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Buriram Province - General Category => Sports, Hobbies & Activities in Buriram => Topic started by: TBWG on January 01, 2013, 08:25:02 PM
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Well folks despite hardly anybody else posting in the 2012 season thread it managed to clock up over 11,000 views so someone must appreciate my plagiarism of other peoples work!
So I have decided to continue my selfless task and plug on giving you the benefit of my limited, biased knowledge. Secure in the knowledge that all I have to is mention US gun ownership to either get people off my back or increase the views by several hundred thousand.
Well lets get going and hope for a 2013 season as exciting as 2012!
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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The 2013 grid according to TBWG
Red Bull Sebastian Vettel Mark Webber
McLaren Jenson Button Sergio Perez
Ferrari Fernando Alonso Phillipe Massa
Mercedes Nico Rosberg Lewis Hamilton
Lotus Renault Kimi Raikkonen Romain Grosjean
Force India Paul DiResta ?
Sauber Nico Hulkenberg Esteban Gutierrez
Scuderia Lollo Rosso Daniel Ricciardo Jean-Eric Vergne
Williams Pastor Maldonado Valtteri Bottas
Caterham F1 Heikki Kovalainen? Charles Pic
Maurussia Timo Glock Max Chilton
Well with Force India still phaffing about over the second driver and Caterham still not confirming Heikki it remains to be seen who is in the cockpit at Melbourne? However Slasher Sutil’s knuppel2 name keeps popping up for the Indian team, time will tell.
In the meantime HRT slip into the history books.
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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FIA announces 2013 calendar
Following a meeting of its World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) in Istanbul, Turkey , Formula One racing’s governing body, the FIA, has revealed revisions to the 2013 calendar.
The German round has been moved forward a week to July 7, and an additional date of July 21 has been reserved for another F1 European event, subject to the approval of the relevant national sporting authorities (ASNs).
The 2013 calendar in full:
17/03 Australia
24/03 Malaysia
14/04 China
21/04 Bahrain
12/05 Spain
26/05 Monaco
09/06 Canada
30/06 Great Britain
07/07 Germany
21/07 Reserved for another European event*
28/07 Hungary
25/08 Belgium
08/09 Italy
22/09 Singapore
06/10 Korea
13/10 Japan
27/10 India
03/11 Abu Dhabi
17/11 USA
24/11 Brazil
*subject to the approval of the relevant ASNs
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Your tireless work is always appreciated bravo1
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Sekret Tageblog: Schumi's 2013 Plans
Monday 7th January 2013
Hello my tifosis and tifosich, welcome to the new 2013. It was suggested that it would be good to send out a letter telling people my plans for the year around about the time of the Autosport International Show in Nec, which is near Birmingham.
What does the year hold in store for The Schum you may be questioning, now that I have parked my helmet for the final time.
For a start I am packing away all the nice retirement presents given to me at the end of the season. Kamui Kobayashi gave me a signed front wing, which was a nice touch. Possibly the nicest touch I have had from him. Nico Rosberg bought me a zimmer frame and some false teeth and Ross Brawn bought me an 8' x 6' apex shed and a subscription to Practical Woodworking magazine.
It was an interesting three years I am having on my return to F1. It was a great change for me to be the underdog in many races. You see for most of my time at Ferrari I was the overdog and expected to win. But even though I did not win for Mercedes, I enjoyed my final season; making a pole in Monaco and reaching a podium in Valencia. Also I have been able to race on many new tracks such as Texas, India, Korea, Singapore, Abu Dhabi and 9.87% of Silverstone.
Since I stopped racing I have had many suggestions to new careers. Somebody said I could put on my Deutches Vermogensberatung cap and wander round the F1 paddock looking vaguely lost - the job Nikki Lauda does for German television. I have had many more suggestions also.
Bernie told me that I would be perfect for an ambassadorial role. He said to me that because I liked going to the USA so many times, I could help promote the race across America as well as the new Austin circuit. He said I would be the Austin Ambassador. After saying this he laughed very heartily so I am suspecting there is a joke in there somewhere.
I have many marketing enterprises poked in my direction. I sit in a lot of meetings with "creatives" - these are mostly men with broken shavers who dress like tramps, but smell like Christina Aguilera - and listen to their clean slate/blue sky thinking. During my time in F1 I was becoming well known for travelling everywhere around the paddock by scooter. A new company wants to make a compact electric scooter and call it the Zoomy Schumi. We shall see.
Perhaps I can feature it in my new television programme. You are probably seeing in England a programme called the Top Gear (in fact I was revealed as The Stig one time). I have an idea that I should host the German Top Gear. In the format Norbert Haug could play the James May character, the fat know-it-all who loves talking endlessly about technical matters but doesn't drive very fast - we will call him Herr Doktor Slow.
We can make many humorous jokes about Norbert being too fat to fit in the cars, or his weight slowing them down. This will be good.
For the Richard Hammond character I think we could use Nick Heidfeld. He is also very small (but quite honestly and obviously not as vain) and we can be making many jokes about his size, such as putting a booster seat in his car and him not being able to see over the steering wheel. I would play the Jeremy Clarkson part. I don't think I will be able to be as funny or as argumentative, but at least I wouldn't let a woman beat me round the old Nurburgring.
Yes, so many suggestions. Be the Pirelli tester Michael, advertise this new product Michael, develop a new range of smart-but-casual leisurewear Michael - but the thing that appeals most is an idea to work on a new supercar from Mercedes. That would certainly be a lot of nice fun. And do you know what I am thinking, we can possibly surpass our achievements with the Fiat Stilo Schumacher - that was a car that made everyone look like Herr Doktor Slow.
Many thanks for all your messages of support and we will speak soon.
The Schum smilenod
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Glock out at Marussia – confirmed icon_latest
January 21, 2013 by Joe Saward
The Marussia F1 Team and its race driver Timo Glock have agreed to part company with immediate effect, by mutual consent. The 30 year old German has been with the team since the start in 2009 and has played an important role in the development of the team.
“Our Team was founded on the principle of benefiting from proven experience whilst also providing opportunities for young emerging talent to progress to the pinnacle of motorsport,” said John Booth. “Thus far, this philosophy has also been reflected in our commercial model. The ongoing challenges facing the industry mean that we have had to take steps to secure our long-term future. Tough economic conditions prevail and the commercial landscape is difficult for everyone, Formula 1 teams included.”
In other words, Glock – a paid driver – has been asked to stand down to make way for a pay-driver.
“I would like to wish the team good luck in navigating this next period and thank everyone for the great times we shared and the support I have received,” said Timo. “Although it is not the path I expected to be taking, I am in fact very excited about what the future holds in terms of my own career and I hope to comment on that very soon.”
Glock will test a Mercedes DTM car later this week in Spain.
TBWG buriram_united
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Luiz Razia to get Marussia drive?
by Joe Saward
The word on the street in Brazil is that Luiz Razia will be racing the second Marussia this season, alongside Max Chilton. The news is yet to be confirmed but Razia is known to have been one of the drivers negotiating with the team and with Caterham in recent weeks. The suggestion we are hearing is that Caterham will end up employing Dutchman Giedo Van der Garde. Both drivers come with sizeable sponsorship packages. If these two deals are confirmed it will mean that only seat is left in f1 for this year: the second Force India, which is now expected to go to France's Jules Bianchi.
If this happens it will mean that Bruno Senna and Vitaly Petrov will both be out of F1. The arrival of Razia strengthens Brazilian interest in the sport, which now largely relies on Felipe Massa, but we hear that Rubens Barrichello could be making a comeback in 2013 in F1 as a commentator for Brazilian TV. The longtime F1 star raced IndyCars last year but is now doing only the Brazilian stock car series, but he will be able to do a number of races, presumably working alongside the longtime commentator Luciano Burti, another ex-F1 driver
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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The F1 jigsaw puzzle falling into place
by Joe Saward
With Luiz Razia now confirming that he has a deal to race for Marussia F1 in 2013, and an announcement expected this afternoon, and a Giedo Van der Garde press conference in Amsterdam within the next hour, it is safe to say that the Dutchman has a deal with Caterham F1. This means that the only gap in the F1 driver line-up is the second Force India and the only logical explanation for this is that the team is waiting to find out what is on offer from the Ferrari to get them to agree to put test driver Jules Bianchi in the second Force India. Bianchi is a Ferrari development driver and the Italian team wants him to be trained up by another team and if a deal can be struck with Force India over engines for 2014 (for example), the drive should land in Bianchi's lap.
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Comparing the new F1 cars
February 1, 2013 by Joe Saward
Thanks to the miracles of modern technology it is possible to get a fairly decent comparison of the first of the new generation of F1 cars – even for someone with limited computer skills. A bit of resizing and a mirror image of the new Ferrari allows us the opportunity to compare the work of the different technical teams at Lotus, McLaren and Ferrari and their different interpretations of the rules.
The angles are not perfect, but it interesting nonetheless…
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Romain Grosjean sets early pace in Jerez F1 test
By Sam Tremayne Tuesday, February 5th 2013,
Romain Grosjean put Lotus at the top of the timesheets on the opening morning of Formula 1's first pre-season test of 2013 at Jerez.
The Frenchman jumped to the top in the final minutes when he became the first driver to dip below the 1m20s barrier.
His fastest time, a 1m19.796s, put him comfortably clear of Force India's Paul di Resta and Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo.
Di Resta, Force India's only confirmed driver so far for the forthcoming campaign, had himself jumped to the top of the timesheets moments before Grosjean's charge.
Ricciardo as a result found himself shunted from first to third in a matter of minutes. The Australian had set the pace for much of the morning running on Pirelli's new hard compound.
Half a second down the road was Mercedes's Nico Rosberg, whose morning was cut short by an electrical issue which forced him to stop at Turn 11, his car briefly smoking at the rear.
Rosberg had been the pacesetter until that point but was unable to return, ending the morning with just 11 laps under his belt.
That was still more than McLaren's Jenson Button, who suffered his own early maladies.
The Briton stopped out on track just three laps into his programme, bringing out the first red flag. A fuel pump-related issue then kept him sidelined for the rest of the morning.
There were no such complaints for Pastor Maldonado in the 2012-spec Williams FW34, as the Venezuelan completed 52 laps - the most of any driver - and ended the morning in fifth.
On his first day of testing as a Sauber driver Nico Hulkenberg finished seventh fastest, behind Ferrari's Felipe Massa, sixth in the F138.
Mark Webber got Red Bull's third consecutive title defence off to a low-key start as he came home eighth, more than three seconds slower than Grosjean's benchmark.
2013 F1 rookies Giedo van der Garde (Caterham) and Max Chilton (Marussia) rounded out the day's runners, just ahead of Button.
The pair were separated by just 0.182s, although both trailed the pace-setting E21 by more than five seconds.
Morning times
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1m19.796s 24
2. Paul di Resta Force India 1m20.343s +0.547 40
3. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m20.401s +0.605 37
4. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m20.846s +1.050 11
5. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1m20.864s +1.068 52
6. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m21.024s +1.228 47
7. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1m21.553s +1.757 32
8. Mark Webber Red Bull 1m22.959s +3.163 42
9. Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1m24.994s +5.198 21
10. Max Chilton Marussia 1m25.176s +5.380 21
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Jerez F1 testing: McLaren's Jenson Button quickest on day one
By Sam Tremayne
Jenson Button shrugged off early reliability woes to set the pace on the opening day of Formula 1's first pre-season test of 2013 at Jerez.
The Briton's morning ground to a halt after just three exploratory laps due to a fuel-pump failure on his McLaren, and he remained sidelined until the midway point.
A similar problem led to Lewis Hamilton's retirement from the lead of last year's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Button was eventually able to resume and in the final minutes of the session clocked a 1m18.861s on Pirelli's new hard compound tyres, putting him more than eight tenths clear of the field.
Second was claimed by Mark Webber, after the Australian staged his own late rally following a modest morning in the title-defending Red Bull RB9.
Webber jumped ahead of Romain Grosjean's Lotus with a 1m19.709s, only for Button to trump that almost immediately.
That left morning pacesetter Grosjean in third, Force India's Paul di Resta fourth and Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo fifth, the trio all having set their fastest times in the morning.
Di Resta clocked up more laps than any other driver, his final tally standing at 89.
Felipe Massa managed to improve in the Ferrari F138 and ended the day sixth fastest, albeit 1.6s down on Button.
On his first day testing for Sauber, Nico Hulkenberg was seventh fastest, just ahead of Nico Rosberg and the stricken Mercedes camp.
Rosberg had been setting the pace in the morning but his run - and his day - came to a premature end due to an electrical fault.
Mercedes eventually had to abandon the rest of the day as it waits for new parts. Hamilton is set to test for the first time tomorrow.
Pastor Maldonado, driving the old-spec FW34 Williams, finished just ahead of F1 rookies Giedo van der Garde and Max Chilton.
Chilton went off at Dry Sack shortly after setting his fastest time in the afternoon, with Marussia later identifying a fault with the rear suspension.
TODAY'S TIMES:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Jenson Button McLaren 1m18.861s 37
2. Mark Webber Red Bull 1m19.709s + 0.848s 73
3. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1m19.796s + 0.935s 54
4. Paul di Resta Force India 1m20.343s + 1.482s 89
5. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m20.401s + 1.540s 70
6. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m20.536s + 1.675s 64
7. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1m20.699s + 1.838s 79
8. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m20.846s + 1.985s 14
9. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1m20.864s + 2.003s 84
10. Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1m21.915s + 3.054s 64
11. Max Chilton Marussia 1m24.176s + 5.315s 29
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Jerez F1 testing: Romain Grosjean leads second morning for Lotus
By Sam Tremayne Wednesday, February 6th 2013,
Romain Grosjean topped the timesheets while Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes Formula 1 test debut ended in the barriers on the second morning at Jerez.
The Briton had just set his fastest time in the W04, a 1m19.519s, when he slid across the gravel and nosed into the tyres at Dry Sack!?
He was unhurt in the crash, which Mercedes later diagnosed as caused by a rear brake problem.
Hamilton had completed 15 laps at the time - just four more than Nico Rosberg managed for the squad before he was forced to abandon his opening day programme due to an electrical issue.
Hamilton's crash caused one of three red flags, with Daniel Ricciardo's Toro Rosso stopping early on and Luiz Razia - confirmed as Marussia's second driver for 2013 - slowing to a halt on the main straight in the final minutes.
As he did so Grosjean, who was already fastest, set a new overall best at Jerez in the Lotus E21.
The Frenchman clocked a 1m18.828s, some three hundredths of a second faster than Jenson Button's day one benchmark in the McLaren.
Force India's Paul di Resta also found late gains, moving up into second position in the final minutes of the morning.
The Briton will hand control of the VJM06 to the team's simulator driver James Rossiter this afternoon.
Toro Rosso's Ricciardo beat compatriot Mark Webber's Red Bull to third, the pair separated by less than a quarter of a second.
On his second day for Sauber Nico Hulkenberg finished fifth fastest, fractions ahead of Hamilton in the stricken W04.
Sergio Perez was less than six hundredths of a second down the road from Hamilton – the man he replaced at McLaren – on what was his first day of testing the MP4-28.
Ferrari spent much of its morning on evaluative runs, with Felipe Massa eventually ending the second morning in eighth position, just over one second off Grosjean.
On his second day for Caterham, Giedo van der Garde fell one thousandth short of matching his best time Tuesday, but still did enough to edge out Marussia debutant Razia and Pastor Maldonado in the 2012-spec Williams FW34.
TODAY'S TIMES SO FAR
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1m18.828s 45
2. Paul di Resta Force India 1m19.003s + 0.175s 59
3. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m19.134s + 0.306s 41
4. Mark Webber Red Bull 1m19.338s + 0.510s 46
5. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1m19.502s + 0.674s 40
6. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m19.519s + 0.691s 15
7. Sergio Perez McLaren 1m19.572s + 0.744s 38
8. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m19.914s + 1.086s 33
9. Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1m21.916s + 3.088s 33
10. Luiz Razia Marussia 1m23.537s + 4.709s 31
11. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1m27.124s + 8.296s 7
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Romain Grosjean set the pace on Day Two at Jerez, however, it was the plight of Mercedes that made headlines.
Having amassed just 11 laps on Tuesday before an electrical problem and the subsequent fire brought an end to Nico Rosberg's day, Lewis Hamilton had hoped for better in his first official day of testing. It was not to be.
After just 15 laps the Mercedes driver suffered a rear brake pressure problem that sent him sliding into the barriers at the Dry Sack hairpin.
The accident damaged the front of Hamilton's W04 and brought his day's running to an end as Mercedes needed time to fix the initial brake issue.
The Brit finished the day down in sixth place on the timesheets, 1.3s behind pace-setter Grosjean.
The Lotus driver, spending his second day behind the wheel of the new E21, clocked a 1:18.218. However, on his last of the day - his 95th - the Frenchman came to a halt betweens Turn 3 and 4 bringing out the red flag.
Paul di Resta was second quickest for Force India, 0.795s off the pace while Daniel Ricciardo was third. The Toro Rosso was also the last to get within a second of Grosjean's P1 time.
"A few more laps today and a bit of a clearer picture of what the STR8 is like," said Ricciardo.
"We completed our programme, with short runs in the morning and longer ones in the afternoon. We also tried the Medium Pirelli, having only used the Hard yesterday, so at least for this circuit, we have established a good compare of the two compounds.
"We ran through several other test items and I think we can be satisfied with the day's work that has produced some useful information."
Mark Webber had a problem-free day in his RB9, finishing fourth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, who was another driver that brought out the red flags. The German stopped his Sauber between Turns 8 and 9 after reportedly running out of fuel.
Hamilton was sixth ahead of his McLaren replacement Sergio Perez, who was in the new MP4-28 for the first tie. The Mexican driver was 1.354s of the pace but three-tenths ahead of Ferrari's Felipe Massa.
Times
01. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1m18.218 95 laps
02. Paul di Resta Force India 1m19.003 + 0.785 95 laps
03. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m19.134 + 0.916 83 laps
04. Mark Webber Red Bull 1m19.338 + 1.120 101 laps
05. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1m19.502 + 1.284 99 laps
06. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m19.519 + 1.301 15 laps
07. Sergio Perez McLaren 1m19.572 + 1.354 81 laps
08. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m19.914 + 1.696 78 laps
09. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1m20.693 + 2.475 71 laps
10. James Rossiter Force India 1m21.273 + 3.055 19 laps
11. Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1m21.311 + 3.093 88 laps
12. Luiz Razia Marussia 1m23.537 + 5.319 31 laps
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Jerez F1 testing: Felipe Massa fastest on third morning
By Glenn Freeman Thursday, February 7th 2013,
Felipe Massa topped the times on the third morning of Formula 1 testing at Jerez, as he set the fastest time of the week so far.
The Ferrari driver, who will hand over to Pedro de la Rosa for the final day of running, became the first driver to lap under 1m18s this week.
Massa posted a 1m17.879s during a short run on the soft tyre, and then went only marginally slower on a similar run shortly after.
That left the Brazilian more than one second clear of Nico Rosberg, who had a busy morning as Mercedes made up for the time it lost on Monday and Tuesday.
Late improvements from Force India simulator driver James Rossiter and Jenson Button moved them up to third and fourth just before the halfway mark of the day, while world champion Sebastian Vettel was fifth after his first morning in the Red Bull RB9.
Jean-Eric Vergne, Esteban Gutierrez and Valtteri Bottas all got their first track action of 2013, as did 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen.
The Finn, who moved up to fourth fastest just before 1pm local time, had a quiet morning as the team focused on getting him comfortable in the car.
Charles Pic also spent the first part of his day getting settled in with Caterham, and the Frenchman caused the only red flag of the morning when his car came to a stop shortly after leaving the pits.
Morning times:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m17.879s 49
2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m19.004s +1.125 69
3. James Rossiter Force India 1m19.303s +1.424 32
4. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1m19.539s +1.660 23
5. Jenson Button McLaren 1m19.603s +1.724 28
6. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1m19.676s +1.797 46
7. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1m19.707s +1.828 46
8. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1m19.995s +2.116 61
9. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1m21.578s +3.699 58
10. Max Chilton Marussia 1m23.938s +6.059 27
11. Charles Pic Caterham 1m25.365s +7.486 28
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Jerez F1 testing: Raikkonen puts Lotus on top on final day
By Glenn Freeman Friday, February 8th 2013,
Kimi Raikkonen topped the final day of Formula 1's first pre-season test of 2013 at Jerez.
The Finn set the best time of the day on a short run with the soft tyre during the afternoon running, which was extended by 30 minutes to make up for a delay caused by track repairs around lunchtime.
Raikkonen had attacked the run from the moment he left the pits, choosing to force a way past the Caterham of Charles Pic on his out lap rather than back off to get clear track.
After the short, but clearly committed run, the 2007 world champion switched back to longer runs.
Raikkonen's lap was just enough to prevent Force India hopeful Jules Bianchi from leading the way as he bids to earn a promotion to a race seat with the Silverstone-based team.
Bianchi's lap, which came just after the track re-opened following the long stoppage in the middle of the day, also came on soft tyres.
The Ferrari junior had no chance to respond to Raikkonen's lap, as he handed the Force India back to lead driver Paul di Resta for the final two hours.
World champion Sebastian Vettel was third fastest for Red Bull on a day where he focused on long runs with the medium and hard tyres.
Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez managed to go fourth with a short run, but he spent most of his afternoon getting used to how the Pirelli tyres behave on longer stints.
A series of short runs on the soft tyre helped Jean-Eric Vergne move up to fifth late in the day, moving him ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
The Briton had a much better second day with his new team, making up for his lack of running on Wednesday due to a crash by logging the most laps of anyone.
New Ferrari development driver Pedro de la Rosa got back out in the afternoon after a gearbox problem stopped the F138 in the morning. The Spaniard completed 50 laps.
TODAY'S TIMES
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1m18.148s 83
2. Jules Bianchi Force India 1m18.175s + 0.027 56
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1m18.565s + 0.417 96
4. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1m18.669s + 0.521 142
5. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1m18.760s + 0.612 92
6. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m18.905s + 0.757 145
7. Sergio Perez McLaren 1m18.944s + 0.796 98
8. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1m19.851s + 1.703 92
9. Pedro de la Rosa Ferrari 1m20.316s + 2.168 51
10. Charles Pic Caterham 1m21.105s + 2.957 109
11. Luiz Razia Marussia 1m21.226s + 3.078 82
12. Paul di Resta Force India 1m23.435s + 5.287 49
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Number crunching gives early F1 form guide - Gary Anderson
By Gary Anderson
BBC F1 technical analyst
On the face of it, the fastest lap times from the first pre-season Formula 1 test last week are meaningless - the cars are not in the order you would expect and some teams who you know will not be winning races were right up at the top.
But I have been analysing the sheets of all the lap times done by the drivers and I think I have a way of producing a list that reflects pretty well the true competitive order of the new cars.
That order has some big surprises in it - the quickest cars appear to be those of McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes, with Lotus not far behind. And Red Bull - the world champions for the last three years - look relatively slow. Let me explain how we get there.
Let's start with the list of fastest times overall from the four days of the test, which looked like this:
1. F Massa (Ferrari) 1:17.879, 2. K Raikkonen (Lotus) 1:18.148, 3. J Bianchi (Force India) 1:18.175, 4. R Grosjean (Lotus) 1:18.218, 5. S Vettel (Red Bull) 1:18.565, 6. E Gutierrez (Sauber) 1:18.669, 7. J-E Vergne (Toro Rosso) 1:18.760, 8. N Rosberg (Mercedes) 1:18.766, 9. J Button (McLaren) 1:18.861, 10. L Hamilton (Mercedes) 1:18.905, 11. S Perez (McLaren) 1:18.944, 12. P di Resta (Force India) 1:19.003, 13. D Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) 1:19.134, 14. J Rossiter (Force India) 1:19.303, 15. M Webber (Red Bull) 1:19.338, 16. N Hulkenberg (Sauber) 1:19.502, 17. V Bottas (Williams) 1:19.851, 18. P de la Rosa (Ferrari) 1:20.316, 19. P Maldonado (Williams) 1:20.693, 20. C Pic (Caterham) 1:21.105, 21. L Razia (Marussia) 1:21.226, 22. M Chilton (Marussia) 1:21.269 23. G van der Garde (Caterham) 1:21.311
The problem with that list is that you do not know how much fuel the cars had on board, and fuel weight makes a big difference to lap times. So on its own, the list is worthless.
Play media
Gary Anderson sums up first F1 test
So, the next step is to look at how many laps the driver did on the run on which he set his fastest time. You know he must have at least that amount of fuel on board.
Taking Massa as an example, his fastest time was set on a six-lap run, so he must have had at least six laps' worth of fuel on board.
Each lap of fuel burnt is equivalent to a gain in performance of 0.086 seconds. Apply that calculation to Massa's time, and you get a potential lap time of 1:17.536.
Do that for all the drivers, and the list looks like this:
1. Massa 1:17.536, 2. Rosberg 1:17.566, 3. Grosjean 1:17.961, 4. Raikkonen 1:17.977, 5. Bianchi 1:18.004, 6. Vergne 1:18.160, 7. Vettel 1:18.308, 8. Perez 1:18.430, 9. Hamilton 1:18.476, 10. Gutierrez 1:18.498, 11. Button 1:18.690, 12. Di Resta 1:18.832, 13. Ricciardo 1:18.877, 14. Rossiter 1:19.132, 15. Webber 1:19.167, 16. Hulkenberg 1:19.331, 17. Bottas 1:19.508, 18. De La Rosa 1:19.887, 19. Maldonado 1:20.350, 20. Van Der Garde 1:20.882, 21. Pic 1:20.934, 22. Chilton 1:21.012, 23. Razia 1:21.226
A few obvious things stand out immediately. First, the Ferrari is still at the top. Second, the Mercedes looks much more competitive - that is because Rosberg's time was set at the start of a 14-lap run. Third, the Red Bulls have slipped down the table.
But this still is not the definitive list, because some of the teams try to disguise their true form in testing.
So they will do a 'low-fuel' run - the one that sets their fastest overall time - with more fuel on board than they needed to make the car look slower than it is, for example.
The ones that do it most tend to be the biggest teams. The smaller teams tend not to mess about. They want to know where they are. The big teams pretty much know they will be at the front, but they do not want their rivals to know exactly how quick they are.
But there is a way around this.
Nearly all the teams do longer runs on race-distance levels of fuel. By applying the time lost as a result of the extra fuel in the car, you can extrapolate back from the lap times they do at the start of these long runs to give another list of fastest laps.
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Gary Anderson's verdict on 2013 F1 cars after Jerez test
In theory, this list should match closely to the second list, the 'potential' lap times. If it does not you know either that the car was not full of fuel when it started its 'race' run or the car had more fuel than it needed when it did its headline lap time in the first list.
Most of the times do match reasonably closely - the 'potential' and 'high-fuel adjusted' times of both Red Bulls, for example, were within 0.3secs, and the same went for Raikkonen's Lotus.
The Saubers' times were almost identical, as were those of Williams and Force India. See what I meant about the smaller teams?
Unfortunately, Massa and Rosberg did not do representative high-fuel runs, but that's not necessarily a problem - I think their fastest times were on pretty low fuel, so are probably pretty representative.
The key point is that anyone who has a quicker 'high-fuel adjusted' time than 'potential' time was almost certainly running more fuel than they needed when they did their 'headline' time.
The prime offenders here are the McLarens - but that is not a surprise, as it is well-known they rarely run low fuel in testing.
So, the Gary Anderson list of fully adjusted lap times from Jerez looks like this:
1. Perez 1:17.315, 2. Massa* 1:17.536, 3. Rosberg* 1:17.566, 4. Button 1:17.857, 5. Grosjean 1:17.961, 6. Raikkonen 1:17.977, 7. Bianchi 1:18.004, 8. Vettel 1:18.045, 9. Vergne* 1:18.160, 10. Gutierrez 1:18.465, 11. Hamilton 1:18.476, 12. Di Resta 1:18.562, 13. Ricciardo 1:18.877, 14. Webber 1:18.953, 15. Rossiter 18.966, 16. Hulkenberg 1:19.331, 17. Bottas 1:19.508, 18. De La Rosa* 1:19.887, 19. Maldonado 1:20.350, 20. Van Der Garde* 1:20.882, 21. Pic* 1:20.934, 22. Chilton 1:21.012, 23. Razia 1:21.226
* = no lap time that constitutes a high fuel load
The interesting thing here is that, in lots of aspects, the list is what most in F1 initially suspected by the end of last week.
Button's time here is calculated from the basis of his fastest lap on day one, which Massa described as "incredible" because it was done on hard tyres, on a dirty track and on the first day of the car's life. So everyone thought the McLaren looked quick.
Likewise, the Ferrari was also obviously fast and the Lotus looked there or thereabouts - very consistent but not perhaps quite on the outright pace of the McLaren or Ferrari.
The big surprise is Red Bull, who appear to have some work to do. And the Mercedes - which is a fair bit faster than people expected, at least in Rosberg's hands.
Hamilton, meanwhile, is a long way down the list.
His times are anomalous. Unlike Rosberg, he did do a race run, and it was very slow. But perhaps that's not a surprise, as it was race pace that Mercedes struggled with in 2012.
And Hamilton's fastest single lap seemed disproportionately slow. But then it was his first proper day's running with a new team in a car with which he was not familiar, and we do not know how much fuel he had on board.
Of course, this is just one test and there is a lot of development to be done before the first race. So it would be wrong to think this will definitively predict the competitive picture in Melbourne on 16 March, let alone the destiny of the world championship.
But it certainly sets things up in an intriguing way.
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F1 testing: Nico Rosberg on top on first day at Barcelona
By Sam Tremayne Tuesday, February 19th 2013, 16:05 GMT
Nico Rosberg narrowly edged out Kimi Raikkonen to put Mercedes on top on the first day of Formula 1 pre-season testing at Barcelona.
Both men found improvements after bolting on Pirelli's medium-compound rubber in the final 20 minutes of the day.
Rosberg, whose morning had been disrupted by lengthy gearbox checks, was the first to make his move. New overall bests in the final two sectors produced a lap of 1m22.616s and vaulted him to the top of the timesheets.
Minutes later Raikkonen staged his own late rally, but despite bettering Rosberg's sector two time he fell seven thousandths of a second short of putting Lotus on top.
Fernando Alonso, again on mediums, was another late improver.
On his first day in the Ferrari F138 last year's championship runner-up worked his way down to a 1m22.952s to end the day in third.
The flurry of late improvements knocked morning pacesetter and reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel down to fourth.
The German had gradually improved his lunchtime best and was the first man to dip into the 1m22s bracket, only to be bumped down the order in theclosing stages.
Having launched its FW35 in the morning, Williams ended the day in fifth position courtesy of Pastor Maldonado, a racewinner at Barcelona last year.
The Venezuelan spent time at the top of the timesheets in the morning and racked up 85 laps in total, behind only Alonso in 110.
Daniel Ricciardo in the Toro Rosso STR8 shaded McLaren's Sergio Perez in the fight for sixth, while Paul di Resta - the day's third busiest man - was just two hundredths of a second down the road for Force India.
After bringing about the day's first red flag with an early out-of-fuel run, Esteban Gutierrez was ninth fastest and just over 2.5s off the overall pace for Sauber.
Charles Pic was the only other man to cause a stoppage, pulling to the inside of Renault due to a mechanical issue with his Caterham.
He dropped to 11th in the afternoon as Marussia's Max Chilton found improvements with the soft tyre.
Tuesday times:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps Tyre*
1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m22.616s 54 Medium
2. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1m22.672s + 0.007s 44 Medium
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m22.952s + 0.336s 110 Medium
4. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1m22.965s + 0.349s 66 Medium
5. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1m23.733s + 1.117s 86 Soft
6. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m23.884s + 1.268s 73 Hard
7. Sergio Perez McLaren 1m24.124s + 1.508s 77 Medium
8. Paul di Resta Force India 1m24.144s + 1.528s 82 Medium
9. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1m25.124s + 2.508s 68 Hard
10. Max Chilton Marussia 1m26.747s + 4.131s 65 Soft
11. Charles Pic Caterham 1m27.534s + 4.918s 49 Hard
* Compound on which fastest lap was set
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Barcelona F1 test: Perez puts McLaren on top on day two
By Matt Beer Wednesday, February 20th 2013, 15:56 GMT
Sergio Perez put McLaren on top on day two of Barcelona Formula 1 testing.
The Wednesday afternoon session featured few changes from the opening part of the day, but the most significant came early on.
Perez's lap of 1m21.848s was achieved on a one-lap sprint on soft tyres, and deposed morning pacesetter Sebastian Vettel by 0.349 seconds.
Red Bull attempted a race simulation in the afternoon, albeit one punctuated by lengthy sessions in the garage.
Vettel then came to a halt just past on the pit exit when he rejoined after his third pitstop of the run because of a loose wheel.
But the Red Bull was swiftly revived in the garage and able to rejoin for the final minutes of the session.
Vettel's issue caused one of only two red flags all day, the second coming when Max Chilton parked his Marussia on track in the closing minutes.
After losing the entire morning while his Lotus underwent a gearbox change, Kimi Raikkonen managed 43 laps in the afternoon.
He jumped to third quickest with his first outing and remained there, half a second behind Perez.
Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso completed the top five, followed by Valtteri Bottas on his debut in the new Williams FW35.
Hamilton completed the most laps of the day with 121.
Today's times
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps Tyre
1. Sergio Perez McLaren 1m21.848s 97 Soft
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1m22.197s +0.349 84 Soft
3. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1m22.697s +0.849 43 Medium
4. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m22.726s +0.878 121 Hard
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m23.247s +1.399 76 Medium
6. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1m23.561s +1.713 98 Soft
7. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m23.718s +1.870 70 Medium
8. Paul di Resta Force India 1m23.971s +2.123 62 Medium
9. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1m24.205s +2.357 88 Medium
10. Max Chilton Marussia 1m25.115s +3.267 67 Soft
11. Charles Pic Caterham 1m26.243s +4.395 102 Medium
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Alonso quickest in Barcelona
February 21, 2013 by Joe Saward
Fernando Alonso set the fastest time on the third day of the test in Barcelona, with a best of 1m21.875s, slightly slower than the fastest lap on Wednesday of 1m21.848s, set by Sergio Perez in his McLaren. Alonso completed 97 laps in his Ferrari and was three-tenths clear of the Sauber of Nico Hülkenberg, who did 91 laps and clocked a 1m22.160s. Romain Grsojean was third fastest in the Lotus after 119 laps, with a best of 1m22.188s, just a fraction slower than Hülkenberg. Fourth fastest was Nico Rosberg who clocked 108 laps in his Mercedes, with a best of 1m22.611s, which was just faster than Pastor Maldonado, who lapped the new Williams in 1m22.675s after 79 laps. The team also ran Valtteri Bottas in the morning and he set a 1m22.826s after 68 laps.
Jenson Button was seventh overall in the McLaren, with a lap of 1m22.840s after 71 laps, while Adrian Sutil made his F1 comeback with Force India and did a 1m22.877s after 78 laps. Mark Webber was next with a 1m23.024s in his Red Bull, which completed 108 laps during the day. Jean-Eric Vergne was a busy boy as well and completed 106 laps with a best of 1m23.366s in his Toro Rosso, while Max Chilton completed 58 laps in the Marussia to set a best of 1m25.690s and Giedo Van Der Garde was behind him in the Caterham, with a best lap of 1m26.177s after 93 laps.
TODAY'S TIMES
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps Tyre
1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m21.875s 97 Soft
2. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1m22.160s +0.285 91 Soft
3. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1m22.188s +0.313 119 Medium
4. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m22.611s +0.736 108 Soft
5. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1m22.675s +0.800 79 Soft
6. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1m22.826s +0.951 68 Hard
7. Jenson Button McLaren 1m22.840s +0.965 71 Soft
8. Adrian Sutil Force India 1m22.877s +1.002 78 Soft
9. Mark Webber Red Bull 1m23.024s +1.149 108 Medium
10. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1m23.366s +1.491 106 Soft
11. Max Chilton Marussia 1m25.690s +3.815 58 Soft
12. Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1m26.177s +4.302 93 Soft
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Barcelona F1 test: Mark Webber tops first day for Red Bull
By Jamie O'Leary
Mark Webber put Red Bull on top of the timesheets on the opening day of Formula 1's final pre-season test at Barcelona on Thursday.
The Australian's 1m22.693s lap time was set on soft-compound Pirelli tyres with just seven minutes of running remaining and put him 1.655s clear of Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes.
After the late-morning rain left drivers with a wet track to tackle, rain tyres were the weapons of choice during the early afternoon running, with Webber recording a series of 1m44s laps.
Track conditions soon improved enough for intermediates, with Paul di Resta the first man to try the green-stickered Pirellis in his Force India.
Webber having lowered the pace to the 1m38s bracket, it was Felipe Massa who was the first to gamble on a switch to slicks, the Ferrari driver using medium-compound rubber to gradually bring the times down into the 1m30s.
By that stage conditions were dry enough to allow a range of tyre strategies to be deployed, with medium, soft and supersoft rubber all being used at various points during the afternoon.
A late red flag, caused when Massa's Ferrari stopped at the exit of Turn 9, led to a flurry of fast times during the 12 minutes that remained.
Webber and Hamilton initially exchanged the top spot before the Red Bull driver twice went quicker still to end the day on top.
Hamilton, who suffered a quick spin at Turn 1 while on pushing hard on slicks, was followed by Jean-Eric Vergne's Toro Rosso, the Williams of Valtteri Bottas and McLaren's Sergio Perez.
Hamilton completed more laps than anybody else. His total of 113 was one more than Massa. Perez was the only other driver to get into triple figures.
TODAY'S TIMES
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps Tyre
1. Mark Webber Red Bull 1m22.693s 90 Soft
2. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m24.348s + 1.655s 113 Medium
3. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1m25.017s + 2.324s 59 Medium
4. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1m26.458s + 3.765s 85 Soft
5. Sergio Perez McLaren 1m26.538s + 3.845s 100 Hard
6. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1m26.574s + 3.881s 92 Soft
7. Paul di Resta Force India 1m27.107s + 4.414s 57 Medium
8. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m27.541s + 4.848s 112 Medium
9. Max Chilton Marussia 1m28.166s + 5.473s 78 Medium
10. Charles Pic Caterham 1m28.644s + 5.951s 83 Medium
11. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1m34.928s + 12.235s 52 Medium
The 2013 grid according to TBWG
Red Bull Sebastian Vettel Mark Webber
McLaren Jenson Button Sergio Perez
Ferrari Fernando Alonso Phillipe Massa
Mercedes Nico Rosberg Lewis Hamilton
Lotus Renault Kimi Raikkonen Romain Grosjean
Force India Paul DiResta Adrian Sutil
Sauber Nico Hulkenberg Esteban Gutierrez
Scuderia Lollo Rosso Daniel Ricciardo Jean-Eric Vergne
Williams Pastor Maldonado Valtteri Bottas
Caterham F1 Charles Pic Giedo Ven Der Garde
Marussia Max Chilton Luiz Razia
Well with Force India finally naming Slasher Sutil as it’s second driver the grid for 2013 is complete, or is it Marussia driver Luis Razia has put in very little time at the testing days, suggesting his sponsorship dosh has got lost in the post!
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Grosjean fastest in Barcelona
by Joe Saward
The Barcelona track was wet this morning and then in the afternoon, when the track was dry, there were a number of red flags. Romain Grosjean set a best laps of 1m22.716s, after 88 laps. Jenson Button was second for McLaren with 72 laps and a best of 1m23.181s and Pastor Maldonado was third for Williams, with a 1m23.628s lap after 75 laps.
Fourth fastest was Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull, which completed 65 laps with a best of 1m23.743s, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber, which completed 79 laps, with a best time of 1m23.744s. New Force India signing Adrian Sutil was next with 62 laps and a best of 1m24.215s ahead of Daniel Ricciardo's Toro Rosso, which clocked 1m25.598s after 75 laps. Giedo Van der Garde was ninth in his Caterham, with a best of 1m26.316s after 48 laps, while Nico Rosberg and Fernando Alonso did not go for times and concentrated on long distances runs. Rosberg did 120 laps with a best of 1m26.655s, Alonso 102 laps with a best of 1m27.878s.
TBWG
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Bianchi replaces Razia at Marussia
by Joe Saward
Luiz Razia's Formula 1 career has come to an end before it even began. It appears that the Brazilian's sponsored failed to deliver the money that they had promised and that meant that Marussia decided to go down another route and signed up Ferrari protege Jules Bianchi, who was left out of the F1 field when Force India decided to go with Adrian Sutil. Bianchi will be the fourth Frenchman in F1 this year.
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icon_latest
Barcelona F1 test summary: Rosberg and Mercedes on top
By Jamie O'Leary
The new-look Mercedes squad gave itself huge cause for optimism at Barcelona by ending Formula 1's final pre-season test of 2013 on top of the timesheets.
Team newcomer Lewis Hamilton - who claims to be loving life after leaving his former job in Woking for one in Brackley - set a blistering pace on Saturday, which was bettered by team-mate Nico Rosberg one day later.
Rosberg's 1m20.130s lap was set on the soft tyre and left him 0.3s clear of Fernando Alonso's Ferrari.
Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen and others claimed that the Mercedes performance could not be taken as conclusive proof of its pace due to the uncertainty over what fuel load the F1 WO4 was running.
Alonso's final-day time was good enough for second overall with Hamilton's Saturday pace securing him third, ahead of Felipe Massa and Jenson Button.
While the long-run pace of both Sauber and Force India on Sunday was fractionally adrift of what Button's McLaren managed, both also showed good single-lap pace with Nico Hulkenberg and Adrian Sutil in the top seven.
Lotus once again suffered reliability problems and also lost Kimi Raikkonen for a day due to illness. This allowed reserve driver Davide Valsecchi to share the E21 with Romain Grosjean - the Friday pacesetter - on Saturday.
Williams introduced Red Bull-style sidepods as part of a major aerodynamic upgrade, leaving Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas delighted with the extra downforce on offer.
Friday's big-news story meanwhile was the late-night arrival of Jules Bianchi at Marussia, Luiz Razia having lost his drive over a sponsor shortfall.
The team many expect to lift the winning constructors' trophy in two weeks' time, Red Bull, failed to show its hand, Mark Webber's pace-setting time on the opening day the only indicator of the RB9's true speed.
Combined times
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m20.130s
2. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m20.494s + 0.364s
3. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m20.558s + 0.428s
4. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m21.266s + 1.136s
5. Jenson Button McLaren 1m21.444s + 1.314s
6. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1m21.541s + 1.411s
7. Adrian Sutil Force India 1m21.627s + 1.497s
8. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1m21.658s + 1.528s
9. Paul di Resta Force India 1m21.664s + 1.534s
10. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1m22.305s + 2.175s
11. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1m22.468s + 2.338s
12. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1m22.514s + 2.384s
13. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1m22.553s + 2.423s
14. Mark Webber Red Bull 1m22.658s + 2.528s
15. Sergio Perez McLaren 1m22.694s + 2.564s
16. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1m22.716s + 2.586s
17. Charles Pic Caterham 1m23.115s + 2.985s
18. Jules Bianchi Marussia 1m23.167s + 3.037s
19. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1m23.223s + 3.093s
20. Davide Valsecchi Lotus 1m23.448s + 3.318s
21. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m23.628s + 3.498s
22. Max Chilton Marussia 1m24.103s + 3.973s
23. Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1m24.235s + 4.105s
Distance by driver
Driver Team Laps Kms
1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 251 1168
2. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 230 1070
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 222 1033
4. Felipe Massa Ferrari 206 958
5. Max Chilton Marussia 202 940
6. Sergio Perez McLaren 201 935
7. Charles Pic Caterham 199 926
8. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 197 917
9. Jenson Button McLaren 194 903
10. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 191 889
11. Romain Grosjean Lotus 186 865
12. Giedo van der Garde Caterham 174 809
13. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 173 805
14. Adrian Sutil Force India 171 796
15. Paul Di Resta Force India 169 786
16. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 165 768
17. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 152 707
18. Pastor Maldonado Williams 151 702
19. Mark Webber Red Bull 149 693
20. Valtteri Bottas Williams 147 684
21. Jules Bianchi Marussia 136 633
22. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 50 232
23. Davide Valsecchi Lotus 16 74
Distance by team
Team Laps Kms
1. Mercedes 481 2239
2. Ferrari 428 1992
3. McLaren 395 1838
4. Sauber 388 1806
5. Caterham 373 1736
6. Force India 340 1582
7. Marussia 338 1573
8. Toro Rosso 325 1512
9. Red Bull 314 1461
10. Williams 298 1387
11. Lotus 252 1173
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Melbourne, Australia
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P2 Finished
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Well folks if you are into F1 and want another years cut & paste plagiarism then you are in the right place!
Another new GP year starts and after the first days Oz practice all the regular offenders are more or less where you would expect them to be, although Sutil seems to be on the pace despite a years holiday. but it looks like Macca have some work to do!
P1 & P2 times courtesy of Jim Nasium.
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Melbourne goes grey
by Joe Saward
Bad weather ruined the third practice session in Melbourne on Saturday, with rain arriving 17 minutes into the session. Romain Grosjean set the fastest time, 0.071s ahead of Fernando Alonsio's Ferrari, with Felipe Massa right behind him. Paul di Resta was fourth but the times were not very significant in that behind Kimi Raikkonen were the two Toro Rossos, with Dan Ricciardo ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne. Adrian Sutil was eighth with Nico Hulkenberg and Estaben Gutierrez behind him. Nico Rosberg was 11th with Sebastian Vettel 12th, although the German was told to park his car by the team towards the end of the session. Mark Webber was 13th, followed by Jules Bianchi, Giedo Van der Garde, Charles Pic, Jenson Button and Sergio Perez, Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas, Max Chilton and Lewis Hamilton.
The Qantas girlies say we hope Buriram expats fans are looking forward to Qualy?
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P3 Finished
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TBWG ... how did GROSJEAN seem to be going in practice?
First time I have ever had a wager on F1 and picked him for a podium finish.
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Hi Somnat
Well he lucked out really, he put in his time just before the rain started to fall. However the Lotus does appear quick and if it rains for the race tomorrow ~~~ who knows?
You going to Paddys tomorrow?
Rain, rain, go away…
March 16, 2013 by Joe Saward
With sunset at 18.37 and rain having currently stopped play at Albert Park, the next attempt to start Q2 will be at 18.50. If a further delay is necessary there will not be time enough for the Q2 and Q3 sessions before the sun goes down and so the remaining Q sessons will probably have to be held on Sunday morning. There does not appear to be a rule to cover this so the decision will rest with Race Director Charlie Whiting.
icon_latest The Q2 and Q3 sessions will take place at 11.00 on Sunday morning.
So thats everyone tomorrow other than ... MAL GUT BIA CHI VDG & PIC who can have a lie in! whistle
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Fingers crossed he stands on the Podium tomorrow party6
Wont get to see it at Paddys :(
Recovering from a wisdom tooth extraction :wacko:
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Somnat
Don't forget tooth under the pillow and if you have been a good boy the tooth fairy will leave you a surprise! fairydust
Hmm well ~~~~ maybe not!
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Speedy recovery!
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buriram_united sawadi
And here come the Bulls…
by Joe Saward
With a dry track in Q3 there was finally the chance to see the top F1 teams with the gloves off and the news was bad for everyone other than Red Bull Racing as Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber swept to a dominant 1-2 in Albert Park. Webber was on course to beat the World Champion but had a slide in the final sector and ended up four-tenths down. Lewis Hamilton was third in his Mercedesd, but he was two-tenths down on Webber. There was then a big gap back to the Ferraris, with Felipe Massa beating Fernando Alonso to fourth. Nico Rosberg was sixth, ahead of the two Lotuses, with Kimi Raikkonen ahead of Romain Grosjean, Paul di Resta ninth and Jenson Button 10th in the McLaren.
TBWG
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Kimster does the business! thumbup
Australian GP: Raikkonen takes emphatic victory in season opener
By Matt Beer Sunday, March 17th 2013,
Kimi Raikkonen played a two-stop strategy to perfection to beat Fernando Alonso to victory in an enthralling Australian Grand Prix.
All predictions of tedious Red Bull domination proved way off the mark, as Sebastian Vettel finished third, overshadowed by the Lotus and Ferrari.
The champion's team-mate Mark Webber was only sixth after a poor start, behind Felipe Massa's Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes, while Force India driver Adrian Sutil also led for long periods.
The superiority Red Bull had displayed in all the weekend's dry running so far was never evident in the race.
Webber immediately plunged outside the top five with a poor start, and Vettel was unable to get away from the fast-starting Massa and Alonso, who both passed Hamilton on lap one.
Raikkonen overtook the Mercedes soon afterwards, and then closed in on Vettel, Massa and Alonso to make a four-car lead train.
All the frontrunners pitted very early to get rid of their fragile super-soft tyre
The order among that quartet remained the same into the second stint, but they had to fight their way through those running longer, including Sutil - who had started on mediums and found himself in the lead by lap 15.
Vettel, the Ferraris and Raikkonen were soon on the Force India's tail. They could not pass though, and Sutil was able to make his first pitstop at the same time as Vettel, Massa and Alonso made their second, bringing the Force India onto the same sequence as the victory contenders.
Alonso pitted a lap before Sutil and Vettel and was able to leapfrog both.
Sutil stayed ahead of Vettel in the pits but was overtaken into Turn 3 a lap later. Vettel could not put any pressure on Alonso however, even as the Ferrari had to battle through drivers on other strategies - including Hamilton, with whom the Spaniard had a spectacular dice before getting clear.
By this time, Raikkonen's strategy had come into play.
He stayed out until lap 34, a dozen laps longer than the other leaders, making it clear that Lotus was going for a two-stop to their three.
That left him with a comfortable lead over Alonso and Vettel when they made their third stops, and although the Ferrari initially began carving chunks from the Lotus's advantage, once Alonso had used his new-tyre grip, the gap stabilised.
Raikkonen was therefore able to claim victory by 12 seconds, as Alonso pulled 10s clear of Vettel.
Massa faded in fourth after a very strong first half of the race.
Hamilton was next up, having had to abandon his intended two-stop strategy and pit for a third time. Webber made a quiet recovery to sixth, just behind Hamilton, whose team-mate Nico Rosberg retired with electrical problems.
Sutil stayed with the leaders until he finally had to take on super-softs with 12 laps to go. They did not last as he had hoped, and Sutil had to be content with seventh, just ahead of team-mate Paul di Resta.
Jenson Button finished ninth for McLaren, while Romain Grosjean completed the scorers, holding off Sergio Perez and Jean-Eric Vergne.
Nico Hulkenberg failed to take the start due to a pre-race fuel system problem on his Sauber. Pastor Maldonado spun off at Turn 1 before half-distance, and Daniel Ricciardo retired a sick-sounding Toro Rosso.
Jules Bianchi dominated the backmarker pack in 15th.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The Australian Grand Prix
Albert Park, Australia;
58 laps; 307.574km;
Weather: Cloudy.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1h30m03.225s
2. Fernando Alonso Ferrari + 12.451s
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 22.346s
4. Felipe Massa Ferrari + 33.577s
5. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes + 45.561s
6. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault + 46.800s
7. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1m05.068s
8. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1m08.449s
9. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes + 1m21.630s
10. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 1m22.759s
11. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes + 1m23.367s
12. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1m23.857s
13. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
14. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault + 1 lap
15. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
16. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault + 2 laps
17. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps
18. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault + 2 laps
Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1m29.274s
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 40
Nico Rosberg Mercedes 26
Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 25
Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1
World Championship standings, round 1:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Raikkonen 25 1. Ferrari 30
2. Alonso 18 2. Lotus-Renault 26
3. Vettel 15 3. Red Bull-Renault 23
4. Massa 12 4. Mercedes 10
5. Hamilton 10 5. Force India-Mercedes 10
6. Webber 8 6. McLaren-Mercedes 2
7. Sutil 6
8. Di Resta 4
9. Button 2
10. Grosjean 1
All timing unofficial
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
So Now its on to Malaysia
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Oh well, that's me done with betting on the F1 :(
I think they had to put the lights on for Romain Grosjean as his still going around :blink:
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icon_latest The World Champion asked me to thank all the Buriram Expats readers of the F1 GP thread for posting and keeping up with the F1 world on the foremost GP site in Southeast Asia.
He also commented that Somnat clearly needs his bumps feeling after his latest F1 punt!
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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TBWG nice pic.
I am tempted to have a "slight" wager an young Sebastian at the Malaysia Grand Prix, but fear I would be putting the mockers on him :)
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P1
Webber at the front
by Joe Saward
Mark Webber set the fastest lap in the FP1 session in Kuala Lumpur beating Kimi Raikkonen by 0.068s with Sebastian Vettel third quickest a tenth behind the Lotus driver. Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, nearly four-tenths down on Vettel while Nico Rosberg led the Mercedes runners, just getting ahead of Adrian Sutil's Mercedes, with Felipe Massa, Paul di Resta, Lewis Hamilton and Romain Grosjean completing the top 10. The best McLaren could do was 11th for Jenson Button and 13th for Sergio Perez, the two being split by Pastor Maldonado's Williams, showing a bit more pace that was seen in Australia. Perez was followed by the Saubers of Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez, with Valtteri Bottas next, ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne and Dan Ricciardo in their Toro Rossos, Giedo Van der Garde's Caterham, the Marussia of Jules Bianchi, the Caterham of Charles Pic and Max Chilton's Marussia.
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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P2
Kimi on top
by Joe Saward
In a rain-disrupted second practice session for the Malaysian GP at Sepang, Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest time, beating Sebastian Vettel by 0.019s, while Felipe Massa showed that Ferrari is the hunt as well, by lapping just 0.092s slower than the Red Bull. Fernando Alonso was next ahead of Mark Webber, while Rom Grosjean and Nico Rosberg were within a second of the fastest time. Paul di Resta was eighth in his Force India ahead of the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Adrian Sutil in the second Force India. Sergio Perez was 11th in his McLaren ,a head of Jenson Button with the Saubers of Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez next, ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne's Toro Rosso, Pastor Maldonado's Williams, the Toro Rosso of Dan Ricciardo and Jules Bianchi in the Marussias, who managed to lap faster than Valtteri Bottas in the second Williams. Charles Pic was 20th for Caterham, shadowed by his team-mate Giedo Van der Garde, with Max Chilton last in the second Marussia. There were some minor incidents but nothing major.
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Vettel wins Malaysian lottery
by Joe Saward
There was steady but light rain for the Q3 session in Kuala Lumpur and nine of the top 10 rushed out to get a lap in on intermediates, while Felipe Massa took a more leisurely approach and stayed back, aiming to get some clear road. Conditions were treacherous with Lewis Hamilton going wide as he got ready to start his first flying lap. The first set of times came in a rush with pack leader Adrian Sutil initially fastest but he was beaten by Sergio Perez, while Kimi Raikkonen banged into second. They were then all beaten by Lewis Hamilton but his time was bested by Nico Rosberg and the two Mercedes were split by Fernando Alonso before Sebastian Vettel went quickest. That all happened in about 10 seconds and a short time later Massa came around and grabbed third. Second time around Webber jumped up to second, while Sutil, Raikkonen and Massa pitted for new rubber. The rain was now stopped and so the last laps looked as though they would be quicker. And so it was as the cars came back again, with Webber taking pole only to be bumped off it by Hamilton. The McLarens moved to sixth for Perez and then fourth for Button, but Raikkonen came through to grab fourth while Sutil took sixth. Rosberg's last lap was enough to grab third but then Alonso suddenly leapt to the top of the time sheets only to be knocked off seconds later by Vettel. And to finish it off Massa came through and grabbed second from his team-mate.
It was all rather breathless. So the order was Vettel, Massa, Alonso, Hamilton, Webber, Rosberg, Raikkonen, Button, Sutil and Perez.
Qualifying Times
1 Vettel Red Bull 1:49.674 113.058 mph
2 Massa Ferrari 1:50.587 0.913
3 Alonso Ferrari 1:50.727 1.053
4 Hamilton Mercedes 1:51.699 2.025
5 Webber Red Bull 1:52.244 2.570
6 Rosberg Mercedes 1:52.519 2.845
7 Raikkonen Lotus 1:52.970 3.296
8 Button McLaren 1:53.175 3.501
9 Sutil Force India 1:53.439 3.765
10 Perez McLaren 1:54.136 4.462
11 Grosjean Lotus 1:37.636
12 Hulkenberg Sauber 1:38.125
13 Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:38.822
14 Gutierrez Sauber 1:39.221
15 Di Resta Force India 1:44.509
16 Maldonado Williams No Time
17 Vergne Toro Rosso 1:38.157
18 Bottas Williams 1:38.207
19 Bianchi Marussia 1:38.434
20 Pic Caterham 1:39.314
21 Chilton Marussia 1:39.672
22 Van der Garde Caterham 1:39.93
Nico the Hulk says Somnat has clearly been at the funny fags!
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
[attachment deleted by admin]
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looks like he has slimmed up since last year TBWG :)
Nice reporting mate, but suggest you change that shirt before your next celebratory pic :)
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Malaysian GP: Sebastian Vettel beats Mark Webber amid team row
By Matt Beer Sunday, March 24th 2013,
Sebastian Vettel denied Mark Webber in a ferocious Red Bull intra-team battle to secure Malaysian Grand Prix victory.
The pair were wheel to wheel repeatedly in the closing laps before Vettel broke clear - despite the team having ordered them to hold station with Webber ahead.
Just behind them,team instructions were also a flashpoint between the Mercedes team-mates, before Lewis Hamilton - who had been a lead threat for a spell - led home Nico Rosberg.
Fernando Alonso's bid for victory ended early, when he crashed out having sustained wing damage nudging Vettel on the opening lap.
Conditions had been wet at that stage following a heavy pre-race shower.
Alonso immediately passed Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa off the line, resisted Webber's outside-line attempt and attacked Vettel for the lead, but slid lightly into the Red Bull at Turn 2.
That dislodged the Ferrari's front wing, a situation that worsened as the lap went on - though that did not stop Alonso from fending off Webber's repeated probes.
Ferrari stayed out, seemingly hoping to coincide the wing change with a switch to slicks, but as Webber passed Alonso on the pits straight, the Spaniard's wing collapsed and sent him skating into the gravel and out of the race.
Vettel and Webber then ran first and second, swapping positions at the pitstops as Vettel's early change to slicks proved slightly premature.
Webber came under increasing pressure from Vettel in the middle of the race, while the Mercedes began catching them both.
This prompted Vettel to urge the team to get Webber out of his way, but the Australian managed to rebuild a lead and Vettel found himself dropping behind the earlier-pitting Hamilton at the third pitstops.
Hamilton lost pace in the next stint as he had to start saving fuel, allowing Vettel to reclaim second into the first corner.
The world champion then played the early stop tactic at the fourth and final pit visit, which brought him right back onto Webber's tail when the Australian changed tyres.
They grappled wheel to wheel through the first five corners for two consecutive laps, prompting frantic radio calls from a concerned Red Bull pitwall, before Vettel got decisively in front and went on to clinch another win.
The Mercedes had fallen away by that stage and were involved in their own intra-team controversy. After Hamilton and Rosberg swapped places repeatedly in the DRS zones for several laps, they were ordered to hold station and save fuel and tyres, to Rosberg's clear displeasure.
Ferrari had to settle for fifth with Felipe Massa, who recovered to that position after losing ground in the early stages.
That place would have gone to Jenson Button had the McLaren not lost two minutes in the pits after pulling away with a loose right front wheel and having to stop in the pitlane and wait for his mechanics to retrieve the car.
That was one of a wild array of pit incidents, which also included Hamilton mistakenly pulling into former team McLaren's area, both Force Indias having to retire with wheelnut issues, and Charles Pic and Jean-Eric Vergne colliding amid pitstops.
Lotus claimed sixth and seventh with Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen, the latter having an uneventful afternoon that included trips off the road and a bitter battle with Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg, who took eighth.
Sergio Perez was ninth for McLaren, while Vergne held off Valtteri Bottas to give Toro Rosso the final point.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The Malaysian Grand Prix
Sepang, Malaysia;
56 laps; 310.408km;
Weather: .
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h38m56.681s
2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault + 4.298s
3. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes + 12.181s
4. Nico Rosberg Mercedes + 12.640s
5. Felipe Massa Ferrari + 25.648s
6. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 35.564s
7. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 48.479s
8. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari + 53.044s
9. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes + 1m12.357s
10. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1m27.124s
11. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault + 1m28.610s
12. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
13. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
14. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
15. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
16. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps
17. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes + 3 laps
18. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 5 laps
Fastest lap: Perez, 1m39.199s
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 45
Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 27
Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 22
Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1
World Championship standings, round 2:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 40 1. Red Bull-Renault 66
2. Raikkonen 31 2. Lotus-Renault 40
3. Webber 26 3. Ferrari 40
4. Hamilton 25 4. Mercedes 37
5. Massa 22 5. Force India-Mercedes 10
6. Alonso 18 6. McLaren-Mercedes 4
7. Rosberg 12 7. Sauber-Ferrari 4
8. Grosjean 9 8. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1
9. Sutil 6
10. Di Resta 4
11. Hulkenberg 4
12. Button 2
13. Perez 2
14. Vergne 1
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Hee
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ESPRESSO VELOCE V12 MACHINE
Just in case you've been wishing for an espresso machine that's shaped like a car engine, we bring you the Espresso Veloce V12 Machine ($TBA). Limited to just 500 pieces, this insane machine is handcrafted from common automotive materials like aluminum, magnesium, and titanium, and features a filter that resembles a coffee filter, dispensers that resemble tailpipes, and other little touches that tie the Veloce to its racing inspiration. Perfect for the garage, racing-themed man cave, or just a standard kitchen that happens to use a Ferrari as a dinner table.
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Photo says it all really.
Go Mark sink the slipper the little shit deserves no quarter now! sawadi
JT
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Hee
Vettel should have his bollocks cut off !!!
Disgraceful !
Team orders are team orders and whether you like them, or not, they have been a part of F! for many years.
Vettel took the 'law' into his own hands and he should be punished accordingly for this heinous breach.
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CoCo - I agree ... but can't really see Red Bull getting too upset with their "golden haired triple champion"
They might take away his lollies and remote control for a week ?
Reminds me very much of the Schumacher-Barichello rivalry at Ferrari not so many years ago. Clearly Vettel is a more
skilful driver than Webber, just as Schuey was over Barichello.
Webber is good ... but Vettel is better. (Sounds like an advertising slogan !!)
Year Webber Vettel
'02 16th Minardi -
'03 9th Jaguar -
'04 13th " -
'05 10th Williams -
'06 14th " -
'07 12th Red Bull 14th Toro Rosso
'08 11th " 8th "
'09 4th " 2nd Red Bull
'10 3rd " 1st "
'11 3rd " 1st "
'12 6th " 1st "
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I couldn't agree more CO-CO
Since the first days F1 has been a team sport. In the 50's we saw junior drivers hand their car to the senior driver ( Collins to Fangio for example) this was expected. The situation has always been that sacrifices are made for the betterment of the team. The definition of a team is "a like minded group of people working toward a common goal" It would appear that this definition has no weight with Vettel as it did not with Schumacher or indeed Senna.
The sponsors and the owners, no doubt , would like this situation to change however while those of us who have a memory of the history of the sport are still alive the true meaning of Formula 1 will continue.
Cheers,
JT sawadi
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You forget that Vettel is the F1 bum chum 2012 winning his title whilst overtaking under a yellow flag............ Never mind real racing starts in a week or so with Moto GP thumbup Come on Rossi.
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You forget that Vettel is the F1 bum chum 2012 winning his title whilst overtaking under a yellow flag............ Never mind real racing starts in a week or so with Moto GP thumbup Come on Rossi.
Nice to see you supporting the Italians and not the British.
Still Rossi is one of the best ever. bike038
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.
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Return of the Secret Diary! Adrian Newey aged 54.5 that is!
Goodness gracious trusty tome. I feel a hefty weight of guilt opening your vellum pages and realising I hadn't jotted a single word since Monaco 2012. Deary me, how busy I've been. In truth, you were hidden beneath an old copy of F1 Racing magazine - the one where David Coulthard says, "this is my year" on the cover, which I always intended to read but never quite got round to. Little did DC know that Ron never intended him to have a year while he was a flag bearer for the Scottish Nationalist party, not to mention the Whitey-tighty trouser party.
Anyway, I digress. The reason I have a substantial hiatus in which to attend to your unmarked pages, veritable archive of history, is that Christian has called a halt to developing the RB9 until after Bahrain. The jungle drums say that political pressure on Pirelli is growing and that whereas we weren't going to get a change at all in 2013 now the feeling is there could be progress towards a tyre that doesn't disintegrate like a four-day-old Krispy Kreme doughnut.
Mark is muchly helping this by saying that the drivers can only drive at eight tenths, while Sebastian's comment that the tyres degrade whether you look after them or not has also undermined Pirelli's position. F1 can hardly be the pinnacle of motorsport if the championship is won by the car with the best tyre wear. You know I often sit on the pitwall and wonder about Pirelli - if Paul Hembery grew a beard, how much would he look like Guy Garvey from Elbow...?
Jana, my vituperative Slavic PA, has been surprised at my modern taste in music of late. Despite her assumption that I would favour folk music, The Spinners and "anyone with a beard and a cardigan" my choice of Elbow for our shared i-Pod dock has made her re-assess my status as the folkmeister of the Red Bull design department.
As I have oft noted, Jana has long been a supporter of Mark and a detractor of Sebastian. This was made very clear at the Red Bull Christmas Party when - after several tequila shots - she insisted on holding him tight and dancing the Lambada. How anybody can dance the Lambada to Slade's 'Merry Xmas Everybody' is beyond me, but it was a novel sight. When the head of Personnel took her to one side and told her it was inappropriate she explained that it was not her problem there were "cultural differences".
The latest nonsense in Sepang has only deepened her dislike for Sebastian and given her the triumphant confirmation that he does need the set of children's wooden blocks she bought on Ebay for when he comes into my office. Last year she also bought him a play-table and a little chair 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. Luckily he didn't see it, and when she went on holiday in August I had it removed and sent to a local nursery.
After events in Malaysia, I had to lay down the law and sent her a very stiffly worded email. I could imagine Sebastian coming into the office to say sorry to the staff about the team orders business and Jana giving a cynical "Hah!" in response. Luckily the morning he came in she was at the dentist - as I wittily noted to the design team 'having her teeth sharpened'.
As if the Sepang nuisance wasn't a big enough distraction, now I have the most bothersome business of an Autosport journalist putting a rumour into print that Christian went off to Maranello last year and offered his (and my) services to the scarlet team. Most irritating. Now I am getting all kinds of banter from the rest of the design department. If I say something looks good, they reply, "No, Adrian, eetsa bella bella!"
Christian has promised me this wasn't the case at all and simply more disinformation from the Scuderia. He said it had the same element of truth as Sebastian moving to Maranello in 2014, another one of their gems. As I said to him, I'm not a big fan of Italian soups and whereas zuppa di pesci can be a tasty treat on occasion, minestrone reminds me of holidays in cheap guesthouses on the Isle of Wight.
Christian is getting a lot of stick from the rest of the paddock because of his cosy relationship with Bernie Ecclestone - particularly the fact that he was the only F1 team boss invited to his wedding last year. In the past it was always Eddie Jordan who was said to be Bernie's eyes and ears in the paddock, now the other team bosses suspect that it's Christian, which has earned him the nickname 'Bernie Junior' or 'Little Bernie'. How you get smaller than Bernie is beyond me - though if stature is a clue to future F1 megalomania, then surely Ant Davidson's career should be looking up.
Most ticklesome.
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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You forget that Vettel is the F1 bum chum 2012 winning his title whilst overtaking under a yellow flag............ Never mind real racing starts in a week or so with Moto GP thumbup Come on Rossi.
What about Crutchlow & Bradley Smith? thumbup
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Nico Rosberg leads the way
by Joe Saward
Nico Rosberg set the pace in the first practice session in China, beating his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton by four-tenths of a second. Mark Webber was nine-tenths behind Rosberg in third, ahead of Sebastian Vettel. Fernando Alonso was fifth ahead of Jenson Button’s McLaren, Felipe Massa’s Ferrari, Adrian Sutil’s Force India and the Lotus of Romain Grosjean. The top 10 was completed by Paul di Resta in the second Force India.
Kimi Raikkonen was 11th, ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne, Pastor Maldonado, Nico Hulkenberg, Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez, who ended the session in a gravel trap at the entrance to the pitlane. The field was completed by Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Gutierrez, Jules Bianchi, Max Chilton, Giedo Vande Garde and Ma Qing Hua , who was standing for Charles Pic for the session.
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Ferrari super car…
by Joe Saward
Felipe Massa set the fastest time of the second practice session in Shanghai on Friday afternoon, beating Kimi Raikkonen by a tenth of a second. Fernando Alonso was third, chased by Nico Rosberg, Mark Webber, Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Adrian Sutil, Paul di Resta and Sebastian Vettel. Sergio Perez was 11th ahead of Romain Grosjean, Esteban Gutierrez and the Toro Rossos of Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne. Then came the Williams of Valtteri Bottas, the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg, Pastor Maldonado in the second Williams and then a gap of half a second back to Jules Bianchi's Marussia, the two Caterhams and Max Chilton's Marussia, which went off in the middle of the session.
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Chinese GP: Hamilton grabs first pole with Mercedes
By Matt Beer Saturday, April 13th 2013,
Lewis Hamilton claimed his first pole position with Mercedes in a Chinese Grand Prix qualifying session dominated by tyre strategy.
Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus will join Hamilton on the front row ahead of Fernando Alonso's Ferrari.
Championship leader Sebastian Vettel chose not to set a time in Q3 and can start ninth on medium tyres, while most of those ahead must use the fragile softs for their first stint.
His Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber had a disastrous session, as a fuel pressure problem stranded him in Q2.
With the soft tyres only good for one flying lap and expected to quickly fade in the race, qualifying was all about rubber conservation.
Q3 duly became a one-lap shootout in the final minute as all 10 contenders poured on the track at once at the last gasp.
Raikkonen was first to take provisional pole with a 1m34.761s.
Several likely challengers failed to match that, but Hamilton came through on a 1m34.484s to give Mercedes pole at Shanghai for a second straight year.
Alonso ended his run of being outqualified by Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa as he took third, two places ahead of the Brazilian.
Nico Rosberg split them in the second Mercedes.
Romain Grosjean was sixth for Lotus, followed by Daniel Ricciardo.
The Australian was one of the stars of qualifying as he got Toro Rosso into Q3 for the first time this year, beating team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne by 0.9 seconds in Q2.
Jenson Button joined Vettel in opting for medium and did a slow lap for eighth, while Vettel and Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg chose not to do Q3 flying laps at all.
Webber ended qualifying 14th after a fuel pressure problem forced him to park his car on the circuit in Q2. But the Australian fears he will ultimately end up at the back of the grid if the issue means his Red Bull cannot provide the mandatory fuel sample for the FIA.
Both Force Indias narrowly missed out on the top 10, with Paul di Resta just 0.029s off in 11th. Team-mate Adrian Sutil was behind Sergio Perez's McLaren in 13th.
The tyre issue even neutered Q1, which did not feature any track action until halfway through.
Toro Rosso attempted to get through on mediums, but had to make a late switch to softs as both drivers were at risk of missing the cut.
Vergne and Ricciardo's improvements meant Valtteri Bottas's Williams and Esteban Gutierrez's Sauber were the two midfield cars ousted.
Jules Bianchi had been ahead of the Toro Rossos before they moved to softs, but had to settle for his usual 19th for Marussia, still comfortably faster than his back of the grid peers.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m34.484s
2. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m34.761s + 0.277
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m34.788s + 0.304
4. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m34.861s + 0.377
5. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m34.933s + 0.449
6. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m35.364s + 0.880
7. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m35.998s + 1.514
8. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 2m05.673s + 31.189
9. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault no time
10. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari no time
Q2 cut-off time: 1m36.261s Gap **
11. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m36.287s + 1.209s
12. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m36.314s + 1.236s
13. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m36.405s + 1.327s
14. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m36.679s + 1.601s
15. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m37.139s + 2.061s
16. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m37.199s + 2.121s
Q1 cut-off time: 1m37.508s Gap *
17. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m37.769s + 1.976
18. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m37.990s + 2.197
19. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m38.780s + 2.987
20. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m39.537s + 3.744
21. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m39.614s + 3.821
22. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m39.660s + 3.867
107% time: 1m42.489s
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Chinese GP: Mark Webber to start last after fuel issue
By Matt Beer Saturday, April 13th 2013,
Mark Webber has been put to the back of the Chinese Grand Prix grid as his Red Bull could not provide sufficient fuel for the mandatory FIA sample after qualifying.
The Australian stopped on the circuit during Q2 when his car ran into fuel pressure problems, which the team put down to an issue with a fuel bowser.
Webber was classified 14th in qualifying but said at the time he suspected it would be difficult to get through the fuel sample test in the circumstances.
"It was a lack of fuel pressure so I couldn't get back, so we stopped the car and qualifying was over before it started really," he said.
A statement from the Shanghai stewards said Red Bull conceded it did not have enough fuel on board.
"The team admitted it had not put sufficient fuel in the car. As specified in the technical delegate's report (Document 21), only 150ml of fuel was on board, which was insufficient to provide the one-litre sample and drive the car back to the pits under its own power."
The F1 technical regulations stipulate that sufficient fuel for a one-litre sample must be available even if a car stops on track.
The rules say: "After a practice session, if a car has not been driven back to the pits under its own power, it will be required to supply the above mentioned sample plus the amount of fuel that would have been consumed to drive back to the pits."
The same issue led to Webber's team-mate Sebastian Vettel starting at the back for the 2012 Abu Dhabi GP.
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Chinese GP: Alonso takes commanding victory for Ferrari
By Matt Beer Sunday, April 14th 2013,
Fernando Alonso gave Ferrari its first victory of the 2013 Formula 1 season as his tactic of starting on soft tyres proved the right one in a strategy-defined Chinese Grand Prix.
Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton used the same strategy to fill the podium, as Sebastian Vettel's tactics could only give him fourth place, just inches behind Hamilton in a thrilling finish.
The race unfolded as two parallel contests between those who started on softs, briefly burst clear and then pitted early and dropped into traffic, and those who started on mediums, emerged up front, but would face soft tyre pain later.
Alonso quickly thrust himself to the front of the first group. A slow start from Raikkonen meant the Ferraris were into second and third by Turn 1, and both Alonso and Felipe Massa overtook Hamilton on lap five as the Mercedes' soft tyres faded quicker.
Massa stayed out one lap longer than most on softs and subsequently faded out of the lead battle, while Alonso's speed at hacking through traffic on alternative strategies once he was on mediums gave him a clear advantage over everyone else on the same strategy.
Vettel left his softs until the final five laps.
But by then, Alonso's strategy already looked better. The Ferrari's shorter stints meant Alonso caught Vettel on track on lap 42 on fresher tyres at a time when both had one more stop to go.
Alonso swiftly passed the Red Bull and cruised away, knowing Vettel would still have to take on softs.
While the Ferrari was out of reach, Vettel still had a shot at Raikkonen's Lotus and Hamilton's Mercedes, which had been battling all race.
The champion caught his two rivals at a rate of three seconds per lap after his late pitstop and started the final lap with Hamilton in sight.
The Mercedes hung on by just 0.2 seconds, with Raikkonen staying just far enough ahead to claim second. The Lotus was sporting a dramatic tear in its nose section after an early brush with the defensive Sergio Perez's McLaren.
Jenson Button pulled off a two-stop strategy in the sister McLaren, allowing him to lead for a spell and finish fifth ahead of Massa.
Daniel Ricciardo converted his impressive qualifying result into seventh for Toro Rosso, despite an early front wing change.
Paul di Resta and Romain Grosjean were eighth and ninth.
Nico Hulkenberg played a major role in the early stages. Running the same strategy as Vettel, he got ahead of the Red Bull early on and led as the pit tactics unfolded.
A slow pitstop meant he lost out to Vettel, and Sauber's choice of a very short middle stint on softs did not pay off, leaving him 10th.
Mark Webber's troubled weekend got even worse in the race. Clearing the soft tyres on lap one and instantly taking mediums gave him a shot at getting up with the leaders, but he smashed his front wing in a tangle with Jean-Eric Vergne's Toro Rosso then retired when his right rear wheel fell off after a subsequent pitstop for repairs.
Nico Rosberg was troubled by an apparent suspension problem from the outset and retired his Mercedes soon after his second pitstop.
A host of drivers, including both Red Bull men, will be investigated for alleged DRS breaches after the race, although AUTOSPORT understand that paddock-wide telemetry problems are the cause.
Esteban Gutierrez could face sanction for ploughing into the back of Adrian Sutil early on, ending both their races. Sutil had earlier clashed with Force India team-mate di Resta.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The Chinese Grand Prix
Shanghai, China;
56 laps; 305.066km;
Weather: Dry.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Alonso Ferrari 1h36:26.945
2. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 10.100s
3. Hamilton Mercedes + 12.300s
4. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 12.500s
5. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 35.200s
6. Massa Ferrari + 40.800s
7. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 42.600s
8. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 51.000s
9. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 53.400s
10. Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari + 56.500s
11. Perez McLaren-Mercedes + 1m03.800s
12. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1m12.600s
13. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 1m33.800s
14. Bottas Williams-Renault + 1m35.400s
15. Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
16. Pic Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
17. Chilton Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
18. van der Garde Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
Fastest lap: Vettel, 1m36.808s
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Rosberg Mercedes 22
Webber Red Bull-Renault 16
Sutil Force India-Mercedes 6
Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 5
World Championship standings, round 3:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 52 1. Red Bull-Renault 78
2. Raikkonen 49 2. Ferrari 73
3. Alonso 43 3. Lotus-Renault 60
4. Hamilton 40 4. Mercedes 52
5. Massa 30 5. Force India-Mercedes 14
6. Webber 26 6. McLaren-Mercedes 14
7. Button 12 7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 7
8. Rosberg 12 8. Sauber-Ferrari 5
9. Grosjean 11
10. Di Resta 8
11. Ricciardo 6
12. Sutil 6
13. Hulkenberg 5
14. Perez 2
15. Vergne 1
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Chinese GP: Esteban Gutierrez punished for Adrian Sutil clash
By Pablo Elizalde Sunday, April 14th 2013,
Esteban Gutierrez has been handed a five-place grid penalty for Bahrain after his crash during the Chinese Grand Prix.
The Mexican Sauber driver outbraked himself five laps into the race and crashed into the back of Adrian Sutil's Force India.
Rookie Gutierrez retired on the spot with a heavily damaged car, while Sutil managed to return to the pits but was also forced to retire due to the damage suffered.
"As I turned into the corner, I felt a hit from the rear and that was it. I think Gutierrez just braked late for the corner," said Sutil.
Race stewards gave the Sauber driver a penalty for causing the accident, and he will drop five places on the grid next week in Bahrain.
Gutierrez fully accepted that it was his mistake.
"I had Checo [Perez] fighting behind me, and I approached the corner too fast," he said.
"I was braking at the same place where I usually brake, however, I didn't anticipate the loss of downforce and the amount of speed I had.
"I tried my best to stop, but didn't succeed. It was definitely my fault, and I apologise to Adrian and to his team."
Webber given Bahrain grid penalty for hitting Vergne
By Pablo Elizalde Sunday, April 14th 2013
Mark Webber will lose three places on the grid of the Bahrain Grand Prix after stewards blamed him for his class with Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne in China.
Webber made contact with Vergne when trying to pass the Frenchman for 12th position on lap 16 of the race. He confirmed his penalty to reporters as he left the stewards' office.
The Australian said afterwards he was sure Vergne had left him room to pass, although the Toro Rosso driver denied knowing Webber was there.
"I think Mark could not have got through from where he tried and I'm not even sure if he was trying to pass me. Certainly I didn't even know he was there," said Vergne.
"Unfortunately, the impact put me into a spin and the incident damaged my floor. From then I lost a lot of downforce."
Webber had already endured a nightmare weekend.
The Australian had started the race from the pits after he had been excluded from qualifying for not having enough fuel in his car for scrutineering checks.
The Red Bull driver retired from the race after losing the rear left wheel following a pitstop.
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Red alert in Bahrain
by Joe Saward
Felipe Massa set the pace for Ferrari in the first practice session on Friday in Bahrain, beating team-mate Felipe Mass by 0.07s. The pair were a tenth faster than Nico Rosberg's Mercedes with Sebastian Vettel fourth and Paul di Resta fifth. Jenson Button was sixth quickest, ahead of Mark Webber, Adrian Sutil and Kimi Raikkonen. Romain Grosjean completed the top 10.
Sergio Perez was 11th with Valtteri Bottas something of a surprise in 12th, ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Jean-Eric Vergne, Dan Ricciardo and Pastor Maldonado. Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez were 17th and 18th for Sauber.
Charles Pic outran Heikki Kovalainen in the Caterhams, ahead of Max Chilton and Marussia FP1 runner Rodolfo Gonzalez of Venezuela.
Bahrain GP: Raikkonen leads from Webber in FP2
By Matt Beer Friday, April 19th 2013, 12:32 GMT
Kimi Raikkonen edged out the Red Bulls for the fastest time in second Friday practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix at Sakhir.
Raikkonen's pacesetting lap of 1m34.154s in his Lotus came just after the halfway point.
It could have been faster still, as the Finn ran wide at the final corner on the way to the flag. Yet even with that slip, Raikkonen's pace was sufficient to edge him 0.030 seconds of Mark Webber, who had been in front for the preceding 20 minutes.
Raikkonen then set an encouraging pace on his later long run, although he was keen to come in earlier than Lotus wanted him to as his tyres faded.
Sebastian Vettel completed the top three in the second Red Bull, a tenth behind his team-mate.
Morning pacesetter Ferrari dropped back only slightly.
After his fastest time in practice one, Felipe Massa had some minor adventures on the way to sixth. Fernando Alonso was fourth.
Between them, Paul di Resta repeated his excellent morning pace and kept Force India in the top five.
Mercedes had a low-key afternoon: Nico Rosberg eighth and Lewis Hamilton 10th, split by Adrian Sutil in the second Force India.
Romain Grosjean was six places and 0.477s behind his team-mate Raikkonen in seventh.
Neither McLaren made it into the top 10, Jenson Button and Sergio Perez ending up 11th and 13th.
Just a day after saying he had learned an important lesson from his Chinese GP collision with Sutil, Esteban Gutierrez was in the wars again as he banged wheels with Charles Pic as he tried to pass the slower Caterham. The Sauber had to limp back to the pits with a puncture.
Pic's car was unscathed, and he got within half a second of Gutierrez and Valtteri Bottas's Williams in the final results.
The Frenchman was the best of the backmarker group, just ahead of the Marussias of Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi, as the the Briton outpaced his team-mate for the first time. Bianchi had sat out morning practice in favour of third driver Rodolfo Gonzalez.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m34.154s 31
2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m34.184s + 0.030s 26
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m34.282s + 0.128s 29
4. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m34.310s + 0.156s 28
5. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m34.543s + 0.389s 35
6. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m34.552s + 0.398s 34
7. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m34.631s + 0.477s 33
8. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m34.666s + 0.512s 37
9. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m34.932s + 0.778s 33
10. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m34.976s + 0.822s 29
11. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m35.356s + 1.202s 32
12. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m35.506s + 1.352s 36
13. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m35.5$9s + 1.435s 36
14. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m35.761s + 1.607s 33
15. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m36.133s + 1.979s 36
16. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m36.279s + 2.125s 33
17. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m36.579s + 2.425s 28
18. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m36.616s + 2.462s 34
19. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m37.061s + 2.907s 32
20. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m37.313s + 3.159s 33
21. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m37.363s + 3.209s 29
22. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m37.970s + 3.816s 34
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P3
Rossa Testa
by Joe Saward
Ferrari continued to lead the way in the third practice session for the Bahrain GP on Saturday morning with Fernando Alonso fastest by a tenth, ahead of Sebastian Vettel. Alonso had a spin at one point, while Vettel was also off when pushing too hard. The top 12 were all within a second of the fastest time. Third quickest was Mark Webber followed by Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus, Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes, although this suffered a broken suspension at the end of the session. Romain Grosjean confirmed the pace of the Lotus with sixth, ahead of Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta in the two Force Indias, Nico Rosberg in the second Merc and Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber. Felipe Massa was 11th with Jenson Button 12th, ahead of Sergio Perez, Dan Ricciardo, Valtteri Bottas and Jean-Eric Vergne, with Pastor Maldonado 17th. Charles Pic showed good pace with the upgraded Caterham, confirming that the latest updates have taken the car ahead of the Marussias, although the second Caterham does not have the upgrade yet and so Giedo Van der Garde was behind Jules Bianchi. Max Chilton had mechnical troubles and did only a handful of laps, while Eesteban Gutierrez completed 28 laps in the session, far more than anyone else, and was obviously not looking at lap times.
Bahrain GP: Nico Rosberg takes surprise pole for Mercedes
By Matt Beer Saturday, April 20th 2013, 12:04 GMT
Nico Rosberg claimed a shock pole position for Mercedes in Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying at Sakhir.
Mercedes had not looked like an outright frontrunner during practice, but Rosberg set a banker 1m32.4s lap at the start of Q3 and it proved impossible to beat.
Sebastian Vettel got closest for Red Bull with a 1m32.584s, just ahead of Fernando Alonso's Ferrari.
Rosberg then made his pole absolutely certain, improving to 1m32.330s to clinch the top spot by over 0.2 seconds.
His team-mate Lewis Hamilton was 0.4s slower in fourth place. He will lose five places for having a gearbox change prior to the session.
Fifth position will also change post-session. Mark Webber took the spot for Red Bull, but faces a three-place penalty for his collision with Jean-Eric Vergne in China.
Ferrari put Felipe Massa on hard tyres for Q3 and he took sixth place, followed by the Force Indias of Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil. The latter only just made it into Q3 with a late charge.
Friday pacesetter Kimi Raikkonen was only ninth in his Lotus.
McLaren was ecstatic to see Jenson Button reach Q3 against expectations with a last-gasp lap. The Briton chose not to do a flying lap in the pole shootout.
The late Q2 improvements lik pushed Romain Grosjean's Lotus down to 11th. The Frenchman was back in the pits at the end of the segment and his first lap had not been good enough.
The two Williams set exactly equal 1m34.425s laps in Q1, but Valtteri Bottas had got there first, so he made it to Q2 - where he took 15th - while Pastor Maldonado was left in 17th.
Esteban Gutierrez's troubles continued as he only managed 18th in qualifying, which will become last when his five-place penalty for crashing into Sutil in China is applied.
There was a change in form at the back. Driving the upgraded Caterham, Charles Pic got his team ahead of Marussia for the first time in 2013, as he beat Jules Bianchi by a full 0.9s.
Giedo van der Garde, in the older-spec Caterham, also outqualified a Marussia, pushing Max Chilton down to 22nd.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap
1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m32.330s
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m32.584s + 0.254s
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m32.667s + 0.337s
4. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m32.762s + 0.432s
5. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m33.078s + 0.748s
6. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m33.207s + 0.877s
7. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m33.235s + 0.905s
8. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m33.246s + 0.916s
9. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m33.327s + 0.997s
10. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes
Q2 cut-off time: 1m33.702s Gap **
11. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m33.762s + 1.016s
12. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m33.914s + 1.168s
13. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m33.974s + 1.228s
14. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m33.976s + 1.230s
15. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m34.105s + 1.359s
16. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m34.284s + 1.538s
Q1 cut-off time: 1m34.425s Gap *
17. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m34.425s + 1.547s
18. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m34.730s + 1.852s
19. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m35.283s + 2.405s
20. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m36.178s + 3.300s
21. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m36.304s + 3.426s
22. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m36.476s + 3.598s
107% time: 1m39.379s
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Bahrain GP: Lewis Hamilton gets five-place grid penalty over gearbox
By Edd Straw and Matt Beer Saturday, April 20th 2013,
Lewis Hamilton will receive a five-place grid drop for the Bahrain Grand Prix as the Mercedes team has had to change his gearbox prior to qualifying.
Hamilton's car suffered a left-rear tyre failure at the end of final practice, and also incurred suspension damage in the incident.
Mercedes has had to change the car's left rear corner as a result, and the team confirmed to AUTOSPORT that the gearbox would also have to be replaced.
The outfit would not confirm the cause of the practice issue.
Hamilton took pole position for the last race in China, but had not been expected to be a front row contender in Bahrain, where Mercedes has so far struggled to match Ferrari, Red Bull and Lotus.
The penalty is the third to be applied for Bahrain qualifying so far, with Mark Webber and Esteban Gutierrez already facing three and five place demotions respectively for causing accidents in China.
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With three drivers incurring penalties for the Bahrain Grand Prix the grid looks rather different to qualifying.
Lewis Hamilton is the highest-placed driver penalised as he had qualified in fourth place. The Mercedes driver was hit with the mandatory five-place penalty when his gearbox was changed after his W04 was damaged at the end of Saturday's final practice.
Meanwhile, Mark Webber, who qualified P5, was slapped with a three-place drop for hitting Jean-Eric Vergne in China while Esteban Gutierrez was given a five-place penalty for driving into the back of Adrian Sutil at the Shanghai circuit.
As the first to incur his penalty Gutierrez is the first to drop, going from P18 to P22. Webber is next, dropping from P5 to P8, however, he is bumped up one position to seventh as Hamilton falls from fourth to ninth.
The Revised Grid
1 Nico Rosberg
2 Sebastian Vettel
3 Fernando Alonso
4 Felipe Massa
5 Paul di Resta
6 Adrian Sutil
7 Mark Webber
8 Kimi Raikkonen
9 Lewis Hamilton
10 Jenson Button
11 Romain Grosjean
12 Sergio Perez
13 Daniel Ricciardo
14 Nico Hulkenberg
15 Valtteri Bottas
16 Jean-Eric Vergne
17 Pastor Maldonado
18 Charles Pic
19 Jules ianchi
20 Giedo van der Garde
21 Max Chilton
22 Esteban Gutierrez
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Bahrain GP: Vettel leaves action behind and wins for Red Bull
By Matt Beer Sunday, April 21st 2013
Sebastian Vettel breezed to his second victory of the 2013 Formula 1 season in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The world champion thrust his Red Bull to the front amid spectacular early dicing, then left the action behind.
In a repeat of the 2012 Sakhir podium, Lotus duo Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean made it through the field to second and third, the latter denying Paul di Resta a maiden F1 podium with just six laps to go.
Vettel was in a hurry to hit the front from the outset.
He forced polesitter Nico Rosberg to defend heavily off the line, and although Fernando Alonso managed to get his Ferrari between them around the outside, Vettel surged back into second with a bold move at Turn 5.
Vettel then pounced on Rosberg's Mercedes into Turn 4 on lap two, only to run wide. Next time around he made the move stick, and thereafter inched away towards an ever-more certain victory.
Alonso was soon up to second but his DRS flap jammed open. He made an emergency pitstop to fix it, but the problem reoccurred. By lap nine, he was 19th, had made two pitstops and knew he would be without DRS all afternoon.
With Alonso out of contention, the best of the rest battle became a contest between di Resta and Raikkonen, both two-stopping compared to most frontrunners' three.
Di Resta looked to be best-placed until approaching their final stops, when Raikkonen slipped past him just before pitting, and then built an advantage on his fresh tyres.
Force India remained on course for third for a while, but Grosjean was looming. The three-stopping Frenchman saved his medium tyres for the final stint and was able to hunt down and pass di Resta, who had to settle for a career-best fourth.
The rest of the top 10 featured wild racing all afternoon, with an abundance of side by side and wheel to wheel action as different strategies unfolded and different cars found pace at different junctures.
Lewis Hamilton crept forward after a low-key start and finally grabbed fifth.
Sergio Perez produced by far his most combative performance for McLaren yet. He was embroiled in a long dice with team-mate Jenson Button and the fading Rosberg, which featured contact between the McLarens and anxious radio messages on more than one occasion.
Despite losing a front wing endplate against his team-mate's car, Perez finished sixth, joining Hamilton in passing Mark Webber on the final lap.
Webber had been a podium threat for a spell, before falling back on his final set of tyres.
Alonso fought through to eighth despite his lack of DRS, with Rosberg and Button forced to four-stop and ending up ninth and 10th.
Felipe Massa suffered two right rear punctures and was only 15th. He had also made contact with Adrian Sutil on lap one, causing a puncture for the Force India driver, who made it back up to 13th.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The Bahrain Grand Prix
Bahrain, Bahrain;
57 laps; 308.405km;
Weather: Dry.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 57 laps
2. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 9.1s
3. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 19.5s
4. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 21.7s
5. Hamilton Mercedes + 35.2s
6. Perez McLaren-Mercedes + 35.9s
7. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 37.2s
8. Alonso Ferrari + 37.5s
9. Rosberg Mercedes + 41.1s
10. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 46.6s
11. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 1m06.4s
12. Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari + 1m12.9s
13. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1m16.7s
14. Bottas Williams-Renault + 1m21.5s
15. Massa Ferrari + 1m26.3s
16. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
17. Pic Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
18. Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
19. Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
20. Chilton Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
21. van der Garde Caterham-Renault + 2 laps
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 16
Fastest lap: Vettel, 1m36.961s
World Championship standings, round 4:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 77 1. Red Bull-Renault 109
2. Raikkonen 67 2. Lotus-Renault 93
3. Hamilton 50 3. Ferrari 77
4. Alonso 47 4. Mercedes 64
5. Webber 32 5. Force India-Mercedes 26
6. Massa 30 6. McLaren-Mercedes 23
7. Grosjean 26 7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 7
8. Di Resta 20 8. Sauber-Ferrari 5
9. Rosberg 14
10. Button 13
11. Perez 10
12. Ricciardo 6
13. Sutil 6
14. Hulkenberg 5
15. Vergne 1
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Ola! Homeboy
by Joe Saward
Practice 1
Fernando Alonso set the past in the first practice session at a damp Barcelona on Friday morning, with team-mate Felipe Massa second, but the times are not to be taken too seriously. Third quickest in the session was Jean-Eric Vergne in the Toro Rosso, ahead of Romain Grosjean, Adrian Sutil, Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Kimi Raikkonen, Nico Rosberg and Paul di Resta.
Daniel Ricciardo was 11th fastest ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, Sergio Perez, Esteban Gutierrez, Pastor Maldonado ahead of the two Caterhams - Heikki Kovalainen ahead of Giedo Van der Garde - while Marussia's Jules Bianchi was a couple of tenths behind. The Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were 19th and 20th and not pushing too hard, while Rodolfo Gonzalez was 21st in the second Marussia. Jenson Button did not set a time as parts for his car were still arriving.
P2 by Joe Saward
Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time of the Friday afternoon session in Barcelona, beating his rival Fernando Alonso by a small margin. Mark Webber was third and right with them, while Kimi Raikkonen was fourth. Felipe Massa was fifth ahead of the Mercedes-Benzes of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg and the Force India of Adrian Sutil. The second Force India of Paul di Resta was 10th, despite the fact that the Scotsman parked the car two-thirds of the way through the session after the tread came off one of his tyres. Between the two Force Indias was the big surprise of the day, Jean-Eric Vergne in his Toro Rosso.
The second Toro Rosso of Dan Ricciardo was 11th, ahead of the two McLarens of Jenson Button and Sergio Perez, the Williams of Valtteri Bottas, Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber and the second Williams driven by last year's Spanish GP winner Pastor Maoldonado. Esteban Gutierrez was 17th, ahead of a troubled Romain Grosjean and Giedo Van der Garde's Caterham. Completing the field was the Marussia of Jules Bianchi, Charles Pic's Caterham and Max Chilton's Marussia.
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Spanish GP: Nico Rosberg leads Lewis Hamilton in Mercedes front row
By Matt Beer Saturday, May 11th 2013,
Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton secured an all-Mercedes front row in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix.
Rosberg repeated his Bahrain pole in a brilliant Q3 performance in which he delivered two laps good enough for the top spot.
His initial 1m20.8s benchmark proved unbeatable, but Rosberg still improved to a 1m20.718s with his last run just to be certain.
Hamilton had to settle for second, 0.254 seconds adrift.
Formula 1 championship leader Sebastian Vettel was third for Red Bull, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus and Fernando Alonso's Ferrari.
Alonso's team-mate Felipe Massa mounted a strong challenge for pole only to lose time in sector three and end up sixth.
He will also have to see the stewards after the session having seemingly impeded Mark Webber's Red Bull in Q2.
The Australian subsequently qualified eighth, behind Romain Grosjean's Lotus.
Hamilton had earlier starred in a thrilling end to Q2, throwing in a last-gasp lap that jumped him from a worrying 13th to a comfortable first, six tenths clear of the pack.
Sergio Perez also produced an eleventh-hour surge in Q2, getting up to seventh and then qualifying ninth. His McLaren team-mate Jenson Button could not match that - six tenths slower, he will start only 14th.
Toro Rosso had looked promising in practice and both Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne had a realistic shot at Q3, holding top-10 spots late on before being narrowly squeezed out.
They will share row six, ahead of Adrian Sutil, who could not join team-mate Paul di Resta in the pole session. The Scot took 10th.
Going into the final seconds of Q2, both Saubers had made it into Q3. But in the subsequent flurry of improvements, Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez tumbled down to row eight. The Mexican could yet face sanctions for blocking Raikkonen in Q1.
Last year's winner Williams's plight deepened, despite its upgrades, as neither car got beyond Q1.
Twelve months on from his pole and win, Pastor Maldonado was only 18th - and accused of blocking by Button - while Valtteri Bottas was just one place ahead.
The back of the grid battle stepped up a gear with a very close tussle between Caterham and Marussia.
Giedo van der Garde finally emerged on top for Caterham, edging out Marussia's Jules Bianchi by just 0.052s.
Max Chilton and Charles Pic were a few tenths behind having also had a sniff of 'class pole'.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap
1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m20.718s
2. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m20.972s + 0.254s
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m21.054s + 0.336s
4. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m21.177s + 0.459s
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m21.218s + 0.500s
6. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m21.219s + 0.501s
7. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m21.308s + 0.590s
8. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m21.570s + 0.852s
9. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m22.069s + 1.351s
10. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m22.233s + 1.515s
Q2 cut-off time: 1m22.019s Gap **
11. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m22.127s + 1.126s
12. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m22.166s + 1.165s
13. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m22.346s + 1.345s
14. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m23.166s + 2.165s
15. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m22.389s + 1.388s
16. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m22.793s + 1.792s
Q1 cut-off time: 1m23.218s Gap *
17. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m23.260s + 1.532s
18. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m23.318s + 1.590s
19. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m24.661s + 2.933s
20. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m24.713s + 2.985s
21. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m24.996s + 3.268s
22. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m25.070s + 3.342s
107% time: 1m27.448s
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Spanish GP: Fernando Alonso takes commanding home win for Ferrari
By Matt Beer Sunday, May 12th 2013
Fernando Alonso sent the Spanish Grand Prix crowd into ecstasy as the Ferrari driver and home hero charged to his first Barcelona victory since 2006.
Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus emerged as Alonso's main rival, while Sebastian Vettel and the front-row-starting Mercedes faded in the race.
In a race full of tyre conservation, Alonso's approach from the outset was to charge.
While Vettel split the Mercedes into Turn 1, Alonso accelerated around the outside of both Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton at Turn 3 to move into third before the leading Germans.
By the time they were done, Alonso was his main rival, having pitted one lap ahead of Vettel and jumped the Red Bull.
Rosberg's plunge down the order began on lap 12, when Alonso passed him into Turn 1, and Vettel and Raikkonen further demoted him before the lap was complete.
Once in front, Alonso began to pull away.
Despite running longer in a bid for three stops, Vettel ultimately resorted to the same four-stop strategy as Alonso, but unable to match the Ferrari's sheer pace.
Raikkonen, however, could pull off a three-stop. He lost time behind Vettel in the middle of the race, then raised his pace after overtaking the Red Bull on lap 33.
Lotus had a potential edge going into the closing stages, with Raikkonen a few seconds ahead of Alonso at a point when both had a single stop to go.
But on his fresher tyres, Alonso stormed up behind Raikkonen at a rate of two seconds per lap, breezed past the Lotus then vanished into the distance, swiftly building a 12-second advantage.
Raikkonen was left to keep half an eye on Massa, who had been rapid all afternoon and got a green light from Ferrari to try to catch the Lotus. Tyre wear stymied this and forced Massa to back off again, but third was still safe.
Vettel's attempts to run longer on tyres ultimately cost him so much pace that he fell behind the earlier-pitting Massa.
The world champion had to settle for fourth, followed by his team-mate Mark Webber, who had slipped outside the top 10 at first with a terrible start.
Mercedes' fade ended with Rosberg pulling off a three-stop in sixth and his despondent team-mate Hamilton right out of the points in a lapped 12th, having gone into freefall following his first stop.
Paul di Resta's Force India chased Rosberg home.
McLaren ended up eighth and ninth. Jenson Button had tumbled to 17th in the opening laps, but nursed his tyres through three stops and emerged ahead of his early-charging, but four-stopping, team-mate Sergio Perez.
Daniel Ricciardo fended off Esteban Gutierrez to give Toro Rosso the final point.
It was still a breakthrough day for Gutierrez, as a long first stint meant Sauber's rookie managed to lead a Formula 1 race for the first time.
Pirelli ponders tyre changes after Spanish GP criticism
Last year's Barcelona winner Pastor Maldonado struggled home 14th, recovering from a pitlane speeding penalty to get there.
Romain Grosjean was an early retirement with skewed right rear suspension on his Lotus.
Two pitlane incidents attracted stewards' attention.
Caterham could face sanctions after Giedo van der Garde lost a wheel on his out-lap, while Nico Hulkenberg had an unsafe release penalty following a pitlane clash with Jean-Eric Vergne, prior to which both had been points contenders.
Results - 66 laps:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1h39m16.596s
2. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 9.338s
3. Felipe Massa Ferrari + 26.049s
4. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 38.273s
5. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault + 47.963s
6. Nico Rosberg Mercedes + 1m08.020s
7. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1m08.988s
8. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes + 1m19.506s
9. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes + 1m21.738s
10. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
11. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
12. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes + 1 lap
13. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
14. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault + 1 lap
15. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
16. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault + 1 lap
17. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
18. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps
19. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps
Retirements:
Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 52 laps
Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 21 laps
Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 8 laps
World Championship standings, round 5:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 89 1. Red Bull-Renault 131
2. Raikkonen 85 2. Ferrari 117
3. Alonso 72 3. Lotus-Renault 111
4. Hamilton 50 4. Mercedes 72
5. Massa 45 5. Force India-Mercedes 32
6. Webber 42 6. McLaren-Mercedes 29
7. Di Resta 26 7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 8
8. Grosjean 26 8. Sauber-Ferrari 5
9. Rosberg 22
10. Button 17
11. Perez 12
12. Ricciardo 7
13. Sutil 6
14. Hulkenberg 5
15. Vergne 1
All timing unofficial
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McLaren confirms Honda
by Joe Saward
McLaren will be racing with Honda engines from 2015, as has been rumoured for some time. The previous McLaren-Honda partnership was one of the most successful in Formula 1 history, back in the 1980s and 1990s. Honda then tried to be successful with its own team but failed and quit F1 six years ago. Honda says it is developing its all-new 1.6-litre V6 engine at the company's R&D facility at Tochigi in Japan.
This is great news for Formula 1 as Honda will be the first new manufacturer to come into the sport for many years and the first to embrace the new rules. It will also mean that other teams will have the option of using Honda engines in 2015 as engine companies are forced by the rules to supply more than one team, if called upon to do. Best of all, however, it indicates that the new rules have a value for automobile manufacturers beyond the existing three and that is is quite possible that we will see others following Honda's lead in the years ahead. This could ultimately mean that the price of engines will reduce as some teams will get free engines and sponsorship from manufacturers and the availability of engines will push down the prices.
"Ever since its establishment, Honda has been a company which grows by taking on challenges in racing," said Takanobu Ito, President and CEO of Honda Motor Co. "Honda has a long history of advancing our technologies and nurturing our people by participating in the world’s most prestigious automobile racing series. The new F1 regulations with their significant environmental focus will inspire even greater development of our own advanced technologies and this is central to our participation in F1. We have the greatest respect for the FIA’s decision to introduce these new regulations that are both highly challenging but also attractive to manufacturers that pursue environmental technologies and to Formula One Group, which has developed F1 into a high value, top car racing category supported by enthusiastic fans. The corporate slogan of Honda is 'The Power of Dreams'. This slogan represents our strong desire to pursue and realize our dreams together with our customers and fans. Together with McLaren, one of the most distinguished F1 constructors, Honda will mark a new beginning in our challenges in F1."
The McLaren package for the future is beginning to come together with reports in recent days that Claro will be a sponsor of the team in 2014. As I understand it, Claro will not be the title sponsor but rather one of the associate backers. The main sponsorship deal will be announced in December and I am now reliably informed that it is not going to be GlaxoSmithKline, although it is possible the firm will be an associate sponsor as well.
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Local boy comes good
by Joe Saward
Nico Rosberg set the fastest lap of the Thursday morning session in Monaco, beating Fernando Alonso by a tiny margin. The pair were justunder two-tenths ahead of Romain Grosjean, with Felipe Massa close behind. Lewis Hamilton was still unable to match his team-mate and was fifth ahead of a surprising Pastor Maldonado, Mark Webber, Jenson Button, Sergio Perez and Sebastian Vettel.
Kimi Raikkonen was 11th ahead of Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil (who had a spin), Nico Hulkenberg, Jean-Eric Vergne, Esteban Gutierrez and Valtteri Bottas. The field was completed by Dan Ricciardo, Giedo Van der Garde and Charles Pic in their Caterhams and the Marussias of Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton.
P2
Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton set the pace in the second session in Monte Carlo, the German being three-tenths ahead. Fernando Alonso was third with Felipe Massa behind him while Mark Webber managed fifth, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean, although the Frenchman crashed into the tyre barrier at the exit of Ste Devote early in the session. Jenson Button was eight with Sebastian Vettel ninth and Paul di Resta 10th ahead of Adrian Sutil, Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg. Pastor Maldonado, who is always quick around Monaco, was 14th ahead of Esteban Gutierrez and the two Toro Rossos and Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne. Valtteri Bottas was 18th. Jules Bianchi was at the front in the Caterham-Marussia fight, with Charles Pic second, Max Chilton third and Giedo Van der Garde at the back.
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Monaco GP
Courtesy Planet F1
After several attempts to post an extensive report without success please find the drivers times below. Apologies Mod should the large reports somehow find their way to the board.
Jt for a travelling TBWG sawadi
Times
01. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:13.876s
02. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:13.967s +0.091
03. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:13.980s +0.104
04. Mark Webber Red Bull 1:14.181s +0.305
05. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1:14.822s +0.946
06. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:14.824s +0.948
07. Sergio Perez McLaren 1:15.138s +1.262
08. Adrian Sutil Force India 1:15.383s +1.507
09. Jenson Button McLaren 1:15.647s +1.771
10. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:15.703s +1.827
11. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:18.331s +2.343
12. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:18.344s +2.356
13. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:18.603s +2.615
14. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:19.077s +3.089
15. Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1:19.408s +3.420
16. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:21.688s +5.700
17. Paul di Resta Force India 1:26.322s +2.870
18. Charles Pic Caterham 1:26.633s +3.181
19. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:26.917s +3.465
20. Max Chilton Marussia 1:27.303s +3.851
21. Jules Bianchi Marussia
22. Felipe Massa Ferrari
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The qualifying at Monaco will make for an interesting race. I wouldn't want to be close to the Armco at turn 1!
At P5 and P6 are two individuals who will capitalize on any error made by the first four drivers.
Enjoy the race.
Cheers JT sawadi
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Monaco GP
Courtesy Planet F1
.1 of 1.....Hometown boy Nico Rosberg survived three restarts to win Sunday's Monaco GP, his first of the season and only his second career win.
It was an incident-strewn race that saw Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber come home in second and third places, with an unlucky Lewis Hamilton finishing fourth.
The first Safety Car of the season came out on Lap 31 when Felipe Massa, produced an identical accident to his crash in final practice on Saturday. Later, the race was red-flagged when Pastor Maldonado hit Max Chilton. The final Safety Car came out when Romain Grosjean had his fourth accident of the weekend when he hit Daniel Ricciardo's Toro Rosso.
Race Report
It was quite a change from qualifying, with sun bathing the Monaco harbour and an ambient temperature of 18C with the track up at 41C.
Grid: 1.Rosberg, 2.Hamilton, 3.Vettel, 4.Webber, 5.Raikkonen, 6.Alonso, 7.Perez, 8.Sutil, 9.Button, 10.Vergne, 11.Hulkenberg, 12.Ricciardo, 13.Grosjean, 14.Bottas, 15.Van der Garde, 16.Maldonado, 17.DiResta, 18.Pic, 19.Gutierrez, 20.Bianchi, 21.Massa, 22.Chilton
Ricciardo, Grosjean and Massa elected to start on the Soft tyres with the rest of the field starting on SuperSofts. Jules Bianchi failed to get off the grid and his Marussia was pushed to the pitlane.
As the lights went out both the Mercedes got strong starts, but Vettel's was even better and he looked to force his way through on the inside - something that was unlikely to come off. And didn't.
All the action on the opening lap was down to the Lowe's (Grand Hotel/Station) hairpin with Adrian Sutil - who had been passed by Button at the start - losing parts of his front wing as he made a very tentative stab at getting past Button. Giedo van der Garde's great Monaco weekend came to an abrupt halt as he knocked off his front wing on the opening lap. Maldonado also was involved in a collision and had to head back to the pits.
Further round the lap, Sergio Perez started a busy afternoon of trading paintwork with other cars by having a small coming together with Jenson Button into the tunnel chicane. Button was soon on team radio to point that out and the fact that Perez had missed it.
Positions at the end of Lap 11.Rosberg, 2.Hamilton, 3.Vettel, 4.Webber, 5.Raikkonen, 6.Alonso, 7.Perez, 8.Button, 9.Sutil,10.Vergne, 11.Hulkenberg, 12.Bottas, 13.Ricciardo, 14.Di Resta.
Vettel hadn't finished trying to get into P2 and on Lap 2 he was almost side by side with Lewis Hamilton going into Mirabeau but Hamilton held the line and the place. In the early stages of the race the gaps were very close between the leading cars, although Alonso began to drop steadily off Kimi Raikkonen. The gap between P5 and P6 went out to 3.5 seconds by Lap 10, although Alonso looked more to be conserving his tyres more than losing touch through lack of pace.
On Lap 9 the Caterham of Charles Pic had stopped near Rascasse with a gearbox fired. Anticipating a Safety Car, the Force India team brought Paul Di Resta in for a tyre stop, but the incident was dealt with under waved yellows instead. Di Resta dropped back to P19. In his earlier dice withJenson Button, Perez had cut the chicane and the McLaren team shuffled Button back in front without allowing Sutil behind to take advantage
Rosberg and Hamilton, despite rapidly losing speed at Bahrain and Barcelona, showed no sign of wearing their tyres out on the streets of Monaco - neither were they adopting the tactic of having one car shoot off into the distance while the other held the field up.
The gaps on Lap 19 were: Rosberg 2.1 to Hamilton, 2.2 to Vettel, 1.6 to Webber, 1.0 to Raikkonen, 2.6 to Alonso, 1.1 to Perez, 1.4 to Button.
There was no change in race order all the way through to Lap 22 when Daniel Ricciardo came in for his first scheduled pitstop. Then it was a question of how soon the front runners would wait, because as cars approached the Lap 25 mark, it was assumed that everyone could and would run just one stop. And so exactly where your car came out would cement your place for the rest of the grand prix.
Maldonado had a coming together with Jules Bianchi and lost parts of his front wing again on Lap 23.
Mark Webber set a Fastest lap of 1:19.750 on Lap 24 and then dived for the pits at the end of Lap 25. He exited in P11. Team-mate Vettel then put in the Fastest Lap of 1:19.748 but stayed out much longer than Webber.
Button and Raikkonen were in at the end of Lap 26, Alonso on Lap 28 (and stayed behind Raikkonen and in front of Button). Perez and Vergne at the end of Lap 29 just after a repeat accident from Felipe Massa. Massa's Ferrari duplicated the same tyre-locking accident into Ste Devote that he'd managed in final practice and hit the barriers hard.
It looked as though it might bring out the Safety Car and on Lap 30, Vettel and Sutil dived for the pits, but the incident looked to be controlled by waved yellows. Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were still flying along at the front, Rosberg with a 3.0 second lead over Hamilton. However, with Massa looking like he might need medical attention the Safety Car was then deployed to allow the medical car on track and it was action stations in the Mercedes pit as the team knew they had to pit Rosberg and Hamilton together. The Safety Car was deployed just as the Mercedes started Lap 31.That indecision in bringing the cars in cost the Mercedes team a 1-2 in the race. They managed to get Rosberg out in front of the Red Bulls, but Hamilton was slow into the pits and could only exit in P4. So as the cars lined up behind the very slowly circulating Safety Car the order on Lap 33 was: 1.Rosberg, 2.Vettel, 3.Webber, 4.Hamilton, 5.Raikkonen, 6.Alonso, 7.Button, 8.Perez, 9.Sutil, 10.Vergne, 11.Di Resta, 12.Hulkenberg, 13.Ricciardo, 14.Grosjean.
Rosberg thought the Safety Car was going too slow and actually pulled alongside it in a bid to get Bernd Maylander to go faster. The message got through - on Lap 35 it was a 2:05 and on Lap 36 it was a 1:57. The medical car finally left Ste Devote and we were racing again on Lap 39.
After the restart Alonso had a look at Raikkonen into the chicane for P5 and Hamilton was very keen to get past Webber. Both cars in front blocked and no places changed. On Lap 40 Vettel got a depressing message from his engineers, that Rosberg wasn't marginal on tyres and so settled in for the rest of the afternoon, the remaining 38 laps.
Behind him Hamilton made an audacious attempt to get past Webber into Rascasse and saved some KERS for a sprint up the hill from Rascasse to Anthony Nogues. Webber left him room but held the place.
With the Safety Car having closed up the field there were tentative moves in the midfield. Alonso was trying to get past Raikkonen and behind him Button was looking to exploit any loss of momentum from Alonso. Button had a look up the inside of the Ferrari at the Lowes hairpin and bumped the Ferrari's backwheel failing to get past.
Then later that same lap he found Sergio Perez sticking his Mclaren inside into the chicane and the two made contact again. Button had to radio back to see if his wing was okay, while Perez took on his next challenge - passing Alonso.
On Lap 44 Perez tried to dive down the inside of Alonso at the Nouvelle (or tunnel chicane) and forced Alonso to cut the chicane to avoid hitting him. He got onto team radio to point this out. The issue wasn't resolved before Lap 46 when running towards Tabac, Maldonado got blocked by Max Chilton's Marussia and took off hitting the barrier hard, ripping the barrier protector away from its stays and bringing it out across the track (where it was struck by Bianchi).
It was an immediate Red Flag as the circuit was almost blocked - the cars squeezed through the gap that was left and took their places on the grid for the re-start. While the barrier was repaired, it was divined that Alonso would have to give a place up to Perez on the re-start which was scheduled for 15:35.
The cars set off again for a warm-up lap on Lap 47 and we were racing on Lap 48. Again Rosberg managed the re-start well with no challenge from Vettel.
Positions at the end of Lap 48: 1.Rosberg, 2.Vettel, 3.Webber, 4.Hamilton, 5.Raikkonen, 6.Perez, 7.Alonso, 8.Button, 9.Sutil, 10.Vergne, 11.DiResta, 12.Hulkenberg, 13.Ricciardo, 14.Grosjean.
In fact on lap 50, the biggest gap in the field was between Rosberg and Vettel, 1.4 seconds. There was just 7.5 seconds between 1st place and 13th place. Hamilton was again tight on Mark Webber but it was Adrian Sutil who made a cheeky little overtaking move on Button into the Lowe's hairpin on Lap 52 to take P8.
A lap later, Perez tried to do to Raikkonen what he had done to Perez at the chicane and both cars cut the chicane - a move that Alan McNish described as "racing on the absolute limit."
Sutil wasn't finished, though, and on Lap 57 he repeated his crafty hairpin move on Fernando Alonso to grab P7 and demote Alonso to P8. The Mclaren team decided to warn Perez to look in his mirrors after Mirabeau to prevent him becoming Sutil's next victim.
At the front, Rosberg was stretching his lead and had a 3.3 second lead on lap 59 - yet there was still just 13.2 seconds between 1st and 16th place! Bianchi crashed out at Ste Devote on Lap 60 with what looked like a braking issue, the incident covered under waved yellows. However two laps later Romain Grosjean - who'd managed 62 laps without damaging his car - tried an inexpert move on Daniel Ricciardo into the chicane and simply piled into the back of him.
The Lotus ripped the rear wing off the Toro Rosso which was out on the spot as Grosjean limped back to the pits. His fourth accident of the weekend. With carbon fibre debris everywhere there was no option but to bring out another Safety Car to clear up the track.
As the cars circulated behind the Safety Car for the second time, Kimi Raikkonen was informed (on Lap 66) that his car was overheating and losing water. The solution was to get air flowing through the radiators again and mercifully we were racing again by Lap 67.
Perez wasn't finished with racing Raikkonen and tried a move on Lap 69 that didn't come off into the chicane which lost him most of his front wing and gave Raikkonen a puncture. The Lotus driver had moved under braking and squeezed the Mclaren against the barrier. Raikkonen had to head for the pits and rejoined in P14. Meanwhile Button made an even cheekier pass (than Sutil) on Alonso into the Rascasse. Alonso was now down to P8.
Positions on Lap 71: 1.Rosberg, 2.Vettel, 3.Webber, 4.Hamilton, 5.Perez, 6.Sutil, 7.Button, 8.Alonso, 9.Vergne, 10.DiResta, 11.Hulkenberg, 12.Bottas.
On Lap 73 something appeared to be up with Perez's car, he missed the chicane - Sutil passed him at Rascasse, and he looked like he was about to head into the pitlane when Jenson Button came up the inside into Anthony Nogues and so Perez couldn't turn in as his team-mate was blocking the entrance - so he went past and parked the car. His race over.
This now let Alonso into P7, Vergne into P8, DiResta into P9 and Hulkenberg into the points. Behind them Kimi Raikkonen was on a mission on a set of new SuperSoft tyres and was lapping in the 1:17s compared to the 1:21s of the cars in front. While Vergne and DiResta put pressure on Alonso in the last five laps Raikkonen closed the gap to the cars in front and overtook three cars in the last two laps to grab P10!
In front Rosberg came home to a deserved win in front of the two Red Bulls, an unlucky Hamilton and a great drive from Sutil and Button in P5 and P6 respectively. Alonso's P7 was not good but it could have been worse with Vergne (P8) and DiResta (P9) snapping at his heels at the line.
The Mercedes had locked out the front row and hadn't suffered a degradation nightmare on what was a very low-stress circuit for tyres. It will be a completely different situation on the streets of Montreal, but for the time being Rosberg will celebrate a very special hometown win.
Times
01 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:18.432
02 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull +3.8
03 Mark Webber Red Bull +6.3
04 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +13.8
05 Adrian Sutil Force India +21.4
06 Jenson Button McLaren +23.1
07 Fernando Alonso Ferrari +26.7
08 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso +27.2
09 Paul di Resta Force India +27.6
10 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus +36.5
11 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber +42.5
12 Valtteri Bottas Williams +42.6
13 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber +43.2
14 Max Chilton Marussia +49.8
15 Giedo van der Garde Caterham +62.5
16 Sergio Perez McLaren +6 laps
Did Not Finish
R Romain Grosjean Lotus +15 laps
R Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso +17 laps
R Jules Bianchi Marussia +20 laps
R Pastor Maldonado Williams +34 laps
R Felipe Massa Ferrari +50 laps
R Charles Pic Caterham +71 lap
JT sawadi
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Would be more exciting playing with the old Scalextric!
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Nookie,I loved the old scale electric stuff when I was a kid...had heaps of it,and at the time,it was exciting Mate,take care.
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Grosjean not giving up chief nutter label without a fight
Romain Grosjean last night vowed not to let Sergio Perez take away his crown as F1′s most reliable accident epicentre.
2012 cemented the young Frenchman’s reputation as the sort of person you went wheel-to-wheel with only if you had a particular thing about hospital food.
But the Lotus driver has looked on aghast this year as his Mexican counterpart steadily elbowed himself up the Top Trumps crash ratings in a shower of carbon fibre.
Grosjean not giving up chief nutter label without a fight
I’ll even road test the coffin for you
Close friend, Burt Quok told reporters,”I bet anyone who thought Romain was going to let Sergio have it all his own way hadn’t reckoned on lap 62.”
“Riccardo certainly didn’t and to be honest, I’m not sure Romain did either.”
“It’s all just instinct at the level he works at. Like a boxer. Or a violent drunk in a pub.”
F1′s former number 1 bruiser was left to rue falling even further behind in the para-psychotic smash-stakes, meanwhile.
Commented Pastor Maldonado, “I tried hitting Chilton a couple of times but then the bastard moved over and made it look like it was all his fault.”
“At this rate I’m going to look about as dangerous as Adrian Newey,” added the Venezuelan
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Q3: Vettel on pole
by Joe Saward
Sebastian Vettel took pole position for the Canadian GP with a controlled run when it mattered in Q3 in Montreal. The session looked to be drier than the end of Q2 and it looked like there would be a lottery with the last man crossing the line getting the pole but the conditions shifted again with the last sector being wetter and the first runs were all that counted. Thus Vettel led Lewis Hamilton, who tried for a last dash for pole but then overshot the final chicane and blew it. The big news was that Valtteri Bottas was third on the grid in the Williams, ahead of Nico Rosberg, Mark Webber, Fernando Alonso, Jean-Eric Vergne, Kimi Raikkonen, Dan Ricciardo and Adrian Sutil completing the top 10. An interesting grid that promises an exciting race. Conditions are due to improve on Sunday so the chopping and changing of the weather will not perhaps be as disruptive...
TBWG
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Better late than never! whistle buttslap
Vettel obliterates rivals on way to masterful victory in Canada
9 June, 2013
Sebastian Vettel wins the Canadian GP for the first time
Sebastian Vettel delivered one of the most dominant performances in recent memory as he powered to a commanding victory in the Canadian Grand Prix, at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, and with it ended his and Red Bull’s North American win drought while extending his championship points lead.
Fernando Alonso bounced back from a mediocre performance in Monaco two weeks ago, and a subdued qualifying session 24 hours earlier, to take second place. Alonso reeled in Lewis Hamilton in the dying stages of the race and went toe-to-toe for a number of laps before the Ferrari edged ahead, the pair finishing second and third respectively.
But the day belonged to world champion Vettel and he was clearly delighted with what will most likely go down as one of his most ruthlessly efficient performances and with it a most famous win. The only blip in an otherwise flawless performance was the hefty smack that ‘Hungry Heidi’, his RB9, suffered when he tagged the wall on lap 11.
With 132 points on the board Vetel leads the standings with a healthy 36 point margin. In the constructors’ standings, Red Bull leads Ferrari by 56 points, with Mercedes 11 further back in third, with seven rounds ticked off in the 2013 Formula 1 World Championship.
“It was a great race and I had a great start which was important. I just kept that gap through out the race and at some points we had a full pit ahead of others. Finally we got our first win [in Canada]. It’s off the list now and it was great to win. The sun came out as well so it doesn’t get any better. We had good races here before but it didn’t come together to win, then I lost it in the last lap two years ago which was my fault but I made up for that today.”
From sixth on the grid Alonso battled his way past Nico Rosberg, Mark Webber and eventually Hamilton, the Spaniard delivering on his prediction a day earlier that he was podium bound.
He summed up his sentiments on the podium to MC Eddie Jordan, ”Yesterday we didn’t have a good qualifying. I didn’t get a fast lap and the conditions were not easy. But we knew the pace in dry conditions [would be] good. We had high hopes. I was fighting top drivers and I had very good fights with Mark, Nico and Lewis at the end. It was not easy because they are super-talented. But I think second [place] tastes of victory, because we scored some good points after a very difficult weekend.”
The biggest cheer for the trio on the podium was a toss up between Alonso and Hamilton; the Briton enjoys strong support in Canada, as does Ferrari. After outshining his Mercedes teammate in qualifying, he did the business again in the race.
He said afterwards, ”I have a great time here every year. I think a small part of the wing came off. It was really close, we had a great battle, he [Alonso] is a fair driver and had a great drive. We just have to keep pushing so we can get closer to these guys.”
At one stage Mark Webber looked good for a podium finish, but contact with with Giedo van der Garde as he was lapping the Caterham driver damaged his front wing and compromised the downforce on his Red Bull. This allowed Alonso easy passage, and demoted the Australian to fourth place where he remained until the chequered flag waved to end the race. In the wake of the incident, Van der Garde was given a drive through penalty for ignoring blue flags.
Webber reflected, ”It [the car]was pretty knackered to be fair, it didn’t help from then on, I don’t know what [Van der Garde] was doing, we had blue flags there but in the end he kept trying to make the apex but I don’t know. Some guys maybe have their eye too much on their drive. The car was very hot so we had to stay out of the slipstream. The car was tough in traffic but when I got past him it was all OK, but I didn’t have long before I then suffered the damage.”
After his victory in Monaco, the Canadian GP weekend was a disappointment for Nico Rosberg who ended fifth but was never in the hunt for a podium spot, and was simply outclassed by his teammate this weekend.
Jean Eric Vergne drove a mature race in the Toro Rosso, after starting from seventh, and went on to finish sixth, the best finish of his career thus far and a fair reward for the young Frenchman who is starting to get the upper hand over teammate Daniel Ricciardo, in the Red Bull junior team.
Vergne was understandably pleased, ”Sixth is really good result, but I already forget it and I concentrate on the next race. I don’t have to be satisfied with sixth, we always want better and I want to do better for the next races and that’s why we have to keep working.”
Drive of the day must go to Paul Di Resta who finished seventh on a single stop strategy. The Scot endured a ‘Keystone Cops’ style qualifying session which saw him start 17th on the grid. The Force India driver was one of the few to start on the medium (white branded) tyre, which he remarkably nursed through to lap 52 before pitting for the super softs.
“We have pulled something way out of the basket today,” said Di Resta. ”I think we got it absolutely spot on today. Whether there was a chance to fight Vergne I don’t know, but we took the decision to make sure we got some points.”
Felipe Massa also made up for his qualifying mistake (he crashed during Q2) by finishing eighth and giving Ferrari a double points finish. The Brazilian was feisty on the day, as he carved his way through the field from 16th on the grid.
For Lotus it was another forgettable weekend as both Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean did not feature as a force all weekend. Raikkonen complained of poor grip.Vettel lapping him around mid-distance illustrated the extent of the team’s woes. Nevertheless the Finn scored points yet again, with eighth place, and equaled Michael Schumacher’s record of 24 consecutive points finishes.
Grosjean started from the back of the grid thanks to a ten place penalty for his Monaco shenanigans, but was never a factor in the race and ended up 13th.
Final point went to Adrian Sutil for finishing tenth, having started from eighth on the grid, but was ragged for most of the race and his holding up of Hamilton and Alonso earned him a drive through penalty for ignoring blue flags.
It was another bleak day for McLaren, in fact the bleakest of the season thus far, as both drivers failed to score points, with Sergio Perez 11th and Jenson Button 12th. So ended an incredible consecutive points scoring streak that had stretched back 64 races.
Button summed up the situation, ”We finished outside the points and we have a lot of work to do. We’ve got to get our act together and improve. Are we going to be quicker at Silverstone? Yes. We had parts here that didn’t work on this circuit but will work at Silverstone. Soon we’ll start to pick up more points. We’ll not be on the podium but we’ll get more points.”
Final word to the winning team principal, Red Bull’s Christian Horner, “It has been an amazing day and a great drive by Vettel. He touched the wall quite significantly as he was pushing to try to build up a pit stop but in the end it was a tremendous drive. It was a wake up call for him because when you are so far ahead it is easy to lose concentration but it it was flat out from everyone from start to finish today, and that’s how it should be.” (Apex)
Canadian Grand Prix, Montreal – Sunday, 9 June 2013
Pos No Driver Team Laps Time Grid Pts
1 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 70 Winner 1 25
2 3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 70 +14.4 secs 6 18
3 10 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 70 +15.9 secs 2 15
4 2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 70 +25.7 secs 5 12
5 9 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 70 +69.7 secs 4 10
6 18 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari 69 +1 Lap 7 8
7 14 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 69 +1 Lap 17 6
8 4 Felipe Massa Ferrari 69 +1 Lap 16 4
9 7 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 69 +1 Lap 10 2
10 15 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 69 +1 Lap 8 1
11 6 Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 69 +1 Lap 12
12 5 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 69 +1 Lap 14
13 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 69 +1 Lap 22
14 17 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 69 +1 Lap 3
15 19 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari 68 +2 Laps 11
16 16 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 68 +2 Laps 13
17 22 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 68 +2 Laps 19
18 20 Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 67 +3 Laps 18
19 23 Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 67 +3 Laps 20
20 12 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 63 +7 Laps 15
Ret 11 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 45 +25 Laps 9
Ret 21 Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 43 +27 Laps 21
Note: Grosjean qualified 19th; penalised 10 grid spots for causing collision at previous round. Raikkonen and Ricciardo qualified ninth and tenth respectively; penalised two grid spots each for pit-exit infringements during qualifying.
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FP1: Washout very little running done at a cold and wet Silverstone!
FP2: Nico leads the way
by Joe Saward
Nico Rosberg set the fastest time in the second practice session at Silverstone on Friday, with the track relatively dry, although there were damp patches off line. The German was three-tenths faster than Mark Webber, who had Sebastian Vettel trailing him, while Paul di Resta made a splash by setting the fourth best time, ahead of Lewis Hamilton. There was further surprise with the Toro Rossos of Dan Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne in sixth and seventh, ahead of Adrian Sutil in the second Force India and Romain Grosjean in the Lotus. The top 10 was completed by Fernando Alonso's Ferrari. Jenson Button put his McLaren 11th ahead of Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber, Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus, Sergio Perez's McLaren, Esteban Gutierrez and the Williams pair: Valtteri Bottas and Pastor Maldonado. At the back we had Jules Bianchi's Marussia, chased by the two Caterhams of Giedo Van der Garde and Charles Pic and Max Chilton's Marussia.
Felipe Massa slid off early in the session and bopped the nose off his Ferrari and so ended up at the back.
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Again it looks like the weather will be an all important issue at Silverstone.
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Better weather today even a bit of sun!
Nico leads the way in FP3
by Joe Saward
Nico Rosberg set the fastest time of the third practice session for the British GP, on a dry, but cool day at Silverstone. Lewis Hamilton was next up, just a tenth behind. Sebastian Vettel was third with Mark Webber fourth, ahead of Romain Grosjean, Dan Ricciardo, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Adrian Sutil. Paul di Resta completed the top 10. Jean-Eric Vergne was 11th ahead of Jenson Button, Pastor Maldonado, Nico Hulkenberg, Felipe Massa, Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Gutierrez and Sergio Perez (who had a puncture and then an off). At the back end of the grid Charles Pic led the fight ahead of Jules Bianchi, Max Chilton and Giedo van der Garde.
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British GP: Hamilton storms to pole ahead of Rosberg cheergirl
By Matt Beer Saturday, June 29th 2013, 13:03 GMT
Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position for his home grand prix in Britain by a commanding 0.4-second margin.
Hamilton won a huge battle with his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg as the silver cars monopolised the qualifying contest again.
A 1m30.096s early in Q3 gave Hamilton the initial advantage by a tenth and a half.
Rosberg beat that with a 1m30.059s on his second run, but Hamilton was already responding.
He came through to set a 1m29.607s and take a comfortable pole, his first at Silverstone since 2007.
Red Bull was Mercedes' main rival, but Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber had to be content with the second row. They were just 0.009s apart.
Hamilton was not the only Briton to star, as Paul di Resta added to the home crowd's excitement with fifth on the grid for Force India.
His team-mate Adrian Sutil was up in seventh, behind the sensational Daniel Ricciardo. His Toro Rosso team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne was way back in 13th.
Ferrari struggled badly. Fernando Alonso was only 10th fastest, beaten by the muted Lotuses as well as the flying underdogs, while Felipe Massa failed to get out of Q2 and will start 12th.
Despite predicting on Friday that Q3 would be impossible for McLaren, a mighty late-Q2 lap from Jenson Button almost got him into the top 10.
Unfortunately for the Woking team, Raikkonen squeezed ahead by 0.057s, leaving Button 11th. His team-mate Sergio Perez was 0.4s and three places further back.
One race on from his incredible Montreal qualifying result, it was back to reality for Valtteri Bottas. He was eliminated in Q1 and will start one place behind Williams team-mate Pastor Maldonado in 17th.
Sauber's year continued in the same disappointing vein too, with Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez 15th and 18th.
Max Chilton was troubled to end up slowest in his first Formula 1 qualifying session at home, especially with Marussia team-mate Jules Bianchi 1.7s faster (although he was behind Caterham's Charles Pic in the backmarker shootout).
But Chilton will not start last as Giedo van der Garde will drop back due to his penalty for tangling with Mark Webber in Montreal.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m29.607s
2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m30.059s
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m30.211s
4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m30.220s
5. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m30.736s
6. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m30.757s
7. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m30.908s
8. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m30.955s
9. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m30.962s
10. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m30.979s
Q2 cut-off time: 1m31.592s Gap **
11. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m31.649s + 0.659s
12. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m31.779s + 0.789s
13. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m31.785s + 0.795s
14. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m32.082s + 1.092s
15. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m32.211s + 1.221s
16. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m32.359s + 1.369s
Q1 cut-off time: 1m32.512s Gap *
17. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m32.664s + 1.669s
18. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m32.666s + 1.671s
19. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m33.866s + 2.871s
20. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m34.108s + 3.113s
21. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m35.481s + 4.486s
22. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m35.858s + 4.863s
107% time: 1m37.364s
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British GP: Paul di Resta excluded from qualifying as car underweight
By Jonathan Noble Saturday, June 29th 2013, 18:50 GMT
Paul di Resta has been excluded from qualifying at the British Grand Prix after his Force India was found to be under the minimum weight limit.
The Scot had secured fifth on the grid at Silverstone but his car came in 1.5kg underweight in post-qualifying scrutineering.
Even with a mandatory fuel sample on board, the car weighed only 641.5 kg - which is 0.5 kg below the minimum weight.
After the FIA drained the car of fuel, it was found it weighed just 640kg, two kilogrammes under the limit.
With a 0.5kg tolerance accepted for the scales' accuracy, it was ruled that the car was officially 1.5kg underweight.
After the matter was referred to the race stewards, it was decided that the team had been in breach of the regulations and di Resta was thrown out of the results.
He can now start the British GP from the back of the grid.
It is understood the issue revolved around the weight of di Resta himself after qualifying - as the driver and car are combined to reach the 642kg limit.
There are suggestions that di Resta's weight check at the end of qualifying was 1.5kg below his normal weight - which he had been after free practice.
Although some consideration was given to appealing the matter because of the discrepancy, Force India in the end has decided to accept the verdict - meaning di Resta will start his home race last.
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Would be nice to see Hamilton win but he has a habit of fcuking things up!
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Sam Michael is really a dangerous pathogen capable of infecting any F1 team exposed to him within a matter of hours.
The Mclaren Sporting Director’s diagnosis was confirmed after his employer’s prolonged downturn developed into a massive slump at the Canadian Grand Prix and follows the Australian’s complete contagion of the Williams team.
Professor of Airborne F1 Particulate Diseases, Brian Teacakes said, “we are warning every team up and down the grid not to go anywhere near Mr Michael.”
“He is highly contagious and infection is swift and merciless. Anybody catching sight of Mr Michael should immediately call for medical assistance and for God’s sake, don’t go anywhere near him with an employment contract,” he explained.
Victims suffer a number of symptoms from a rapid contraction in competitiveness and a haemorrhaging of points to a feeling of helplessness, immobility and ultimately, massive personnel reduction.
“I didn’t make the connection between hiring Sam and our immediate collapse in competitiveness, morale and sense of purpose,” person who wished to remain unnamed, Martin Whitmarsh said.
“But since I didn’t notice when the same thing happened when I took over, that’s hardly surprising.”
Though there is no known cure for the Australian, Jenson Button is thought to be keen on seeing if hitting the prick over the head with this frying pan enough times could help? loco
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German GP P1 & P2
FP1: Lewis leads the way in P1
by Joe Saward
Lewis Hamilton set the pace at a cool and overcast Nürburgring on Friday morning with a lap that was two-tenths faster than his team-mate Nico Rosberg. The gap between Rosberg and the nearest challenger - Mark Webber - was more telling with eight-tenths of a second suggesting that the Mercs are likely to be very competitive this weekend. Webber headed local hero Adrian Sutil by a tiny margin with Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa, Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel and Romain Grosjean next on the time sheets. Sergio Perez completed the top 10, while an electrical problem left Fernando Alonso at the bottom of the list.
In the midfield Paul di Resta was 11th ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne and the two Williamses of Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas. Esteban Gutierrez was 17th.
At the back Charles Pic lead the Caterham-Marussia tussle ahead of Max Chilton, Giedo Van der Garde and Marussia's reserve driver Rodolfo Gonzalez.
FP2: Home boys ahead
by Joe Saward
Sebastian Vettel led the way in the second practice session in Germany on Friday afternoon, as the teams tried out their race set-ups for the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring. He was two-tenths faster than Nico Rosberg, with Mark Webber third. The two Lotuses were competitive with Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen fourth and fifth ahead of the two Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes. The top 10 was completed by Jenson Button's McLaren and Paul di Resta's Force India.
Adrian Sutil was 11th, ahead of the two Toro Tossos of Dan Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne, Sergio Perez's McLaren and the Saubers of Nico Hulkenburg and Esteban Gutierrez. They were followed by the two Williamses of Valtteri Bottas and Pastor Maldonado, the Caterhams of Charles Pic and Giedo Van der Garde and the Marussias of Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton.
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Lewis blows them away
by Joe Saward
Lewis Hamilton was beastly to the Germans on Saturday afternoon at the Nurburgring, beating local hero Sebastian Vettel to pole position in a last-minute dash in the Q3 session for the German GP. The Englishman beat Vettel by a tenth of a second, with Mark Webber third and Kimi Raikkonen fourth, ahead of his Lotus team-mate Romain Grosjean. Dan Ricciardo was a strong sixth for Toro Rosso ahead of the Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, while the top 10 was completed by Jenson Button's McLaren and Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber.
An interesting race grid for the race on Sunday.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m29.398s
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m29.501s +0.103s
3. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m29.608s +0.210s
4. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m29.892s +0.494s
5. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m29.959s +0.561s
6. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m30.528s +1.130s
7. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m31.126s +1.728s
8. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m31.209s +1.811s
9. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes No time set
10. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari No time set
Q2 cut-off time: 1m30.269s Gap **
11. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m30.326s +0.501s
12. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m30.697s +0.872s
13. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m30.933s +1.108s
14. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m31.010s +1.185s
15. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m31.010s +1.185s
16. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m31.104s +1.279s
Q1 cut-off time: 1m31.681s Gap *
17. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m31.693s +1.146s
18. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m31.707s +1.160s
19. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m32.937s +2.390s
20. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m33.063s +2.516s
21. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m33.734s +3.187s
22. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m34.098s +3.551s
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German GP: Sebastian Vettel resists Kimi Raikkonen for home win
By Matt Beer Sunday, July 7th 2013
Sebastian Vettel finally won his home grand prix in Germany as he resisted big pressure from Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean at the Nurburgring.
As the Lotus duo took turns to hound Vettel for most of the race, it looked unlikely that the Red Bull driver would be able to cling on for victory, but he ultimately managed to after a dogged drive.
Polesitter Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes was swamped by the faster-starting Red Bulls off the line, as Vettel and Mark Webber moved into an immediate one-two.
Webber stayed right with his team-mate until the first pitstops, when he was sent out before his right-rear wheel was fully attached.
The tyre shot off and hit a television cameraman further down the pitlane. The cameraman was taken to hospital for observation.
Hamilton lost ground with heavy tyre wear as the race progressed, but Lotus moved in the opposite direction.
Grosjean ran 13 laps on softs in his first stint - far better than anyone else managed - and that jumped him from fifth to second.
The Frenchman then chased Vettel down, though he could not get closer than two seconds behind.
A safety car just mid-distance closed things up and brought Raikkonen from 12s down into contention.
The caution period was required after Jules Bianchi's Marussia retired in a cloud of smoke and flames, and then began drifting back across the circuit on the chicane approach after its driver had got out.
The leaders made their second stops behind the safety car but could not make it from there to the end.
Grosjean was first to pit, with Vettel reacting on the next lap and staying ahead.
Raikkonen ran 10 laps further then pitted for softs, allowing him to charge back past Grosjean (who obeyed a team order to not delay the Finn) and then catch Vettel.
But the world champion had just enough in hand to hang on and win by a second.
Grosjean resisted a similar late surge from Fernando Alonso to keep third.
Alonso's Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa spun out at the first corner just four laps in while running sixth.
Hamilton ended up fifth, passing two-stopper Jenson Button's McLaren on the last lap.
Webber was brought back to the Red Bull garage and given a new wheel, then recovered from a distant last to seventh, just ahead of McLaren's Sergio Perez.
Nico Rosberg could make little progress from 11th on the grid and finished ninth ahead of countryman Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber.
Daniel Ricciardo faded from sixth in qualifying to 12th, between the Force Indias.
Williams appeared to have a shot at points for a while, before pitstop delays hampered both its drivers.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The German Grand Prix
Nurburgring, Germany;
60 laps; 306.458km;
Weather: Sunny.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault
2. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault
3. Grosjean Lotus-Renault
4. Alonso Ferrari
5. Hamilton Mercedes
6. Button McLaren-Mercedes
7. Webber Red Bull-Renault
8. Perez McLaren-Mercedes
9. Rosberg Mercedes
10. Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari
11. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes
12. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari
13. Sutil Force India-Mercedes
14. Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari
15. Maldonado Williams-Renault
16. Bottas Williams-Renault
17. Pic Caterham-Renault
18. van der Garde Caterham-Renault
19. Chilton Marussia-Cosworth
DNF. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari
DNF. Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth
DNF. Massa Ferrari
World Championship standings, round 9:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 157 1. Red Bull-Renault 250
2. Alonso 123 2. Mercedes 181
3. Raikkonen 118 3. Ferrari 180
4. Hamilton 97 4. Lotus-Renault 159
5. Webber 93 5. Force India-Mercedes 59
6. Rosberg 84 6. McLaren-Mercedes 49
7. Massa 57 7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 24
8. Grosjean 41 8. Sauber-Ferrari 7
9. Di Resta 36
10. Button 33
11. Sutil 23
12. Perez 16
13. Vergne 13
14. Ricciardo 11
15. Hulkenberg 7
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Why were the 2 pit incidents not investigated after the incidents,,,,it seems very strange to review them after the race!
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Hungarian GP
Red Bull looks good in FP1
by Joe Saward
Sebastian Vettel set the pace in the first practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix, although the speed of the Lotuses suggested that they are going to be the team to watch this weekend. Vettel was two-tenths faster than Webber, but Kimi Raikkonen was next ahead of Fernando Alonso, Romain Grosjean, Jenson Button, Adrian Sutil, Nico Rosberg, Sergio Perez and Pastor Maldonado.
The midfield was led by Esteban Gutierrez in the Sauber ahead of Valtteri Bottas, Lewis Hamilton, Jean-Eric Vergne, Felipe Massa and Nico Hulkenberg. Daniel Ricciardo was slower than expected as was Paul di Resta, while the rear of the pack was the usual battle between Caterham and Marussia with Charles Pic ahead of Giedo Van der Garde, Jules Bianchi and Rodolfo Gonzalez.
FP2: Bulls still running ahead
by Joe Saward
Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber continued to set the pace in Hungary in the FP2 session, with Romain Grosjean third for Lotus. Kimi Raikkonen was down in eighth but was unable to set a representative lap when it mattered early in the session. The Lotus remains a strong contender in race set-up. Ferrari was not far behind with Fernando Alonso fourth and fifth, ahead of the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Further back the McLaren and the Force Indias were mixed up in the fight for ninth with Jneson Button ahead of Adrian Sutil, Paul di Resta and Sergio Perez. Pastor Maldonado was next up for Williams, but his team-mate Valtteri Bottas was 18th, rather a long way behind his team-mate. The Saubers were 14th and 15th with Esteban Gutierrez faster than Nico Hulkenberg, while the Toro Rossos were next with Jean-Eric Vergne faster than Daniel Ricciardo. At the back, behind Bottas, were the Caterhams and Marussias with Charles Pic ahead of Giedo Van der Garde, Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton.
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FP3
Lotus Elan
by Joe Saward
Romain Grosjean set the pace in the FP3 session in Budapest for Lotus, a tenth faster than Fernando Alonso's Ferrari. Sergio Perez was third overall, but ended the session going sideways into a tyre barrier. Red BUll's Sebastian Vettel was fourth, ahead of Felipe Massa, Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, Nico Rosberg, Jenson Button and Adrian Sutil. Kimi Raikkonen was 11th but he was confident of doing better in the qualifying sessions.
In the midfield Pastor Maldonado was 12th for Williams ahead of Paul di Resta, Nico Hulkenberg, Daniel Ricciardo, Jean-Eric Vergne and Valtteri Bottas. Giedo Van der Garde was ahead of Charles Pic, Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton, while Esteban Gutierrez brought up the rear because of technical troubles.
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Hungarian GP: Lewis Hamilton beats Sebastian Vettel to pole
By Matt Beer Saturday, July 27th 2013, 13:05 GMT
Lewis Hamilton takes Hungarian GP pole 2013
Lewis Hamilton denied Sebastian Vettel Hungarian Grand Prix pole in a superb battle at the end of qualifying.
Vettel seemed to have put himself out of reach with an incredible first flying lap in Q3 that was 0.8 seconds clear of the rest of the field.
But Red Bull had the advantage of still having fresh soft tyres for both Q3 runs, whereas its rivals were all saving their rubber for their final lap.
At first, Vettel remained too fast to catch, with final practice pacesetter Romain Grosjean getting closest in his Lotus.
Then Mercedes driver Hamilton produced a 1m19.388s to depose Vettel, and although the world champion was also improving his pace, he fell 0.038 seconds short.
That was far better off than his team-mate Mark Webber. Vettel's closest rival on Friday had a KERS failure early in qualifying.
Webber struggled through to Q3 but did not run in the final segment so will start 10th in the second Red Bull.
Grosjean held on to third, joined on row two by Hamilton's team-mate Nico Rosberg.
Ferrari was not a factor in the pole fight, with Fernando Alonso fifth and Felipe Massa seventh.
Kimi Raikkonen was briefly on the provisional front row as he completed an early final run, but his Lotus ultimately fell to sixth.
Raikkonen's rival for a 2014 Red Bull seat Daniel Ricciardo maintained his strong recent form to put his Toro Rosso eighth, six places ahead of team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne.
Sergio Perez was the other Q3 contender in ninth, sticking to medium tyres rather than going for pole. His McLaren team-mate Jenson Button understeered to 13th.
But Paul di Resta ending up 18th was a shock to both the Scot and Force India, left baffled by the performance of his final set of tyres.
Di Resta's team-mate Adrian Sutil missed out on the top 10 by just 0.042s and joins Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber on row six.
Caterham proved comfortably quicker than Marussia in the tail-end fight, while brief late-Q2 top-10 appearances by both Williams drivers proved deceptive as they were shuffled back to 16th and 17th.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m19.388s
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m19.426s +0.038s
3. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m19.595s +0.207s
4. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m19.720s +0.332s
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m19.791s +0.403s
6. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m19.851s +0.463s
7. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m19.929s +0.541s
8. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m20.641s +1.253s
9. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m22.398s +3.010s
10. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault no time set
Q2 cut-off time: 1m20.545s Gap **
11. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m20.569s +0.791s
12. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m20.580s +0.802s
13. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m20.777s +0.999s
14. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m21.029s +1.251s
15. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m21.133s +1.355s
16. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m21.219s +1.441s
Q1 cut-off time: 1m21.612s Gap *
17. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m21.724s +1.374s
18. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m22.043s +1.693s
19. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m23.007s +2.657s
20. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m23.333s +2.983s
21. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m23.787s +3.437s
22. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m23.997s +3.647s
107% time: 1m25.974s
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Hungarian GP: Lewis Hamilton takes his first Mercedes victory
By Matt Beer Sunday, July 28th 2013
Lewis Hamilton claimed his first victory for Mercedes with an imperious drive in the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Briton pulled himself clear of a fraught race behind, in which Kimi Raikkonen ultimately beat Sebastian Vettel to second, Mark Webber salvaged fourth and Romain Grosjean's chances were spoiled by a penalty.
Hamilton's initial battle was with qualifying rivals Vettel and Grosjean, after a spicy first lap in which slow-starter Vettel had to defend hard from the Lotus as Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg also tried to get involved.
The Red Bull was right on the Mercedes' tail at first, but as the opening stint wore on, Hamilton had some respite with Vettel instead under pressure from Grosjean.
The crucial moment for Hamilton was when he emerged behind Jenson Button after his first pitstop.
Hamilton rapidly overtook and, despite the McLaren's best retaliatory efforts, pulled away.
Vettel could not do the same when he also found himself tailing Button after pitting.
The two made light contact, leaving Vettel concerned about his front wing and allowing Grosjean plenty of chances to attack, as Alonso closed in too.
It took until lap 24 for Vettel to finally pass Button, with Grosjean clashing with the McLaren as he tried to follow.
Both continued, but the incident will be investigated post-race.
Grosjean still got a penalty in the race as well. Following his second pitstop, he boldly passed Felipe Massa's Ferrari around the outside of the fast Turn 4.
But the stewards adjudged that he had exceeded track limits in doing so and bestowed a drive-through, dropping him out of contention.
By the time Vettel was clear of Button, Hamilton had a commanding advantage over the world champion that he would not lose.
The other Red Bull was not defeated yet, though. Webber ran a very long first stint on his medium tyres and spent a while in the lead.
On their slightly different sequences, Hamilton twice emerged right behind Webber after pitstops, and twice passed him on the outside of Turn 3, with Webber ending up taking to the run-off in the second move.
Those passes ensured Webber had no chance of delaying Hamilton's progress as the Briton wrapped Mercedes' third victory of 2013.
Meanwhile Raikkonen worked his way forward on a two-stop strategy, spending the early part of the race trapped behind Massa before bringing himself into contention.
His consistent pace meant that he emerged in second place as the final stops played out, with both Red Bulls behind him.
Vettel tried his utmost to pass Raikkonen in the closing laps and complained that the Finn was over-defensive in what turned out to be a decisive dice with two laps to go.
Webber tried to chase down this pair but had to settle for fourth, while Alonso fell away from the leaders and could only fend off Grosjean for fifth.
McLaren got both its cars in the points on two-stop strategies, with Button seventh and Sergio Perez ninth.
First-lap contact with Rosberg and a later brush with Adrian Sutil hampered Massa's day and he finished eighth.
Rosberg tumbled down to 12th in his incident with the Ferrari. He recovered to ninth before a fiery late-race failure.
The Mercedes' retirement allowed Pastor Maldonado to end Williams's points drought in 10th position.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
Pos Driver Team
1. Hamilton Mercedes
2. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault
3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault
4. Webber Red Bull-Renault
5. Alonso Ferrari
6. Grosjean Lotus-Renault
7. Button McLaren-Mercedes
8. Massa Ferrari
9. Perez McLaren-Mercedes
10. Maldonado Williams-Renault
11. Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari
12. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari
13. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari
14. van der Garde Caterham-Renault
15. Pic Caterham-Renault
16. Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth
17. Chilton Marussia-Cosworth
DNF Di Resta Force India-Mercedes
DNF Rosberg Mercedes
DNF Bottas Williams-Renault
DNF Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari
DNF Sutil Force India-Mercedes
World Championship standings, round 10:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 172 1. Red Bull-Renault 277
2. Raikkonen 134 2. Mercedes 208
3. Alonso 133 3. Ferrari 194
4. Hamilton 124 4. Lotus-Renault 183
5. Webber 105 5. Force India-Mercedes 59
6. Rosberg 84 6. McLaren-Mercedes 57
7. Massa 61 7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 24
8. Grosjean 49 8. Sauber-Ferrari 7
9. Button 39 9. Williams-Renault 1
10. Di Resta 36
11. Sutil 23
12. Perez 18
13. Vergne 13
14. Ricciardo 11
15. Hulkenberg 7
16. Maldonado 1
All timing unofficial
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The Secret Diary of Adrian Newey Aged 53¾: For The Love Of Luigi
Deary deary me trusty tome, I think I am going to have to cross out the word 'Diary' and insert the far more apposite phrase, 'Occasional Jottings'.
The last time I attended to your crisply white vellum pages was back in April, when I discovered you hidden behind an old copy of F1 Racing magazine with McVulcan on the cover. Since then, you have been thoroughly accessible but unattended thanks to our great fight with the filthy Stuttgarters.
So indeed it is with guilt hanging heavy on my shoulders, like a dense soupe de poisson with excess gruyere, that I attempt to record some of my latest musings for posterity. Events in the office have not been running smoothly of late, or at least ever since the Wild Australian Boy announced he was hanging up his F1 helmet at the end of 2013 (To be honest, I never quite understand why at the end of a career you have to hang something up. Because you don't hang up your gloves or your helmet... unless your car ends up in a tree... though technically speaking Mark's has at Le Mans).
Jana, my truculent PA, has been beside herself with grief at the thought of losing Webbo. I look across to her from my drawing board occasionally and I know she's thinking about him, because she has her head in her hands and is muttering, "Why, why, why, why...?" repeatedly. If it was Sebastian who was leaving we would have bunting all round the office.
I don't know if her hostility towards Sebastian is entirely down to Herr Vettel or a little to do with envy for his admirably efficient press assistant Britte, who she refers to wispily as the "Boots-the-Chemist-blonde". All I know is the needle is still there and the anger she felt when Sebastian "stole a win" in Malaysia has only intensified now she knows that Mark is retiring and that might have been the only win of his final season.
As for the potential contenders for the seat she is equally dismissive, she thinks Daniel "smiles too much, so he might be a simpleton" and from her time at McLaren she knows the lady who was tasked with the job of filling up Kimi's beer vending machine in the McLaren motorhome. Finnish beer is very difficult to get hold of in Brazil, but the burbling I-speak-your-weight one was a tricky customer to deal with and made no exceptions. His mates look like roadies for a Finnish grunge band. Jana thinks he has "all the tattoos of a Premiership footballer but only half the brains."
. Most amusing.
When Fernando's manager came to see us in Hungary to discuss the drive, she perked up considerably and used an inappropriate analogy about "someone who could spank the little boy's bottom". Unfortunately for political reasons the Fernando Alonso drive will come to sweet F.A. (that's Fanny Adam and certainly not anything else). As I think I mentioned before, there is a good channel of communication between Christian and Luca Montezemolo, and he was rumoured to have offered our joint services to Maranello
I later found out this rumour was likely the result of their press weevil, Luca Colajanni, feeding rumours to journos along the lines of 'Vettel to the Scuderia in 2014' story. I'm sure if Luca hadn't got a job with Ferrari he'd have ended up in the Vatican Bank or an episode of The Borgias.
However, they do talk on the phone and I think Christian muchly harbours the ambition to step into Luca's shoes as the big boss of Ferrari one day. His major problem is that he isn't particularly Italian. He would probably have to change his name to something like Cristiano di Horner. Luca Montezemolo once admitted to a magazine that he himself added the 'di' bit to his own name to make it sound grander and one website has gone a stage further and constantly refer to him as Luigi Montezuma.
Most rib-tickling.
So Christian is not going to risk a future job opportunity by signing the talented Mr. A, even though it would be fascinating to have him on the team.
For my part, I have to confess I am spending a lot of the grands prix weekends these days avoiding Niki Lauda and his big brown envelope. Despite having a ridiculous number of technical directors in Brackley, the filthy Stuttgarters don't seem to have enough and the offers get more and more ludicrous. The latest was £2m a year, plus an entry into the 2014 Mille Miglia with a classic, factory-prepared 1955 Mercedes 300 SLR and Carole Vorderman as my co-driver.
I think I have made it quite clear that although I admire Carol's ability with numbers, and that she's a bit of a petrolhead too, that's as far as the admiration goes. But most worrisome that he should make the link. I certainly wouldn't want to leave my technical team, even if they do sometimes get a bit fed up with me taking my drawing board on the plane to fly-away races. As one of them said to me the other day, "Adrian, it's very hard to eat an inflight meal with a set-square wedged up your nose". What's more, my major engineering project to benefit mankind has yet to reach the manufacturing stage.
The prototype ESVM1 has been built but there have been a few teething problems. The idea behind it has been given increased impetus by this new 5:2 diet fad. The good lady, my commander-in-chief at home tried the 5:2 and said it had a lot of benefits; for two days of the week you can only have 600 calories, which amounts to fasting. And one of the easiest ways to avoid calories on fasting days is to have interesting and nutritious low-calorie soups. Which is where I come in. My Elite Soup Vending Machine (ESVM1) can be adapted to dispense a range of soupy delights, both exotic, spicy and low-calorie.
The big problem we have at the moment is not getting the cups out in time. The bespoke, locally- sourced ingredients are nicely dispensed but, deary me, the cup is late in getting into position, thus resulting in an under-delivery of the total soup package.
Most bothersome.
I caught Christian banging the side of the machine the other day. When he saw me and my naturally furrowed brow, he said: "You know what the problem with this machine is Adrian..."
"No, I enquired," slightly puzzled that Christian had come up with an engineering solution of any kind.
He smiled his slow, easy smile.
"Not enough downforce."
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Alonso sets the pace in Spa
by Joe Saward
Fernando Alonso set the pace at a drizzly Spa on Friday morning ahead of the Force Indias of Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil. Sergio Perez was fourth for McLaren ahead of Nico Rosberg's Mercedes, Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull and Esteban Gutierrez in his Sauber. Next up was Nico Hulkenberg in the second Sauber, ahead of Dan Ricciardo's Toro Rosso and the Williams of Valtteri Bottas. Felipe Massa was 11th ahead of Pastor Maldonado, Jean-Eric Vergne, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton. At the back Heikki Kovalainen stood in for Charles Pic at Caterham and was the fastest of the smaller team drivers, ahead of Giedo Van der Garde, Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi. The Lotuses of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean brought up the rear, concentrating on others other than lap times.
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Red Bulls run…
by Joe Saward
Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time of the second practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix with the Red Bulls looking rather better than the opposition. Vettel suffered a right rear tyre failure while trying out the softer of the two tyre choices. Mark Webber was second, just a fraction behind his team-mate, but the two were eight-tenths clear of the pack, led by Romain Grosjean (Lotus), Felipe Massa (Ferrari) and Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso). Kimi Raikkonen was sixth quickest, ahead of Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez, Nico Rosberg and the two Force Indias of Paul di Resta and Adrain Sutil. Lewis Hamilton was next ahead of Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber, Pastor Maldonado's Williams, Jenson Button, Dan Ricciardo, Valtteri Bottas and Esteban Gutierrez.
Giedo Van der Garde was the faster of the Caterham drivers but went off at Stavelot and tapped the front wing of the car. Charles Pic was next ahead of Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton.
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P3
Vettel stays ahead
by Joe Saward
Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time of the third practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, with a best time that was a tenth ahead of Fernando Alonso's Ferrari. This was in turn a tenth quicker than Mark Webber in the second Red Bull while Jean-ERic Vergne was an unexpected interloper at the top end of the time sheets in fourth in his Toro Rosso, ahead of Felipe Massa, Jenson Button, Esteban Gutierrez, Romain Grosjean, Nico Rosberg and Kimi Raikkonen.
Dan Ricciardo was 11th with Lewis Hamilton still not showing his pace with 12th place in the Mercedes. Adrian Sutil was next in his Force India ahead of Valtteri Bottas, Paul di Resta, Sergio Perez, Nico Hulkenberg and Pastor Maldonado. At the back Charles Pic was ahead of Giedo Van der Garde, Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton.
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Belgian GP: Lewis Hamilton claims pole in breathtaking qualifying
By Matt Beer Saturday, August 24th 2013,
Lewis Hamilton claimed his fourth consecutive Formula 1 pole position in a breathtaking end to the Belgian Grand Prix qualifying session.
A rain shower at the start of Q3 made it look like Paul di Resta would snatch a sensational pole position for Force India.
But as the track dried up again, the Mercedes and Red Bulls blasted through to demote the Scot to fifth.
Di Resta was the only man to start Q3 on intermediates, and while the other nine drivers slithered helplessly and had to pit again to abandon their slicks, the Force India flew to the top.
It seemed that no one else would have a chance, although Hamilton's Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg hinted at a challenge when he got within half a second of the Force India in much worse weather.
While di Resta pitted with pole apparently in the bag, the rain eased completely, and those able to squeeze in a lap at the end were back in pole contention.
It was Rosberg who first deposed the Force India, but he was quickly beaten by first Red Bull's Mark Webber, then Hamilton.
Sebastian Vettel came through 0.2 seconds slower than Hamilton to claim the second front row spot, followed by Webber, Rosberg and di Resta.
Jenson Button put the lead McLaren an encouraging sixth.
Lotus and Ferrari had to settle for rows four and five, with title contenders Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso back in eighth and ninth positions.
The biggest upset of the wet-but-drying first part of qualifying was Marussia duo Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton plus Caterham's Giedo van der Garde all making it through to Q2.
The trio were the only drivers to try slicks at the end of the session and all jumped up the order, all the way to third in van der Garde's case.
As they progressed, both Williams, both Toro Rossos and Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez were left to rue more conservative tactics as they failed to reach Q2.
With Q2 dry, van der Garde, Bianchi and Chilton lined up in 14th to 16th places.
That still means Caterham will share row seven with a McLaren, as Sergio Perez was the highest-profile driver to fall in Q2.
He starts behind the all-German row six pairing of Nico Hulkenberg and Adrian Sutil.
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Whats the betting on Hamilton getting overtaken from the start!
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First Corner after start normally sees a few incidents, plenty of potential!
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Belgian GP: Sebastian Vettel scores routine win as weather stays dry
By Matt Beer Sunday, August 25th 2013
Sebastian Vettel F1 2013
Sebastian Vettel took a routine victory for Red Bull in a totally dry Belgian Grand Prix.
Fernando Alonso was able to tiger through from ninth on the grid to second ahead of pole sitter Lewis Hamilton, but fellow title contender Kimi Raikkonen's long finishing streak ended with a brake problem.
It took less than half a lap for Vettel to claim control of the race.
Hamilton's Mercedes had stayed ahead through an uneventful start, but Vettel attacked immediately and overtook on the run to Les Combes.
That was the last Vettel's rivals saw of him, as the world champion alternated between cruising to protect his machinery and chucking in crushing fastest laps to prove how much he had in hand.
Alonso's confidence in Ferrari's race pace proved well-founded as a muscular first lap took him straight up to fifth place.
Jenson Button's McLaren and Nico Rosberg's Mercedes were overtaken soon afterwards.
A later first pitstop brought Alonso right up behind Hamilton, who he then passed as the Mercedes slipped a touch wide at La Source.
Hamilton retaliated with DRS on the Kemmel Straight, yet Alonso was able to fend him off despite a vicious twitch under braking.
Button looked like he might have a say in the podium fight as he ran long and hinted at a one-stop strategy.
In the end he had to follow the two-stop trend, dropping him behind Hamilton, Rosberg and the slow-starting Mark Webber.
The Australian's Red Bull showed great late pace having used hard tyres in the middle stint and softs at the end, the opposite strategy to most rivals, but ran out of steam when he came up behind the Mercedes.
Raikkonen looked set to finish adrift of this group even before a front brake issue forced him to retire his Lotus.
Felipe Massa resisted Romain Grosjean, the only successful one-stopper in the points, for seventh place.
Grosjean had an early brush with Sergio Perez in which the stewards judged that the Lotus had been forced off the road at Les Combes.
That earned Perez a drive-through penalty, and that plus late tyre wear on a one-stop left him 11th at the flag.
Qualifying sensation Paul di Resta faded from the start and was in a four-car battle outside the points when he was taken out at the Bus Stop by Pastor Maldonado.
Force India still scored thanks to Adrian Sutil's ninth place.
Daniel Ricciardo overcame Toro Rosso's qualifying miscue to come from 17th to 10th.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The Belgian Grand Prix
Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium;
44 laps; 308.052km;
Weather: Dry.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault
2. Alonso Ferrari
3. Hamilton Mercedes
4. Rosberg Mercedes
5. Webber Red Bull-Renault
6. Button McLaren-Mercedes
7. Massa Ferrari
8. Grosjean Lotus-Renault
9. Sutil Force India-Mercedes
10. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari
11. Perez McLaren-Mercedes
12. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari
13. Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari
14. Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari
15. Bottas Williams-Renault
16. van der Garde Caterham-Renault
17. Maldonado Williams-Renault
18. Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth
19. Chilton Marussia-Cosworth
Fastest lap:
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team
Di Resta Force India-Mercedes
Raikkonen Lotus-Renault
Pic Caterham-Renault
World Championship standings, round 11:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 197 1. Red Bull-Renault 312
2. Alonso 151 2. Mercedes 235
3. Hamilton 139 3. Ferrari 218
4. Raikkonen 134 4. Lotus-Renault 187
5. Webber 115 5. McLaren-Mercedes 65
6. Rosberg 96 6. Force India-Mercedes 61
7. Massa 67 7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 25
8. Grosjean 53 8. Sauber-Ferrari 7
9. Button 47 9. Williams-Renault 1
10. Di Resta 36
11. Sutil 25
12. Perez 18
13. Vergne 13
14. Ricciardo 12
15. Hulkenberg 7
16. Maldonado 1
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Lewis leads the way
by Joe Saward
Lewis Hamilton set the pace in the first practice session at Monza, ahead of Fernando Alonso, Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen and Sergio Perez. Jenson Button was seventh, ahead of Mark Webber, Pastor Maldonado, Jean-Eric Vergne and Esteban Gutierrez. Romain Grosjean was next ahead of Dan Ricciardo, Felipe Massa, Paul di Resta, Valtteri Bottas, James Calado (in the second Force India for Adrian Sutil), Nico Hulkenberg (who had gearbox troubles), Charles Pic, Max Chilton, Heikki Kovalainen (in for Giedo Van der Garde) and Rodolfo Gonzalez (in for Jules Bianchi).
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The old 1-2 at Monza
by Joe Saward
Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber set the pace in the second practice session in Monza, with a gap of six-tenths between them. Kimi Raikkonen was next up with exactly the same lap time as his Lotus team-mate. Fernando Alonso was next ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, followed by Felipe Massa, Jenson Button, Sergio Perez, Paul di Resta, Esteban Gutierrez, Adrian Sutil. They were followed by Pastor Maldonado, Jean-Eric Vergne, Nico Hulkenberg, Dan Ricciardo, Valtteri Bottas, Max Chilton, Charles Pic, Giedo Van der Garde and Jules Bianchi.
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Vettel still on top in P3
by Joe Saward
Sebastian Vettel continued to set the pace in Monza, ending the FP3 session 0.28secs ahead of Fernando Alonso, with Mark Webber third and Lewis Hamilton fourth. Sergio Perez was next with Dan Ricciardo, Felipe Massa, Jenson Button, Pastor Maldonado and Kimi Raikkonen completing the top 10.
Next up was Jean-Eric Vergne, ahead of the Saubers of Nico Hulkenburg and Estaben Gutierrez, Romain Grosjean, Valtteri Bottas, Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta. Charles Pic, Giedo Van der Garde, Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton completed the field, while Nico Rosberg did not set a representative time because of overheating.
The only major incident was Di Resta spinning out. Sutil also had a spin but was able to rejoin.
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Vettel on pole
by Joe Saward
The Q3 session for the Italian GP provided some surprises as Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber ended up 1-2 on the grid, but all eyes were on Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber, which qualified third ahead of the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso. Nico Rosberg was sixth ahead of Dan Ricciardo, Sergio Perez, Jenson Button and Jean-Eric Verge. There were five Ferrari engines in the top 10.
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Italian GP:
By Matt Beer Sunday, September 8th 2013,
Sebastian Vettel reeled off another dominant Formula 1 victory in the Italian Grand Prix, as Fernando Alonso won a battle for second place.
With the lead Red Bull out of reach from the start, the best Ferrari could hope for was 'best of the rest' honours, which Alonso secured after a long tussle with Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber.
Both Red Bulls were ordered to short-shift to protect potential gearbox issues in the closing stages, but while that stymied Webber's pursuit of Alonso, Vettel had enough in hand to back off and still comfortably triumph.
In further good news for Vettel, erstwhile title threats Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen were left squabbling (spectacularly) over minor points after early incidents.
Vettel was threatened by both Webber and the second Ferrari of Felipe Massa into a crowded first corner, but kept himself ahead and swiftly pulled away.
A beautifully judged move around the outside into the Roggia chicane on lap three took Alonso past Webber's Red Bull for third, as they went wheel to wheel right through the complex, making only slight contact on the exit.
Massa then made life very easy for Alonso when he came to overtake for second, and the Spaniard was able to stabilise Vettel's lead at six seconds.
But when Alonso tried a slightly divergent strategy by running four laps longer before his sole pitstop, Vettel's lead increased to over 10s.
Alonso came back out only just ahead of Webber, who had jumped Massa in the stops, and had several close calls in the closing laps as the Red Bull attacked, before claiming second.
Nico Hulkenberg lived up to his qualifying performance by settling his Sauber into fifth place.
He had Nico Rosberg's Mercedes in often very close company all afternoon, but kept his compatriot at bay and finished just a few seconds behind Alonso, Webber and Massa after an outstanding weekend.
Raikkonen had to pit for a new front wing after bumping into Sergio Perez at the start, while an early slow puncture put Hamilton onto a two-stop strategy, hampered further by radio problems.
The recovering Lotus and Mercedes then ended up in the same place on track late on having an epic battle both with each other and the midfield traffic.
Daniel Ricciardo stayed just far enough ahead of late chargers Romain Grosjean and Hamilton to take seventh, while Jenson Button just denied Raikkonen a point. Sergio Perez and Esteban Gutierrez chased them home.
Grosjean reached the end despite Paul di Resta's Force India slamming into his Lotus at the Roggia on lap one, an impact that ended the Scot's race.
Jean-Eric Vergne was another early retirement, having battled in the top 10 before smoke erupted from the right rear of his Toro Rosso.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The Italian Grand Prix
Monza, Italy;
53 laps; 306.720km;
Weather: Cloudy.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h18m33.352
2. Alonso Ferrari + 5.4
3. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 6.3
4. Massa Ferrari + 9.3
5. Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari + 10.3
6. Rosberg Mercedes + 10.9
7. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 32.3
8. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 33.1
9. Hamilton Mercedes + 33.5
10. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 38.3
11. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 38.6
12. Perez McLaren-Mercedes + 39.7
13. Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari + 40.8
14. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 49.0
15. Bottas Williams-Renault + 56.8
16. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
17. Perez McLaren-Mercedes + 1 lap
18. van der Garde Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
19. Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
20. Chilton Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
Fastest lap: Hamilton, 1:25.849
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 35
Di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1
World Championship standings, round 12:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 222 1. Red Bull-Renault 352
2. Alonso 169 2. Ferrari 248
3. Hamilton 141 3. Mercedes 245
4. Raikkonen 134 4. Lotus-Renault 191
5. Webber 130 5. McLaren-Mercedes 66
6. Rosberg 104 6. Force India-Mercedes 61
7. Massa 79 7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 31
8. Grosjean 57 8. Sauber-Ferrari 17
9. Button 48 9. Williams-Renault 1
10. Di Resta 36
11. Sutil 25
12. Perez 18
13. Ricciardo 18
14. Hulkenberg 17
15. Vergne 13
16. Maldonado 1
All timing unofficial
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Kimi Räikkönen has made a deal with Ferrari and will replace Massa next year. bravo1
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F1 fans get ready!
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Singapore GP: Lewis Hamilton leads opening practice
By Matt Beer Friday, September 20th 2013
Hamilton leads opening Monza practiceLewis Hamilton ended first practice for the Singapore Grand Prix atop the order in his Mercedes.
The Briton led the Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel in a tentative session that took a long time to get going as even backmarkers waited for track conditions to improve.
The majority of order changes at the front took place around the halfway point.
In a busy few minutes, the early pacesetting Williams duo and McLaren's Sergio Perez were usurped as the Red Bulls and Mercedes took control.
Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Webber swapped the top spot several times before Hamilton's 1m47.055s secured practice one honours.
Webber was 0.365 seconds slower in second, with Vettel half a second further back but achieving his best time near the end of a long run.
Rosberg completed the top four ahead of Lotus team-mates Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean. The latter's running was limited by a steering problem.
Fernando Alonso was the fastest Ferrari in seventh.
Perez fell back to eighth, six places ahead of McLaren team-mate Jenson Button,
Felipe Massa was also outside the top 10 in the second Ferrari in 12th as Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne and Sauber's improving rookie Esteban Gutierrez claimed ninth and 10th, with Pastor Maldonado's Williams 11th.
The 22 race drivers took part in the session, with no one standing aside for a reserve as teams preferred to maximise their lead racers' track time on the tricky Marina Bay street track.
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Singapore GP: Sebastian Vettel fastest in second practice
By Matt Beer Friday, September 20th 2013,
Sebastian Vettel beat Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber to the fastest time in Friday's second Singapore Grand Prix practice session after a mighty battle between the duo.
Championship leader Vettel and Webber swapped the top spot repeatedly on the soft-compound tyres early on. Webber won that battle, with a time of 1m46.157s giving him a 0.251-second advantage over the German, who had just usurped his original mark.
Vettel blew that pace away when he moved onto supersofts and lapped in 1m44.249s.
Webber's response was compromised by a firm clout of the wall near the end of the lap, leaving him 0.604s down in the end.
Third-placed Nico Rosberg, who pipped Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton by 0.110s, was a second off Vettel's pace.
Steering and brake issues again limited Romain Grosjean's mileage, but did not stop him putting his Lotus fifth - just 0.043s behind Hamilton - during what little running he managed.
That placed him ahead of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button in the top Ferrari and McLaren respectively, and Kimi Raikkonen in the second Lotus.
Adrian Sutil and Sergio Perez completed the top 10.
Bar minor brushes such as Webber's, everyone managed to stay away from the barriers with the exception of Pastor Maldonado, whose Williams required a new front wing.
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Singapore GP: Sebastian Vettel holds off Romain Grosjean in FP3
By Matt Beer Saturday, September 21st 2013
Sebastian Vettel was fastest again in final practice ahead of Singapore Grand Prix qualifying, but Romain Grosjean and Lotus stepped up to pressure Red Bull.
There were hints throughout the session that Red Bull's rivals had reduced the advantage it held at the end of Friday.
Red Bull again held a one-two during the main running on the harder Pirellis.
This time Mark Webber turned the tables on Vettel after their Friday battle as his 1m46.220s lap beat the German by 0.079 seconds.
Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes was just 0.2s slower, a notable improvement on practice two.
Again there were substantial pace improvements on the super-soft tyre, with a massive leap from Grosjean putting the Lotus on top with a 1m44.364s.
Vettel managed to still pip that with a 1m44.173s, 0.191s faster, while Webber hit traffic on super-softs and was only fourth behind Mercedes' Nico Rosberg.
Hamilton ended the hour in fifth ahead of Fernando Alonso's Ferrari.
Alonso was followed by the man McLaren would perhaps like to oust in his favour next year: Sergio Perez.
Nico Hulkenberg gave Sauber another boost with eighth place, with Jenson Button and Felipe Massa completing the top 10.
While Grosjean starred, his Lotus team-mate Kimi Raikkonen could only manage 12th with a disappointing super-soft attempt.
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Singapore GP: Sebastian Vettel escapes late scares to take pole
By Matt Beer Saturday, September 21st 2013,
Sebastian Vettel hung on to take his fifth pole of the 2013 Formula 1 season in Singapore Grand Prix qualifying.
The Red Bull driver opted to do just one Q3 run as his initial 1m42.841s lap put him 0.6 seconds clear of his rivals. He had also outpaced the pack by nearly a second in Q2.
Vettel's casual approach to the pole shootout almost proved costly, as first Mark Webber, then Nico Rosberg and Romain Grosjean all hinted at pole pace on their second shots.
In the end, they all fell short. Rosberg's Mercedes came closest, 0.091 seconds down on Vettel, who is separated from team-mate Webber by Grosjean's Lotus.
Lewis Hamilton was only fifth in the second McLaren, while the Ferraris were down in sixth and seventh, with the departing Felipe Massa ahead of team leader Fernando Alonso again.
Massa had earlier only just made it beyond Q1 having encountered traffic at the wrong moment.
It emerged just before qualifying that Kimi Raikkonen was struggling with back pain and that Lotus had been sufficiently concerned to get reserve driver Davide Valsecchi prepared.
The Finn only managed to qualify 13th, lapping 0.7s slower than team-mate Grosjean in Q2. It remains unclear whether his race participation is in jeopardy.
Esteban Gutierrez was among the stars of qualifying as he put aside recent Saturday woes to reach Q3 for the first time, having first hauled himself out of Q1 at the last moment.
His Sauber team-mate Nico Hulkenberg was overshadowed for once and is only 11th on the grid.
Sauber was not the only team to have one driver either side of the Q2/Q3 divide.
Jenson Button sneaked into the top 10 for McLaren by just 0.058s and took eighth, while the under-pressure Sergio Perez was down in 14th.
Jean-Eric Vergne was within 0.091s of joining Toro Rosso team-mate Daniel Ricciardo in Q3 but will start 12th, three places behind the Australian.
Gutierrez and Massa's late jumps in Q1 caught out Paul di Resta, who was already in the pits and pushed back to 17th. Team-mate Adrian Sutil only managed two places better.
Williams's Pastor Malonado was also knocked out in Q1, though team-mate Valtteri Bottas made it to Q2.
Caterham was again quicker than Marussia, Charles Pic coming out in front among the tail-end pack.
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Singapore GP: Sebastian Vettel leaves action behind as he dominates
By Matt Beer Sunday, September 22nd 2013
Sebastian Vettel produced his most dominant performance of the 2013 Formula 1 season so far to win the Singapore Grand Prix.
Red Bull's world champion left the rest of the field to entertain in his wake, as differing pit tactics following a mid-race safety car shuffled the distant chasing pack.
In the end it was Fernando Alonso who tigered through yet again to give Ferrari second place, as Kimi Raikkonen shrugged off his back problem to turn 13th on the grid into third position.
Mercedes gained fourth and fifth for Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton when the second Red Bull of Mark Webber ground to a halt on the final lap.
Rosberg did his best to make a race of it at the start as he edged ahead of poleman Vettel and outbraked him into Turn 1.
But the Mercedes ran slightly wide and Vettel slipped back through, with Rosberg's retaliation attempt on the outside of Turn 3 failing to come off.
Vettel was not going to take any more chances and began storming away from Rosberg and the rest, leading by six seconds after as many laps.
Alonso made another amazing start, but it was his late-braking move down the outside into the first corner then gained him most ground, as he surged into third place.
Up front, Vettel was not only able to outpace the pack with ease, but could also make his tyres last longer.
Rosberg's second place became a little more secure when Alonso emerged from his first pitstop behind Paul di Resta's yet-to-stop Force India, which would stay in front for six laps.
That delay would have stymied Alonso's chances of making further progress had Daniel Ricciardo not crashed his Toro Rosso and prompted a long safety car just before half-distance.
Most of the frontrunners, led by Alonso, came in for tyres, while Vettel, Rosberg, Webber and Hamilton stayed out.
As it turned out, most of those who had stopped could make their tyres last the rest of the distance.
While this was no problem for Vettel, who pulled away at such a ferocious rate he could easily pit again and stay ahead, the other three tumbled into the midfield traffic when they had to come in again in the final part of the race.
That elevated Alonso to second, ahead of Jenson Button and Raikkonen.
The Ferrari pulled well clear of the McLaren and Lotus, which engaged in an increasingly spectacular battle as Button's tyres faded.
With seven laps to go, Raikkonen pulled off a sublime move around the outside of Button to deny McLaren a podium and get himself into third from 13th on the grid.
Webber had jumped Rosberg in the final stops. The Australian then led the two Mercedes as they hacked back through the field, overtaking the Saubers and McLarens and setting their sights on the podium.
Alonso and Raikkonen were always likely to be out of reach though, and then Red Bull ordered Webber to back off amid a growing technical problem in the final laps.
He was powerless to prevent the two Mercedes easing past him and his car then came to a stand with an apparent engine failure with half a lap of the race to go.
Felipe Massa had to make three pitstops and finished sixth, ahead of a train of tyre-troubled cars in Button, Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg, chased by three-stopper Adrian Sutil.
Di Resta crashed out late on, while qualifying star Esteban Gutierrez fell back to 12th behind Pastor Maldonado as his tyres faded.
World Championship standings, round 13:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 247 1. Red Bull-Renault 377
2. Alonso 187 2. Ferrari 274
3. Hamilton 151 3. Mercedes 267
4. Raikkonen 149 4. Lotus-Renault 206
5. Webber 130 5. McLaren-Mercedes 76
6. Rosberg 116 6. Force India-Mercedes 62
7. Massa 87 7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 31
8. Grosjean 57 8. Sauber-Ferrari 19
9. Button 54 9. Williams-Renault 1
10. Di Resta 36
11. Sutil 26
12. Perez 22
13. Hulkenberg 19
14. Ricciardo 18
15. Vergne 13
16. Maldonado 1
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Korea next F1 fans!
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It's this weekend!
//www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202180048762623&set=vb.1231228586&type=2&theater
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Korean GP: Lewis Hamilton stays on top in second F1 practice
By Matt Beer Friday, October 4th 2013
Lewis Hamilton completed a clean sweep of fastest times in Korean Grand Prix Friday practice as Mercedes again took the fight to Red Bull.
In another strong hint that the champion team will face tougher opposition this weekend than of late, Hamilton not only set the outright pace with a 1m38.673s, but was also very positive about tyre life over later long runs.
Sebastian Vettel was 0.108 seconds down on Hamilton in second place.
The runaway world championship leader, chasing a fourth consecutive Formula 1 race win this weekend, waited much longer than anyone else to move to super-soft tyres, jumping to second when he did so.
That denied Mercedes a one-two, with Vettel edging Nico Rosberg by 0.016s.
Mark Webber had been Hamilton's main rival early on, as the pair swapped first place several times. The second Red Bull ended up back in fourth, but was within 0.063s of its sister car.
Felipe Massa was Ferrari's pacesetter in fifth, two places ahead of team-mate Fernando Alonso. Romain Grosjean's Lotus was in between them.
The second Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen got straight back out after its morning crash and went eighth.
Despite a cockpit niggle, Jenson Button was ninth for McLaren, ahead of very-closely matched Force India duo Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta, who were just 0.001s apart.
No one repeated Raikkonen's trip into the wall, but both Caterham's Charles Pic and Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez had spins during the afternoon while Alonso visited the grass on his final lap.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m38.673s 31
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m38.781s +0.108s 30
3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m38.797s +0.124s 32
4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m38.844s +0.171s 35
5. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m39.114s +0.441s 30
6. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m39.226s +0.553s 34
7. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m39.444s +0.771s 31
8. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m39.757s +1.084s 33
9. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m39.774s +1.101s 29
10. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m40.006s +1.333s 34
11. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m40.007s +1.334s 34
12. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m40.152s +1.479s 31
13. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m40.186s +1.513s 33
14. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m40.210s +1.537s 34
15. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m40.446s +1.773s 30
16. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m40.552s +1.879s 26
17. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m41.117s +2.444s 35
18. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m41.289s +2.616s 34
19. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m42.461s +3.788s 36
20. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m42.798s +4.125s 35
21. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m43.108s +4.435s 31
22. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m43.441s +4.768s 29
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Korean GP: Sebastian Vettel beats Lewis Hamilton to pole position
By Matt Beer Saturday, October 5th 2013,
Vettel took his third straight Formula 1 pole as he beat Lewis Hamilton in Korean Grand Prix qualifying.
Practice had suggested that Mercedes would be able to give Red Bull a much harder time in qualifying at least at Yeongam.
But in the event Sebastian Vettel's initial Q3 lap of 1m37.202s put him 0.308 seconds clear of the leading Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton.
That lap had put Hamilton in third behind the second Red Bull of Mark Webber.
Although Hamilton was able to get ahead of the Australian on his final pole shot, he was still 0.218s adrift of Vettel, who was able to back off his own last lap, confident pole was secure.
Webber also abandoned his final lap and stayed third in the times, which will become 13th on the grid when his 10-place grid penalty for accumulating three driving reprimands is applied.
That will elevate Romain Grosjean to third, the Lotus driver having outpaced the second Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Ferrari duo Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa.
Grosjean's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen could only manage 10th, 1.3s slower.
For the first time this year, Sauber got both cars into Q3, with Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez eighth and ninth quickest.
Sauber's qualifying breakthrough came at McLaren's expense.
Despite encouraging signs in practice, the silver cars found themselves back in 11th and 12th, with Sergio Perez and Jenson Button missing Q3 by just 0.035s and 0.038s respectively.
The Toro Rossos and Force Indias were also eliminated in Q2, while neither Williams made it beyond Q1, although Valtteri Bottas could at least be pleased to outqualify Pastor Maldonado by half a second.
Charles Pic squeezed ahead of Caterham team-mate Giedo van der Garde by 0.007s to lead the rear quartet.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m37.202s
2. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m37.420s +0.218s
3. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m37.464s +0.262s
4. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m37.531s +0.329s
5. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m37.679s +0.477s
6. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m38.038s +0.836s
7. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m38.223s +1.021s
8. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m38.237s +1.035s
9. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m38.405s +1.203s
10. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m38.822s +1.620s
Q2 cut-off time: 1m38.327s Gap **
11. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m38.362s +0.793s
12. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m38.365s +0.796s
13. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m38.417s +0.848s
14. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m38.431s +0.862s
15. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m38.718s +1.149s
16. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m38.781s +1.212s
Q1 cut-off time: 1m39.175s Gap *
17. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m39.470s +1.129s
18. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m39.987s +1.646s
19. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m40.864s +2.523s
20. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m40.871s +2.530s
21. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m41.169s +2.828s
22. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m41.322s +2.981s
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Who would have guessed Sebastian Vettel would be on pole :o
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Latest Grid
Jules Bianchi will start Sunday's Korean Grand Prix from the back of the grid after impeding Paul di Resta in qualifying.
The Marussia driver was found guilty of ignoring a radio warning regarding the approaching Force India and instead staying on the racing line. Bianchi was on an out-lap at the time.
As a result the Korean stewards slapped the French rookie with a three-place grid penalty and also a reprimand.
Bianchi's penalty means he drops from P21 to P22, the final position on the grid.
Meanwhile, Mark Webber's 10-place grid penalty for his third reprimand of the season has shaken up the front end grid.
The Red Bull racer qualified third but still start P13.
The Revised Grid
01 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull
02 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
03 Romain Grosjean Lotus
04 Nico Rosberg Mercedes
05 Fernando Alonso Ferrari
06 Felipe Massa Ferrari
07 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber
08 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber
09 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus
10 Sergio Perez McLaren
11 Jenson Button McLaren
12 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso
13 Mark Webber Red Bull
14 Adrian Sutil Force India
15 Paul di Resta Force India
16 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso
17 Valtteri Bottas Williams
18 Pastor Maldonado Williams
19 Charles Pic Caterham
20 Giedo van der Garde Caterham
21 Max Chilton Marussia
22 Jules BianchiMarussia
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Korean GP: Sebastian Vettel cruises to fourth straight F1 win
By Matt Beer Sunday, October 6th 2013
Sebastian Vettel claimed his fourth straight Formula 1 victory in a Korean Grand Prix enlivened by spectacular racing and bizarre incidents in his wake.
The Red Bull driver was joined on the podium by Lotus duo Kimi Raikkonen - charging forward from 10th on the grid - and Romain Grosjean.
As Vettel stormed away into his habitual lead at the start, Grosjean passed Lewis Hamilton for second into Turn 3.
In their wake, a late-braking move from Felipe Massa ended with the Ferrari spinning across the corner apex and scattering the pack behind. Everyone avoided Massa, but Jenson Button and Adrian Sutil picked up wing damage in the traffic jam.
The first half of the race featured Vettel pulling away from a closely-matched Grosjean and Hamilton, with Nico Rosberg behind and then Nico Hulkenberg fending off Fernando Alonso and a growing pack.
Raikkonen jumped to the front of that group when he made his second pitstop earlier than those around him.
Further up the road, Hamilton began to suffer extreme tyre wear in his second stint and tumbled away from Grosjean towards Rosberg - only for the German's front wing to partially fail in a shower of sparks as he overtook his struggling team-mate.
With both Mercedes delayed, Raikkonen gained two more places, just before the first safety car when Sergio Perez's right front tyre dramatically blew on the long straight after Turn 2.
Mark Webber, who had made good progress from 13th, was immediately behind and picked up a puncture from the resultant debris.
With the McLaren's tyre carcass in the middle of the straight, a safety car was required.
Vettel stayed clear of the Lotus pair at the restart, with Raikkonen passing Grosjean with a spectacular Turn 1 move a lap later.
Another safety car was imminent, though. Sutil had spun into Turn 3 on the restart lap and clouted Webber, causing the Red Bull to catch fire in the run-off area.
A fire vehicle eventually appeared on track to deal with the blazing car, forcing a frantic safety car deployment as the leaders bore down on the fire truck.
After that mess was resolved, the race ran green to the flag, with Vettel edging away from Raikkonen and Grosjean to win.
Behind them, a mighty performance from Hulkenberg earned him and Sauber fourth place. He had pounced on Hamilton's Mercedes at a restart to take the position, and then clung on under huge pressure from the Briton and Alonso, who were having a thrilling wheel-to-wheel scrap of their own.
Rosberg joined this battle by the end, followed by Button, Massa and Perez, who just denied Mexican countryman Esteban Gutierrez a point.
Williams ran in the top 10 for a long spell after a brilliant first lap from Pastor Maldonado, but the Venezuelan ultimately fell to 13th behind team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
Paul di Resta crashed his Force India and both Toro Rossos also retired, Daniel Ricciardo having got as high as seventh in the first stint.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The Korean Grand Prix
Korean International Circuit, Korea;
55 laps; 308.630km;
Weather: Dry.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h43:13.701
2. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 4.200
3. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 4.900
4. Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari + 24.100
5. Hamilton Mercedes + 25.200
6. Alonso Ferrari + 26.100
7. Rosberg Mercedes + 26.600
8. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 32.200
9. Massa Ferrari + 34.300
10. Perez McLaren-Mercedes + 35.100
11. Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari + 35.900
12. Bottas Williams-Renault + 47.000
13. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 50.000
14. Pic Caterham-Renault + 1:03.500
15. van der Garde Caterham-Renault + 1:04.500
16. Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth + 1:07.900
17. Chilton Marussia-Cosworth + 1:12.900
18. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 2 laps
19. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 3 laps
20. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 5 laps
Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:41.380
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Webber Red Bull-Renault 36
Di Resta Force India-Mercedes 24
World Championship standings, round 15:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 272 1. Red Bull-Renault 402
2. Alonso 195 2. Ferrari 284
3. Raikkonen 167 3. Mercedes 283
4. Hamilton 161 4. Lotus-Renault 239
5. Webber 130 5. McLaren-Mercedes 81
6. Rosberg 122 6. Force India-Mercedes 62
7. Massa 89 7. Sauber-Ferrari 31
8. Grosjean 72 8. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 31
9. Button 58 9. Williams-Renault 1
10. Hulkenberg 31
11. Di Resta 36
12. Sutil 26
13. Perez 23
14. Ricciardo 18
15. Vergne 13
16. Maldonado 1
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Suzuka P1
Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg gave Mercedes the early advantage in Japanese Grand Prix Friday practice.
In a 'two by two' top eight in which the driver pairings from Formula 1's leading four teams lined up next to each other, Mercedes secured a one-two ahead of the Red Bulls.
Rosberg put in his quick lap, a 1m34.487s, first but it was usurped shortly afterwards when Hamilton went 0.330 seconds quicker.
Sebastian Vettel was the fastest Red Bull in third, albeit 0.611s off the pace.
His team-mate Mark Webber took fourth, followed by the Ferraris, and Lotuses, with Felipe Massa and Romain Grosjean outpacing their respective team-mates.
The symmetry was broken at the foot of the top 10, where Daniel Ricciardo put his Toro Rosso between the McLarens of Sergio Perez and Jenson Button late on.
Several drivers further down the order ran into trouble.
Pastor Maldonado had to park his Williams at Spoon after spinning when his left rear wheel flew off.
Both Jules Bianchi and Giedo van der Garde crashed at Degner. While the Caterham only just nudged the tyres, Bianchi's Marussia will need a more substantial rebuild following his early crash.
Despite only managing eight laps on his Suzuka debut, Bianchi was a second clear of Marussia team-mate Max Chilton and was only narrowly pipped to rear quartet honours by Caterham's returnee practice driver Heikki Kovalainen.
Japanese GP: Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull go top in practice two
By Sam Tremayne
Friday, October 11th 2013
Sebastian Vettel beat Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber to top spot in an incident-strewn second Formula 1 practice session at Suzuka.
Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso both had moments at the Degners - the latter doing well to save a spin without damage - while Kimi Raikkonen, Sergio Perez and Pastor Maldonado all suffered early exits after accidents.
Perez's off was the most dramatic: the Mexican clipped the Astroturf on the entry to Spoon with his McLaren's rear right and was pitched sideways into a heavy collision with the barriers.
Williams driver Maldonado also hit the tyres - this time at Degner, just 12 minutes into the session - while Raikkonen lost the rear of his Lotus and ended up beached in the gravel at Dunlop 30 minutes from the session's end.
The Finn still ended the session fourth fastest, as the field collectively switched to long runs for the final third of the afternoon.
That put him just behind the lead Mercedes of Nico Rosberg, who was little more than a quarter of a second down on Vettel in third.
Raikkonen's team-mate Romain Grosjean was fifth fastest, fractions ahead of Hamilton, whose best lap on the medium compounds was spoiled when he ran wide exiting the exiting the Degners.
Alonso's spin was one of several lurid moments for the Spaniard, who must finish inside the top eight on Sunday if he is to prevent Vettel from clinching a fourth straight world championship crown this weekend.
The Spaniard could only manage 10th at the flag, behind Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo, Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa and McLaren's Jenson Button.
Esteban Gutierrez beat Jean-Eric Vergne and Sauber team-mate Nico Hulkenberg to 11th, with the trio covered by less than one tenth of a second.
Perez was 16th, while Maldonado hung on to 18th despite completing just six laps.
Charles Pic claimed rear-quartet honours, although Jules Bianchi's morning crashmeant he was unable to participate in the session.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap Laps
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m33.852s 35
2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m34.020s +0.168s 35
3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m34.114s +0.262s 36
4. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m34.202s +0.350s 17
5. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m34.411s +0.559s 30
6. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m34.442s +0.590s 36
7. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m34.473s +0.621s 30
8. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m34.698s +0.846s 35
9. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m34.912s +1.060s 34
10. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m35.087s +1.235s 32
11. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m35.089s +1.237s 36
12. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m35.109s +1.257s 34
13. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m35.182s +1.330s 34
14. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m35.275s +1.423s 35
15. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m35.341s +1.489s 25
16. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m35.709s +1.857s 8
17. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m36.136s +2.284s 41
18. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m36.722s +2.870s 6
19. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m37.630s +3.778s 31
20. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m37.905s +4.053s 36
21. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m38.121s +4.269s 33
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Maria de Villota, the former test driver of the Marussia F1 team, has been found dead in a hotel in Seville in Spain. She was 33. The She was in Seville to launch her autobiography "Life is a gift". She suffered a serious head injury in a crash while testing for Marussia in July 2012 at RAF Duxford when she crashed into the tail lift of a truck. She lost her right eye as a result.
RIP
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apanese GP: Mark Webber beats Sebastian Vettel to pole
By Matt Beer Saturday, October 12th 2013,
Mark Webber Red Bull F1 2013
Mark Webber ended Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel's qualifying supremacy as he beat the German to Japanese Grand Prix pole.
Vettel was hobbled by a loss of KERS on his first Q3 lap and was 0.4 seconds adrift of Webber's provisional pole effort.
The system was successfully reset for Vettel's second run but he could not improve enough to depose Webber, who then improved his pole time to 1m30.915s.
The result was not only Webber's first pole of 2013, but the first time he had outqualified Vettel all year.
Lewis Hamilton won a very tight battle for third in his Mercedes, edging out Romain Grosjean's Lotus and Felipe Massa's Ferrari.
Nico Rosberg was 0.144s slower than team-mate Hamilton in sixth place.
Fernando Alonso was only eighth quickest, 0.3s off Massa and pushed back a further place by Nico Hulkenberg's flying Sauber.
Kimi Raikkonen again struggled for qualifying speed, lapping 0.319s slower than Grosjean as he ended up five places adrift.
Jenson Button's McLaren rounded off the top 10.
Q2 was extraordinarily close, with barely half a second covering second to 14th places.
Sergio Perez ended up on the wrong side of the cut-off in 11th, just ahead of Paul di Resta.
The Scot had a much better qualifying session than Force India team-mate Adrian Sutil, who picked up a gearbox-change penalty following his morning crash and then struggled for speed. He was only 17th fastest and was eliminated in Q1.
The main piece of Q1 drama was a bizarre fire on both rear brakes of Jean-Eric Vergne's Toro Rosso. The Frenchman had to park on the exit of the hairpin and the session was briefly red-flagged so marshals could deal with the fire safely.
That left Vergne 18th, while team-mate Daniel Ricciardo only managed two places higher as he trailed the Q2 pack.
Williams F1 2013
Those dramas helped Williams to an encouraging 13th and 15th with Valtteri Bottas and Pastor Maldonado.
They were split by Esteban Gutierrez, whose Sauber fleetingly caught fire in the pit garage halfway through Q1. There was no damage and he was able to continue qualifying.
Marussia's Max Chilton produced the best qualifying performance of his F1 career so far to beat the Caterhams and his team-mate Jules Bianchi to 19th place.
Both Charles Pic and Bianchi have 10-place grid penalties for Korean GP incidents so should share the back row.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m30.915s
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m31.089s +0.174s
3. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m31.253s +0.338s
4. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m31.365s +0.450s
5. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m31.378s +0.463s
6. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m31.397s +0.482s
7. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m31.644s +0.729s
8. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m31.665s +0.750s
9. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m31.684s +0.769s
10. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m31.827s +0.912s
Q2 cut-off time: 1m31.848s Gap **
11. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m31.989s +0.699s
12. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m31.992s +0.702s
13. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m32.013s +0.723s
14. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m32.063s +0.773s
15. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m32.093s +0.803s
16. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m32.485s +1.195s
Q1 cut-off time: 1m32.875s Gap *
17. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m32.890s +1.066s
18. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m33.357s +1.533s
19. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m34.320s +2.496s
20. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m34.556s +2.732s
21. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m34.879s +3.055s
22. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m34.958s +3.134s
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Adrian Sutil was hit with a five-place grid penalty as Force India changed his gearbox after his crash in final practice.
The German had qualified 17th for Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix but will start P22 due to the penalty.
Sutil, though, hasn't given up on achieving a top-ten result.
"With the grid penalty I will be starting at the back so I need to try and deliver consistent race pace and hopefully move towards the points," he said.
Two other drivers, Charles Pic and Jules Bianchi, were also penalised, both handed 10-place drops having been slapped with their third reprimands of the season in Korea.
They will start P20 and P21 respectively.
The revised grid
01. Mark Webber Red Bull
02. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull
03. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
04. Romain Grosjean Lotus
05. Felipe Massa Ferrari
06. Nico Rosberg Mercedes
07. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber
08. Fernando Alonso Ferrari
09. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus
10. Jenson Button McLaren
11. Sergio Perez McLaren
12. Paul di Resta Force India
13. Valtteri Bottas Williams
14. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber
15. Pastor Maldonado Williams
16. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso
17. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso
18. Max Chilton Marussia
19. Giedo van der Garde Caterham
20. Charles Pic Caterham
21. Jules Bianchi Marussia
22. Adrian Sutil Force India
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Japanese GP: Sebastian Vettel defeats Mark Webber and Romain Grosjean
By Sam Tremayne Sunday, October 13th 2013, 07:42 GMT
Sebastian Vettel clinched his fifth consecutive Formula 1 victory as differing strategies produced a thrilling climax to a three-way fight for Japanese Grand Prix honours at Suzuka.
Polesitter Mark Webber passed Romain Grosjean late on to secure a Red Bull one-two, but fell seven seconds short of denying Vettel and securing what would have been a first victory of his farewell F1 campaign.
Fernando Alonso meanwhile finished fourth, ensuring that Vettel must wait until India at least to be crowned a four-time champion.
It was Grosjean's Lotus that captured the lead at the start, jumping from fourth into the lead as both Red Bulls got poor starts.
The Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton also got the jump on the Red Bulls, but as he squeezed in between the two RB9s he and Vettel brushed, puncturing Hamilton's rear right and causing floor damage which would ultimately lead to his retirement after just nine laps.
In the background, Giedo van der Garde and Jules Bianchi collided at Turn 1, with the incident set to be reviewed after the race.
For the first half of the race Grosjean was able to maintain his advantage over Webber and Vettel, with the trio easing away from a chasing pack led by Nico Rosberg and the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso.
The group lost massive time through the first round of stops when Daniel Ricciardo, who started on the hard compound and ran a deep first stint, managed to jump into fourth and hold a string of quicker cars at bay for several laps.
It was Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg - who jumped the Ferraris through the first round of stops - who eventually managed to break Ricciardo's resistance, but by then the top three were 27 seconds down the road and out of touch.
That allowed Vettel, Grosjean and Webber to adopt wildly different strategies, with the latter opting for a three-stop plan in contrast to the two-stops of Vettel and Grosjean.
Webber therefore held track position heading into the final 10 laps, while Vettel was able to go far deeper than Grosjean in his middle stint, and therefore had much fresher tyres on which to close a two-second deficit to the Lotus man.
The crucial pass came on lap 41 when Vettel attacked at Casio and then dived down Grosjean's inside at Turn 1 for second.
With Webber pitting one lap later, Vettel duly hit the front and was able to cruise home to extend his winning streak.
That he did so owed much to Grosjean however, whose spirited defence kept Webber - now on the option tyre for a final 10-lap charge - at bay until the final laps, when Webber picked him off at Turn 1 to secure second.
Behind, Alonso executed a great pass around the outside of Hulkenberg heading into Turn 1 to clinch fourth and keep the title race technically open.
Kimi Raikkonen also picked off Hulkenberg's Sauber to seal fifth ahead of the German.
Esteban Gutierrez held on to deny Rosberg - hit by a drive-through penalty for an unsafe pit release - in a fight for seventh, while Jenson Button and Felipe Massa rounded out the top 10.
Massa also had to fight back from a drive-through for speeding in the pitlane, although his cause was also aided when Sergio Perez and Rosberg collided while fighting for 10th, sending the former to the pits with damage.
Paul di Resta beat Jean-Eric Vergne to 11th, while a third drive-through - this time for Ricciardo after he went off-track passing di Resta at 130R - meant the Australian was restricted to 13th ahead of Adrian Sutil, Perez and the Williams of Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The Japanese Grand Prix
Suzuka, Japan;
53 laps; 307.471km;
Weather: Dry.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Sebatian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h37m410s
2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault +7.1s
3. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault +9.9s
4. Fernando Alonso Ferrari +45.6s
5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault +47.3s
6. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari +51.6s
7. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari +1m11.6s
8. Nico Rosberg Mercedes +1m12.0s
9. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +1m20.8s
10. Felipe Massa Ferrari +1m29.2s
11. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes +1m38.5s
12. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
13. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
14. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes +1 lap
15. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes +1 lap
16. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault +1 lap
17. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault +1 lap
18. Charlies Pic Caterham-Renault +1 lap
19. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth +1 lap
Fastest lap: Mark Webber, 1m34.587s
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 9
Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 0
Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 0
World Championship standings, round 15:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 297 1. Red Bull-Renault 445
2. Alonso 207 2. Ferrari 297
3. Raikkonen 177 3. Mercedes 277
4. Hamilton 151 4. Lotus-Renault 264
5. Webber 148 5. McLaren-Mercedes 83
6. Rosberg 126 6. Force India-Mercedes 62
7. Massa 90 7. Sauber-Ferrari 55
8. Grosjean 87 8. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 31
9. Button 60 9. Williams-Renault 1
10. Hulkenberg 49
11. Di Resta 36
12. Sutil 26
13. Perez 23
14. Ricciardo 18
15. Vergne 13
16. Gutierrez 6
17. Maldonado 1
TBWG
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TBWG, what can F1 do to make it more interesting, if Vettel keeps winning every race viewers will lose interest.
I didn't see this race as I am away from home, but would I have watched it? Probably not, the only thing making it
remotely interesting lately is the tyres, apart from that it is a Red Bull procession ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!
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Well folks its India this weekend.
If you ignore Red Bull there is some close racing for the lesser places!
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Usual Story Vettel quickest P1
Red Bull claimed another one-two in second Indian Grand Prix practice, as Sebastian Vettel again led Mark Webber.
As had been the case in the morning, Mercedes' Nico Rosberg offered a plucky challenge to the Red Bulls.
On the medium compound tyre, Rosberg emerged with the honours, beating Webber by just 0.001 seconds.
Times were over a second faster on softs, and Vettel's early 1m25.722s secured the top spot with an hour to spare, as teams then switched to long-stint tyre work.
Webber repeated the practice one Red Bull symmetry by grabbing second, 0.289s slower than his team-mate, who is poised to secure a fourth consecutive Formula 1 title this weekend.
Rosberg was only sixth on soft tyres, behind Romain Grosjean's Lotus, the second Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.
Following his morning gearbox issues, Alonso made up for lost time with 37 laps of running. His team-mate Felipe Massa was seventh.
Kimi Raikkonen got into the top 10 this time in eighth, but was half a second down on team-mate Grosjean.
The McLarens completed the top 10 spots.
Pastor Maldonado provided the most notable incident when his Williams shed a wheelnut on track. He managed to coax the loose-wheeled car back as far as the pitlane entry before having to park.
Paul di Resta was back in action for Force India after his earlier illness and took 15th place, 0.2s and three spots behind his team-mate Adrian Sutil.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m25.722s 35
2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m26.011s +0.289s 38
3. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m26.220s +0.498s 36
4. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m26.399s +0.677s 36
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m26.430s +0.708s 39
6. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m26.582s +0.860s 40
7. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m26.601s +0.879s 41
8. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m26.632s +0.910s 32
9. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m26.857s +1.135s 40
10. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m26.972s +1.250s 39
11. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m27.304s +1.582s 17
12. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m27.375s +1.653s 36
13. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m27.429s +1.707s 31
14. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m27.491s +1.769s 40
15. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m27.608s +1.886s 38
16. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m27.720s +1.998s 23
17. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m27.949s +2.227s 34
18. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m28.431s +2.709s 30
19. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m28.692s +2.970s 39
20. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m28.799s +3.077s 32
21. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m29.366s +3.644s 37
22. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m30.164s +4.442s 27
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:-\ newsleeping newsleeping newsleeping newsleeping newsleeping newsleeping newsleeping.
They better do something next season, a big turn off for me, and I bet I'm not the only one.
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Buddh Free Practice 3: Vettel tops smog delayed session
Final practice for the Indian Formula One Grand Prix was twice delayed on Saturday due to smog shrouding the circuit and preventing the medical helicopter from operating.
Just delayed more of the same!
Indian GP: Sebastian Vettel flies to pole ahead of Nico Rosberg
By Matt Beer Saturday, October 26th 2013
Sebastian Vettel produced one of his most commanding qualifying performances of an already-dominant 2013 Formula 1 campaign to take Indian Grand Prix pole.
The Red Bull driver, who is poised to clinch a fourth straight world championship this weekend, was 1.7 seconds faster than his rivals when he first put in the 1m24.119s that became pole.
That statistic was skewed by the fact that all those out on that stage were using medium tyres whereas Vettel was on softs.
But even the soft-shod Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton were seven tenths off Vettel as they took second and third.
The shock of qualifying was Romain Grosjean's Q1 exit.
The man who fought for victory at Suzuka a fortnight ago will be fighting to get through the field at Buddh having chosen to use medium tyres in Q1.
Vettel was the only other man who went for that strategy, but while he had no problem getting through in 11th, Grosjean could only manage 17th.
Mark Webber used mediums successfully in Q3 to take fourth on the grid. He was 0.928s slower than Red Bull team-mate Vettel, but 0.8s and four places ahead of next-best medium user Fernando Alonso.
The Spaniard's Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa took fifth, followed by Kimi Raikkonen and Nico Hulkenberg for Lotus and Sauber respectively.
McLaren used mediums for both its drivers as Sergio Perez and Jenson Button completed the top 10.
There were no surprises in Q2, with the Toro Rossos and Force India intermingling on rows six and seven, ahead of Valtteri Bottas's Williams and Esteban Gutierrez's Sauber.
Pastor Maldonado joined Grosjean among the Q1 departures, and was only 0.128s clear of Jules Bianchi's Marussia and 0.265s ahead of Giedo van der Garde's Caterham.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m24.119s
2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m24.871s +0.752s
3. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m24.941s +0.822s
4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m25.047s +0.928s
5. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m25.201s +1.082s
6. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m25.248s +1.129s
7. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m25.334s +1.215s
8. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m25.826s +1.707s
9. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m26.153s +2.034s
10. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m26.487s +2.368s
Q2 cut-off time: 1m25.458s Gap **
11. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m25.519s +0.951s
12. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m25.711s +1.143s
13. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m25.740s +1.172s
14. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m25.798s +1.230s
15. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m26.134s +1.566s
16. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m26.336s +1.768s
Q1 cut-off time: 1m26.178s Gap *
17. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m26.577s +1.003s
18. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m26.842s +1.268s
19. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m26.970s +1.396s
20. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m27.105s +1.531s
21. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m27.487s +1.913s
22. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m28.138s +2.564s
107% time: 1m31.564s
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More of same!
Indian GP: Vettel takes fourth F1 title with crushing win
By Jamie O'Leary Sunday, October 27th 2013,
Sebastian Vettel sealed his fourth consecutive Formula 1 World Championship crown with a dominant Indian Grand Prix victory.
The Red Bull driver converted his pole position into the lead at the first corner at the Buddh circuit and was always effectively in front, even though his pit strategy painted a different picture during the opening phase of the race.
Vettel started on Pirelli's soft tyres and was the first man into the pits for medium rubber at the end of the second lap.
Once Felipe Massa's Ferrari and the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton had got rid of their softs, Vettel's Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber was left in front while the German battled through the pack.
A combination of passing moves and pitstops for others quickly moved Vettel up from 18th to fifth. Despite being in traffic, he cut an 18-second deficit to Webber to one of less than 11s by the time the Australian made his first stop on lap 28 of 60.
By that point Vettel had passed Romain Grosjean's Lotus, Daniel Ricciardo's Toro Rosso and Sergio Perez's McLaren, meaning he retook the lead at this point.
Both Red Bull drivers made their final stops by lap 33, Red Bull employing a similar, short-stint strategy on softs for Webber.
Webber's 11s deficit to Vettel before those final stops became one of more than 13s after them, leading to the team instructing the German to ease his pace and protect his tyres.
It became irrelevant less than 10 laps later as Webber retired from second after suffering an alternator problem.
Webber's misfortune promoted Kimi Raikkonen to second, the Lotus driver attempting to make it to the finish with a 52-lap stint on medium Pirellis.
But the Finn could not hold off the two-stopping Rosberg, who used his DRS to ease into second with eight laps remaining. He finished 29s behind Vettel as Red Bull clinched the constructors' title.
Raikkonen's pace during the final few laps was over a second slower than those chasing him, including team-mate Grosjean, whose rubber was 46 laps old by the finish.
The Frenchman, who started 17th, pulled onto Raikkonen's tail with four laps to go and passed the Finn for third at the exit of Turn 4, only to cede back the place immediately to avoid a penalty.
Raikkonen let Grosjean by further around the lap to allow the Frenchman to to finish on the podium for a third straight race. He was then passed by Massa for fourth as they crossed the start/finish line seconds later.
The battling Hamilton and Perez were with Raikkonen a lap-and-a-half later, Perez using his DRS and KERS to pass both down the back straight and take fifth - his best result since joining McLaren last winter.
Raikkonen, who lost sixth to Hamilton during the same move, pitted for fresh rubber with just two laps to go, but was able to remain ahead of Paul di Resta and set the race's fastest lap right at the death.
Di Resta and Adrian Sutil made it two Force Indias in the points with Ricciardo completing the top 10.
Fernando Alonso, the only man who arrived in India with a chance of denying Vettel the title, had a race fraught with incident.
He stopped early for tyres and a new front wing after clipping Webber's rear wing and damaging his nosecone at the exit of the race's first corner, and then banged wheels with Jenson Button two corners later.
The Ferrari driver spent his entire afternoon in the midfield and finished 11th after stopping three times. And battling with Ricciardo, Pastor Maldonado and Button late on.
Nico Hulkenberg drove strongly all weekend and was on course for eighth when he pitted near the end with a problem with the floor of his Sauber. He retired with three laps left..
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The Indian Grand Prix
Buddh International Circuit, India;
60 laps; 307.249km;
Weather: Smoggy.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h31:12.187
2. Rosberg Mercedes + 29.823
3. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 39.892
4. Massa Ferrari + 41.692
5. Perez McLaren-Mercedes + 43.829
6. Hamilton Mercedes + 52.400
7. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 1:07.900
8. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1:12.800
9. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1:14.700
10. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:16.200
11. Alonso Ferrari + 1:18.200
12. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 1:18.900
13. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
14. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 1 lap
15. Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
16. Bottas Williams-Renault + 1 lap
17. Chilton Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps
18. Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps
19. Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari + 6 laps
Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:27.679
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Webber Red Bull-Renault 40
Pic Caterham-Renault 36
van der Garde Caterham-Renault 2
World Championship standings, round 16:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 322 1. Red Bull-Renault 470
2. Alonso 207 2. Mercedes 313
3. Raikkonen 183 3. Ferrari 309
4. Hamilton 169 4. Lotus-Renault 285
5. Webber 148 5. McLaren-Mercedes 93
6. Rosberg 144 6. Force India-Mercedes 68
7. Massa 102 7. Sauber-Ferrari 45
8. Grosjean 102 8. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 32
9. Button 60 9. Williams-Renault 1
10. Di Resta 40
11. Huleknberg 39
12. Perez 33
13. Sutil 28
14. Ricciardo 19
15. Vergne 13
16. Gutierrez 6
17. Maldonado 1
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Well the Seb Vettel lovefest is sorted so on to Yas Marina!
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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What about Bernie??..........is he about to fall from grace??
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Nookie
Bernie is in for a slapped botty and not from a nice Isaan girl! nono
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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Could be more than a 'slapped' botty!
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Abu Dhabi GP: Romain Grosjean quickest in opening practice
By Matt Beer Friday, November 1st 2013,
Grosjean quickest in opening practice
Romain Grosjean thrust Lotus to the top of the times with a late charge in opening practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Amid all the focus on his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen's relationship with the squad, Grosjean bucked the usual Friday morning trend by waiting until the closing moments to set his best time.
Grosjean's 1m44.241s lap put him 0.192 seconds clear of Lewis Hamilton, who would normally have expected to stay up front after winning the traditional mid-session dice for top spot.
No one set a flying lap for the first half hour, and it was near the hour mark before the Mercedes and Red Bulls really raised the bar.
Hamilton emerged on top for Mercedes at that stage, 0.066s ahead of Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull.
The world champion had a slight scare at the end of the session, when he misjudged his entry to the Red Bull pit stall and required some evasive action from his crew as he locked up.
Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber beat Nico Rosberg's Mercedes to fifth, with the in-the-spotlight Raikkonen seventh.
Paul di Resta put Force India in an encouraging seventh place. His team-mate Adrian Sutil moved aside for James Calado this time. The GP2 title contender was 14th.
Other 'Friday drivers' in action were Caterham's Heikki Kovalainen and Marussia's Rodolfo Gonzalez, who were 20th and 22nd.
The McLarens ended up eighth and 10th, split by the Williams of Pastor Maldonado.
Ferrari had a low-key start, with Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa 12th and 17th.
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Abu Dhabi GP: Sebastian Vettel takes charge in second practice
By Matt Beer Friday, November 1st 2013
Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber returned Red Bull to the top in the second Friday practice session for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
After being shaded by Lotus and Mercedes in the afternoon session, Red Bull regained its habitual top spot as darkness fell over Yas Marina.
Vettel had been fastest on the harder tyres in the opening quarter of an hour, and then left his switch to softs relatively late.
Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen was first to make that move and found a big time gain to go fastest.
He was eventually usurped by first Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes, then Mark Webber's Red Bull.
Vettel then came through with a 1m41.335s to head Webber in a Red Bull one-two that held until the finish.
Hamilton and Raikkonen retained third and fourth places, followed by the former's team-mate Nico Rosberg.
Practice one pacesetter Romain Grosjean was only 12th fastest, having been sidelined by a front brake failure.
Several drivers had incidents and issues, with both Force India's Paul di Resta and McLaren's Jenson Button having to slow with punctures.
Button was still seventh, one place behind team-mate Sergio Perez, in a strong session for McLaren.
Ferrari improved on its quiet opening practice and at least got both cars into the top 10, albeit only eighth and 10th, either side of Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber.
Max Chilton and Giedo van der Garde both had spins, but rejoining without finding the barriers.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m41.335s 33
2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m41.490s +0.155s 32
3. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m41.690s +0.355s 37
4. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m41.726s +0.391s 40
5. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m41.758s +0.423s 39
6. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m42.006s +0.671s 35
7. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m42.010s +0.675s 30
8. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m42.171s +0.836s 30
9. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m42.324s +0.989s 40
10. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m42.440s +1.105s 35
11. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m42.509s +1.174s 37
12. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m42.607s +1.272s 18
13. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m42.806s +1.471s 26
14. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m42.952s +1.617s 35
15. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m42.998s +1.663s 25
16. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m43.152s +1.817s 28
17. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m43.271s +1.936s 35
18. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m43.565s +2.230s 34
19. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m44.138s +2.803s 34
20. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m44.459s +3.124s 34
21. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m44.525s +3.190s 37
22. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m45.565s +4.230s 26
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Abu Dhabi GP - Saturday - Practice Session 3 Results
Saturday Practice Session 3
POS DRIVER NATIONALITY ENTRANT TIME
1. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1:41.349
2. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1:41.571
3. Lewis Hamilton Britain Mercedes GP 1:41.580
4. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes GP 1:41.721
5. Romain Grosjean France Lotus-Renault 1:41.832
6. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1:41.956
7. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Sauber-Ferrari 1:42.055
8. Esteban Gutierrez Mexico Sauber-Ferrari 1:42.282
9. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Lotus-Renault 1:42.387
10. Jean-Eric Vergne France Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:42.457
11. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari 1:42.516
12. Paul di Resta Britain Force India-Mercedes 1:42.681
13. Valtteri Bottas Finland Williams-Renault 1:42.698
14. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari 1:42.702
15. Daniel Ricciardo Australia Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:42.727
16. Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Williams-Renault 1:42.798
17. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1:42.989
18. Sergio Perez Mexico McLaren-Mercedes 1:43.142
19. Giedo van der Garde Netherlands Caterham-Renault 1:44.472
20. Charles Pic France Caterham-Renault 1:44.728
21. Max Chilton Britain Marussia-Cosworth 1:45.621
22. Jules Bianchi France Marussia-Cosworth 1:47.506
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Abu Dhabi GP: Mark Webber beats Sebastian Vettel to pole
By Kevin Turner Saturday, November 2nd 2013
Mark Webber qualified on pole for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, pipping Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel with a late run.
Both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg topped a qualifying segment for Mercedes before Q3, but Red Bull's pace at the crucial moment was too much, leaving the silver cars on row two.
Vettel recorded a 1m40.091s on his first run of Q3, ahead of the two Mercedes, with Webber apparently struggling.
But a great final effort helped the Australian to 1m39.957s and even a late improvement from his four-time world champion team-mate was not enough to deny Webber the top spot.
Rosberg outqualified Hamilton, who spun off on his final run, while Kimi Raikkonen was the top Lotus in fifth.
Nico Hulkenberg continued his fine form for Sauber to take sixth, ahead of Romain Grosjean's Lotus and Felipe Massa's Ferrari.
The times in Q2 were again tight and two big names fell. Ferrari's Abu Dhabi struggles continued, particularly in the final sector, and Fernando Alonso could only qualify 11th, not helped by a minor error.
A similar charge from Jenson Button also failed to get the McLaren driver into the top 10 after what the Briton described as a "very strange" loss of grip since final practice.
With the circuit getting faster and faster in Q1, the last soft-tyred runs proved crucial and it was Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez and Adrian Sutil's Force India who were the midfielders to fall.
Giedo van der Garde topped the Caterham/Marussia battle, while Jules Bianchi (20th fastest) has a five-place grid penalty after his gearbox needed changing thanks to his crash in practice three.
The results remain provisional, with several drivers apparently setting their best laps after running all four wheels over the white lines, which they had specifically been warned not to do.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap
1. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m39.957s
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m40.075s +0.118s
3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m40.419s +0.462s
4. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m40.501s +0.544s
5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m40.542s +0.585s
6. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m40.576s +0.619s
7. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m40.997s +1.040s
8. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m41.015s +1.058s
9. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m41.068s +1.111s
10. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m41.111s +1.154s
Q2 cut-off time: 1m40.989s Gap **
11. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m41.093s +0.620s
12. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m41.133s +0.660s
13. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m41.200s +0.727s
14. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m41.279s +0.806s
15. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m41.395s +0.922s
16. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m41.447s +0.974s
Q1 cut-off time: 1m41.884s Gap *
17. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m41.999s +1.306s
18. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m42.051s +1.358s
19. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m43.252s +2.559s
20. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m43.398s +2.705s
21. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m43.528s +2.835s
22. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m44.198s +3.505s
107% time: 1m47.741s
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Latest F1 borefest!
Abu Dhabi GP: Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull dominate
By Kevin Turvey Sunday, November 3rd 2013,
Sebastian Vettel took his seventh consecutive win with one of the most dominant victories in recent Formula 1 history in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Poleman Mark Webber did not make the best start and was overtaken on either side by his Red Bull team-mate Vettel and the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg.
As the Mercedes defended from Webber, Vettel put together his now customary fine first lap to go 1.9 seconds clear.
While Vettel then pulled away up front, Webber gradually fell away from Rosberg and was soon under pressure from the Lotus of Romain Grosjean.
Webber and Grosjean pitted together on lap eight and returned in the same order, while Vettel was one of the last frontrunners to stop as he continued to lap faster on his ageing soft tyres than all those on fresh mediums.
Vettel duly reeled off the remaining laps and second stop, completely in a class of his own, and crossed the line half a minute clear of the field.
Webber recovered from his poor first stint by closing Rosberg down once they were both on the medium-compound Pirellis and sweeping round the outside of the Mercedes on lap 20.
Rosberg kept the second Red Bull in sight thereafter, but did not have the pace to seriously challenge Webber.
Similarly, Grosjean could not quite keep up with the Mercedes. He only narrowly cleared the two Ferraris after his second stop before putting on a late charge that fell just short of usurping Rosberg.
The main excitement in the closing stages of the race was the contest for fifth, as a number of cars closed on the one-stopping Force India of Paul di Resta.
Lewis Hamilton, who felt a vibration and had his Mercedes' brakes checked before the start, had already lost ground in the second stint. Unlike Webber and Grosjean, he was unable to overtake the yet-to-stop Sauber of Esteban Gutierrez.
Once the Sauber pitted, Hamilton caught the Force India of the late-stopping Adrian Sutil, which was on mediums.
By then the Mercedes had Massa, Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) and Alonso not far behind.
All three made it by Sutil's Force India, but not before Massa had brilliantly dived by the Mercedes to run fifth. Alonso also got by Hulkenberg during the battle.
As the other cars pitted, Alonso closed on Massa before the Brazilian stopped.
Alonso left his final stop until there were just 11 laps to go and changed to softs. He rejoined just ahead of Massa and alongside Jean-Eric Vergne, getting ahead of the Toro Rosso as the Ferrari jumped over the Turn 2 kerbs.
The move attracted the attention of the stewards and will be investigated post-race, but Alonso charged on and started closing on Hamilton, who in turn was closing on di Resta, setting up a fight for fifth over the last half-dozen laps.
It took Alonso no time to overcome the Mercedes on lap 50 and he dispensed with di Resta the next time through.
As Alonso charged on, setting fastest lap on the final tour, di Resta successfully held off Hamilton for an impressive sixth.
With Vergne fading on his old rubber and eventually pitting, Massa moved up to eighth, while Sergio Perez's McLaren overtook Sutil on the last lap to take ninth.
Charles Pic led the fight of Formula 1's minnows early on, but was overcome by Giedo van der Garde. He nevertheless finished well clear of the Marussias, headed by Jules Bianchi.
After being put to the back after qualifying, Kimi Raikkonen's grand prix was brief. He tried to pass the Caterhams at the first corner and the ensuing contact with van der Garde put the Lotus out.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi;
55 laps; 305.355km;
Weather: Clear.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h38m06.106s
2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault +30.829s
3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes +33.650s
4. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault +34.802s
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari +1m07.181s
6. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes +1m18.174s
7. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +1m19.267s
8. Felipe Massa Ferrari +1m22.886s
9. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes +1m31.198s
10. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes +1m33.257s
11. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault +1m35.989s
12. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +1m43.767s
13. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari +1m44.295s
14. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
15. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault +1 lap
16. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
17. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
18. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault +1 lap
19. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault +1 lap
20. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth +2 laps
21. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth +2 laps
Fastest lap: Alonso 1m43.434
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team
Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 0 laps
World Championship standings, round 17:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 347 1. Red Bull-Renault 513
2. Alonso 217 2. Mercedes 334
3. Raikkonen 183 3. Ferrari 323
4. Hamilton 175 4. Lotus-Renault 297
5. Webber 166 5. McLaren-Mercedes 95
6. Rosberg 159 6. Force India-Mercedes 77
7. Grosjean 114 7. Sauber-Ferrari 45
8. Massa 106 8. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 32
9. Button 60 9. Williams-Renault 1
10. Di Resta 48
11. Hulkenberg 39
12. Perez 35
13. Sutil 29
14. Ricciardo 19
15. Vergne 13
16. Gutierrez 6
17. Maldonado 1
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Valsecchi to replace Raikkonen
by Joe Saward
Kimi Raikkonen is to miss the final two races of the 2013 Formula 1 season because of back problems. The Finn aggravated his back injury in training and now needs to undergo back surgery in order to be fully fit for the start of the 2014 season, when he will rejoin Ferrari. Raikkonen will undergo surgery in Salzburg, Austria.
Lotus has not said anything as yet but the replacement driver will be F1 new boy Davide Valsecchi, the team's nominated reserve. The 26-year-old Italian was the GP2 Champion last year but has not raced this year, despite attending all the Grands Prix with the team.
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Lotus says that the financial issue they had with Kimi is now sorted. But I think it's pretty obvious that Kimi is focusing on the next season with Ferrari. If Lotus had paid what they own him, there is no way he would have taken the surgery now.
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The Williams F1 Team has confirmed that Felipe Massa will join the team to drive alongside Valtteri Bottas next year. Massa has been in F1 for the last 12 seasons, mainly with Ferrari and came close to winning the World Championship in 2008.
“We are delighted to be able to confirm our 2014 driver line-up and welcome Felipe into the Williams family,” said Sir Frank Williams. “He is an exceptional talent and a real fighter on the race track; he also brings a wealth of experience as we begin a new chapter in our story. Valtteri is a valued member of the team and I’m pleased he was able to demonstrate his talent in tricky conditions in Montréal. There is much more to come from him.”
Massa says that it has wanted to drive for Williams since he was young.
“When I was a kid, I always dreamed about racing for Williams, Ferrari or McLaren and I’m glad to be signing with another icon of the sport following my time at Ferrari,” he says. “It is also nice to remember that some of the best Brazilian drivers raced for Williams and cemented a strong national link with the team. With such a major change of regulations in 2014, I hope my experience will be useful in helping the team in its effort to move on from a difficult period. Since my early days in motor racing, I don’t remember seeing so many new rules in a single season and I’m fully prepared to work with everyone at Grove to make sure we find the right direction. I’m highly motivated to start working hard from the very beginning in what is an exciting new challenge in my career.”
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More drivers drop out of last two races
Posted in Motorsport, News by Sniff Petrol on Wednesday, November 13th, 2013
http://sniffpetrol.com/2013/11/13/more-drivers-drop-out-of-last-two-races/
Following news that Kimi Raikkonen is to miss the last two races of the Formula 1 season due to ‘back problems’, several other drivers have revealed that they too will be sitting out the remainder of the year.
First to drop out were Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso, who gave the excuse that his back was ‘still a bit hurty’, and Felipe Massa, who claimed that after signing for Williams he had accidentally ‘thrown away’ all his Ferrari overalls.
Not to be outdone, Lewis Hamilton announced he was missing the last two races on account of having ‘no one to look after the dog’ whilst team mate Nico Rosberg said he mistakenly thought Abu Dhabi was the last race of the year and had ‘booked a two week non-refundable holiday at Center Parcs’.
Other absentees will include Pastor Maldonado, who claimed his seat had got jammed too far toward after the team adjusted it ‘to let Massa have a go’ and Sergio Perez who will be unable to drive on account of ‘crying too much’.
Meanwhile, over at Red Bull Mark Webber will not complete the season because he ‘just can’t be fucking arsed’.
In total, 20 of the current 22 drivers have elected not to compete in the final two races. As a result, the only entries in this weekend’s US GP will be Sebastian Vettel, who will win as usual, and Marussia’s Max Chilton, who will somehow finish 19th.
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Even the drivers are getting bored of F1 it would seem!! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!
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buttslap newsleeping LOL I didn't read you post Sven!! Just read it now DUH!!
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Austin Race Report
Sebastian Vettel went unchallenged in the United States GP as he raced to his record-breaking eighth successive win.
Starting from pole position, the Red Bull driver pulled ahead of Romain Grosjean into the first corner on the opening lap and it was game off.
With his race engineer Rocky informing him that it was about lasting the distance and not setting the pace, prompting Vettel to put in a controlled performance.
Reliquishing the lead very briefly when he came in for his one and only pit stop on lap 27, he was back in front when Grosjean two laps later.
Making amends for last year's lost victory, Vettel raced to his 12th grand prix win of the season and his eighth in succession. That was yet another milestone for the German who now holds the record for most successive wins in one season.
Behind him Grosjean finished second after Mark Webber seemed to lose pace during their podium battle. The Aussie, though, was soon back on song but unable to chase down the Lotus.
Lewis Hamilton had a lonely race in fourth place, finishing ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and Sauber driver Nico Hulkenberg.
Sergio Perez was seventh in his penultimate race for McLaren with Valtteri Bottas, Nico Rosberg and Jenson Button completing the points.
There was only one incident of note in the race which was when the Safety Car was brought out on lap 1 for four laps when Adrian Sutil and Pastor Maldonado made contract resulting in the Force India driver spearing into the barriers. Maldonado later pitted for a new front wing after being shown the black-and-orange flags.
Meanwhile, Heikki Kovalainen's chances of scoring points on his return to the grid were undone when he had to pit on lap 32 for a new front wing. His KERS later gave up leaving him down in 15th place.
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And Matt LeBlanc managed to keep his thumb up through the whole race ...
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Here are the final positions and times from Austin.
Result
01 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:39.17.148
02 Romain Grosjean Lotus +6.2
03 Mark Webber Red Bull +8.3
04 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +27.3
05 Fernando Alonso Ferrari +29.5
06 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber +30.4
07 Sergio Perez McLaren +46.6
08 Valtteri Bottas Williams +54.5
09 Nico Rosberg Mercedes +59.1
10 Jenson Button McLaren +77.2
11 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso +81.0
12 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso +84.5
13 Felipe Massa Ferrari +86.9
14 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber +91.7
15 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus +95.0
16 Paul di Resta Force India +96.8
17 Pastor Maldonado Williams +1 lap
18 Jules Bianchi Marussia +1 lap
19 Giedo van der Garde Caterham +1 lap
20 Charles Pic Caterham +1 lap
21 Max Chilton Marussia +2 laps
R Adrian Sutil Force India RETIRED
sawadi JT
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Brazil will the borefest continue?
P1
Nico Rosberg's early time proved to be unbeatable in Friday's first practice for the Brazilian GP as more rain later in the session put an end to a dry line.
Although at the start of FP1 it is usually left to the backmarkers to do the early running, this Friday it was Jenson Button, Rosberg and Sergio Perez who clocked the first times with the Brit's 1:25.391 leading the way before Rosberg edged ahead with a 1:24.781.
While the German was putting in a pace-setting time, his team-mate Lewis Hamilton was all over the place and eventually had a gentle - but lengthy - spin at Turn 3 that saw him finish facing the wrong way. He kept the engine running and was able to continue.
The Mercedes driver, though, was not the only one struggling to keep all four wheels on the track as several drivers had minor offs although all avoided damaging their cars.
Back in the action, the track started to dry out after the first 30 minutes putting everyone on the intermediate tyres. However before any times could improve a few more drops of rain fell.
That didn't stop Sebastian Vettel from putting in a few laps on the prototype hard Pirelli tyres as he gathered data for Red Bull. The German didn't attempt a time on those tyres, pitting after each lap. Vettel and Mark Webber were the only drivers with 40 minutes remaining who had yet to set times.
As more rain came down the bulk of the field headed back into the pits although with the rain then letting up with 20 minutes to go teams slowly made their way back out.
Vettel was the big improver in the latter stages as he climbed from 12th to third, however, the German could do nothing to prevent the session finishing with a Mercedes 1-2 with Rosberg ahead of Hamilton.
Button finished fourth quickest ahead of Alonso, Webber, Perez and STR test driver and 2014 racer Daniil Kvyat.
Times
01 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:24.781 14 laps
02 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:25.230 +0.449 13 laps
03 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:25.387 +0.606 17 laps
04 Jenson Button McLaren 1:25.391 +0.610 24 laps
05 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:25.593 +0.812 13 laps
06 Mark Webber Red Bull 1:25.797 +1.016 17 laps
07 Sergio Perez McLaren 1:25.946 +1.165 15 laps
08 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:26.064 +1.283 17 laps
09 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus 1:26.133 +1.352 30 laps
10 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:26.232 +1.451 17 laps
11 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:26.248 +1.467 15 laps
12 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:26.326 +1.545 28 laps
13 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:26.570 +1.789 28 laps
14 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:26.593 +1.812 22 laps
15 Adrian Sutil Force India 1:27.115 +2.334 25 laps
16 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:27.269 +2.488 23 laps
17 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:27.358 +2.577 23 laps
18 James Calado Force India 1:27.436 +2.655 9 laps
19 Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1:28.107 +3.326 18 laps
20 Charles Pic Caterham 1:28.199 +3.418 17 laps
21 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:30.004 +5.223 24 laps
22 Rodolfo Gonzalez Marussia 1:32.646 +7.865 19 laps
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P3
Wet Wet wet
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Brazilian GP: Vettel flies to pole in wet qualifying
By Matt Beer
Even an Interlagos downpour could not stop Sebastian Vettel as the 2013 Formula 1 champion took Brazilian Grand Prix pole by six tenths of a second.
The Red Bull driver utterly dominated a Q3 session delayed by 45 minutes due to intense rainfall.
Although Romain Grosjean briefly held provisional pole by virtue of taking intermediates before anyone else, Vettel's first lap on that rubber put him 1.1s clear of all his rivals.
Nico Rosberg and Fernando Alonso were left to battle for second place, with the Mercedes eventually taking it and trimming Vettel's advantage to 0.623s.
Third was still an excellent result for Alonso given Ferrari's recent form, as he held off Mark Webber by 0.063s.
Lewis Hamilton was half a second off team-mate Rosberg's pace in fifth, while Grosjean fell back to sixth for Lotus.
Toro Rosso starred in the wet and got both cars into Q3. Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne will share row four, beating Felipe Massa's Ferrari and Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber.
Conditions had fluctuated through both Q1 and Q2, with the latter getting ever wetter.
That meant early times largely stood, bar Hulkenberg managing to jump into 10th at the expense of Heikki Kovalainen, who missed out by 0.015s.
Both Force Indias, both McLarens and Valtteri Bottas's Williams also departed in Q2.
Sergio Perez crashed at the right-hander on the exit of the Descida do Lago on his final lap, but still beat McLaren team-mate Jenson Button to 14th.
Q1 appeared to be following a similar pattern until a late improvement in track conditions allowed Vergne to escape the drop-zone.
That pushed Pastor Maldonado onto the elimination list, along with Esteban Gutierrez, the Caterhams and the Marussias, with Charles Pic beating his backmarker peers by half a second.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m26.479s
2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m27.102s +0.623s
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m27.539s +1.060s
4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m27.572s +1.093s
5. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m27.677s +1.198s
6. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m27.737s +1.258s
7. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m28.052s +1.573s
8. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m28.081s +1.602s
9. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m28.109s +1.630s
10. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m29.582s +3.103s
Q2 cut-off time: 1m27.441s Gap **
11. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m27.456s +1.295s
12. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m27.798s +1.637s
13. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m27.954s +1.793s
14. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m28.269s +2.108s
15. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m28.308s +2.147s
16. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m28.586s +2.425s
Q1 cut-off time: 1m27.209s Gap *
17. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m27.367s +2.025s
18. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m27.445s +2.103s
19. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m27.843s +2.501s
20. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m28.320s +2.978s
21. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m28.366s +3.024s
22. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m28.950s +3.608s
107% time: 1m31.315s
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YAWN !!
Brazilian GP: Vettel grabs record-equalling ninth straight F1 victory
By Matt Beer Sunday, November 24th 2013,
Sebastian Vettel ended the 2013 Formula 1 season with a ninth consecutive race win, as his Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber said goodbye to the championship with second place.
Fernando Alonso gave gallant chase to the Red Bulls and got Ferrari back on the podium, in a race in which rain regularly threatened, but never materialised in sufficient doses to cause a problem.
It was not a totally straightforward win for Vettel, who had to do some overtaking and overcome a pitstop drama.
He lost the lead at the start as both Nico Rosberg and Alonso got away better.
Rosberg led out of the Senna S, but Alonso ran out of space and lost third to the German's Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Both Mercedes were overtaken at the end of lap one though, with Vettel easily reclaiming the lead from Rosberg as Alonso passed Hamilton in their wake.
Webber, who had won a first-lap battle with Felipe Massa, quickly followed Alonso past Hamilton, with both soon overtaking Rosberg as well.
Alonso put up a fight against Webber and did not lose second place until lap 13. He then regained it when the Red Bull had an issue on its right rear wheel at the first pitstops, but Webber only needed two laps to catch and re-pass the Ferrari.
Although Webber was able to chip away at Vettel's lead, the champion was always able to respond.
Vettel's big lead turned out to be crucial as both Red Bulls made simultaneous final pitstops - to the apparent surprise of a crew prepared for Webber, not Vettel.
That halved Vettel's advantage to six seconds, and the lead battle then threatened to come truly alive as rain appeared to loom and both Webber and Alonso started closing in.
In the event, the thick clouds refrained from opening over the final laps, and the top three spread out again, allowing Vettel to take a record-equalling 13th win of the year.
With Rosberg steadily dropping back through the field, Hamilton and Massa began battling for fourth until both hit trouble.
Massa was left furious by a drive-through penalty for crossing the pit entry line on flying laps, while Hamilton tangled with Valtteri Bottas as the Williams driver moved to un-lap himself into the Descida do Lago.
While Bottas was sent crashing into retirement, Hamilton picked up a puncture and was given a penalty for causing the collision.
Those dramas played a part in McLaren's best result of its painful 2013 season, though Jenson Button and Sergio Perez's progress from 14th and 19th on the grid to fourth and sixth was mainly down to excellent race pace from their unloved car. The duo sandwiched Rosberg at the flag.
Romain Grosjean
Massa and Hamilton recovered to seventh and ninth, split by Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber.
Daniel Ricciardo gave Toro Rosso the final point in his last appearance before leaving for Red Bull, holding Paul di Resta, Esteban Gutierrez and Adrian Sutil at bay.
Lotus's promising season came to a miserable end. Romain Grosjean lasted just two laps before a massive engine failure while running eighth, while Heikki Kovalainen was outside the points again in 14th having fallen to 18th on the opening lap.
Marussia beat Caterham in the constructors' championship's tail-end battle for the first time.
Caterham had been the quicker of the pair at Interlagos, but Giedo van der Garde was penalised for ignoring blue flags and Charles Pic had a late suspension failure, meaning Jules Bianchi gave Marussia the 'win' in the race day battle too.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The Brazilian Grand Prix
Interlagos, Brazil;
71 laps; 305.909km;
Weather: Cloudy.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h32m36.300s
2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault +10.452s
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari +18.913s
4. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +37.360s
5. Nico Rosberg Mercedes +39.048s
6. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes +44.051s
7. Felipe Massa Ferrari +49.110s
8. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari +1m04.252s
9. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +1m12.903s
10. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
11. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes +1 lap
12. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
13. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes +1 lap
14. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault +1 lap
15. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
16. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault +1 lap
17. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth +2 laps
18. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault +2 laps
19. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth +2 laps
Retirements:
Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 58 laps
Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 45 laps
Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 2 laps
World Championship standings, round 19:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 397 1. Red Bull-Renault 596
2. Alonso 242 2. Mercedes 360
3. Webber 199 3. Ferrari 354
4. Hamilton 189 4. Lotus-Renault 315
5. Raikkonen 183 5. McLaren-Mercedes 122
6. Rosberg 171 6. Force India-Mercedes 77
7. Grosjean 132 7. Sauber-Ferrari 57
8. Massa 112 8. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 33
9. Button 73 9. Williams-Renault 5
10. Hulkenberg 51
11. Perez 49
12. Di Resta 48
13. Sutil 29
14. Ricciardo 20
15. Vergne 13
16. Gutierrez 6
17. Bottas 4
18. Maldonado 1
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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I honestly think this season was easily the most boring to date..........Sorry David!
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Unfortunately have to agree Nookie.
TBWG buriram_united sawadi
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The Secret Diary of Adrian Newey Aged 53¾: Sulky Teenager
Well trusty tome, it really is back to the drawing board for this pesky new set of regulations and the little tinker of the RB10. After 21 laps of Jerez in four days many of the mechanics have made suggestions about what the RB stands for - the first letter being Right, with a goodly variety of suggestions for the letter B. None of which I would care to repeat in print.
Deary deary me (and almost double crikey), I have never been to such a depressing test, with so little achieved. Even when McLaren decided to fit aero parts on their car upside down last year they got more done than we did. And the ironic thing is that when they set their car up incorrectly it went faster, unlike ours which just sat in the garage flashing warning lights and refusing to cooperate.
In a rare moment of levity afterwards I said to Jana that perhaps we should nickname it 'the sulky teenager' but as she logically pointed out. It's only ten.
It doesn't help when Renault haven't got their act together and are busy passing 'le buck' to the teams. I seem to be taking most blame for the kerfuffle, along with my love for neat aero packaging. The press seem to have latched onto this as a central foible of mine - as though no other designer on the grid even thinks about it, which is most irksomely irritating.
Autosport even ran a feature this week, 'When Newey Got It Wrong' listing the handful of cars that I've designed that haven't turned out satisfactorily. The title was unnecessarily dramatic, almost on the lines of 'When Good Cats Go Bad'. In amongst the list of my woeful designs was the Williams FW16 which picked up a constructors championship. The feature really got my dander up. Quite frankly I don't need to be reminded by some donut-munching keyboard jockeys about the cars I've designed that have been slightly below par. All three of them.
As the good lady has oft pointed out, the only time I get it seriously wrong is when I'm allowed to go clothes shopping on my own and return with items such as velvet trousers and tweed underpants. Which seemed like a good idea at the time... It turns out that whenever I stray beyond items from Blue Harbour I get into trouble. My idea of 'raffish' can be interpreted as something entirely different. Most unfortunate.
One thing I am proud of on the new car is our nose. Goodness gracious the launches at Jerez were less about showing off the new car and more about checking out each other's equipment - down there. It was like the showers after games in the first year at secondary school. Caterham would definitely get the flicked wet towel treatment for theirs. Jeremy Clarkson did a hilarious take on the "new noses" in the first Top Gear, which is watched by many at the factory.
I know it's only Last of the Summer Wine with cars, but I particularly liked the feature they did on hot hatchbacks and the Volkswagen Golf. One of the dreadfully irritating aspects of the old Golf advert on television in the 1990s was a particularly anal German engineer - let's call him Norbert - who loved the way his door closed. And so Jeremy deliberately got a Golf whose front door wouldn't close first time. Some may not have got the joke but I found it most rib ticklesome.
One thing that has been seized upon by the geriatric F1 fans is the lack of a throaty roar from the new 1.6 litre engines. Obviously we weren't in a position to produce a throaty purr, or a rorty torty turbo whistle in Jerez, let alone a throaty roar but I cannot for the life of me understand what people don't like about the new sound. The thing to complain about is getting 5000 volts pumped through your chief mechanic, not the noise it makes when it comes tonking down the main straight with an eerie turbo woosh
You don't get people at air shows complaining that the new advanced fighter jets don't make the sound of the old Spitfire. Or that the speed of the jets is very impressive, but it would be so much better if they could sync the vision with the sound.
If Bernie really wanted it to be like the old days we could put some straw bales in front of the TechPro barriers, swill a bucket of Castrol GTX over every garage floor in the pitlane, and get the drivers' girlfriends to fill in timecharts on the pitwall.
Anyway, I'll have to sign off as I have a troublesome teenager to deal with. Melbourne is still a prodigiously long way away and with the aid of the house beverage and some all-nighters we can get this fixed. I have noted many times the comments of my acerbic Slavic PA, Jana, who often chides me for my obsession with putting endless data into the simulator. On my return from Jerez she said to me. "Are you going to put engine data into simulator or do you want me to do it? I've got three minutes."
If the problems with the car weren't enough to give me sleepless nights I'm also having trouble with our expensive new Eider duck duvet. Christian caught me in a corridor the other day and told me I had rings under my eyes.I explained that we'd bought this new duvet but it wasn't staying on the bed.
"You know what your problem is Adrian," said Christian, smiling his slow, easy smile. "Not enough downforce..."