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Buriram Province - General Category => Sports, Hobbies & Activities in Buriram => Topic started by: TBWG on November 29, 2011, 08:43:29 PM
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Gotta start somewhere so it's ~~~~
Renault confirms Kimi Raikkonen will return to Formula 1 in 2012
By Pablo Elizalde Tuesday, November 29th 2011
Renault has announced that Kimi Raikkonen will return to Formula 1 racing next year, after securing a two-year deal to compete with the squad.
Raikkonen, who had left Formula 1 at the end of the 2009 season after being dropped by Ferrari, had been in talks with the Williams team about a possible return next year, but the deal fell through.
That promted speculation of a Renault tie-up, with team principal Eric Boullier confirming in Brazil last weekend that the Finn was on the shortlist of candidates for 2012 - when his outfit will be renamed Lotus.
Speaking about his return, Raikkonen said: "I'm delighted to be coming back to Formula 1 after a two-year break, and I'm grateful to Lotus Renault GP for offering me this opportunity. My time in the World Rally Championship has been a useful stage in my career as a driver, but I can't deny the fact that my hunger for F1 has recently become overwhelming.
"It was an easy choice to return with Lotus Renault GP as I have been impressed by the scope of the team's ambition. Now I'm looking forward to playing an important role in pushing the team to the very front of the grid."
Team owner Gerard Lopez added: "All year long, we kept saying that our team was at the start of a brand new cycle. Backstage we've been working hard to build the foundations of a successful structure and to ensure that we would soon be able to fight at the highest level.
"Kimi's decision to come back to Formula 1 with us is the first step of several announcements which should turn us into an even more serious contender in the future. Of course, we are all looking forward to working with a world champion. On behalf of our staff, I'd like to welcome Kimi to Enstone, a setting that has always been known for its human approach to Formula 1."
Raikkonen, 32, moved from Formula 1 to the World Rally Championship in 2010, where he spent the last two seasons while also competing in one race of the NASCAR Truck series and one Nationwide event.
The Finn won the Formula 1 world championship in 2007 with Ferrari, having scored a total of 18 wins since he made his grand prix debut in 2001.
Renault was forced to search for another driver after Robert Kubica confirmed last week that he would not be ready to start the 2012 season following his dramatic accident in February.
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The 2012 grid according to TBWG
Red Bull Sebastian Vettel Mark Webber
McLaren Jenson Button Lewis Hamilton
Ferrari Fernando Alonso Phillipe Massa
Mercedes Nico Rosberg Micheal Schumacher
Lotus Renault Kimi Raikkonen ?
Force India Paul DiResta Nico Hulkenberg
Sauber Kamui Koybayashi Sergio Perez
Scuderia Lollo Rosso ? ?
Williams ? Pastor Maldonado
Caterham F1 Heikki Kovalainen ?
HRT Pedro De La Rosa ?
Maurussia Timo Glock Charles Pic
Well I reckon that the status quo will prevail at Lollo Rosso with Buemi and Alguersuari being retained.
Which leaves Sutil as the most competant driver without a seat and with the Lotus & Williams drives available, as Sutil has a pile of dosh backing him I would expect him to get a drive but his glass slashing attack on the Renault boss man in China won't have endeared him too said individual.
The remaining seats are available to anyone with a wheelbarrow full of folding money! moneysmile
Quite frankly there are now a few on the grid who are passed their sell by date and should in the opinion of yours truly bugger off and give someone else a chance.
So watch with bated breath as I continue to bring you up to the minute developments! slapfight
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Grosjean joins Lotus F1 Team icon_latest
by joesaward
Lotus Renault GP and its sponsor Total have announced that Romain Grosjean will race alongside Kimi Räikkönen next season. The two companies are also pleased to confirm that they have renewed their sponsorship agreement for another year. The 2011 GP2 Series champion gained useful experience with the team throughout the year as LRGP’s third driver. As part of his role, Romain was rewarded with two practice session drives at the final two races of the season in both Abu Dhabi and Brazil.
Romain previously won the F3 Euroseries and the GP2 Asia Series before graduating to the Renault F1 Team in 2008 as a test driver. Following this, he stepped up to a race seat for the second half of 2009, but did not do very well.
Since then he has rebuilt his career with a dominant performance in GP2. The signing indicates that team boss Eric Boullier is still very much part of the team, despite rumours of disagreements over Raikkonen. It also suggests that Total is providing money specifically for Grosjean.
This is bad news for Vitaly Petrov.
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The 2012 grid according to TBWG
Red Bull Sebastian Vettel Mark Webber
McLaren Jenson Button Lewis Hamilton
Ferrari Fernando Alonso Phillipe Massa
Mercedes Nico Rosberg Micheal Schumacher
Lotus Renault Kimi Raikkonen Romain Grosjean
Force India Paul DiResta Nico Hulkenberg
Sauber Kamui Koybayashi Sergio Perez
Scuderia Lollo Rosso ? ?
Williams ? Pastor Maldonado
Caterham F1 Heikki Kovalainen ?
HRT Pedro De La Rosa ?
Maurussia Timo Glock Charles Pic
Hmmm Wonder if Petrov will pop up in a Williams seat? Must also assume Kubica is a no no.
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The driver market in mid-December
by joesaward
One thing that has perplexed me in recent weeks has been the failure of Scuderia Toro Rosso to name its drivers for 2012. Firstly there was much talk of one or both current drivers - Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi - being replaced, as Red Bull has two hot youngsters - Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne - that it considers to be rather better. When Ricciardo was placed at HRT in the summer it looked like that plan was for him to move to STR in 2012 and then bounce on to replace Mark Webber at Red Bull Racing in 2013. Then Vergne came on the scene and was given testing work with both STR and RBR and did well, raising the possibility that he might overtake Ricciardo on the Red Bull list. In recent weeks, however, the word was that Ricciardo would be placed with the Caterham F1 Team and that STR would keep the current two, and Vergne would have to wait with another season in the Renault World Series. And yet there are still no announcements, which leads me to think that there is still some action going in Red Bull Land. Who knows, perhaps Vergne will go to Caterham?
Time will tell. Meanwhile we are waiting for Force India to announce that Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta will stay on next year, thus pushing out Nico Hulkenberg. This would be tough on the German, but he has the possibility if his contract has not been respected to leave Force India and move to Williams, which is believed to be waiting on Sutil. Rubens Barrichello should be in the frame there as well, but the team seems to want to change drivers as part of its plan to change the team for the better. No deal was possible with Kimi Raikkonen, which would have been good for sponsors, and it might be easier to sell Hulkenberg - a man with a future - rather than Barrichello, a man who wants to complete his 20th year in the sport. The other man who is in the picture is Vitaly Petrov, who has been left in the lurch by Renault. However, Williams would be ill-advised to take two pay-drivers, even if it needs the money.
That aside there is the second HRT available, although it is hard to imagine why anyone would want that drive, given that the team's new owners are showing no real sign of knowing what they are doing. The word from Spain is that the team is now moving to Madrid.
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Massacre at Toro Rosso
icon_latest
by joesaward
Scuderia Toro Rosso will have a completely new driver line-up for the 2012 Formula 1 season, made up of Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne. It will be the first time since the team’s 2006 debut that it will begin the year with an all new line-up. Both drivers have come through the Red Bull Junior Driver programme and the decision to promote Daniel and Jean-Eric to Scuderia Toro Rosso was taken by the team in conjunction with Red Bull.
Franz Tost: “I am pleased that we have been able to reach an early decision on our drivers for next year, because it means we can all give our full attention to 2012, without any distractions. Over the past year, both Daniel and Jean-Eric have proved their worth and I expect them to make a significant contribution to the team’s performance next year. Daniel has the benefit of having actually raced in Grands Prix for much of this year, while Jean-Eric proved he could adapt quickly to the demands of driving a Formula 1 car. As they have both worked with the team and its engineers very recently, this should allow us to get up to speed right from the start of winter testing in a couple of months time. I must also thank Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari for all their hard work over the past three seasons. They have delivered some excellent performances which have helped the team move forward and develop. We wish them well for the future. However, one has to remember that when Scuderia Toro Rosso was established in 2005, it was done so with the intention of providing a first step into Formula 1 for the youngsters in the Red Bull Junior Driver programme. It is therefore part of the team’s culture to change its driver line-up from time to time in order to achieve this goal.”
Twenty two year old Ricciardo, from Perth, Australia has already experienced life in F1, firstly by driving for Toro Rosso during Friday’s first free practice session at Grands Prix in the early part of 2011, before driving full time for Hispania Racing in the second half of the year. In 2008 he won the Formula Renault 2.0 Championship and the following year, he won the British Formula 3 series. In 2010, Dan finished runner up in the Renault 3.5 series, combining his racing with reserve driver duties for both Red Bull F1 teams.
Daniel Ricciardo: “This is a really big deal for me and something I have wanted ever since I was driving for Toro Rosso on Friday mornings at the races in the first part of last season. To be honest, I am still jumping up and down with excitement at the news. In the second half of 2011 I learned a lot from the people I worked with, racing in eleven Grands Prix and I want to thank them for the opportunity they gave me. I have to say that joining Scuderia Toro Rosso was always my real goal, so a big thank you to Red Bull for giving me this fantastic opportunity and now I can’t wait to get to work once testing begins.”
Frenchman Vergne has already worked with Scuderia Toro Rosso, most recently, driving in Free Practice 1 at three of the last four Grands Prix of the 2011 season. The twenty one year old Frenchman followed in his new team-mate’s footsteps, winning the 2010 British Formula 3 Championship and coming second in this year’s Renault 3.5 series.
Jean-Eric Vergne: “First of all, I must thank Red Bull for all their support so far and for believing I am ready to take on the ultimate challenge of racing in Formula 1. Christmas has come early for me this year! Having driven for them a few times this year and also testing for Red Bull Racing in Abu Dhabi, I definitely feel ready to make the move, even if I know there is a big difference between testing and actually racing. I enjoyed working with the guys at Toro Rosso this year and I can’t wait to be part of the team for real. Sitting on the grid in Melbourne next March cannot come soon enough.”
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The 2012 grid according to TBWG
Red Bull Sebastian Vettel Mark Webber
McLaren Jenson Button Lewis Hamilton
Ferrari Fernando Alonso Phillipe Massa
Mercedes Nico Rosberg Micheal Schumacher
Lotus Renault Kimi Raikkonen Romain Grosjean
Force India Paul DiResta Nico Hulkenberg
Sauber Kamui Koybayashi Sergio Perez
Scuderia Lollo Rosso Daniel Ricciardo Jean-Eric Vergne
Williams ? Pastor Maldonado
Caterham F1 Heikki Kovalainen ?
HRT Pedro De La Rosa ?
Maurussia Timo Glock Charles Pic
Well not a lot of seats left and an awful lot of drivers out of work, perhaps Alguersuari will pop up in HRT to make a complete Spanish fiasco, sorry team!
This leaves Williams with a choice of whats left, maybe including Hulkenberg as Force India still seem to be playing silly buggers with their line up!
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The driver market in the first week of January
January 3, 2012 by Joe Saward
It is an interesting reflection that 28 drivers raced at one point or another in 2011 and 11 of them are now on the market, hoping to be called in to fit the last two or three available slots. I say two or three because there is a still a good chance that Jarno Trulli might end up as a driver coach/team ambassador at Caterham. No-one doubts that Jarno is quick, but he is rather inconsistent. Whatever the case, there are going to be around 10 drivers who are going to be disappointed in 2012 and will have to make do with test driver roles, or will head off to DTM, or something in the United States of America. Of the drivers confirmed for 2012 there will be four making F1 comebacks (Kimi Raikkonen, Pedro de la Rosa, Nico Hulkenberg and Romain Grosjean), but only two new boys (Charles Pic and Jean-Eric Vergne).
The chances are that Jaime Alguersuari will end up with a job with HRT, alongside de la Rosa. The team wants to become more Spanish and Alguersuari is not abad option in that respect – if there is money to run him. The idea that having an all-Spanish team will unlock vast piles of cash in Spain is rather naive, but there is some small chance that some hispanic companies might like to get involved. Latin America is doing pretty well at the moment and so there is hope. Having said that Sauber has hoovered up a lot of the available cash by doing a deal with the Slim Family, which controls much of the telecommunications industry of the region.
Williams will probably take a safe route and sign up Rubens Barrichello for one more season. There is little risk involved in such a move and the other available choices do not have the same kind of engineering clout that Rubens can muster. He has won 11 Grands Prix and is the most experienced racer in F1 history and while some of the younger men might be quicker, they are not going to be as rounded.
A lot depends on whether Williams needs to top up its budget. A team can never have too much money and if Williams is to return to being competitive it needs to invest in any number of areas, so a driver with skill and money might be an option. Having said that all of those who fit that bill have some kind of question mark next to their names. The best candidate is arguably Adrian Sutil, who did a terrific job last year with Force India. There are some folk who think that the team will renew the connection with the Senna Family, but that seems unlikely, unless Bruno wants to have some kind of reserve driver role, because he has not really proved that he has what it takes for the top F1 drives. Admittedly, his chances have been restricted, but when one gets a chance in F1 one must nail it.
I think it is fair to say that Nick Heidfeld’s long career has now finally ended, after 183 starts and no wins. He has finished second in races on eight occasions. The problem for Nick is that he has driven for a lot of different teams and all of them seem to think that he is a “nearly man” and not an unfortunate winner-in-the-wings. He is always a sensible choice, but he does not do much to inspire racing teams and his set-up skills often creates cars that other drivers do not like.
Williams has flirted with Tonio Liuzzi on occasion in the past, but his poor season at Force India in 2010 counts against him. He did a decent job in 2011 with HRT and showed the F1 world that if Daniel Ricciardo is the next big thing, then they have all missed the Italian. Liuzzi has many fans inside the sport, notably Fernando Alonso, but it is hard to imagine he will get another chance – even if he deserves one. At 31, with 80 GPs behind him, Liuzzi looks like going down in F1 history as being a victim of the Red Bull young driver programme, which got him to F1 and then messed up his career royally.
Another man who has the kind of fight that Williams used to like is Sébastien Buemi, who has also fallen victim to Red Bull’s policies. The Swiss driver is a real fighter and has done well on many occasions. Red Bull might given him a vague chance by offering him a reserve driver role for both of its F1 teams, but he will need some luck to revive his career from that position.
One man who seems to be completely adrift at the moment is Vitaly Petrov, who has access to some decent money from Russia and did a pretty decent job in his first year in F1 in 2010. Last year he failed to build on those foundations and was ditched by the Renault (now Lotus) team. Williams already has one fairly quick pay-driver, and it is hard to see them going for another.
Jérôme D’Ambrosio really deserved better than the hand he was dealt. He did a solid job in his debut year with Virgin but did not have the funding to compete with Charles Pic for a 2012 seat. In all probability he will be taken in by Renault (Lotus) as the team’s reserve driver. He is managed by Eric Boullier and the team wants to have a good solid option in the bag should Kimi Raikkonen’s comeback not work out well.
It is hard to see any real chance of work for racing work for either Karun Chandhok or Narain Karthikeyan. Both did decent jobs in 2011, without being exceptional and although the sport would like an Indian in the field, the best that they can hope for is reserve driver roles.
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Williams signs Senna (for the second time)
by Joe Saward
Bruno Senna will drive for Williams F1 this year, partnering Pastor Maldonado. Senna is the nephew of three-time world champion Ayrton Senna, who drove for Williams in 1994, before his death in a accident at Imola.
Bruno made his grand prix debut with the Hispania team in 2010, but then spent the first half of last year as the reserve driver with Lotus Renault GP (now Lotus F1 Team). He was called in to replace Nick Heidfeld from the Belgian GP onwards, but he was not retained this season with the Enstone team deciding to drop both drivers and hire Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean instead.
Senna will make his debut with the team on February 9 at Jerez, during the first test of the year.
"Bruno only started racing when he was 20 years old but quickly proved his talent in F3 and GP2," said Frank Williams. "In a tightly fought 2008 GP2 season, Bruno finished second in the championship with notable victories in Monaco and Silverstone, the latter in the wet. The circumstances of Bruno's two seasons in Formula 1 have not given him an ideal opportunity to deliver consistently so it was essential that we spent as much time with him as possible to understand and evaluate him as a driver. We have done this both on track and in our simulator and he has proven quick, technically insightful and above all capable of learning and applying his learning quickly and consistently. Now we are looking forward to seeing that talent in our race car."
Senna says that driving for Williams is a privilege.
"The team has a great heritage and I hope I can help write a good chapter in their history," he said. "The evaluation process has been intense and methodical but the time I have spent in the factory has demonstrated that the team has great people and all the resources needed to achieve better things this season. It will be very interesting to drive for a team that my uncle has driven for, particularly as quite a few of the people here actually worked with Ayrton. Hopefully we can bring back some memories and create some great new ones too. I also want to get some good results in return for the support my country has given me to help get me to this position today. I am very proud to be Brazilian and more motivated than ever to demonstrate what I can do. Ever since I first sat in a go-kart I never wanted to do anything else."
The announcement means Rubens Barrichello is without an F1 for the first time in 20 years.
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The 2012 grid according to TBWG
Red Bull Sebastian Vettel Mark Webber
McLaren Jenson Button Lewis Hamilton
Ferrari Fernando Alonso Phillipe Massa
Mercedes Nico Rosberg Micheal Schumacher
Lotus Renault Kimi Raikkonen Romain Grosjean
Force India Paul DiResta Nico Hulkenberg
Sauber Kamui Koybayashi Sergio Perez
Scuderia Lollo Rosso Daniel Ricciardo Jean-Eric Vergne
Williams Bruno Senna Pastor Maldonado
Caterham F1 Heikki Kovalainen ?
HRT Pedro De La Rosa ?
Maurussia Timo Glock Charles Pic
Well not a lot of seats left and an awful lot of drivers out of work, Alguersuari turned down HRT although Luzzi still maintains that he has a contract with them, that really is grasping at straws, he must be desperate to stay in F1 at any cost.
Trulli also has a contract with Caterham nee Team Lotus although I would not be surprised if that turned into a PR job!
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A Name to watch out for in the future. Red Bull which is part owned by Thais has been supporting a youngster Alexander Albon, an Anglo-Thai who this year moves from karts, where he battled for the KF1 World Championship with Holland's Nick de Vries (a McLaren youngster), into car racing .
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The 2012 grid according to TBWG
Red Bull Sebastian Vettel Mark Webber
McLaren Jenson Button Lewis Hamilton
Ferrari Fernando Alonso Phillipe Massa
Mercedes Nico Rosberg Micheal Schumacher
Lotus Renault Kimi Raikkonen Romain Grosjean
Force India Paul DiResta Nico Hulkenberg
Sauber Kamui Koybayashi Sergio Perez
Scuderia Lollo Rosso Daniel Ricciardo Jean-Eric Vergne
Williams Bruno Senna Pastor Maldonado
Caterham F1 Heikki Kovalainen ?
HRT Pedro De La Rosa Narain Karthikeyan
Maurussia Timo Glock Charles Pic
Well Karthikeyan must have come up with a shedload of money to get that poisoned chalice of a drive at HRT. Will he or the team last the season out?
It looks as though Trulli might retain his Caterham seat ~~~ But ~~~ still a long way to go before first race, anything could happen!
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As long as his dad has plenty of cash....he will keep trying...till death do us apart....LOL
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Courtesy of John the Traveller ~~~~~
The Secret Diary of Adrian Newey first appeared on the ITV.com website in 2002. The title was adapted from Sue Townsend's hugely successful book and TV series The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 and ¾. At the time, Adrian was very close to 43 and ¾. Now, with Adrian approaching 53 and ¾ his world is significantly different, though some things do remain the same...
Well then trusty tome, the 2012 season beckons. Our American colleagues have a saying, "another day, another dollar". We have a saying at Red Bull, "another season, another 345 million dollars". Or, if Christian Horner were able to edit this compendium of intimate jottings, "another season, another sum totally in line with the Resource Restriction Agreement."
I knew the coming year would be a challenging one, what with undercurrents about active ride and the problems of a shifting race calendar, but I didn't think it would be tricky from 9 a.m. My P.A. was promoted just before Christmas and I was too busy, with a most irksome RB8 exhaust vibration issue, to interview her replacement, so Christian said he would sort me out someone suitable. I walked into my office on January 3rd and blow me down sitting behind the outer desk was Marlene, my old P.A. from McLaren days. Going under the name of Jana now.
We had lost contact after I joined Red Bull, though I did get a Christmas card from her in 2004 saying she was working for a banker in the City of London.
"I prefer working for F1 team," she told me in her characteristically blunt Slavic way, "in City they all want to try and sleep with you."
"Oh dear," I think I muttered.
"But F1 team is better. They only want to know what car you drive... And can they modify your suspension."
I have to say, diary, I'm not sure that someone asking to modify 6-foot blonde Jana's suspension isn't a euphemism, but it's an innuendo that escaped her completely. Chortle chortle. It was probably Paddy Lowe.
Mid-morning the wild Australian boy stuck his head round the door.
"Hiya Prof, happy New Year!" he shouted, continuing his theme that I am Professor Pat Pending from the Wacky Races.
"Shouldn't you be in a canoe up a mountain?" I retorted. And felt rather pleased with that response.
"Nah, I'm on for a bit of simulator," he replied and was off again.
I set to work on some irritatingly troublesome KERS issues that had been drawn to my attention when Jana buzzed through mid-morning.
"I have small boy out here," she said, "he won't go away. What do you want me to do with him?"
"Is he lost?" I enquired.
"No, he says he needs to speak to you. I already tell him we have no Saturday jobs."
I scurried to the outer office and there was a very crestfallen Sebsatian looking a little confused with the world. I hastily introduced Jana and told her that he was actually a double World Champion. She looked him straight in the eye and said "At what?"
Hoot hoot.
I have to tell you diary, both Sebastian and I fell about laughing, because she kept a completely straight face throughout. It brought back memories of my time with her at McLaren (when she was extraordinarily rude to everyone) and because she was my PA (and I was No.5 in F1 Racing magazine's Most Powerful People In F1 poll) everyone accepted it. At some function she once told Ron Dennis that he should be a hypnotist. And when a flattered Ron replied, "Why, do I have mesmerising eyes?" she said "No, because you send people off to sleep."
The only time I ever made her laugh was when I referred to Norbert Haug and Ron as 'The Laurel and Hardy of the pitlane'. "Hah!" she exhaled. "You right!" One laugh in three years. Probably a good strike record with Jana. She thinks that World Champions have to be at least 28 years old, six foot tall and have a six o'clock shadow. So she'll like Mark. I suddenly realised that there was another link between McLaren and Red Bull, apart from their studious copying of my exhaust systems.
"Remember Scottish David, at McLaren," I ventured. "You know, the one we nicknamed McVulcan."
Her face softened, "Yes, I do," she replied. "He was very nice man. But I never understand why he have symbol for bowling alley strike on his helmet."
"Well, he drove for us at Red Bull, and then Sebastian took over from him three years ago." She studied him a little bit more.
"He should have been at school then."
Safely inside my office Sebastian gave me one of his looks.
"She is quite something, isn't she."
"Yes" I replied curtly. Quite frankly I can't see her staying beyond her three-month trial period, but I think it's only fair to tackle Christian about it first.
"Oh and congratulations on your OBE," Sebastian said, faultless in his manners as usual. "What does that mean?"
In two short sentences that is the tyoical Sebastian Vettel. Very polite and also thirsting for knowledge.
"It means," I said, a whimsical smile playing on my lips, "that you have to call me Lord Newey from now on". A wicked deception trusty tome, but he expects that from us. He thought about it for a second.
"So that means you are like Lord Voldermort...?"
"Yes...kind of."
First soup of the New Year was, I have to confess, a dismally thin carrot and coriander with stale garlic croutons and a lifeless parsley topping. Christian arrived on my second spoonful. He smiled at me knowingly. "How's it going?"
I didn't answer the obvious question and told him that Sebastian had come to see me this morning and wanted to know everything about the design of the 2012 car. Everything. Last year he did homework on Pirelli tyres and made a special visit to their factory. This year it's the car.
"He wants to start off by seeing how a brake pad is put together. He's going to go through the car component by component. "
Christian muttered something and it sounded a little like his namesake.
"I've got so many sponsor events he needs to do..."
Seeing Christian discomforted like that emboldened me.
"And what about my new PA," I started, "what was the thinking there...?"
At this Christian smiled. "She's perfect for you Adrian. You're a perfect match."
I was on the point of bristling. There is only one perfect match for me and she is at home - but then he continued in his usual irresistible way.
"This is the most critical time of the year. The last thing I need is you getting bothered and distracted by people for no reason at all. Jana's perfect, I think even I'd struggle to get past her.
"Of course you would," I countered, "She's six-foot."
We paused, both trying to think of someone who could get past her easily.
"What about Helmut?"
"That's going to be the interesting one."
The Secret Diary of Adrian Newey (Aged 53 and ¾)
To be continued...
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Kimi Raikkonen sets early pace for Lotus in Jerez F1 test
By Simon Strang Tuesday, February 7th 2012,
Kimi Raikkonen posted the quickest time in the first morning of testing in 2012 as the returning 2007 world champion set the pace in the new Lotus E20.
The Finn responded to the hype surrounding his return with four fast stints, and occupied the top spot on the timesheets from the minute he first left the garage.
His fastest time so far, a 1m19.670s, set on his third run using medium Pirelli tyres, was faster than any testing laps at the Spanish track throughout 2011.
Lotus confirmed that the team's programme was simply to put miles on the new car and to give Raikkonen as much time as was possible to get used to this year's Pirelli compounds. By 13:00 local time, the Finn had completed 50 laps.
Paul di Resta was second fastest in the new Force India, having spent much of the morning doing intensive evaluation of the VJM05 which sported a large pylon mounted on the roll-bar.
Nico Rosberg was third fastest, driving a 2011 Mercedes W02 with some modifications. Having initially worked on calibration and installation, the German quickly upped the ante and by lunchtime had worked down to a 1m20.219s lap on Pirelli's soft rubber.
Daniel Ricciardo was fourth fastest in the Scuderia Toro Rosso having completed a trouble-free 40 laps so far in the STR7, which was revealed to the world at Jerez on Monday evening.
Mark Webber completed just eight laps in the new Red Bull RB8 but finished as fifth quickest.
Kamui Kobayashi was sixth fastest in the Sauber C31. The Japanese driver's only problem was the loss of a small piece of the rear brake duct on his initial run, but the team quickly resolved the issue.
Jenson Button was seventh for McLaren, which took its time working through systems checks and installation runs. Meanwhile, Felipe Massa was eighth quickest for Ferrari. The Brazilian focussed on data gathering in the F2012 - which was also carrying a tall pillar on its roll-hoop.
Heikki Kovalainen completed 18 laps by lunchtime for Caterham - the Finn having achieved a best of 1m23.1748, ahead of Pastor Maldonado in the new Williams-Renault. The FW34 was also revealed to the world in a roll-out just before the start of the test this morning.
Pedro de la Rosa completed the order in last year's HRT.
Morning times:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m19.670s 50
2. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m19.772s 52
3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m20.219s 56
4. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m20.694s 40
5. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m21.474s 8
6. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m21.534s 29
7. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m22.402s 22
8. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m23.056s 51
9. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m23.178s 32
10. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m23.371s 23
11. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m24.322s 16
All Timing Unofficial
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Day 2 testing icon_latest
Michael Schumacher led the way with the "old" while Mark Webber shone for the "new" brigade on day two of the pre-season test at Jerez.
Whereas the returning Kimi Raikkonen and the stepped noses dominated the headlines on the opening day, it was Schumacher and his 2011 W02 that produced the goods on Wednesday.
With Mercedes opting to only introduce their new challenger at the Barcelona test, Schumacher and team-mate Nico Rosberg are putting a developed 2011 chassis through its paces in the south of Spain.
According to the BBC's Lee McKenzie, the Brackley squad are running the old car as "they are trying to hide a clever new front wing they have developed - they don't want their rivals to see it too early".
Schumacher, who was the second busiest man on the track having completed 132 laps, had no problems topping the timesheets as he was the only driver to dip under the 1:18 mark.
Webber, though, proved that there is once again plenty of pace in the new Red Bull as he was only 0.623 off Schumacher's best effort of 1:18.561.
The RB8 was the most impressive of the "new" cars, but Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo kept his Australian compatriot honest most of the time and was a further 0.403 off his pace.
Jules Bianchi, driving for Force India in the morning session before handing over to Paul di Resta in the afternoon, put in a decent shift and his 1:20.221 earned him fourth place with Lotus' Raikkonen completing the top five.
Raikkonen was limited to a handful of laps in the morning after he hit a bump at the end of a kerb and some debris went flying off his car.
Ferrari and McLaren were once again well down the timesheets with Felipe Massa in seventh place with a 1:20.454 and Jenson Button a further 0.234s behind in eighth spot.
"The thing to remember about Ferrari is that this is a revolutionary car for them," Sky Sports' Ted Kravitz reported.
"It's taken them in a direction away from the direction they'd taken in the last few years and with such aggressive concepts as the pullrod suspension and the very tight aero packaging, the team say they have a lot to learn and understand about the new car."
He added: "The team tell us they're not even looking at Webber's 1:19.1s and at present they don't know if they can match it, because that's not the focus of their work. That's reassuring for Ferrari fans, but I'm sure the drivers will be anxious to know where they stand in terms of pace as soon as possible."
McLaren also insisted at the close that it's all about learning.
"Another productive day: 85 laps and a 1m20.688s best. Lots learned today - despite the cold. Lewis already here and raring to go tomorrow!" McLaren's twitter feed read.
Caterham's Heikki Kovalainen was the busiest man, having completed 139 laps, while HRT's Pedro de la Rosa, who is driving a 2011 car, was more than four seconds off the pace with a 1:22.628.
Times
1. M Schumacher Mercedes GP W02 1:18.561 132
2. M Webber Red Bull RB8 1:19.184 +0.623 97
3. D Ricciardo Toro Rosso STR7 1:19.587 +1.026 100
4. J Bianchi Force India VJM-05 1:20.221 +1.660 46
5. K Raikkonen Lotus E20 1:20.239 +1.678 116
6. P di Resta Force India VJM-05 1:20.272 +1.711 67
7. F Massa Ferrari F2012 1:20.454 +1.893 93
8. J Button McLaren MP4-27 1:20.688 +2.127 83
9. S Perez Sauber C31 1:20.711 +2.150 66
10. P Maldonado Williams FW34 1:21.197 +2.636 95
11. H Kovalainen Caterham CT01 1:21.518 +2.957 139
12. P de la Rosa HRT F111 1:22.128 +
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Day 3 icon_latest
Nico Rosberg goes quickest for Mercedes on third day of F1 testing at Jerez
By Sam Tremayne Thursday, February 9th 2012,
Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, Jerez testing 2012Nico Rosberg ensured Mercedes ended day three of pre-season testing at Jerez on top, while Romain Grosjean's Lotus was the fastest of the 2012-spec cars.
Times fell little in the afternoon of day three, which was as notable for driver changes as it was for on-track action - Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso among those getting their first taste of their new machines.
Grosjean too made his first appearance in the Lotus E20, but needed little time for adjustment as he got down to a 1m18.419s - the fastest time from a 2012 car thus far in testing – before the midway stage.
That left him a healthy eight tenths clear of his 2012 competition, which was headed by Vettel in the RB8 and Hamilton in the MP4-27.
The Briton had the advantage over Vettel as the unofficial lunch break loomed, but the German found time in what was generally a slower afternoon to jump back in front, ending the day 0.167s ahead of Hamilton.
They were all left trailing by Rosberg however, with the German comfortably fastest on what was Mercedes's final day of testing at Jerez – and the final day for their 2011 car, with this year's challenger set to be introduced at the next test in Barcelona.
Jean-Eric Vergne ended the day fifth fastest for Toro Rosso, just 36 thousandths ahead of Sergio Perez, whose day was interrupted by an oil transmission issue. The Mexican's fastest time was set on medium compounds and in the cold conditions of the early morning.
Those conditions caught out Jules Bianchi, who assumed driving duties in the morning for Force India.
The Frenchman lost the rear end and skipped across the gravel at Sito Pons, bringing out the first of the day's three red flags – the second coming after Giedo van Der Garde beached his car in the gravel and the third just before the chequered flag as Grosjean stopped out on circuit.
Force India was unable to repair the damage, with Nico Hulkenberg therefore unable to take over in the afternoon. He will hope to get his first taste of the car tomorrow as the team scrambles to get parts out from the UK.
A throng of Spanish fans didn't have too much to cheer as home favourite Fernando Alonso could only finish seventh, the Spaniard completing 67 laps in another low-key day for Ferrari.
Bruno Senna in contrast completed 125 laps – the most of any driver – for Williams, ending the day in eighth.
Van der Garde, who was able to rejoin once his car had been recovered, was ninth, with Bianchi – unable to register a time – in tenth.
Today's times:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Rosberg Mercedes 1m17.613s 118
2. Grosjean Lotus 1m18.419s +0.806 117
3. Vettel Red Bull 1m19.297s +1.684 96
4. Hamilton McLaren 1m19.464s +1.851 80
5. Vergne Toro Rosso 1m19.734s +2.121 79
6. Perez Sauber 1m19.770s +2.157 48
7. Alonso Ferrari 1m20.412s +2.799 67
8. Senna Williams 1m21.293s +3.680 125
9. Van der Garde Caterham 1m23.324s +5.711 74
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Secret Diary of Adrian Newey Aged 53¾: Launch Control icon_must icon_latest
Well, trusty tome, we're almost due to launch the car and there is a palpable air of excitement in the building. The RB8 is about to step out of the shadows. It'll be time to show the world the new fun-loving side of Adrian Newey.
I have to be quite frank with you, diary, people often get the wrong impression about me. They think I'm some soup-obsessive, Carole Vordeman-worshipping, boffin-type technocrat who in spare moments likes nothing better than strapping on a quality double-stitched kagoule, a pair of woolly socks and stout walking boots and rambling on the North York Moors with nothing but an O.S. map and my dear wife.
Nothing could be further from the truth. I'm only mildly interested in Carole Vorderman and as we'll see in the next few weeks - a bit of a joker.
The fun will all start on February 6th when we launch the new car prior to a carefully structured test programme prepared by our computer 'Deep Thought'. Or as it's known at Milton Keynes - Adrian II. In recent years I have to confess I have been more than a tad cheesed off to see my carefully designed and beautifully executed technical ideas stolen by 'Bob - the Trendy Vicar'* and the Italian mob. So one afternoon I had a little word with Christian.
*Jana called Martin Whitmarsh this once and I'm afraid the nickname has stuck. You could certainly imagine him driving the youth group minibus.
This inestimably cunning plan calls for deception on a grand scale. What we have decided to do is design some god-awful looking car and a similarly useless exhaust system for the first test in 2012. We'll run the car considerably underweight and put rocket fuel on board. The minute it heads to the top of the timesheets we know that the C.A.D. design umpa lumpas back in Woking and Maranello will start copying it and integrate in into their cars while we reveal the real RB8 at Test No.2. Hoot hoot. Most rib-tickling.
Jana heard me chortling into the phone and wanted to know what was so funny. I pointed to the new wall-sized notice board - a little like the old Top Gear Cool Wall - which we have erected in my office. To this we will attach photos of other cars on the grid, highlighting parts of the fake and then the real RB8 that get copied through the season. At one end, the really good rip-offs, and at the other, the shoddy attempts.
Jana studied it with very little emotion then looked at me and said: "Is nice to see new things - are you also going to get soft play area for little boy who drives?"
Now, you know me well by now, faithful paper repository of my thoughts, I'm not easily moved to stern words and thundering rebukes. But I decided I had to take a very hard line with Jana and establish some boundaries.
"I think that... erm...might be a little out of order," I possibly said, "he IS a double World Champion."
"Oh?" she said, the way she does when she knows she has a winning argument. "If he is such grown-up, why does he call car 'Kinky Kylie'?
At this she smiled her 'you have no answer' smile and returned to her desk. No doubt to terrorise someone. I might have to warn Sebastian about that before he comes in next time.
Sebastian has decided he'd like to see how brake disks and pads are constructed and we arranged a trip for him to visit the Brembo factory in Italy. I thought that would be that - the brake box ticked - but now he's quite keen to see how Carbon Industries put theirs together as well, to see if he can find out if there is an advantage he can apply somewhere down the line.
To make it absolutely clear to Mark that we are giving him the same opportunities as Sebastian I rang up the Wild Australian Boy and asked him if he'd like a tour round the Brembo factory to see brake discs being made. I got a reassuring chuckle then; "No, mate."
However there was a pause on the line, when for a second I thought he might be about to change his mind. Then he asked: "Prof, which is our furthest flung supplier?"
I answered that we got some of the ignition technology from a supplier in Japan.
"Great," he said, "I'll tell Sebastian that I'm visiting them on the way out to Melbourne."
In the canteen at lunchtime on Friday and a delicious, overwhelmingly noodly, noodle-based Ka Tieu soup, with shrimp, meatballs and lashings of fried green onions. Though technically it's a broth not a soup. Christian arrived with his usual panini and iPad and grinned at me.
"What's that, shark's fin soup?" he said.
"Good gracious no," I replied, "I would never have shark's fin, even though it is considered by the Chinese as one of the eight treasured foods from the sea."
He tapped on his iPad and looked at me slightly more seriously.
"You know the Ferrari launch?"
"Yes," I chortled, "in the snow. The new Ferrari bobsleigh. Have they decided to combine it with their Wroom event next year?"
"Yes, but you know we had this plan to launch a complete ****brick of a car."
"Yes..."
"They've only gone and beaten us to it. Have a look at this..."
At this he showed me the new F2012 launch pictures. At first glance it looked very square. Like it had been designed by the technicians at Playmobil. We looked at the pictures for some while. At the front, at the side, at the back. But we kept on coming back to the ugly stepped nose.
"Not so much Maranello as Manilow," I mused and got panini spluttered back at me for my troubles.
It will be very interesting to see what Stefano (and Barry) think of our efforts on Monday...
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"Jana studied it with very little emotion then looked at me and said: "Is nice to see new things - are you also going to get soft play area for little boy who drives?"
Love it, absolutely spot on! :D
Cheers,
John
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icon_latest icon_latest
Fernando Alonso is fastest for Ferrari as Jerez F1 test comes to an end
By Sam Tremayne Friday, February 10th 2012
Fernando Alonso, Ferrari Fernando Alonso set the fastest time of the day - and the second best by a 2012 car across all four days - as Ferrari ended the pre-season test at Jerez on a positive note.
The Scuderia had struggled to get on top of the radical F2012 during the first three days but, with Alonso at the helm, it rose to the top of the timesheets early on in day four and was never displaced.
Alonso ended with a best of 1m18.877s, set at the start of a six-lap run which also included laps in the 1m19s and 1m20s. It was enough to put him seven tenths clear of the day four field, with only Romain Grosjean on the previous day able to go faster in this year's new breed of cars.
Alonso was, however, only able to set two timed laps after 11.00 CET as Ferrari grappled with a hydraulic issue that restricted its afternoon programme.
Jean-Eric Vergne hung on to second despite a late rally from Sebastian Vettel in the RB8, which had been beset by electrical issues in the morning.
Vergne finished his second day for Toro Rosso with a 1m19.597s, nine thousandths quicker than Vettel's benchmark, set in the afternoon when conditions were not at their prime.
Lewis Hamilton finished fourth, just 34 thousandths of a second down the road in McLaren's MP4-27.
Romain Grosjean did not get down to his day three benchmark, but did enough to end the day in fifth with a 1m19.729s.
Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi, taking over from Sergio Perez for the final day, sealed sixth with a 1m19.834s. A hydraulic leak on the C31 brought about one of several short red flag periods, although the team was able to repair the car and return to the track before the day's end.
Nico Hulkenberg, Bruno Senna and Jarno Trulli rounded out the day's running order.
Hulkenberg, getting his first taste of the new Force India after a planned run on Thursday afternoon was scuppered by Jules Bianchi's crash, completed 90 laps and was the last driver to break the 1m20s barrier.
Senna managed an impressive 124 laps on his way to eighth fastest. The Brazilian's day included 25 and 37-lap stints, and also featured a stoppage on track from which he and the car were quickly recovered.
Trulli, the day's other newcomer over at Caterham, completed 117 laps and finished with a best of 1m22.198s, just over three seconds down on Alonso.
TODAY'S TIMES
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Alonso Ferrari 1m18.877s 39
2. Vergne Toro Rosso 1m19.597s +0.720 80
3. Vettel Red Bull 1m19.606s +0.729 50
4. Hamilton McLaren 1m19.640s +0.763 86
5. Grosjean Lotus 1m19.729s +0.852 95
6. Kobayashi Sauber 1m19.834s +0.957 76
7. Hulkenberg Force India 1m19.977s +1.100 90
8. Senna Williams 1m20.132s +1.255 125
9. Trulli Caterham 1m22.198s +3.321 117
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Jerez Formula 1 test round-up
By Sam Tremayne Saturday, February 11th 2012,
Great anticipation surrounds the start of pre-season Formula 1 testing. With teams working from a blank canvas over the winter, there is no form book or established order. Instead there is unpredictability and expectation, great assets in any sport.
Everything must, of course, be measured against the well-beaten truism that testing can be misleading at best, and impossible to decipher at worst. Here's how the four days at Jerez panned out...
Day One
Raikkonen quickly won over his new colleaguesAs a number of teams officially unveiled their 2012 challengers, it was a returning champion who proved the revelation on day one. Kimi Raikkonen, fresh from a two-year spell in the World Rally Championship, was in good form away from the track and looked even better on it. Four fast stints in the morning put him top and he was never displaced, his 1m19.670s lap the early benchmark at Jerez.
Paul di Resta was the only man able to join Raikkonen in the sub 1m20s bracket in his Force India, although Nico Rosberg - in the 2011-spec Mercedes, blown diffuser and all – came close.
After a morning spent waiting for parts - the plane they were being transported on couldn't land at Jerez due to fog - Mark Webber enjoyed a more fruitful afternoon, putting the new RB8 fourth fastest ahead of his fellow Australian Daniel Ricciardo in the Toro Rosso. McLaren and Ferrari meanwhile made low-key starts – Jenson Button finishing eighth and Felipe Massa ninth. Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham), Pastor Maldonado (Williams) and Pedro de la Rosa in the 2011 HRT rounded out the running order.
Day Two
Michael Schumacher, MercedesMichael Schumacher set the outright pace for Mercedes on the second day, but the more significant performance came from Mark Webber, whose Red Bull was the fastest of the 2012 machines. Webber also managed 97 laps on what was a promising day for the squad. Ricciardo, on his second day for Toro Rosso, was the only driver to get within a second of Webber's benchmark.
Force India reserve driver Jules Bianchi - driving in the morning only - wound up fourth fastest ahead of day one pace-setter Raikkonen – the Finn losing much of the morning after running through the gravel at Curva Dry Sac. Di Resta then took the reins of the VJM05 and ended the day sixth ahead of Massa and Button. Sergio Perez took over Sauber duties from Kamui Kobayashi and was ninth, ahead of Maldonado. Kovalainen meanwhile got to use KERS on the Caterham for the first time, ending 11th ahead of de la Rosa.
Day Three
Nico Rosberg, MercedesThe third day was as notable for driver changes as it was for on-track action, with Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso among those getting their first taste of the 2012 machines. Nico Rosberg kept Mercedes on top, meaning that - for once - second place was of more significance. The spot was claimed in emphatic fashion by Romain Grosjean, who lapped in 1m18.419s on his first day in the Lotus. The time would stand as the fastest any 2012 car achieved across the four days.
Vettel was the only driver to get within a second of Grosjean, with Hamilton's MP4-27 less than 0.2s down the road in fourth. Jean-Eric Vergne - another newcomer - was fifth for Toro Rosso ahead of Perez's Sauber, which was afflicted by an oil transmission issue. A partisan crowd watched as Alonso continued Ferrari's low-key start by ending up seventh, ahead of the day's final newcomers Bruno Senna (Williams) and (reserve) Caterham driver Giedo van der Garde. Bitter morning conditions meanwhile proved the undoing of Force India: Bianchi's gravelly excursion at Curva Sito Pons bringing the team's day to a premature and frustrating end.
Day Four
Alonso says Ferrrai only understands 20% of the new F2012Alonso turned the tables on a difficult start to pre-season testing for Ferrari by topping the timesheets on the fourth and final day at Jerez. The Spaniard set the second fastest time by a 2012 car early in the morning, and while his running was disrupted in the afternoon he was never displaced.
His 0.7s advantage was all the more impressive given the condensed order behind him. Vergne hung on to second despite pressure from Vettel, who responded to electrical issues in the morning with a 1m19.606s in afternoon conditions less conducive to quick times.Hamilton, Grosjean and Kobayashi all got within a second of Alonso, with the Sauber a culprit of one of several short red flag periods when it sprang a hydraulic leak. Nico Hulkenberg was seventh fastest on his first day in the Force India, with Senna and Jarno Trulli completing the order as the sun set on the first pre-season test.
COMBINED JEREZ TIMES
Pos Driver Team Best time Total laps
1. Rosberg Mercedes 1m17.613s 174
2. Grosjean Lotus 1m18.419s +0.806 212
3. Schumacher Mercedes 1m18.561s +0.948 174
4. Alonso Ferrari 1m18.877s +1.264 106
5. Webber Red Bull 1m19.184s +1.571 151
6. Vettel Red Bull 1m19.297s +1.684 146
7. Hamilton McLaren 1m19.464s +1.851 166
8. Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m19.587s +1.974 157
9. Vergne Toro Rosso 1m19.597s +1.984 159
10. Raikkonen Lotus 1m19.670s +2.057 192
11. Perez Sauber 1m19.770s +2.157 116
12. Di Resta Force India 1m19.772s +2.159 170
13. Kobayashi Sauber 1m19.834s +2.221 182
14. Hulkenberg Force India 1m19.977s +2.364 90
15. Senna Williams 1m20.132s +2.519 250
16. Bianchi Force India 1m20.221s +2.608 46
17. Massa Ferrari 1m20.454s +2.841 164
18. Button McLaren 1m20.688s +3.075 147
19. Maldonado Williams 1m21.197s +3.584 122
20. Kovalainen Caterham 1m21.518s +3.905 167
21. De la Rosa HRT 1m22.128s +4.515 108
22. Trulli Caterham 1m22.198s +4.585 117
23. Van der Garde Caterham 1m23.324s +5.711 74
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The 2012 grid according to TBWG
Well thats the final part of the puzzle in place ~~~ Russian in Eyetie out! So no Italians on the grid for 2012!
As I suspected Trulli was past his sell by date and has been replaced by a Russian with a wheelbarrow full of roubles. To be fair Petrov put in a few decent drives last year so deserves to be on the grid, let's hope he justifies his place in the Caterham team.
Red Bull Sebastian Vettel Mark Webber
McLaren Jenson Button Lewis Hamilton
Ferrari Fernando Alonso Phillipe Massa
Mercedes Nico Rosberg Micheal Schumacher
Lotus Renault Kimi Raikkonen Romain Grosjean
Force India Paul DiResta Nico Hulkenberg
Sauber Kamui Koybayashi Sergio Perez
Scuderia Lollo Rosso Daniel Ricciardo Jean-Eric Vergne
Williams Bruno Senna Pastor Maldonado
Caterham F1 Heikki Kovalainen Vitaly Petrov
HRT Pedro De La Rosa Narain Karthikeyan
Maurussia Timo Glock Charles Pic
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Vettel leads the way
by Joe Saward
Sebastian Vettel set the pace on the first day of the second official winter test, which takes place this week in Barcelona. The German lapped the circuit in 1m23.265s, completing a total of 79 laps. This was nearly two-tenths of a second ahead of the Force India of Nico Hülkenberg, who did 97 laps and was just a tenth ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the new McLaren. The British driver did 114 laps in the course of the day. His time was just faster than the Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo, who completed 76 laps. The team worked on evaluating several set-up configurations with various fuel loads. The day was cut short with a technical problem that stopped the car out on track and with only one hour of the day remaining.
There was then a gap back to Fernando Alonso's Ferrari, which clocked a 1m24.100s in the course of 75 laps. The team said that the Spaniard was continuing with "the tasks of development and data acquisition relating to the behaviour of the new car". This was a tenth faster than Michael Schumacher in the new Mercedes, which completed just 51 laps.
"My initial feelings with our new car are certainly good," said Schumacher. "I'm happy with the different evaluations that we have done over the last week, but obviously with the rule changes, we won't know more until later. It's certainly an improvement and we have worked hard on the areas we had defined last year. The aerodynamics figures look good so I'm not worried about the shape of the nose! Even though we had the hydraulic problem today, I'm pleased with all the mileage we have achieved so far with the new car."
Seventh fastest was Sauber's Sergio Perez, who did only 66 laps and set a best of 1m24.219s. The team was rather vague about the problems in the morning, but had a broken rear anti-roll bar in the afternoon
There was then a big gap back to Bruno Senna, who did 97 laps but recorded only a 1m25.711s. The team said that it was "working successfully through a detailed aero correlation test programme in the morning before moving on to car set-up optimisation". Valtteri Bottas takes over tomorrow.
Senna's time was three-tenths ahead of Heikki Kovalainen's Caterham, which had a troubled time and did just 31 laps,
“That obviously wasn’t how we wanted day one here to go, but that’s what testing is for – pushing everything to the limit to make sure we get rid of the problems before we get to the first race," said The Finn. "It’s hard to learn a lot from limited laps, but I’m back in the car on Friday and I’m sure we’ll be able to push on with the program between now and then and make sure we get as much as we can out of the next three days on track.”
The problem was a rear track rod failure.
Lotus F1 Team had a bad day with Romain Grosjean stopping after just seven laps in a brand new chassis. The team concluded that there was a serious problem and the cra was sent back to the UK. The original E20 will now be flown out to Jerez for the test tomorrow.
“We completed a few aero runs and then started timed runs, but I was very quickly aware that the car wasn’t responding as it should," said Grosjean. "It’s not ideal to lose track time, but fortunately we will have the chassis which ran perfectly in Jerez so I should get some good track time tomorrow.
Charles Pic rounded off the runners with 121 laps in the 2011 Marussia Virgin, setting a best lap of 1m28.026s, but getting plenty of mileage under his belt.
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Nico Hulkenberg puts Force India on top on day two of F1 testing at Barcelona
By Sam Tremayne Wednesday, February 22nd 2012,
Nico Hulkenberg's morning efforts were enough to ensure Force India topped the second day of pre-season testing.
With the sun at its zenith in the afternoon, teams opted to pursue long-run programmes rather than chase outright times, and there was therefore little change to the morning's order.
Fernando Alonso in the F2012 was one of the rare movers, as a late 1m23.180s - set in the final 30 minutes - moved Ferrari up to fourth, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in the Toro Rosso.
The Australian was not able to register a lap until the final minutes of the afternoon, when he banged in two mid-1m25s.
Valtteri Bottas and Charles Pic were the only other drivers to ostensibly improve – the Finn registering a 1m25.738s and the Frenchman a 1m27.343s. Neither improved in the order however, staying eighth and tenth respectively.
There was still plenty to be learned though, not least from the fact that Red Bull and McLaren were both able to complete almost full race simulations runs - a useful indicator that they are fairly comfortable with their 2012 challengers.
Red Bull's performance was in stark contrast to the morning, where it managed just 31 laps, the least of any team. In the afternoon it completed a 67-lap run broken only by pitstops, with Vettel switching between tyre compounds throughout.
His run coincided with Hamilton's, with the pair at one point the only two on track and separated by less than a second – Vettel eventually working his way past after spending several laps tucked up behind the MP4-27.
Hamilton ended the day with 121 laps completed, one of five drivers – Vettel, Nico Hulkenberg, Bottas and Pic the other four – to break into triple figures.
It was Hulkenberg who ended the day on top however courtesy of a late lap in the morning session, set on Pirelli's super soft compounds.
Sergio Perez, who finished just four hundredths of a second down the road, and Ricciardo also set their best times on the red-painted rubber.
Vettel's afternoon runs married with strong pace in the morning, with the German setting the pace until Hulkenberg and Perez's late runs.
He ended the day third fastest, ahead of Alonso, Ricciardo and Hamilton.
Nico Rosberg was the last driver to get within two seconds of Hulkenberg as he got to grips with Mercedes W03 for the first time in public.
Bottas, Petrov and Pic rounded out the day's order, with Lotus deciding to abandon the test after discovering chassis problems on the opening day.
Today's times:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Hulkenberg Force India 1m22.608s 112
2. Perez Sauber 1m22.648s +0.040 85
3. Vettel Red Bull 1m22.891s +0.283 104
4. Alonso Ferrari 1m23.180s +0.572 87
5. Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m23.639s +1.031 48
6. Hamilton McLaren 1m23.806s +1.198 121
7. Rosberg Mercedes 1m24.555s +1.947 82
8. Bottas Williams 1m25.738s +3.130 117
9. Petrov Caterham 1m26.605s +3.997 69
10. Pic Marussia 1m27.343s +4.735 108
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Pastor Maldonado quickest for Williams on day three of Barcelona F1 testing
By Sam Tremayne Thursday, February 23rd 2012,
Pastor Maldonado's late morning run was enough to keep Williams at the top of the timesheets as the third and penultimate day of pre-season testing in Barcelona drew to a close.
Long runs were once again the order of the day in the afternoon, with Michael Schumacher delivering the most extensive - a 59-lap stint on only the third public day of testing for Mercedes's W03.
Vitaly Petrov was the only driver to improve upon is morning benchmark, as a switch to Pirelli's super soft rubber yielded a 1m26.448s in the final 15 minutes. He stayed tenth however, just over four seconds down on Maldonado.
The Venezuelan likewise set his best time - the fastest seen so far in Barcelona – on the red super soft compound, lapping the circuit in 1m22.391s in the more advantageous morning conditions.
Schumacher's afternoon work took him to 127 laps for the day, the most by any driver. He ended second fastest as a result of his morning pace, just over nine tenths down on Maldonado.
Kamui Kobayashi was next up for Sauber, completing 99 laps in the C31.
Jenson Button was the last driver to dip under the 1m24s bracket in the morning, while in the afternoon he managed a total of 74 laps – often in individual stints of around ten laps, punctuated by short stops in the garage.
Jean-Eric Vergne finished fifth for Toro Rosso, ahead of Mark Webber in the Red Bull and Felipe Massa in the Ferrari – the latter pair sharing the exact same time of 1m24.771s.
Massa brought the day to a slightly premature halt when he stopped on the exit of the pitlane two minutes from the end. Mark Webber had earlier stopped out on track at Turn 8, one of several short red flag interludes.
Paul di Resta, taking over from yesterday's pacesetter Nico Hulkenberg at Force India, set the eighth fastest time, ahead of Timo Glock in the 2011-spec Marussia.
Despite his afternoon improvement Vitaly Petrov rounded out the day's runners in the Caterham CT 01.
Today's times:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Maldonado Williams 1m22.391s 106
2. Schumacher Mercedes 1m23.384s +0.993 127
3. Kobayashi Sauber 1m23.582s +1.191 99
4. Button McLaren 1m23.918s +1.527 114
5. Vergne Toro Rosso 1m24.433s +2.042 78
6. Webber Red Bull 1m24.771s +2.380 97
7. Massa Ferrari 1m24.771s +2.380 84
8. Di Resta Force India 1m25.646s +3.255 83
9. Glock Marussia 1m26.173s +3.782 108
10. Petrov Caterham 1m26.448s +4.057 70
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Kamui Kobayashi fastest as first Barcelona F1 test ends
By Sam Tremayne Friday, February 24th 2012,
Kamui Kobayashi put Sauber at the top of the timesheets as Formula 1's second pre-season test closed.
The Japanese driver managed a 1m22.312s on Pirelli's soft compound in the final hour of the morning, the fastest time set over all four days in Barcelona.
Having ended the morning fastest, Kobayashi's time came under little threat in the afternoon as teams followed the established pattern of focusing on long runs.
The same was true of Pastor Maldonado, who got within a quarter of a second of Kobayashi in the morning before focusing purely on long runs in the afternoon - in the process racking up 131 laps over the course of the day.
Paul di Resta was the only driver to move up the order in the final session, as a switch to supersoft rubber produced a 1m23.119s - enough to demote Jenson Button and claim third.
Di Resta brought about one of the day's three red flags when he went off into the gravel on the outside of Campsa during the morning. The second and third came in the final 15 minutes, as a result of 'out of fuel' runs for Sauber and McLaren respectively.
McLaren driver Button was the last driver to get within a second of Kobayashi, although the Briton set his fastest time relatively early on in the morning on hard tyres.
Like Button and the three drivers ahead in the timesheets, Felipe Massa's lap chart also broke into triple figures. The Brazilian ended the day fifth fastest in the F2012, and completed several runs of around 13 laps each in the afternoon.
Mark Webber and Jean-Eric Vergne both added to their lap counts in the afternoon, but with neither improving their times, stayed sixth and seventh, separated by just 0.018s.
Nico Rosberg achieved 139 laps during the day, second only to Kobayashi, after completing a full race simulation in the morning and several shorter runs in the afternoon.
The German ended the day eighth fastest, ahead of Heikki Kovalainen in the Caterham CT 01.
The Finn's day was interrupted by an electrical problem that forced the team to make an engine change, but he was eventually able to complete 70 laps. His best time came late in the afternoon.
A suspension problem meant Marussia was unable to complete a lap on the final day of testing for its 2011 car; the new MR 01 set to be unveiled in time for the third and final pre-season test.
Friday's times:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Kobayashi Sauber 1m22.312s 145
2. Maldonado Williams 1m22.561s +0.249 134
3. Di Resta Force India 1m23.119s +0.807 101
4. Button McLaren 1m23.200s +0.888 115
5. Massa Ferrari 1m23.563s +1.251 103
6. Webber Red Bull 1m23.774s +1.462 85
7. Vergne Toro Rosso 1m23.792s +1.480 92
8. Rosberg Mercedes 1m23.843s +1.531 139
9. Kovalainen Caterham 1m26.968s +4.656 70
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Romain Grosjean quickest for Lotus on day one of F1 testing at Barcelona
By Andrew van Leeuwen Thursday, March 1st 2012,
Romain Grosjean made sure Lotus' return to testing was a positive one by going fastest on day one of the final pre-season Formula 1 test in Barcelona.
The Frenchman waited until there was less than 30 minutes remaining for the day before he set the benchmark time of 1m23.252s, using a set of Pirelli's soft tyres to eclipse Jenson Button's fastest time from the morning's session.
Faster times were a rarity in the afternoon sessions, with teams opting to use the stable track conditions to go for longer runs. Grosjean was one of only two drivers to improve after lunch, the other being Red Bull Racing's Mark Webber.
However, Webber was only able to shave a tenth off his best morning time, leaving him behind Button and Perez - both with morning times – in fourth for the day.
Behind Webber it was Nico Rosberg, the Mercedes driver the busiest of the day with 128 laps for the day, mostly completed over long stints. Jean-Eric Vergne was sixth fastest, with Toro Rosso dedicating much of the last hour to pitstop practice.
Felipe Massa had a busy afternoon, eventually completing 105 laps for the day, despite a lengthy stay in the pits after lunch. However, his best time was only good enough for eighth.
Vitaly Petrov, subbing for the ill Heikki Kovalainen, was the second busiest man of the day, putting the new Caterham through 123 laps.
His reward was avoiding the bottom of the time sheets, with Petrov ending the day 0.711s clear of Pastor Maldonado, the Williams driver completing the least number of laps for the day with just 58.
Testing resumes tomorrow at Barcelona.
Today's times
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Grosjean Lotus 1m23.252s 73
2. Button McLaren 1m23.510s +0.258 64
3. Perez Sauber 1m23.820s +0.568 118
4. Webber Red Bull 1m23.830s +0.578 102
5. Rosberg Mercedes 1m23.992s +0.740 128
6. Vergne Toro Rosso 1m24.216s +0.964 113
7. Di Resta Force India 1m24.305s +1.053 98
8. Massa Ferrari 1m24.318s +1.066 105
9. Petrov Caterham 1m24.876s +1.624 123
10. Maldonado Williams 1m25.587s +2.335 58
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$ bike038
Romain Grosjean fastest again on second day of F1 testing at Barcelona
By Andrew van Leeuwen Friday, March 2nd 2012,
Romain Grosjean has become the first driver to go fastest on two separate days in pre-season Formula 1 testing, topping the times on the second day in Barcelona.
Having been third fastest in the morning session, Grosjean was busy after lunch, completing a full 60-lap race simulation in the Lotus, using Pirelli's soft and hard compounds.
He backed that up with a series of fast laps, setting the benchmark time of 1m22.614s with just minutes remaining, on a set of soft tyres.
Jean-Eric Vergne ended the day second, despite not completing a flying lap following the lunch break. The Toro Rosso stopped and briefly caught fire with an engine problem right before lunch in Barcelona, bringing out the red flag.
While a full race simulation was planned for the afternoon session, the STR7 didn't appear again until within half an hour of the session's end, and was restricted to pitstop practice.
Neither Vergne nor Grosjean will be back in their respective cars for the rest of the test, with Daniel Ricciardo set to take over for Toro Rosso tomorrow, and Kimi Raikkonen jumping into the Lotus.
Sebastian Vettel was one of the big movers of the afternoon session, improving to a 1m23.361s to jump from fourth to third.
Behind Vettel it was Fernando Alonso, who didn't improve on his morning time, focussing instead on a full race simulation using soft and medium compound tyres.
Heikki Kovalainen was fifth thanks to a run on the supersofts, while Kamui Kobayashi improved to sixth before spending most of the afternoon in the pits, the Sauber sidelined by a hydraulic leak.
It was a similar story for seventh-placed Nico Hulkenberg, his Force India stopping with a drive-line problem just minutes after lunch and never reappearing.
Michael Schumacher improved his time slightly, but still finished the day eighth, while Lewis Hamilton failed to improve, finishing ahead of the Williams pair of Bruno Senna and Pastor Maldonado.
Today's times:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Grosjean Lotus 1m22.614s 123
2. Vergne Toro Rosso 1m23.126s +0.512 31
3. Vettel Red Bull 1m23.361s +0.747 85
4. Alonso Ferrari 1m23.447s +0.833 124
5. Kovalainen Caterham 1m23.828s +1.214 104
6. Kobayashi Sauber 1m23.836s +1.222 77
7. Hulkenberg Force India 1m23.893s +1.279 33
8. Schumacher Mercedes 1m23.978s +1.364 79
9. Hamilton McLaren 1m24.111s +1.497 65
10. Senna Williams 1m24.925s +2.311 48
11. Maldonado Williams 1m25.801s +3.187 20
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Jeez this testing goes on a bit!!
Sergio Perez on top for Sauber at end of third day of final winter Formula 1 test
By Jamie O'Leary Saturday, March 3rd 2012,
Sergio Perez remained on top of the timesheets for Sauber on day three of the final pre-season Formula 1 test at Barcelona on Saturday, despite not improving on his morning mark.
The Mexican, who had reached the lunchbreak on top thanks to his 1m22.094s lap on soft Pirelli rubber, joined most of the rest of the field in concentrating on race simulations with heavy fuel loads during the afternoon.
Jenson Button was one of the few drivers not to undertake a long run in the afternoon. The McLaren driver made the most of medium compound tyres and a lower fuel load to climb to second place, only 0.009 seconds adrift of Perez.
Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) completed the most laps of anybody - 130 - and this included an impressive 35-lap stint on a succession of sets of soft tyres. A further run of a similar distance was shortened by the onset of mid-afternoon rain. The track did not dry enough to enable anybody to switch back to slicks before the end of the day.
Felipe Massa was fourth fastest in the Ferrari and was, like Ricciardo, one of the few to take to the track on intermediate rubber during the height of the rain. Paul di Resta was next up for Force India, the British driver just managing to finish his 52-lap race simulation as the rain began to fall.
There was only one flag during the afternoon, caused when Bruno Senna stopped on the approach to the La Caixa hairpin. The Williams driver was sixth fastest.
Behind him were Heikki Kovalainen's Caterham and the Red Bull of Mark Webber - which completed just a single run of more than five laps during the entire day.
Propping up the timesheets were Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg and Lotus man Kimi Raikkonen. The 2007 world champion lost over an hour during the morning while an issue with his steering was rectified and only completed 43 laps during the day.
TODAY'S TIMES
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Perez Sauber 1m22.094s 114
2. Button McLaren 1m22.103s +0.009 44
3. Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m22.155s +0.061 131
4. Massa Ferrari 1m22.413s +0.319 122
5. Di Resta Force India 1m22.446s +0.352 108
6. Senna Williams 1m22.480s +0.386 111
7. Kovalainen Caterham 1m22.630s +0.536 64
8. Webber Red Bull 1m22.662s +0.568 70
9. Rosberg Mercedes 1m22.932s +0.838 129
10. Raikkonen Lotus 1m25.379s +3.285 43
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Well thats your lot final day blurb!
Kimi Raikkonen quickest as F1 winter testing comes to an end at Barcelona
By Jamie O'Leary Sunday, March 4th 2012,
Kimi Raikkonen ensured that Lotus finished pre-season Formula 1 testing on top as nobody was able to beat his morning time on the final afternoon at Barcelona.
Most of the field spent the afternoon focusing on race simulations, meaning that Raikkonen's 1m22.030s lap, set inside the final 20 minutes of the morning, was unlikely to come under fire.
The Lotus driver's race simulation was among the most impressive of the day as he completed a 65-lap run on four sets of Pirelli tyres; three soft, one hard. During these stints he suffered performance drop-off of no more than 1.8s on any given set of tyres.
While his drop-off figures were the best of the race simulations, his overall pace was still shy of Lewis Hamilton's McLaren, which seemed to have a 0.2s advantage on any given lap of a stint.
With nobody improving, Fernando Alonso retained second spot in the times - 0.220s down on Raikkonen.
The Ferrari driver's race run was affected by a couple of red flags caused by Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber - which suffered an engine problem and stopped between Turns 4 and 5 – and Vitaly Petrov's Caterham, which took a trip through the gravel at Turn 4 with half an hour to go.
Bruno Senna remained third overall, despite the Brazilian being replaced by his team-mate Pastor Maldonado for the afternoon. Maldonado completed 48 laps – which included two stints on supersofts – putting him ninth.
Nico Hulkenberg's Force India and Kobayashi were next up, ahead of Hamilton, Petrov and Michael Schumacher's Mercedes, which focused on a succession of 10-lap runs on soft tyres.
Daniel Ricciardo's Toro Rosso and the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel brought up the tail of the field. Vettel completed just six laps right at the end of the day; his RB8 having to be cured of gearbox problems that had also restricted his morning running.
Today's times:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Raikkonen Lotus 1m22.030s 121
2. Alonso Ferrari 1m22.250s +0.220 115
3. Senna Williams 1m22.296s +0.266 53
4. Hulkenberg Force India 1m22.312s +0.282 101
5. Kobayashi Sauber 1m22.386s +0.356 72
6. Hamilton McLaren 1m22.430s +0.400 115
7. Petrov Caterham 1m22.795s +0.765 101
8. Schumacher Mercedes 1m22.939s +0.909 100
9. Maldonado Williams 1m23.347s +1.317 48
10. Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m23.393s +1.363 100
11. Vettel Red Bull 1m23.608s +1.578 23
Well the next appearance is Melbourne when the Bu***hit stops wildman
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Come on Melbourne can't wait and i think Lotus will surprise this year i think the title is out of there reach but maybe they will win races good to see if they do
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Return of the ICEMAN redman
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F1Bums buttslap
Check this out ~~~~
http://www.buriramexpats.com/forum/index.php/topic,5587.0.html
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Doh !!! wrong thread!
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Well folks your on your own for Oz practice as I am on a whirlwind tour of Cambo with Prackonchai Travel services (non ABTA member) and feeling beered out.
Then off to Malaysia for your inside coverage of the GP (BE please arrange my press credentials as usual) whistle
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Hi
Needed to get out of the sun for a few hours so here are the latest details via Joe Saward.
Michael Schumacher set the fastest time of the second session in Melbourne, but while the Germans got very excited about the idea of a new era of Silver Arrows domination (Plan B), the identity of the man in 12th place on the timesheets put things into perspective. Timo Glock is a talented fellow, but the Marussia has done few laps and his lap time suggested that perhaps Friday times are not that important. Others with fleeter cars were keeping their powder dry. The session began with a rather soggy race track but the weather improved and a dry line eventually widened, allowing the times to improve, but anyone who believes that this will be the order tomorrow needs to have a sit down in a darkened room.
Second fastest was Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India ahead of Sergio Perez's Sauber, Fernando Alonso's Ferrari and the Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi. Paul di Resta was next in the second Force India, followed by Felipe Massa's Ferrari and Heikki Kovalainen's Caterham. Ninth fastest was Nico Rosberg with Sebastian Vettel 10th, ahead of Mark Webber and Glock.
Next up was Vitaly Petrov in the second Caterham, ahead of Romain Grosjean's Lotus, the two McLarens of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton and Pastor Maldonado's Williams. Kimi Raikkonen was next in line ahead of Bruno Senna, Jean-Eric Vergne, Daniel Ricciardo, Charles Pic, Narain Karthikeyan and Pedro de la Rosa.
Who knows what tomorrow will bring? boxingguy
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Lewis Hamilton leads all-McLaren front row greatbritainflag at the Australian Grand Prix australiaflag
By Matt Beer Saturday, March 17th 2012,
Lewis Hamilton got McLaren's bid to topple Red Bull in the 2012 Formula 1 title race off to a flying start as he took a commanding pole position for the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, ahead of team-mate Jenson Button, while world champion Sebastian Vettel was only sixth.
Hamilton's 1m24.922s lap in Q3 put him 0.7 seconds clear of his rivals at first, and proved unbeatable.
Romain Grosjean took a spectacular third for Lotus on his F1 return, while Michael Schumacher achieved his best qualifying result for Mercedes in fourth, and the Red Bulls had to settle for row three, with Mark Webber outqualifying Vettel.
Further back, Ferrari's fears of an awful start to the campaign came true as neither of its cars reached the top 10, and Kimi Raikkonen's F1 comeback got off to a surprisingly bad start as he was eliminated in Q1.
Hamilton looked assured of pole after his first Q3 run, and although his rivals closed in, none could match his time.
Instead they fought over second place, which changed hands in quick succession in the closing moments as Webber - who chose to do just one Q3 run - Schumacher, Grosjean and finally Button took turns to close in on Hamilton.
Vettel never looked like being a pole contender and his sixth place was his worst qualifying result since he took the same position at Monza in 2010.
Mercedes had appeared like a pole threat as it led the way in Q2, but Schumacher and team-mate Nico Rosberg had to be content with fourth and seventh.
Neither Ferrari got beyond Q2. Fernando Alonso spun into the Turn 1 gravel after his first run in the middle segment, causing a brief red flag. Fifth at the time, he could only furiously watch as others pushed him down to 12th.
But that was still better than Felipe Massa could manage. The Brazilian was a second off his team-mate in both Q1 (which he only just squeezed out of) and Q2, despite having more runs than the sidelined Alonso. Massa ended up 16th.
Raikkonen's disastrous first qualifying session back in F1 was the final big story of the afternoon. The Finn made a mistake on his last Q1 run then backed off thinking he had time for another flying lap, only to run out of seconds and strand his Lotus in 18th.
At the tail end of the Q3 field, Pastor Maldonado gave Williams huge encouragement after its tough 2011 season with eighth place, and Nico Hulkenberg claimed ninth for Force India in his first race back after a year as reserve.
Daniel Ricciardo made sure that both F1's Australians will start from the top 10 as he got his Toro Rosso into the pole shoot-out, although he did not complete a flying lap in Q3. Jean-Eric Vergne only just missed joining his team-mate in Q3, lapping a tenth slower as he secured 11th for his maiden grand prix start.
Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi set a surprise fastest time in Q1, but could not replicate that performance and qualified only 13th. Team-mate Sergio Perez lines up 17th after failing to set a Q2 time due to gearbox problems.
Bruno Senna (Williams) and Paul di Resta (Force India) were outperformed by their Q3-bound team-mates and were only 14th and 15th.
The tail of the field looked much like 2011. Caterham was some way off Q2 pace but clearly ahead of Marussia, while the HRTs failed to make the 107 per cent cut-off time, with Narain Karthikeyan also blocking Alonso along the way.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m24.922s
2. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m25.074s + 0.152
3. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m25.302s + 0.380
4. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m25.336s + 0.414
5. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m25.651s + 0.729
6. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m25.668s + 0.746
7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m25.686s + 0.764
8. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m25.908s + 0.986
9. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m26.451s + 1.529
10. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari No time
Q2 cut-off time: 1m26.319s Gap **
11. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m26.429s + 0.960
12. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m26.4942 + 1.025
13. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m26.590s + 1.121
14. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m26.663s + 1.194
15. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m27.086s + 1.617
16. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m27.497s + 2.028
17. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari No time
Q1 cut-off time: 1m27.633s Gap *
18. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m27.758s + 1.576
19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m28.679s + 2.497
20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m29.018s + 2.836
21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m30.923s + 4.741
22. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m31.670s + 5.488
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m33.495s + 7.313
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m33.643s + 7.461
107% time: 1m32.214s
* Gap to quickest in Q1
** Gap to quickest in Q2
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Jenson Button storms to Australian Grand Prix victory bravo1
By Matt Beer Sunday, March 18th 2012,
Jenson Button opened the 2012 Formula 1 world championship with a commanding victory for McLaren in the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
World champion Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) managed to get up to second from sixth on the grid, fending off pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton's McLaren and the second Red Bull of Mark Webber.
Fernando Alonso salvaged fifth place from Ferrari's difficult weekend, having proved much more competitive in the race.
Button claimed the lead at the start with a better getaway than his pole-sitting team-mate, and then quickly established a lead of three seconds, which stayed stable through the opening stint.
The two Mercedes occupied third and fourth initially, but Vettel overtook Nico Rosberg on the second lap, and Michael Schumacher's run in third lasted only until lap 10, when he retired with a gearbox problem. That elevated Vettel into third, but the champion was 12 seconds down on the McLarens by then and could make little impression.
Third-place qualifier Romain Grosjean (Lotus) dropped to sixth off the line, and was another early retirement when he clashed with Williams's Pastor Maldonado on lap two. Maldonado would lose ground with a trip through the Turn 6 gravel three laps later, but rejoined in ninth.
The gap between the McLarens grew to 10s at the first stops when Hamilton emerged behind Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) and Sergio Perez (Sauber), who were running extremely long first stints.
That allowed a train of cars to develop for second, as Vettel gained and brought Alonso - who made a great start then jumped Rosberg in the first pitstops - with him, and Rosberg, Webber and the recovering Maldonado closed in too. Webber had initially fallen back with a poor start and a first corner clash with Force India's Nico Hulkenberg, who had to retire.
The lead order remained static until Vitaly Petrov's Caterham brought out a safety car by stopping on the pits straight with a steering problem in the middle of the final pitstop sequence.
The McLarens had both just stopped, whereas Vettel had not, and the Red Bull was able to get in for its tyre change under the safety car and get back out between Button and Hamilton.
Vettel was still no threat to Button, though, as the 2009 champion confidently pulled away from his successor at the restart and left the Red Bull to fend off Hamilton through the final stint.
Webber also benefited from pitting under the safety car to get in front of Alonso at the last stops. The Ferrari could not keep up with the Red Bull thereafter, and as Webber chased Vettel and Hamilton home, Alonso had to focus on successfully defending fifth from Maldonado - who made the task easier when he crashed heavily on the very last lap.
Behind, a huge battle between the Saubers of one-stopper Perez and Kamui Kobayashi, Rosberg's Mercedes - which fell back with tyre wear and early pitstops - and Raikkonen also ended in last-lap drama, as Kobayashi emerged with sixth ahead of Raikkonen and Perez, while Rosberg's Mercedes jammed in second gear and tumbled to 12th.
The final-lap chaos ahead allowed Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo to pick up his first F1 points at home with ninth place, despite having lost ground in a first-corner clash with Bruno Senna (Williams), which also sent Jean-Eric Vergne off the road in the sister Toro Rosso. Paul di Resta completed the top 10 for Force India.
Felipe Massa briefly made it into the top 10 in the second Ferrari, but struggled with poor pace and high tyre wear, making three stops and falling back to 13th before retiring with damage following a collision with Senna.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The Australian Grand Prix
Albert Park, Australia;
58 laps; 307.574km;
Weather: Sunny.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1h34:09.565
2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 2.100
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 4.000
4. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 4.500
5. Alonso Ferrari + 21.500
6. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 36.700
7. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 38.000
8. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 39.400
9. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 39.500
10. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 39.700
11. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 39.800
12. Rosberg Mercedes + 57.600
13. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 1 lap
14. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
15. Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps
16. Senna Williams-Renault + 4 laps
Fastest lap: Button, 1:29.187
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Massa Ferrari 47
Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 42
Petrov Caterham-Renault 37
Schumacher Mercedes 11
Grosjean Lotus-Renault 2
Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1
Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1
De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1
World Championship standings, round 1:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Button 25 1. McLaren-Mercedes 40
2. Vettel 18 2. Red Bull-Renault 30
3. Hamilton 15 3. Sauber-Ferrari 12
4. Webber 12 4. Ferrari 10
5. Alonso 10 5. Lotus-Renault 6
6. Kobayashi 8 6. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2
7. Raikkonen 6 7. Force India-Mercedes 1
8. Perez 4
9. Ricciardo 2
10. Di Resta 1
All timing unofficial
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Malaysian GP - Sunday - Race Results
Malaysian Grand Prix Results - 25 March 2012 - 56 Laps
POS DRIVER NATIONALITY ENTRANT LAPS TIME/RETIRE
1. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari 56 2h44m51.812
2. Sergio Perez Mexico Sauber-Ferrari 56 2.263
3. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 56 14.591
4. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 56 17.688
5. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Lotus-Renault 56 29.456
6. Bruno Senna Brazil Williams-Renault 56 37.667
7. Paul di Resta Britain Force India-Mercedes 56 44.412
8. Jean-Eric Vergne France Toro Rosso-Ferrari 56 46.985
9. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Force India-Mercedes 56 47.892
10. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes GP 56 49.996
11. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 56 1m15.527
12. Daniel Ricciardo Australia Toro Rosso-Ferrari 56 1m16.828
13. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes GP 56 1m18.593
14. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 56 1m19.719
15. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari 56 1m37.319
16. Vitaly Petrov Russia Caterham-Renault 55 1 Lap
17. Timo Glock Germany Marussia-Cosworth 55 1 Lap
18. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Caterham-Renault 55 1 Lap
19. Pastor Moldonado Venezuela Williams-Renault 54 Engine
20. Charles Pic France Marussia-Cosworth 54 2 Laps
21. Narain Karthikeyan India HRT-Cosworth 54 2 Laps
22. Pedro de la Rosa Spain HRT-Cosworth 54 2 Laps
R Kamui Kobayashi Japan Sauber-Ferrari 46 Brakes
R Romain Grosjean France Lotus-Renault 3 Spin
FASTEST LAP:
Kimi Raikkonen Finland Lotus-Renault 53 1:40.722
Race Report ~~~~~~~~~
BY TONY DODGINS
After the final pre-season test in Barcelona, if anyone had suggested that Fernando Alonso would be five points clear at the top of the championship table after the first two races of 2012, they would have been certified insane.
As Alonso himself said in Australia, the plan was to approach the opening races in damage limitation mode with a recalcitrant Ferrari F2012. So what better method than to take full advantage of a mixed conditions Malaysian GP to score 25 points at a time when Ferrari had no business to be thinking of a podium never mind a win!
The star of the show was undoubtedly Sergio Perez, who finished second and could -- perhaps even should -- have won.
Sauber, of course, uses Ferrari engines. Would Perez have been allowed to triumph and take points from Alonso? The conspiracy theorists can have a field day conjecturing about that.
The foundation of Perez's excellent result was the decision to pit at the end of the opening lap for full wets after everyone except Narain Karthikeyan had started the wet race on intermediates.
It took the significant runners another three or four laps to follow suit, by which time Perez had the Sauber established in third place, with only the front row-starting McLarens ahead.
As conditions worsened the Safety Car was deployed and then the race was neutralised by a red flag after eight laps, before a 50 minute delay saw it resume behind the Safety Car with the whole field compelled to restart on full wet tyres.
One winner was Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne who, having started 18th, soldiered on with his intermediates and was now seventh with the benefit of a free tyre change to full wets before the restart.
After five slow laps behind the official Mercedes we were racing again, with the top 10: Hamilton, Button, Perez, Webber, Alonso, Vettel, Vergne, Massa, Rosberg and Karthikeyan.
Button, Rosberg, Raikkonen and Senna of the significant runners pitted immediately to go back onto intermediates, with Hamilton, Alonso, Webber, Massa, Di Resta, Maldonado, Schumacher, Ricciardo and Kovalainen all filing in next time around.
Although Hamilton was first of those into the pitlane on lap 14, a constant stream of traffic followed him in, meaning McLaren could not release him safely and he lost track position to Alonso.
Perez led until he pitted a lap later, rejoining second behind Alonso, while Button had a costly contact with Karthikeyan's HRT, which he was racing for position after his stop, and was forced to stop again for a new nose, dropping him from contention.
The surprising thing was that on intermediates Alonso and Perez comfortably had the legs of everyone, the Ferrari opening up a 5s advantage over the Sauber and Perez easing 7s clear of Hamilton's McLaren.
On lap 17, Button, having taken another set of intermediates when he stopped for his new nose, lapped over a second faster than the leaders in clear air down in 20th place but within a couple of laps his pace had dropped off as he hit traffic and could not maintain tyre temperature.
That, and the fact that Hamilton could not keep pace with Alonso and Perez made you wonder whether McLaren's MP4-27 was a little bit too stiff to suit the softer, more compliant set-up characteristics which reap reward on a wet track.
With 29 of the 56 laps down, Alonso had the lead out to 7.5s but then Perez started to come back at him. Ten laps later the Sauber was just 1.3s behind as a dry line started to emerge and Ricciardo did the team strategists a favour by going onto slicks.
Was it too soon? No. Immediately the young Australian started to record purple (fastest) sectors on the timing monitors.
Alonso peeled into the pitlane on lap 40 and you expected Perez to follow him, but the Sauber went round again.
That, and a slow release, the Mexican claiming a clutch problem, had the doubters wondering if Sauber was really trying to win this one. Once they were both back up to speed again - Alonso on options and Perez on primes -- the Ferrari was more than 7s to the good once more. The only real explanation for the extra lap was that at that point there was the threat of more rain, although a used set of intermediates would have fared little better than slicks if the rain had arrived.
Just three laps later though, Perez had the gap down to 3.2s again and with eight laps to go, was in DRS range for the first time. It was then that a radio message went out: "Be careful, Checo, we need this position..."
Was it coded instruction not to pass Alonso? Had Perez done so, might there have been a large gap behind his shoulders where the engine should be at the Chinese GP?
We'll never know because on lap 50, with six to go, Perez dropped his left front onto the wet kerb in Turn 13 and cost himself 5s, giving Alonso welcome breathing space to reel off his 28th GP victory.
Perez crossed the line just 2.2s behind, the first Mexican to finish on the podium since Pedro Rodriguez brought his BRM home 8s behind Jacky Ickx in the Dutch GP at Zandvoort in 1971.
So, had it been a team order to Perez?
"What we meant was, get the car home, the result is important for us," said Sauber's CEO Monisha Kaltenborn. "There was nothing else to it, it was no instruction and maybe just our poor English!"
Certainly it was delight and not disappointment that was the over-riding emotion down at Sauber.
Hamilton, for the second weekend in a row, started from pole and finished third: "I can be satisfied," he said. "I would have liked more points but I can't complain about being on the podium for the second weekend running."
Mark Webber finished fourth for the second consecutive race too, while his world champion team mate punctured his left rear tyre in a lap 47 collision with Narain Karthikeyan while lapping the HRT, needing an extra stop.
Vettel rejoined 12th and crossed the line 11th and without points when the luckless Pastor Maldonado was forced to pit from 10th with two laps to go, his engine smoking.
Fifth was Kimi Raikkonen, who came alive in the final stint on a set of primes, repeatedly setting fastest lap. What with his qualifying problems in Australia and his gearbox change and five place grid demotion at Sepang, Raikkonen's pace has not yet fully appeared on the radar. Once Lotus has a 'normal' race it will do, and there is every reason to suspect that the 2007 champion will be challenging at the very front.
Bruno Senna was delighted with a fine sixth place for Williams, ahead of Paul Di Resta, Jean-Eric Vergne, Nico Hulkenberg and Michael Schumacher, who took the only point for Mercedes after a strong qualifying performance.
Schumacher was tagged by Romain Grosjean on the opening lap, the pair spinning to the tail of the field before Grosjean retired in the gravel trap after three laps.
Nico Rosberg again found high tyre degradation on the intermediates and needed to stop for a fresh set, indicating that a bugbear of the car in Australia is still prevalent, although he looked more competitive on dry Pirellis.
Felipe Massa was a lowly 15th after also suffering high degradation on his intermediates.
In the light of pre-race calls for Massa's head from the Italian media, with many suggesting that Perez should replace him, one can only speculate what race engineer Rob Smedley's post-race message may have been.
Perhaps, "Do you want the bad news or the really bad news? Fernando was faster than you. By 97 seconds to be precise. And Sergio Perez finished second in a Sauber..."
Although the team gave Massa a vote of confidence over the weekend, it may have been the sort that football club chairmen give under-fire managers. It probably won't have escaped the Brazilian's notice that team principal Stefano Domenicali was not slow to heap praise on Perez and to point out that he was a member of the Ferrari young driver academy...
Peter Sauber, for his part, said that he wants to hang onto the Mexican and suggested that he believes it is better for Perez to learn in the Hinwil environment rather than cope, before he is ready, with the pressure that a set of red overalls bring.
Alonso, meanwhile, is nothing if not pragmatic.
"This changes nothing," he said. "We are in a position we don't want to be in -- fighting to go into Q3 and for points when we want to be fighting for pole positions and victories. The win makes up happy today and in the factory for the next two days, but it doesn't affect our determination to improve the car."
Alonso, who loves Sepang, has now won in Malaysia for Renault, McLaren and Ferrari. Going to bed, he probably didn't quite believe it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well thats nicked somebody else's report but stayed tuned for my alternative slant on the Malaysian 2012 GP, "Tarts & Burgers"
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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F1, tarts and burgers sounds more interesting than Thai football :o
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Tarts & Burgers
Well here we are sitting in the grandstand at the first corner in Sepang determined to give all you avid F1 followers an in depth report on the unreported side of the F1 world.
So at great personal inconvenience and expense here is my slant on the GP.
But first of all I would like to get something off my chest and personally thank all our Muslim brothers for having to remove my belt and shoes as well as unpack my computer 3 times before I can even get out of Thailand not to mention going through the whole procedure again to get into Malaysia. No wonder they get bad press! On the positive side must be a great business opportunity for a belt with no metal components!
Back to the GP it's 3.58 pm and the race is due to get underway (Late start so European viewers don't have to get up to early! bless em).
Right on cue it starts to rain, now this is not an unknown phenomenon in Malaysia but still they persist at the late start, not a problem as an interesting race normally follows.
I will now shed some light on other races i.e long distance sports cars, at Le Mans for instance they race for 24 hours non stop at speeds higher than F1 cars in all weather and obviously through the night with typical driver stints of 3 hours.
Now in Malaysia someone decides that after 10 laps the rain is too heavy and the race is stopped (red flagged). I recall that in China a few years back that the race was started under worse conditions behind the course car, so has health & safety permeated its way into F1? it would seem so.
I am not being flippant but these guys are supposedly the best drivers in the world paid sums that we can only dream about and do this because they love it and some even rejoice in the name "rainmeister", nobody forces them to sit in the car.
Pirelli also spend shed loads of moolah producing and carting around the globe several hundred round black things called extreme wet tyres, what is the point.
I suspect a straw pole of the drivers would show that they were prepared to race, but the FIA now persist in covering their ar*e making the drivers appear to be a lot of TARTS or worse still big girls blouses!
Check this out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMBrR2J2EZg&feature=related
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
PS Burgers to follow!
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Burgers & Tarts Part 2
Having recently experienced the food & drink gestapo at the Indian GP I suppose I should have anticipated issues here, however, I had hoped common sense would prevail as I wrongly assumed they where not as wedded to colonial red tape as the Indians.
Silly me, burgers and sandwiches are obviously considered as weapons of mass destruction and must be confiscated at all costs. steamingMad I suppose I have some sympathy as I have had the odd burger that has reduced me to taking sanctuary in the bunker (read toilet) for days at a time!
Judging by the pile of discarded food at the entrance a lot of people had spent a lot of money in preparing and buying food only to be considered as a possible suicide bomber and deprived of their method of delivery for their exploding sausage!
Or am I just being niave? Surely they would not use this as a pretext to flog more overpriced undercooked cold burgers and chips at extorionate prices!
Being the devils advocate this could be considered a life saver as some of the food I have seen barbequed by spectators at Silverstone could be considered as biological warfare!
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
Admin please add pics!
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Admin please add pics!
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The Secret Diary of Adrian Newey Aged 53¾: Sepang
Adrian and the team haven't enjoyed the best start to a season, he's been unable to de-hire his antagonistic Webbo-loving secretary...
Well, trusty tome, it's been a most tiresome start to a grand prix season. I must confess I have turned the air blue on several occasions with my intemperate outbursts. "Crikey, most crikey, and crikey again!" I have uttered more than once and even the odd "botheration!" Foul language of that nature is inexcusable I know, but the vexations of bad luck combined with the FIA haven't helped my humour.
Australia didn't turn out too badly given Mark's rather tardy start, Sebastian showing that he's thoroughly able to drive a combative race if he has to. His overtaking move on Nico Rosberg early in the race had all the hustle and bustle of a young Gilles Villeneuve. Yes, it would have been nice to have a fully working KERS at the first grand prix, but as Mark remarked in his typical laid-back Aussie style: "What you've never had, Prof, you never miss."
Malaysia was an infernal nuisance with the calamity of Sebastian's shredded tyre courtesy of what Sebastian dubbed the Indian takeaway (that's a points take-away, not two lamb bhunas and a tarka dahl). Then there was the radio that didn't work properly with Guillaume reduced to shouting into the microphone: "We're going to retire the car, we're going to retire the car, we're going to retire the car, we're going to retire the car." Which, strangely, reminded me of the nursery rhyme: "Here we go round the mulberry bush, the mulberry bush, the mulberry bush". What was clear from the weekend is that McLaren are excelling at high-speed curves now. That hurts more than anything else.
And on top of that we have the FIA telling us that the Mercedes Movable Aerodynamic Device, or the W-duct, is not a movable aerodynamic device. The DRS rear wing is movable and by its very nature is aerodynamic and because it's channelling air to the front wing it has got to be a device. There seems to be a profound gap in logic here. Christian says I don't go fishing with Charlie enough. Which isn't a euphemism, I hasten to add.
Something far less bothersome and indeed vaguely hilarious is Eddie Jordan's award of an honorary OBE for services to motorsport and charity. The charity work is indeed a noble effort from EJ, but the motorsport? Someone at the Technical Working Group commented rogueishly that it should go 'alongside his honorary jail sentence for trying to con Vodafone out of £90 million'.
We don't normally go in for gossip and tittle tattle at these meetings, well, not before elevenses and the indulgence of a dunked digestive, but we were remarking that if you wanted to get an award from the Queen it was prerequisite to have an extraordinary false hair colour or better still a wig. There's Sir Paul and Sir Mick who look like adverts for Senior Shaders and Toners - and of course the toupe squad with Sir Terry, Sir Bruce, Sir Elton - and now Eddie.
People were very generous to say that while my OBE was a just reward for helping make British racing car engineering a world leader, mentioning motorsport services in connection with EJ was a bit like awarding Flavio Briatore an OBE for services to the English language. If indeed it is English that Flavio utters when he's not speaking Italian. Nobody is entirely sure, even his old team - in 1994 he told the Benetton team to take traction control off their car and his engineers thought he said leave it on. Chuckle, chuckle.
Back in the office things are at their frosty norm. I was on the point of asking Jana to leave after her less than wholesome comments about Carole Voderman and her general antagonistic behaviour, but then discretion got the better of me. Unfortunately my previous PA failed to delete some key e.mails from Mr Mateschitz in 2011 about the flow of development parts to one particular driver. And Jana read them. As she dotes hopelessly on Mark she was thinking of telling him, but said to me. "Adrian, I don't want to cause trouble" in the kind of way that suggested trouble was the only thing she wanted to cause.
In a stunning act of quasi-professionalism she actually looked up pictures of Mr Mateschitz on the internet to see what he looked like. "He is very good-looking older man," she said with a huge sigh, "but I feel sorry for him.
"Why is that?" I enquired.
"All that money and no arms."
The difference in the way she treats our two drivers couldn't be more extreme. She is giggly and girl-like with the Wild Australian Boy muttering things like, "he is real man. A real real man."
For Sebastian she has bought some wooden toys on Ebay: "so he has something to play with when he comes into the office." In strictest confidence trusty tome, I think that's the reason that Sebastian is trying to grow the straggly beard we saw in Malaysia. He wants to prove to Jana that he's not 16. I told him that instead of naming his first car of the year 'Abbey' that he should call it something like 'Strapping Jana' - that might shut her up.
At the factory it's full speed ahead with the major updates for Barcelona and the conundrum of adopting that ridiculous W-duct in the RB8. Apart from the expense of incorporating it into the car, there's the irksome job of compromising my design concept to accommodate the wretched harebrained thing.
"As usual with your designs Adrian, there isn't enough space to swing a gnat" observed Christian when viewing where we could stick it.
"You wouldn't have it any other way," I riposted - avoiding any unnecessary reference to my tightly packaged rear end. We had enough of that at the Christmas party.
Right now our race pace is promising, it's qualifying where we could do a little better. But of course if the world and his wife get a W-duct and we're too busy trying and failing to get it banned, then we're going to end up behind the Force Indias before you can say Wallace and Gromit.
Back to the Technical Working Group and Mike Gascoyne - always the joker - said he thought he'd seen Christian and I described as the Wallace and Gromit of F1. Now it's true that I have a certain partiality to the Austin A35, but I really don't see the analogy works that well. Christian does all the talking so he would have to be Wallace, making me Gromit. Perhaps it was another team? Although it couldn't be Stefano and Pat Fry at Ferrari because they would be Luigi and Gromit; and it couldn't be Martin Whitmarsh and Paddy Lowe at McLaren, as they would be Wallace and Shaun the Sheep; and it couldn't be Mercedes because that would be Wallace and Gromit and Gromit and Gromit.
Most amusing. I think I'll e.mail him that.
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Looks like Bahrein is not going to happen !!
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Looks like Bahrein is not going to happen !!
icon_latest
According to FIA all is fine and its on!!!
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
PS Now where have I put my rose tinted sunglasses
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Lewis leads the way
by Joe Saward
Lewis Hamilton set the pace in the first practice session in China, on a drizzly, overcast, polluted Shanghai day. The McLaren driver was a second clear of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher in their Mercedes-Benzes, which have been deemed legal by the stewards following a Thursday evening exploratory protest by Lotus F1 Team. The two Saubers of Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi were fourth and fifth ahead of the two Red Bulls (Mark Webber ahead of Sebastian Vettel) and Jenson Button's McLaren. The two Toro Rossos were next with Daniel Ricciardo ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne, while Ferrari was next with Fernando Alonso ahead of Felipe Massa.
The Williams of test driver Valtteri Bottas was next ahead of the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg and Williams regular racer Pastor Maldonado. Heikki Kovalainen was next for Caterham, ahead of Romain Grosjean's Lotus, Timo Glock's Marussia and Giedo Van der Garde in the second Caterham. Jules Bianchi was next for Force India ahead of Pedro de la Rosa's HRT, Charles Pic's Marussia, Narain Karthikeyan's HRT and Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus, which had DRS problems.
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Michael Schumacher quickest in second practice for the Chinese Grand Prix
By Edd Straw Friday, April 13th 2012
After rain restricted the number of laps completed in the morning, every team opted for an intense schedule during the second 90-minute.
Morning pacesetter Lewis Hamilton picked up where he left off early on, hitting top spot after just eight minutes while on a six-lap run on medium Pirellis.
With everyone opting for primes for their first serious runs, Hamilton's time was 0.134s faster than Schumacher, with Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel two-tenths further back.
Hamilton and the Mercedes driver continued on mediums on their second run, while Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi jumped up to third place with a lap within a tenth-and-a-half off Hamilton on the half-hour mark. A few minutes later, the Japanese survived a lurid slide off the track after being caught out while pushing too hard.
Vettel was the first of the frontrunners to set a time on the soft compound tyre, lapping a quarter-of-a-second quicker than Hamilton on the first flier of his second run and subsequently improving by another four tenths of a second.
Team-mate Mark Webber, running the latest-spec exhaust compared to the early specification used in the first part of pre-season testing that Vettel ran, slotted in just under three-tenths behind his team-mate not long before the halfway point of the session.
While the Red Bulls had taken three laps to get the peak performance out of their soft tyres, both Schumacher and Hamilton, who shortly after headed out on their fresh soft rubber, extracted the performance from their tyres immediately.
Schumacher posted his best time, a 1m35.973s, on his first flier, but Hamilton looked set to outpace him after setting the best time of all in sectors one and two before losing his advantage, and another 0.172s, in the final sector.
Neither Nico Rosberg in the second Mercedes, nor Jenson Button in the second McLaren, were able to match the pace of their team-mates, ending up fifth and sixth ahead of Kobayashi, whose earlier lap on prime rubber was enough for seventh overall.
Force India driver Paul di Resta ended up eighth fastest, within a second of the outright pace and a couple of tenths ahead of team-mate Nico Hulkenberg, with Alonso, who couldn't get the maximum out of his soft tyres on his first flying lap, just behind.
Several drivers had offs during the session. Both di Resta and Caterham driver Vitaly Petrov suffered spins at the final corner after running wide at the exit and losing it on the damp runoff, but the biggest moment of the day was provided by Marussia driver Timo Glock.
The German appeared to lose his front wing under braking for Turn 1, locking up and clattering through the gravel trap and ending up against the barrier. The team was uncertain as to the cause of the off, but Glock's initial concern that he had hurt his hands soon abated.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m35.973 32
2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m36.145s + 0.172 29
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m36.160s + 0.187 26
4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m36.433s + 0.460 23
5. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m36.617s + 0.644 30
6. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m36.711s + 0.738 27
7. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m36.956s + 0.983 28
8. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m36.966s + 0.993 30
9. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m37.191s + 1.218 30
10. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m37.316s + 1.343 32
11. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m37.417s + 1.444 22
12. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m37.616s + 1.643 33
13. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m37.836s + 1.863 30
14. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m37.930s + 1.957 31
15. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m37.972s + 1.999 25
16. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m38.176s + 2.203 34
17. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m38.293s + 2.320 30
18. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m38.783s + 2.810 37
19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m38.990s + 3.017 36
20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m39.346s + 3.373 19
21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m39.651s + 3.678 15
22. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m40.343s + 4.370 24
23. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m40.753s + 4.780 30
All Timing Unofficial
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Where can I watch the GP on Sunday?
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Where can I watch the GP on Sunday?
Paddy's Irish Bar!
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Where can I watch the GP on Sunday?
Paddy's Irish Bar!
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
Thanks mate. I'll be there.
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A service announcement on behalf of TBWG.
Tall Bloke With Glasses has asked me to advise all F1 followers of his reports that his normal report service will continue after he has sorted out his banning from the BE website. brick1
I for one hope that this matter is rectified in a timely manner Mod !
Yours in bewilderment,
John the Traveller
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On behalf of TBWG I present the qual list for Shanghai......what a shake up.
Keke will be proud and no doubt Schumi relieved. Kobayashi is now in a position to use the Samurai spirit he is known for! Lew better watch his p's and q's. Kimi and Jenson will be breathing hard on the first four and I think Jenson will out. Mark better watch himself as the Mexican wizard is alongside. Positions 9,10 and 11 are packed with experience and raw talent. Looks like a great race! The down side for me is that I will be in Oz watching it instead of being in Brian's establishment in Buriram city. All those with an interest in good racing and very good company should make their way to the Irish Pub tomorrow.
Cheers,
JT
01 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:35.121
02 Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1:35.626 0.505
03 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:35.691 0.570
04 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1:35.784 0.663
05 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1:35.898 0.777
06 Jenson Button McLaren 1:36.191 1.070
07 Mark Webber Red Bull 1:36.290 1.169
08 Sergio Perez Sauber 1:36.524 1.403
09 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:36.622 1.501
10 Romain Grosjean Lotus No time
11 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:36.031 0.33
12 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:36.255 0.555
13 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:36.283 0.583
14 Bruno Senna Williams 1:36.289 0.589
15 Paul di Resta Force India 1:36.317 0.617
16 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:36.745 1.045
17 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:36.956 1.256
18 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:37.714 1.422
19 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham 1:38.463 2.171
20 Vitaly Petrov Caterham 1:38.677 2.385
21 Timo Glock Marussia 1:39.282 2.990
22 Charles Pic Marussia 1:39.717 3.425
23 Pedro de la Rosa HRT 1:40.411 4.119
24 Narain Karthikeyan HRT 1:41.000 4.708
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Well I reckon the old slacker is too pissed on Archa to work a keyboard.... He's the same every Songkran! Dare say he will surface eventually!
I reckon he is also still getting over the shock Of Alonso winning in Malaysia
Daft
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Paddy's is showing F1 nowadays? Excellent.
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Hi Folks
Thanks to John the Traveller for updating things in my enforced absence, not sure what all that was about !
But I am sober now party5, well sort of so hopefully normal service will resume. Burp! ohmybar
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
PS Much as I would like to see Nico Rosberg win, it ain't gunna appen, that Merc is a a real tyre abuser and will put pay to his and Shueys aspirations.
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I went. It was unbearable. I left.
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I went. It was unbearable. I left.
Know what you mean ~~~ I was hoping the guitarist would get electrocuted with all all that water flying about.
But rest assured it is not normally like that!
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Keke's boy done good ~~~~ shows what I know about tyres! FA
Nico Rosberg takes commanding maiden F1 win in the Chinese Grand Prix
By Matt Beer Sunday, April 15th 2012,
Nico Rosberg finally claimed his maiden Formula 1 race victory, and a first win for the modern incarnation of the factory Mercedes team, with a commanding drive in a thrilling Chinese Grand Prix.
The result made Rosberg the first new winner since Mark Webber took victory in the 2009 German Grand Prix. The last triumph for a works Mercedes was back in the 1955 Italian GP with Juan Manuel Fangio.
McLaren duo Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton completed the podium, ahead of Red Bull's Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.
At a track where he had led only to fade in each of the last two years, Rosberg ensured he stayed at the head of an absorbing race in which myriad tyre strategies played out through a lead pack that sometimes grew to a dozen cars.
Not only did drivers vary between two and three pitstops, but there were huge differences in stint length. Despite Mercedes' tyre difficulties in the opening two 2012 races, this time the team handled the rubber perfectly - allowing Rosberg to deploy a textbook two-stop strategy and keep himself ahead of most of the action.
The German pulled away from his team-mate Michael Schumacher in the opening laps, soon establishing a four-second lead. Schumacher's chance to feature in the lead battle then ended when he retired with an incorrectly fitted right-front wheel immediately after his first pitstop.
Button was Rosberg's main threat thereafter. A great start immediately took him to third, and he was catching Rosberg on a three-stop plan for a while, only for Rosberg's pace immediately after his final stop to secure his victory even before Button's lost several seconds with a left rear wheel issue at his final pitstop.
Kimi Raikkonen's two-stopping Lotus held second going into the closing stages, but trying to do half the race on his third set of tyres proved too optimistic, and he tumbled from second to 14th in just a handful of laps.
Vettel, following a similar strategy, was first to pass Raikkonen, and looked like he might salvage second from his qualifying disaster. He could not hold off the McLarens or Webber with their fresher tyres from a three-stop strategy, with Button getting through five laps from the end and Hamilton and Webber doing likewise amid a thrilling tussle over the last two laps. Webber took fourth despite his first pitstop coming as early as lap six, and two trips off the road - one of which featured a wild flight over the Turn 13 kerbs.
While Raikkonen fell back, his team-mate Romain Grosjean did a two-stop plan with a very long middle stint and was able to battle to sixth, ahead of Williams duo Bruno Senna and Pastor Maldonado.
Erstwhile championship leader Fernando Alonso was ninth for Ferrari, having lost a little ground running off-track trying to pass Maldonado.
Sauber was a factor in this pack but could not repeat its Malaysian heroics. Kamui Kobayashi fell back with a poor start and finished 10th, just ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez, who led for a while on a two-stop plan. Paul di Resta (Force India) and Felipe Massa - who also led for a spell in his Ferrari - followed them home.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The Chinese Grand Prix
Shanghai, China;
56 laps; 305.066km;
Weather: Dry.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Rosberg Mercedes 1h36:26.929
2. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 20.626
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 26.012
4. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 27.924
5. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 30.483
6. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 31.491
7. Senna Williams-Renault + 34.597
8. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 35.643
9. Alonso Ferrari + 37.256
10. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 38.720
11. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 41.066
12. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 42.273
13. Massa Ferrari + 42.700
14. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 50.500
15. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 51.200
16. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 51.700
17. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:03.100
18. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
19. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
20. Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
21. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 1 lap
22. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
23. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 3 laps
Fastest lap: Kobayashi, 1:39.960
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Schumacher Mercedes 16
World Championship standings, round 3:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Hamilton 45 1. McLaren-Mercedes 88
2. Button 43 2. Red Bull-Renault 64
3. Alonso 37 3. Ferrari 37
4. Webber 36 4. Sauber-Ferrari 31
5. Vettel 28 5. Mercedes 26
6. Rosberg 25 6. Lotus-Renault 24
7. Perez 22 7. Williams-Renault 18
8. Raikkonen 16 8. Force India-Mercedes 9
9. Senna 14 9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 6
10. Kobayashi 9
11. Grosjean 8
12. Di Resta 7
13. Vergne 4
14. Maldonado 4
15. Ricciardo 2
16. Hulkenberg 2
17. Schumacher 1
All timing unofficial
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
PS Don't forget your flack jacket for Bahrain!l chairhit
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Bahrein in doubt again!!
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Hi F1 fans
Things are getting underway in Bahrain! slapfight
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2 Force India team members have gone home after their vehicle was firebombed.
Ecclestone could have blood on his hands ............ALL FOR THE SAKE OF GREED
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icon_latest Practice 1 dispatches from the front line, whilst Alonso and Massa suffer from shell shock!
Lewis Hamilton tops first practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix fairydust
Friday, April 20th 2012
Full report to follow.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m33.572 11
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m33.877s + 0.305 21
3. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m34.150s + 0.578 26
4. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m34.249s + 0.677 23
5. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m34.277s + 0.705 14
6. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m34.344s + 0.772 26
7. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m34.483s + 0.911 17
8. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m34.552s + 0.980 22
9. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m34.609s + 1.037 17
10. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m34.847s + 1.275 20
11. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m35.024s + 1.452 22
12. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m35.268s + 1.696 24
13. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m35.436s + 1.864 21
14. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m35.497s + 1.925 24
15. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m35.719s + 2.147 19
16. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m35.929s + 2.357 24
17. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m36.195s + 2.623 20
18. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m36.330s + 2.758 11
19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m36.484s + 2.912 18
20. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m36.591s + 3.019 20
21. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m37.467s + 3.895 17
22. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m38.006s + 4.434 18
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m38.877s + 5.305 19
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m39.996s + 6.424 23
All Timing Unofficial
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Insider info courtesy of John the Traveller
F1 truckie 'Spanner' has been out to the Sakhir circuit to see what conditions are like in advance of the race weekend. We print his notes.
TRACK NOTES/DRIVER BRIEFING
Start/Finish Straight: Tarmac looks very gnarly - about as rough as the proverbial camel's jacksie, so you'll have to wait for the HRTs to put some rubber down.
Turn 1: Braking point will be by the burnt-out police car
On full tanks it will be closer to the toppled statue of some bloke in robes (check they don't move it after FP1 as Charlie probably won't like statues of deposed former rulers close to the racing line, but he may go easy on them as everything's gone a bit ***sup this week.
Turns 2/3: Important to carry speed through these for the back straight, avoid the slippery painted surfaces where people have written DOWN WITH ECCLESTONE and JEAN IS A KNOB on the track. In Arabic obviously. Actually it might say EAT AT SALIM'S and my interpreter and security crew are just having a laugh. Jokers.
Turn 4: Braking point is by first tent of the Occupy Sakhir encampment. Don't worry about sliding off and into them, there'll be no-one inside, just like at St Paul's.
Turns 5/6/7: Should be flat out. Avoid the burnt effigy of Damon Hill on the apex of Turn 6.
Turn 8 - Molotov Hairpin: Don't hang around here the locals looks a bit lary. Keep one eye on the grandstand for hurled flaming objects and one eye on the track on exit.
Turn 9/10: Tricky little complex, get your line right on entry. Line up on the makeshift barrier of oil drums and mattresses that's been bulldozed aside .
Turns 11/12/13: This is the safer end of the circuit to go off - very few banners that say F1 DRIVERS GO **** YOURSELVES and far fewer missiles than the other grandstands - only small stones and pebbles, no bricks like Turn 9. A bit like Croydon in August, really.
General Notes
Remember, there's no Mercedes Safety Car this race - the Bahrain GP Safety Car will be a tracked vehicle that can do 26 mph (or 28 mph if they heat up the tracks in the garage before it goes out. Arf! What am I like?) It can only do 23 mph if it's firing its water canon.
Pitlane Entry
There'll be a barrier across the pitlane and you have to show your papers going into and out of the pits. No exceptions - failure to do so will incur a stop-and-go-to-jail penalty (or for Lewis, life imprisonment or something)
Cheers 'Spanner'
Nah - only kidding, it's exactly like it was in 2009. Had you there! What am I like?
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Hamilton Island
by Joe Saward
Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of the morning session on Friday in Bahrain, three-tenths of a second ahead of Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull. Paul di Resta was third for Force India. China winner Nico Rosberg was fourth with Jenson Button fifth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, Michael Schumacher, Mark Webber and Kimi Raikkonen. Romain Grosjean completed the top 10.
Next up were Sergio Perez and Pastor Maoldonado, Fernando Alonso, Valtteri Bottas, in his Williams, and Felipe Massa.
Kamui Kobayashi was next with Jean-Eric Vergne ahead of the two Caterhams of Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov and Daniel Ricciardo. At the back Marussia driver Charles Pic and Timo Glock (an interesting order) were ahead of Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan.
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Nico Rosberg quickest in second practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix as Force India take an early bath!
By Matt Beer Friday, April 20th 2012
Nico Rosberg followed up his Shanghai victory with another commanding performance in the second free practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
As off-track controversy escalated amid news that Force India would miss the session because of concerns about its personnel travelling back from the circuit after dark, Rosberg emphasised Mercedes' Sakhir speed with a pacesetting 1m32.816s.
The German set that time just over half an hour into the afternoon, ending a busy spell in which the two Mercedes and Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel had been swapping the top spot.
When he set that lap, Rosberg went a full 0.8 seconds quicker than anyone else, and although that margin reduced, no one was able to topple the Mercedes.
Mark Webber ended up second for Red Bull, 0.446s down on Rosberg, and 0.263s ahead of his team-mate Vettel, who had a near-miss with compatriot Michael Schumacher near the end of the session.
Neither car was damaged, and Schumacher completed the day in fifth, a second off his pacesetting Mercedes team-mate.
The seven-time champion was sandwiched between the two McLarens, with Lewis Hamilton fourth and Jenson Button sixth - 0.9s and 1.4s off Rosberg respectively.
Sauber had an encouraging session, as Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez took seventh and 10th, split by Fernando Alonso's Ferrari and Romain Grosjean's Lotus.
Force India's decision not to take part meant only 22 cars ran, with the Silverstone squad's crew instead getting an early start on preparing the cars for Saturday and qualifying before leaving the circuit.
There were myriad minor excursions over kerbs and run-off areas on the still-dusty track, but no major dramas, incidents or problems, with all the cars that ran completing between 25 and 35 laps.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m32.816s 35
2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m33.262s + 0.446 26
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m33.525s + 0.709 28
4. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m33.747s + 0.931 26
5. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m33.862s + 1.046 31
6. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m34.246s + 1.430 28
7. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m34.411s + 1.595 34
8. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m34.449s + 1.633 31
9. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m34.615s + 1.799 32
10. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m34.893s + 2.077 34
11. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m34.895s + 2.079 29
12. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m34.941s + 2.125 29
13. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m35.183s + 2.367 33
14. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m35.229s + 2.413 26
15. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m35.459s + 2.643 38
16. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m35.913s + 3.097 32
17. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m35.968s + 3.152 35
18. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m36.169s + 3.353 30
19. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m36.587s + 3.771 32
20. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m37.803s + 4.987 33
21. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m37.812s + 4.996 28
22. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m39.649s + 6.833 27
All Timing Unofficial
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Nico leads the way
by Joe Saward
Nico Rosberg set the fastest time of the third practice session on Saturday morning in Bahrain, ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, Jneson Button and Kimi Raikkonen.
Daniel Ricciardo was next followed by Romain Grosjean, Fernando Alonso, Pastor Maldonado and Jean-Eric Vergne.
The Saubers of Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi were next ahead of Paul di Resta's Force India, Felipe Massa's Ferrari and Bruno Senna's Williams. Heikki Kovalainen was next wih Nico Hulkenberg and Vitaly Petrov following, ahead of the Marussias of Charles Pic, Timo Glock and the HRTs of Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan.
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Pole finger!
Q3: Vettel on pole
by Joe Saward
Sebastian Vettel gave F1 another surprise in the Q3 session on Saturday in Bahrain with a lap that was a tenth faster than Lewis Hamilton's best. Mark Webber was third ahead of Jenson Button, with Nico Rosberg fifth.
The top 10 was completed by Daniel Ricciardo's Toro Rosso, Romain Grosjean's Lotus, the Sauber of Sergio Perez, the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso, who did not run in the session and Paul Di Resta.
There were eight different teams in the top 10, which suggest that the race here in the desert is going to be a good one, no matter what is happening outside the gates of the circuit.
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Oh yes and Schuey starts 17th thanks to a Maldonado gearbox change penalty (otherwise it would be 18th) and Massa diced his way to 14th. buttslap
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Vettel holds off Raikkonen to win the Bahrain Grand Prix
By Matt Beer Sunday, April 22nd 2012,
Sebastian Vettel delivered his first victory of the 2012 Formula 1 season in the Bahrain Grand Prix, and moved into the championship lead in the process - but only after resisting a stern challenge from the Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen.
On a day when Lotus delivered everything it had promised in the opening races, Raikkonen and team-mate Romain Grosjean hacked through the field to complete the podium behind the winning Red Bull.
Mark Webber underlined Red Bull's gains with fourth, while pitstop problems consigned front row starter and erstwhile championship leader Lewis Hamilton's McLaren to eighth. Nico Rosberg completed the top five after an eventful race for Mercedes.
It soon became clear that the Lotus duo had stunning race pace. Although Vettel stormed away from initial pursuers Hamilton and Webber, Grosjean and Raikkonen were making rapid progress up the order.
Grosjean had moved into fourth at the start, then picked off Webber and Hamilton on laps four and seven, while Raikkonen vaulted from 11th to seventh off the line, had a quick wheel-banging battle with Felipe Massa's Ferrari, then got up to third by the time the first stops were done - by virtue of a string of passes and a long first stint.
Raikkonen then closed on Grosjean, overtook his team-mate on lap 24, just before their second stops, and started hunting down Vettel.
As they approached the final tyre changes, Raikkonen was on Vettel's tail and able to take several looks at passing the Red Bull.
The tension eased after the final stops, though, with Vettel able to rebuild a slight lead and keep the Lotus under control, despite the occasional flurry of fast times from Raikkonen.
Webber had a strangely lonely afternoon in fourth place, but there was plenty of action behind.
Rosberg slipped back to ninth on a scrappy first lap, before recovering to fifth - although he attracted the stewards' attraction along the way after some vigorous defensive moves against Hamilton and Fernando Alonso (Ferrari). The incidents will be investigated after the race. Rosberg slowed as he crossed the line, but made it home for fifth.
The Mercedes' final pass had been on Paul di Resta's Force India with just five laps to go. Di Resta did a masterful job on a unique two-stop strategy, allowing him to lead a grand prix for the first time and take sixth place.
Hamilton's afternoon went awry in the pits, as a wheelnut issue with his left rear cost him a lot of time at both his first and second stops. The Briton had to settle for chasing di Resta and Alonso home in eighth place.
It was a miserable race for McLaren overall. Jenson Button spent the afternoon on the fringes of the top six before a late pitstop with a puncture, and then a mechanical problem that left his sick-sounding car heading for the garage on the penultimate lap.
Alonso had got up to fifth with an assertive start, but did not have the pace to stay there. Massa was respectably close to his team-mate's pace on the way to ninth, while Michael Schumacher was able to come through from 22nd on the grid to 10th in the second Mercedes.
Two stars of qualifying saw their race hopes rapidly dashed. Daniel Ricciardo tumbled down the order on lap one and sustained nose damage, after which he could only get the Toro Rosso back up to 15th. Caterham's Heikki Kovalainen picked up a puncture on lap one.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The Bahrain Grand Prix
Bahrain, Bahrain;
57 laps; 308.405km;
Weather: Dry.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h35:10.990
2. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 3.300
3. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 10.100
4. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 38.700
5. Rosberg Mercedes + 55.400
6. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 57.500
7. Alonso Ferrari + 57.800
8. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 58.900
9. Massa Ferrari + 1:04.900
10. Schumacher Mercedes + 1:11.400
11. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1:12.700
12. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 1:16.500
13. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:30.300
14. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1:33.700
15. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
16. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
17. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
18. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 1 lap
19. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps
20. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
21. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
22. Senna Williams-Renault + 3 laps
Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:36.379
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Maldonado Williams-Renault 26
Pic Marussia-Cosworth 25
World Championship standings, round 4:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 53 1. Red Bull-Renault 101
2. Hamilton 49 2. McLaren-Mercedes 92
3. Webber 48 3. Lotus-Renault 57
4. Button 43 4. Ferrari 45
5. Alonso 43 5. Mercedes 37
6. Rosberg 35 6. Sauber-Ferrari 31
7. Raikkonen 34 7. Williams-Renault 18
8. Grosjean 23 8. Force India-Mercedes 17
9. Perez 22 9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 6
10. Di Resta 15
11. Senna 14
12. Kobayashi 9
13. Vergne 4
14. Maldonado 4
15. Hulkenberg 2
16. Schumacher 2
17. Massa 2
18. Ricciardo 2
All timing unofficial
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BARCELONA
Nearly local boy comes good…
May 11, 2012 by Joe Saward
Fernando Alonso set the fastest time of the first free practice session in Barcelona, a result which seemed rather unlikely given the pace of the Ferrari thus far this year. The cynics in F1 suggested that this might be something to do with the sale of tickets on Sunday, or perhaps the lack of them. Still, it made the grandstands happy and that is never a bad thing. Fernando was four-tenths faster than Sebatsian Vettel’s Red Bull with Kamui Kobayashi third ahead of Jenson Button. Fifth fastest was a surprise with Finland’s Valtteri Bottas doing a terrific job in his role as the Williams reserve driver. Michael Schumacher was sixth in his Mercedes ahead of Romain Grosjean’s Lotus, Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren and the second Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen. Nico Hulkenberg completed the top 10 in his Force India, ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne’s Toro Rosso, Felipe Massa’s Ferrari and Mark Webber’s Red Bull.
Nico Rosberg was next ahead of Sergio Perez and Daniel Ricciardo. Pastor Maldonado was 17th ahead of Force India test driver Jules Bianchi, Caterham’s Vitaly Petrov, Timo Glock’s Marussia, Alexander Rossi in the second Caterham, Charles Pic in the second Marussia and the two HRTs of Pedro de la Rosa and test driver Dani Clos.
Practice 2
Jenson Button quickest in Spanish Grand Prix practice two
By Pablo Elizalde
Jenson Button overcame understeer issues with his McLaren to post the quickest time of the day in second practice for the Spanish Grand Prix.
The McLaren driver used Pirelli's soft tyres to set a best time of 1m23.399s - enough to beat world champion Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull by 0.164 seconds.
Nico Rosberg put Mercedes in third position, with Button's team-mate Lewis Hamilton in fourth and Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen completing the top five, albeit over half a second off the pace.
Raikkonen's team-mate Romain Grosjean was sixth ahead of Mark Webber in the second Red Bull, with Michael Schumacher, Kamui Kobayashi and Nico Hulkenberg completing the top 10.
This morning's pacesetter Fernando Alonso had to settle for 14th position in the Ferrari.
With the track temperatures rising to 43 degrees Celsius, Sergio Perez was the early pacesetter for Sauber with a lap of 1m25.532s, but the Mexican was demoted around eight minutes into the session, when Vettel stopped the clock at 1m25.000s.
Schumacher was the first man to lap in the 1m24s in the afternoon session just moments later, the German jumping to the top with a 1m24.859s, still some four tenths of a second off Alonso's best from the morning.
The Spaniard returned to first position at the 18-minute mark with a lap that was still around three tenths off his best, but 0.120s faster than Schumacher. Jean-Eric Vergne relegated the local hero to second three minutes later with a fastest lap just 0.006s better than Alonso's.
A few minutes later, Vettel flew to the top of the times in his first run on Pirelli's softs, the world champion's 1m23.563s the best time of the weekend until that point. Sauber's Kobayashi moved into second position, albeit over six tenths off Vettel's best, by also running with the softer compound.
Hamilton first and Webber later also completed runs on the soft tyres to move to second and third behind Vettel.
With 35 minutes gone it was Button's turn to go out with softs, and the Briton made good use of them to spring to the top of the times with a 1m23.399 despite having complained of severe understeer earlier on.
Alonso went out on softs with some 41 minutes to go, but the Spaniard aborted his first flying lap after a first split that was slower than his rivals. He completed the lap in the next attempt, but was only 13th quickest.
Webber was the protagonist of the first incident of the session when he went off the track at Turn 4, the Australian leaving a lot of stones on the circuit as he made his way back to the asphalt.
Webber's move was mirrored by Perez later on, the Sauber driver also having a trip across the gravel at the same corner.
As teams worked on longer runs, the times at the top stayed mostly unchanged for the last 30 minutes of the session.
HRT's Narain Karthikeyan, whose car was driven by Dani Clos in the opening session, failed to set a time in the afternoon, the Indian stopping on track with a problem. He had spent nearly an hour in the garage waiting for his mechanics to solve an electrical issue.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m23.399 38
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m23.563s + 0.164 38
3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m23.771s + 0.372 41
4. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m23.909s + 0.510 32
5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m23.918s + 0.519 32
6. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m23.964s + 0.565 37
7. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m24.065s + 0.666 34
8. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m24.080s + 0.681 36
9. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m24.214s + 0.815 41
10. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m24.365s + 0.966 22
11. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m24.418s + 1.019 35
12. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m24.422s + 1.023 32
13. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m24.468s + 1.069 40
14. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m24.600s + 1.201 33
15. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m24.688s + 1.289 30
16. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m24.733s + 1.334 34
17. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m24.769s + 1.370 37
18. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m25.047s + 1.648 42
19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m26.296s + 2.897 36
20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m26.740s + 3.341 35
21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.314s + 3.915 27
22. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.664s + 4.265 30
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m28.235s + 4.836 26
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth no time 2
All Timing Unofficial
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El Vettel…
by Joe Saward
Sebastian Vettel set the pace in the third free practice session for the French GP, although the times were clearly rather mixed up as some of the drivers were clearly saving tyres at the end of the session whent he fast times were recorded. There were 14 driver covered by 1.2 seconds with Pastor Maldonado second ahead of Kamui Kobayashi, Mark Webber, Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso. Jean-Eric Vergne was next with Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen and Nico Rosberg close behind, but ahead of Felipe Massa, Nico Hulkenberg, Danial Ricciardo and Bruno Senna. There was then a gap of two-tenths of a second to Paul di Resta, Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher and then the usual Caterhams, Marussias and HRTs. Romain Grosjean was slowest, having stopped out on the track early in the session.
Qualy~~~~
Lewis Hamilton storms to Spanish Grand Prix pole position
By Matt Beer Saturday, May 12th 2012,
Lewis Hamilton and McLaren took pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix by a commanding margin over shock front row man Pastor Maldonado's Williams.
In a session full of surprises, Hamilton was half a second quicker than Maldonado, who had been rapid in final practice, topped Q2, and then held provisional pole for a while.
Hamilton was the only frontrunner to do two runs in Q3, and his initial benchmark stood until first local hero Fernando Alonso in the much improved Ferrari, then the incredible Maldonado beat him.
But there was still more to come from Hamilton, who produced a 1m21.707s to give McLaren its 150th Formula 1 pole. The Briton then stopped on track on his slowing-down lap.
Just behind Maldonado, Alonso held second ahead of Lotus team-mates Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen, who again proved extremely competitive.
Both Saubers made it into Q3, with Sergio Perez going on to take sixth, but Kamui Kobayashi consigned to 10th as his car expired on the way back to the pits at the end of Q2.
Nico Rosberg was seventh after just one early run in Q3, while both Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) and Rosberg's Mercedes team-mate Michael Schumacher chose to save tyres and not doing any flying laps in Q3, so qualified eighth and ninth.
The presence of the underdogs in the top 10 inevitably meant some big names were squeezed out in Q2, and it was Jenson Button - who had been uncomfortable with the McLaren's handling all day - and Mark Webber who found themselves on the wrong side of the cut-off. The McLaren and Red Bull will share row six, double Catalunya polesitter Webber having been sat in the pits at the end of the session as others improved and pushed him backwards.
It was a bad day for Felipe Massa as well, the Ferrari driver registering his worst grid position so far in this already-disappointing season as he qualified behind the Force Indias and Toro Rossos in 17th.
While Maldonado stormed towards the front, his Williams team-mate Bruno Senna pushed too hard in his efforts to keep up - spinning into the gravel at the end of Q1 and ensuring an instant exit.
Vitaly Petrov outqualified Caterham team-mate Heikki Kovalainen for the first time as the back-of-the-grid teams lined up in the usual order. Charles Pic was quicker than fellow Marussia man Timo Glock, and HRT's Narain Karthikeyan will needs stewards' permission to race as apparent mechanical issues left him a long way from the 107 per cent margin.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m21.707s
2. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m22.285s
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m22.302s
4. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m22.424s
5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m22.487s
6. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m22.533s
7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m23.005s
8. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault No time
9. Michael Schumacher Mercedes No time
10. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari No time
Q2 cut-off time: 1m22.904s Gap **
11. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m22.944s + 0.839
12. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m22.977s + 0.872
13. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m23.125s + 1.020
14. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m23.177s + 1.072
15. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m23.265s + 1.160
16. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m23.442s + 1.337
17. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m23.444s + 1.339
Q1 cut-off time: 1m24.362s Gap *
18. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m24.981s + 2.398
19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m25.277s + 2.694
20. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m25.507s + 2.924
21. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m26.582s + 3.999
22. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.032s + 4.449
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m27.555s + 4.972
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m31.122s + 8.539
107% time: 1m28.363s
* Gap to quickest in Q1
** Gap to quickest in Q2
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Hamilton penalty hands Maldonado first pole position
2012 Spanish Grand Prix
May 12, 2012 by Keith Collantine
Pastor Maldonado has inherited pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix. :o
Lewis Hamilton was handed a grid penalty after stopping on his return to the pits in Q3 and will start from the back of the grid. buttslap
McLaren instructed Hamilton to stop as he had too little fuel in the car and needed to retain enough to provide a sample to the FIA for testing.
Although the rules allow a car to be stopped on its return to the pits if needed, a shortage of fuel is not considered an acceptable reason.
A statement from the stewards read:
“The stewards received a report from the race director which stated that during post-qualifying scrutineering a sample of fuel was required from car four, however, the car failed to return to the pits under its own power as required under Article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations.
“The stewards heard from the team representative Mr Sam Michael who stated that the car stopped on the circuit for reasons of force majeure. A team member had put an insufficient quantity of fuel into the car thereby resulting in the car having to be stopped on the circuit in order to be able to provide the required amount for sampling purposes.
“As the amount of fuel put into the car is under the complete control of the competitor the stewards cannot accept this as a case of force majeure.
“The stewards determine that this is a breach of Article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations and the competitor is accordingly excluded from the results of the qualifying session. The competitor is however allowed to start the race from the back of the grid.”
Article 6.6.2 of the technical regulations states: “Competitors must ensure that a one litre sample of fuel may be taken from the car at any time during the event.
“Except in cases of force majeure (accepted as such by the stewards of the meeting), if a sample of fuel is required after a practice session the car concerned must have first been driven back to the pits under its own power.”
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Pit Stop and garage errors seem to be costing McLaren alot of points.
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Pit Stop and garage errors seem to be costing McLaren alot of points.
All happening since Sam Michael arrived ~~~ Coincidence his previous team now on pole following his departure?
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Pastor Maldonado takes shock Spanish Grand Prix win for Williams
By Matt Beer Sunday, May 13th 2012,
Top spot on the podium for Pastor ~~~ who would have thought it! Ferrari 2nd and 15th Felipe baby is on borrowed time!
Pastor Maldonado scored his maiden Formula 1 win and ended a Williams victory drought dating back to the end of the 2004 season as the Venezuelan defeated local hero Fernando Alonso's Ferrari in an absorbing Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona's Catalunya track.
The Williams and Ferrari were absolutely together going into the final laps, but the superbly composed Maldonado was able to edge away and secure victory, leaving Alonso to fend off Kimi Raikkonen's flying Lotus for second.
Alonso had taken the lead at the start by beating Maldonado into the first corner, and then inched into a three-second lead during the first stint, as they pulled clear of the rest of the field.
But the combination of a stunning out-lap by Maldonado and Alonso getting stuck behind Charles Pic's Marussia on his in-lap saw the Williams leapfrog the Ferrari at the second pitstops, and then storm away for a few laps until 7s clear.
Alonso then started coming back at Maldonado, getting the gap down to 4.2s before the Williams had a slightly slow final pitstop with a left-rear issue. A few laps behind Raikkonen, who was running much further before his final pitstop, meant the leaders were absolutely nose to tail going into the closing laps as both tried to keep their tyres intact.
For a while it looked inevitable that Maldonado would succumb to Alonso's pressure, but it was the Ferrari that started to lose pace in the final stages, and the lead gap began to increase again - allowing Maldonado to take a very unexpected victory by 3.1 seconds.
Raikkonen's fresher tyres allowed him to gain on the leaders at a ferocious rate as the race neared its end, but he ran out of time to catch Alonso, finishing six tenths of a second adrift.
Romain Grosjean finished fourth in the other Lotus, with Kamui Kobayashi pulling off some characteristically bold passes on the way to fifth for Sauber.
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel produced a late charge to take sixth after losing ground with a drive-through penalty for failing to heed yellow flags and requiring a new front wing at his final pitstop.
Nico Rosberg's Mercedes and both McLarens fell victim to Vettel's surge up the order, with Rosberg then fending off last-place starter Lewis Hamilton for seventh as the Briton managed to make a two-stop strategy work against expectations. His team-mate Jenson Button struggled for pace all day and finished ninth.
Force India's Nico Hulkenberg resisted huge pressure from Mark Webber, who lost ground on lap one and needed an out-of-sequence pitstop for a new front wing.
Behind the Toro Rossos and the second Force India of Paul di Resta, Felipe Massa had another bad race for Ferrari. Penalised for a yellow flag infringement, he finished only 15th.
Retirements included Michael Schumacher and Bruno Senna, who tangled at Turn 1 when the fresh-tyre-shod Mercedes ran into the back of the yet-to-pit Williams, and Sergio Perez. The Sauber picked up a puncture while trying to attack the Lotus pair at the first corner, and later parked just after a messy pitstop.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The Spanish Grand Prix
Catalunya, Turkey;
66 laps; 307.104km;
Weather: Sunny.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Maldonado Williams-Renault 1h39:09.145
2. Alonso Ferrari + 3.195
3. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 3.884
4. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 14.799
5. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1:14.641
6. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 1:17.576
7. Rosberg Mercedes + 1:27.919
8. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 1:28.100
9. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 1:25.200
10. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
11. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 1 lap
12. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
13. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
14. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
15. Massa Ferrari + 1 lap
16. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
17. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
18. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps
19. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 3 laps
Fastest lap: Grosjean, 1:26.250
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Perez Sauber-Ferrari 38
Pic Marussia-Cosworth 36
Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 23
Senna Williams-Renault 13
Schumacher Mercedes 13
World Championship standings, round 5:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 61 1. Red Bull-Renault 109
2. Alonso 61 2. McLaren-Mercedes 98
3. Hamilton 53 3. Lotus-Renault 84
4. Raikkonen 49 4. Ferrari 63
5. Webber 48 5. Williams-Renault 43
6. Button 45 6. Mercedes 43
7. Rosberg 41 7. Sauber-Ferrari 41
8. Grosjean 35 8. Force India-Mercedes 18
9. Maldonado 29 9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 6
10. Perez 22
11. Kobayashi 19
12. Di Resta 15
13. Senna 14
14. Vergne 4
15. Hulkenberg 3
16. Schumacher 2
17. Massa 2
18. Ricciardo 2
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Don't you just love Sir Frank biggreen
Talking about Pastor Maldanado and the sponsorship he brings.
Yeah, he was to some extent (initially at the team because of money); I'm not denying that," Williams is quoted by Autosport. "But if we thought he'd been a wanker, he wouldn't have got in the team no matter how much money he had. He did a very sensible job in GP2 and he fully deserves to be in the team with or without the dosh. The truth is that if you haven't got the dosh, you can't go Formula 1 racing.
buriram_united sawadi
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Monaco Practice 1 Joe Saward
Fernando Alonso set the pace in the first practice session in Monte Carlo with a lap that was four-tenths faster than Romain Grosjean’s Lotus and Sergio Perez’s Sauber. Lewis Hamilton was fourth in his McLaren ahead of the Williams of Pastor Maldonado. With five different teams in the top five places it looks as though Monaco will be pretty unpredictable, although it is hard to know what would have changed if the session had not ended six minutes early after Heikki Kovalainen had a very oily and smoky blow-up in the tunnel.
This left plenty of uncertainty, with Felipe Massa sixth, Kamui Kobayashi seventh, Jenson Button eighth, Sebastian Vettel ninth and Nico Rosberg 10th. Michael Schumacher was next ahead of Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India, the Toro Rossos of Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo and Paul di Resta in the second Force India. Bruno Senna was 17th in the second Williams ahead of Kovalainen and his team-mate Vitaly Petrov, Narain Karthikeyan’s HRT, the Marussias of Pic and Glock (in that order), Pedro de la Rosa’s HRT and Kimi Raikkonen, who did only one in and out lap because he wanted to change his steering set-up.
2nd Practice
Jenson Button goes fastest in rain-hit second practice for the Monaco Grand Prix
By Matt Beer Thursday, May 24th 2012,
Jenson Button was quickest in Thursday afternoon practice for the Monaco Grand Prix, as all the leading positions were set in 15 minutes of early dry running before showers intervened.
All the teams were expecting rain to feature in practice two, which meant a rush of early runs prior to the first precipitation arriving a quarter of an hour in.
By that time, Button's McLaren was on top with a lap in 1m15.746s, 0.392 seconds clear of second-placed Romain Grosjean's Lotus.
The Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were next up, with Barcelona winner Pastor Maldonado completing the top five for Williams.
Championship leader Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull was back in 10th.
The rain did briefly ease around the half-hour mark, encouraging a few drivers to come back out on slicks, but conditions were far from good enough for quick times, and a second shower came soon after. Although the track dried out again towards the end, even with nearly the full field on the circuit at times, a truly dry line never emerged.
Despite the slippery conditions, everyone managed to avoid the barriers. There were plenty of trips down escape roads, with everyone managing to continue except Heikki Kovalainen, who could not get his Caterham's reverse gear to cooperate after sliding off at Mirabeau.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m15.746 14
2. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m16.138s + 0.392 17
3. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m16.602s + 0.856 19
4. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m16.661s + 0.915 21
5. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m16.820s + 1.074 18
6. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m17.021s + 1.275 13
7. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m17.148s + 1.402 21
8. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m17.153s + 1.407 20
9. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m17.293s + 1.547 9
10. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m17.303s + 1.557 19
11. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m17.375s + 1.629 17
12. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m17.395s + 1.649 19
13. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m17.655s + 1.909 18
14. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m17.800s + 2.054 23
15. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m18.251s + 2.505 22
16. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m18.440s + 2.694 23
17. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m18.522s + 2.776 20
18. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m18.808s + 3.062 24
19. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m19.267s + 3.521 23
20. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m19.309s + 3.563 27
21. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m20.029s + 4.283 13
22. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m20.240s + 4.494 19
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m20.631s + 4.885 12
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m20.886s + 5.140 10
All Timing Unofficial
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Ecclestone: Formula One teams agree to race until 2020May 24, 2012 -- Updated 2026 GMT (0426 HKT)
Ecclestone reveals Concorde AgreementSTORY HIGHLIGHTS
Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone tells CNN sport's future has been secured
Current deal, called Concorde Agreement, runs out at the end of the current season
Ecclestone says all teams have agreed to an extended deal until 2020
Mercedes, who were said to be considering pulling out of sport, are also set to sign
(CNN) -- Bernie Ecclestone has exclusively told CNN that Formula One's 12 teams have struck an agreement to secure the future of the sport until 2020.
The F1 supremo revealed a new eight-year deal that will bind all 12 constructors in the elite division of motorsport beyond the current "Concorde Agreement" that expires at the end of this season.
The contract outlines the terms by which teams compete in Formula One and how the lucrative prize money and television revenues on offer are divided.
Progress on the deal has been complicated by F1's planned public offering on the Singapore stock market that could yield around $3 billion.
Vettel: Monaco no place for 'sissies'
Force India travel to Monaco
Force India travel to Monaco
The magic of the Monaco Grand Prix
A virtual tour of the Monaco Grand Prix Ecclestone revealed in March the majority of the dozen teams had agreed in principle to tie themselves to an extension of the Concorde Agreement that was most recently signed in 2009, but doubts remained over Mercedes.
The German constructor, who have seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher in their ranks, were reported to be considering quitting the sport but during an interview in Monaco, Ecclestone said an agreement had been reached.
"Well we've just got people now, all the current teams, to sign up until 2020 and then I hope another 10 years after that and then forever. Everybody has agreed with it," he told CNN World Sport anchor Amanda Davies.
"You'll have to wait to see if Mercedes have but I'm confident everything with Mercedes will be fine," Ecclestone added.
When asked if his concerns about Mercedes pulling out of the sport had gone he replied: "Absolutely."
The Concorde Agreement is between Formula One's governing body, the FIA, the sport's rights holders and the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA).
High-profile teams Red Bull, for whom double world champion Sebastian Vettel drives, and iconic constructor Ferrari have recently withdrawn from FOTA, adding complications to the negotiation process.
The waters are further muddied by F1's preparations to float on the Singapore stock exchange and the division of seats on the new board that will be created.
Mercedes were said to be seeking clarification of their part in F1's future plans, insisting on a more prominent role than offered having been a part of the sport since the 1950s.
The iconic Silver Arrow version of the Mercedes led the team to back-to-back championships in the 1950s and immortalized the car in motorsport's history.
They were said to be threatening to withdraw from the sport altogether but Ecclestone's revelation signals a breakthrough in discussions and an end in sight to a saga that had threatened to rumble on through the current season.
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Q3: Aussie hops to pole
by Joe Saward
Michael Schumacher set the fastest lap of the Q3 session in Monaco, but the old stager has a five-place grid penalty to serve and so will not start the race from pole position, leaving that for Mark Webber, who was second quickest in his Red Bull Renault. However, the Mercedes team looked pretty good as Nico Rosberg was third fastest, ahead of Lewis Hamilton's McLaren, Romain Grosjean's Lotus, the Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, Kimi Raikkonen;s Lotus, Pastor Maldonado's Williams (which will drop 10 places on the grid) and Sebastian Vettel, who did not complete a timed lap in the session.
The provisional grid for Monaco
If there are no additional penalties after qualifying, the grid at Monaco will be as follows:
1 M Webber Red Bull 1:14.381
2 N Rosberg Mercedes 1:14.572
3 L Hamilton McLaren 1:14.583
4 R Grosjean Lotus 1:14.639
5 F Alonso Ferrari 1:14.948
6 M Schumacher Mercedes 1:14.301
7 F Massa Ferrari 1:15.049
8 K Raikkonen Lotus 1:15.199
9 S Vettel Red Bull No time
10 N Hulkenberg Force India 1:15.421
11 K Kobayashi Sauber 1:15.508
12 J Button McLaren 1:15.536
13 B Senna Williams 1:15.709
14 P Di Resta Force India 1:15.718
15 D Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:15.878
16 J Vergne Toro Rosso 1:16.885
17 H Kovalainen Caterham 1:16.538
18 V Petrov Caterham 1:17.404
19 P Maldonado Williams 1:15.245
20 T Glock Marussia 1:17.947
21 P de la Rosa HRT 1:18.096
22 C Pic Marussia 1:18.607
23 N Karthikeyan HRT 1:19.310
24 S Perez Sauber No time
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Has Massa found his mojo? :o
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Monaco GP - Sunday - Race Report
© The Cahier Archive
Mark Webber won his second Monaco GP in three years after a superbly controlled lights to flag drive. It meant that for the first time in the history of the world championship, six different drivers have won the first six races of a season.
Webber had been magnanimous about his Saturday 'pole', admitting that it had been Schumacher's day but he'd take it nonetheless. And having taken it, he wasn't about to waste it.
Starts have not always been Mark's strength but this time both the Red Bull and Rosberg's second-placed Mercedes were off like jack rabbits.
"The initial getaway was good and I knew straight away that it was good enough to get to Turn 1 in front," Webber said. "Then it was reasonably straightforward at first -- getting a gap on supersofts and managing it to Nico, then a matter of trying to get a reasonable gap with the weather threatening around pit stop time."
This was a race that the strategists didn't call quite right beforehand. For anyone starting from the top six or seven grid slots Monaco has traditionally been a two-stop race, with those further back often trying just the one.
Last year, Sebastian Vettel won it with a one-stop, but that required the handy help of a late race red flag that permitted a change of tyres. This time, given the degradation patterns of the 2012 Pirellis, many thought that a one-stop would be a real long shot. But nobody quite knew.
Vettel, starting ninth after a tricky qualifying day, and on the prime tyre, was one man expected to try it but, as things turned out, the entire top 10 made it through with just one visit to the pits.
The dilemma for the leaders on the supersofts was how to take them far enough into the race to facilitate the one stopper, an equation that became further complicated by the possible arrival of rain around the stop time, tempting drivers to stay out even longer in case a switch to rain tyres was required.
Up front it was a question of who would blink first and force the issue. That man was Rosberg, who headed for the pits after 27 laps. The order when he did so was Webber, Nico, Hamilton, Alonso, Massa, Vettel - all covered by 13.5s.
Rosberg had been just 2s behind the lead Red Bull when he pitted, with Hamilton and Alonso running as one a further 5s behind, with Massa well in touch and Vettel 2s further back and looking good.
Sebastian was helped a little by an early Safety Car after a messy first corner. Grosjean and Alonso made contact and the Lotus then hit Schumacher and spun out. There would be no repeat of Saturday's glory for Michael either. Schumacher completed the first lap eighth and was destined to retire with no fuel pressure 15 laps from the end.
As the rest scrambled to miss Grosjean's stricken Lotus, Kobayashi's Sauber was knocked into the air and tagged Button's McLaren, meaning that Jenson, who started a lowly 12th, dropped another couple of places.
Button spent much of a frustrating afternoon behind Heikki Kovalainen's Caterham before hitting it and spinning out after 70 laps. There had been some fairly robust defence from the Finn prior to that, some of which left Jenson unimpressed.
Back to the front though, "and it was a bit of a surprise that Nico went in when he did," Webber admitted. Red Bull did not bring the race leader in for another two laps.
"I was just hoping that Nico wasn't getting the tyres in..." Webber said, "but I had trust in the guys and the strategy."
Normally, the 'undercut' as it's called, is the best strategy, but not today. In Monaco it took drivers longer to get the prime tyres up to temperature and Webber pitted out still in front, by 1.5s.
McLaren pitted third-placed Hamilton on the same lap as Webber but Ferrari kept Alonso out for another lap and Fernando immediately started to turn the timing monitors purple with quickest sector times. When he pitted a lap later, he came out in front of Hamilton, now third behind Webber and Rosberg.
Here was a chance for Ferrari to have won the race. As Alonso admitted later, if they had kept him out another couple of laps he would likely have jumped Rosberg and Webber too.
But, as he also said, it's fine with hindsight but it was hard to predict both the time it took to warm up the primes and the fact that Fernando would be capable of setting purple sector times on supersofts more than 30 laps old!
While that's true, the team had timing monitors in front of them displaying the information, so did they consider leaving Alonso out?
"We considered it but thought at that stage that we were doing the right thing," team principal Stefano Domenicali explained.
"Fernando did a perfect 'in' lap, the team did a perfect pit stop and we jumped Hamilton. Maybe we could have waited to see the other sector times but in Monaco the lap is very short and you don't have so long to think."
When the leaders all pitted it left Vettel in front, going very quickly on the new primes he'd started on that were now 30 laps old. The gap to Webber was 10s but it started to grow rapidly as Sebastian lapped in the low to mid 1:19s, while Webber circulated in low 1:21s on his new primes. This was a surprise.
Within six laps the gap was out to 16s and that prompted a radio message from Mercedes to Rosberg suggesting that Webber was deliberately backing up the field to give Vettel the requited 20s needed to pit and re-emerge still in front.
Team orders, of course, are not illegal and it would have been a smart move. Vettel could then have allowed Webber to re-pass and Red Bull would have had itself a 1-2. But that, in fact, was not what was happening.
"It was tricky to get the primes started," Webber explained. "Seb was in the groove and doing some quick times. I had to keep an eye on the gap while ensuring that I got the tyres to the end of the race. At the start of the stint I had very low front grip."
Webber kept the gap at around 16s and when Vettel pitted on lap 46 he re-emerged fourth, right in front of Hamilton. Lewis was not amused, feeling that with a bit of warning he could have done something about it.
With that segment of the race negotiated, Webber should have been safe, but there was another snake to slide down in the form of the elements. With 10 laps to go, spotting rain started to intensify. With eight laps to go the surface was greasy, the first five were nose-to-tail and the pressure was on the race leader.
"It's incredibly tricky leading in those conditions," Webber conceded. "All of a sudden the car is wheel-spinning, the front end's not biting and that's not very encouraging around this place when you are leading with 10 laps to go..."
He coped superbly though, and didn't put a wheel wrong.
"It's great to win here twice fair and square off the pole," he smiled. "Nico kept me honest and it was a good grand prix. I think we got the absolute maximum out of this weekend."
Rosberg sportingly admitted that Webber had driven a great race, never giving him the sniff of a chance.
"Mark controlled me well and I have to say I think I had the best car," Rosberg said. "It makes me hope for a lot more in the next few races."
Alonso, too, was happy: "I was trying to finish in front of Sebastian and Lewis. Race-by-race you concentrate on different drivers. At the next one it will be Mark because he's now second in championship."
Behind Hamilton and a happier Massa, Paul Di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg put both Force Indias in the points, with Raikkonen and Bruno Senna claiming the final points.
For both Lotus and Williams it was a disappointing race. With Grosjean out on the first lap and Raikkonen struggling in the first stint when the temperatures dropped, Lotus technical director James Allison called the race "a completely joyless experience from start to finish."
Pastor Maldonado proved that a fortnight is a very long time in motor racing, quite literally going from hero to zero when he hit De la Rosa's HRT in the first corner melee and then crashed with a broken front wing and it was left to Senna to bring the team its lone point.
Amazingly, Alonso now leads the championship alone, with 76 points. Vettel and Webber have 73 points each, Hamilton has 63, Rosberg, 59, Raikkonen, 51, and Button, 45 after his third non-score in six races.
Red Bull Racing became the first repeat win team of 2012 and now enjoys a 38-point advantage over McLaren in the constructors' championship. Montreal is next. Seven from seven, anyone?
TBWG
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The Secret Diary of Adrian Newey Aged 53¾ - Part 5 Hole-gate
Well, trusty tome, as you can possibly imagine (if you had the capacity for independent thought) I am not best pleased to have someone mess around with my floor. The FIA's ruling that the RBR8's "fully enclosed hole" in the rear section of the floor was illegal was more than a touch disappointing. Notwithstanding the fact that we already had a letter from Charlie, in his best writing, saying that we could keep it, Sauber and the Ferrari boys have exactly the same thing.
The only significant difference between our "fully enclosed hole" and theirs is that that have a slit which travels all of the way to the outside of the floor, linking it to the open air, whereas our hole is the equivalent of the Caspian Sea, totally landlocked. To comply with the cheese-eating regulation monkeys in Paris, all we need to do is get some apprentice with a hacksaw and remove the hole's 'flagrant' isolation. It's hardly the difference between winning or not winning the World Championship.
As a protest, we may not even take the hole to Canada at all. thumbup
I know I shouldn't get a bee in my bonnet over these things but it's better to jot down my irascible feelings here than let it all out when a microphone is shoved under my nose by Ted or the small Irishman. I have to say that Eddie's interviewing technique is about as unpredictable as a set of Pirelli softs - one moment he says we are absolutely nowhere this season and the next I'm a god-like genius on a par with Stephen Hawking.
The win in Monaco was a tremendous boost of course and it was a pleasure to collect the trophy from Prince Albert and Princess Charlene. It's quite refreshing to have a Princess 'Charlene' on the throne and should the royal couple be blessed with children it would be fitting to have a whole Country and Western dynasty of Grimaldis - with Princess Mary-Lou, Princess Mary-Jo-Beth and son and heir Prince Billy-Bob. That would be Prince Billy-Bob The First.
Back in the office and Jana was overjoyed that Mark had won in Monaco. She is single-mindedly behind the Wild Australian Boy to an extent I haven't witnessed in her before. When we were at Woking together she didn't mind who won just as long as Ron didn't come into the office and talk to her. Now her colours are very firmly pinned to Mark's mast. She was very worried when she read the rumours that Mark might be off to Ferrari next year and looked at me accusingly as though I were behind the whole thing: "and then you hire a midget, because midgets you can put anywhere in the car, not like Mark who is big strong hunk of man."
Another departure from her McLaren days is that she has started to read the motorsport press and actually take an interest in what's going on. I am not entirely sure, trusted almanac, that this is a good thing. She said to me the other day. "That Dr. Helmet, he must be pain in the arse." smilenod I didn't want to engage further, so I let it pass. That didn't work. "He is always saying this and saying that and giving his opinion on this or that and then Christian has to answer more questions and it just stirs up trouble." I gave her one of my friendly shrugs and she levelled her eyes. "You know this is true."
I noticed she is continuing the subtle psychological warfare in preparation for any visit by Sebastian. In addition to the children's wooden blocks, she has bought him a play-table and a little chair for him to sit on. In case there was any doubt she painted a name badge S-E-B-A-S-T-I-A-N and plonked it in the middle. Occasionally she glances across at it and smiles.
Unfortunately this was spotted by Sebastian's charming and effervescent PA, the lovely Britta Roeske, when she popped into my office for something or other. I'm pretty sure someone must have told her about Jana (and the playtable) in the canteen but there was what I can only describe as a frosty moment when the two feisty blondes looked each other up and down but said nothing. It was an explosive atmopshere exacerbated by the fact there was a lot of peroxide in the room. As she was leaving Britta said to Jana: "Nice to see that Adrian lets you bring your son into the office," and with that she was gone through the door before Jana could get off a single syllable in reply. A real professional. I pretended I hadn't heard anything and buried my head in the plans for a new wing endplate.
As for more pressing matters, we're off to Canada with high expectations of our first win there, hole or no hole. Mercedes look like the car to beat but knowing Michael's recent bad luck he'll probably be leading the race and hit a beaver on the penultimate lap. That's providing he escapes Romain Grosjean at the start. These days that's a big IF.
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Lewis Hamilton quickest in opening practice for the Canadian Grand Prix
By Matt Beer Friday, June 8th 2012
Lewis Hamilton was fastest for McLaren in the opening free practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.
The McLaren edged out Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull by just over a tenth of a second, with Nico Rosberg's Mercedes third.
It was the Lotus duo who exchanged the top spot initially, before Rosberg and Hamilton made it their own private battle for the rest of the session. First Rosberg put in a 1m16.837s 20 minutes in to depose Kimi Raikkonen, then Hamilton replied with a 1m16.080s seven minutes later.
The McLaren would stay in front for almost the rest of the session - deposed only for mere moments with 20 minutes to go when Rosberg did a 1m15.782s that Hamilton instantly answered with a 1m15.564s.
Rosberg was among several drivers who then tried super soft tyres in the closing stages, as with rain forecast for the afternoon, Mercedes, Red Bull, Lotus, Nico Hulkenberg, Daniel Ricciardo and the HRTs all chose to try the softer rubber earlier than usual. But the Mercedes did not go any quicker than it had on softs, so Hamilton retained first position, and Rosberg found himself pushed down to third right at the end when Vettel squeezed into second place on super softs.
Vettel may have to take a trip to the stewards' office between sessions, as he is under investigation for an incident where he took a shortcut over the final chicane to pass Bruno Senna's Williams and ensure clear track for the start of a flying lap.
Fernando Alonso was the quickest Ferrari driver in fourth, with team-mate Felipe Massa 12th as the pair evaluated different exhaust layouts.
Mark Webber completed the top five in the second Red Bull, following by Hulkenberg's Force India, the Saubers of Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez, and Michael Schumacher's Mercedes.
Jenson Button was 10th despite his McLaren only managing 12 laps before it was sidelined in the garage with an oil leak.
Thirteen minutes of running were lost just after the mid-way point when Heikki Kovalainen put his Caterham into the wall on the exit of the Turn 8/9 chicane, doing substantial damage to the car's right-hand side. Kovalainen emerged unscathed. The rest of the field confined themselves to minor trips over the grass and asphalt run-offs.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m15.564 30
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m15.682s + 0.118 29
3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m15.782s + 0.218 30
4. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m15.842s + 0.278 34
5. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m15.897s + 0.333 28
6. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m15.986s + 0.422 29
7. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m16.000s + 0.436 31
8. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m16.249s + 0.685 32
9. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m16.264s + 0.700 28
10. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m16.347s + 0.783 12
11. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m16.460s + 0.896 32
12. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m16.619s + 1.055 17
13. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m16.859s + 1.295 25
14. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m16.890s + 1.326 36
15. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m17.014s + 1.450 41
16. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m17.352s + 1.788 28
17. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m17.580s + 2.016 31
18. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m17.935s + 2.371 23
19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m18.177s + 2.613 16
20. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m18.182s + 2.618 26
21. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m18.762s + 3.198 36
22. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m19.354s + 3.790 23
23. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m20.004s + 4.440 21
24. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m20.067s + 4.503 23
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Lewis Lane
by Joe Saward
Lewis Hamilton continued to lead the way in Montreal, but not by much... the McLaren driver ended the second session on top of the timesheets, but was just 0.054sec ahead of Fernando Alonso, who was a tenth clear of Felipe Massa. World Champion Sebastian Vettel was fourth ahead of the Force India of Paul di Resta, the Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi, Michael Schumacher's Mercedes and Nico Hulkenberg's Force India. Jenson Button was ninth and the top 10 was rounded off by Nico Rosberg in the second Mercedes.
The top 14 were covered by just over a second, with Sergio Perez, Mark Webber, Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean all within the second of Hamilton.
Kimi Raikkonen was next ahead of Heikki Kovalainen in his rebuilt Caterham, Bruno Senna, who crashed his Williams at the last corner, and Vitaly Petrov. This meant that the Caterhams were ahead of the Toro Rossos of Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo, with the HRTs and the Marussias mixed with, with Pedro de la Rosa head of Timo Glock, Narain Karthikeyan and Charles Pic.
In addition to Senna's crash, Glock had a spin and even Alonso went gyrating across the back chicane.
As soon as the session ended the weather turned sour with the circuit being drenched by torrential rain.
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Sebastian finds his primary digit again
by Joe Saward
Sebastian Vettel set the pace on Saturday morning in Montreal with a time that was just 0.006 secs ahead of Fernando Alonso's Ferrari. The top 16 cars were all covered by a second. The McLaren of Lewis Hamilton was third ahead of Mark Webber's Red Bull, Pastor Maldonado's Williams, Felipe Massa's Ferrari, Michael Schumacher, Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen. The top 10 was completed by Nico Hulkenberg in his Force India.
The two Saubers were next with Sergio Perez just ahead of Kamui Kobayashi, and then Bruno Senna's Williams, Jenson Button, still struggling with his McLaren, Daniel Ricciardo's Toro Rosso and Vitaly Petrov's Caterham.
Heikki Kovalainen was 18th ahead of Pedro de la Rosa's HRT, the Marussia of Timo Glock, Narain Karthikeyan's HRT and Charles Pic in the second Marussia.
At the back were Jean-Eric Vergne, who crashed his Toro Rosso at T1 and Nico Rosberg who suffered a mechanical failure with his Mercedes.
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Sebastian Vettel storms to Canadian Grand Prix pole position
By Matt Beer Saturday, June 9th 2012,
Sebastian Vettel grabbed his second pole position of the 2012 Formula 1 season with a comfortable 0.3-second margin in Canadian Grand Prix qualifying.
The Red Bull driver's cushion was surprisingly ample given that just 0.8s had covered 17 cars in Q1 and the whole Q2 field had been within a second.
Vettel started Q3 on provisional pole with a 1m13.905s and was not headed thereafter, as he improved to 1m13.784s on his second run to put himself further out of reach.
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton will join Vettel on the front row, having grabbed second from Fernando Alonso's Ferrari with his second Q3 attempt. Alonso looked like a pole threat until a disappointing final sector on his best lap left him to settle for third.
Mark Webber completes the top four in the second Red Bull, followed by Nico Rosberg in the leading Mercedes - four places ahead of team-mate Michael Schumacher - and Felipe Massa's Ferrari in sixth.
Romain Grosjean reached Q3 for Lotus and claimed seventh but his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen did not make it into the pole shoot-out, only managing 12th in Q2.
Force India's Paul di Resta made his second Q3 appearance of the year and earned eighth on the grid.
Jenson Button avoided a third consecutive Q2 elimination, but only just. The McLaren driver sat 10th at the end of the second segment and looked in grave danger of being edged out by Pastor Maldonado, only for the Spanish GP winner to spin his Williams into the wall at the final chicane, leaving him 17th. Button will start 10th, having spoiled one set of super softs by locking up.
The second Williams of Bruno Senna was only one place ahead of Maldonado in 16th. Also out in Q2 were both Saubers - with Kamui Kobayashi just 0.008s shy of a Q3 spot in 11th and Sergio Perez back in 15th - the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg and the Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo.
After his morning practice crash, Ricciardo's team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne's underwhelming Saturday continued as a mistake on his best lap saw the Frenchman exiting qualifying in Q1 for the fourth time in his first seven grands prix. Not only was he knocked out, but Vergne was outqualified by both Caterhams and will start 20th.
In another Q1 surprise, Pedro de la Rosa put his HRT 21st on the grid, beating both Marussias.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m13.784s
2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m14.087s
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m14.151s
4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m14.346s
5. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m14.411s
6. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m14.465s
7. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m14.645s
8. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m14.705s
9. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m14.812s
10. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m15.182s
Q2 cut-off time: 1m14.680s Gap **
11. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m14.688s + 0.501
12. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m14.734s + 0.547
13. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m14.748s + 0.561
14. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m15.078s + 0.891
15. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m15.156s + 0.969
16. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m15.170s + 0.983
17. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m15.231s + 1.044
Q1 cut-off time: 1m15.552s Gap *
18. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m16.263s + 1.602
19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m16.482s + 1.821
20. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m16.602s + 1.941
21. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m17.492s + 2.831
22. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m17.901s + 3.240
23. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m18.255s + 3.594
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m18.330s + 3.669
107% time: 1m19.887s
* Gap to quickest in Q1
** Gap to quickest in Q2
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Hamilton becomes seventh winner in seven races in the Canadian Grand Prix
By Matt Beer Sunday, June 10th 2012,
Lewis Hamilton finally took his first victory of the 2012 Formula 1 season as the McLaren driver charged back to pass the one-stopping Fernando Alonso's Ferrari and win the Canadian Grand Prix for the third time in his career.
The result also makes Hamilton the seventh different race winner in as many GPs this year, extending the record.
Lotus's Romain Grosjean and Sauber's Sergio Perez took the second podium finishes of their careers as they demoted the fading Alonso, who eventually dropped to fifth.
Poleman Sebastian Vettel only finished fourth, but had led Hamilton and Alonso in the opening stint. The Red Bull driver was the first of the trio to stop for tyres, and found himself jumped by both his rivals as they came in shortly afterwards. Alonso came off best of all as he vaulted both the Red Bull and the McLaren, but Hamilton was able to re-pass the Ferrari in the DRS zone on Alonso's out-lap.
The McLaren then edged slightly away before coming in for a second tyre stop on lap 49. Alonso and Vettel decided to try and make it to the end on their existing rubber, but Hamilton had the pace to hunt down and pass both of them, going to win and claim the points lead in the process.
Vettel then gave up his one-stop attempt and made a very late tyre stop, while Alonso clung on and hoped to still make it to the end in second, only for his pace to get ever worse. Grosjean - who had pitted only two laps later than the Ferrari - was soon past Alonso into second, with Perez (who left his sole stop until lap 41) and the recovering Vettel also easily dismissing the Spaniard.
Two-stoppers Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) and Mark Webber (Red Bull) were sixth and seventh, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus and Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber.
Felipe Massa spun from fifth to 12th in his Ferrari early on, and had to settle for 10th after stopping twice for tyres.
Force India's Paul di Resta had a spell as high as sixth in the early running, only to lose ground with a relatively early first of two pitstops, leaving him 11th.
It was another disastrous race for both Jenson Button and Michael Schumacher. The second McLaren had to make three tyre stops and finished a lapped 16th, while the rear wing flap on Schumacher's Mercedes jammed open, ending his race.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The Canadian Grand Prix
Montreal, Canada;
70 laps; 305.270km;
Weather: Sunny.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1h32:29.586
2. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 2.513
3. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 5.260
4. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 7.295
5. Alonso Ferrari + 13.411
6. Rosberg Mercedes + 13.842
7. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 15.085
8. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 15.567
9. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 24.432
10. Massa Ferrari + 25.272
11. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 37.693
12. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 46.236
13. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 47.052
14. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:04.475
15. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
16. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 1 lap
17. Senna Williams-Renault + 1 lap
18. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
19. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
20. Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps
Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:15.752
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Glock Marussia-Cosworth 57
Schumacher Mercedes 34
De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 25
Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 23
World Championship standings, round 7:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Hamilton 88 1. Red Bull-Renault 164
2. Alonso 86 2. McLaren-Mercedes 133
3. Vettel 85 3. Lotus-Renault 108
4. Webber 79 4. Ferrari 97
5. Rosberg 67 5. Mercedes 69
6. Raikkonen 55 6. Sauber-Ferrari 58
7. Grosjean 53 7. Williams-Renault 44
8. Button 45 8. Force India-Mercedes 28
9. Perez 37 9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 6
10. Maldonado 29
11. Kobayashi 21
12. Di Resta 21
13. Senna 15
14. Massa 11
15. Hulkenberg 7
16. Vergne 4
17. Schumacher 2
18. Ricciardo 2
All timing unofficial
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Pastor rises
by Joe Saward
Pastor Maldonado set the fastest time of the morning session in an overcast, but warm Valencia, but the F1 stars were again very closely matched, with 13 drivers within a second of the fastest time. The closest to Pastor was Sebastian Vettel, with Mark Webber third, all three of them covered by just 0.09s, with Jenson Button's McLaren a tiny fraction behind them. Then came Fernando Alonso and Paul di Resta, Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Kimi Raikkonen, Romain Grosjean, Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez. Felipe Massa was the first over a second in arrears, ahead of Force India test driver Jules Bianchi (in for Nico Hulkenberg in the session) and Valtteri Bottas (replacing Bruno Senna for the morning).
There was good news for the Caterham crew, as a new floor seems to have had a good effect with Heikki Kovalainen ahead of the two Toro Rossos (Jean-Eric Verge ahead of Daniel Ricciardo), Vitaly Petrov, Charles Pic, Pedro de la Rosa, Narain Karthikeyan and Timo Glock.
Various drivers went up escape roads, but otherwise there were no major incidents.
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Vett’s cool!
by Joe Saward
Sebastian Vettel set the pace in the Friday afternoon session on the streets of Valencia, with the wind dropping and the sun coming out, pushing up the temperatures considerably. The result was a rather odd top 10 as teams did different work in preparation for the race on Sunday. The top 15 was nonetheless covered by just a second. Second fastest was Nico Hulkenberg in his Force India ahead of Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber and Michael Schumacher's Mercedes. Bruno Senna was fifth ahead of Paul di Resta in the second Force India, Fernando Alonso's Ferrari; Romain Grosjean's Lotus, Mark Webber's Red Bull and the Second Mercedes of Nico Rosberg.
Within a second of the fastest time were Kimi Raikkonen, Jenson Button, Pastor Maldonado, Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa. Sergio Perez was 16th but it was a Caterham next in 17th, ahead of the Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo. Heikki Kovalainen was 19th, ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne, followed by the Marussias of Timo Glock and Charles Pic and the HRTs of Narain Karthikeyan and Pedro de la Rosa, the last-named having crashed midway through the session.
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Button mushrooms
by Joe Saward
Jenson Button set the pace in the third practice session in Valencia, on a bright and sunny morning. It was interesting to see the Lotuses of Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen second and third, ahead of the Force Indias of Nico HUlkenberg and Paul di Resta. Sergio Perez was sixth ahead of Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa, Pastor Maldonado, Kamui Kobayashi and Fernando Alonso.
Sebastian Vettel was 13th but only 0.87s off the fastest time. Behind the Red Bull driver were Bruno Senna, Nico Rosberg and the two Toro Rossos, with Jean-Eric Vergne ahead of Dan Ricciardo. The Caterhams looked less competitive than they had on Friday but Heikki Kovalainen was 18th, ahead of Mark Webber, who had mechanical troubles and did only four laps, Vitaly Petrov and the usual melange of HRTs and Marussias, led on this occasion by Pedro de la Rosa, from Charles Pic.
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Sebastian Vettel flies to European Grand Prix pole position
By Matt Beer Saturday, June 23rd 2012,
Sebastian Vettel beat Lewis Hamilton and Pastor Maldonado to pole position in a spectacular qualifying battle ahead of the European Grand Prix in Valencia.
Williams driver Maldonado looked set to start first for the second time this season - having inherited Barcelona pole after Hamilton was penalised - as he surged to the top with a 1m38.475s lap in the closing moments of qualifying.
But Vettel was putting in a spectacular lap in the revised Red Bull, coming through to depose Maldonado by nearly four tenths of a second with a 1m38.086s.
Hamilton's McLaren then slipped ahead of Maldonado by 0.065s with the Briton's final lap.
Lotus could not quite produce the pole challenge that many had predicted, but still qualified better than has often been the case this year, with Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen lining up fourth and fifth.
The astonishingly close initial stages of the session claimed several early victims - including both Ferraris, Michael Schumacher's Mercedes and Mark Webber's Red Bull, none of which made it into the top 10.
That was in part because a host of underdogs proceeded to Q3, with both Force Indias and Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi reaching the top 10.
The Force Indias both made appearances inside the top four during Q3 before being edged back to eighth (Nico Hulkenberg) and 10th (Paul di Resta), split by Jenson Button's McLaren.
Kobayashi took seventh, just behind Nico Rosberg's Mercedes.
Less than three tenths of a second covered the top 13 cars in Q2, and several top teams were squeezed out.
Most significantly for the title battle and most disappointing for the Spanish crowd was that Alonso missed out on Q3 by 0.004s, as lapping just 0.218s off pacesetter Grosjean left him 11th. Schumacher squeezed in between the two Ferraris in 12th, with all three less than 0.08s from the Q3 cut-off.
The other early shock was that Webber only managed 19th, hampered by hydraulic issues and a lack of DRS on his Red Bull.
The session gave Heikki Kovalainen and Caterham another chance to star, and the Finn outpaced both Toro Rossos to take 16th on the grid, behind Bruno Senna (Williams) and Sergio Perez (Sauber), both of whom were some way off their team-mates' pace in Q2.
It was a tough session for Marussia. While Timo Glock was sidelined by illness, his team-mate Charles Pic was unable to beat either HRT.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m38.086s
2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m38.410s + 0.324
3. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m38.475s + 0.389
4. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m38.505s + 0.419
5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m38.513s + 0.427
6. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m38.623s + 0.537
7. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m38.741s + 0.655
8. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m38.752s + 0.666
9. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m38.801s + 0.715
10. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m38.992s + 0.906
Q2 cut-off time: 1m38.703s Gap **
11. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m38.707s + 0.218
12. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m38.770s + 0.281
13. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m38.780s + 0.291
14. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m39.207s + 0.718
15. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m39.358s + 0.869
16. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m40.295s + 1.806
17. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m40.358s + 1.869
Q1 cut-off time: 1m40.087s Gap *
18. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m40.203s + 1.378
19. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m40.395s + 1.570
20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m40.457s + 1.632
21. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m42.171s + 3.346
22. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m42.527s + 3.702
23. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m42.675s + 3.850
107% time: 1m45.742s
* Gap to quickest in Q1
** Gap to quickest in Q2
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Alonso becomes first double winner in 2012 with superb European GP victory
By Matt Beer Sunday, June 24th 2012,
Fernando Alonso came through from 11th on the grid to take a remarkable home victory in the European Grand Prix in Valencia.
The result made the Ferrari driver the first repeat winner of the incredible 2012 Formula 1 season, and also moved Alonso into the championship lead.
The latter outcome was due in large part to Sebastian Vettel retiring with a mechanical problem on his Red Bull after dominating the first half of the race, and Lewis Hamilton's McLaren retiring late on in a collision with Pastor Maldonado's Williams as they fought for third.
Lotus's Romain Grosjean had looked like a victory threat as he chased Alonso, only to suffer an alternator failure, but his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen came through to claim second after a late pass on the fading Hamilton, whose incident with Maldonado then allowed Michael Schumacher to make his podium return for Mercedes in third place, chased by 19th-place qualifier Mark Webber's Red Bull.
Vettel commanded the early stages, immediately pulling out a lead of several seconds as the pack behind took several corners to sort itself out. Front row qualifier Hamilton got away slowly, and had to fend off several attackers before establishing himself in second ahead of Grosjean, Kamui Kobayashi, Maldonado, Raikkonen, Nico Hulkenberg and the fast-starting Alonso.
During the opening stint Alonso overtook Hulkenberg and followed Raikkonen past Maldonado, then jumped Raikkonen and Kobayashi by running one lap longer before his first pitstop.
This group then came out in a long train of yet-to-stop cars, through which Alonso made much more assertive progress than his rivals.
Approaching half-distance, Vettel was leading by 20 seconds over Grosjean, who had overtaken Hamilton with a neat outside-line move on lap 10 and then pulled out a 10s gap over the McLaren, which had Alonso edging closer.
When the safety car was called out to clear debris from a clash between Jean-Eric Vergne's Toro Rosso and Heikki Kovalainen's Caterham, most drivers made their second and final pitstops. Hamilton's was very slow, allowing Alonso to get up to third, and the Spaniard then went around the outside of Grosjean into the first corner at the restart to claim second.
Moments later that second place became the race lead, as Vettel's Red Bull suddenly cut out and retired, to the world champion's shock.
Grosjean kept Alonso under pressure and still seemed a likely winner, only for an alternator failure to halt the Lotus with 17 laps to go.
After that Alonso was able to pull clear and become the first repeat winner of the 2012 season, retaking the championship lead in the process.
Hamilton held on to second until the final two laps, when his tyres appeared to wilt. Raikkonen got past after a long battle, but when Maldonado tried to do likewise, the pair clashed, putting the McLaren in the barriers and breaking the Williams's front wing.
That allowed Schumacher through to claim the first podium of his Formula 1 return, as fended off Webber, who made great progress through from 19th on the grid.
Both Schumacher and Webber passed the Force Indias in the closing stages, with Nico Rosberg then getting his Mercedes between Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta's Force Indias to take sixth on the last lap.
Jenson Button had a low-key run to eighth for McLaren, ahead of Sergio Perez's Sauber and the limping Maldonado.
The second Ferrari of Felipe Massa was delayed with damage from a collision with Kobayashi and finished a lowly 16th. Kobayashi, who had already had to change front wings once after hitting Bruno Senna's Williams, had to retire after the incident.
For some of the race it looked like Caterham might score its first point, as solid pace and the attrition ahead allowed Vitaly Petrov to pick his way up to 10th place. But the Russian was pushed back down the order and then tangled with Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The European Grand Prix
Valencia Street Circuit, Europe;
57 laps; 308.883km;
Weather: Sunny.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Alonso Ferrari 1h44:16.449
2. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 6.421
3. Schumacher Mercedes + 12.639
4. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 13.628
5. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 19.993
6. Rosberg Mercedes + 21.176
7. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 22.866
8. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 24.653
9. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 27.777
10. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 34.653
11. Senna Williams-Renault + 35.961
12. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 37.041
13. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1:15.871
14. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1:34.654
15. Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 1:36.551
16. Massa Ferrari + 1 lap
17. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 1 lap
18. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 1 lap
19. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 2 laps
Fastest lap: Rosberg, 1:42.163
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Grosjean Lotus-Renault 41
Vettel Red Bull-Renault 34
Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 34
Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 27
Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1
World Championship standings, round 8:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Alonso 111 1. Red Bull-Renault 176
2. Webber 91 2. McLaren-Mercedes 137
3. Hamilton 88 3. Lotus-Renault 126
4. Vettel 85 4. Ferrari 122
5. Rosberg 75 5. Mercedes 92
6. Raikkonen 73 6. Sauber-Ferrari 60
7. Grosjean 53 7. Williams-Renault 45
8. Button 49 8. Force India-Mercedes 44
9. Perez 39 9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 6
10. Maldonado 30
11. Di Resta 27
12. Kobayashi 21
13. Hulkenberg 17
14. Schumacher 17
15. Senna 15
16. Massa 11
17. Vergne 4
18. Ricciardo 2
All timing unofficial
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Maldonado loses European point
Pastor Maldonado has been hit with a 20-second penalty for causing the collision that put Lewis Hamilton out of the European GP.
Fighting for position on the penultimate lap of the 57-lap grand prix, the Williams driver attempted to overtake Hamilton and put all four wheels off the track. buttslap
However, he then came back on, hitting Hamilton and putting him to the wall and into retirement.
The duo were both called into the stewards' office to give their account of the incident.
However, before going in, Maldonado made it clear who he believed was to blame.
"He (Hamilton) tried a very aggressive movement on me," said the Venezuelan.
The stewards, though, did not agree and after deliberating slapped Maldonado with a 20-second penalty for "failing to rejoin the track in a safe manner."
The penalty drops Maldonado from tenth to 12th.
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Hamilton wouldn't have been in that position if his pit team hadnt fcuked up yet again
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A honeymoon in Northants
by Joe Saward
Romain Grosjean got married last week and was obviously on tip-top form at Silverstone as he set the pace in the wet first practice for Silverstone, three tenths ahead of the Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo, Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez. The order was therefore rather less than normal, largely because of the conditions. Behind the Sauber driver was Felipe Massa, Mark Webber, Kamui Kobayashi, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg.
Next up were Jean-Eric Vergne, Sebastian Vettel, Vitaly Petrov, Williams F1 test driver Valtteri Bottas, Heikki Kovalainen, Pastor Maldonado, Kimi Raikkonen, Jenson Button, Timo Glock, Pedro de la Rosa, HRT test driver Dani Clos, Charles Pic, Fernando Alonso, who did just a few laps, with the Force Indias at the back, the team having decided not to do more than installation laps with Paul di Resta and Jules Bianchi.
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Do you think she fa*ts in bed?
TBWG buttslap
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Lewis and a home-made jam
by Joe Saward
Lewis Hamilton set the pace on Friday afternoon at Silverstone, although thousands of spectators did not get to see it happening because of a major traffic planning disaster in the Silverstone area, which left them sitting in jams for hours on end as the authorities tried to figure out what to do next to clean up the mess. One would have thought that after decades running the event they would have worked it out by now... buttslap
Hamilton led Kamui Kobayashi, Michael Schumacher, Nico Rosberg, Sergio Perez, Jenson Button and Heikki Kovalainen. This was an indication that the times should not be taken too seriously. There were several incidents, notably for Bruno Senna, who did his Williams some considerable damage. Even Fernando Alonso was caught out and knocked the nose off his Ferrari.
Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus was next, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, Alonso, Paul di Resta, Pastor Maldonado, Sebastian Vettel, Jean-Eric Vergne, Felipe Massa, Timo Glock, Senna, Vitaly Petrov, Charles Pic, Naraign Karthikeyan, Romain Grosjean, Dan Ricciardo, Mark Webber and Pedro de la Rosa.
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F1 GB GP style! party4
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Do you think she fa*ts in bed?
TBWG I think it's fair to say that I just wouldn't care!!!!! spot1 love3
Cheers,
JT
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Red reign?
by Joe Saward
Fernando Alonso set the fastest lap of the Saturday morning session at a cool but dry Silverstone, beating local hero Jenson Button by a tenth. There were 10 drivers covered by a second and 14 within 1.3secs of the fastest time. Romain Grosjean was third ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton and Maldonado. The two Saubers were next with Sergio Perez beating Kamui Kobayashi, despite the Mexican knocking off his nose in an off-track moment. The top 10 was completed by Nico Hulkenberg, ahead of Bruno Senna, Paul di Resta, Mark Webber, Michael Schumacher and Jean-Eric Vergne. Felipe Massa was next up, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, Nico Rosberg, the two Caterhams (Heikki Kovalainen ahead of Vitaly Petrov), the two Marussias (with Timo Glock ahead of Charles Pic (who had fuel system problems and stopped on the track twice, having been returned to the pits first time on a truck). The HRTs were at the back this time with Narain Karthikeyan ahead of Pedro de la Rosa.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m32.167s 21
2. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m32.320s + 0.153s 20
3. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m32.358s + 0.191s 25
4. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m32.420s + 0.253s 21
5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m32.454s + 0.287s 25
6. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m32.477s + 0.310s 20
7. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m32.622s + 0.455s 21
8. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m32.940s + 0.773s 19
9. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m33.046s + 0.879s 20
10. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m33.150s + 0.983s 19
11. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m33.267s + 1.100s 25
12. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m33.367s + 1.200s 20
13. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m33.398s + 1.231s 24
14. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m33.462s + 1.295s 24
15. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m33.673s + 1.506s 22
16. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m33.674s + 1.507s 21
17. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m33.707s + 1.540s 21
18. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m33.733s + 1.566s 15
19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m34.298s + 2.131s 18
20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m34.781s + 2.614s 20
21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m36.605s + 4.438s 18
22. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m37.060s + 4.893s 14
23. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m37.269s + 5.102s 23
24. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m37.429s + 5.262s 17
All Timing Unofficial
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No rain – it’s Spain!
by Joe Saward
Fernando Alonso snatched pole position at the British Grand Prix with a lap that was just a fraction faster than Mark Webber's Red Bull Renault in the Q3 session at Silverstone. Michael Schumacher ended up third for Mercedes, ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Felipe Massa.
Things went wrong for Lotus (again) with Kimi Raikkonen sixth but Romain Grosjean failing to get a run after spinning off at the end of Q2.
Pastor Maldonado was seventh ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Hulkenberg.
Grosjean will start 10th.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m51.746s
2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m51.793s + 0.047
3. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m52.020s + 0.274
4. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m52.199s + 0.453
5. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m53.065s + 1.319
6. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m53.290s + 1.544
7. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m53.539s + 1.793
8. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m53.543s + 1.797
9. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m54.382s + 2.636
10. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault no time
Q2 cut-off time: 1m56.931s Gap **
11. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m57.009s + 2.112
12. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m57.071s + 2.174
13. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m57.108s + 2.211
14. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m57.132s + 2.235
15. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m57.426s + 2.529
16. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m57.719s + 2.822
17. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m57.895s + 2.998
Q1 cut-off time: 1m47.105s Gap *
18. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m48.044s + 1.765
19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m49.027s + 2.748
20. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m49.477s + 3.198
21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m51.618s + 5.339
22. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m52.742s + 6.463
23. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m53.040s + 6.761
24. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m54.143s + 7.864
107% time: 1m53.718s
* Gap to quickest in Q1
** Gap to quickest in Q2
+ 1.319
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Nico Hulkenberg will take a five-place grid penalty for the British Grand Prix after his Force India team elected to change the gearbox on his car.
The German finished in fifth place in Valencia a fortnight ago but his team found a problem with his gearbox after the event.
The unit was changed ahead of final practice at Silverstone, which means he will be given a mandatory five-place grid penalty after qualifying.
Charles Pic will take a five-place grid penalty for the British Grand Prix after his gearbox was changed before qualifying.
The Frenchman, who ended up last overall in the rain-hit qualifying session, needed to have a replacement gearbox fitted following the problems that he encountered on Saturday morning.
Pic's penalty is unlikely to make any difference to his starting position.
Jean-Eric Vergne said he has had a 'reset' in the brain following his European Grand Prix crash, where he was given a 10-place grid penalty for Silverstone after colliding with Heikki Kovalainen's Caterham.
The Frenchman, who retired from the race following the accident in Valencia, admitted that the incident (which also cost him a 25,000 euro fine) is not something he intends to repeat.
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Mark Webber charges to superb British Grand Prix victory yeahme
By Matt Beer Sunday, July 8th 2012, 13:31 GMT
Red Bull's Mark Webber trimmed Fernando Alonso's Formula 1 championship lead to 13 points by hunting down and passing the Ferrari in a dramatic conclusion to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Sebastian Vettel completed the podium and almost managed to make it a Red Bull one-two as he gained on Alonso's tyre-troubled car at the end.
Alonso pulled out a five-second lead over Webber in the first stint and maintained it for the majority of the race. But while most of the field used soft tyres early then switched to hards, Alonso waited until his final stint to try the softs, and could not keep up his previous pace.
Webber caught up rapidly and was on the Ferrari's tail with seven laps to go, trying several moves before deploying his DRS on the run towards Brooklands on lap 48 out of 52. Alonso defended the inside as Webber swept around the outside, and after attempting to retaliate at Luffield, the Spaniard had to let Webber go and concentrate on staying clear of Vettel.
The world champion had run fifth in the opening stint before a slightly early first stop helped him jump to third, where he would finish, unable to catch Alonso in the end.
Felipe Massa spent the opening laps trying ever-more creative attempts to overtake Michael Schumacher's Mercedes for third, finally managing at Stowe on lap 11. The Ferrari lost out to Vettel in the following pit sequence, then resisted the fast-closing Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen to take fourth.
Lotus got two cars in the top six despite Romain Grosjean breaking his front wing in a brush with Paul di Resta on the first lap. The resulting puncture and associated damage ended the Force India's race, while Grosjean charged back from last to sixth.
Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button could only finish eighth and 10th in the McLarens. Hamilton spent a while in the lead and enjoyed a spirited dice with Alonso as he ran a very long first stint on hards, but then did just a handful of laps on softs before switching back to harder Pirellis. The Briton's pace then faded and he lost seventh place to Schumacher late on.
Although Button jumped to 12th at the start, his progress was less dramatic thereafter. In the closing laps he was in the thick of an epic dice for ninth with Bruno Senna and Nico Hulkenberg, won by the Williams. Hulkenberg (Force India) ran wide at Copse in the heat of battle and dropped out of the points.
The other major incident of the race involved Pastor Maldonado and Sergio Perez. Running seventh and ninth in the first stint, they pitted together on lap 11 but then collided at Brooklands on their out-laps. The furious Perez sustained terminal damage to his Sauber, while Maldonado dragged his Williams back to the pits for repairs and finished 16th. slapfight
Completing a bad day for Sauber, Kamui Kobayashi hit several mechanics at his final stop. Initial reports suggested there were no serious injuries and the Japanese driver continued to 11th ahead of Hulkenberg.
Nico Rosberg had a less dramatic bad pitstop during what was already a low-key midfield race, which ended with his Mercedes 15th.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The British Grand Prix
Silverstone, Britain;
52 laps; 306.198km;
Weather: Dry.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1h25:11.288
2. Alonso Ferrari + 3.060
3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 4.836
4. Massa Ferrari + 9.519
5. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 10.314
6. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 17.101
7. Schumacher Mercedes + 29.153
8. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 36.400
9. Senna Williams-Renault + 43.300
10. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 44.400
11. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 45.300
12. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 47.800
13. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 51.200
14. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 53.300
15. Rosberg Mercedes + 57.300
16. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 1 lap
17. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
18. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
19. Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
20. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
21. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:34.661
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Perez Sauber-Ferrari 14
Di Resta Force India-Mercedes 3
Petrov Caterham-Renault 1
World Championship standings, round 9:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Alonso 129 1. Red Bull-Renault 216
2. Webber 116 2. Ferrari 152
3. Vettel 100 3. Lotus-Renault 144
4. Hamilton 92 4. McLaren-Mercedes 142
5. Raikkonen 83 5. Mercedes 98
6. Rosberg 75 6. Sauber-Ferrari 60
7. Grosjean 61 7. Williams-Renault 47
8. Button 50 8. Force India-Mercedes 44
9. Perez 39 9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 6
10. Maldonado 29
11. Di Resta 27
12. Schumacher 23
13. Massa 23
14. Kobayashi 21
15. Senna 18
16. Hulkenberg 17
17. Vergne 4
18. Ricciardo 2
All timing unofficial
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Just seen the fastest laps of each driver at Silverstone ~~~ Jenson & Lewis were lucky to finish as high as they did.
They posted 15th and 16th fastest laps during the race, Glock's Marussia was next slowest after Lewis! They were beaten by every other established team/driver other than Maldonado's Williams. party13
Bearing in mind McLaren have admitted their car was cr*p on slow circuits it would appear it is not any better on fast circuits. So after an encouraging start to the season it now appears they have their backs against the wall.
On the other hand Lotus Kimi & Romain were 1st and 2nd quickest so every opportunity for another winning marque this season.
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Webber re-signs for Red Bull
by Joe Saward
Red Bull Racing has announced that it is going to keep the same driver line-up again in 2013. Sebastian Vettel is already under contract for next year and Mark Webber has now been signed on a one-year deal, which means that rumours of the Australian going to Ferrari to partner Fernando Alonso have failed to become a reality.
"I’ve been with Red Bull Racing since 2007 and have achieved nine grand prix wins during that time," he said. "I’m high on confidence at the moment and firing on all cylinders. I know the team well and I’m very comfortable here; we have grown together over the years and it feels like absolutely the right thing to stay with Red Bull for another season. The team is constantly working hard to improve in all areas and we’ve shown that together we can win races. It’s great to be able to make this announcement off the back of the win in Silverstone at the weekend and I’m looking forward to competing on the edge and pushing myself in every race again next season."
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German GP Practice 1
Oh, what a grey day!
by Joe Saward
Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton set the pace in a session when the track was damp but not really wet, although it did rain during the session. The cars featured a significantly updated package. Third quickest was Fernando Alonso in his Ferrari, ahead of Michael Schumacher, Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg. Nico Rosberg was seventh with the top 10 completed by Felipe Massa, Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean.
Kamui Kobayashi was 11th ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Valtteri Bottas (who spun off at the end of the session in Bruno Senna's Williams) and Daniel Ricciardo. Kimi Raikkonen was 15th ahead of Jules Bianchi (in Paul di Resta's Force India), Jean-Eric Vergne, Vitaly Petrov, Heikki Kovalainen, Mark Webber (who was taking things easy), the Marussias of Charles Pic and Timo Glock and the HRTs of Pedro de la Rosa and Dani Clos (in for Narain Karthikeyan in the session).
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We’ll keep the red flag flying here…
July 20, 2012 by Joe Saward
Pastor Maldonado set the pace in the afternoon session on Friday at Hockenheim, beating Nico Rosberg by a fraction, but the times were fairly meaningless given the weather, which was chucking it down at the start of the session. It improved a little but then the rain came again and the session ended with Michael Schumacher smacking his Mercedes into the wall in the stadium area and bringing out a red flag that ended the session prematurely.
Sebastian Vettel was third fastest ahead of Sergio Perez, Romain Grosjean, Nico Hulkenberg (who had an impressive 720-degree spin), Daniel Ricciardo, who dumped his car into the gravel, Jenson Button, Mark Webber and Kimi Raikkonen.
Outside the top 10 were Jean-Eric Vergne, Felipe Massa, Kamui Kobayashi, the Marussias of Charles Pic and Timo Glock (somewhat out of position), Bruno Senna, Heikki Kovalainen, Paul di Resta, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Vitaly Petrov, Narain Karthikeyan, Schumacher and Pedro de la Rosa.
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Das wetter is wetter
by Joe Saward
Much of the third free practice session at Hockenheim took place in the dry, after a miserable Friday, but with a few minutes to go at the end of the hour the clouds opened up and dumped bucket-loads of water on the Hockenheim circuit. Old rivals Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton had set the pace before the rainfall. the pair separated by a smidgen of a second, ahead of Sergio Perez, Kimi Raikkonen and the Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastien Vettel. The top 10 was completed by Pastor Maldonado, Felipe Massa, Kamui Kobayashi and Bruno Senna.
Further back we had Romain Grosjean, Nico Hulkenberg, Paul di Resta, Daniel Ricciardo, Michael Schumacher, Jean-Eric Vergne, Nico Rosberg, the two Caterhams, various Marussias and HRTs and Jenson Button at the back.
So we go into qualifying not really sure of who is where in the pecking order, and even less sure what the weather will do.
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Fernando Alonso grabs pole at wet Hockenheim ahead of German Grand Prix
Saturday, July 21st 2012,
Fernando Alonso secured his second straight pole position as German Grand Prix qualifying at Hockenheim became a last-minute scramble on a wet track.
The 10 drivers in the pole shoot-out were all delivering quicker and quicker times as they acclimatised to the circuit conditions in the final moments, and it was Alonso who handled it best, putting in a 1m40.621s to take pole for Ferrari.
World champion and local hero Sebastian Vettel was Alonso's nearest challenger, lapping 0.4 seconds slower than the current points leader as he took second ahead of his Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber, who will drop five places due to a penalty for a gearbox change.
That will move Michael Schumacher into the top three on the grid on home ground. The German legend was on provisional pole for a while before ending up fourth quickest for Mercedes.
Three of the top four places on the grid will go to German drivers, as Force India's Nico Hulkenberg delivered a spectacular fifth-fastest time to give himself a Formula 1 career-best starting spot on row two. His team-mate Paul di Resta also reached Q3 and was ninth.
Pastor Maldonado completed the top six in his Williams, ahead of the two McLarens. Jenson Button was quicker than Lewis Hamilton, as the 2009 champion delivered his best qualifying performance since Bahrain in April.
Kimi Raikkonen was the final Q3 qualifier and rounds off the top 10 for Lotus.
The rain had arrived just before Q2 began, leading to a scramble to get a quick time in on the one or two laps that were always going to be the fastest of the segment. Among those who missed out were two of the men with five-place gearbox change penalties: Romain Grosjean (Lotus) and Nico Rosberg (Mercedes). They were 15th and 17th respectively.
Felipe Massa slithered off the road on his first Q2 lap and rejoined in Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso's path. Being blocked did not stop Alonso reaching Q3, but Massa's error consigned him to 14th.
Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo almost made it into the top 10 as the rain he wanted arrived, missing the Q3 cut by just 0.06s. Also out in the middle segment were the two Saubers and Bruno Senna's Williams.
Q1 was fully dry and relatively predictable, although Schumacher, Button and Webber all cut it a little fine in either timing or pace terms. In the event, the eliminated midfielder was Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne, for the sixth time in his nine grands prix.
Heikki Kovalainen was nearly a second quicker than Caterham team-mate Vitaly Petrov, while Timo Glock found himself outqualified on home ground by Marussia stablemate Charles Pic, despite the rookie's lack of practice mileage.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m40.621s
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m41.026s + 0.405
3. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m41.496s + 1.838 ***
4. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m42.459s + 2.880
5. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m43.501s + 3.329
6. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m43.950s + 3.492
7. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m44.113s + 3.565
8. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m44.186s + 0.875
9. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m44.889s + 4.268
10. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m45.811s + 5.190
Q2 cut-off time: 1m39.729s Gap **
11. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m39.789s + 2.424
12. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m39.933s + 2.568
13. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m39.985s + 2.620
14. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m40.212s + 2.847
15. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m40.574s + 3.209 ***
16. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m40.752s + 3.387
17. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m41.551s + 4.186 ***
Q1 cut-off time: 1m16.686s Gap *
18. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m16.741s + 1.048
19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m17.620s + 1.927
20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m18.531s + 2.838
21. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m19.220s + 3.527
22. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m19.291s + 3.598
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m19.912s + 4.219
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m20.230s + 4.537
*** 5 place grid penalty (gearbox change)
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Sergio Perez handed penalty for impeding during qualifying for the German Grand Prix
By Matt Beer Saturday, July 21st 2012,
Sauber's Sergio Perez will be demoted five places on the German Grand Prix after stewards ruled that he had impeded other cars in qualifying. buttslap
The Mexican had qualified 12th, but was found guilty of blocking both Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso in Q2.
A statement from the stewards said the penalty was "imposed due to the driver being involved in two similar offences in the same session."
Perez is the fourth driver to be given a grid penalty for the Hockenheim race. Mark Webber, Romain Grosjean and Nico Rosberg are already facing five-place drops for unscheduled gearbox changes on their cars.
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icon_latest
In the wake of qualifying a fourth penalty was handed down as Sergio Perez, who was P12, was slapped slapfight with a five place drop for impeding Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso in Q2.
Revised Grid
01 Fernando Alonso Ferrari
02 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull
03 Michael Schumacher Mercedes
04 Nico Hulkenberg Force India
05 Pastor Maldonado Williams
06 Jenson Button McLaren
07 Lewis Hamilton McLaren
08 Mark Webber Red Bull *
09 Paul di Resta Force India
10 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus
11 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso
12 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber
13 Felipe Massa Ferrari
14 Bruno Senna Williams
15 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso
16 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham
17 Sergio Perez Sauber **
18 Vitaly Petrov Caterham
19 Charles Pic Marussia
20 Romain Grosjean Lotus *
21 Timo Glock Marussia
22 Nico Rosberg Mercedes *
23 Pedro de la Rosa HRT
24 Narain Karthikeyan HRT
* Five-place penalty for gearbox change
** Five-place penalty for impeding
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Fernando Alonso holds off Vettel and Button to take third win of 2012 in the German GP
By Matt Beer Sunday, July 22nd 2012,
Fernando Alonso extended his Formula 1 world championship lead by fending off Sebastian Vettel and a resurgent Jenson Button to win the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.
Alonso never had a huge lead in his Ferrari, but did enough to keep the chasing Red Bull and McLaren at bay. In the end he was helped by Vettel and Button battling to the finish, their dice finally settled by a penultimate-lap pass from the Red Bull.
The result stretched Alonso's championship cushion to 34 points, as Silverstone winner Mark Webber finished a muted eighth.
In a similar scenario to the previous race in Britain, Alonso spent the grand prix under increasing pressure. The Ferrari established a slight cushion over Vettel's Red Bull in the opening stint on soft tyres, then came under greater threat once they changed to medium Pirellis at the first pitstops.
By that time Button was also in the fight. The Briton overtook Michael Schumacher and Nico Hulkenberg early on, then closed in on the top two, gaining some ground when his team-mate Lewis Hamilton - who had been delayed with an early puncture - unlapped himself from Vettel.
Stopping a lap earlier than the champion at the final tyre changes then allowed Button to sweep into second place. He resisted Vettel's attempted retaliation at the hairpin, and then set off after Alonso.
But in the closing laps it was Button who was under pressure as Vettel attacked. The Red Bull went down the outside into the hairpin with a lap to go and used the run-off area on the exit to complete a pass then did not impress Button, although the Briton still claimed his first podium since April's Chinese GP. The stewards are investigating the move.
Kimi Raikkonen took an ultimately lonely fourth for Lotus, as the Saubers showed great race pace and tyre life - Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez coming through to fifth and sixth from their midfield grid slots.
Perez held on amid late pressure from Schumacher's Mercedes, which was running a three-stop strategy and charging back on fresh soft tyres.
Webber never featured near the front and took eighth, just ahead of Hulkenberg. The Force India driver drifted down the order as the race progressed, with his team-mate Paul di Resta ending up behind Nico Rosberg's Mercedes in 11th. Rosberg also pitted three times and managed to make up ground well after his practice and qualifying dramas.
Hamilton was one of several drivers delayed in first-lap incidents in which either contact or debris caused damage. The McLaren eventually retired, while fellow early pit visitors Felipe Massa, Bruno Senna and Romain Grosjean kept racing and got back to 12th, 17th and 18th respectively. Also in trouble was Senna's Williams team-mate Pastor Maldonado, who appeared to be suffering high tyre wear as he slumped to 15th.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The German Grand Prix
Hockenheimring, Germany;
67 laps; 306.458km;
Weather: Sunny.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Alonso Ferrari 1h31:05.862
2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 3.732
3. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 6.949
4. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 16.409
5. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 21.925
6. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 27.896
7. Schumacher Mercedes + 28.960
8. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 46.900
9. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 48.162
10. Rosberg Mercedes + 48.889
11. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 59.227
12. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:11.428
13. Massa Ferrari + 1:16.829
14. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:16.965
15. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 1 lap
16. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
17. Senna Williams-Renault + 1 lap
18. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 1 lap
19. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 2 laps
20. Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps
21. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 3 laps
22. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 3 laps
23. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 3 laps
Fastest lap: Schumacher, 1:18.275
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 58
World Championship standings, round 10:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Alonso 154 1. Red Bull-Renault 238
2. Webber 120 2. Ferrari 177
3. Vettel 118 3. McLaren-Mercedes 157
4. Raikkonen 95 4. Lotus-Renault 156
5. Hamilton 92 5. Mercedes 105
6. Rosberg 76 6. Sauber-Ferrari 78
7. Button 65 7. Williams-Renault 47
8. Grosjean 61 8. Force India-Mercedes 46
9. Perez 47 9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 6
10. Kobayashi 31
11. Maldonado 29
12. Schumacher 29
13. Di Resta 27
14. Massa 23
15. Hulkenberg 19
16. Senna 18
17. Vergne 4
18. Ricciardo 2
All timing unofficial
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Vettel penalised for Button pass, drops from second to fifth in the German Grand Prix
By Pablo Elizalde Sunday, July 22nd 2012,
Sebastian Vettel has been handed a penalty for his overtaking move on Jenson Button in the German Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver passed his McLaren rival for second with less than two laps to go by running off track at the exit of the hairpin. buttslap
Vettel's move was illegal, according to the stewards, who imposed a post-race drive-through penalty on the German, meaning 20 seconds have been added to his finishing time.
The German drops from second to fifth, promoting Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen to third.
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Ferrari reveal Alonso title push Massa role whistle
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Lewis guns it
July 27, 2012 by Joe Saward
Lewis Hamilton set the pace in Hungary on Friday morning, a tenth aheda of his McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, and half a second clear of the rest, led on this occasion by World Championship leader Fernando Alonso. Nico Rosberg was fourth fastest ahead of Romain Grosjean, Michael Schumacher, Felipe Massa, Kimi Raikkonen and the impressive Williams test driver Valtteri Bottas. Sergio Perez was 10th in his Sauber.
Pastor Maldonado was 11th in the second Williams, ahead of Kamui Kobayashi, Mark Webber, Paul de Resta and Sebastian Vettel. Then came the two Toro Rossos with Daniel Ricciardo ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne, Jules Bianchi in the second Force India, Vitaly Petrov and Heikki Kovalainen in the two Caterhams were split by Charles Pic’s Marussia, while Timo Glock was behind but still ahead of the HRTs of Pedro de la Rosa and test driver Dani Clos.
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Lewis Hamilton on top in rain-hit second practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix
By Matt Beer Friday, July 27th 2012,
Lewis Hamilton repeated his morning performance to set the fastest time again in second practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix, in a session disrupted by a heavy rain shower.
The dry running was compressed into the first half of the afternoon, as although the rain was relatively brief and the temperatures remained hot, the track received too heavy a soaking for slicks to be viable thereafter.
Conditions had been hot and sunny at the start of the session, but with rain looming on the radar, teams hurried to get on track, leading to a busy start. Kimi Raikkonen was fastest for a spell in his Lotus, before the Ferraris moved ahead - Felipe Massa slightly quicker than Fernando Alonso.
The rain-conscious frontrunners then switched to the soft tyres shortly after the half-hour mark, leading to a busy period in which Jenson Button (McLaren), Alonso and then Raikkonen swapped the top spot between them.
Hamilton had to abandon one quick lap when he came across Charles Pic's Marussia in the final sector, but just before the rain began, he was able to show his speed with a 1m21.995s.
That put him 0.185 seconds clear of Raikkonen, while Bruno Senna thrust his Williams into third place, ahead of the Ferraris and Button.
Behind seventh and eighth-placed Paul di Resta (Force India) and Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), the top 10 was completed by two drivers who met the barriers during the afternoon. Romain Grosjean had an early incident when he ran wide on the exit of the chicane and spun back across the track, taking the front wing off his Lotus on the inside barrier. He was able to get back to the pits and quickly rejoin under repairs.
Michael Schumacher was less fortunate. For the second Friday in succession, he crashed in the wet, locking up on intermediate tyres and sliding straight on into the tyres at the Turn 11 right-hander at the end of the penultimate straight.
The Mercedes driver's incident was a warning to the other drivers who were getting some wet mileage, but it did not deter many of the field from coming out on intermediates in the final half-hour, as much of the circuit dried completely while other sections remained sodden..
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m21.995 20
2. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m22.180s + 0.185 20
3. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m22.253s + 0.258 33
4. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m22.417s + 0.422 28
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m22.582s + 0.587 22
6. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m22.747s + 0.752 17
7. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m22.794s + 0.799 23
8. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m22.824s + 0.829 18
9. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m22.922s + 0.927 12
10. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m23.160s + 1.165 19
11. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m23.164s + 1.169 28
12. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m23.337s + 1.342 26
13. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m23.713s + 1.718 25
14. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m23.814s + 1.819 17
15. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m23.841s + 1.846 28
16. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m24.328s + 2.333 23
17. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m24.345s + 2.350 27
18. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m24.623s + 2.628 22
19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m24.823s + 2.828 28
20. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m25.220s + 3.225 28
21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.104s + 5.109 27
22. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m27.106s + 5.111 18
23. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.185s + 5.190 22
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m27.822s + 5.827 20
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Mark’s, no sparks!
July 28, 2012 by Joe Saward
Mark Webber set the pace in the Saturday practice session on Saturday morning in Hungary, beating Lewis Hamilton to the fastest time by just 0.093s. There were 15 drivers within a second of the fastest time, which meant a few surprises in the established pecking order. Bruno Senna was third in his Williams, ahead of Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari and Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus. Romain Grosjean was right behind his team-mate, with Felipe Massa next, ahead of Paul di Resta, Jenson Button and Pastor Maldonado. Kamui Kobayashi was next followed by Jean-Eric Vergne, Nico Hulkenberg, Sergio Perez, Daniel Ricciardo, Michael Schumacher, Nico Rosberg, the Caterhams, the Marussias and the HRTS.
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Woking woken
July 28, 2012 by Joe Saward
McLaren signalled a return to form in Budapest with Lewis Hamilton taking pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix, four-tenths of a second ahead of Lotus’s Romain Grosjean. The Frenchman bumped Sebastian Vettel down to third, but he was still ahead of Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen. The Ferraris were sixth and seventh, with Fernando Alonso just ahead of Felipe Massa with the two Williamses eighth and ninth, with Pastor Maldonado ahead of Bruno Senna. Nico Hulkenberg completed the top 10.
Hamilton secures Mclarens 150th pole position! spot1
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m20.953s
2. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m21.366s + 0.413
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m21.416s + 0.463
4. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m21.583s + 0.630
5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m21.730s + 0.777
6. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m21.844s + 0.891
7. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m21.900s + 0.947
8. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m21.939s + 0.986
9. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m22.343s + 1.390
10. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m22.847s + 1.894
Q2 cut-off time: 1m21.697s Gap *
11. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m21.715s + 0.655
12. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m21.813s + 0.753
13. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m21.895s + 0.835
14. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m21.895s + 0.835
15. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m22.300s + 1.240
16. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m22.380s + 1.320
17. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m22.723s + 1.663
Q1 cut-off time: 1m22.948s Gap *
18. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m23.250s + 1.456
19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m23.576s + 1.782
20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m24.167s + 2.373
21. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m25.244s + 3.450
22. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m25.476s + 3.682
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m25.916s + 4.122
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m26.178s + 4.384
107% time: 1m27.519s
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Hamilton holds off Raikkonen to win the Hungarian Grand Prix yeahme
By Matt Beer Sunday, July 29th 2012,
Lewis Hamilton fended off Kimi Raikkonen to claim victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix and revitalise a title campaign that had begun to drift since McLaren's last win in Canada.
Hamilton led the majority of the race, but had a Lotus on his tail nearly all of the way.
Initially it was Romain Grosjean, who dismissed a strong challenge from Sebastian Vettel at the first corner, which allowed Jenson Button to then demote the Red Bull to fourth through Turns 2 and 3.
Button (McLaren) could not match Hamilton and Grosjean's early pace, so the McLaren and Lotus pulled away in a two-car lead fight.
Hamilton had it under control, although Grosjean did ramp up the pressure for a while in the middle stint of their two-stop strategies when he was on softs and the Briton had medium Pirellis.
When Button made an early second of three stops, Vettel was free to start catching the leaders too, but in the end it was Raikkonen who emerged almost from nowhere to become Hamilton's main challenger.
Raikkonen had been sixth in the opening stint, then passed Fernando Alonso's Ferrari in the first stops. His strong late-stint pace on a long run on softs in his next stint then allowed him to lead for a spell and vault from fifth to second, firmly resisting team-mate Grosjean as he emerged from his final stop.
Hamilton and Raikkonen were then tied together until the flag, but there was nothing the Lotus could do to pass the McLaren.
Grosjean held on to third ahead of Vettel, who made a third pitstop without losing a place and charged back to attack the Lotus on fresh softs, to no avail.
Alonso calmly protected his championship lead on a tough day for Ferrari, finishing fifth. For a while it looked like main title rival Mark Webber would trim a little from Alonso's cushion. The Australian jumped from 11th to seventh on lap one, then got ahead of Alonso at the second stops. But making a third tyre stop cost Webber and he fell to eighth.
Button's three-stop plan was also unsuccessful, as his second stop left him trapped behind Bruno Senna for a spell. He got back in front of the Brazilian in the final tyre changes then chased Alonso home in sixth.
Senna resisted Webber for seventh, delivering one of his best drives of the season on a day when his Williams team-mate Pastor Maldonado lost ground at the start then received a drive-through penalty for barging Paul di Resta's Force India aside in one of the race's few concerted passing attempts.
Felipe Massa was ninth - four places but just a few seconds behind team-mate Alonso. Nico Rosberg salvaged a point for Mercedes as his team-mate Michael Schumacher endured one of his most depressing races in Formula 1. The seven-time champion was left on the grid in an aborted initial start, joined the race from the pits, received a pitlane speeding penalty, then retired from 18th late on.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The Hungarian Grand Prix
Hungaroring, Hungary;
70 laps; 306.630km;
Weather: Sunny.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1h41:05.503
2. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 1.032
3. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 10.518
4. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 11.614
5. Alonso Ferrari + 26.653
6. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 30.243
7. Senna Williams-Renault + 33.899
8. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 34.458
9. Massa Ferrari + 38.300
10. Rosberg Mercedes + 51.200
11. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 57.200
12. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1:02.800
13. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 1:03.6
14. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1:04.4
15. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
16. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
17. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
18. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 2 laps
19. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 2 laps
20. Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps
21. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 3 laps
22. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 3 laps
Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:24.136
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 63
Schumacher Mercedes 61
World Championship standings, round 11:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Alonso 164 1. Red Bull-Renault 246
2. Webber 124 2. McLaren-Mercedes 193
3. Vettel 122 3. Lotus-Renault 192
4. Hamilton 117 4. Ferrari 189
5. Raikkonen 116 5. Mercedes 106
6. Rosberg 77 6. Sauber-Ferrari 80
7. Grosjean 76 7. Williams-Renault 53
8. Button 76 8. Force India-Mercedes 46
9. Perez 47 9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 6
10. Kobayashi 33
11. Maldonado 29
12. Schumacher 29
13. Di Resta 27
14. Massa 25
15. Senna 24
16. Hulkenberg 19
17. Vergne 4
18. Ricciardo 2
All timing unofficial
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Well folks the hols are over and before we depart for a rain sodden Spa Kimi would like to enlighten you on how he spent his break!
Kimi Raikkonen’s F1 comeback is actually a sabbatical from the Finn’s real job of doing fu*k all.
The 2007 World Champion returned to Formula 1 after an intense 2 year commitment to bumming around the forests in a big hat drinking cider and crashing into trees.
And now the Finn has revealed he’d like to return to his first love of titting about just as soon as he’s got this pinnacle of motorsport thing out of his system once and for all.
“Ever since I was a little boy growing up in the cold snowy wastes of Northern Finland I’ve dreamed of sitting on my arse pissing my life away,” he told Auto-Geburstag-und-eines-Hartgecochtesei-mit-das-Schoeneste-Semf magazine.
“It’s everybody’s dream: vegetating away your existence in a cold stupor of alcohol and X-Box. Though – weirdly – I’ve also quite wanted to compete in motorsport at the highest level.”
“But once I’ve scratched that itch it’s back to the log cabin and masturbating to old episodes of Going For Gold for me,” he said.
Despite not winning a race, the 2012 season has been a success for the 32 year old thanks to a competitive Lotus E20 coupled with a strategy of hanging about letting everyone who appears to give a shit dicking it up.
The Finn currently stands 5th in the World Championship therefore and stands as good a chance as anybody who can’t really be arsed to win himself yet another World Driver’s title.
“I guess it would be weird to win again. It would be my second wouldn’t it?” Kimi continued.
“I can’t really recall the first one. It was very hot then I was standing on a box holding this big shiny thing. I think I was wearing a red hat.”
“Sorry; I’ve seen photos but all I can remember is trying to complete Medal of Honour whilst drinking my own weight in Absolut that weekend,” he added.
Well having got that out of the system details of first practice non event!!!
Kamui leads the way
August 31, 2012 by Joe Saward
Kamui Kobayashi set the pace in a rain-soaked first session at Spa on Friday, with a lap that was half a second ahead of Pastor Maldonado with the Toro Rossos of Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne third and fourth. Mark Webber was next ahead of Sergio Perez, Nico Rosberg, Valtteri Bottas (Williams), Sebastian Vettel, Michael Schumacher, Paul di Resta, Timo Glock, Nico Hulkenberg, Vitaly Petrov, Lewis Hamilton, Jneson Button, Charles Pic, Heikki Kovalainen, Pedro de la Rosa and Dani Clos (HRT), with Romain Grsojean, Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa doing only in and out laps. There were a few minors offs and Massa suffered an apparent engine failure at the end of the session. The times should not be considered very significant.
Stay tuned for more riveting updates
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A damp squib but ~~~
Pic nicks it whistle
by Joe Saward
It took 48 minutes before any of the F1 drivers ventured out at Spa on Friday afternoon. After that there were only a few in and out laps with the rain on the circuit causing the cars to aquaplane on all the straights. At the end of the session a majority of the drivers ventured out but no serious lap times were set.
The first lap time came three minutes after the chequered flag when there were a rush of lap times, ending up with Charles Pic taking the fastest time ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, Fernando Alonso, Paul di Resta, Pastor Maldonado, Timo Glock, Kamui Kobayashi, Jean-Eric Vergne, Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez.
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Eau no, it’s Fernando
September 1, 2012 by Joe Saward
After a miserable Friday the rains lifted at Spa on Saturday morning and the mood in F1 picked up with Fernando Alonso setting the pace in FP3, beating Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus by a tenth of a second. The two Saubers of Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi and Jenson Button’s McLaren. Felipe Massa was next in the second Ferrari, ahead of Mark Webber’s Red Bull, the Australian now facing a five-place grid penalty because of a gearbox change. Romain Grosjean next, followed by Sebastian Vettel and Paul di Resta, with Pastor Maldonado, Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher and Nico Hulkenberg in hot pursuit. Jean-Eric Vergne was next, beating his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo and then Bruno Senna. Heikki Kovalainen was in his inevitable 18th ahead of Charles Pic and Timo Glock and Vitaly Petrov in the second Caterham. The two HRTs were next with Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan while Nico Rosberg brought up the rear because of a gearbox problem.
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Jenson Button takes pole at Spa in dramatic Belgian GP qualifying session
By Matt Beer Saturday, September 1st 2012,
Jenson Button finally secured his first pole position for McLaren with a stunning performance in Belgian Grand Prix qualifying.
Kamui Kobayashi claimed his maiden front-row start as he underlined Sauber's speed with a shock second place, while world champion Sebastian Vettel failed to make it out of Q2.
Button put himself eight tenths clear of the field for much of Q2,then repeated that speed to deliver a 1m47.686s early in Q3.
One of the few drivers to do two Q3 runs, he found even more time at the second attempt and delivered a 1m47.573s.
Kobayashi was three tenths adrift as he secured his career-best Formula 1 start. Team-mate Sergio Perez also shone in fifth place.
Q1 pacesetter Pastor Maldonado was another star underdog as he took third for Williams, although an impeding incident involving the Venezuelan and 12th-place qualifier Nico Hulkenberg is under investigation.
Pre-race favourite Lotus only managed fourth with Kimi Raikkonen and ninth with Romain Grosjean. The latter had a few scares just getting out of Q1 following a mistake and traffic issues.
World championship leader Fernando Alonso could not repeat his morning practice performance and starts sixth.
As one McLaren took pole, the other was only eighth quickest, although Lewis Hamilton will gain a place when Mark Webber's Red Bull is demoted five places from seventh due to a gearbox change penalty.
Force India's Paul di Resta completed the top 10.
Vettel was the most significant casualty of a close Q2. Just two tenths separated him from Red Bull team-mate Webber, but that translated to seven positions, as last year's Spa poleman and race winner ended up only 11th, 0.012s off a Q3 spot.
He was not the only big name to miss out. Felipe Massa trailed the sister Ferrari of Alonso by seven tenths as he struggled to 14th, behind Michael Schumacher, whose 13th place was the best Mercedes could manage on a tough afternoon.
Already carrying a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change following his morning failure, Nico Rosberg was only 18th in qualifying after crossing the line moments too late for a final Q1 run.
Rosberg's disappointment meant both Toro Rossos reached Q2, where they beat the Williams of Bruno Senna. The Brazilian pulled off an incredible save after sliding broadside across the kerbs through most of Pouhon, then had to pit for repairs and could not get above 17th when he rejoined.
At the back, Timo Glock used Marussia's upgrades to get a little closer to the Caterhams, but his team-mate Charles Pic was beaten to 22nd by Pedro de la Rosa's HRT.
Results to follow.
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Pos Driver Car Time Gap
1. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m47.573s
2. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m47.871s + 0.298s
3. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m47.893s + 0.320s
4. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m48.205s + 0.632s
5. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m48.219s + 0.646s
6. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m48.313s + 0.740s
7. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m48.392s + 0.819s***
8. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m48.394s + 0.821s
9. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m48.538s + 0.965s
10. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m48.890s + 1.317s
Q2 cut-off time: 1m48.993s Gap *
11. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m49.722s + 0.472s
12. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m49.362s + 0.112s
13. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m49.742s + 0.492s
14. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m49.588s + 0.338s
15. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m49.763s + 0.513s
16. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m49.572s + 0.322s
17. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m49.958s + 0.708s
Q1 cut-off time: 1m50.126s Gap **
18. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m50.181s + 1.188s***
19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m51.739s + 2.746s
20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m51.967s + 2.974s
21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m52.336s + 3.343s
22. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m53.030s + 4.037s
23. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m53.493s + 4.500s
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m54.989s + 5.996s
107 per cent time: 1m56.622s
* Gap to fastest in Q2
** Gap to fastest in Q3
*** Will take five-place penalty
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Revised Belgian GP grid
Various penalties have seen the grid for Sunday's race at Spa rejigged.
Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg both both slipped down the grid due to penalties for changing their gearboxes, with Webber moving from seventh to 12th and Rosberg from 12th and 23rd.
Pastor Maldonando's delight at qualifying third was short lived after the stewards ruled that he had blocked Nico Hulkenberg during Q1 and as a result he will start in sixth place.
Revised grid:
1. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes
2. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari
3. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault
4. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari
6. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault
7. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
8. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault
9. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes
10. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault
11. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes
12. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault
13. Michael Schumacher Mercedes
14. Felipe Massa Ferrari
15. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari
16. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari
17. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault
18. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault
19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault
20. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth
21. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth
22. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth
23. Nico Rosberg Mercedes
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth
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Belgian GP: Jenson Button dominates for McLaren after Spa start chaos
By Matt Beer Sunday, September 2nd 2012
Jenson Button dominated a Belgian Grand Prix that began with a huge startline crash in which title contenders Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton were eliminated.
With Sebastian Vettel coming through to finish second, the incident meant Alonso saw his championship lead slashed to 24 points.
The accident started when Lotus driver Romain Grosjean moved across the track on the approach to La Source and squeezed Hamilton's McLaren.
The two made contact and ploughed into the cars ahead in dramatic fashion. Alonso and Sergio Perez were also eliminated, while slow-starting front-row man Kamui Kobayashi and Pastor Maldonado (who jumped the start) both picked up damage.
The latter pair rejoined, but Maldonado was soon out following a restart clash with Timo Glock's Marussia.
The accident totally reshuffled the race order, with Button leading Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus, Force India duo Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta, Michael Schumacher's Mercedes and Toro Rosso pair Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne.
The Red Bulls were delayed in the chaos, leaving Mark Webber in eighth and Vettel 12th.
Button charged away from the outset, making a one-stop race work to perfection as he followed up his maiden McLaren pole with his first win since the season-opener in Australia.
Raikkonen lacked pace early on and was overtaken by Hulkenberg and Schumacher.
An early first stop helped the Lotus regain ground, but the best strategy appeared to be to pit once. A combination of that tactic and several early passing moves helped Vettel emerge in a clear second place.
Schumacher also tried to pit once, but found himself under big presser from two-stoppers Raikkonen and Hulkenberg.
This led to some spectacular racing, including Raikkonen overtaking Schumacher around the outside into Eau Rouge, as the seven-time champion twice managed to fight back past his rivals using DRS. Eventually he had to admit defeat and pit again.
By then Raikkonen was long gone and heading for the final podium spot, ahead of Hulkenberg, Ferrari's Felipe Massa, and Webber.
Schumacher salvaged seventh, as the Toro Rossos and di Resta fell back to the tail of the top 10.
Nico Rosberg and Bruno Senna also had to make late tyre stops, leaving them outside the points.
Caterham briefly looked like it might achieve an upset as Heikki Kovalainen emerged in 10th on lap one. But he soon fell back and would later have two spins and a pitlane clash with Narain Karthikeyan.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The Belgian Grand Prix
Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium;
44 laps; 308.052km;
Weather: Sunny.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1h29:08.530
2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 13.624
3. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 25.334
4. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 27.843
5. Massa Ferrari + 29.845
6. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 31.244
7. Schumacher Mercedes + 53.374
8. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 58.865
9. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:02.982
10. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1:03.783
11. Rosberg Mercedes + 1:05.111
12. Senna Williams-Renault + 1:11.529
13. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1:56.119
14. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
15. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
16. Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
17. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
18. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 1 lap
Fastest lap: Senna, 1:52.822
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 30
Maldonado Williams-Renault 5
Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1
Alonso Ferrari 1
Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1
Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1
World Championship standings, round 12:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Alonso 164 1. Red Bull-Renault 272
2. Vettel 140 2. McLaren-Mercedes 218
3. Webber 132 3. Lotus-Renault 207
4. Raikkonen 131 4. Ferrari 199
5. Hamilton 117 5. Mercedes 112
6. Button 101 6. Sauber-Ferrari 80
7. Rosberg 77 7. Force India-Mercedes 59
8. Grosjean 76 8. Williams-Renault 53
9. Perez 47 9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 12
10. Schumacher 35
11. Massa 35
12. Kobayashi 33
13. Hulkenberg 31
14. Maldonado 29
15. Di Resta 28
16. Senna 24
17. Vergne 8
18. Ricciardo 4
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Naughty boy! boxingguy
Romain Grosjean had been given a one race ban for causing the accident in Spa.
It is likely that Jerome d’Ambrosio will get the drive in Monza
Pastor Maldonado has been given two five-place grid penalties for Monza for a jumped start and causing a collision with Timo Glock.
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Hamilton and Mercedes
September 5, 2012 by Joe Saward
Eddie Jordan is close to Bernie Ecclestone and it is not unusual for EJ to be used to put out stories. So if EJ is saying that Lewis Hamilton is close to signing for Mercedes, one needs to listen. But is it true? McLaren says that Lewis’s management is saying it is not true. I am a little suspicious because Bernie slipped in a little comment on the BBC at Spa suggesting Michael Schumacher might retire, but is that right, or is it part of a bigger political game with Mercedes? If Michael did retire, Lewis would be a good choice for the Germans, but I fail to see why it would be a good choice for Lewis. The one thing he does not need right now is more instability. And it would mess up the Mercedes succession plan, with Paul di Resta perhaps going to McLaren.
One might also read the situation as Bernie trying to place his pawns in such a way as to create a better show in 2013. With Jenson Button and AN Other at McLaren; and Hamilton at Mercedes there might be more interest.
For the time being I have doubts. If it has happened, it will be a reflection of Lewis’s state of mind, as this is not a logical thing to do.
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No smoke without fire!
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I forgot to say TBWG............brilliant drive from Jenson last Sunday! Absolutely flawless. Roll on Monza!
JT sawadi
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Silver meddling
by Joe Saward
Michael Schumacher set the pace on Friday morning in Monza in his Mercedes. Jenson Button was second for McLaren, three-tenths behind, while Nico Rosberg was third. Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest for Ferrari but his session ended early with a mechanical problem, while Felipe Massa was next. Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen, Sergio Perez Mark Webber and Pastor Maldonado completed the top 10. Sebastian Vettel was 11th ahead of Nico Hulkenberg's Force India and Valtteri Bottas, juts a tenth behind Maldonado's best. Kamui Kobayashi was next ahead of Jerome D’Ambrosio in his Lotus (standing in for Romain Grosjean) and Jules Bianchi, who had taken over Paul di Resta's Force India for the session. The two Toro Rossos were next ahead of the two Caterhams, the two Marussias and the two HRTS, the second of which was driven by China's Ma Qing Hua.
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Italian GP: Hamilton fastest in Monza second practice
By Matt Beer Friday, September 7th 2011
Lewis Hamilton led a McLaren one-two in the second Friday practice session for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
As speculation over his future continued to dominate paddock conversation, Hamilton set the pace with a 1m25.290s lap.
That time was achieved on the softer of this weekend's Pirelli tyres, as was Spa winner Jenson Button's 1m25.328s lap in second place in the sister McLaren.
The Woking squad's move to the front was at the expense of home favourite Ferrari, which had led the way through the middle part of the session.
But despite the speed that saw him on top for a long spell with a 1m25.348s on hard tyres, championship leader Fernando Alonso had a number of problems.
First a brake issue required attention, then a gearbox issue curtailed his session.
Alonso's time still held up for third, just 0.058 seconds off the pace.
His team-mate Felipe Massa was next up. The Brazilian's only glitch was a vent flying off the top of his helmet at speed.
Nico Rosberg completed the top five for Mercedes. His morning practice pace-setting team-mate Michael Schumacher suffered DRS gremlins throughout the afternoon, and was back in 10th.
Kimi Raikkonen was fastest for a while early on and ended up sixth in the lead Lotus.
His one-off team-mate Jerome d'Ambrosio - standing in for the banned Romain Grosjean - was 0.6s slower in 12th.
Force India continued its strong Spa form to take seventh and eighth, Nico Hulkenberg ahead of Paul di Resta. Sauber's Sergio Perez was next up.
It was a quiet session for champion team Red Bull. Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were back in 11th and 13th.
Pos Driver Car Time Gap Laps
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m25.290s 32
2. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m25.328s + 0.038s 35
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m25.348s + 0.058s 17
4th. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m25.430s + 0.140s 43
5. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m25.446s + 0.156s 41
6. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m25.504s + 0.214s 42
7. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m25.546s + 0.256s 40
8. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m25.547s + 0.257s 36
9th. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m26.068s + 0.778s 32
10. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m26.094s + 0.804s 38
11. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m26.104s + 0.814s 35
12th Jerome d'Ambrosio Lotus-Renault 1m26.157s + 0.867s 36
13. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m26.394s + 1.104s 31
14. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m26.404s + 1.114s 42
15. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m26.724s + 1.434s 33
16. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m26.730s + 1.440s 17
17th Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m26.783s + 1,493 39
18. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m26.841s + 1.551s 39
19. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m26.864s + 1.574s 36
20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m27.222s + 1.932s 36
21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.944s + 2.654s 36
22. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.968s + 2.678s 36
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m28.575s + 3.285s 34
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m28.779s + 3.489s 21
All timing unofficial
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Squaring up for the fight slapfight
by Joe Saward
The third session of practice for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza saw Lewis Hamilton take the fastest time, but his lap was only a thousandth of a second quicker than Fernando Alonso's Ferrari, while Paul di Resta, who has a five-place grid penalty to serve, was third fastest, ahead of Felipe Massa and Jenson Button. Nico Rosberg was next ahead of Sergio Perez, who stopped out on the track, Kimi Raikkonen, Nico Hulkenberg and Pastor Maldonado. It was not a good morning for Red Bull Racing, with Mark Webber 11th and Sebastian Vettel 12th, the latter also stopping out on the circuit. Bruno Senna was 13th with Michael Schumacher, Kamui Kobayashi, Daniel Ricciardo, Jerome d'Ambrosio, Jean-Eric Vergne and then the usual six small fries chasing behind.
The Q sessions will be interesting.
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Lewis’s half decent lap
by Joe Saward
Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the Italian Grand Prix with a lap he called "half decent". He beat team-mate Jenson Button by a tenth. Felipe Massa kept Ferrari fans happy with third, but Fernando Alonso was back in 10th, after troubles getting the car working.
Paul di Resta was fourth but will drop five places to ninth. Michael Schumacher was fifth ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg, Kimi Raikkonen and Kamui Kobayashi.
Pos Driver Car Time Gap
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m24.010s
2. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m24.133s + 0.123s
3. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m24.247s + 0.237s
4. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m24.304s + 0.294s***
5. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m24.540s + 0.530s
6. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m24.802s + 0.792s
7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m24.833s + 0.823s
8. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m24.855s + 0.845s
9. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m25.109s + 1.099s
10. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m25.678s + 1.668s
Q2 cut-off time: 1m24.742s Gap *
11. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m24.809s + 0.567s
12. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m24.820s + 0.578s****
13. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m24.901s + 0.659s
14. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m25.042s + 0.800s
15. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m25.312s + 1.070s
16. Jerome d'Ambrosio Lotus-Renault 1m25.408s + 1.166s
17. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m25.441s + 1.199s
Q1 cut-off time: 1m25.834s Gap **
18. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m26.382s + 2.207s
19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m26.887s + 2.712s
20. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.039s + 2.864s
21. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.073s + 2.898s
22. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m27.441s + 3.266s
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m27.629s + 3.454s
24. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes
107 per cent time: 1m30.076s
* Gap to fastest in Q2
** Gap to fastest in Q3
*** Will take five-place penalty
**** Will take 10-place penalty
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Italian GP
A fantastic drive by Lewis Hamilton to win the Italian GP at Monza. But the biggest congratulations go to Sergio Perez for his number two spot on the podium. A great result for Sauber-Ferrari.
Hamilton is now getting ever closer to Fernando Alonso in the standings. I think we can look forward to a sensational second half of the season.
Cheers, JT.
Standing in for an airborne TBWG sawadi
01. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1h19:41.221
02. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 4.356
03. Alonso Ferrari + 20.594
04. Massa Ferrari + 29.667
05. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 30.881
06. Schumacher Mercedes + 31.259
07. Rosberg Mercedes + 33.550
08. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 41.057
09. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 43.898
11. Senna Williams-Renault + 48.144
12. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 48.682
10. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 50.316
13. d'Ambrosio Lotus-Renault + 1:15.861
14. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
15. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
16. Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
17. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
18. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 1 lap
19. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 1 lap
20. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 2 laps
21. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 3 laps
22. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 6 laps
Did Not Finish
Button McLaren-Mercedes 32
Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 8
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RIP Sid sawadi
Professor Sid Watkins, who played a massive role in improving Formula One's safety, has passed away at the age of 84.
Watkins had been suffering from cancer and reportedly passed away at the King Edward VII Hospital in London, surrounded by his family.
Watkins, known in the paddock at 'The Prof', served as Formula One's doctor and medical chief between 1978 and 2004.
During his time with the sport he helped countless drivers and was the doctor on the scene that fateful day in 1994 when Ayrton Senna suffered a fatal crash at Imola.
Watkins, though, was not just around on racing weekends, the Brit also played a massive role in improving safety.
Working alongside the FIA and its then-head Max Mosley, Watkins focused on both track and car safety, saving countless lives.
"Today the world of motor racing lost one of its true greats: Professor Sid Watkins," said McLaren chairman and former team principal Ron Dennis.
"No, he wasn't a driver; no, he wasn't an engineer; no, he wasn't a designer. He was a doctor, and it's probably fair to say that he did more than anyone, over many years, to make Formula 1 as safe as it is today.
"As such, many drivers and ex-drivers owe their lives to his careful and expert work, which resulted in the massive advances in safety levels that today's drivers possibly take for granted.
"But, more than that, Sid was a dear friend of mine, and I'll miss him bitterly.
"To his widow Susan, and to his family, I extend my sincerest condolences.
Rubens Barrichello, who also suffered a massive accident at Imola the weekend Senna and Austrian Roland Ratzenberger, wrote on Twitter: "It was Sid Watkins that saved my life in Imola 94. great guy to be with, always happy...tks for everything u have done for us drivers. RIP."
Senna's nephew Bruno Tweeted: "RIP Prof. Sid Watkins. Sad news for us who stay behind."
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buriram_united sawadi Singapore GP Practice 1
Red Bull is dark horse
by Joe Saward
For some races Red Bull Racing has not been in the headlines in F1, with McLaren taking much of the glory. On Friday in Singapore, however, Sebastian Vettel set the pace in the first session on Friday evening, with a lap that was 0.049s faster than Lewis Hamilton's best. Jenson Button was third, ahead of Fernando Alonso, Pastor Maldonado, Mark Webber and the Force India duo Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta.
It was a surprise to see Daniel Ricciardo in ninth, ahead of Sergio Perez, Bruno senna, Kimi Raikkonen and Kamui Kobayashi. Michael Schumacher was 14th ahead of a returning Romain Grosjean, Felipe Massa, Jean-Eric Vergne and Nico Rosberg.
At the back there was a surprise with Marussia's Timo Glock outrunning the two Caterhams and Charles Pic underlining the team's progress by beating Vitaly Petrov to 21st. Pedro de la Rosa was 23rd with China's
Ma Qing Hua last in the second HRT.
It was interesting to note that Williams did not run Valtteri Bottas as it has at most races. Bruno Senna stopped out on the track, but had done a large number of laps by that point.
Practice 2
Bulls high!
by Joe Saward
Sebastian Vettel continued to show well in practice for the Singapore Grand Prix, but the second session was rather odd, with the drivers mainly deciding to concentrate on race preparations rather than going for times. There were few improvements after the session was stopped midway when Bruno Senna had a spin. After the restart the focus had changed. Vettel was three-tenths up on Jenson Button with Fernando Alonso third, Mark Webber fourth and Lewis Hamilton sixth. The top 10 was completed by the two Force Indias of Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg, Nico Rosberg, Felipe Massa and Romain Grosjean.
Next up was the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher, chased by Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus, Pastor Maldonado's Williams, Daniel Ricciardo's Toro Rosso, the two Saubers of Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi and Bruno Senna's Williams.
Jean-Eric Vergne was 18th with Timo Glock maintaining his advantage over the Caterham of Heikki Kovalainen and Charles Pic ahead of Vitaly Petrov.
Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan brought up the rear as usual.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m48.340 27
2. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m48.651s + 0.311 24
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m48.896s + 0.556 26
4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m48.964s + 0.624 26
5. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m49.086s + 0.746 28
6. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m49.300s + 0.960 30
7. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m49.339s + 0.999 31
8. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m49.790s + 1.450 32
9. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m50.039s + 1.699 28
10. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m50.161s + 1.821 23
11. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m50.263s + 1.923 23
12. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m50.345s + 2.005 24
13. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m50.636s + 2.296 32
14. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m50.791s + 2.451 26
15. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m51.122s + 2.782 28
16. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m51.450s + 3.110 21
17. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m51.452s + 3.112 11
18. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m52.00$s + 3.669 31
19. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m52.218s + 3.878 29
20. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m52.576s + 4.236 27
21. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m52.863s + 4.523 27
22. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m52.936s + 4.596 25
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m54.448s + 6.108 25
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m54.514s + 6.174 30
All Timing Unofficial
TBWG
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Red Bull Gangham Style bananadance
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Singapore GP: Sebastian Vettel fastest again in final practice
By Simon Strang Saturday, September 22nd 2012,
Sebastian Vettel maintained his advantage over the field in Singapore, setting the fastest time again in an eventful final free practice session on the Marina Bay circuit.
The German, who was quickest in both Friday sessions - having won from pole here last year – ended the hour more than three tenths faster than Lewis Hamilton's McLaren.
Fernando Alonso was third fastest ahead of the continually impressive Nico Hulkenberg. Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa were next up.
Paul di Resta was seventh in the second Force India ahead of Nico Rosberg, Bruno Senna and Michael Schumacher.
Initially it was the McLarens that had the pace in the 60-minute session, while the teams were still using prime tyres with first Hamilton, and then Button setting an early pace in the low 1m50s.
Then halfway through the session, with Red Bull's Webber having given a hint of the RB8's pace by splitting the two McLarens, Vettel went out and was seven tenths up on Hamilton when he was forced to back off for the yellows in sector three.
Those yellows were out for Timo Glock's stricken Marussia, the German having stamped on the brakes and dipped the clutch after his throttle stuck open.
The obstacle cleared, Vettel got straight back on it and became the first man to dip below the 1m50s barrier with a 1m49.614s.
Alonso, having up to this point completed merely an install lap, then went second quickest joining Vettel in the 49s.
Two thirds of the way through and Senna became the first man to try the supersofts, his flying lap putting him momentarily second on the board.
With just over ten minutes to go, teams then began thinking about their qualifying session simulation fliers, and it was just then that Webber replicated Sergio Perez's earlier error and clouted the Armco under the tunnel at the entry left-hander.
Both the Sauber - which spent most of the session in the pits - and the Red Bull needed attention as Webber also picked up a puncture.
With the last of the final yellow flags gone, Vettel emerged from the pits, having previously scattered photographers on the pitlane entry and seemingly suffering some KERS issues.
This time the German pulled out a stunning time of 1m47.947s, and that was that. No one got near it. Hamilton was closest, 0.325s behind the world champion.
But if anyone else had thoughts of a crack at Vettel's time, Vitaly Petrov denied them all by smacking the outside barrier at the penultimate corner in his Caterham, bringing out the red flags.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m47.947 15
2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m48.272s + 0.325 15
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m48.623s + 0.676 11
4. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m48.859s + 0.912 16
5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m48.865s + 0.918 17
6. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m49.458s + 1.511 13
7. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m49.684s + 1.737 15
8. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m49.699s + 1.752 16
9. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m49.715s + 1.768 14
10. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m49.981s + 2.034 14
11. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m50.110s + 2.163 12
12. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m50.524s + 2.577 10
13. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m50.664s + 2.717 16
14. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m50.777s + 2.830 15
15. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m50.840s + 2.893 15
16. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m51.012s + 3.065 15
17. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m51.059s + 3.112 17
18. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m51.272s + 3.325 10
19. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m52.290s + 4.343 16
20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m53.781s + 5.834 12
21. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m54.326s + 6.379 14
22. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m54.421s + 6.474 14
23. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m54.630s + 6.683 9
24. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m54.875s + 6.928 14
All Timing Unofficial
Singapore renews contract to 2017
by Joe Saward
The Singapore government has announced that the race will continue until at least 2017. The government said that it has looked at the costs of benefits and decided to continue the race. The conclusion was that F1 has been good for Singapore, helping to become seen as a vibrant global city. The government says that it is also thinks Singapore has been good for F1. The government says that it hopes to reduce the amount of money that it spends of the race, by optimising infrastructure. thumbup
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Singapore GP: Lewis Hamilton beats Maldonado to pole at Marina Bay
By Simon Strang Saturday, September 22nd 2012,
Lewis Hamilton secured pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix with a brilliant lap of 1m46.362s, ahead of Williams driver Pastor Maldonado.
It was the 24th pole of the McLaren driver's Formula 1 career, and the third in four races, as he put down the rising challenge of Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull, who had set the pace throughout the weekend until qualifying.
It wasn't all plain sailing for the Briton, who brushed the wall on his quick lap - though apparently without damage.
But it won't be the world champion Vettel that starts the grand prix at Marina Bay on the front row, as perhaps was expected, but Spanish Grand Prix winner Maldonado, who delivered a stunning (and surprising) lap to go second fastest ahead of Vettel.
Jenson Button was fourth fastest ahead of points' leader Fernando Alonso and Paul di Resta in the rapid Force India. Mark Webber was seventh fastest for the moment, but that may change as the Australian is under investigation for allegedly impeding Timo Glock during Q1.
Romain Grosjean, with what might have constituted the scruffiest lap of the season, was eighth fastest ahead of the two Mercedes of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, who both declined to set a laptime in Q3.
Grosjean, having set the fastest time of all in Q1, also tapped the wall with the rear of the car at Turn 14 at the beginning of Q2. The Lotus driver bounced back from his shunt though to go fourth fastest in Q2, behind Hamilton, Vettel and Webber.
He wasn't the only one in the wall in that session. Bruno Senna hit the retainers at the penultimate corner, the same place he'd brushed in Q1, but this time he damaged his suspension and, unlike the Frenchman, would take no further part.
It was the third time the Brazilian had been in the barrier over the weekend - and he starts Sunday's race 17th.
Joining Senna on the Q2 fail list, but obviously starting ahead of him, were Nico Hulkenberg, Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa, Sergio Perez, Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne.
Hulkenberg, Raikkonen and Massa in particular might have expected to progress further, but late laps from the Mercedes duo put paid to their hopes.
With speculation surrounding Vitaly Petrov's future at Caterham, he put in a tremendous effort in Q1. For most of it he looked like he might outqualify Toro Rosso's Vergne and Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi on merit to move into the second session.
But both of those drivers would eventually move ahead of the Russian, who lines up 20th for the race ahead of his team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, as the Toro Rossos injected some super-soft pace at the crucial moment (Ricciardo was seventh fastest overall in Q1!).
Kobayashi however was the star scalp dropped early as he was already in the pits when the Toro Rossos fired up the afterburners. The Japanese, let us not forget, was on the front row at Spa.
Also worth mentioning was the fact that Narain Karthikeyan outqualified HRT team-mate Pedro de la Rosa for the second time in a row, and by nearly a second, as the pair occupied the last row of the grid.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m46.362s
2. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m46.804s + 0.442
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m46.905s + 0.543
4. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m46.939s + 0.577
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m47.216s + 0.854
6. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m47.241s + 0.879
7. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m47.475s + 1.113
8. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m47.788s + 1.426
9. Michael Schumacher Mercedes no time
10. Nico Rosberg Mercedes no time
Q2 cut-off time: 1m47.943s
11. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m47.975s + 1.310
12. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m48.261s + 1.596
13. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m48.344s + 1.679
14. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m48.505s + 1.840
15. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m48.774s + 2.109
16. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m48.849s + 2.184
17. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault no time
Q1 cut-off time: 1m49.809s
18. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m49.933s + 2.245
19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m50.846s + 3.158
20. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m51.137s + 3.449
21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m51.370s + 3.682
22. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m51.762s + 4.074
23. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m52.372s + 4.684
24. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m53.355s + 5.667
107% time: 1m55.226s
Pic nicked
by Joe Saward
Charles Pic has been given an innovative punishment by the FIA Stewards in Singapore, after the unusual "crime" of overtaking under a red flag. The Stewards responded with a 20-second time penalty to be added at the end of the race on Sunday and he and his engineer have to perform one day of "Community Service" for the FIA Action for Road Safety campaign, at the behest of FIA President Jean Todt.
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Singapore GP: Williams driver Bruno Senna to start 22nd after five-place gearbox penalty
By Jonathan Noble
Bruno Senna has been given a five-place grid penalty for the Singapore Grand Prix after having a new gearbox fitted before the race.
Senna crashed in Q2 at the Marina Bay circuit. The impact with the wall damaged the gearbox enough for it to need to be replaced.
Williams changed it on Saturday night and the FIA confirmed that the replacement is a breach of the technical regulations that requires gearboxes to last five races.
Senna will now start 22nd, having originally qualified 17th.
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Singapore GP: Sebastian Vettel wins again as Lewis Hamilton retires
By Matt Beer Sunday, September 23rd 2012,
Vettel wins as Hamilton retiresSebastian Vettel finally scored the second victory of his latest Formula 1 title defence in the Singapore Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver benefited from Lewis Hamilton's McLaren suffering a gearbox failure while holding a narrow lead.
Jenson Button claimed second in the other McLaren, with Fernando Alonso's third place maintaining the Ferrari driver's world championship cushion.
Front-row starter Pastor Maldonado had to retire with hydraulic failure having battled with Alonso for the final podium spot.
Hamilton and Vettel ran in close company prior to the McLaren's problem, although the Briton seemed under control.
Third-placed Button fell away at first, before regaining some ground as he got better tyre longevity than those ahead.
Vettel made his first pitstop two laps earlier than Hamilton, and though this initially looked costly as he dropped into time-consuming traffic, once he was in clear air his pace on fresh rubber was sufficient to make up all the time lost and keep him between the McLarens.
That position became the race lead on lap 22, when Hamilton's car ground to a halt with a gearbox failure.
Button then kept Vettel honest to the finish, without it ever looking like the Red Bull's lead was in jeopardy. By the end, Vettel had edged away into a very secure lead.
Vettel stayed cool through two mid-race safety car periods: the first for Narain Karthikeyan sliding his HRT into the barrels at the tunnel entrance, and the second when Michael Schumacher ploughed into Jean-Eric Vergne on the restart lap.
Those cautions resolved the third-place battle. When Maldonado, who had fallen from second to fourth at the start, pitted for a second time under the first safety car, he rejoined 10th while Alonso stayed out and moved up to third. That decision probably secured the place for Ferrari even before Williams ordered Maldonado to retire with a hydraulic problem before the green.
Paul di Resta kept the frontrunners in sight throughout to score an excellent fourth for Force India, outpacing fifth-placed Mercedes man Nico Rosberg.
Lotus salvaged sixth and seventh with Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean on its least competitive weekend of 2012 so far.
Ferrari's Felipe Massa picked up a puncture on lap one, yet fought back impressively to secure eighth. On the way, he overtook Bruno Senna with an incredible move that saw him bounce off the Williams and the wall before arriving at Turn 13 sideways but in front.
The safety car timing hurt Mark Webber's strategy, and the best he could manage was to battle through to 10th, right on Daniel Ricciardo's tail.
Among other incidents, Nico Hulkenberg clashed with both Saubers on consecutive laps late on, with Sergio Perez the only one involved to get away without having to pit for repairs.
Also notable was Timo Glock's 12th place, which moved Marussia ahead of Caterham in the constructors' standings.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The Singapore Grand Prix
Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore;
61 laps; 309.316km;
Weather: Clear.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 2h00:26.144
2. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 8.959
3. Alonso Ferrari + 15.227
4. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 19.063
5. Rosberg Mercedes + 34.759
6. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 35.700
7. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 36.600
8. Massa Ferrari + 42.800
9. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 45.800
10. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 47.100
11. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 50.600
12. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
13. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
14. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
15. Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap (*)
16. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
17. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 1 lap
18. Senna Williams-Renault + 2 laps
19. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 2 laps
Fastest lap: Hulkenberg, 1:51.033
(*) Pending 20-second penalty
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 38
Schumacher Mercedes 38
Maldonado Williams-Renault 36
Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 30
Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 22
World Championship standings, round 14:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Alonso 194 1. Red Bull-Renault 298
2. Vettel 165 2. McLaren-Mercedes 261
3. Raikkonen 149 3. Ferrari 245
4. Hamilton 142 4. Lotus-Renault 231
5. Webber 133 5. Mercedes 136
6. Button 119 6. Sauber-Ferrari 100
7. Rosberg 93 7. Force India-Mercedes 75
8. Grosjean 82 8. Williams-Renault 54
9. Perez 65 9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 14
10. Massa 51
11. Di Resta 44
12. Schumacher 43
13. Kobayashi 35
14. Hulkenberg 31
15. Maldonado 29
16. Senna 25
17. Vergne 8
18. Ricciardo 6
All timing unofficial
Singapore GP: Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button called to stewards over safety car incident
By Pablo Elizalde Sunday, September 23rd 2012,
Sebastian Vettel leads Jenson Button in SingaporeSebastian Vettel and Jenson Button have been summoned to see the stewards of the Singapore Grand Prix over an incident during a safety car period.
McLaren driver Button nearly made contact with Vettel as the Red Bull driver swerved and braked to warm up his tyres before the first restart.
"Sebastian accelerated and braked for the right hand and I didn't expect that," said Button after the race.
"There was such a speed difference. I locked up and just missed his car - which would have been embarrassing."
The duo has been called to see the stewards over the incident.
Vettel won the race from Button to take his second victory of the season.
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Singapore GP: Michael Schumacher gets 10-place Japan penalty for Jean-Eric Vergne clash
By Pablo Elizalde Sunday, September 23rd 2012
Michael Schumacher will lose 10 places on the grid for the Japanese Grand Prix following his crash with Jean-Eric Vergne in Singapore.
The Mercedes driver crashed into the back of the Toro Rosso after losing control of his car under braking following the first safety car period.
Although Schumacher suspected a mechanical failure was the cause of his crash, stewards have handed the German a 10-place grid penalty for the upcoming race at Suzuka.
"I just went straight on the brakes very hard, locked up everything and tried to brake as hard as possible but the accident wasn't avoidable any more," Schumacher said.
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Mark Webber has lost the point scored in the Singapore Grand Prix after he was handed a 20-second penalty.
The Australian was deemed to have gone off track to overtake Sauber rival Kamui Kobayashi, and was therefore given a post-race drive-through penalty.
"Car #2 left the track and gained an advantage when he rejoined", said the stewards.
The penalty has dropped Webber from 10th to 11th position, elevating Sergio Perez to the point-scoring places.
Shumi tries to mount a Torro Rosso
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Lewis Hamilton to leave McLaren for Mercedes
By Andrew Benson Chief F1 writer
Lewis Hamilton is to leave McLaren after signing to race for Mercedes from next season.
The move, predicted by BBC Sport earlier this month, will be announced on Friday and will have huge repercussions throughout Formula 1.
It has forced Michael Schumacher out of Mercedes but it it is not clear whether the German legend will go back into retirement or look for another team.
Sauber driver Sergio Perez has signed as Hamilton's replacement at McLaren.
Hamilton's decision is a huge blow to McLaren, who will now have to do without the speed and inspirational talent of a man they have nurtured since he was 13 years old.
Hamilton's career
Makes his debut in 2007 at the Australian Grand Prix for McLaren, qualifying fourth and finishing third
Wins the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix after finishing on the podium in each of his first five races
In 2008 signs a lucrative five-year contract to race for McLaren until the end of the 2012 season
The same year he becomes, at the time, F1's youngest world champion
A disappointing 2009 sees him finish fifth with only two wins
Still searching for his second World Championship title after finishing fourth and fifth in 2010 and 2011 respectively
Signs to race for Mercedes from the 2013 season
And it is a correspondingly massive coup for Mercedes, who have struggled since returning to the sport as a team owner in 2010 by buying the then world champion Brawn team.
Hamilton has been offered unequivocal number one status and will be partnered by German Nico Rosberg.
Although Hamilton's salary at Mercedes will be larger than the one he was offered by McLaren, and he has more opportunity to earn money through personal sponsorships and endorsements, sources close to the 27-year-old insist he has switched teams with a view to long-term performance.
McLaren have the fastest car this season, while Mercedes have slipped backwards after a promising start to the year.
But Mercedes have sold the move to Hamilton on the basis that they are preparing for a huge push in 2014, when new chassis and engine rules are introduced.
Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn, who masterminded Ferrari's years of domination in the early 2000s, has been instrumental in persuading Hamilton the move is the right decision for his future.
Play media
Hamilton, whose failure to win more than one world title so far in his career rankles with him, is banking on Brawn being able to conjure a similar period of domination at Mercedes.
Schumacher's future is uncertain. Sauber team boss Peter Sauber said a week ago that he would offer the seven-time champion a drive if he became available.
But despite the Swiss team's strong performances this season, that would be seen as a significant comedown for a man who was expected to win on his return.
Instead, Schumacher's comeback after three years in retirement has been a huge disappointment - he has scored only one podium finish in three years.
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Lewis and Mercedes
by Joe Saward
If, as is being reported, it is confirmed that Lewis Hamilton has moved from McLaren to Mercedes, it will be a leap of great faith in the German-owned operation, but may be a decision that the British youngster will one day regret.
With the exception of Ferrari - which is in any case a very different case - most manufacturer teams do not do well in F1 and the team that Hamilton joins failed to win consistently during its time as the Honda team. As an independent team it came up with a clever gizmo that helped Jenson Button win the title in 2009 but since then it has been pretty average.
The one exception to that is probably Renault in the 2005-2006 period, although that was in many ways a manufacturer team in name only and its demise was caused by team members so desperate not to lose the Renault link that they resorted to cheating to achieve their goal - which was, of course, a complete disaster.
There are plenty of other examples of factory teams that failed to deliver, because the demands are simply different and the F1 environment seems to work best for manufacturers when they are engine suppliers only. If Mercedes decide to blitz F1 with money, as they did in the 1950s then perhaps they will be impossible to beat, but can the firm afford such excess?
Lewis Hamilton does not know much about racing history and so cannot learn from the mistakes of others. Perhaps he thinks that if it fails he will at least have the consolation of earning loads more money and being a bigger star, thanks to his hustling management that will sell his image here, there and everywhere. That might make him an international celebrity on a bigger scale than he is, but it will not make him a racing legend.
Perhaps Mercedes will pull it off and then Hamilton will look clever, but I fear that this will be a move similar to James Hunt joining Wolf; Emerson Fittipaldi joining Fittipaldi, Jacques Villeneuve moving to BAR or Niki Lauda's ill-fated move to Brabham. History relates that you do not leave a winning team in F1 unless it is to go to another proven winner...
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Hi
Jamie Alguersuari has been banging on recently about being back on the grid in 2013.
Bearing in mind this will he, won't he, bull**it with Lewis has been going on for months now, judging by the speed Perez was announced it must have been sorted weeks ago and just needed signatures on the dotted line?
So maybe Jamie will be in a Sauber next season?
However it's not over until the fat lady sings and at the moment she is still only gargling!
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'Gangnam Style' sensation Psy to perform at the Korean Grand Prix
'Gangnam Style' sensation Psy is to perform at the Korean Grand Prix, after being announced as an ambassador for the event.
The Korean, whose music video hit has attracted almost 300 million hits on YouTube and has set a world record as the most-liked ever on the video sharing site, will perform after the race on October 14.
His signing is a big coup for the Korean GP organizers, who will be hoping that his presence at the event will help attract a bigger crowd on race day.
Speaking about his plans, Psy said: "I look forward to bringing Gangnam Style to the glamorous world of F1, and welcome everyone to Korea for this great race."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9bZkp7q19f0#!
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Schumacher retirement collection suspended
Michael Schumacher’s retirement collection plate has been recalled.
The 7-Times Champion’s card and envelope has been circulating the paddock in recent weeks accumulating loose change and grudging words of thanks amongst the F1 community in anticipation of his exit at the end of 2012.
But recent ambiguous statements regarding the German’s intentions both on and off the track have seen card and envelope withdrawn from circulation and organisers cease emailing each other with links to lederhosen, beer steins and fake Nazi uniforms on Ebay.
Collecting person Stacy Scheisthorn said, “we’re very disappointed in Michael right now. I started this collection in good faith he’d finally free up some space for a driver devoid of grey pubes but now he’s pissing on that faith before crashing into it at high speed.”
Schumacher’s comeback has stuttered ever since the Teutonic tit stepped back into an F1 car for the first time since he promised it was the last time he’d ever step in one again prompting speculation the German would promise to not step into an F1 car again once he’s stepped out of this one for the last time once more.
“At least one person is going to be severely disappointed his 20,000 Lira note was ever put into the envelope,” Stacy continued.
“And I’ve already had two ex-drivers asking if they can take back their half-hearted platitudes until there’s some sort of guarantee the bastard is actually going,”
“I tell you: right now, I’m this close to taking this hostess trolley back to Argos,” she added.
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Not F1 but I thought you petrol heads might like this
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2013 Formula 1 calendar
17/03 AUS Grand Prix of Australia
24/03 MYS Grand Prix of Malaysia
14/04 CHN Grand Prix of China
21/04 BHR Grand Prix of Bahrain
12/05 ESP Grand Prix of Spain (Barcelona)
26/05 MCO Grand Prix of Monaco
09/06 CAN Grand Prix of Canada
16/06 USA Grand Prix of Jersey (New York) *
30/06 GBR Grand Prix of Great Britain
14/07 DEU Grand Prix of Germany
28/07 HUN Grand Prix of Hungary
25/08 BEL Grand Prix of Belgium
08/09 ITA Grand Prix of Italy
22/09 SGP Grand Prix of Singapore
06/10 KOR Grand Prix of Korea
13/10 JPN Grand Prix of Japan
27/10 IND Grand Prix of India
03/11 UAE Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi
17/11 USA Grand Prix of USA (Austin)
24/11 BRA Grand Prix of Brazil
* Doubtful stop1
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OCTOBER 2012
Gearbox penalty hits Button's Suzuka hopes chairhit
An unscheduled gearbox change means that Jenson Button's hopes of a second successive Suzuka victory have been hit hard by a five place grid penalty for Sunday's forthcoming Japanese Grand Prix.
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Whats up with McLaren these days. They may have a competative car now but its got to be the most troublesum car on the grid. Not like them at all. wildman
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Hi Alan
As soon as Sam Micheal leaves Williams they have their first win since 2004 and have a more competitive reliable car.
He joins McLaren as sporting director and their reliability suffers ~~~ connected who knows?
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PS Keep turning the screws!!! whistle
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I am starting to believe this prognosis. Your not the first to say this. Would be good to see him replaced before next season as thats lining up to be a cracker.
Don't know if your into Moto GP David but next years line up will be a must watch and I think 2014 will be even better for both sports.
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Yep I follow moto GP although not as closely as F1. Pleased Cal Crutchlow is getting onto the pace a bit more on the Tech 3 monster machine. Ducati seem to be getting better although I understand Rossi is on his bike (excuse pun) next year!
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Too bad about Pedrosa getting taken out by Batista. He now only has a chance if Lorenzo
makes a big mistake.
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Kimi has asked for too much money!
Felipe Massa has vowed not to get distracted by speculation over his future in the final few races of the 2012 season.
Ferrari are yet to confirm their second driver for the 2013 campaign, but recent reports have suggested that they may yet end up handing Massa a new contract following some improved displays in recent weeks.
The Brazilian, though, is determined to focus on his racing from now until the end of the season, instead of worrying about his future.
"Of course my future is important, but right now it's the results that are the most important thing, which means I have to concentrate on each race as it comes," Massa told the official Ferrari website.
"I know what I can do, what I can give to the team and what are my talents. The team also knows this, because I've been here with them for rather longer than a day or even a year! The best plan is to race without worrying about the future."
Massa and Ferrari head to this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix high on confidence as the F2012 has been one of the more impressive cars on the track in recent months.
"The car changed a lot since the mid-season test in Mugello and we have developed it all the time since then," he said.
"We have tested constantly, nearly always bringing new parts to the track at each race. The job is all about scoring one more point than the others when it comes to the final race and so I hope we can improve it even more for the remaining races than we have done so far."
Cheers,
JT sawadi
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Seemingly working in Felipe’s favor is that Fernando Alonso supports keeping him. Along with everyone else in the world, I assume that’s about the best endorsement Massa could get. I’m not sure Stefano Domenicali’s backing would be more important.
According to Benson, Ferrari is hoping to hold off on a decision for a few more weeks to make sure Massa holds his form. Benson also says there’s a knowledgeable source out there claiming a deal already has been inked with Hulkenberg.
Because, you know, Silly Season can’t be silly without some silliness.
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Michael Schumacher to retire from Formula 1 at end of season
Michael Schumacher has announced that he will retire from Formula 1 at the end of the season.
Schumacher was linked with a move to Sauber for 2013 but has decided to end an F1 career that began in 1991.
"Although I am still able to compete with the best drivers, at some point it is good to say goodbye," said the 43-year-old German.
"During the past month I was not sure if I still had the motivation and energy which is necessary to go on. It is not my style to do something that I'm not 100% for.
"With today's decision I feel released from those doubts, and in the end my ambition to fight for victories and the pleasure of driving is nourished by competitiveness."
Schumacher won 91 races in 19 seasons, helping to revive Ferrari's fortunes after he joined them in 1996.
He won his first title with Benetton in 1994 and repeated the feat the following year.
He claimed five straight titles between 2000 and 2004, before retiring for a first time in 2006. After three years away from the sport, he made a comeback with Mercedes in 2010.
However, since his return he has managed just one podium finish in three seasons, at Valencia in June.
"It is without doubt we did not achieve our goals to develop a world championship-fighting car but it is also very clear that I can still be very happy about my overall achievements in the whole time of my career," added Schumacher.
"In the past six years I have learned a lot about myself - for example that you can open yourself without losing focus, that losing can be both more difficult and more instructive than winning.
"Sometimes I lost this in the earlier years, though you appreciate what you are able to do and that you are able to live your convictions and I was able to do so."
Speculation that Schumacher would retire at the end of the season first surfaced at the start of September, when Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone told BBC Sport that he was "sorry that he's leaving us not being a winner, because he is a winner".
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Greek GP? moneysmile
http://www.aljazeera.com/video/europe/2012/10/2012104163149927969.html
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The land of the rising (Jen)son Practice 1
by Joe Saward
Jenson Button set the fastest time of the Friday morning session in Suzuka, beating his McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton by a couple of tenths, with Red Bull Racing's Mark Webber third, a tenth behind Lewis. Nico Rosberg was fourth, but half a second slower than Button's best - and his car broken down at the end of the session. Michael Schumacher was fifth ahead of Kamui Kobayashi, Felipe Massa, Paul di Resta, Nico Hulkenberg and Pastor Maldonado.
Fernando Alonso was 11th ahead of Sergio Perez, the two Lotuses of Kimi Raikkon and Romain Grosjean and the Toro Rossos of Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne. Sebastian Vettel was 17th with the rear end of the timesheet featuring William's third driver Valtteri Bottas, Timo Glock, Vitaly Petrov, Charles Pic, Narain Karthikeyan, Caterham's third driver Giedo Van der Garde and Pedro de la Rosa.
Mark I Practice 2
Mark Webber set the pace in the second practice session in Suzuka on Friday afternoon, with a time that was two-tenths of a second faster than Lewis Hamilton's McLaren, with Sebastian Vettel third and Nico Hulkenberg fourth. Fernando Alonso was next, ahead of Romain Grosjean, Jenson Button, Bruno Senna, Felipe Massa and Michael Schumacher, although the veteran crashed out late in the session at the entry to Spoon Curve. Earlier in the session Paul di Resta had a similar accident which brought out red flags. Also in trouble was Vitaly Petrov, who lost the rear wing off his Caterham.
Nico Rosberg was 10th, ahead of the two Saubers, Kimi Raikkonen (who had a KERS problem), Pastor Maldonado the two Toro Rossos, with Daniel Ricciardo ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne, the two Caterhams, the two Marussias and the two HRTs.
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Sebastian’s Orient Express
by Joe Saward
Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time of the third practice at Suzuka. Mark Webber was second quickest and the gap back to the nearest challenger - Felipe Massa - was an impressive seven-tenths of a second. Michael Schumacher was fourth fastest ahead of the two Saubers of Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi, Romain Grosjean, Jenson Button, Paul di resta and Pastor Maldonado. Fernando Alonso was 11th, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, who had a scary moment in 130R when he encountered a slow-moving Charles Pic in the final minutes of the session. Jean-Eric Vergne impressed with 14th fastest ahead of Nico Rosberg, Bruno Senna and Daniel Ricciardo, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg (who crashed early in the session), the two Caterhams, two Marussias and two HRTs.
It will be interesting to see whether the patterns will be repeated in qualifying in a few hours.
TBWG
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Sebast-o-pole!
by Joe Saward
Sebastian Vettel took pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix, after Kimi Raikkonen spun off and disrupted the final runs in Q3. Mark Webber was second, underlining the fact that the Red Bulls have suddenly found form, presumably due to a new front wing, which arrived on Saturday and seemed to make a big difference. Jenson Button was third in the McLaren, but was two-tenths down on Webber and four-tenths behind Vettel. And, of course, Jenson has a five-place grid penalty because of a gearbox change since Singapore and so the Japanese fans were able to celebrate Kamui Kobayashi third on the grid ahead of Romain Grosjean, Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso, Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Hulkenberg, who did not run. He will also have a five-place grid penalty.
Jean-Eric Vergne has been given a three-place grid penalty for impeding Bruno Senna at the end of the Q1 session. This means that Vergne will actually drop two places because Michael Schumacher has a 10-place penalty left over from Simngapore, when he assaulted Jean-Eric.
There is a spat going on between Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel over another impeding claim. The stewards are discussing the matter.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m30.839s
2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m31.090s + 0.251
3. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m31.294s + 0.451
4. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m31.700s + 0.861
5. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m31.989s + 1.059
6. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m32.022s + 1.183
7. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m32.114s + 1.275
8. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m32.208s + 1.369
9. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m32.327s + 1.488
10. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes no time
Q2 cut-off time: 1m32.272s Gap **
11. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m32.293s + 0.792
12. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m32.327s + 0.826
13. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m32.469s + 0.968
14. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m32.512s + 1.011
15. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m32.625s + 1.124
16. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m32.954s + 1.453
17. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m33.368s + 1.867
Q1 cut-off time: 1m33.370s Gap *
18. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m33.405s + 1.376
19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m34.657s + 2.628
20. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m35.213s + 3.184
21. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m35.385s + 3.356
22. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m35.429s + 3.400
23. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m35.432s + 3.403
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m36.734s + 4.705
107% time: 1m38.471s
* Gap to quickest in Q1
Well with Button, Schumacher, Hulkenberg, Di Resta, Vergne & maybe more getting penalties who knows what the grid will eventually look like down the arse end! buttslap
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Kimi Raikkonen was at his best during a post-qualifying interview at the Suzuka circuit where he made his thoughts on the subject at hand quite clear.
The Lotus driver, who had made it through to Q3 in qualifying for the Japanese GP, came up short in the final minute when he lost control of his E20 at Spoon Curve and beached his car in the gravel.
As the chequered flag was waved the yellows were still out for Raikkonen's car meaning his rivals were forced to back off in that sector.
Asked what happened, Raikkonen said: "I spun."
Clearly.
Asked about the impact his yellows would have on the rest of the field, he said: "I don't care what happened to the others." thumbup
You have to love him.
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Japanese GP: Vettel cruises to victory as Alonso retires
By Matt Beer Sunday, October 7th 2012, 07:35 GMT
Sebastian Vettel demolished Fernando Alonso's Formula 1 world championship lead by dominating the Japanese Grand Prix as the points leader retired in a first-lap crash.
The reigning champion is now just four points behind with five races to go, and has momentum on his side after back to back victories.
Felipe Massa came through from 10th on the grid to second for his first podium finish in nearly two years.
But for the home crowd everything was insignificant compared to Kamui Kobayashi fending off Jenson Button for his maiden F1 podium in third place, as he equalled the best ever finish for a Japanese driver.
Vettel's third Suzuka victory in four starts at the venue came easily as several likely challengers were eliminated in a chaotic first lap.
The carnage began when Alonso's Ferrari and Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus banged wheels on the run to the first corner. That caused damage to the Ferrari and left it spinning into the sand trap.
Kobayashi had thrust his Sauber between the Red Bulls off the line, and things then got much worse for Mark Webber when Romain Grosjean slid into him at the second corner.
The Lotus driver picked up front wing damage and a 10-second stop/go penalty, while Webber was spun to the back and needed a pitstop for checks.
As the chain reaction unfolded behind, Nico Rosberg's Mercedes was taken out in a clash with Bruno Senna's Williams.
Once the resultant safety car had come in, Vettel was free to dominate, leading by as much as 20s on his way to a third victory of 2012.
Kobayashi held second until the first pitstops, when both he and the chasing Button were leapfrogged by Massa. Like Button, the Ferrari driver had gained a lot of ground in the first-corner shambles, and once ahead of the McLaren and Sauber, Massa was quick enough to pull away.
Button tried his utmost to similarly demote Kobayashi, but a slightly slow final pitstop did not help and the local hero to keep last year's Suzuka winner at bay.
Lewis Hamilton had a quiet start to the race in the second McLaren before coming through to fifth. He fell victim to a superb dive-bomb pass from McLaren replacement Sergio Perez in the first stint - the Sauber having dropped behind in a failed outside-line bid to pass Raikkonen at the first corner.
Hamilton then got back ahead of Perez at the first pitstops, and as he tried to retaliate down the outside at the hairpin, Perez ran wide and spun into retirement.
The McLaren then jumped Raikkonen for fifth at the second stops - emerging alongside the Lotus and muscling it aside at the second turn despite Raikkonen seeming to have the momentum.
Nico Hulkenberg's Force India chased Raikkonen home in seventh while resisting pressure from Pastor Maldonado's Williams.
Webber recovered to ninth, pitting just once more after his lap-one stop.
Daniel Ricciardo made it two Australians in the points as Toro Rosso's mini-resurgence continued. Ricciardo resisted pressure from Michael Schumacher to the finish, preventing Mercedes from scoring this weekend.
The lap one mess gave Caterham a sniff of an opportunity as Heikki Kovalainen emerged in 11th. He could not stay ahead of the recovering frontrunners, though.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The Japanese Grand Prix
Suzuka, Japan;
53 laps; 307.471km;
Weather: Sunny.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h28:56.242
2. Massa Ferrari + 20.639
3. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 24.538
4. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 25.098
5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 46.490
6. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 50.424
7. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 51.159
8. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 52.364
9. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 54.675
10. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:06.919
11. Schumacher Mercedes + 1:07.769
12. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1:23.400
13. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:28.600
14. Senna Williams-Renault + 1:28.700
15. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 1 lap
16. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
17. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
18. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
19. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 1 lap
Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:35.774
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Pic Marussia-Cosworth 39
Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 34
Perez Sauber-Ferrari 19
Alonso Ferrari 1
Rosberg Mercedes 1
World Championship standings, round 15:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Alonso 194 1. Red Bull-Renault 325
2. Vettel 190 2. McLaren-Mercedes 283
3. Raikkonen 157 3. Ferrari 263
4. Hamilton 152 4. Lotus-Renault 239
5. Webber 135 5. Mercedes 136
6. Button 131 6. Sauber-Ferrari 115
7. Rosberg 93 7. Force India-Mercedes 81
8. Grosjean 82 8. Williams-Renault 58
9. Massa 69 9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 15
10. Perez 65
11. Kobayashi 50
12. Di Resta 44
13. Schumacher 43
14. Hulkenberg 37
15. Maldonado 33
16. Senna 25
17. Vergne 8
18. Ricciardo 7
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Excitement at the beginning and the end. Bit boring in the middle. Great drives from Button and Kobayashi.
Adrian Newey you da man! What have you done to give the little boy Vettel a car like that!
Great drive from Mark after a regrettable coming together. I wonder what may have been.
Hats off to Schumacher a stirring drive from the back of the field.
I'm very pleased to see Massa on the podium.
Our man from Mexico tripped over himself but I think he is definitely a star of the future.
Finally a question.......is Lewis still on Ron's Christmas card list?..........Hmmm .....I think not.
Cheers,
JT sawadi
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As F1 puts heads together to find a solution to Romain Grosjean's first lap mishaps, Bernie Ecclestone reckons an eye test is what is needed.
In the wake of yet another first lap crash and penalty in last Sunday's Japanese GP, there have been several suggestions about what could be done to help Grosjean.
Jenson Button says he needs to "sort his s**t out" while Mark Webber, who he crashed into on Sunday, believes another "holiday" is needed or perhaps a different starting grid altogether for the Lotus driver.
However, Ecclestone has a suggestion of his own.
"There might be something wrong with his peripheral vision," the F1 supremo told the Daily Express.
He's quick but he has been involved in a lot of problems at the start.
"I would definitely suggest he has his eyes tested because he has problems seeing what is happening around him." kamoybeer
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
PS Having put a few bob on Kimi at 50 -1 to win WC I would appreciate it in Romain could continue to take out the opposition!
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Q1: Mac big in Korea?
by Joe Saward
Lewis Hamilton set the cat among the pigeons on Friday morning in Korea, as he set the fastest time of the session. After The Japanese GP the signs were that Red Bull had gone back to a dominant position, but the first session in Korea seemed to suggest otherwise, with Hamilton ahead of Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber and Felipe Massa. Vettel was fifth.
Michael Schumacher was anything but shy and retiring as he outpaced Nico Rosberg, while Romain Grosjean was next ahead of Paul di Resta, Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen, Pastor Maldonado, Jules Bianchi (the Force India test driver), the two Sauber drivers Kamui Kobayashi ahead of Sergio Perez and the two Toro Rosso drivers Dan Ricciardo ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne. Valtteri Bottas, the Williams test driver, was next ahead of Heikki Kovalianen, Tim O'Glock, Charles Pic, Caterham tester Giedo Van der Garde and the two HRT drivers for the session Pedro de la Rosa and Dani Clos.
Positive Vett-ing P2
Red Bull Racing showed that it still has a solid gap over the opposition in F1 at the moment in the second practice session in Korea on Firday. Sebastian Vettel was three-tenths ahead of team-mate Mark Webber, while the rest trailed the Australian, the pack headed by Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, Michael Schumacher, Felipe Massa and Nico Rosberg. Lewis Hamilton was eighth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Kimi Raikkonen. Romain Grosjean was 11th chased by Bruno Senna, Paul di Resta, Kamui Kobayashi, Sergio Perez, who stopped out on the track, Jean-Eric Vergne and Dan Ricciardo. Pastor Maldonado had a minor off but did not seem quick and was left ahead of the usual back three teams, led by Heikki Kovalainen, with Timo Glock and Charles Pic shaking the tree by getting ahead of Vitaly Petrov. At the back Narain Karthikeyan outran Pedro de la Rosa.
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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The word in Oz is that "the Wizard" Newey has found something in the Aero at the front of the car. Not just the front wing.......time will tell.
Do you think Lewis is off Ron Dennis's Christmas card list? TWICE ! First for the Merc signing and now for the aggro tweet toward Jenson.....I'm starting to think that Lew should have stuck with his Dad's management. His current minders aren't kicking goals.
Just my two penneth worth!
JT sawadi
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Arrest warrant for Mallya
by Joe Saward
Force India boss Vijay Mallya has run into more trouble in Hyderabad where the 13th Metropolitan Sessions Court has issued an arrest warrant against him in a case filed by GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd which manages the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.
The case dates back several months when cheques issued by Kingfisher bounced. The court issued the warrant after Mallya failed to appear despite a summons.
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Here we bloody go...............
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Webber on pole
by Joe Saward
Mark Webber gave his team-mate a wake-up call in Korea as he snatched pole position in the final seconds of the Q3 session, after the German had dominated the sessions throughout. Lewis Hamilton was third quickest, a tenth ahead of Fernando Alonso with Kimi Raikkonen in fifth. Felipe Massa, Romain Grosjean, Nico Hulkenberg, Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher completed the top 10.
1 Webber Red Bull 1:37.242 129.170 mph
2 Vettel Red Bull 1:37.316 0.074
3 Hamilton McLaren 1:37.469 0.227
4 Alonso Ferrari 1:37.534 0.292
5 Raikkonen Lotus 1:37.625 0.383
6 Massa Ferrari 1:37.884 0.642
7 Grosjean Lotus 1:37.934 0.692
8 Hulkenberg Force India 1:38.266 1.024
9 Rosberg Mercedes 1:38.361 1.119
10 Schumacher Mercedes 1:38.513 1.271
11 Button McLaren 1:38.441
12 Perez Sauber 1:38.460
13 Kobayashi Sauber 1:38.594
14 Di Resta Force India 1:38.643
15 Maldonado Williams 1:38.725
16 Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:39.084
17 Vergne Toro Rosso 1:39.340
18 Senna Williams 1:39.443
19 Petrov Caterham 1:40.207
20 Kovalainen Caterham 1:40.333
21 Pic Marussia 1:41.317
22 Glock Marussia 1:41.371
23 De la Rosa HRT 1:42.881
24 Karthikeyan HRT No Time
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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McLaren win Ferrari 'spying' fine tax case
The McLaren Formula One team have successfully argued that a £32m fine they paid after a 2007 Ferrari spying controversy should be tax deductible.
Now that I am a sponsor of Mclaren do you think I can get a pit pass? nono
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Unbelievable !
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TBWG, any chance you can keep race results out of the shout box so as us poor buggers that only get to see the race later don't have the results shoved in our faces when we open this site please.. thumbup
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Hi Alan
Consider it done! I'm outa here early tomorrow. Once in Thailand I will not be bored rigid like in UK so reporting will become a lot more tardy!
Keep turning the screws and see you soon!
By the way Kimi's gunna win tomorrow buttslap
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
PS Whats wrong with getting up at 5.30? Go Crutchlow!
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Thanks David. Getting out of this miserable place, you lucky bugger. Enjoy!
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Korean GP report
JT standing in for an airborne TBWG. sawadi sawadi
Vettel again!
Vettel came across the line for his third win of the 2012 season in a row, having led all three Korean grands prix from 2010 to 2012 with the exception of 12 laps (when he retired in 2010). Mark Webber took second with Alonso third and Massa an easy fourth, a country mile clear of Raikkonen in fifth, Hulkenberg in sixth and an intact Grosjean in seventh.
Lewis Hamilton, complete with Astroturf, couldn't catch Vergne in eighth or Ricciardo in ninth but managed to fend off Perez to hold onto 10th. Probably not the result he was expecting when he was sat on the grid and a lot of hard work with a "nervous" car that looked a problem to drive.
Although the momentum is with the Red Bull team and Vettel, the race pace of the revised Ferrari F2012 showed that they are not far away and Felipe Massa will certainly be wearing red in 2013. The same might not be said of Kamui Kobayashi.
Results
01. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h36:28.651
02. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 8.200
03. Alonso Ferrari + 13.900
04. Massa Ferrari + 20.100
05. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 36.700
06. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 45.300
07. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 54.800
08. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:09.500
09. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:11.700
10. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 1:19.600
11. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1:20.000
12. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1:24.400
13. Schumacher Mercedes + 1:29.200
14. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 1:34.900
15. Senna Williams-Renault + 1:36.900
16. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
17. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
18. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
19. Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 2 lap2
20. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
Did Not Finish
Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 17
Rosberg Mercedes 2
Button McLaren-Mercedes 1
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So my tifosis and Buriram expat fans, as The Doors' Jim Morissette once sang: "This is the end, beautiful friend"
I am deciding to call it a day on my motor racing career in Brazil. I am bringing in the curtain on Formula 1 racing. Now I have to admit that I cannot be the oldest F1 driver to win a race and I cannot beat Rubens's record of most grands prix (spent moaning about the other drivers).
People have asked me if I will go to DTM, but quite honestly and obviously DTM cars are nothing like an F1 car to drive. They are heavy on the steering - in fact it is almost like truck driving. That is why I am surprised Ralf and David Coulthard have not been more successful. Typical of the Coulthard, immediately once I am saying I am hanging out my helmet, he also says that he is hanging out his helmet too. He always comes second in anything he does. In his driving career he always finished behind me or Mika, then Martin Brundle gets the Sky job and he gets the part-time BBC job.
However we have become friendly over the years and it is true to say that in the passing of time old enemies do become friends because they have so much on the common.
Once the news is being told about Lewis joining Mercedes my future was decided. It was a bit hurtful to hear the big guy, Ross, say that I had been "dithering" about signing a new contract. I am having to look this word up and when I am, I am finding it is like an old lady in a Nissan Micra automatic not being sure if she has the room to park in a space big enough for the Red Bull motorhome - and taking all day about it. I was not dithering, I was just balancing up how I was going to tell 'Lieblings Pudgie Wudgie Donut Face' that I was racing in 2013 and not have shoes thrown at me.
As for the new partnership at Mercedes: Nico and Lewis in the same team together won't be the bed of pansies they think it will be. They may have been team-mates in the past, but that was in the days when a good night out was a party with extra fries and free cardboard hats at Burger King. When they were in GP2. Now, Lewis is taller and Nico's ears are bigger.
Will somebody please explain to me Lewis's beard. He tries to come across like the (forgive me if I am not employing the right terms here, bro) streetsmart rappa guy and then he has a beard that makes him look like a farmer. Ross agrees with me. He said the last time he saw a beard like that it was on the bass player of The Wurzels. Whovever they are.
People have asked me why I haven't been successful in my comeback and I would point to the fact that we have not had a car that was quick enough, despite having four technical directors with previous teams. As the saying goes - too many chiefs and not enough Indian restaurants.
But, as I told to the Italian press: "If I look into my life's rear-view mirror, I find myself happy and smiling. I have had two distinct careers: one where I won everything, and a second one where I discovered what losing means."
The reason for returning to F1 was not to try and break more records or wear my nice Deutsche Vermögensberatung cap all the time. It was to get me off the sofa. And it worked.
I have learned a lot more things. I have leaned that there are too many buttons on an F1 steering wheel, even for a keen fiddler and adjuster like me. I have learned I do not like radio messages from the engineer telling me to adjust my flap. I have learned how to hit other cars accidentally - instead of on purpose, which is always more fun. I have learned new excuses for mistakes, such as: "I went to the brake pedal early and there was nothing there." (The new excuses work just as badly as the old excuses - such as "I lost it out of Rascasse")
What will I miss? I won't miss Kamui Kobayashi. Because I haven't in the past. I will miss Lee McKenzie of the BBC who I am respecting a lot as an interviewer and horse woman. There are so many big eyelash fluffy bimbos holding microphones in the paddock but Lee is a real woman (like my Lieblings, something to get hold of) with a long knowledge of the sport and a great base for horse riding. We have had laughs together.
I will miss my tifosis of course, the excitement of setting the car up, the thrill of racing and the joy of the podium. I will miss my engineers and the technical briefings. I am being well known in the paddock for travelling everywhere on a little silver scooter (so that I don't have to stop for autographs or interviews). My engineers have said they are going to fit an ice-cream van siren to it for the last four races so that when anybody is hearing the tune 'Greensleeves' they know it is The Schum coming through. Or Mr Whippy.
They have said I will not know how to unlatch the siren - they are b***ars.
When it comes to Brazil I am sure a big tear is being produced when I think of all the good times I have had. Let us look forward to a great result together.
Love, as ever,
The Schum oldmanwithstick
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Grand Prix of India 2012
Vettel,Vettel,Vettel !
This would appear to be Red Bulls month! First Felix Baumgartner now the "finger man" dominating.
This is JT filling in for a temporarily absent TBWG.
Prac 1 Times
Times
01 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:25.842 20 laps
02 Jenson Button McLaren 1:26.034 0.192 17 laps
03 Mark Webber Red Bull 1:26.108 0.266 18 laps
04 Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1:26.151 0.309 21 laps
05 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1:26.209 0.367 22 laps
06 Bruno Senna Williams 1:26.214 0.372 24 laps
07 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:26.521 0.679 15 laps
08 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:26.531 0.689 21 laps
09 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:26.652 0.810 21 laps
10 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:26.664 0.822 21 laps
11 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:26.691 0.849 13 laps
12 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:27.140 1.298 18 laps
13 Sergio Perez Sauber 1:27.162 1.320 21 laps
14 Paul di Resta Force India 1:27.193 1.351 22 laps
15 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:27.229 1.387 21 laps
16 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:27.374 1.532 21 laps
17 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:27.711 1.869 20 laps
18 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1:27.983 2.141 19 laps
19 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham 1:29.035 3.193 20 laps
20 Vitaly Petrov Caterham 1:29.237 3.395 20 laps
21 Timo Glock Marussia 1:29.745 3.903 19 laps
22 Charles Pic Marussia 1:30.298 4.456 20 laps
23 Narain Karthikeyan HRT 1:30.824 4.982 22 laps
24 Pedro de la Rosa HRT 1:30.873 5.031 22 laps
Thank goodness Jenson Button flew the flag for the UK !
More to come.
JT sawadi
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Grand Prix of India 2012
Vettel,Vettel,......hmmmm and more Vettel!
Prac 2 Times.
Times
01 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:26.221 35 laps
02 Mark Webber Red Bull 1:26.339 0.118 33 laps
03 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:26.820 0.599 34 laps
04 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:27.022 0.801 38 laps
05 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1:27.030 0.809 40 laps
06 Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1:27.131 0.910 38 laps
07 Jenson Button McLaren 1:27.182 0.961 24 laps
08 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:27.233 1.012 37 laps
09 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:27.397 1.176 36 laps
10 Bruno Senna Williams 1:27.738 1.517 36 laps
11 Paul di Resta Force India 1:28.004 1.783 32 laps
12 Sergio Perez Sauber 1:28.178 1.957 39 laps
13 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:28.222 2.001 37 laps
14 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:28.239 2.018 37 laps
15 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:28.296 2.075 23 laps
16 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1:28.455 2.234 40 laps
17 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:28.596 2.375 38 laps
18 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:29.167 2.946 35 laps
19 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham 1:29.320 3.099 43 laps
20 Vitaly Petrov Caterham 1:29.606 3.385 22 laps
21 Pedro de la Rosa HRT 1:30.950 4.729 37 laps
22 Timo Glock Marussia 1:31.113 4.892 35 laps
23 Narain Karthikeyan HRT 1:31.372 5.151 20 laps
24 Charles Pic Marussia 1:31.493 5.272 31 laps
It appears my countryman's ( Mark Webber ) main job in this session was to fend off the unwanted attentions of "Bucass" the Spaniard!
Well loyal devotee's of speed it looks like being about those black gummy things on the corners of the cars again!
It's frantic her at the Sports Desk of the Satuk Bugle without the guidance of TBWG our ace reporter but he should be back with us soon........p.s boss the aircon is on the fritz AGAIN!
JT sawadi
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Grand Prix of India
Him again!
Prac 3 Times
01 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:25.842 20 laps
02 Jenson Button McLaren 1:26.034 0.192 17 laps
03 Mark Webber Red Bull 1:26.108 0.266 18 laps
04 Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1:26.151 0.309 21 laps
05 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1:26.209 0.367 22 laps
06 Bruno Senna Williams 1:26.214 0.372 24 laps
07 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:26.521 0.679 15 laps
08 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:26.531 0.689 21 laps
09 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:26.652 0.810 21 laps
10 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:26.664 0.822 21 laps
11 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:26.691 0.849 13 laps
12 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:27.140 1.298 18 laps
13 Sergio Perez Sauber 1:27.162 1.320 21 laps
14 Paul di Resta Force India 1:27.193 1.351 22 laps
15 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:27.229 1.387 21 laps
16 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:27.374 1.532 21 laps
17 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:27.711 1.869 20 laps
18 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1:27.983 2.141 19 laps
19 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham 1:29.035 3.193 20 laps
20 Vitaly Petrov Caterham 1:29.237 3.395 20 laps
21 Timo Glock Marussia 1:29.745 3.903 19 laps
22 Charles Pic Marussia 1:30.298 4.456 20 laps
23 Narain Karthikeyan HRT 1:30.824 4.982 22 laps
24 Pedro de la Rosa HRT 1:30.873 5.031 22 laps
It's starting to get annoying! Stand by for Qualy.
Boss get back soon BIB have been around about the parking indiscretion.......and the aircon is STILL on the fritz!
JT sawadi
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Grand Prix of India.
Guess Who!
Qualifying.
Sebastian Vettel's 100 percent record in qualifying for the Indian GP continued on Saturday as he claimed pole position ahead of his team-mate Mark Webber.
Despite failing to cross the line in time for a flying lap - which all his rivals managed to do - Vettel's 1:25.283 proved to be unbeatable, handing the Championship leader his fifth pole of the season.
Webber was second, 0.044s adrift of his team-mate as Red Bull secured the 1-2 at the Buddh International circuit.
The second row of the grid will belong to McLaren as Lewis Hamilton pipped Jenson Button to third place after finishing 0.261s adrift of Vettel.
Continuing the trend it is an all-Ferrari third row as Fernando Alonso brought his F2012 home in fifth place ahead of Felipe Massa. However, the Spaniard, who is six points behind Vettel in the Championship battle, will be hoping for better come Sunday's 60-lap grand prix.
Kimi Raikkonen was seventh and the last driver within a second of Vettel's pole position time.
Times
01. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m25.283
02. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m25.327
03. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m25.544
04. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m25.659
05. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m25.773
06. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m25.857
07. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m26.236
08. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m26.360
09. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m26.713
10. Nico Rosberg Mercedes no time
11. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m26.136
12. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercede 1m26.241
13. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m26.331
14. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m26.574
15. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m26.777
16. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercede 1m26.989
17. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m27.219
18. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m27.525
19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m28.756
20. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m29.500
21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m29.613
22. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m30.592
23. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m30.593
24. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m30.662
Boss, Somchai has fixed the aircon and says your cigar butts had clogged the drip tray. He was irate as he said doing this made the butts hard for him to light!!
Your intrepid reporter TBWG should return tomorrow with a full race report Buddha willing!
I'm off for a pint!
JT sawadi
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Hey JT
YOu are getting just a little bit to good at this, I will have to get Somchai to spike your beer!
Right now I have things to attend to in BKK So it's off to the Renaissance Hotel with the Boss Lady for some dins!
TBWG
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No worries Chief LOL.
I have pink enveloped Somchai so no chance!!!!
My best to Boss lady and her lovely niece.
Relax and enjoy after what must have been a long day.
JT sawadi
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Well folks that was a bit of a bore fest, worst result possible as far as I am concerned, Vet & Alonso my least favorite drivers and I spose I can kiss my 50-1 punt on Kimi goodbye.
Still I expect Italian Tony will be breaking out the garibaldis and lambrusco on Alonso's unexpected Ferrari 2nd place!
Well here goes with another plagiarsed report!
Indian GP: Vettel cruises to fourth consecutive victory
By Matt Beer Sunday, October 28th 2012,
Sebastian Vettel stretched his Formula 1 world championship lead to 13 points with a fourth straight dominant victory in the Indian Grand Prix.
Fernando Alonso was at least able to minimise the damage to his title bid by battling through to second place.
Red Bull's rivals may have claimed pre-race that they were determined to prevent Vettel making a clean break, but the champion team actually looked more dominant than ever on lap one, as Vettel and Mark Webber cruised away while the McLarens and Ferraris grappled with each other.
Alonso managed to draft past both Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button on the long straight, then saw them go back around him - one either side - at Turn 4.
Button came out best and took third, with Alonso managing to get back past Hamilton into fourth.
Alonso then overtook Button for third as soon as DRS was available. Hamilton did likewise soon afterwards.
Third looked like being Alonso's limit until the second half of the race, when Webber began drifting off Vettel's pace and into the Ferrari's sights.
As Webber reported a lack of KERS, Alonso stepped up his chase - despite also having to try to save fuel.
The Ferrari breezed past with 10 laps to go, and - encouraged by some unusual sparks from under Vettel's car - kept pushing to the flag. It was in vain, though, as yet again Vettel was safely heading for victory.
Hamilton, who required a rapidly-fitted new steering wheel at his pitstop, charged onto Webber's tail in the final moments but could not separate the Red Bull from the podium.
Button was a lonely fifth, losing time with a long spell behind a yet-to-stop Romain Grosjean.
Felipe Massa resisted Kimi Raikkonen for sixth. The Lotus jumped the Ferrari by pitting one lap later, only for Massa to use DRS to immediately re-pass.
Grosjean fell into the midfield at the start, then recovered with some successful overtaking and by running until lap 36 before pitting for fresh softs.
The Lotus got back up to ninth, chasing Nico Hulkenberg's Force India.
Hulkenberg had initially sparred with Sergio Perez, but the Sauber made an early pitstop then retired after picking up a puncture while jousting with Daniel Ricciardo's.
Perez was one of three drivers who sustained tyre damage in combat. Jean-Eric Vergne tagged Michael Schumacher at the first corner of the race, breaking the Toro Rosso's wing and slicing the Mercedes' tyre.
Pastor Maldonado also got a puncture in a tussle with Kamui Kobayashi. But Bruno Senna saved Williams's day with an assertive drive to 10th that included a late pass on Nico Rosberg's Mercedes.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The Indian Grand Prix
Buddh International Circuit, India;
60 laps; 307.249km;
Weather: Hazy and dry.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h31:10.744
2. Alonso Ferrari + 9.437
3. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 13.217
4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 13.909
5. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 26.266
6. Massa Ferrari + 44.674
7. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 45.227
8. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 54.998
9. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 56.103
10. Senna Williams-Renault + 1:14.975
11. Rosberg Mercedes + 1:21.694
12. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1:22.815
13. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:26.064
14. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1:26.495
15. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
16. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 1 lap
17. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
18. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
19. Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
20. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps
21. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
22. Schumacher Mercedes + 5 laps
Fastest lap: Button, 1:28.203
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 41
Perez Sauber-Ferrari 21
World Championship standings, round 17:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 240 1. Red Bull-Renault 407
2. Alonso 227 2. Ferrari 316
3. Raikkonen 173 3. McLaren-Mercedes 306
4. Webber 167 4. Lotus-Renault 263
5. Hamilton 165 5. Mercedes 136
6. Button 141 6. Sauber-Ferrari 116
7. Rosberg 93 7. Force India-Mercedes 93
8. Grosjean 90 8. Williams-Renault 59
9. Massa 89 9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 21
10. Perez 66
11. Kobayashi 50
12. Hulkenberg 49
13. Di Resta 44
14. Schumacher 43
15. Maldonado 33
16. Senna 26
17. Vergne 12
18. Ricciardo 9
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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icon_latest
Lotus announced Kimi Raikkonen would be staying in 2013. That was good news for the team. Now we just need to make sure we know who owns the whole thing and all will be well. Still if Kimi has signed again, he must think that all is well there and the one thing we do know about Kimi is that he is not given to wild speculation or eloquent sophistry. One can imagine him negotiating with Gerard Lopez...
"You give me car? You give me money? We do deal."
However, it is worth quoting the words of Eric Boullier, on the subject.
"Kimi has made an exceptional comeback to Formula 1. From the first time he sat in the car this year it was clear he had lost none of his pace or technical feedback and we have been rewarded by a focused and motivated driver all season. For Lotus F1 Team to be fighting for such strong championship positions this year is in no small part attributed to Kimi’s talent and experience of racing. It was a natural conclusion for us to confirm that we will be harnessing his abilities for next season."
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
PS So now its on to Abu Dhabu Dhabi
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Lewis – Sun King
by Joe Saward
Lewis Hamilton set the pace in the first practice session in Abu Dhabi, three-tenths of a second faster than his team-mate Jenson Button and a whole seven-tenths ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber. Michael Schumacherr was fifth fastest but he was 1.4 seconds behind. The Williamses looked strong with Pastor Maldonado seventh and Valtteri Bottas ninth, the pair split by Nico Rosberg. The top 10 was rounded out by Kimi Raikkonen in his Lotus, ahead of Felipe Massa, Nico Hulkenberg, Kamui Kobayashi and Romain Grosjean. Force India test driver Jules Bianchi was next, ahead of Sergio Perez, the two Toro Rossos of Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne with Heikki Kovalainen next for Caterham, ahead of Timo Glock, Pedro de la Rosa and the three test drivers Max Chilton, Ma Qing Hua and Giedo Van der Garde, the latter having a just a handful of laps because of engine troubles.
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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German first at beach
by Joe Saward
Sebastian Vettel set the pace in the second practice session in Abu Dhabi, beating Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Mark Webber. The Lotuses of Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen were fifth and sixth, with the Ferrari's of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa seventh and eighth and the Williamses of Pastor Maldonado and Bruno Senna ninth and 11th. Sergio Perez split the Willies with his Sauber.
Nicos Rosberg and Hulkenberg were 12th and 13th ahead of Michael Schumacher, Paul di Resta and Kamui Kobayashi, with the Toro Rossos of Dan Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne 17th and 18th. The Caterhams were 19th and 20th, the only surprise being that Vitaly Petrov beat Heikki Kovalainen, with the field completed in team-by-team style with the Glock-Pic Marussia duo and Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan at the back.
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Silver bullets
by Joe Saward
Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button continued to set the pace in Abu Dhabi with the fastest times in the third free practice session on Saturday afternoon. Hamilton was nearly half a second clear of Sebastian Vettel, in third place, but the time was not truly represnetative as the World Champions spent much of the session sitting in the garage with brake troubles. Mark Webber was fourth quickest six-tenths down on Hamilton. Fifth place went to Nico Hulkenberg, ahead of Romain Grosjean, Pastor Maldonado, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, Paul di Resta and Felipe Massa.
It was busy in the midfield as usual, with Sergio Perez just ahead of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher, with Kamui Kobayashi in hot pursuit, Jean-Eric Vergne, Bruno Senna, Daniel Ricciardo, Heikki Kovalainen, Timo Glock, Charles Pic, Vitaly Petrov, Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan.
Abu Dhabi GP: Lewis Hamilton beats Mark Webber to pole position
By Matt Beer Saturday, November 3rd 2012,
Lewis Hamilton halted Red Bull's run of qualifying dominance with a commanding run to pole position for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
It was a disappointing qualifying session for both Formula 1's title contenders, with Sebastian Vettel only third behind Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber - but far better off than his Ferrari rival Fernando Alonso, who lines up only seventh.
McLaren driver Hamilton had been quickest in two of the three Yas Marina practice sessions, led Q1 and Q2, then produced a 1m40.630s early in Q3 to immediately put himself 0.4 seconds clear of his opposition.
A second pole shot might have been faster still, but once it became clear that Hamilton's rivals had no answer to his pace, the Briton backed off and pitted.
Webber's 1m40.978s pushed Vettel off the front row. The points leader, hampered by a substantial loss of practice mileage, had pushed hard throughout qualifying - brushing a barrier in Q1, flying over kerbs in Q2, and then stopping on track after his unsuccessful final flying lap in Q3.
Pastor Maldonado delivered the strong Williams qualifying result he had promised by grabbing fourth on the grid.
Kimi Raikkonen improved to fifth for Lotus on his second Q3 run, with Jenson Button making similar gains to take sixth. Button had been as low as ninth at one stage, but a five-place and 0.6s gap to McLaren team-mate Hamilton will not please the 2009 champion.
Alonso held fourth after the early Q3 runs, only to be shoved down to a potentially costly seventh as others improved. His team-mate Felipe Massa starts ninth, ahead of Romain Grosjean's Lotus.
Nico Rosberg made just one run in Q3 and initially held fifth, before falling to eighth when his rivals came out again. Rosberg's performance was a boost for Mercedes on what had looked like being another disappointing weekend. His team-mate Michael Schumacher was only 14th, amid mutual apologies from team to driver over the radio.
Force India and Sauber could not reach the top 10 this time. Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez filled row six, with Paul di Resta 13th in his new chassis and Kamui Kobayashi six tenths down on Perez in 16th after locking up on his last lap.
Bruno Senna's run of tepid qualifying performances continued with 15th, 0.4s slower than Williams team-mate Maldonado in Q2.
Having appeared to conquer his qualifying problems in the summer, Jean-Eric Vergne notched up his second straight Q1 exit - and his eighth of the year - in Abu Dhabi. The recently re-signed Toro Rosso driver was on course to make the cut before spinning. He pushed on for another lap, but his abused tyres had no more pace to offer. Vergne's team-mate Daniel Ricciardo brought up the rear of the Q2 field in 17th.
Marussia pushed Caterham hard in the battle at the tail of the field. Although Heikki Kovalainen emerged in front again, he was only a tenth ahead of Charles Pic.
Vitaly Petrov was right in the fight in the second Caterham too, but Timo Glock was puzzled by a relative lack of speed from his Marussia as he beat only the back-row dwelling HRTs.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m40.630s
2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m40.978s + 0.348
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m41.073s + 0.443
4. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m41.226s + 0.596
5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m41.260s + 0.630
6. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m41.290s + 0.660
7. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m41.582s + 0.952
8. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m41.603s + 0.973
9. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m41.723s + 1.093
10. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m41.778s + 1.148
Q2 cut-off time: 1m41.907s Gap **
11. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m42.019s + 1.118
12. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m42.084s + 1.183
13. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m42.218s + 1.317
14. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m42.289s + 1.388
15. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m42.330s + 1.429
16. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m42.606s + 1.705
17. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m42.765s + 1.864
Q1 cut-off time: 1m43.582s Gap *
18. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m44.058s + 2.561
19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m44.956s + 3.459
20. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m45.089s + 3.592
21. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m45.151s + 3.654
22. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m45.426s + 3.929
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m45.766s + 4.269
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m46.382s + 4.885
107% time: 1m48.601s
* Gap to quickest in Q1
** Gap to quickest in Q2
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Vettel now at the back .........
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Vettel now at the back .........
Nookie is on the ball ....... Vettel starts fro back row ... Insufficient fuel in car after qualy! Naughty naughty!
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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They were obviously running way too lite!
Vettel now has the opportunity to impress us. I wonder if he's up to the job.
Time will tell.
From reports from the track that I have seen Button and Hamilton have the faster cars over race distance. This could be a cracker of a race.
JT sawadi
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Abu Dhabi GP: Raikkonen wins for Lotus, Vettel recovers to third
By Matt Beer Sunday, November 4th 2012
Kimi Raikkonen held off Fernando Alonso to take the first win of his Formula 1 comeback in an astonishing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, as Sebastian Vettel made it through from last to third.
The result means Vettel's championship lead remains 10 points with two races to go, despite an incident-packed race for the Red Bull driver.
Raikkonen's victory is his first since he won the 2009 Belgian GP, the first for his Enstone-based team since the 2008 Japanese GP, and the first for a Lotus-branded squad since the 1987 United States GP.
Poleman Lewis Hamilton looked set to dominate for McLaren at first, escaping an early mistake that allowed Raikkonen to briefly get alongside him and then pulling away.
Pastor Maldonado held third, while Alonso muscled past the slow-starting Mark Webber for fourth with a bold outside line move at Turn 11 on the first lap.
The path seemed to be opening up quickly for Vettel, helped by first-lap carnage that saw the Force Indias tangle with Bruno Senna, and Nico Rosberg and Romain Grosjean collide.
The recovering Rosberg then caused the first safety car on lap nine when his Mercedes was violently launched over the back of Narain Karthikeyan's slowing HRT.
By that time Vettel was up to 13th, but during the caution period he ran off-track avoiding Daniel Ricciardo and smashed a marker board. This did terminal damage to a front wing already battered from contact with Senna, and Vettel had to pit.
Hamilton stayed ahead easily at the restart, only to drop out when his car ground to a halt with a mechanical problem on lap 19.
That left Raikkonen in charge, with Alonso the first of several drivers to pass a fading Maldonado before the pitstops. Webber's attempt to do likewise would see contact and a spin.
With Vettel having got a tyre change out of the way when replacing his front wing, he rose to second behind Raikkonen as others pitted. There was speculation among rivals that Vettel might try to keep his soft tyres alive until the end, but he pitted for fresh rubber and dropped to fourth behind Alonso and Jenson Button.
Another safety car then followed when a spectacular battle between Paul di Resta, Grosjean and Sergio Perez ended with contact between the latter pair and Grosjean's slowing car collecting the luckless Webber.
That closed Raikkonen, Alonso, Button and Vettel up for a 12-lap sprint to the finish.
Initially the pressure was on Alonso, but soon he was pulling clear of Button and mounting a late charge towards Raikkonen, as Vettel put huge pressure on the McLaren.
The champion eventually took third with four laps to go. Alonso was out of reach, though, the Ferrari finishing right on Raikkonen's tail.
Maldonado took fifth ahead of Kamui Kobayashi and Felipe Massa, who spun down the order while fighting with Webber.
Senna and di Resta recovered from their dramas to take eighth and ninth, with Ricciardo the final scorer.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi;
55 laps; 305.355km;
Weather: Clear.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1h45:58.667
2. Alonso Ferrari + 0.852
3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 4.163
4. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 7.787
5. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 13.007
6. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 20.076
7. Massa Ferrari + 22.896
8. Senna Williams-Renault + 23.542
9. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 24.160
10. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 27.463
11. Schumacher Mercedes + 28.075
12. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 34.906
13. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 47.764
14. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 56.473
15. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 56.768
16. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1:04.595
17. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 1:11.578
Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:43.964
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Pic Marussia-Cosworth 42
Grosjean Lotus-Renault 38
Webber Red Bull-Renault 38
Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 20
Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 8
Rosberg Mercedes 8
Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1
World Championship standings, round 18:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 255 1. Red Bull-Renault 422
2. Alonso 245 2. Ferrari 340
3. Raikkonen 198 3. McLaren-Mercedes 318
4. Webber 167 4. Lotus-Renault 288
5. Hamilton 165 5. Mercedes 136
6. Button 153 6. Sauber-Ferrari 124
7. Massa 95 7. Force India-Mercedes 95
8. Rosberg 93 8. Williams-Renault 73
9. Grosjean 90 9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 22
10. Perez 66
11. Kobayashi 58
12. Hulkenberg 49
13. Di Resta 46
14. Maldonado 43
15. Schumacher 43
16. Senna 30
17. Vergne 12
18. Ricciardo 10
Well what with Buriram beating Army FC for the cup and the Kimster winning in Abu Dhabi. This calls for a magnum of Archa! Kimi looked well underwhelmed with the arab equivalent of Lucozade instead of the usual champers party5
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Well folks we move on to the US of A for the next weekends GP. Bearing in mind that the world championship will now be decided between my two least favourite drivers slapfight and the fact that in Thai time that means the event will be in the early hours of the morning, quite frankly I can't be a**ed to get up and file my usual in depth plagiarised reports! newsleeping
However, if some other kind soul in a more sympathetic time zone wishes to do the honours then please feel free. Just remind mod of your contact details so he knows where to send the cheque! whistle
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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P1
Bull amongst the cowboys
by Joe Saward
Sebastian Vettel set the fastest lap of the first practice session in Austin, Texas, 1.4secs ahead of Lewis Hamilton and more than two seconds faster than his championship rival Fernando Alonso. The track was very green with drivers complaining of wheel spin on the slippery tarmac. As a result there were a few spins and offs, but this is a modern track and there is little to hit. Fourth fastest was Jenson Button ahead of Mark Webber, Felipe Massa, Nico Hulkenberg, Kamui Kobayashi, Nico Rosberg, Sergio Perez, Paul di Resta and the two Toro Rossos of Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne. The Lotus team did not look very strong with Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean 14th and 15th, ahead of Pastor Maldonado, Michael Schumacher and Charles Pic, ahead of the two Caterhams of Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov. Timo Glock was next, ahead of Bruno Senna and the HRTs of Pedro de la Rosa and Ma Qing Hua.
P2
Bull run
by Joe Saward
Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber continued to set the pace on Friday in Austin with the fastest times in the second practice session, although the times continue to be a little suspect because of changing conditions at the Texas circuit. Fernando Alonso was third for Ferrari with the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button fourth and fifth. Felipe Massa was sixth ahead of Nico Rosberg's Mercedes, Bruno Senna's Williams, Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber and the second Mercedes of Michael Schumacher.
The Lotuses of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean were 11th and 13th, split by Pastor Maldonado's Williams, with Serio Perez behind them. Behind them were the two Toro Rossos, the two Force Indias and the Caterhams, Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov being split by Timo Glock's Marussia, with Charles Pic behind them. At the back were the HRTs as usual.
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Lone star in Texas
by Joe Saward
Sebastian Vettel continued to stay ahead of the pack in the third practice session in Austin, Texas, setting a time that was two-tenths of a second faster than Lewis Hamilton, with Pastor Maldonado third half a second down on Vettel's best. Fernando Alonso was next ahead of Nico Rosberg, Felipe Massa, Mark Webber, Sergio Perez, Nico Hulkenberg and Jenson Button.
Eleventh was Bruno Senna ahead of Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen, Kamui Kobayashi, Daniel Ricciardo, Paul di Resta, Romain Grosjean, Jean-Eric Vergne, Timo Glock, Vitaly Petrov, Heikki Kovalainen, Charles Pic (who had a tangle with Perez) with Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan at the back.
US GP: Sebastian Vettel beats Hamilton to Austin pole position
By Matt Beer Saturday, November 17th 2012,
Sebastian Vettel converted his domination of United States Grand Prix practice into the anticipated pole position at Austin, as his title rival Fernando Alonso struggled to ninth.
In a Q3 battle that saw everyone hammer round on long runs trying to bring their tyres to life, Vettel put in a 1m35.877s with two minutes to spare.
He nearly got a surprise from Lewis Hamilton, who closed to within 0.051 seconds of the Red Bull, which was now cruising.
Vettel started another flying lap and dug deeper still, crossing the line at 1m35.657s.
Hamilton was still setting very competitive sector times on his last attempt, but ultimately ended up a tenth short.
The McLaren driver still prevented an all-Red Bull front row, forcing Mark Webber back to third.
Lotus showed very strong form in fourth and fifth with Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen, although the former will drop back five places due to a gearbox change penalty.
That will elevate Michael Schumacher into the top five. Just as his Formula 1 career appeared to be limping to a depressing second end, the seven-time champion showed great form throughout Austin qualifying to go sixth quickest, although he may yet face censure for blocking Alonso in Q2.
Alonso struggled mightily to make his Ferrari's tyres work in Q3, weaving frantically between flying laps.
His team-mate Felipe Massa managed better and took seventh, with Alonso back in ninth between the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg and the Williams of Pastor Maldonado.
Hamilton was the only McLaren in the top 10 shoot-out. An apparent throttle problem left Jenson Button crawling back to the pits in Q2, and he was pushed down to 12th.
Jean-Eric Vergne's 14th place marked his best qualifying result since the Spanish GP in May. The Frenchman has been eliminated in Q1 eight times this year - but at Austin it was his Toro Rosso team-mate Daniel Ricciardo who fell early.
Q3 remained elusive for Bruno Senna and Paul di Resta, who were 11th and 13th as their respective team-mates Maldonado and Hulkenberg made it to the final segment.
Sauber had been among the teams most concerned about tyre warm-up issues on Friday, and the problems did not relent in qualifying. Sergio Perez - in front of a large Mexican spectator contingent - and Kamui Kobayashi were a long way off the pace in 15th and 16th.
Nico Rosberg was a full 1.4s slower than Mercedes team-mate Schumacher in Q2, and that resulted in 17th position.
Marussia ended Q1 in jubilant mood after beating Caterham in emphatic fashion. Both Timo Glock and Charles Pic outpaced the green cars, with Caterham's lead runner Vitaly Petrov 0.8s off Glock's time.
Despite its troubled start to the weekend, and Narain Karthikeyan parking at Turn 2 with a mechanical problem, HRT got both cars within the 107 per cent qualifying margin with several tenths to spare.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m35.657s
2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m35.766s + 0.109
3. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m36.174s + 0.517
4. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m36.587s + 0.930
5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m36.708s + 1.051
6. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m36.794s + 1.137
7. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m36.937s + 1.280
8. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m37.141s + 1.484
9. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m37.300s + 1.643
10. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m37.842s + 2.185
Q2 cut-off time: 1m37.404s Gap **
11. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m37.604s + 1.808
12. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m37.616s + 1.820
13. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m37.665s + 1.869
14. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m37.879s + 2.083
15. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m38.206s + 2.410
16. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m38.437s + 2.641
17. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m38.501s + 2.705
Q1 cut-off time: 1m38.862s Gap *
18. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m39.114s + 2.556
19. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m40.056s + 3.498
20. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m40.664s + 4.106
21. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m40.809s + 4.251
22. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m41.166s + 4.608
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m42.011s + 5.453
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m42.740s + 6.182
107% time: 1m43.317s
* Gap to quickest in Q1
** Gap to quickest in Q2
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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USGP One for the Brits!!
Starting from pole position Sebastian Vettel led off the line, first ahead of Mark Webber and a few laps later ahead of Hamilton while his title rival Fernando Alonso slotted into fourth place.
The order changed on lap 18 when Webber retired with a suspected alternator failure, elevating Alonso to third and closing Vettel's advantage in the Championship to 20 points.
However, that was narrowed even further on lap 42 when Hamilton, having dogged the German for several laps, used traffic and DRS to take the lead off the Red Bull driver.
Hamilton tried to pull away but this time it was Vettel's turn to dog the McLaren driver with the help of his DRS.
Vettel, though, was unable to mimic Hamilton's move and the tenacious McLaren driver went on to clinch his fourth victory of the season. It was also his second US GP triumph as Hamilton won the race the last time F1 was in America.
Vettel, who let rip about traffic in the form of an HRT costing him the lead, brought his RB8 home in second place, extending his lead over Alonso in the Championship to 13 points. The Spaniard completed the podium in a distant third place.
It was an exciting race for those off the podium as they fought tooth-and-nail even running three abreast during the early stages. Overtake over overtake - and several without the use of DRS - resulted in a thrilling race for the 100,000-plus fans packed into the Circuit of the Americas grandstands.
Felipe Massa, who had taken a grid penalty after Ferrari broke the seal of his gearbox in order to put Alonso on the clean side of the grid, finished fourth ahead of Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen.
Results
01. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1h35:55.269
02. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 0.600
03. Alonso Ferrari + 39.200
04. Massa Ferrari + 46.000
05. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 56.400
06. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 1:04.400
07. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 1:10.300
08. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 1:13.700
09. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 1:14.500
10. Senna Williams-Renault + 1:15.100
11. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1:24.300
12. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:24.800
13. Rosberg Mercedes + 1:25.500
14. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
15. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
16. Schumacher Mercedes + 1 lap
17. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
18. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
19. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
20. Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps
21. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
22. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
Did Not Finish
Webber Red Bull-Renault 17
Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 15
I am sure there will be an in depth report from TBWG shortly. Well driven Lewis and roll on Brazil!!
JT sawadi
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Thanks J T
In depth report? think you covered everything already! thumbup
McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh believes that Lewis Hamilton would be fighting for the Formula 1 world championship in Brazil this weekend if the team had got the most out of its car this year.
A spate of early-season errors and more recent reliability failures derailed Hamilton's campaign and left him unable to threaten Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso for the title.
Whitmarsh thinks the pace of the McLaren in America, where Hamilton hunted down and defeated Vettel, shows the potential the team had this year.
"We have to get better, we have to get stronger, and we have to make fewer mistakes," explained Whitmarsh.
"We had a lot potential this year and we haven't really got what we should have got from the potential we had in the team.
"We will learn from that, and come out stronger next year, but at the moment we are focused in a few days' time on the next race in Brazil and trying to win it."
When asked whether he believed the form that Hamilton delivered in Abu Dhabi and the United States shows that he should really have been a title contender still, Whitmarsh replied: "He should have been, but I haven't spent that much time dwelling on it.
"We have underperformed. We haven't done a good enough job in a number of different ways, but we've had a quick car and that is an achievement.
"We have done some good things but we haven't nailed it in the way I would have liked.
"We have to get better at everything we do and that is what we will aim to do over the winter, and aim to see if we can have an epic season next year."
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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The duel goes on
by Joe Saward
Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel fought a terrific duel last weekend in Austin, Texas and the fight continued in Sao Paulo where the two were separated by just 0.009s at the end of the first practice session at Interlagos. Mark Webber was third and Jenson Button fourth, all four covered by a less than a tenth of a second. There was a two-tenths gap back to Fernando Alonso, with his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa next, but the World Championship challenger did not look very competitive.
Seventh fastest was Romain Grosjean, followed by Paul di Resta, Pastor Maldonado, Nico Hulkenberg, Michael Schumacher, Kobayashi, Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, the Finn getting another Friday morning session, despite this being Bruno Senna's home race.
Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen, Jean-Eric Vergne and Nico Rosberg followed. Caterham tester Giedo Van der Garde was next, ahead of Timo Glock, Vitaly Petrov and Charles Pic, with the two HRT men at the back as is normal.
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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The old one-two
by Joe Saward
Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel continued their ongoing on-track slugging match with Lewis beating the Red Bull star by 0.27 sec in the second practice session on Friday in Interlagos. The two men were clear of Mark Webber and Felipe Massa, with Felipe Massa's Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso behind him. The worst case scenario for Ferrari if such a situation remains at the end of qualifying will be to send Massa back five-places with a grid penalty, which would bump Alonso up the grid. Behind them there were the two Mercedes of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, ahead of Jenson Button Romain Grosjean, Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg and Kimi Raikkonen. Bruno Senna was 13th ahead of Sergio Perez, Kamui Kobayashi, Daniel Ricciardo and Pastor Maldonado. Jean-Eric Vergne set an identical time to his morning session, while Caterham's Vitaly Petrov and Heikki Kovalainen were ahead of the HRT's Pedro de la Rosa, Marussia's Timo Glock and Charles Pic, and Narain Karthikeyan.
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Button ups his game ::)
November 24, 2012 by Joe Saward
Jenson Button set the fastest time of the Saturday morning session in Brazil, just beating Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, while Lewis Hamilton was fourth fastest by a fraction, ahead of Romain Grosjean’s Lotus, the Force Indias of Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg. The Ferraris and Williamses were all mixed up with Fernando Alonso ahead of Pastor Maldonado, Felipe Massa and Bruno Senna. Nico Rosberg was the faster of the two Mercedes, ahead of the two Saubers, with Sergio Perez ahead of Kamui Kobayashi, and Michael Schumacher behind them. Then came the two Toro Rossos, thetwo Caterhams, the two Marussias and the two HRTs. Kimi Raikkonen was at the back having done only three laps before an engine failure.
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Hamilton to win this one too
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Think you may be right Nookie!
McLaren 1-2, Bull 3-4
by Joe Saward
Lewis Hamilton set the pace in qualifying in Brazil, beating his team-mate Jenson Button to pole position by a tenth. Mark Webber was third with defending World Champion Sebastian Vettel in fourth ahead of Felipe Massa, who may end up with another gearbox penalty as his team-mate and title challenger Fernando Alonso engined up eighth. Behind Massa were Pastor Maldonado, Nico Hulkenberg,Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Nico Rosberg.
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Seems to have got that bit extra ,pity it didn't happen earlier in the season
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Nookie ........ Lewis would have been in contention for WC had it not been for multi mechanical failures.
icon_latest
Pastor Maldonado will drop from sixth to 16th on the Brazilian GP grid after incurring his third reprimand for missing the weighbridge.
Under Formula One regulations, three reprimands in a season earn a driver an automatic 10-place grid penalty.
And as Maldonado was handed a third in the wake of Saturday's qualifying for missing the weighbridge, the Williams driver will drop to 16th on the Interlagos grid.
Maldonado's other reprimands this season were for blocking in the Chinese GP and crashing into Sergio Perez in the British race.
The revised grid
01 Lewis Hamilton
02 Jenson Button
03 Mark Webber
04 Sebastian Vettel
05 Felipe Massa
06 Nico Hulkenberg
07 Fernando Alonso
08 Kimi Raikkonen
09 Nico Rosberg
10 Paul di Resta
11 Bruno Senna
12 Sergio Perez
13 Michael Schumacher
14 Kamui Kobayashi
15 Daniel Ricciardo
16 Pastor Maldonado *
17 Jean-Eric Vergne
18 Romain Grosjean
19 Vitaly Petrov
20 Heikki Kovalainen
21 Timo Glock
22 Charles Pic
23 Narain Karthikeyan
24 Pedro de la Rosa
* 10-place penalty for third reprimand
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Brazilian GP: Vettel is champion as Button wins thrilling race
By Matt Beer Sunday, November 25th 2012,
Sebastian Vettel hung on to win his third Formula 1 world title by finishing sixth in an astounding Brazilian Grand Prix won by Jenson Button.
Vettel's title rival Fernando Alonso battled to second in the wet/dry event, which was led for a long time by Nico Hulkenberg until the Force India clashed with Lewis Hamilton.
Despite Vettel getting involved in a first-lap crash and suffering a pit delay, he still managed to recover sufficiently to ensure that even Alonso's runner-up finish could not deny the Red Bull driver the title at the end of an epic season. Alonso's Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa took third.
Vettel's afternoon had immediately become more complicated as a tentative start and first corner in drizzly conditions dropped him to seventh, while Alonso swept around the outside to move up to fifth.
Then as the pack jostled into the Descida do Lago, Vettel made heavy contact with Bruno Senna, spinning the Red Bull and also collecting Sergio Perez.
While the Sauber and Williams were both out, Vettel was amazingly able to continue despite several wounds to his Red Bull. He then tore through the field and was up to seventh place from 22nd by lap eight.
Meanwhile Alonso charged into a potentially title-clinching third by diving past Felipe Massa and Mark Webber in a single move as they battled into the Senna S.
But an error at the same point two laps later meant Alonso lost a place to Hulkenberg, who had quickly dismissed Webber and Massa in a blistering early charge.
The McLarens still led at this stage, with Button all over Hamilton as the rain steadily increased.
The worsening conditions prompted everyone bar Button and Hulkenberg to dive to the pits for intermediates.
That initially put Alonso and Vettel down to 12th and 17th respectively, although they were both back in the top five within five laps via a mix of bold passes and others pitting.
Up front, Force India's incredible performance continued as Hulkenberg edged up behind Button before passing down the outside into the Senna S on lap 19.
By that time the pair were in a class of their own. They had been left 45s clear once the rest of the field went for intermediates, and with the shower passing, their rivals were all now having to stop.
Hulkenberg began to pull away, but debris was littering various corners from earlier incidents, and when Nico Rosberg's Mercedes picked up a puncture the decision was taken to call out the safety car.
At the restart on lap 29, Hulkenberg led Button, Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel, Kobayashi and Webber. Kobayashi and Webber immediately pounced on Vettel, although Webber ran out of space at the Senna S and shot over the run-off.
Kobayashi's charge soon took him past Alonso to fourth, although the Ferrari did not take long to regain the place, whereas Vettel had no answer to the Sauber.
Massa, who lost a lot of ground by staying on slicks too long and going to intermediates far too late, completed a recovery charge by passing both Vettel and Kobayashi to slot into fifth behind team-mate Alonso, who could not stay with the top three.
Hamilton overtook Button for second shortly after the restart, but Hulkenberg appeared comfortable in the lead until lap 49, when a half-spin at the Bico do Pato let the McLaren through.
Hulkenberg did not let the McLaren escape, and as they jostled through traffic on lap 54, the Force India slipped ahead into the Senna S, only to slide into a spin and hit Hamilton.
Despite bouncing onto two wheels, Hulkenberg was able to continue in second behind Button, although he did pick up a drive-through penalty for causing the clash. Hamilton had to retire from his McLaren farewell.
The return of the rain was a factor in the incident, and as the track became slippery again, everyone opted for intermediates. Vettel was among the first to pit, but Red Bull was not ready, leading to a long delay.
He was rapidly able to get back up to sixth, which was sufficient even with Alonso getting up to second thanks to the Hulkenberg/Hamilton tangle and some assistance from Massa, whose well-timed intermediate switch had got him ahead of his team-mate.
The race then came to a slightly underwhelming conclusion as Paul di Resta crashed heavily on the pits straight kink and brought out the safety car with a lap to go.
That clinched the win for Button, and meant that despite Ferrari's double podium finish, Vettel's sixth place gave him championship number three by a three-point margin.
Webber recovered from a variety of adventures, including an early clash with Kobayashi, to take fourth ahead of Hulkenberg and Vettel.
Michael Schumacher claimed seventh in the final race of his F1 career, despite a late brush of wheels with Kobayashi, who consequently spun to ninth behind Jean-Eric Vergne.
Superb underdog performances in the treacherous early laps led to Caterhams, Marussias and HRTs all appearing in the top 10, with Heikki Kovalainen and Timo Glock as high as sixth and seventh.
The battle ultimately came down to Charles Pic versus Vitaly Petrov for 12th place, with the Russian battling past the Frenchman to give Caterham 10th in the championship in what became 11th place when di Resta crashed.
But for that incident, Daniel Ricciardo was set to pass both Pic and Petrov, which would have given Marussia 10th place back again.
Raikkonen had a wild afternoon, starting when he nearly wiped out Vettel moments before the Senna tangle, and also including a long excursion at Juncao where the Lotus driver tried to use an access road to rejoin only to encounter a closed gate. He finished 10th.
Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado's eventful years came to messy ends with both crashing in the opening laps.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The Brazilian Grand Prix
Interlagos, Brazil;
71 laps; 305.909km;
Weather: Mixed conditions.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1h45:22.656
2. Alonso Ferrari + 2.754
3. Massa Ferrari + 3.615
4. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 4.936
5. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 5.708
6. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 9.453
7. Schumacher Mercedes + 11.900
8. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 28.600
9. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 31.200
10. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 1 lap
11. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
12. Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
13. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
14. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
15. Rosberg Mercedes + 1 lap
16. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps
17. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
18. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
19. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 3 laps
Fastest lap: Hamilton, 1:18.069
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 55
Grosjean Lotus-Renault 6
Maldonado Williams-Renault 2
Senna Williams-Renault 1
Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1
World Championship standings, round 20:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 281 1. Red Bull-Renault 460
2. Alonso 278 2. Ferrari 400
3. Raikkonen 207 3. McLaren-Mercedes 378
4. Hamilton 190 4. Lotus-Renault 303
5. Button 188 5. Mercedes 142
6. Webber 179 6. Sauber-Ferrari 126
7. Massa 122 7. Force India-Mercedes 109
8. Grosjean 96 8. Williams-Renault 76
9. Rosberg 93 9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 26
10. Perez 66
11. Hulkenberg 63
12. Kobayashi 60
13. Schumacher 49
14. Di Resta 46
15. Maldonado 45
16. Senna 31
17. Vergne 16
18. Ricciardo 10
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Roll on next season!
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Why did Vettel not get a penalty for overtaking under a yellow flag? It could have changed the championship standings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFER0esusF0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFER0esusF0)
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FIA says 'no case' to answer in Vettel overtaking controversy
By Jonathan Noble and Pablo Elizalde Thursday, November 29th 2012, 10:52 GMT
Formula 1's ruling body, the FIA, says there is "no case" to answer in the controversy involving Sebastian Vettel's overtaking of Jean-Eric Vergne during the Brazilian Grand Prix.
It confirmed exclusively to AUTOSPORT that it was in no doubt that Vettel's pass was legitimate.
Vettel was crowned champion for the third time at Interlagos after finishing in sixth position in an action-packed race in which he was spun after making contact with Bruno Senna on the opening lap.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso finished in second position, a result that left him three points behind Vettel in the standings.
On Wednesday evening, however, Ferrari said it was reviewing video footage allegedly showing Vettel overtaking Vergne in a yellow-flag sector between Turns 3 and 4 early in the race.
The team stated on Thursday that it had written to the FIA asking for clarification over the matter.
FIA sources have confirmed to AUTOSPORT that the yellow-flag sector at Interlagos started at the light panel just before Turn 3, at marshal sector 3, and ends about 150m before Turn 4, where a green light panel is displayed.
However, there is a marshal's post in between these two panels and a green flag was being waved there on that lap.
Under the FIA's rules for the Brazilian GP, if a green flag is displayed before a green light - as it was in Vettel's case - it is the first green that counts.
Therefore, the FIA is in no doubt that Vettel's pass was legitimate, which is why race control was not informed of any potential infringement.
The FIA confirmed to AUTOSPORT that no team had asked for a review of the incident. The ruling body also said it does not comment on the stewards' decisions.
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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If that had happened to Hamilton he would have been penalised!
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I have more than a sneaking suspicion you are right Nookie !
The link through to Nick Govia's Youtube presentation is still available. That's the one linked earlier called Vettel yellow flag passes at Brazilian GP 2012 .It says on BE that FOM have withdrawn it but that's typical Berni crap! Just do a search in Youtube and you will find it. Anyone viewing the video will see that Vettel pulled off two legal passes before entering a yellow flag zone and then a third one which was completely and utterly illegal. His steering wheel read out was saying FLAG and he completed the pass before the green indicator board. Some Vettel backers are saying that the flag marshal was placed before the green sign and therefore the pass was legal. That is in fact crap! The green light board was placed above the marshal's position.
Many hardened F1 followers will know that at each flag marshal point and at every corner there is a person known as "a judge of fact" flag marshals may not speak to that person at any time as they are independent from them. Bernie has been known to "lean" on them from time to time. They are independent for a reason. In 2001 Villeneuve's car was involved in an accident which let loose a tyre which killed a marshal at the Australian GP in Melbourne. The official line was he died at the hospital, not correct, he died at the circuit. Not only that but he was standing in front of the "first line of defense" IE the wall and catch fencing. He was in the wrong and he died for his error. This was noted by "a judge of fact". His observances were buried. Why? In the Sporting regulations as issued by the FIA it states that should there be a death at a GP the race "MUST STOP"......too much money involved to stop the race! I think that a Brazilian J of F saw what happened but was"buried". Perhaps Bernie was annoyed with Ferrari or perhaps he had other fiscal pressures. Who would know.
I understand that there is an investigation going on regarding the Vettel matter. Let's hope the truth will out.....I doubt it.
As a sidebar at the next GP after the Melbourne marshals death there was an interesting verbal exchange at the drivers briefing. When Jacques walked in Rolf Schumacher said " who are you going to kill this weekend Jacques?" Apparently JV literally walked over about eight drivers and proceeded to turn Schooey juniors face into hamburger meat ! Couldn't have happened to a more deserving bloke I reckon!
By the way, I was there I saw it happen....bloody sad.
JT sawadi
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icon_latest icon_must Schumacher basically Darth Vader
Michael Schumacher is basically Darth Vader out of Star Wars, everyone has agreed.
Bowing out of his 308th race by metaphorically hurling Fernando Alonso’s body down a big hole after the evil Spaniard had threatened to destroy the big day of the German’s adopted son, Sebastian Vettel, an exhausted Schumacher removed his helmet for the last time to survey the scene with his own eyes.
Naboo TV commentator and F1 expert, Yoda said, “despite the fact he appeared unashamedly evil throughout his career, Michael’s final act of sacrifice in moving over for Seb revealed his character to be fundamentally good.”
“It has well fucked with my head,” he admitted.
The 7-times World Champion began his career full of smiles; good natured and friendly; possessing an incredible turn of speed that seemed almost supernatural.
But over the next 15 years, the young German became tempted to use his unworldly powers for evil purposes and was soon mercilessly crushing his opponents to gain absolute control over the Formula 1 galaxy.
It was only the realisation his own powers were waning that the 43 year old was able to finally redeem his previous terrible acts and will now take his rightful place amongst those who also apparently didn’t do enough bad stuff for it not to be conveniently forgotten, like Ayrton Senna and Colin McCrae.
“Now the circle is complete,” added Adrian Newey, drawing a picture of a wheel.
Daft screwy
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http://www.youtube.com/embed/POXqGsgAtaY
Check it out!
TBWG buriram_united sawadi