Hamilton wins Abu Dhabi & F1 World Championship

Lewis Hamilton wins Abu Dhabi for his 2nd F1 World Championship

Lewis Hamilton made a superb start to snatch the lead from Rosberg in the first lap itself and win the race and Championship. Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas of Williams finished in 2nd and 3rd positions. Nico Rosberg finished in 14th.

Hamilton had raced to 1.2 seconds lead by the second lap. He knew he had to put a big distance between him and the following pack before the pitstops and he really sped away. Nico Rosberg's slim hopes for a championship win vanished into thin air as his poor start resulted in all strategies being ruined. Rosberg had tyres that were one lap older than Hamilton as Rosberg had done one more lap in the qualifying due to a mistake. It is the prerogative of the race leader to decide when to pit. His teammate can only follow in the next lap. So Rosberg had to wait for Hamilton to pit first.

The first pit stop was interesting, as Fernando Alonso dived in into the pits in lap 6. However, he got stuck in traffic as were other drivers. So Mercedes told its drivers to delay the pit stop a bit. So Lewis Hamilton came into the pits in lap 11 followed by Nico Rosberg in the next lap.

Both the Red Bull cars had to start from the pitlane as Red Bull was penalised for using a front wing that flexed beyond the limits. So they had to change it. And since the rules state that you can't change the car between the qualifying and the start, so the Red Bull cars had to start from the pitlane.

After the first round of pitstops, Nico Rosberg kept on pushing the gap was around 2.5 seconds. However, Rosberg couldn't perhaps handle the pressure and made a mistake in lap 24 and locked up in turn 17. In the next lap he reported loss of engine power and Mercedes told him that his Energy Recovery System (ERS) failed. So not only his championship dreams but also scoring a podium finish vanished. Soon after in lap 27 Felipe Massa overtook Rosberg for second position. Pastor Maldonado's wretched year continued as his Lotus car was engulfed by flames.

There was more drama, as suddenly Lewis Hamilton's car slowed down bring fears that his car is also having technical problems. However, it appeared that it was purposefully slowed down to avoid problems. Lewis soon changed tyres in lap 32 and came behind Rosberg but quickly overtook him. This resulted in Massa leading the race. Lewis Hamilton even told his Mercedes team over radio "I am not racing Massa anymore" as perhaps he was worried that his car might have some problems. Clearly he wanted to trade a race win for a Championship win. However Massa still had to pit for tyres and stopped in lap 44 handing over the lead back to Lewis Hamilton. Felipe Massa though changed over to Super Soft tyres and wanted to chase down Lewis Hamilton as the Williams team knew that Mercedes is conservative and afraid of technical problems.  By lap 53 Massa had narrowed the gap to 3.5 seconds to Hamilton. On lap 55 Lewis Hamilton lapped Nico Rosberg and continued his lead over Felipe Massa to win the race as well as the 2014 drivers F1 chamipionship.

This was the 11th race win of Lewis Hamilton in this season. He had more engine problems this year. Despite that he has shown tremendous maturity, grit and pace to win races and his 2nd World Championship.

Final Results of F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

01. Lewis Hamilton         Mercedes
02. Felipe Massa              Williams
03. Valtteri Bottas            Williams
04. Daniel Ricciardo        Red Bull
05. Jenson Button             McLaren
06. Nico Hulkenberg        Force India
07. Sergio Perez               Force India
08. Sebastian Vettel         Red Bull
09. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari
10. Kimi Raikkonen        Ferrari
11. Kevin Magnussen      McLaren
12. Jean-Eric Vergne       Toro Rosso
13. Romain Grosjean       Lotus
14. Nico Rosberg             Mercedes
15. Esteban Gutierrez      Sauber
16. Adrian Sutil               Sauber
17. Will Stevens              Caterham

Retirements in Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix

Kamui Kobayashi  Caterham            Lap 42
Pastor Maldonado  Lotus                  Lap 27
Daniil Kvyat          Toro Rosso         Lap 15

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

Vettel wins Bahrain Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg started the race in pole position, however on Lap 3 Sebastian Vettel overtook him. On lap 5 Alonso also overtook him. But Alonso had to pit soon after in lap 7 as his DRS wing malfunctioned. He changed over to hard tyres. He was among the first to pit due to the DRS problem. However his DRS wing opened again and he had to pit again in lap 9. With no DRS, Alonso’s race may be over. With this there was virtually no competitor for Vettel as he raced on. Later Kimi Raikkonen came in and tried to compete, however, the gap was more than 9 seconds and Raikkonen with older tires decided to back off. Vettel easily kept his lead and won the Bahrain 2013 F1 Grand Prix.

Romain Grosjean hunted down Paul di Resta of Force India to take the third position. Nevertheless the fourth position was also a good news for Paul di Resta whose team mate Adrian Sutil finished out of points in 13th position.

Lewis Hamilton who had started at 9th position due to the 5 place gearbox change penalty had a quiet race, and then towards the end did a bit of neck to neck racing to overtake Mark Webber and finish in 5th position. Surprisingly at the last lap Sergio Perez of McLaren sneaked in and overtook Webber for 6th position. It would be immensely satisfying for Perez as this is the first race he finished ahead of his illustrious team mate Jenson Button who finished in 10th position.

Fernando Alonso who lost the DRS and had to pit one more time, finished at 8th position. It was a very good race without the DRS wing.

Nico Rosberg who had started in pole could only finish in 9th position.

Pastor Maldonado of Williams finished in 11 position and out of points. Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber was 12th. Adrian Sutil of Force India at 13th, Valeri Bottas of Williams at 14th.

Alonso’s team mate Felipe Massa had a contact with Sutil and also had a contact with Webber and finished the race out of points in 15th position.

Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso finished one lap down at 16th, followed by Charles Pic on 17th, Esteban Gutierrez of Sauber on 18th, Jules Bianchi of Marussia on 19th, Max Chilton on 20th and G. Van der Garde on 21st. Jean-Eric Vergne of Toro Rosso was the only retirement in the race.

Final Standings in Bahrain F1 Grand Prix

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

Retirements in 2013 Bahrain F1 Grand Prix

Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso

Vettel wins Indian Grand Prix 2012

Vettel wins Indian Grand Prix from Pole

Sebastian Vettel scored an easy win starting from Pole. He could ward off the challenge of Fernando Alonso who was 9.4 seconds behind. Mark Webber who started second, finished behind Fernando Alonso. Lewis Hamilton tried to win the third place from Mark Webber but could not do so despite Webber having a KERS problem. Hamilton was 0.6 seconds behind Mark Webber. Hamilton's team mate Jenson Button came 5th and he set the fastest lap time on the 60th and last lap.

Felipe Massa of Ferrari came 6th. Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus was only 0.7 seconds behind Massa and finished at 7th. Raikkonen now doesn't have any hope for the drivers title. Nico Hulkenberg of Force India finished 8th, Romain Grosjean of Lotus finished 9th and Bruno Senna finished 10th.

The Indian Grand Prix 2012 didn't have much of first lap excitement as the usual suspects Romain Grosjean, Pastor Maldonado and Kamui Kobayashi kept their cool. However, it was Jear-Eric Vergne who clipped Michael Schumacher's rear right tyres forcing him to pit. Since then it was an immensely forgettable race for Michael, as he was lapped in no time. Though he was setting comparable times as the top drivers, the time spent in slowly moving to the pits with a completely shredded rear tyre ensured that he couldn't move up. He was driving on 18th place and one lap down when he retired.

It is a sad race for Mercedes as well, as Nico Rosberg too finished outside the points. It would be interesting to hear Ross Brawn's excuses as he has been giving one excuse after the other in the last three years. To save his skin, he also ensured that Mercedes lured Lewis Hamilton to the team and forced Michael Schumacher to retire.

Narain Karthikeyan in the opening laps was told to mind his brakes, so he drove within himself. His teammate Pedro de la Rossa spinned and hit the barriers due to a brake problem. Narain finished at 21st position.

Final positions in Indian Grand Prix 2012:

1. Sebastian Vettel             Red Bull
2. Fernando Alonso            Ferrari
3. Mark Webber                 Red Bull
4. Lewis Hamilton             McLaren
5. Jenson Button                McLaren
6. Felipe Massa                 Ferrari
7. Kimi Raikkonen            Lotus
8. Nico Hulkenberg           Force India
9. Romain Grosjean          Lotus
10. Bruno Senna                Williams
11. Nico Rosber                Mercedes
12. Paul di Resta              Force India
13. Daniel Ricciardo        Toro Rosso
14. Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber
15. Jean-Eric Vergne       Toro Rosso
16. Pastor Maldonado      Williams
17. Vitaly Petrov              Caterham
18. Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham
19. Charles Pic                 Marussia
20. Timo Glock                Marussia
21. Narain Karthikeyan    HRT
22. Michael Schumacher Mercedes RETIRED (5 laps down)
      Pedro de la Rossa       HRT        (Accident) 18 laps down
      Sergio Perez               Sauber     RETIRED (40 laps down)


Sebastian Vettel's Indian Grand Prix win was the 4th win in a row for him. 

Formula One drivers championship standings after Japan

Formula One Drivers Championship standings

The Formula One Championship is now in an interesting stage. The lead of Fernando Alonso in the drivers championship has come down drastically due to his retirements and Sebastian Vettel's back to back wins.

Lewis Hamilton had a bad outing in Japan and his championship hopes appear to be virtually over. Especially since his equations with his team has evaporated culminating in his announcement of his Mercedes deal.

Kimi Raikkonen hasn't won a race in this season and unless he wins the next few races his championship hopes are also over. With the superior pace of Red Bull, Sebastian Vettel would have dreaming of a third consecutive drivers championship title.

Ranking	Driver	Team	Points
1	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	194
2	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	190
3	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus	157
4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	152
5	Mark Webber	Red Bull	134
6	Jenson Button	McLaren	131
7	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	93
8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	82
9	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	69
10	Sergio Perez	Sauber	66
11	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	50
12	Paul de Resta	Force India	44
13	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	43
14	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	37
15	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	33
16	Bruno Senna	Williams	25
17	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	8
18	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	7
19	Timo Glock	Marussia	0
20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham	0
21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham	0
22	Jerome D'Ambrosio	Lotus	0
23	Charles Pic	Marussia	0
24	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT	0
25	Pedro de La Rosa	HRT	0

Michael Schumacher retires from Formula One

Michael Schumacher retires from Formula One racing

Michael schumacher - The God of Formula One - has announced his retirement.  In a shocking move earlier his Mercedes team had announced Lewis Hamilton in his place. http://arjunaubacha.blogspot.in/2012/09/mercedes-shows-door-to-michael.html

Now Michael Schumacher has decided not to drive for any other team and retire from the sport for the second and final time. In 2006 Michael Schumacher had retired when he was driving for Ferrari. Ferrari had announced signing of Kimi Raikkonen as his replacement. It was widely believed that instead of forcing Felipe Massa out of the team, Michael Schumacher gracefully retired. However, his ambitions were burning and when Felipe Massa suffered the accident and Ferrari approached Michael Schumacher, the racing fires within him was stoked. He then came and drove for Mercedes team. With the Mercedes team now showing him the door, he had options of going to Sauber. However, he declined to drive for them and has retired.

Michael Schumacher was very competitive and from his demeanor one could see the fires burning. However, without a drive in Mercedes, he has now decided to call it quits from F1.

Though Michael Schumacher said that I still feel that I am capable of competing against the best but the time sometimes comes to say goodbye and this time it might be forever. And he added for good measure "During the past month I was not sure if I still had the motivation and energy which is necessary to go on. It is not my style to go on if I am not 100 percent with it but with today's decision I feel relieved."

7 Word Titles, 91 Race Victories and 155 podiums. Michael Schumacher still remains the most successful driver ever. At 43 years of age, he still burns bright, as a testament to his super human abilities. However, at 43 years, even The God of Formula One is mortal and has decided to bow away. While appreciating all he has done, Michael Schumacher's retirement from Formula One has broken our heart that we will not see him driving any more after this year.

Dani Clos to replace Narain in FP1 in Belgium

Narain Karthikeyan to miss out F1 First Practice in Spa

Narain Karthikeyan of HRT team will again miss out on driving the First Practice to Dani Clos in Belgium. This is the fifth time that Narain will sit out in the first practice. Given that Narain Karthikeyan has shown better race pace but have failed to match his team mate Pedro de la Rosa during qualifying, losing out on valuable practice certainly doesn't help.

Narain said "Spa is a drivers track. I won here during my Formula 3 days, so I have some nice memories and the atmosphere is always great. Even though a lot of run-off has been added over the years, it still has some of the most challenging corners on the calendar."

Dani Clos is expectedly happy to get another run in the car in the Friday First Practice. He said "Once again I have a chance to step in the car and work for the team and that fills me with satisfaction....

He further added "Spa is a circuit where I have great memories. I won my first international one-seater race there, that's something you never forget and it makes me have special feelings for this circuit."

Every Indian fan is ready to see how Narain Karthikeyan will perform after the break in the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix at Spa.

F1 Drivers who need to perform

F1 Drivers Who need perform

The summer break in Formula 1 is nearing its end, the next race being held on 31Aug-02 Sept in Belgium.

Where as the summer break is a mandatory break and teams are not allowed to do any work, there is no respite for drivers, especially the ones who are struggling. These drivers have to increase their fitness and level of mental conditioning to regain the edge over their teammates.

Prominent among the drivers who need to pull up their socks is Felipe Massa of Ferrari. He has been comprehensibly outclassed by his team mate Fernando Alonso and there has been a call on his head. Though Ferrari has officially said that Felipe knows how to pull up his performance level, nevertheless there is always the sword hanging over his head.

The other driver who has been comprehensibly beaten by his team mate is Vitaly Petrov in the Caterham. Heikki Kovalainen may be destined for a break into a top tier team by his consisten performance in the back of the grid team. If Vitaly Petrov is to prove that he really belonged to a top team, then he has to beat Kovalainen.

Narain Karthikeyan has been consistently lagged behind his team mate Pedro de la Rosa during qualifying. However, Narain has had better race finishes than Pedro and has a top 15 finish in Monaco. He said"Right now I am about three tenths behind Pedro and that is something that I have to improve in the second half, no doubt about it."He confessed that it has been very hard to beat Pedro as he hardly makes any mistakes and as he has lot of experience with Pirelli tires and with McLaren. He is clear that he has to beat Pedro.

Michael Schumacher who has been in good form, but unfortunately has had a series of bad lucks and is trailing behind his team mate Nico Rosberg, motivation will never be in short supply.

Lets see how many of these F1 drivers perform well in the second half of the season.

Incredible India logo in HRT car?

Narain Karthikeyan is in talks with the Tourism department for conducting demo runs of the HRT's Formula One car in chennai and the deal will involve placing the Incredible India logo on the HRT cars. If this happens, then it will be good.

Narain Karthikeyan will get much needed sponsorships for the HRT team which is currently struggling due to lack of sponsors. Due to the high viewership of Formula One throughout the world, placing the "Incredible India" logo

All Spanish Driver Lineup for HRT in FP1

HRT which is a Spanish team, has decided to opt for an all Spanish driver lineup in the First Practice in Spanish Grand Prix.

Dani Clos, a Spanish driver, who was earlier taken by HRT as a reserve driver, is given the opportunity