So the WunderKind is guilty...Or is he ?

Did you watch the 2010 Turkish GP ? Pretty exciting it was for sure. After the boring season opener, this one had everything a race can offer even without RAIN!! Real wheel to wheel racing, strategy triumphs and blunders, intra-team pressure, failure of the giants, good show by dark horse, a bit of anxiety due to a storm on horizon, Accidents and nudges, And most importantly, the drivers having cars to look at in front of them and in the mirrors too. Not just solo laps with 10 second gaps on either side.

There were quite a bit of things to look at in that race, which will now be forgotten totally due to what happened later in the race. Something we don't often see in any motorsport was seen in the pinnacle of it. Red Bull racing 1-2 (just like most other races of the season) looked a cakewalk when fortunes did a backflip and Das Wunderkind - Sebastien Vettel's right rear was sliced by Mark Webber's right front wing tip. A pretty scary touch that was, given speeds in excess of 260kmph at that straight. Both the cars with wings (Red Bull - gives you wings) entered into nasty spins out of the track leaving Vettel in instant retirement while the Aussie limped back for a wing change and salvaged the last podium place on offer.

Opinions on that indecent have been fluctuating more than the voltage changes I get at home regularly. Mark's fault -> Sebastien's fault -> 50:50 -> Seb shouldn't have made gestures after getting outta car -> "Sh** Happens" -> we are now focussed on Montreal Canada.
Whetever the teams may say, mostly the opinion I see everywhere is it was 100% Sebastien Vettel to blame. He should have behaved better to his team mate. He shouldn't have overtaken. He shouldn't have turned right. And so on. Now I'm neither a fan of RBR nor that of the two drivers in question. (Well I'd rather be, since the team I support developed the aero package backwards and ended up 7th and 8th). Plenty people are spilling horrible hatred about Sebastien all over the internet, while talking of Webber like some sort of a heavenly soul.

I see plenty aspects to consider there. Yeah Sebastien did turn right into Webber's wings a bit too early, but that shouldn't send him to the gallows directly. If it was so simple, he'd already have been repremanded by RBR guys and sponsor representatives. Yeah RBR may like Seb a lot, but they won't simply ignore if the errors cost them huge money and plenty points. Come on, F1 is a money making and wasting business.

Not many know that Mark Webber had lost the optimum performance out of his tires around lap 35 and Vettel, who had manged tires very well despite aggressive racing with the 2 McLarens, was closing in too fast. With that, Even Lewis Hamilton had put the hammer down on his back a bit. Around lap 40, Mark radioed the pit wall and "asked" if Vettel could back off a bit. The reason being his tires and a scary looking fuel gauge. If I put myself into Vettel's cockpit, this "request" would make me mad. Add the adrenaline of 300kmph to that and you get what happened on turn 12. He was a lot faster than Mark, and when Mark asked him to back off, it had to prick. It was a very clean overtake. Mark had no answer really. What happened next is a matter of debate.

Seb turned right. His right rear tire touched and damaged Mark's front wing. Mark's front wing took revenge by slicing through the tire. Watch closely and we see that any driver would have tried to turn rightwards there. They were fast approaching the tight left hander. Sebastien had to get to the racing line and close the gate on Mark for a clean entry-exit through it. While Mark, even when he had no chance to defend his place, simply held the line depriving his team mate of racing line. Sebastien wanted to stamp his authority definitely. Yes it was his fault to turn there. But was Mr. Aussie a perfect gentleman teammate there ? Definitely not. If we look at what happened between the Mclarens later on in the same sectors (3 and 1) we'll see what RBR should have done. Both LH (surprisingly) and JB moved away to give room to their attacking team mates in order to avoid the collision. Mark should definitely have done that.

If Vettel gets more blame, it should be only 60%. Mark definitely deserves 40% of it. It must be mentioned though, that the difference in maturity definitely showed after the accident. The gestures Sebastien made definitely weren't needed. May be the German temper mixed with a shot of Adrenaline is a bit explosive. Mark on the other hand, was really very very composed. Even at the podium, and importantly in public and in press conference. He was one hundred percent professional and didn't let himself off the rails for losing a win. Well done for that.

Yesterday it was aired that the duo had a chat together with the team management. Clicked a cute photo together with caption "Sh*t Happens" and said they are back to normal team-mate business now. I really hope that happens. Team split is the last thing RBR, F1, and we as spectators want.

Good luck guys.

(I hope some luck also flows over to Maranello too. Do you think Stephano Domincali should be shown the boot ? That guy has a Finance degree. Why is he a team boss ? Give that to Rob Smedley, Massa's engineer. The guy is pretty good.)

I'm sure Bernie owes Herr Tilke a fortune

Its common knowledge that Herman Tilke will as usual design the upcoming Austin TX track for US GP. I'm curious why Bernie can't find any other man in this solar system who could create race tracks. Herr Tilke's tracks are so boring that I'd rather have them host races of remote controlled cars. The tracks have room for overtaking only at that scale.

All his tracks boast of a longest possible straight. Whats the use ? with current regulations, almost all cars run at more or less the same speed on straights. Okay, some times there will be variations with innovations like F-Ducts. But they'll either be copied soon, or banned next season canceling the advantage.
Then there's one horribly tight hairpin. Again - does he want to prove he can make the drivers stop for his whim ? Well he has made enough of those hairpins already. Stop now please sir! We need turns in F1 that challenge the drivers at the same time giving them a chance for overtaking. Just a glance at paper drawings of Bahrain Sakhir, Sepang Malaysia, Yas Marina Abu Dhabi, Singapore, China, Istanbul Turkey is enough to show they are DULL ! Pensil scratches made by a 3 year old would make better race tracks than these.

The so called "Turn 8" with 4 apexes in Turkey, Istanbul Park is very famous now a days for a high speed dash. But I don't see whats so good in it. I'm yet to see an overtake on that part of the overall boring track. And the turn 8 is so horribly bumpy that a car will some day simply jump off losing its rear and end up burried in the gravel. And all said, why does only the pole sitter win here ? (Okay this time LH won, but it was a gift from RBR wasn't it ?)

Sir Moss a couple of days ago said, Tilke is a good track maker, but his tracks are boring because of the safety regulations and requirements of having run off areas and stuff like that. Sir, you confuse me a bit here. Never in my life did I imagine that we can't have run off areas with a good track. Is it banned to have run-offs if the track permits overtaking & racing ? Well, if thats the case, Herr Tilke should make sure Spa, monza and silverstone are safer, and redesign them too.

F1 in US is really good. But that should also bring opportunities for the Americans. Get some fresh blood. If Bernie wants new markets and more money, its OK. but then just copy good tracks from past venues like San Marino at those venues instead of wasting the money spent by governments, sponsors and stakeholders into facilities that will surely go bankrupt in some years. If Mr. Tilke doesnt do a good job, the American people will turn their backs so soon that the Austin track will be bankrupt before the podium ceremony gets over.

A suggestion for Bernie - Instead of wasting resources on building too many tracks with same man & layout, why not simply ask Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Singapore and similarly high pay circuits, for bids, and highest bidder gets to host all 20 races of the season on the same track. This will help the so called "Cost Cutting" initiative by FIA as well. Let's Save air travel and environment...................

Given his CV with F1 tracks so far, I feel Herr Tilke and his company is competent enough to design and make the parking facilities and ingress egress routes at F1 venues at the most. Please keep them at least 500 meters away from the actual track.

Overall, I'm pretty sure now that Bernie has done some mess some time in past, and owes a huge fortune to Herr Tilke. And this is his way of payback...Find new markets, get plenty money (ok if one time only) and give it to Hermann to build a costly road named race track.
If the Austin guys are wise, they'll have an "Exclude Tilke" clause in the agreement with Bernie and FOM.

Good luck Austin TX....... :) I hope we see you in 2012 (and wish we do later too.)