Great overtaking from Kubica and others!

[Mikeall]

In a Formula where overtaking is actually impossible if you believe what you here Kubica did a great job!

Trulli, Di Grassi, Glock, Kovalainen, De La Rosa, Buemi. He was faster than these guys at the time between about 1 and 3 seconds faster but thats about normal really. The pass on De La Rosa was particularly special.

Sutil and Hulkenberg similarly fought their way through the backmarkers.

Buemi must have been particularly gutted being overtaken by at least 3 or 4 guys. I know his tyres were old but when overtaking is so impossible he must be absolutely gutted.

De La Rosa even passed his teammate!

Best pass has to be Glock on Kovalainen fighting hard for the honour of being top new team and teher wasn't much between them in pace.

Oh and I forgot Hamilton's crucial pass on Barrichello to avoid being held up...

Its a shame Hamilton couldn't get by Rosberg but you've got to hand it to Rosberg who drove very consistently with Hamilton within 7 tenths of him for 14 laps. The same goes for Schumacher keeping Webber behind him and later on I'm not even sure there was much difference in pace between Schumacher, Button and Webber.

Perhaps it shows how well the Brawn-invented-Mercedes-inherited diffuser is working ;)

[pettersolberg29]

I agree - few things in F1 annoy me more than the media's, and fans', bias towards the sharp end of races. Most of the exciting action is in the midfield - drivers like Kubica, Glock, Heidfeld and others were the best in 2009.

[eloyf1]

There were at least 29 overtaking moves (Those are the ones I counted), and 13 weren't shown on TV... Maybe the FOM is to blame, rather than Bridgestone, Sakhir, or the new regs...

[Valve Bounce]

Guys who were going nowhere in the points were taking the risk and went for overtaking.

The guys in the points were not going to take the risk of damaging their tyres and thus lose their points.

I saw plenty of battles and some overtaking, but not with the guys in the points. You will have to read the various drivers' comments in Autosport, including SchM's explanation to fully understand the consequences of the no refueling, and therefore no additional tyre change rules.

[steveaki13]

Yes I think the media is up in arms because the basic top 8 stayed static, but if they actually looked further down the field there was some overtaking.

This may not sit well with others, but maybe the problem is that the top 8 are just so even.

In the past there have been passes or great comeback drives when a car has a clear performance advantage.

You always got more passing when the cars were more uneven than now and grids were slightly jumbled up.
When a wider time gap spread the field and the fastest Qulaified 1st and 2nd fastest 2nd Etc. This was when you got the static races

Due to all of the top 8 cars being so close now, the speed difference is clearly not as large as in the past, and so not big enough for the top 8 drivers to pass.