2013 F1 Grand Prix Season

[TBWG]

   
Red alert in Bahrain
by Joe Saward
Felipe Massa set the pace for Ferrari in the first practice session on Friday in Bahrain, beating team-mate Felipe Mass by 0.07s. The pair were a tenth faster than Nico Rosberg's Mercedes with Sebastian Vettel fourth and Paul di Resta fifth. Jenson Button was sixth quickest, ahead of Mark Webber, Adrian Sutil and Kimi Raikkonen. Romain Grosjean completed the top 10.

Sergio Perez was 11th with Valtteri Bottas something of a surprise in 12th, ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Jean-Eric Vergne, Dan Ricciardo and Pastor Maldonado. Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez were 17th and 18th for Sauber.

Charles Pic outran Heikki Kovalainen in the Caterhams, ahead of Max Chilton and Marussia FP1 runner Rodolfo Gonzalez of Venezuela.


   
Bahrain GP: Raikkonen leads from Webber in FP2
By Matt Beer   Friday, April 19th 2013, 12:32 GMT

Kimi Raikkonen edged out the Red Bulls for the fastest time in second Friday practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix at Sakhir.

Raikkonen's pacesetting lap of 1m34.154s in his Lotus came just after the halfway point.

It could have been faster still, as the Finn ran wide at the final corner on the way to the flag. Yet even with that slip, Raikkonen's pace was sufficient to edge him 0.030 seconds of Mark Webber, who had been in front for the preceding 20 minutes.

Raikkonen then set an encouraging pace on his later long run, although he was keen to come in earlier than Lotus wanted him to as his tyres faded.

Sebastian Vettel completed the top three in the second Red Bull, a tenth behind his team-mate.

Morning pacesetter Ferrari dropped back only slightly.

After his fastest time in practice one, Felipe Massa had some minor adventures on the way to sixth. Fernando Alonso was fourth.

Between them, Paul di Resta repeated his excellent morning pace and kept Force India in the top five.

Mercedes had a low-key afternoon: Nico Rosberg eighth and Lewis Hamilton 10th, split by Adrian Sutil in the second Force India.

Romain Grosjean was six places and 0.477s behind his team-mate Raikkonen in seventh.

Neither McLaren made it into the top 10, Jenson Button and Sergio Perez ending up 11th and 13th.

Just a day after saying he had learned an important lesson from his Chinese GP collision with Sutil, Esteban Gutierrez was in the wars again as he banged wheels with Charles Pic as he tried to pass the slower Caterham. The Sauber had to limp back to the pits with a puncture.

Pic's car was unscathed, and he got within half a second of Gutierrez and Valtteri Bottas's Williams in the final results.

The Frenchman was the best of the backmarker group, just ahead of the Marussias of Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi, as the the Briton outpaced his team-mate for the first time. Bianchi had sat out morning practice in favour of third driver Rodolfo Gonzalez.


Pos Driver                Team                   Time      Gap       Laps
 1. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault          1m34.154s             31
 2. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault       1m34.184s  + 0.030s   26
 3. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1m34.282s  + 0.128s   29
 4. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                1m34.310s  + 0.156s   28
 5. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes   1m34.543s  + 0.389s   35
 6. Felipe Massa          Ferrari                1m34.552s  + 0.398s   34
 7. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault          1m34.631s  + 0.477s   33
 8. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1m34.666s  + 0.512s   37
 9. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes   1m34.932s  + 0.778s   33
10. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes               1m34.976s  + 0.822s   29
11. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1m35.356s  + 1.202s   32
12. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m35.506s  + 1.352s   36
13. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes       1m35.5$9s  + 1.435s   36
14. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m35.761s  + 1.607s   33
15. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari         1m36.133s  + 1.979s   36
16. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault       1m36.279s  + 2.125s   33
17. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault       1m36.579s  + 2.425s   28
18. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari         1m36.616s  + 2.462s   34
19. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault       1m37.061s  + 2.907s   32
20. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth      1m37.313s  + 3.159s   33
21. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth      1m37.363s  + 3.209s   29
22. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault       1m37.970s  + 3.816s   34

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P3
   
Rossa Testa
by Joe Saward
Ferrari continued to lead the way in the third practice session for the Bahrain GP on Saturday morning with Fernando Alonso fastest by a tenth, ahead of Sebastian Vettel. Alonso had a spin at one point, while Vettel was also off when pushing too hard. The top 12 were all within a second of the fastest time. Third quickest was Mark Webber followed by Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus, Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes, although this suffered a broken suspension at the end of the session. Romain Grosjean confirmed the pace of the Lotus with sixth, ahead of Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta in the two Force Indias, Nico Rosberg in the second Merc and Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber. Felipe Massa was 11th with Jenson Button 12th, ahead of Sergio Perez, Dan Ricciardo, Valtteri Bottas and Jean-Eric Vergne, with Pastor Maldonado 17th. Charles Pic showed good pace with the upgraded Caterham, confirming that the latest updates have taken the car ahead of the Marussias, although the second Caterham does not have the upgrade yet and so Giedo Van der Garde was behind Jules Bianchi. Max Chilton had mechnical troubles and did only a handful of laps, while Eesteban Gutierrez completed 28 laps in the session, far more than anyone else, and was obviously not looking at lap times.

Bahrain GP: Nico Rosberg takes surprise pole for Mercedes
By Matt Beer   Saturday, April 20th 2013, 12:04 GMT

Nico Rosberg claimed a shock pole position for Mercedes in Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying at Sakhir.

Mercedes had not looked like an outright frontrunner during practice, but Rosberg set a banker 1m32.4s lap at the start of Q3 and it proved impossible to beat.

Sebastian Vettel got closest for Red Bull with a 1m32.584s, just ahead of Fernando Alonso's Ferrari.

Rosberg then made his pole absolutely certain, improving to 1m32.330s to clinch the top spot by over 0.2 seconds.

His team-mate Lewis Hamilton was 0.4s slower in fourth place. He will lose five places for having a gearbox change prior to the session.

Fifth position will also change post-session. Mark Webber took the spot for Red Bull, but faces a three-place penalty for his collision with Jean-Eric Vergne in China.

Ferrari put Felipe Massa on hard tyres for Q3 and he took sixth place, followed by the Force Indias of Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil. The latter only just made it into Q3 with a late charge.

Friday pacesetter Kimi Raikkonen was only ninth in his Lotus.

McLaren was ecstatic to see Jenson Button reach Q3 against expectations with a last-gasp lap. The Briton chose not to do a flying lap in the pole shootout.

The late Q2 improvements lik pushed Romain Grosjean's Lotus down to 11th. The Frenchman was back in the pits at the end of the segment and his first lap had not been good enough.

The two Williams set exactly equal 1m34.425s laps in Q1, but Valtteri Bottas had got there first, so he made it to Q2 - where he took 15th - while Pastor Maldonado was left in 17th.

Esteban Gutierrez's troubles continued as he only managed 18th in qualifying, which will become last when his five-place penalty for crashing into Sutil in China is applied.

There was a change in form at the back. Driving the upgraded Caterham, Charles Pic got his team ahead of Marussia for the first time in 2013, as he beat Jules Bianchi by a full 0.9s.

Giedo van der Garde, in the older-spec Caterham, also outqualified a Marussia, pushing Max Chilton down to 22nd.

Pos          Driver               Team/Car              Time       Gap
 1.  Nico Rosberg         Mercedes              1m32.330s
 2.  Sebastian Vettel     Red Bull-Renault      1m32.584s  + 0.254s
 3.  Fernando Alonso      Ferrari               1m32.667s  + 0.337s
 4.  Lewis Hamilton       Mercedes              1m32.762s  + 0.432s
 5.  Mark Webber          Red Bull-Renault      1m33.078s  + 0.748s
 6.  Felipe Massa         Ferrari               1m33.207s  + 0.877s
 7.  Paul di Resta        Force India-Mercedes  1m33.235s  + 0.905s
 8.  Adrian Sutil         Force India-Mercedes  1m33.246s  + 0.916s
 9.  Kimi Raikkonen       Lotus-Renault         1m33.327s  + 0.997s
10.  Jenson Button        McLaren-Mercedes
Q2 cut-off time: 1m33.702s                                      Gap **
11.  Romain Grosjean      Lotus-Renault         1m33.762s  + 1.016s
12.  Sergio Perez         McLaren-Mercedes      1m33.914s  + 1.168s
13.  Daniel Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m33.974s  + 1.228s
14.  Nico Hulkenberg      Sauber-Ferrari        1m33.976s  + 1.230s
15.  Valtteri Bottas      Williams-Renault      1m34.105s  + 1.359s
16.  Jean-Eric Vergne     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m34.284s  + 1.538s
Q1 cut-off time: 1m34.425s                                      Gap *
17.  Pastor Maldonado     Williams-Renault      1m34.425s  + 1.547s
18.  Esteban Gutierrez    Sauber-Ferrari        1m34.730s  + 1.852s
19.  Charles Pic          Caterham-Renault      1m35.283s  + 2.405s
20.  Jules Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth     1m36.178s  + 3.300s
21.  Giedo van der Garde  Caterham-Renault      1m36.304s  + 3.426s
22.  Max Chilton          Marussia-Cosworth     1m36.476s  + 3.598s

107% time: 1m39.379s


TBWG

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Bahrain GP: Lewis Hamilton gets five-place grid penalty over gearbox
By Edd Straw and Matt Beer   Saturday, April 20th 2013,

Lewis Hamilton will receive a five-place grid drop for the Bahrain Grand Prix as the Mercedes team has had to change his gearbox prior to qualifying.

Hamilton's car suffered a left-rear tyre failure at the end of final practice, and also incurred suspension damage in the incident.

Mercedes has had to change the car's left rear corner as a result, and the team confirmed to AUTOSPORT that the gearbox would also have to be replaced.

The outfit would not confirm the cause of the practice issue.

Hamilton took pole position for the last race in China, but had not been expected to be a front row contender in Bahrain, where Mercedes has so far struggled to match Ferrari, Red Bull and Lotus.

The penalty is the third to be applied for Bahrain qualifying so far, with Mark Webber and Esteban Gutierrez already facing three and five place demotions respectively for causing accidents in China.

TBWG



With three drivers incurring penalties for the Bahrain Grand Prix the grid looks rather different to qualifying.

Lewis Hamilton is the highest-placed driver penalised as he had qualified in fourth place. The Mercedes driver was hit with the mandatory five-place penalty when his gearbox was changed after his W04 was damaged at the end of Saturday's final practice.

Meanwhile, Mark Webber, who qualified P5, was slapped with a three-place drop for hitting Jean-Eric Vergne in China while Esteban Gutierrez was given a five-place penalty for driving into the back of Adrian Sutil at the Shanghai circuit.

As the first to incur his penalty Gutierrez is the first to drop, going from P18 to P22. Webber is next, dropping from P5 to P8, however, he is bumped up one position to seventh as Hamilton falls from fourth to ninth.

The Revised Grid
1 Nico Rosberg
2 Sebastian Vettel
3 Fernando Alonso
4 Felipe Massa
5 Paul di Resta
6 Adrian Sutil
7 Mark Webber
8 Kimi Raikkonen
9 Lewis Hamilton
10 Jenson Button
11 Romain Grosjean
12 Sergio Perez
13 Daniel Ricciardo
14 Nico Hulkenberg
15 Valtteri Bottas
16 Jean-Eric Vergne
17 Pastor Maldonado
18 Charles Pic
19 Jules ianchi
20 Giedo van der Garde
21 Max Chilton
22 Esteban Gutierrez

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Bahrain GP: Vettel leaves action behind and wins for Red Bull
By Matt Beer   Sunday, April 21st 2013

Sebastian Vettel breezed to his second victory of the 2013 Formula 1 season in the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The world champion thrust his Red Bull to the front amid spectacular early dicing, then left the action behind.

In a repeat of the 2012 Sakhir podium, Lotus duo Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean made it through the field to second and third, the latter denying Paul di Resta a maiden F1 podium with just six laps to go.

Vettel was in a hurry to hit the front from the outset.

He forced polesitter Nico Rosberg to defend heavily off the line, and although Fernando Alonso managed to get his Ferrari between them around the outside, Vettel surged back into second with a bold move at Turn 5.

Vettel then pounced on Rosberg's Mercedes into Turn 4 on lap two, only to run wide. Next time around he made the move stick, and thereafter inched away towards an ever-more certain victory.

Alonso was soon up to second but his DRS flap jammed open. He made an emergency pitstop to fix it, but the problem reoccurred. By lap nine, he was 19th, had made two pitstops and knew he would be without DRS all afternoon.

With Alonso out of contention, the best of the rest battle became a contest between di Resta and Raikkonen, both two-stopping compared to most frontrunners' three.

Di Resta looked to be best-placed until approaching their final stops, when Raikkonen slipped past him just before pitting, and then built an advantage on his fresh tyres.

Force India remained on course for third for a while, but Grosjean was looming. The three-stopping Frenchman saved his medium tyres for the final stint and was able to hunt down and pass di Resta, who had to settle for a career-best fourth.

The rest of the top 10 featured wild racing all afternoon, with an abundance of side by side and wheel to wheel action as different strategies unfolded and different cars found pace at different junctures.

Lewis Hamilton crept forward after a low-key start and finally grabbed fifth.

Sergio Perez produced by far his most combative performance for McLaren yet. He was embroiled in a long dice with team-mate Jenson Button and the fading Rosberg, which featured contact between the McLarens and anxious radio messages on more than one occasion.

Despite losing a front wing endplate against his team-mate's car, Perez finished sixth, joining Hamilton in passing Mark Webber on the final lap.

Webber had been a podium threat for a spell, before falling back on his final set of tyres.

Alonso fought through to eighth despite his lack of DRS, with Rosberg and Button forced to four-stop and ending up ninth and 10th.

Felipe Massa suffered two right rear punctures and was only 15th. He had also made contact with Adrian Sutil on lap one, causing a puncture for the Force India driver, who made it back up to 13th.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Bahrain Grand Prix
Bahrain, Bahrain;
57 laps; 308.405km;
Weather: Dry.

Classified:

Pos      Driver        Team                       Time/Gap
 1.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault           57 laps
 2.  Raikkonen      Lotus-Renault              +  9.1s
 3.  Grosjean       Lotus-Renault             +  19.5s
 4.  Di Resta       Force India-Mercedes      +  21.7s
 5.  Hamilton       Mercedes                  +  35.2s
 6.  Perez          McLaren-Mercedes          +  35.9s
 7.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault          +  37.2s
 8.  Alonso         Ferrari                   +  37.5s
 9.  Rosberg        Mercedes                  +  41.1s
10.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes          +  46.6s
11.  Maldonado      Williams-Renault        +  1m06.4s
12.  Hulkenberg     Sauber-Ferrari          +  1m12.9s
13.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes    +  1m16.7s
14.  Bottas         Williams-Renault        +  1m21.5s
15.  Massa          Ferrari                 +  1m26.3s
16.  Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari        +  1 lap
17.  Pic            Caterham-Renault          +  1 lap
18.  Gutierrez      Sauber-Ferrari            +  1 lap
19.  Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth         +  1 lap
20.  Chilton        Marussia-Cosworth         +  1 lap
21.  van der Garde  Caterham-Renault         +  2 laps                 

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                         On lap

Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari           16

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1m36.961s

World Championship standings, round 4:               

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Vettel         77        1.  Red Bull-Renault          109
 2.  Raikkonen      67        2.  Lotus-Renault              93
 3.  Hamilton       50        3.  Ferrari                    77
 4.  Alonso         47        4.  Mercedes                   64
 5.  Webber         32        5.  Force India-Mercedes       26
 6.  Massa          30        6.  McLaren-Mercedes           23
 7.  Grosjean       26        7.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          7
 8.  Di Resta       20        8.  Sauber-Ferrari              5
 9.  Rosberg        14       
10.  Button         13       
11.  Perez          10       
12.  Ricciardo       6       
13.  Sutil           6       
14.  Hulkenberg      5       
15.  Vergne          1       
       


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Ola! Homeboy
by Joe Saward

Practice 1

Fernando Alonso set the past in the first practice session at a damp Barcelona on Friday morning, with team-mate Felipe Massa second, but the times are not to be taken too seriously. Third quickest in the session was Jean-Eric Vergne in the Toro Rosso, ahead of Romain Grosjean, Adrian Sutil, Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Kimi Raikkonen, Nico Rosberg and Paul di Resta.

Daniel Ricciardo was 11th fastest ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, Sergio Perez, Esteban Gutierrez, Pastor Maldonado ahead of the two Caterhams - Heikki Kovalainen ahead of Giedo Van der Garde - while Marussia's Jules Bianchi was a couple of tenths behind. The Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were 19th and 20th and not pushing too hard, while Rodolfo Gonzalez was 21st in the second Marussia. Jenson Button did not set a time as parts for his car were still arriving.


P2 by Joe Saward


Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time of the Friday afternoon session in Barcelona, beating his rival Fernando Alonso by a small margin. Mark Webber was third and right with them, while Kimi Raikkonen was fourth. Felipe Massa was fifth ahead of the Mercedes-Benzes of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg and the Force India of Adrian Sutil. The second Force India of Paul di Resta was 10th, despite the fact that the Scotsman parked the car two-thirds of the way through the session after the tread came off one of his tyres. Between the two Force Indias was the big surprise of the day, Jean-Eric Vergne in his Toro Rosso.

The second Toro Rosso of Dan Ricciardo was 11th, ahead of the two McLarens of Jenson Button and Sergio Perez, the Williams of Valtteri Bottas, Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber and the second Williams driven by last year's Spanish GP winner Pastor Maoldonado. Esteban Gutierrez was 17th, ahead of a troubled Romain Grosjean and Giedo Van der Garde's Caterham. Completing the field was the Marussia of Jules Bianchi, Charles Pic's Caterham and Max Chilton's Marussia.


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Spanish GP: Nico Rosberg leads Lewis Hamilton in Mercedes front row

By Matt Beer   Saturday, May 11th 2013,

Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton secured an all-Mercedes front row in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Rosberg repeated his Bahrain pole in a brilliant Q3 performance in which he delivered two laps good enough for the top spot.

His initial 1m20.8s benchmark proved unbeatable, but Rosberg still improved to a 1m20.718s with his last run just to be certain.

Hamilton had to settle for second, 0.254 seconds adrift.

Formula 1 championship leader Sebastian Vettel was third for Red Bull, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus and Fernando Alonso's Ferrari.

Alonso's team-mate Felipe Massa mounted a strong challenge for pole only to lose time in sector three and end up sixth.

He will also have to see the stewards after the session having seemingly impeded Mark Webber's Red Bull in Q2.

The Australian subsequently qualified eighth, behind Romain Grosjean's Lotus.

Hamilton had earlier starred in a thrilling end to Q2, throwing in a last-gasp lap that jumped him from a worrying 13th to a comfortable first, six tenths clear of the pack.

Sergio Perez also produced an eleventh-hour surge in Q2, getting up to seventh and then qualifying ninth. His McLaren team-mate Jenson Button could not match that - six tenths slower, he will start only 14th.

Toro Rosso had looked promising in practice and both Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne had a realistic shot at Q3, holding top-10 spots late on before being narrowly squeezed out.

They will share row six, ahead of Adrian Sutil, who could not join team-mate Paul di Resta in the pole session. The Scot took 10th.

Going into the final seconds of Q2, both Saubers had made it into Q3. But in the subsequent flurry of improvements, Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez tumbled down to row eight. The Mexican could yet face sanctions for blocking Raikkonen in Q1.

Last year's winner Williams's plight deepened, despite its upgrades, as neither car got beyond Q1.

Twelve months on from his pole and win, Pastor Maldonado was only 18th - and accused of blocking by Button - while Valtteri Bottas was just one place ahead.

The back of the grid battle stepped up a gear with a very close tussle between Caterham and Marussia.

Giedo van der Garde finally emerged on top for Caterham, edging out Marussia's Jules Bianchi by just 0.052s.

Max Chilton and Charles Pic were a few tenths behind having also had a sniff of 'class pole'.


Pos Driver                Team/Car              Time      Gap
 1. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m20.718s
 2. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes              1m20.972s  + 0.254s
 3. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m21.054s  + 0.336s
 4. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m21.177s  + 0.459s
 5. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m21.218s  + 0.500s
 6. Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m21.219s  + 0.501s
 7. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m21.308s  + 0.590s
 8. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m21.570s  + 0.852s
 9. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes      1m22.069s  + 1.351s
10. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m22.233s  + 1.515s
Q2 cut-off time: 1m22.019s                                       Gap **
11. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m22.127s  + 1.126s
12. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m22.166s  + 1.165s
13. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  1m22.346s  + 1.345s
14. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m23.166s  + 2.165s
15. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari        1m22.389s  + 1.388s
16. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari        1m22.793s  + 1.792s
Q1 cut-off time: 1m23.218s                                       Gap *
17. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault      1m23.260s  + 1.532s
18. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m23.318s  + 1.590s
19. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault      1m24.661s  + 2.933s
20. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth     1m24.713s  + 2.985s
21. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth     1m24.996s  + 3.268s
22. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault      1m25.070s  + 3.342s

107% time: 1m27.448s


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Spanish GP: Fernando Alonso takes commanding home win for Ferrari
By Matt Beer   Sunday, May 12th 2013

Fernando Alonso sent the Spanish Grand Prix crowd into ecstasy as the Ferrari driver and home hero charged to his first Barcelona victory since 2006.

Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus emerged as Alonso's main rival, while Sebastian Vettel and the front-row-starting Mercedes faded in the race.


In a race full of tyre conservation, Alonso's approach from the outset was to charge.

While Vettel split the Mercedes into Turn 1, Alonso accelerated around the outside of both Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton at Turn 3 to move into third before the leading Germans.

By the time they were done, Alonso was his main rival, having pitted one lap ahead of Vettel and jumped the Red Bull.

Rosberg's plunge down the order began on lap 12, when Alonso passed him into Turn 1, and Vettel and Raikkonen further demoted him before the lap was complete.

Once in front, Alonso began to pull away.

Despite running longer in a bid for three stops, Vettel ultimately resorted to the same four-stop strategy as Alonso, but unable to match the Ferrari's sheer pace.

Raikkonen, however, could pull off a three-stop. He lost time behind Vettel in the middle of the race, then raised his pace after overtaking the Red Bull on lap 33.

Lotus had a potential edge going into the closing stages, with Raikkonen a few seconds ahead of Alonso at a point when both had a single stop to go.

But on his fresher tyres, Alonso stormed up behind Raikkonen at a rate of two seconds per lap, breezed past the Lotus then vanished into the distance, swiftly building a 12-second advantage.


Raikkonen was left to keep half an eye on Massa, who had been rapid all afternoon and got a green light from Ferrari to try to catch the Lotus. Tyre wear stymied this and forced Massa to back off again, but third was still safe.

Vettel's attempts to run longer on tyres ultimately cost him so much pace that he fell behind the earlier-pitting Massa.

The world champion had to settle for fourth, followed by his team-mate Mark Webber, who had slipped outside the top 10 at first with a terrible start.

Mercedes' fade ended with Rosberg pulling off a three-stop in sixth and his despondent team-mate Hamilton right out of the points in a lapped 12th, having gone into freefall following his first stop.

Paul di Resta's Force India chased Rosberg home.

McLaren ended up eighth and ninth. Jenson Button had tumbled to 17th in the opening laps, but nursed his tyres through three stops and emerged ahead of his early-charging, but four-stopping, team-mate Sergio Perez.

Daniel Ricciardo fended off Esteban Gutierrez to give Toro Rosso the final point.

It was still a breakthrough day for Gutierrez, as a long first stint meant Sauber's rookie managed to lead a Formula 1 race for the first time.

 Pirelli ponders tyre changes after Spanish GP criticism

Last year's Barcelona winner Pastor Maldonado struggled home 14th, recovering from a pitlane speeding penalty to get there.

Romain Grosjean was an early retirement with skewed right rear suspension on his Lotus.

Two pitlane incidents attracted stewards' attention.

Caterham could face sanctions after Giedo van der Garde lost a wheel on his out-lap, while Nico Hulkenberg had an unsafe release penalty following a pitlane clash with Jean-Eric Vergne, prior to which both had been points contenders.

Results - 66 laps:

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                  Time/Gap
 1.  Fernando Alonso      Ferrari               1h39m16.596s
 2.  Kimi Raikkonen       Lotus-Renault             + 9.338s
 3.  Felipe Massa         Ferrari                  + 26.049s
 4.  Sebastian Vettel     Red Bull-Renault         + 38.273s
 5.  Mark Webber          Red Bull-Renault         + 47.963s
 6.  Nico Rosberg         Mercedes               + 1m08.020s
 7.  Paul di Resta        Force India-Mercedes   + 1m08.988s
 8.  Jenson Button        McLaren-Mercedes       + 1m19.506s
 9.  Sergio Perez         McLaren-Mercedes       + 1m21.738s
10.  Daniel Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         + 1 lap
11.  Esteban Gutierrez    Sauber-Ferrari             + 1 lap
12.  Lewis Hamilton       Mercedes                   + 1 lap
13.  Adrian Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       + 1 lap
14.  Pastor Maldonado     Williams-Renault           + 1 lap
15.  Nico Hulkenberg      Sauber-Ferrari             + 1 lap
16.  Valtteri Bottas      Williams-Renault           + 1 lap
17.  Charles Pic          Caterham-Renault           + 1 lap
18.  Jules Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth         + 2 laps
19.  Max Chilton          Marussia-Cosworth         + 2 laps

Retirements:

     Jean-Eric Vergne     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         52 laps
     Giedo van der Garde  Caterham-Renault           21 laps
     Romain Grosjean      Lotus-Renault               8 laps

World Championship standings, round 5:               

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Vettel         89        1.  Red Bull-Renault          131
 2.  Raikkonen      85        2.  Ferrari                   117
 3.  Alonso         72        3.  Lotus-Renault             111
 4.  Hamilton       50        4.  Mercedes                   72
 5.  Massa          45        5.  Force India-Mercedes       32
 6.  Webber         42        6.  McLaren-Mercedes           29
 7.  Di Resta       26        7.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          8
 8.  Grosjean       26        8.  Sauber-Ferrari              5
 9.  Rosberg        22       
10.  Button         17       
11.  Perez          12       
12.  Ricciardo       7       
13.  Sutil           6       
14.  Hulkenberg      5       
15.  Vergne          1       
       
All timing unofficial


TBWG

[TBWG]

   
McLaren confirms Honda

by Joe Saward

McLaren will be racing with Honda engines from 2015, as has been rumoured for some time. The previous McLaren-Honda partnership was one of the most successful in Formula 1 history, back in the 1980s and 1990s. Honda then tried to be successful with its own team but failed and quit F1 six years ago. Honda says it is developing its all-new 1.6-litre V6 engine at the company's R&D facility at Tochigi in Japan.

This is great news for Formula 1 as Honda will be the first new manufacturer to come into the sport for many years and the first to embrace the new rules. It will also mean that other teams will have the option of using Honda engines in 2015 as engine companies are forced by the rules to supply more than one team, if called upon to do. Best of all, however, it indicates that the new rules have a value for automobile manufacturers beyond the existing three and that is is quite possible that we will see others following Honda's lead in the years ahead. This could ultimately mean that the price of engines will reduce as some teams will get free engines and sponsorship from manufacturers and the availability of engines will push down the prices.

"Ever since its establishment, Honda has been a company which grows by taking on challenges in racing," said Takanobu Ito, President and CEO of Honda Motor Co. "Honda has a long history of advancing our technologies and nurturing our people by participating in the world’s most prestigious automobile racing series. The new F1 regulations with their significant environmental focus will inspire even greater development of our own advanced technologies and this is central to our participation in F1. We have the greatest respect for the FIA’s decision to introduce these new regulations that are both highly challenging but also attractive to manufacturers that pursue environmental technologies and to Formula One Group, which has developed F1 into a high value, top car racing category supported by enthusiastic fans. The corporate slogan of Honda is 'The Power of Dreams'. This slogan represents our strong desire to pursue and realize our dreams together with our customers and fans. Together with McLaren, one of the most distinguished F1 constructors, Honda will mark a new beginning in our challenges in F1."

The McLaren package for the future is beginning to come together with reports in recent days that Claro will be a sponsor of the team in 2014. As I understand it, Claro will not be the title sponsor but rather one of the associate backers. The main sponsorship deal will be announced in December and I am now reliably informed that it is not going to be GlaxoSmithKline, although it is possible the firm will be an associate sponsor as well.


TBWG

[TBWG]

   
Local boy comes good
by Joe Saward

Nico Rosberg set the fastest lap of the Thursday morning session in Monaco, beating Fernando Alonso by a tiny margin. The pair were justunder two-tenths ahead of Romain Grosjean, with Felipe Massa close behind. Lewis Hamilton was still unable to match his team-mate and was fifth ahead of a surprising Pastor Maldonado, Mark Webber, Jenson Button, Sergio Perez and Sebastian Vettel.

Kimi Raikkonen was 11th ahead of Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil (who had a spin), Nico Hulkenberg, Jean-Eric Vergne, Esteban Gutierrez and Valtteri Bottas. The field was completed by Dan Ricciardo, Giedo Van der Garde and Charles Pic in their Caterhams and the Marussias of Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton.

P2
Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton set the pace in the second session in Monte Carlo, the German being three-tenths ahead. Fernando Alonso was third with Felipe Massa behind him while Mark Webber managed fifth, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean, although the Frenchman crashed into the tyre barrier at the exit of Ste Devote early in the session. Jenson Button was eight with Sebastian Vettel ninth and Paul di Resta 10th ahead of Adrian Sutil, Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg. Pastor Maldonado, who is always quick around Monaco, was 14th ahead of Esteban Gutierrez and the two Toro Rossos and Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne. Valtteri Bottas was 18th. Jules Bianchi was at the front in the Caterham-Marussia fight, with Charles Pic second, Max Chilton third and Giedo Van der Garde at the back.

TBWG

[John the Traveller]

Monaco GP
Courtesy Planet F1
After several attempts to post an extensive report without success please find the drivers times below. Apologies Mod should the large reports somehow find their way to the board.
Jt for a travelling TBWG 

Times
01. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:13.876s
02. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:13.967s +0.091
03. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:13.980s +0.104
04. Mark Webber Red Bull 1:14.181s +0.305
05. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1:14.822s +0.946
06. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:14.824s +0.948
07. Sergio Perez McLaren 1:15.138s +1.262
08. Adrian Sutil Force India 1:15.383s +1.507
09. Jenson Button McLaren 1:15.647s +1.771
10. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:15.703s +1.827
11. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:18.331s +2.343
12. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:18.344s +2.356
13. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:18.603s +2.615
14. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:19.077s +3.089
15. Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1:19.408s +3.420
16. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:21.688s +5.700
17. Paul di Resta Force India 1:26.322s +2.870
18. Charles Pic Caterham 1:26.633s +3.181
19. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:26.917s +3.465
20. Max Chilton Marussia 1:27.303s +3.851
21. Jules Bianchi Marussia
22. Felipe Massa Ferrari

[John the Traveller]

The qualifying at Monaco will make for an interesting race. I wouldn't want to be close to the Armco at turn 1!
At P5 and P6 are two individuals who will capitalize on any error made by the first four drivers.

Enjoy the race.
Cheers JT 

[John the Traveller]

Monaco GP
Courtesy Planet F1

.1 of 1.....Hometown boy Nico Rosberg survived three restarts to win Sunday's Monaco GP, his first of the season and only his second career win.

It was an incident-strewn race that saw Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber come home in second and third places, with an unlucky Lewis Hamilton finishing fourth.

The first Safety Car of the season came out on Lap 31 when Felipe Massa, produced an identical accident to his crash in final practice on Saturday. Later, the race was red-flagged when Pastor Maldonado hit Max Chilton. The final Safety Car came out when Romain Grosjean had his fourth accident of the weekend when he hit Daniel Ricciardo's Toro Rosso.

Race Report
It was quite a change from qualifying, with sun bathing the Monaco harbour and an ambient temperature of 18C with the track up at 41C.

Grid: 1.Rosberg, 2.Hamilton, 3.Vettel, 4.Webber, 5.Raikkonen, 6.Alonso, 7.Perez, 8.Sutil, 9.Button, 10.Vergne, 11.Hulkenberg, 12.Ricciardo, 13.Grosjean, 14.Bottas, 15.Van der Garde, 16.Maldonado, 17.DiResta, 18.Pic, 19.Gutierrez, 20.Bianchi, 21.Massa, 22.Chilton

Ricciardo, Grosjean and Massa elected to start on the Soft tyres with the rest of the field starting on SuperSofts. Jules Bianchi failed to get off the grid and his Marussia was pushed to the pitlane.

As the lights went out both the Mercedes got strong starts, but Vettel's was even better and he looked to force his way through on the inside - something that was unlikely to come off. And didn't.

All the action on the opening lap was down to the Lowe's (Grand Hotel/Station) hairpin with Adrian Sutil - who had been passed by Button at the start - losing parts of his front wing as he made a very tentative stab at getting past Button. Giedo van der Garde's great Monaco weekend came to an abrupt halt as he knocked off his front wing on the opening lap. Maldonado also was involved in a collision and had to head back to the pits.

Further round the lap, Sergio Perez started a busy afternoon of trading paintwork with other cars by having a small coming together with Jenson Button into the tunnel chicane. Button was soon on team radio to point that out and the fact that Perez had missed it.

Positions at the end of Lap 11.Rosberg, 2.Hamilton, 3.Vettel, 4.Webber, 5.Raikkonen, 6.Alonso, 7.Perez, 8.Button, 9.Sutil,10.Vergne, 11.Hulkenberg, 12.Bottas, 13.Ricciardo, 14.Di Resta.

Vettel hadn't finished trying to get into P2 and on Lap 2 he was almost side by side with Lewis Hamilton going into Mirabeau but Hamilton held the line and the place. In the early stages of the race the gaps were very close between the leading cars, although Alonso began to drop steadily off Kimi Raikkonen. The gap between P5 and P6 went out to 3.5 seconds by Lap 10, although Alonso looked more to be conserving his tyres more than losing touch through lack of pace.

On Lap 9 the Caterham of Charles Pic had stopped near Rascasse with a gearbox fired. Anticipating a Safety Car, the Force India team brought Paul Di Resta in for a tyre stop, but the incident was dealt with under waved yellows instead. Di Resta dropped back to P19. In his earlier dice withJenson Button, Perez had cut the chicane and the McLaren team shuffled Button back in front without allowing Sutil behind to take advantage

Rosberg and Hamilton, despite rapidly losing speed at Bahrain and Barcelona, showed no sign of wearing their tyres out on the streets of Monaco - neither were they adopting the tactic of having one car shoot off into the distance while the other held the field up.

The gaps on Lap 19 were: Rosberg 2.1 to Hamilton, 2.2 to Vettel, 1.6 to Webber, 1.0 to Raikkonen, 2.6 to Alonso, 1.1 to Perez, 1.4 to Button.

There was no change in race order all the way through to Lap 22 when Daniel Ricciardo came in for his first scheduled pitstop. Then it was a question of how soon the front runners would wait, because as cars approached the Lap 25 mark, it was assumed that everyone could and would run just one stop. And so exactly where your car came out would cement your place for the rest of the grand prix.

Maldonado had a coming together with Jules Bianchi and lost parts of his front wing again on Lap 23.

Mark Webber set a Fastest lap of 1:19.750 on Lap 24 and then dived for the pits at the end of Lap 25. He exited in P11. Team-mate Vettel then put in the Fastest Lap of 1:19.748 but stayed out much longer than Webber.

Button and Raikkonen were in at the end of Lap 26, Alonso on Lap 28 (and stayed behind Raikkonen and in front of Button). Perez and Vergne at the end of Lap 29 just after a repeat accident from Felipe Massa. Massa's Ferrari duplicated the same tyre-locking accident into Ste Devote that he'd managed in final practice and hit the barriers hard.

It looked as though it might bring out the Safety Car and on Lap 30, Vettel and Sutil dived for the pits, but the incident looked to be controlled by waved yellows. Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were still flying along at the front, Rosberg with a 3.0 second lead over Hamilton. However, with Massa looking like he might need medical attention the Safety Car was then deployed to allow the medical car on track and it was action stations in the Mercedes pit as the team knew they had to pit Rosberg and Hamilton together. The Safety Car was deployed just as the Mercedes started Lap 31.That indecision in bringing the cars in cost the Mercedes team a 1-2 in the race. They managed to get Rosberg out in front of the Red Bulls, but Hamilton was slow into the pits and could only exit in P4. So as the cars lined up behind the very slowly circulating Safety Car the order on Lap 33 was: 1.Rosberg, 2.Vettel, 3.Webber, 4.Hamilton, 5.Raikkonen, 6.Alonso, 7.Button, 8.Perez, 9.Sutil, 10.Vergne, 11.Di Resta, 12.Hulkenberg, 13.Ricciardo, 14.Grosjean.

Rosberg thought the Safety Car was going too slow and actually pulled alongside it in a bid to get Bernd Maylander to go faster. The message got through - on Lap 35 it was a 2:05 and on Lap 36 it was a 1:57. The medical car finally left Ste Devote and we were racing again on Lap 39.

After the restart Alonso had a look at Raikkonen into the chicane for P5 and Hamilton was very keen to get past Webber. Both cars in front blocked and no places changed. On Lap 40 Vettel got a depressing message from his engineers, that Rosberg wasn't marginal on tyres and so settled in for the rest of the afternoon, the remaining 38 laps.

Behind him Hamilton made an audacious attempt to get past Webber into Rascasse and saved some KERS for a sprint up the hill from Rascasse to Anthony Nogues. Webber left him room but held the place.

With the Safety Car having closed up the field there were tentative moves in the midfield. Alonso was trying to get past Raikkonen and behind him Button was looking to exploit any loss of momentum from Alonso. Button had a look up the inside of the Ferrari at the Lowes hairpin and bumped the Ferrari's backwheel failing to get past.

Then later that same lap he found Sergio Perez sticking his Mclaren inside into the chicane and the two made contact again. Button had to radio back to see if his wing was okay, while Perez took on his next challenge - passing Alonso.

On Lap 44 Perez tried to dive down the inside of Alonso at the Nouvelle (or tunnel chicane) and forced Alonso to cut the chicane to avoid hitting him. He got onto team radio to point this out. The issue wasn't resolved before Lap 46 when running towards Tabac, Maldonado got blocked by Max Chilton's Marussia and took off hitting the barrier hard, ripping the barrier protector away from its stays and bringing it out across the track (where it was struck by Bianchi).

It was an immediate Red Flag as the circuit was almost blocked - the cars squeezed through the gap that was left and took their places on the grid for the re-start. While the barrier was repaired, it was divined that Alonso would have to give a place up to Perez on the re-start which was scheduled for 15:35.

The cars set off again for a warm-up lap on Lap 47 and we were racing on Lap 48. Again Rosberg managed the re-start well with no challenge from Vettel.

Positions at the end of Lap 48: 1.Rosberg, 2.Vettel, 3.Webber, 4.Hamilton, 5.Raikkonen, 6.Perez, 7.Alonso, 8.Button, 9.Sutil, 10.Vergne, 11.DiResta, 12.Hulkenberg, 13.Ricciardo, 14.Grosjean.

In fact on lap 50, the biggest gap in the field was between Rosberg and Vettel, 1.4 seconds. There was just 7.5 seconds between 1st place and 13th place. Hamilton was again tight on Mark Webber but it was Adrian Sutil who made a cheeky little overtaking move on Button into the Lowe's hairpin on Lap 52 to take P8.

A lap later, Perez tried to do to Raikkonen what he had done to Perez at the chicane and both cars cut the chicane - a move that Alan McNish described as "racing on the absolute limit."

Sutil wasn't finished, though, and on Lap 57 he repeated his crafty hairpin move on Fernando Alonso to grab P7 and demote Alonso to P8. The Mclaren team decided to warn Perez to look in his mirrors after Mirabeau to prevent him becoming Sutil's next victim.

At the front, Rosberg was stretching his lead and had a 3.3 second lead on lap 59 - yet there was still just 13.2 seconds between 1st and 16th place! Bianchi crashed out at Ste Devote on Lap 60 with what looked like a braking issue, the incident covered under waved yellows. However two laps later Romain Grosjean - who'd managed 62 laps without damaging his car - tried an inexpert move on Daniel Ricciardo into the chicane and simply piled into the back of him.

The Lotus ripped the rear wing off the Toro Rosso which was out on the spot as Grosjean limped back to the pits. His fourth accident of the weekend. With carbon fibre debris everywhere there was no option but to bring out another Safety Car to clear up the track.

As the cars circulated behind the Safety Car for the second time, Kimi Raikkonen was informed (on Lap 66) that his car was overheating and losing water. The solution was to get air flowing through the radiators again and mercifully we were racing again by Lap 67.

Perez wasn't finished with racing Raikkonen and tried a move on Lap 69 that didn't come off into the chicane which lost him most of his front wing and gave Raikkonen a puncture. The Lotus driver had moved under braking and squeezed the Mclaren against the barrier. Raikkonen had to head for the pits and rejoined in P14. Meanwhile Button made an even cheekier pass (than Sutil) on Alonso into the Rascasse. Alonso was now down to P8.

Positions on Lap 71: 1.Rosberg, 2.Vettel, 3.Webber, 4.Hamilton, 5.Perez, 6.Sutil, 7.Button, 8.Alonso, 9.Vergne, 10.DiResta, 11.Hulkenberg, 12.Bottas.

On Lap 73 something appeared to be up with Perez's car, he missed the chicane - Sutil passed him at Rascasse, and he looked like he was about to head into the pitlane when Jenson Button came up the inside into Anthony Nogues and so Perez couldn't turn in as his team-mate was blocking the entrance - so he went past and parked the car. His race over.

This now let Alonso into P7, Vergne into P8, DiResta into P9 and Hulkenberg into the points. Behind them Kimi Raikkonen was on a mission on a set of new SuperSoft tyres and was lapping in the 1:17s compared to the 1:21s of the cars in front. While Vergne and DiResta put pressure on Alonso in the last five laps Raikkonen closed the gap to the cars in front and overtook three cars in the last two laps to grab P10!

In front Rosberg came home to a deserved win in front of the two Red Bulls, an unlucky Hamilton and a great drive from Sutil and Button in P5 and P6 respectively. Alonso's P7 was not good but it could have been worse with Vergne (P8) and DiResta (P9) snapping at his heels at the line.

The Mercedes had locked out the front row and hadn't suffered a degradation nightmare on what was a very low-stress circuit for tyres. It will be a completely different situation on the streets of Montreal, but for the time being Rosberg will celebrate a very special hometown win.



Times
01 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:18.432
02 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull +3.8
03 Mark Webber Red Bull +6.3
04 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +13.8
05 Adrian Sutil Force India +21.4
06 Jenson Button McLaren +23.1
07 Fernando Alonso Ferrari +26.7
08 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso +27.2
09 Paul di Resta Force India +27.6
10 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus +36.5
11 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber +42.5
12 Valtteri Bottas Williams +42.6
13 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber +43.2
14 Max Chilton Marussia +49.8
15 Giedo van der Garde Caterham +62.5
16 Sergio Perez McLaren +6 laps
Did Not Finish
R Romain Grosjean Lotus +15 laps
R Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso +17 laps
R Jules Bianchi Marussia +20 laps
R Pastor Maldonado Williams +34 laps
R Felipe Massa Ferrari +50 laps
R Charles Pic Caterham +71 lap

JT 

[nookiebear]

Would be more exciting playing with the old Scalextric!

[JasonB]

Nookie,I loved the old scale electric stuff when I was a kid...had heaps of it,and at the time,it was exciting Mate,take care.