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 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

Sebastian Vettel wins Indian GP and 4th crown

Sebastian Vettel wins the Indian Grand Prix and his 4th World Championship on the trot

Sebastian Vettel started from the pole on soft tyres. It was predicted that his teammate Mark Webber who had qualified 4th in the medium tyres may have a better strategy as the soft tyres were supposed to barely last for a lap or two in this circuit. Pirelli had advised that their soft tyres will last a maximum of 15 laps and the medium tyres 35 laps.

Sebastian Vettel started from the pole and moved into the lead. Felipe Massa squeezed through to the second position ahead of the two Mercedes cars of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.

However, Vettel surprised everybody and pit on lap 2 to change to medium tyres. He then drove through the field overtaking other cars. Meanwhile, Mark Webber had taken the lead and was setting fastest laps with the medium tyres. However, Vettel soon caught up with Mark Webber and even took over the lead from him. Mark Webber's race came to an abrupt end when he was asked by his engineer to park his car due to an alternate failure. Webber has been facing this problem in virtually every race this year whereas Vettel doesn't have this. We will never know the actual reason, however many believe that Red Bull doesn't want Webber to win.

Fernando Alonso appeared to hit Webber from behind in the first lap and had to pit for a new nose. He couldn't overtake other cars like Vettel did suggesting that his car probably didn't have the pace. He finished out of points in 11th position.

Nico Rosberg of Mercedes was pretty happy to score a podium position as he came 2nd. His team mate Lewis Hamilton, who started in third position struggled and finished in 6th position.

Romain Grosjean had missed the cut and qualified in 17th position. He however did well to finish in the podium position. Infact his team mate Kimi Raikkonen who was in the contention for a podium position pitted on the penultimate lap (lap 59) and hence dropped down and finished in 7th position. Kimi however had the satisfaction of scoring the fastest lap of the race with a 1:27.679 in the last lap (lap 60).

Felipe Massa of Ferrari would be a happy man as he came in 4th. This performance of his may get him a drive next year with either Lotus or Williams. His performances in the second half of this year suggests that he merits to stay in a good time next year.

Sergio Perez who started just ahead of his teammate in 9th position at one time was running in second position and finished in 5th. He could overtake Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton who were struggling with their tyres. Perez's team mate Jenson Button had to make 4 pitstops and was classified as 14th.

Force India scored points with both their cars as Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil finished in 8th and 9th positions. Daniel Ricciardo who will replace Webber in the Red Bull car scored the final point as he finished in 10th position. He was two seconds ahead of Alonso.

Pastor Maldonado was 0.6 second behind Alonso and finished in 12th position. Jean-Eric Vergne was a lap down and finished in 13th ahead of Jenson Button, Valtteri Bottas, Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi.

Sebastian Vettel was crowned the 2013 drivers World Champion with his win at the Indian Grand Prix. He did some elaborate dougnuts with his car after winning the race. This resulted in his team being penalised 25,000 euros, a small sum to pay for the celebrations.

Final Standings in India Grand Prix 2013

1. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull
2. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes
3. R. Grosjean             Lotus
4. Felipe Massa           Ferrari
5. Sergio Perez            McLaren
6. Lewis Hamilton      Mercedes
7. Kimi Raikkonen     Lotus
8. P. di Resta               Force India
9. Adrian Sutil            Force India
10. D. Ricciardo         Toro Rosso
11. Fernando Alonso  Ferrari
12. P. Maldonado       Williams
13. J. Vergne              Toro Rosso
14. Jenson Button      McLaren
15. E. Gutierrez         Sauber
16. Valtteri Bottas     Williams
17. M. Chilton            Marussia
18. J. Bianchi             Marussia

Retirements in Indian Grand Prix 2013

Nico Hulkenberg
Mark Webber
Charles Pic
Giedo van der Garde

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