Brits on Pole

By rights there should be lengthy inquests at some team HQs following this race – not least Ferrari, Toyota and Red Bull. However, we’ve done a quick version. Read on…

Overall race report

Made huge promises, pretty much delivered.

Drivers

1. Fernando Alonso

Faultless drive sends ‘big two’ warning

2. Nico Rosberg

If only he was more consistent…

3. Lewis Hamilton

Kept nose clean as rivals faltered

4. Timo Glock

Mixing it with former GP2 rivals

5. Sebastian Vettel

Subdued, but still very creditable, performance

6. Nick Heidfeld

Reports of his demise remain premature

7. David Coulthard

Realised ambition of boosting points haul

8. Kazuki Nakajima

Worked hard for his single point

9. Jenson Button

Jense gets better result than usual

10. Heikki Kovalainen

Another wasted opportunity, more question-marks

11. Robert Kubica

Poleaxed by arbitrary pit-stop rule

12. Sebastien Bourdais

Couldn’t capitalise on night-racing experience

13. Felipe Massa

This happening to Michael Schumacher? Unimaginable

14. Giancarlo Fisichella

Given his dreadful qualifying, not bad

DNF: Kimi Raikkonen

Frittered away points with silly error

DNF: Jarno Trulli

Deserved more from hard-fought race

DNF: Adrian Sutil

Scuppered own race, after Ferrari failed

DNF: Mark Webber

Persistent bad luck compromising his career

DNF: Rubens Barrichello

2009 car can’t come soon enough

DNF: Nelson A Piquet

Taking rear-gunnership to extraordinary lengths

Teams

1. Renault

Return of the good old days

2. Williams

Able to exploit a golden opportunity

3. McLaren

Race of attrition saved their blushes

4. Toyota

Couldn’t get on top of Renault

5. Toro Rosso

No fireworks – still a respectable race

6. BMW Sauber

Reminded they have two quality drivers

7. Red Bull

Two points not very encouraging outcome

8. Honda

Punching closer to their old weight

9. Ferrari

Ché mazzo totale di buffone

10. Force India

Flashes of talent should provide hope

Thumbnail image from http://wordle.net