[Race] he GROAT - Round 1 - 1982 Österreichring vs 2011 Shanghai

[crmalcolm]

1982 Österreichring
There was drama from the start, as Andrea de Cesaris and Bruno Giacomelli smashed their Alfa Romeos into each other off the line, causing both to retire. Their coming together also claimed Derek Daly (whom had nowhere to go), and also had an effect on the leaders, with Tambay picking up a puncture on the second lap from the debris. At the front, meanwhile, the Brabhams (with only half the fuel of their competitors) quickly pulled away, as Riccardo Patrese dived ahead of Nelson Piquet early on.

Michele Alboreto crashed heavily on the second lap, although it was unclear if he was aided into the barrier by Rupert Keegan (whom also retired with accident damage). The race continued unabated, with the Tolemans next to fall with mechanical failures (unrelated) on the seventh lap. The order at the front remained unchanged until the 15th lap, when Arnoux pulled off with another mechanical issue (this time turbo flavoured) as the Renault once again showed it was prone to failure.

Piquet became the first driver to have a pre-planned pitstop in the 1980s when he pitted on the halfway mark, with Patrese coming in a lap later. Piquet fell to fourth, but could not pull away from Keke Rosberg (the cars now with equal fuel), while Patrese held on to his lead. Things got worse for Brabham when Patrese suffered an engine failure on lap 31, while Piquet fell down through the field (ultimately retiring with a damage camshaft). It was advantage Renault at the front, with Alain Prost leading over Elio de Angelis in the Lotus 91, with Keke Rosberg closing the gap to the Italian in third.

Further down, Tambay was making short work of the non-turbo cars to climb back into the points, as Rosberg continued to close on De Angelis as the race entered its final phase. It seemed that they would be battling for second, until Prost pulled off with an engine fire, promoting the young Italian to first. Rosberg was on his tail by the final lap, jinking either side but unable to get past the Lotus. Out of the final corner, Rosberg carried more speed, pulling alongside De Angelis as they came to line. Fortunately for the Italian, however, they crossed the line with De Angelis half a car length ahead (0.05s according to the official time keeper), meaning he had won for the first time in his F1 career.
Behind their duel came the Ligier of Jacques Laffite, whom had had a quiet race to creep onto the podium (mainly through retirements). Tambay stood out with an impressive recovery drive to take fourth, with Niki Lauda (another driver having a quiet day) finishing fifth. Mauro Baldi battled to only his second championship point in the Arrows by claiming sixth, with his name on the lips of many to join a top team in 1983.


2011 Shanghai
Lewis Hamilton faced a stressful situation just minutes before the start of the race; a fuel problem with his car meant that if he had started his journey to the grid just 35 seconds later, he would have had to start from the pit-lane. Hamilton however, went on to a thrilling three-stop race, overtaking his two-stopping rival and World Drivers' Championship leader Sebastian Vettel on lap 52 of the 56 lap race. Vettel had had a poor start to his race, being beaten on the first lap by both McLarens, with Jenson Button initially holding the upper hand, but his teammate Hamilton putting in a series of fastest laps that would ultimately give him victory to Button's fourth-place finish. Also Hamilton performed an overtake on his teammate in Turn 1, about the midpoint of the race to take second place.

Mark Webber drove a spectacular race from 18th on the starting grid to bring his Red Bull to the chequered flag in 3rd position, beating Jenson Button for the final podium place on only the last lap. Button had made a terrible mistake on the 15th lap when bringing his car into the pits, stopping in the Red Bull pit before being waved off by the Red Bull mechanics into his own McLaren pit one place ahead. The mistake cost Button time, as it did for Sebastian Vettel who was also coming into the pits and had to wait behind Button for him to realise his error; although Button entered the pits in the lead, but exited behind Vettel. Jaime Alguersuari lost a wheel on his exit from the pits on lap 10, forcing his retirement from the race. He was the race's only retirement, meaning that this race set the record for the most finishers (23). The record was beaten later in the season, in Valencia, where all 24 starters finished the race.

The race cut Sebastian Vettel's championship lead to 21 points from second placed Lewis Hamilton, with Red Bull constructors lead to McLaren falling to 20 points. Hamilton was ecstatic after his victory, saying "It was one of the best races I've experienced. It feels amazing to be able to bring home a victory for the guys in the factory."

[S griffin]

Shanghai was epic all the way. But Austria will always go down in memory of a great race.

My Mum and Dad told me how much they were on the edge of the seat cheering on their favourite driver Rosberg to get the win. In the end he just lost out, but my parents liked Elio too, so it wasn't so bad. Nice that Colin Chapman got to throw his cap in the air one last time just shortly before his death