Sunday, June 30, 2013

Rosberg wins as Hamilton's Pirelli tyre blows out

Rosberg wins as Hamilton's Pirelli tyre blows out


Hamilton had started in Pole position and was leading the race, however a rear left tyre blow out ruined his race. He however managed to finish in fourth position. Hamilton staged an impressive recovery after the early tyre blow out, however, he couldn't overtake Fernando Alonso of Ferrari for the third position. Alonso was particularly happy to cut down the lead of Vettel, as this was the first DNF of Vettel in this season.

Sebastian Vettel who had inherited the lead was forced to retire due to a gearbox failure. Before this failure, a precautionary check of his tyre had revealed cuts. Else, he would have been the fifth driver to suffer a rear left tyre blow out.

Nico Rosberg who had dropped down to third from the second position in which he started, won the race albeit by a narrow margin of 0.7 seconds and Mark Webber finished who normally enjoys this circuit finished second. A couple of laps would have ensured that Webber beat Rosberg. This became the second race win for Rosberg this year, who had his first race win last year.

After Sebastian Vettel's gearbox gave up, a safety car was deployed. Kimi Raikkonen however decided not to pit for fresh tyres as he thought of overtaking Nico Rosberg. However, Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber pitted for fresh tyres and could easily overtake Kimi Raikkonen later. Kimi finished in 5th position.

Felipe Massa was another victim of Pirelli tyre blow out. However, he still managed to finish in 6th position. Sergio Perez was not so lucky with his tyres and retired. Jean Eric Vergne too retired due to the tyre issue.

Adrian Sutil of Force India finished 7th, while his teammate Paul di Resta who was penalised for underweight and sent to back of the grid finished in 9th position. Daniel Ricciardo finished 8th for Toro Rosso.

Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber had the 10th position and one point. He might be happy given the current state of affairs at Sauber.

Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas of Williams finished 11th and 12th respectively.

Jenson Button of McLaren finished 13th, two places down from his starting position. Esteban Gutierrez was 14th, Charles Pic of Caterham 15th, Jules Bianchi of Marussia 16th, Max Chilton of Marussia 17th, Giedo van der Garde of Caterham 18th and Romain Grosjean of Lotus 19th.


Pirelli Tyre Drama

When Pirelli came to F1, they were asked to create tyres with higher degradation which will spice up the race. However, no one had expected that Pirelli will go to another extreme and endanger safety of drivers. Pirelli in a statement said that they had used a bonding process to stop delamination of tyres and the blowouts were not due that change in process. They are examining the cause and will rectify it before the German Grand Prix next weekend. In an emergency meeting FIA has asked Pirelli to come out with a solution by wednesday.

Final Standing in British F1 Grand Prix 2013

1. Nico Rosberg           Mercedes
2. Mark Webber           Redbull
3. Fernando Alonso      Ferrari
4. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes
5. Kimi Raikkonen       Lotus
6. Felipe Massa            Ferrari
7. Adrian Sutil              Force India
8. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso
9. Paul di Resta             Force India
10. Nico Hulkenberg     Sauber
11. Pastor Maldonado   Williams
12. Valtteri Bottas         Williams
13. Jenson Button          McLaren
14. Esteban Gutierrez    Sauber
15. Charles Pic              Caterham
16. Jules Bianchi           Marussia
17. Max Chilton            Marussia
18. G. van der Garde     Caterham
19. Romain Grosjean    Lotus

Retirements in British F1 Grand Prix 2013

Sergio Perez                 McLaren
Sebastian Vettel           Redbull
Jean Eric Vergne          Toro Rosso

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Silverstone Pole for Hamilton in F1 Qualifying

Silverstone Pole for Hamilton in F1 Qualifying


Lewis Hamilton scored pole position for Mercedes in his home grand prix of Silverstone amidst loud cheering and wave formations. Lewis Hamilton scored pole with a 1:29.607 and was the only driver below the 1m 30 sec time.

Hamilton’s team mate Nico Rosberg came second 0.452 seconds adrift at 1:30.059.

Sebastian Vettel of Redbull who is leading the championship till now was third at 1:30.211. His team mate and bitter rival Mark Webber, who is retiring from F1 at the end of this season, will start his last Silverstone F1 grand prix in the fourth position along side Vettel in the second row. Mark Webber was 0.009 seconds slower than Vettel.

Paul di Resta of Force India, who have their base nearby, will start in row three in as he qualified in fifth position with a time of 1:30.736. Paul di Resta, being Scottish, will find many supporters in the crowd, although winning for him is unthinkable.

Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso, who is touted to be graduate to the sister team of Red Bull and take up Mark Webber’s seat next year, will line up alongside di Resta in sixth position. Ricciardo scored 1:30.757s.

Paul di Resta’s team mate Adrian Sutil came seventh with a time of 1:30.908. Lining up alongside him in grid will be Romain Grosjean of Lotus. Romain outscored his more famous team mate Kimi Raikkonen by 0.007 seconds ie. Seven hundredths of a second. Romain scored 1:30.955 vis a vis 1:30.962 of Kimi Raikkonen. Lotus is increasingly falling behind in the development battle and Kimi’s hopes of winning the championship is fast dwindling unless he can score a couple of consecutive wins. Fernando Alonso of Ferrari scored a P10 with a 1:30.979. Wily competitor that he is, he would hope for some intelligent racing tomorrow.

Jenson Button of McLaren couldn’t qualify for the Q3 shootout and scored a P11. He was followed by Felipe Massa of Ferrari at 12th position.

Jean Eric Vergne of Toro Rosso must be disappointed starting at 13th position when his teammate Ricciardo will start at sixth. Sergio Perez had another ordinary session and will start at 14th. Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber came 15th what is appearing as a wash out season for Sauber. Williams, who will be celebrating their 600 grand prix starts in Silverstone had a forgettable qualify as Pastor Maldonado qualified at 16th and Bottas came 17th. Esteban Gutierrez of sauber came 18th. Charles Pic of Caterham bit Jules Bianchi of Marussia scoring 19th and 20th positions respectively. Giedo van der Garde of Caterham scored 21st ahead of Max Chilton of Marussia in the 22nd and last position. However, Giedo van der Garde will start last as he has got a 10 place grid penalty due to the crash in Canada.

EDIT: Paul di Resta Penalty

Paul di Resta's car found 1.5 kg below minimum weight


During the post qualifying mandatory inspection, when all the fuel was drained out and car weighed, Paul di Resta's car was found to be 1.5kg below the minimum weight of 642 kg. So Paul di Resta's qualifying results were scrapped and he sent to the back of the grid.

Force India has the option of making changes to Paul di Resta's car, change his strategy and make him drive a long first stop and make him start from the pit lane. We will know that closer to the start of the race.


Starting Grid for the Race after Penalties


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




Monday, June 10, 2013

Vettel wins from pole in Monaco as a marshal dies

Vettel celebrates in Monaco as a Marshal dies


Sebastian Vettel of Redbull continued his race towards grabbing the 2013 F1 championship by winning from the Pole position. Unfortunately, we are all reminded how dangerous this sport is when a marshall who was helping assist the retrieval of Esteban Gutierrez's Sauber car tripped and fell infront of the crane and was runover. He was initially treated in Giles Villenueve centre - incidentally Giles Villenueve, despite being a champion and head and shoulders better in technique than the current crop of drivers like Esteban Gutierrez had himself lost his life in a racing incident.

Fernando Alonso of Ferrari who had started in the third row, beat Lewis Hamilton to the second position and Alonso promptly declared that this second position is like a win for him. Lewis Hamilton was in second position till the last six laps when Alonso overtook him.

Mark Webber, Vettel's teammate at Redbull, suffered damage to the nose of his car when Giedo van der Garde of Caterham turned into him while being lapped ruining Webber's race. Mark Webber had to settle in the 4th position.

Hamilton's teammate Nico Rosberg complained of brake problems and finished in fifth position. One cannot be sure when Rosberg complains, as he is known to complain when he is beaten by his teammate. We had seen that in many occassions when Schumacher beat him in the race or in qualifying.

Jean-Eric Vergne drove a great race and finished in sixth position with his Toro Rosso car. His teammate Daniel Ricciardo was however down in 15th position.

Paul di Resta of Force India brought some cheer by finishing in 7th position. He was gentle on his tyres as he ran the medium spec pirelli tires for about 56 laps.

Felipe Massa of Ferrari who had earlier crashed during testing managed to stay clear of the barriers and finished the race in 8th position. Kimi Raikkonen finished in a poor ninth position reflecting the downward move of his Lotus team. Raikkonen an early winner in the season and close contender for championship has now dropped down to third position behind Alonso. Raikkonen had technical problems with the brake pedal and also had a pitstop problem with the right rear wheel. It appears that Raikkonen is going to fade out if his Lotus team doesn't do some significant upgrades. Mercedes just overtook lotus for third position. The temperamental finn may also choose to not renew his contract with Lotus if the going doesn't improve.

Adrian Sutil had an incident packed race with a spin, damaged wings. However he appeared to have not lost his animosity for Hamilton. He blocked Hamilton and later Alonso could overtake Hamilton. Sutil was later penalised with a drive through penalty for blocking Hamilton and that dropped Sutil to 10th position. Force India is happy with the twin point scoring positions of their drivers.

Raikkonen's teammate Romain Grosjean came in a poor 13th and without points.

Sergio Perez and Jenson Button scored 11th and 12th positions while employing different strategies. It was a pointless weekend for McLaren.

Williams drivers Valeri Bottas and Pastor Maldonado finished in 14th and 16th positions. Maldonado's collision with Sutil earned him a drive through penalty. However, Williams didn't have the overall pace to make into the points paying positions.

Jules Bianchi of Marussia finished in 17th position ahead of Charles Pic of Caterham at 18th and Max Chilton of Marussia at 19th.

Nico Hulkenberg had a contact with Giedo van der Garde of Caterham and that resulted in Hulkenberg retiring with a puncture. Soon afterwards Giedo van der Garde crashed while exiting the pits, without any assistance from any fellow driver. It was a significant event, as the marshal died while clearing Gutierrez's car.