McLaren Mercedes is now back on track leading the Constructors Championship in the 2010 Formula One season. The Red Bulls have dominated the first six Grand Prix races with pole positions and podium finishes for both RB6 cars. But last Sunday's Turkish Grand Prix race made significant impacts on both F1 teams of McLaren and Red Bull.
Prior to the Turkish Grand Prix, Red Bull is leading the pack with 156 points over the second-running Ferrari with six races finished. During Sunday's raced, Red Bull's mark Webber and Sebastien Vettel found themselves locking horns with each other on the track in Lap 40 of the race. Vettel is trying to overtake Webber but both cars resulted in a catastrophic collision. The German driver retired from the race while Webber holds on to a third place finish on the podium. Both cars started the race in first and third grid positions with McLaren's Lewis Hamilton splitting them in the middle. The Red Bulls are leading most the race until disaster struck them both.
With the unexpected turn of events on the track, the McLarens of Jenson Button and Hamilton pounced on the race and also had their share of anxious moments of hitting each other on several occasions. The McLarens, behind Hamilton's first place result, finished the race in 1-2 fashion that catapulted their team to first place in the Constructors Championship with 172 points edging Red Bull's 171 garnered points in seven Grand Prix races. Red Bull's Weber still leads the Driver's Championship with 93 points but Button and Hamilton advanced to second and third places with 88 and 84 points respectively.
British driver Hamilton believes that his McLaren team has more to progress after clinching a one-two finish in the incident-packed Turkish Grand Prix. The next Grand Prix will be at the 2010 Grand Prix Du Canada in its long, winding, high-speed Circuit Gilles-Villenueve on June 13.
"We have closed the gap and we have good things coming in the next few races," said the 25-year-old champion from England.
"It is not the win I would have dreamed of but I am very happy for the team."
For Jenson Button, he said that he has never been part before of team so hungry to keep on developing and innovating. He said that he's overwhelmed by the works made by McLaren on their MP4-25 cars for the season. The Englishman is also after his quest for a second successive driver's title after steering the Brawn F1 team to championship last season.
"I'm really overwhelmed by how much this team can just keep developing," said Button prior to the Canadian Grand Prix next weekend.
"You just can't believe how hungry this team is: when I joined back in January, I was really struck by just how much we were pushing ahead of the launch, then during testing. But we're now into an incredibly tough series of races, and we're still bringing these huge new development parts to the track, and we're bringing enough parts for both Lewis and myself - it's awesome."
"It makes you realize why Vodafone McLaren Mercedes is so strong - there's just no let-up. I've never known a team be so hungry to go racing. And, like I say, it's just great to be part of."
Both McLaren drivers are aware that their team benefitted from Red Bull's untimely collision during the race but believe they still have work to do to match the pace of the resurgent Red Bulls.
"Qualifying pace is still something that we're not entirely satisfied with, but we're pleased that we do appear to have closed the gap to Red Bull," said Button. "Certainly, if you look at our relative pace in Barcelona, and compare it with Istanbul, then we do seem to be closer."
The Mercedes-Benz GP of seven-time Canadian Grand Prix winner Michael Schumacher is also a cinch to win this eight Grand Prix race of the season on this extremely fast, treacherous race track of Circuit Gilles-Villenueve. The former German World champion and his teammate Nico Roseberg have their own moments here at the Canadian Grand Prix and will use these to their benefit coupled with their powerful Mercedes engine.
It would be an interesting race to watch next weekend at the 2010 Grand Prix Du Canada if the McLarens can sustain their winning forms and impede any challenge from other F1 teams.
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