Sebastian Vettel win Brazilian Grand Prix to make it 9 in a row

Brazilian Grand Prix marks 9 in a row for Vettel

Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull won the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix to score 9 race wins in row and equal the world record of Alberto Ascari. It was widely expected that Red Bull was the car to beat and out of the two Red Bull cars, Sebastian Vettel has got preference over his team mate Mark Webber in number of occasions this year.

He also equalled the record held by Michael Schumacher of 13 race wins in a season. So it became 13 wins in 2013 for Sebastian Vettel.

Sebastian Vettel could comfortably hold off his teammate Mark Webber who retired from the sport with this race. There was no drama in the race due to weather as it only drizzled intermittently, unlike the pouring that everybody expected. Vettel was 10.4 seconds ahead of his team mate. There was a bit of drama when the Red Bull team fumbled with his stop and Mark Webber had to patiently wait behind him for his turn to change tyres.

Fernando Alonso of Ferrari came third. Jenson Button who had qualified in 15th position drove a good race and finished on 4th. Nico Rosberg had raced ahead of Vettel during the start couldn’t hold on to the lead position and had to drop down due to his car eating up his tyres. Rosberg had to be content with a 5th position finish. Sergio Perez who had smashed against a wall in the qualifying and started the race in 14th position finished the race in 6th. This happened as Felipe Massa was slapped with a drive through penalty for crossing the pit lane entry white line marker. Massa was originally running just behind his team mate Fernando Alonso in 4th position. This helped Sergio Perez finish just ahead of Massa. Massa’s 7th position finish also resulted in Ferrari losing the second place in constructors championship to Mercedes. That would be worth several million dollars.

Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber finished in 8th position ahead of Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes. Hamilton had started in 4th but didn’t notice Valtteri Bottas of Williams was trying to unlap himself in the lap 47. So they touched and Hamilton got a rear right tyre puncture. To top it, Hamilton was also given a drive through penalty. Hamilton finished on 9th position.

Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso finished in 10th and the last points paying position but had the ignominy of being 1 lap down.

Paul di Resta who is expected to be kicked out of Force India, finished just outside the points at 11th position. His team-mate Adrian Sutil, who is favourite to retain his position, finished in 13th. Esteban Gutierrez of Sauber separated the two scoring a 12th position finish.

Heikki Kovalainen finished a disappointing 14th position whereas his team-mate Romain Grosjean retired in lap 2 with engine trouble.

Jean-Eric Vergne of Toro Rosso came in 15th just ahead of Pastor Maldonado of Williams in 16th. The drivers from the 10th to 16th positions were one lap down.

Jules Bianchi of Marussia, Giedo van der Garde of Caterham and Max Chilton of Marussia finished 2 laps down at 17th, 18th and 19th positions respectively.

Final Positions in Brazilian Grand Prix 2013

1.   Sebastian Vettel              Red Bull

2.   Mark Webber                  Red Bull

3.   Fernando Alonso             Ferrari

4.   Jenson Button                  McLaren

5.   Nico Rosberg                    Mercedes

6.   Sergio Perez                     McLaren

7.   Felipe Massa                    Ferrari

8.   Nico Hulkenberg             Sauber

9.   Lewis Hamilton                Mercedes

10. Daniel Ricciardo              Toro Rosso

11. Paul di Resta                   Force India

12. Esteban Gutierrez           Sauber

13. Adrian Sutil                     Force India

14. Heikki Kovalainen           Lotus

15. Jean-Eric Vergne             Toro Rosso

16. Pastor Maldonado          Williams

17. Jules Bianchi                    Marussia

18. Giedo van der Garde      Caterham

19. Max Chilton                     Marussia

Retirements in the Brazilian Grand Prix 2013

Charles Pic Caterham
Valtteri Bottas Williams
Romain Grosjean Lotus

Vettel scores 9th Pole at Brazil

Sebastian Vettel takes pole in Brazilian Grand Prix

Sebastain Vettel took the pole position in a wet Brazilian Grand Prix 2013 qualifying with a massive 1.1s lead over his team mate Mark Webber. Vettel scored a 1:26.479 in his first attempt. Vettel is on course for his 9th straight win of the season. Nico Rosberg of Mercedes came second with 0.623 seconds behind Vettel with a time of 1:27.102.

Fernando Alonso or Ferrari came in third with 1:25.539 ahead of Mark Webber of Red Bull who was timed at 1:27.572. Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, who has been complaining about his wet weather set up came in 5th with time of 1:27.677.

Romain Grosjean of Lotus came in 6th with a timing of 1:27.737 and was followed by Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso with a time of 1:28.052. His teammate Jean-Eric Vergne came in 8th with time of 1:28.081.

Felipe Massa who is driving his last race as a Ferrari driver scored a time of 1:28.109 for a P9 position. He was followed by Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber with a time of 1:29.582 for P10.

Heikki Kovalainen who is driving the last two races for Lotus in the place of Kimi Raikkonen was unlucky to miss out on the top ten shoot out by a mere 0.015 seconds and will start on 11th place on Sunday. Paul di Resta of Force India was 12th followed by Valtteri Bottas of Williams in 13th. The 14th place went to Sergio Perez of McLaren who is driving his last race for the team. Infact Perez smashed against a wall and was still faster than his teammate and former world champion Jenson Button who came in at 15th.

Adrian Sutil of Force India came in at 16th. Sutil has been hinting at a deal with Force India for the next season whereas di Resta who outraced him is hinting at moving away from formula 1 next year. Such is the intrigue in Formula 1.

Pastor Maldonado again was slower than his team mate and wills tart in 17th position. Maldonado has opted out of Williams and there is now lot of bad blood between him and the team.

Esteban Gutierrez of Sauber will start on 18th followed by Charles Pic of Caterham in 19th. Giedo van der Garde of Caterham will start in 20th followed by the Marussia duo of Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton.

It would be an interesting race due to the rains. Lets wait and see if Vettel indeed wins this race for a record breaking 9th win in a row. Will Mark Webber do some magic in his last race of his Formula 1 career?

Vettel wins US GP for 8th win in a row

8th win in row for Vettel

As expected Sebastian Vettel won the US F1 GP and made it 8 races in a row. He overtook Michael Schumacher’s record of 7 consecutive race wins.

Starting from pole position, it was known that Vettel would conjure up the race win despite his teammate Mark Webber started in second place. The only challenge was from Romain Grosjean of Lotus who had a superb start and finished in second place. Vettel finished 6.2 seconds ahead of Grosjean.

Mark Webber was stuck behind Lewis Hamilton for sometime and hence it was not easy for him to challenge Romain. To his credit Romain Gorsjean did as he was prompted over radio and managed to keep the Red Bull of Mark Webber at bay. Even his detractors will feel sad for Mark Webber fading away from F1 in such an unceremonious manner. Most of the times it has been his team throwing a googly at him. And in this race, he made a mistake and couldn’t take the pole position. Nevertheless, Webber has been in a lose-lose situation. On hind sight, he shouldn’t have continued with Red Bull this year.

Lewis Hamilton finished in 4th position. He came under pressure from Alonso, however, he could hold on to his position. Later on Hamilton said that he was happy to have a new chassis for this race as his team discovered a crack in his car chassis. Lewis Hamilton said that there was a huge difference after the change in chassis and it felt like “night and day” difference. Hamilton had qualified in 5th position and finished at 4th in the race. He said that he was looking after the tyres and he would have increased the pace if Fernando would haveUnfortunately, his teammate Nico Rosberg could only finish in ninth position.

Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber finished behind Fernando Alonso in 6th position. This finish and no information from Lotus is now making him contemplate staying at Sauber for another year. Earlier in the year, it was known that Nico Hulkenberg was not paid by Sauber. We are yet to know whether that has been resolved yet. The financial situation of teams in Formula 1 is precarious.

Sergio Perez of McLaren drove a fine race to finish at 7th ahead of Valtteri Bottas of Williams in 8th. It was the first points earning position for Bottas. He should be especially happy as his teammate Pastor Maldonado has scored only a single point so far and hence he can finish ahead of him in the drivers championship.

Nico Rosberg of Mercedes and Jenson Button of McLaren finished at 9th and 10th positions.

Final Restuls in US F1 Grand Prix 2013

1. Sebastian Vettel                Red Bull

2. Romain Grosjean               Lotus

3. Mark Webber                    Red Bull

4. Lewis Hamilton                  Mercedes

5. Fernando Alonso               Ferrari

6. Nico Hulkenberg               Sauber

7. Sergio Perez                       McLaren

8. Valtteri Bottas                    Williams

9. Nico Rosberg                      Mercedes

10. Jenson Button                 McLaren

11. Daniel Ricciardo              Toro Rosso

12. Felipe Massa                    Ferrari

13. Esteban Gutierrez           Sauber

14. Heikki Kovalainen           Lotus

15. Paul di Resta                   Force India

16. Jean-Eric Vergne             Toro Rosso

17. Pastor Maldonado          Williams

18. Jules Bianchi                    Marussia

19. Giedo van der Garde      Caterham

20. Charles Pic                       Caterham

21. Max Chilton                     Marussia

Retirements in US F1 Grand Prix 2013

Adrian Sutil                            Force India

Mark Webber on Pole in Abu Dhabi

Mark Webber scores Pole in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Mark Webber of Red Bull in his last race at Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix became only the third person to score a pole position apart from Vettel and Hamilton, when Hamilton spun in the final sector and brought yellow flags. That was his 13^th pole position in F1 races.

Mark Webber’s team mate Sebastian Vettel who has already been coronated as the 2013 F1 champion in the Indian Grand Prix settled for 2^nd postion.

Nico Rosberg of Mercedes came ahead of his team mate Lewis Hamilton in P3. Hamilton would be surprised at his rare spin and had to be content with his P4 position.

Kimi Raikkonen, who had considered withdrawing from the Abu Dhabi race due to payment dispute with Lotus raced to a P5. He was followed by Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber in P6.

Romain Grosjean of Lotus qualified in P7 followed by Felipe Massa of Ferrari in P8. Interestingly, Massa’s teammate Fernando Alonso of Ferrari couldn’t even qualify in the top ten. Alonso settled at P11.

Sergio Perez of McLaren qualified in P9 whereas his more experienced teammate former world champion Jenson Button could only qualify at P13.

Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso qualified in P10. Daniel will drive instead of Mark Webber in the Red Bull car next year. Daniel Ricciardo’s team mate Vergne qualified in P14.

We have to wait and see if Mark Webber faces another car failure or Red Bull decides to alter his strategy to give his teammate Sebastian Vettel the upper hand as it has done this entire season.

Final Standings in Abu Dhabi 2013 F1 Qualifying

1. Mark Webber        Red Bull

2. Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull

3. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes

4. Lewis Hamilton      Mercedes

5. Kimi Raikkonen     Lotus

6. Nico Hulkenberg   Sauber

7. Romain Grosjean   Lotus

8. Felipe Massa          Ferrari

9. Sergio Perez           McLaren

10. Daniel Ricciardo  Toro Rosso

11. Fernando Alonso Ferrari

12. Paul di Resta       Force India

13. Jenson Button     McLaren

14. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso

15. P. Maldonado      Williams

16. V. Bottas               Williams

17. E. Gutierrez          Sauber

18. Adrian Sutil         Force India

19. G. van der Garde Caterham

20. Jules Bianch         Marussia

21. Charles Pic           Caterham      

22. Max Chilton         Marussia

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