Barcelona Season 5: Renault's Dream Day
Previous Race Report
By now Davidson has a whopping 35 points and his next rival is 11 back. The lead looks pretty large now, but remember - it only takes a DNF by Davidson and a win by Domingues to close this race up.
Clearly Renault's been reading up.
At Spain today Domingues pulled a thrilling pass with 4 to go to claim victory over Brad Horton of Honda. Plus, Beyens in the other Renault managed to hang on to a podium finish.
Meanwhile, Davidson and the Ferrari crew were sulking in the garage.
When the lights went out the start was relatively boring in the front, although in the back much action ensued. Both Mason (Toyota) and Syme (Red Bull) stalled on the grid and were promptly shuffled to the back. Morley (BMW) and most importantly, Davidson, also made exceptionally poor starts. Somewhere in there LeSabre (Midland) pinged the engine off the rev limiter a few times, forcing the team to call the car in for a look-over next lap.
Meanwhile Domingues turned on the afterburners and gained a staggering EIGHT positions to 9th, up from 17th.
On lap 4 Kawasie of Midland bobbled a corner slightly, losing just enough time for Dubois in the Williams to get around him. Kawasie would continue to slip positions during the next few laps. In the pit garage afterwards the team reviewed their setup and were shocked to discover they forgot to carry the one.
Lap 8 saw Davidson get into the back of Hutchinson, spinning the McLaren out. Ferrari continued on its merry way up the field.
Pitstops cycled the field around, with one highlight being Midland's pitstop of the year on lap 22 - a whopping 29+ second pit stop. First he overshoots the box, losing almost 5 seconds, and then the mechanics all come out drunk. Clearly morale is rising at Midland.
And then on lap 24 Davidson tried to make a move on Weiland, who promptly shut the door on him, sending the Aguri off the course and the Ferrari into a conviently placed wall. And that was the end of his day.
On lap 38 Syme's rear wing fell off for no apparent reason but he was able to make it back to the pits for a replacement.
Pit stops came and went again and made people's head hurt. In the midst of it on lap 44 Shepherd discovered that his oil pressure was exactly -42 PSI, which confused him for a couple seconds before the problem righted itself.
And then on lap 45 Butler found that his car didn't want to go anymore, and then he stopped on the track. He has won one race this season but has done dismally in every other. How strange.
Pitstops ensued for the last time, with both Horton and Domingues jumping Dubois as their crews pulled out excellent stops under the SC.
And the racing once the green came out was some of the best this season. Horton in the Honda was obviously slower than Domingues in the 2nd-place Renault, but for many laps Horton held him off. Could Honda pull a miracle victory after scoring only 3 points so far this season!?!
Well, on lap 63, Domingues's answer was no. He barged past and raced off to a 2.6 second victory.
Horton slid home in 2nd, still to the jubilation of the Honda crew. Beyens also was looking for a way past in the Renault, but he was forced to 'only' finish 3rd.
The rest of the points went as followed: Dubois, Allman, Chang, Shepherd, Hutchinson.
And now Davidson's championship lead is only one point. The Ferrari crew will have to work a little harder for that victory now...
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Good races:
Renault: 1st and 3rd. Almost couldn't ask for any more.
Horton/Honda: A brilliant race to boost team morale.
Dubois, Allman, Chang: OK, solid finishes to score consistent points
Bad races:
Butler: How'd he win that one race?
Weiland: Just out of the points, could've had some if didn't get involved in incident.
Ugly races:
Midland and Toyota: who?
Davidson: Wrecked just when he didn't need it. And the worst part about getting taken out by a girl is that you can't really exact much retribution...
