MOTORSPORT: Webber's title chances blown

As disappointing as it will be for Webber’s fans to accept, the reality is that his shot at this year’s world title is as good as over. Two months ago, after winning the British Grand Prix, Webber was 13 points off the lead of the championship. Now it’s 47 points, with seven races remaining.

Marcos Ambrose didn’t score the miracle NASCAR win he needed at the short oval track at Richmond, Virginia, in the US to make The Chase. Clint Bowyer won there in a Toyota while four-time champion Jeff Gordon scored the final wildcard in his Chevrolet to make the dozen drivers who will contest The Chase over the final 10 rounds of the Sprint Cup.

Ambrose moved up a spot to 15th in the championship but is still at least some weeks away from a contract for next year while team owner Richard Petty sorts his deal with Ford. Ambrose admitted at Richmond the uncertainty “worries me a little bit”, although he is likely to keep his seat. One of eight drivers who had been chasing the final wildcard for The Chase, Ambrose fell as low as 32nd and three laps down at Richmond before finishing 15th.

And Daniel Ricciardo was robbed of his third F1 points finish in the Italian GP at Monza.

Lewis Hamilton’s win there was the third straight victory this season for McLaren and 22-year-old Mexican Sergio Perez was a brilliant second, overtaking both Ferraris in his Ferrari-engined Sauber and leading for five laps. Fernando Alonso’s third place from 10th on the grid, after a broken anti-roll bar on his Ferrari in qualifying, stretched his championship lead back out to 37 points a week after he was denied any score by the first-corner crash at the Belgian GP.

Hamilton, now a three-time race winner this year like Alonso, has jumped to second, with Kimi Raikkonen, fifth for Lotus-Renault at Monza, now third, even though victory has eluded him in his comeback season.

Monza was a tale of double woe for Red Bull Racing, with Webber retiring two laps from the end after a spin that ruined his tyres and left his car stuck in top gear. Sebastian Vettel had an alternator failure four laps earlier and has dropped to fourth in the championship after having been second to Alonso after Belgium.

Italy was the first GP in which neither Red Bull driver scored points since Korea’s debut race in 2010 – the day of the curious spin into a wall in the wet that may have cost Webber that year’s world title, with a shoulder injury perhaps having been a contributing factor.

Vettel’s problem at Monza was the same as that which cost him victory in Valencia, Spain, in late June and his alternator had been changed on Saturday in Italy.

“We changed the alternator on Sebastian’s car yesterday, but unfortunately we had the same failure in today’s race,” engine supplier Red Bull said. “We have to apologise to Red Bull Racing as clearly this has hurt us in the championship. We have no option but to sort it out, and will be a priority before Singapore (the next GP on September 20).”

Monza also was a disappointment for West Australian youngster Daniel Ricciardo, whose Sicilian heritage made him the nearest thing to an Italian driver at Monza. Ricciardo was headed for his third points finish of the season but his Toro Rosso couldn’t pick up the last of its fuel in the last corner of the race.

“I accelerated to exit Parabolica and nothing happened,” Ricciardo said.

What had seemed a certain 10th place became 12th as the Williams-Renaults of Bruno Senna and Pastor Maldonado flashed past him.

Jenson Button, who had started alongside Hamilton on the front row, was another victim of a fuel system problem, eliminated from the race while running second. Felipe Massa qualified his Ferrari on the second row, overtook Button at the start and seemed headed for his first podium since 2010 before letting teammate Alonso past and settling for fourth.

But the speculation about Massa’s future will only intensify after Perez’s latest brilliant drive from 12th on the grid, aided by the best tyre strategy of the day.

“I went for prime tyres at the start and I decided to stop late. That gave me very fresh tyres at the end,” Perez said. “It (second place) is unbelievable.” 

It was the third podium of the year for the Mexican, who came close to winning the second race of the year in Malaysia. While Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has said previously that he is too young for a seat in F1’s most famous team, Perez is a member of the Ferrari young driver academy. That surely makes him a more likely candidate than German Nico Hulkenberg, another youngster now driving for Force India-Mercedes and recently touted as a Massa replacement.

There was no advance over the weekend on the futures of race winner Hamilton or seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, sixth at Monza for Mercedes ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg. The 20th victory of his career will have increased Hamilton’s leverage on McLaren, while he could nudge Schumacher back into retirement if he indicates a preference to join the Mercedes factory team.

Italy’s fanatical tifosi fans were not concerned about either though. They had eyes and voices only for Alonso, whose third place was hailed like a victory.

“All the simulations and predictions said we would never finish on the podium [from 10th on the grid],” Alonso said.

The Spaniard claimed to have been held up for 10 laps behind Vettel, who copped a drive-through penalty for forcing Alonso wide on to the grass at the Curva Grande – a reversal of a similar incident a year earlier which went unpenalised. Alonso reckoned the floor of his car had been damaged in this latest incident.

“For sure … I was jumping in the gravel at 330kmh,” he said.

Kubica, the Polish driver who won the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix for BMW but was badly injured in a rally crash in February last year, won all four stages of the Ronde Gomitoli di Lana Rally in Italy by almost a minute. The 27-year-old has been discarded by the Renault team with which he was contracted for last season but hopes to regain a place in F1.

“I have got a long road to travel and will probably never be at the same physical level as before,” Kubica said. “But I don’t intend to give up. The aim remains to return to F1 and the next few months will tell me whether I can do it next year already or will have to wait until 2014.”

Formula One drivers’ world championship after 13 of 20 rounds - 1. Fernando Alonso (Spain, Ferrari) 179; 2. Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain, McLaren-Mercedes) 142; 3. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland, Lotus-Renault) 141; 4. Sebastian Vettel (Germany, Red Bull-Renault) 140; 5. Mark Webber (Australia, Red Bull-Renault) 132; 6. Jenson Button (GB, McLaren-Mercedes) 101; 7. Nico Rosberg (Germany, Mercedes) 83; 8. Romain Grosjean (France, Lotus-Renault) 76; 9. Sergio Perez (Mexico, Sauber-Ferrari) 65; 10. Felipe Massa (Brazil, Ferrari) 47; 11. Michael Schumacher (Germany, Mercedes) 43; 12. Kamui Kobayashi (Japan, Sauber-Ferrari) 35; 13. Paul Di Resta (GB, Force India-Mercedes) 32; 14. Nico Hulkenberg (Germany, Force India-Mercedes) 31; 15. Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela, Williams-Renault) 29; 16. Bruno Senna (Brazil, Williams-Renault) 25; 17. Jean-Eric Vergne (France, Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 8; 18. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia, Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 4.

F1 constructors’ world championship - 1. Red Bull-Renault 272; 2. McLaren-Mercedes 243; 3. Ferrari 226; 4. Lotus-Renault 217; 5. Mercedes 126; 6. Sauber-Ferrari 100; 7. Force India-Mercedes 63; 8. Williams-Renault 54; 9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 12.

NASCAR Sprint Cup after 26 of 36 races - 1. Denny Hamlin (Toyota) 2012 points; 2. Jimmie Johnson (Chevrolet) 2009; 3. Tony Stewart (Chevrolet) 2009; 4. Brad Keselowski (Dodge) 2009; 5. Greg Biffle (Ford) 2006; 6. Clint Bowyer (Toyota) 2006; 7. Dale Earnhardt Junior (Chevrolet) 2003; 8. Matt Kenseth (Ford) 2003; 9. Kevin Harvick (Chevrolet) 2000; 10. Martin Truex Junior (Toyota) 2000; 11. Kasey Kahne (Chevrolet) 2000; 12. Jeff Gordon (Chevrolet) 2000. Australia’s Marcos Ambrose (Ford) is 15th on 735.

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