fisi wasnt so bad in the FIF1, Heikki has his days, both deserve to be on the grid next year, although on lower teams.

Heikki may have recently taken over Webber's title as unluckiest driver.

timbo wrote:Although I'm very impressed with Kamui, I wonder how much of it is down to Toyota handling? It is clear that Toyota has a lot of downforce clearly much better than Renault, so maybe it is easier to adapt to it.

Well, that's a good point.

Ray wrote:Don't forget Ferrari stopped development on the car a few races ago as well..

And this one as well.

However, had the Old Man still been around these would only be poor excuses that no one would even dare to whisper. Ferrari lost this 3rd place a long time ago, not in Abu Dhabi, by pulling off silly mistakes only equaled in stupidity by the ones they did last year, taking the worst possible strategic decisions, having reliability issues and suffering somewhat "avoidable" crashes. I mean, they haven't been so far down on the WCC since 1993!!! It just didn't seem to me that the 2009 car was the slowest one of the last 16 years..

And having this new guy Kobayashi fighting for points (and getting them!) in his first 2 grand prix, and making it seem so easy (!), only makes you wonder for all that could have been...

ISLAMATRON wrote:Fisi wasnt so bad in the FIF1, Heikki has his days, both deserve to be on the grid next year, although on lower teams.

That's what separates these two from drivers who are capable of or have won championships, these two have some good days but normally are decent or lackluster even in race winning capable cars. IMO.

As for Ferrari, they should have at least developed the car a little bit more. A little development wouldn't significally hurt next years development process. I mean, getting to the last race of the season and all you have is an underdeveloped car that had more potential than was extracted is sad and disapointing. Especially for the team at hand.

No offense to Hekki's fans, but I think Hekki is extremely overrated. He had a car that was capable of winning in 2008, yet he only had one race victory and two podiums while he teammate had five victories and five podiums. Let's be honest, Hekki's first victory was very lucky. I am not saying he didn't deserve it, he drove a great race that day, but if Massa hadn't have an engine failure Hekki wouldn't have won it.

He just doesn't have that raw pace that some other drivers (like Alonso, Kimi, Hamilton, Button) have. Neither is he consistent enough unfortunately.

BreezyRacer wrote:

n smikle wrote:I feel robbed of the exciting race between Vettel and Lewis; at the second or third Lap I knew something was definitely wrong the car because of the inconsistent lap times. Lewis was driving on three brakes. But yeah.. that how it goes. I am still happy that Kovi kept Kimi at Bay so Mclaren can stay third in the WCC.

I really enjoyed this track..I think it's great. Looks good and drives good.. Even Ross Brawn said the track was "perfect" in what respect I am not sure though, but that means something.

Uh, there was a race .. Lewis lost!

Nice bias there dude...