Sunday, August 25, 2013

Sebastian Vettel wins Belgian Grand Prix 2013

Sebastian Vettel wins Belgian Grand Prix 2013

Sebastian Vettel overtook pole sitter Lewis Hamilton in the Kemmel straight and there after comfortably maintained his lead to win the Belgian Grand Prix at spa. Fernando Alonso made a good start from his P9 starting position and came second. Pole sitter Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes finished on third position.

Rain evaded the Belgian Grand Prix and hence the results were not as interesting as yesterday’s qualifying. Predictably Sebastian Vettel comfortably maintained his lead after overtaking in the first lap.

Mark Webber didn’t have a good start and finished at 5th position. His season seems to be finishing in a whimper. Too often this year we have seen either the Red Bull messing up pit stops of Mark Webber or some problem cropping up in his car. So he must be having some relief at getting a few points in this race.

Jenson Button finished at sixth. Felipe Massa finished at 7th. Romain Grosjean finished on 8th. He must have been surprised to be pushed off the track by Sergio Perez as Grosjean in 2012 was known for his rash driving and was even banned for a race. Perez was duly handed a penalty which pushed him down and he eventually finished out of points at 11. Adrian Sutil finished at 9th. Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso who is in the running to get the Red Bull seat vacated by Mark Webber next year, had a terrible qualifying yesterday. However, he managed to get the 10th place and importantly finish ahead of his team mate Jean-Eric Vergne who finished at 12th.

This race also saw Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus retiring from the race. Earlier his car was seen throwing black dust from the front brake. This ended his record breaking run of 27 straight points finishes.

Race Results in Belgian Grand Prix 2013

1. Sebastian Vettel                Red Bull
2. Fernando Alonso               Ferrari
3. Lewis Hamilton                  Mercedes
4. Nico Rosberg                      Mercedes
5. Mark Webber                    Red Bull
6. Jenson Button                    McLaren
7. Felipe Massa                      Ferrari
8. Romain Grosjean               Lotus
9. Adrian Sutil                        Force India
10. Daniel Ricciardo              Toro Rosso
11. Sergio Perez                    Mclaren
12. Jean-Eric Vergne             Toro Rosso
13. Nico Hulkenberg                         Sauber
14. Esteban Gutierrez           Sauber
15. Valteri Bottas                   Williams
16. Giedo van der Garde      Caterham
17. Pastor Maldonado          Williams
18. Jules Bianchi                    Marussia

19. Max Chilton                     Caterham


Retirements in Belgian Grand Prix

Paul di Resta                          Force India
Kimi Raikkonen                     Lotus

Charles Pic                             Marussia

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Lewis Hamilton on Pole in Belgian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton on Pole in Belgian Grand Prix 2013

Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes scores Pole in rain in F1 Belgian Grand Prix qualifying.

In the Q3, rain was predicted, so all the cars started immediately as soon as the session was flagged on. However, rain immediately started and it came to notice that Force India had put their driver Di Resta on intermediate tyres. So he set the first bench mark time and it was very late when drivers could beat it. Paul di Resta scored P5.

Lewis Hamilton in the dying moments snatched the P1 slot from Sebastian Vettel with a time of 2:01.012. Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull came second with a time of 2:01.200

Vettel’s teammate in Red Bull, Mark Webber scored P3 with a time of 2:01.325 seconds. Nico Rosberg of Mercedes will line up by his side in the second row after he scored 2:02.251

Jenson Button of McLaren scored P6. Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus will line up in the 4th row as they qualified P7 and P8.

Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa of Ferrari will start in fifth row. Unless there is rain tomorrow, the championship hopes of Fernando Alonso seems to be fading away.

Drama in Q1 in Belgian Grand Prix F1 Qualifying

In the First part of the qualifying in Belgian Grand Prix 2013, rain brought a few surprises. Towards the end of the Q1 the track was drying up and hence times were tumbling faster. Giedo van der Garde a backmarker, shot into limelight when he posted the third fastest time P3 of 2:00.564. The Fastest time was of Fernando Alonso at 2:00.190 followed by Lewis Hamilton at 2:00.368

During Q1 the six drivers who were relegated were:

17. Pastor Maldonado, Williams
18. Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso
19. Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso
20. Valteri Bottas, Williams
21. Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber
22. Charles Pic, Marussia

So out of the four perennial backmarkers belonging to Caterham and Marussia, only Charles Pic of Marussia finished in his familiar 22nd spot. The other three escaped relegation, which is nothing sort of historical.

In the Q2, Giedo van der Garde scored his career best 14th at the F1 Belgian Grand Prix came 2013 and stayed ahead of Jules Bianchi of Marussia 15th and Max Chilton of Caterham at 16th.

Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber scored P11 followed by Adrian Sutil of Force India at P12 and Sergio Perez of McLaren at P13.

Final Qualifying Results in Belgian Grand Prix

1. Lewis Hamilton                  Mercedes
2. Sebastian Vettel                Red Bull
3. Mark Webber                    Red Bull
4. Nico Rosberg                      Mercedes
5. Paul di Resta                      Force India
6. Jenson Button                    McLaren
7. Romain Grosjean               Lotus
8. Kimi Raikkonen                 Lotus
9. Fernando Alonso               Ferrari
10. Felipe Massa                    Ferrari
11. Nico Hulkenberg              Sauber
12. Adrian Sutil                     Force India
13. Sergio Perez                    Mclaren
14. Giedo van der Garde      Caterham
15. Jules Bianchi                    Marussia
16. Max Chilton                     Caterham
17. Pastor Maldonado          Williams
18. Jean-Eric Vergne             Toro Rosso
19. Daniel Ricciardo              Toro Rosso
20. Valteri Bottas                   Williams
21. Esteban Gutierrez           Sauber

22. Charles Pic                       Marussia