Sunday, September 22, 2013

Vettel consolidates lead with Singapore F1 win


Sebastian Vettel wins Singapore F1 Grand Prix 2013, consolidates lead


Sebastian Vettel had lost the lead in Singapore F1 Grand Prix 2013 for a few moments during the start, but regained it and won it to consolidate his lead.

As a consolation, Fernando Alonso of Ferrari came second. The star of the race is perhaps Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus, who despite starting at 13th position due to a bad back, finished in third position. Knowing fully well that lotus is not paying him his salary and having agreed to move away to Ferrari from next year and still driving on paining killing injections to finish third is a monumental achievement.

Nico Rosberg of Mercedes who had started second, finished at P4. His teammate Lewis Hamilton finished in 5th and suffered a near fatal blow to his championship hopes. Hamilton may not admit it, however, his hopes of winning the 2013 F1 drivers championship is now as good as walking on Mars without a space suit. Hamilton is now 96 points behind vettel with only 6 races to go.

Felipe Massa of Ferrari who had qualified his teammate Fernando Alonso, finished sixth. Jenson Button of McLaren finished seventh. Button's teammate Sergio Perez finished at eighth.

Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber finished 9th and was followed by Adrian Sutil of Force India in 10th

Results of Singapore F1 Grand Prix 2013


1. Sebastian Vettel                Red bull
2. Fernando Alonso               Ferrari
3. Kimi Rainkkonen               Lotus
4. Nico Rosberg                      Mercedes
5. Lewis Hamilton                  Mercedes
6. Felipe Massa                      Ferrari
7. Jenson Button                    McLaren
8. Sergio Perez                       McLaren
9. Nico Hulkenberg               Sauber
10. Adrian Sutil                     Force India
11. Pastor Maldonado          Williams
12. Esteban Gutierrez           Sauber
13. Valtteri Bottas                 Williams
14. Jean-Eric Vergne             Toro Rosso
 15. Mark Webber                 Red Bull
16. Giedo Van der Garde      Caterham
17. Max Chilton                     Marussia
18. Jules Bianchi                    Marussia
19. Charles Pic                       Caterham

Retirements in Singapore F1 Grand Prix


Paul di Resta                          Force India
Romain Grosjean                   Lotus

Daniel Ricciardo                    Toro Rosso

Monday, September 9, 2013

Vettel wins Italian Grand Prix 2013

Sebastian Vettel wins from Pole in Monza


Sebastian Vettel continued the tradition of drivers starting on pole winning the Italian Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso of Ferrari came second with 5.4 seconds behind. Vettel’s teammate, Mark Webber of Redbull came third with 0.8 second behind Alonso.

Both the Redbull cars of Vettel and Mark Webber apparently had very less fuel and were asked to shortshift during the last few laps. However, they finished the race in 1st and 3rd positions.

The bad luck of Vettel’s opponents continued, with Kimi Raikkonen having to pit in the third lap for a new nose and tyres and ultimately finished at P12 without points, vapourising his championship hopes. Vettel’s other opponent Lewis Hamilton had a slow puncture and was asked to pit by his team in lap 12. However, Hamilton couldn’t hear it and then came to the pits in lap14 after he was shown the message manually through the boards. Hamilton despite setting the fastest laptime of 1:25.849 in Lap 51 had to do 2 pit stops and finished in 9th position.

Felipe Massa who had started ahead of Fernando Alonso, didn’t offer much resistance when Alonso overtook him in lap 7 and finished in 4th position. Massa was 3 seconds behind Mark Webber. Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber who had surprisingly started in P3, finished in 5th position. Hulkenberg finished 0.9 seconds behind Massa. Nico Rosberg of Mercedes finished in 6th a further 0.6 seconds behind Hulkenberg.

Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso finished in 7th position at 21.3 seconds behind Nico Rosberg. Romain Grosjean of Lotus – the only lotus to be in a points position this weekend – finished in 8th position 0.8 seconds behind Riccardo. Grosjean managed to hold on to his position despite Lewis Hamilton mounting a big attack on him. Hamilton finished in 9th barely 0.3 seconds behind Grosjean.

Jenson Button of McLaren finished in 10th and the last points paying position.
There were two retirements in the race. Paul di Resta of Force India retired in the opening lap and Jean-Eric Vergne retired in lap 15.

Results of Italian Grand Prix 2013

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

20. Max Chilton                     Marussia

Retirements in F1 Italian Grand Prix 2013

Jean Eric Vergne Toro Rosso
Paul di Resta Force India


Saturday, September 7, 2013

Vettel leads Redbull 1-2 vs Hamilton 12th

Vettel scores pole in Monza


Sebastian Vettel scored a pole where it matters the most, in Monza, Italian Grand Prix 2013. The last 13 pole sitters in Monza has gone to win the race. Vettel's teammate Mark Webber, who is retiring from F1 this year, came in second with a time of 1:23.968 vis-a-vis 1:23.755 of his teammate Vettel.

Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber sprung a surprise and qualified in the third position.

Sebastian Vettel's championship rivals fell by the wayside. Lewis Hamilton couldn't quality to the Q3 due to a mistake during his first run in Q2. When he lined up for the second run, he was blocked by Adrian Sutil of Force India and hence was timed out. It would be pertinent to mention that Adrian Sutil and Hamilton were friends but their friendship turned into animosity when Adrian Sutil's brawled in a bar with Gerard Lopez of Lotus and Lewis Hamilton appeared to distance himself from the incident. Sutil was dropped for a year by the Force India last year and came back to racing again this year. It would be interesting to hear what Hamilton says. Adrian Sutil finsh

Sebastian Vettel's other championship rival, Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus also failed to qualify for the Q3 and finished in 11th position.

Vettel's other championship rival Fernando Alonso finished in P5 behind teammate Felipe Massa, as Ferrari couldn't time both the cars for Alonso to tow in behind the slipstream of Massa's car. Or was it a design to show Massa better and ensure that he stays in the team? It is known that Ferrari team boss Domenicalli reportedly wants Massa.

Since the difference between the times of Nico Hulkenberg (P3 at 1:24.065), Massa (P4 with time of 1:24.132) and Alonso (1:24.142) was less, if Alonso could have had the advantage of the slipstream of Massa's car, he could have overtaken Hulkenberg's P3 time.

Nico Rosberg of Mercedes qualified 6th with a time of 1:24.192 and was followed by Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso with a time of !:24.209. He was followed by Sergio Perez of McLaren in 7th, who outqualified his teammate Jenson Button by 0.013 seconds.

Jean-Eric Vergne of Toro Rosso finished in P10.

Italian Grand Prix 2013 Qualifying positions:


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