European Grand Prix - Valencia

Last year everyone complained that Valencia had no overtaking opportunities and was a pretty dull race really. I
still don't quite see the comparison with Monaco. Monaco is just Monaco....really narrow and been home to a street
race since someone came up with the idea of putting an engine on a cart and charging around the streets.

Anyway, firstly the dreary bit, race finishes and the result is provisional. Why? because half the field were
deemed to have ignored the lap time requirements behind the safety car. Reason? they all charged around to the pits
for tyres. Outcome? Buemi slipped a few places as the stewards imposed a 5 second penalty on the cars.

Star drive had to go to Kobyashi in the Sauber. Sat out for 53 laps on one set of tyres and was still on the pace
before he stopped. Then just to prove a point he overtook Alonso and Buemi on the last lap on his nice fresh super
soft tyres. Alonso had spent half the race complaining about everyone else, just deserves I'd say.

The winner - Vettel. Great start, banged wheels with Hamilton in the first few corners and then got on with it.

Safety car didn't cause an issue for him, and made the most of Kobayashi sitting in 3rd keeping everyone back while
Vettel and Hamilton drove away.....funny really, Kobayashi took advantage of the difficult overtaking fully to his
advantage. Good call Sauber.

So how did they do -

Red Bull - Vettel good start, defended from Hamilton, stayed in the lead when the safety car was out and never
really looked too threatened. Under a bit of pressure in the closing laps as Hamilton pushed to get close...but
nothing more. Webber...oooer. Off the line it just went plain wrong. Seemed to push Hamilton across to defend then
everyone started driving past him. Dropped to 7th then 9th. Not sure why really just seemed to be offline and
everyone else bundled on past. Soon stopped for tyres and dropped him right to the back near enough. (HRT
territory!). Anyway, starts making his way through the slower cars until coming up behind Kovaleinen in the Lotus.

Lots of conjecture what went wrong, speed difference was enormous, Kovi seemed to jink a bit though I only saw one
move, then he braked really early and Webber seemed to simply drive straight into him. Rode up over the back and
launched the Red Bull into a back flip. Landed on its roll hoop, bounced back up the right way and speared into the
tyre wall and a pretty big speed. Big ouch. Amazingly Webber threw his wheel out and hopped out. Quite a bit of
adrenalin pumping in there at that point I think. Kovi was fine and drove the mauled Lotus away to retire. Safety
car time.

Mc Laren - Button reasonable start, dived in the pits for tyres under the safety car and was then the first car to
follow Kobayashi for the next hour or so. Once Kobayashi stopped the podium was his for 3rd. Hamilton spirited
attack on Vettel in the first corners. Damaged his front wing. As the safety car was deployed Hamilton was charging
down the pit straight. Then a bunch of rules come into play. You remember the safety car line rule that messed up
Schumacher in Monaco? well theres another line at the other end of the pits. Hamilton was on the wrong side of it
as the safety car emerged. He hesitated and the safety car passed the line before him. Then he drove on after
Vettel (to his allotted lap time). drive through penalty eventually awarded. Luckily, because of Kobayashi holding
the pack back the drive through just cost time, not places. Charged after Vettle again, new nose and tyres were in
there somewhere, and finished within seconds of Vettel. Could have won? don't know really, probably would have
stayed with Vettel but never manage to pass I suspect.

Williams - Both Williams qualified in the top 10. Barri made the most of it with the safety car to get a decent
finish. They must be cheering. Hulkenburg on the other hand ran well enough until the Cosworth went a bit sick.
Eventually detonating itself taking out a lump of body work and the right rear tyre.. Good effort though, maybe
Williams are on the up again.

Renault - Can't say the Renault duo got too much press really. Kubica again finishes up in the points with Petrov
a bit distant. What can you say. difficult to overtake, so no-one did much.

Force India - their worst qualifying all year. Then Sutil drives around his team mate and drags the car up to 6th
by the end. Another strong performance for a team that filled the last row not that long ago.

Sauber - Great drive from Kobayashi. Can't help thinking the team ignored the computers and went back to a bit of
basic knowledge. 1. the hard tyres could easily do the race distance. 2. this track is hard to overtake on. 3. the
Sauber car can go quick sometimes and its getting better. 4. It has a Ferrari engine so power isnt a problem. 5.
Its hard to overtake...therefore track position is everything. Safety car out....stay out and get track position.
The tyres will be good for ages yet...and they were. Couple that with the softs being fantastic for a few laps, and
a very rubbery track near the end of the race to give even more grip...and you have a chance of a decent result. Oh
and then the driver needs to get on with it. Kobayashi did. Especially round the last lap or two. Who says you
can't overtake...you can with fresh tyres and a Japanese charger out to get more points...looked like he did in the
Toyota last year. Fantastic. DLR should have finished in the top 10 as well, but lost the place due to the time
penalties.

Ferrari - Alonso, please stop moaning and get on with the driving...I think thats what his race engineer told him.
Alonso could have blatently overtaken the safety car and followed Hamilton couldn't he? silly. And then got jumped
by a Sauber. salt...wound....ah well. Massa..after what looked like a promising start it all just went backwards.
Not the best one for Ferrari then.

Mercedes - Schumacher seemed to be doing ok until his tyre stop under the sfaety car. Got caught on the pit exit
with the lights and emerged dead last.Pretty well went into test mode from there in. Rosberg had a bit better
drive, but still ended up 10th behind a Toro Rosso.

Toro Rosso - Alguesauri had a bit of a dice with Schuey (again) and Buemi drove himself into the points - ahead of
Alonso on the road. dropped behind him on penalty.

HRT, Lotus, Virgin - Squabbled amongst themselves really. Lotus are ahead for sure though Kovaleinen was fortunate
to come out unscathed from the Webber mauling. Trulli suffered more reliability problems. Senna and Glock tangled -
Glock suffered a rear puncture with Senna deranging his nose. Yet drove a further lap before coming in to get it
fixed..why? who knows.

So there you have it. Valencia was a good race to watch, not always for the best reasons.

Silverstone in a fortnight....new track layout too, not sure what to make of the new bit, we'll see whether it adds
to the spectacle or just adds more corners.