Rosberg wins as Hamilton's Pirelli tyre blows out

Hamilton had started in Pole position and was leading the race, however a rear left tyre blow out ruined his race. He however managed to finish in fourth position. Hamilton staged an impressive recovery after the early tyre blow out, however, he couldn't overtake Fernando Alonso of Ferrari for the third position. Alonso was particularly happy to cut down the lead of Vettel, as this was the first DNF of Vettel in this season.

Sebastian Vettel who had inherited the lead was forced to retire due to a gearbox failure. Before this failure, a precautionary check of his tyre had revealed cuts. Else, he would have been the fifth driver to suffer a rear left tyre blow out.

Nico Rosberg who had dropped down to third from the second position in which he started, won the race albeit by a narrow margin of 0.7 seconds and Mark Webber finished who normally enjoys this circuit finished second. A couple of laps would have ensured that Webber beat Rosberg. This became the second race win for Rosberg this year, who had his first race win last year.

After Sebastian Vettel's gearbox gave up, a safety car was deployed. Kimi Raikkonen however decided not to pit for fresh tyres as he thought of overtaking Nico Rosberg. However, Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber pitted for fresh tyres and could easily overtake Kimi Raikkonen later. Kimi finished in 5th position.

Felipe Massa was another victim of Pirelli tyre blow out. However, he still managed to finish in 6th position. Sergio Perez was not so lucky with his tyres and retired. Jean Eric Vergne too retired due to the tyre issue.

Adrian Sutil of Force India finished 7th, while his teammate Paul di Resta who was penalised for underweight and sent to back of the grid finished in 9th position. Daniel Ricciardo finished 8th for Toro Rosso.

Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber had the 10th position and one point. He might be happy given the current state of affairs at Sauber.

Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas of Williams finished 11th and 12th respectively.

Jenson Button of McLaren finished 13th, two places down from his starting position. Esteban Gutierrez was 14th, Charles Pic of Caterham 15th, Jules Bianchi of Marussia 16th, Max Chilton of Marussia 17th, Giedo van der Garde of Caterham 18th and Romain Grosjean of Lotus 19th.

Pirelli Tyre Drama

When Pirelli came to F1, they were asked to create tyres with higher degradation which will spice up the race. However, no one had expected that Pirelli will go to another extreme and endanger safety of drivers. Pirelli in a statement said that they had used a bonding process to stop delamination of tyres and the blowouts were not due that change in process. They are examining the cause and will rectify it before the German Grand Prix next weekend. In an emergency meeting FIA has asked Pirelli to come out with a solution by wednesday.

Final Standing in British F1 Grand Prix 2013

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

Retirements in British F1 Grand Prix 2013

Sergio Perez                 McLaren
Sebastian Vettel           Redbull
Jean Eric Vergne          Toro Rosso

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 from pole in Monaco as a marshal dies

Vettel celebrates in Monaco as a Marshal dies

Sebastian Vettel of Redbull continued his race towards grabbing the 2013 F1 championship by winning from the Pole position. Unfortunately, we are all reminded how dangerous this sport is when a marshall who was helping assist the retrieval of Esteban Gutierrez's Sauber car tripped and fell infront of the crane and was runover. He was initially treated in Giles Villenueve centre - incidentally Giles Villenueve, despite being a champion and head and shoulders better in technique than the current crop of drivers like Esteban Gutierrez had himself lost his life in a racing incident.

Fernando Alonso of Ferrari who had started in the third row, beat Lewis Hamilton to the second position and Alonso promptly declared that this second position is like a win for him. Lewis Hamilton was in second position till the last six laps when Alonso overtook him.

Mark Webber, Vettel's teammate at Redbull, suffered damage to the nose of his car when Giedo van der Garde of Caterham turned into him while being lapped ruining Webber's race. Mark Webber had to settle in the 4th position.

Hamilton's teammate Nico Rosberg complained of brake problems and finished in fifth position. One cannot be sure when Rosberg complains, as he is known to complain when he is beaten by his teammate. We had seen that in many occassions when Schumacher beat him in the race or in qualifying.

Jean-Eric Vergne drove a great race and finished in sixth position with his Toro Rosso car. His teammate Daniel Ricciardo was however down in 15th position.

Paul di Resta of Force India brought some cheer by finishing in 7th position. He was gentle on his tyres as he ran the medium spec pirelli tires for about 56 laps.

Felipe Massa of Ferrari who had earlier crashed during testing managed to stay clear of the barriers and finished the race in 8th position. Kimi Raikkonen finished in a poor ninth position reflecting the downward move of his Lotus team. Raikkonen an early winner in the season and close contender for championship has now dropped down to third position behind Alonso. Raikkonen had technical problems with the brake pedal and also had a pitstop problem with the right rear wheel. It appears that Raikkonen is going to fade out if his Lotus team doesn't do some significant upgrades. Mercedes just overtook lotus for third position. The temperamental finn may also choose to not renew his contract with Lotus if the going doesn't improve.

Adrian Sutil had an incident packed race with a spin, damaged wings. However he appeared to have not lost his animosity for Hamilton. He blocked Hamilton and later Alonso could overtake Hamilton. Sutil was later penalised with a drive through penalty for blocking Hamilton and that dropped Sutil to 10th position. Force India is happy with the twin point scoring positions of their drivers.

Raikkonen's teammate Romain Grosjean came in a poor 13th and without points.

Sergio Perez and Jenson Button scored 11th and 12th positions while employing different strategies. It was a pointless weekend for McLaren.

Williams drivers Valeri Bottas and Pastor Maldonado finished in 14th and 16th positions. Maldonado's collision with Sutil earned him a drive through penalty. However, Williams didn't have the overall pace to make into the points paying positions.

Jules Bianchi of Marussia finished in 17th position ahead of Charles Pic of Caterham at 18th and Max Chilton of Marussia at 19th.

Nico Hulkenberg had a contact with Giedo van der Garde of Caterham and that resulted in Hulkenberg retiring with a puncture. Soon afterwards Giedo van der Garde crashed while exiting the pits, without any assistance from any fellow driver. It was a significant event, as the marshal died while clearing Gutierrez's car.

F1 World Championship standings after Monaco

Formula 1 Drivers championship after Monaco

Sebastian Vettel by virtue of his second position in F1 Monaco Grand Prix 2013 and Kimi Raikkonen's puncture due to crash with Sergio Perez and the subsequent loss of position and points helped Sebastian Vettel widen the gap and now leads the championship with 107 points.

Kimi Raikkonen was only 4 points behind Vettel before Monaco, but now trails by 21 points with a points tally of 86 points. One more such bad result and the championship may be all but over for Kimi.


Fernando Alonso of Ferrari is on third with 78 points. Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes is at 62 points. The last two races haven't been good for him, though his team mate Nico Rosberg has gained maximum with two pole positions and this win in Monaco.

Mark Webber of Redbull is now fifth with 57 points. His season is now looking like falling away as it had happened last year. If so, this may be his last season in F1. Nico Rosberg of Mercedes won the Monaco race and is now at 47 points and in sixth position.

Felipe Massa who had a crash in Monaco continues at 45 points and is seventh.

F1 Drivers Championship points position after Monaco Grand Prix 2013

1. Sebastian Vettel         Red Bull         107 points
2. Kimi Raikkonen         Lotus               86
3. Fernando Alonso        Ferrari             78
4. Lewis Hamilton          Mercedes        62
5. Mark Webber              Red Bull         57
6. Nico Rosberg              Mercedes        47
7. Felipe Massa               Ferrari            45
8. Paul di Resta               Force India     28
9. Romain Grosjean        Lotus              26
10. Jenson Button           McLaren         25
11. Adrian Sutil              Force India     16
12. Sergio Perez             McLaren         12
13. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso      7
14. Nico Hulkenberg      Sauber              5
15. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso      5
16. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber             0
17. Valtteri Bottas          Williams         0
18. Pastor Maldonado     Williams        0
19. Jules Bianch              Marussia        0
20. Charles Pic                Caterham       0
21. Max Chilton              Marussia        0
22. Giedo van der Garde Caterham       0

Nico Rosberg wins F1 Monaco Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg wins from Pole in Monaco Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg won the Monaco Formula One Grand Prix from pole position to notch his second race victory of his career. In the process he also followed in the footsteps of his father Keke Rosberg who had won Monaco Grand Prix.

Sebastian Vettel of Redbull won the second position followed by his teammate Mark Webber who came third. Hamilton of Mercedes finished fourth.

Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes would be cursing Massa. It is Massa’s accident in lap 30 which necessitate a safety car. At that time only three drivers hadn’t taken their first stop – Nico Rosberg leading, Lewis Hamilton in second and Vettel in third. Vettel immediately dived in to the pits to change his tyres. Rosberg and Hamilton too did the same. However, Hamilton got delayed as the Mercedes had to attend to Rosberg and as a result Hamilton dropped from P2 to P4. After that Hamilton was close on the tail of Webber. However, he could not overtak as there was a crash in Lap 46.

In lap 46 Pastor Maldonado of Williams and Max Chilton of Marussia collided and that resulted in the barriers broken. The race was immediately red flagged and the cars had to come to stop in the race order. The mechanics cleared the shards of carbon fibre lying in the track. Under the rules, drivers are allowed to change to fresh tyres, so everybody changed their tyres. Alonso meanwhile had to give up his position to Perez as he had cut a chicane to defend himself. Chilton was handed over a drive through penalty for causing the collision. It seems he got away with a light punishment.

Lewis Hamilton tried hard to overtake Webber but couldn’t succeed due to superb defensive driving in the narrow tracks of Monaco. As a result Hamilton ruined his tyres and gave up the chase.

In lap 60 Jules Bianchi crashed and soon after in lap 63 Romain Grosjean and Daniel Ricciardo collided ruining the races of both.

It was a big result for Adrian Sutil of Force India who came in at fifth position.

It was a poor result for championship aspirant Fernando Alonso of Ferrari who finished in 7th position behind Jenson Button of McLaren at 6th.

Jean-Eric Vergne of Toro Rosso finished in 8th followed by Paul di Resta of Force India at 9th.

In lap 71 Perez was trying to overtake Raikkonen as a result Raikkonen suffered a puncture ruining his race. Raikkonnen however overtook many cars and managed to take the last point.

It was later found that Perez too suffered as a result of the indiscretion and both of them finished outside points in the 16th position.

Results of F1 Monaco Grand Prix

1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull
3. Mark Weber Red Bull
4. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
5. Adrian Sutil Force India
6. Jenson Button McLaren
7. Fernando Alonso Ferrari
8. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso
9. Paul di Resta Force India
10. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus
11. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber
12. Valeri Bottas Williams
13. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber
14. Max Chilton Marussia
15. Giedo van der garde Caterham
16. Sergio Perez McLaren

Retirements in F1 Monaco Grand Prix 2013

Romain Grosjean Lotus
Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso
Jules Bianchi Marussia
Pastor Maldonado Williams
Felipe Massa Ferrari
Charles Pic Caterham

Nico leads Mercedes 1-2 in Monaco F1 Qualifying

Nico Rosberg bags pole in Formula 1 Grand Prix Monaco Qualifying

Nico Rosberg bags P1 again in Supersoft tyres in Monaco in a Mercedes 1-2. Hamilton finishes in P2. Nico Rosberg scored 1:13.876 seconds to 1:13.967 of Lewis Hamilton ie. 0.091 seconds ahead.

As is the strategy of Mercedes these days, they are tuned to be fastest in qualifying but terrible in race pace. The Pole position limelight may save the job of Ross Brawn.

The second row was occupied by Sebastian Vettel at P3 and Mark Webber at P4. Sebastian Vettel of Redbull was the only other driver to score a below 1 min14seconds time as he scored 1:13.980 as opposed to 1:14.181 of Mark Webber. Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus was on P5 followed by Fernando Alonso of Ferrari in P6. Alonso clearly appeared to be not being at ease on his car. Sergio Perez of McLaren was seventh and ahead of his illustrious teammate Jenson Button who was only 9th. Adrian Sutil of Force India was 8th and Jean-Eric Vergne of Toro Rosso was 10th.

A lot of drivers find it tough to race in the twisty street circuit of Monaco. In the name of safety, the barriers have been progressively pushed back inch by inch every year. However, the mandatory crashes every year during practice doesn’t surprise people.

This year it Felipe Massa could not participate in qualifying due to prior crash and and Jules Bianchi had one lap.

It rained during the qualifying and drivers took to the intermediate tyres. The drivers who were knocked out in the Q1 were Max Chilton, Gutierrez, Charles Pic and Paul di Resta of Force India along with Felipe Massa and Jules Bianchi.

So for the first time in his career Van der Garde could qualify to the Q2. It was a great qualifying for him as he finished in 15th position ahead of Pastor Maldonado of Williams at 16. Valeri Bottas of Williams finished in 14th position. Romain Grosjean expressed surprise over radio that he was out of the top 10. He finished in 13th position behind 11th placed Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber and 12th placed Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso.

The total circuit length is 3.340 kilometers.

Alonso wins home Grand Prix in Spain

Fernando Alonso wins his home Grand Prix in Spain

Fernando Alonso changed the record to win the Spanish Grand Prix even though he didn’t start either in the first or second row.

Alonso made a pass around the outside of Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes using the DRS in the lap 13. Soon after he took the lead as Esteban Gutierrez, of all people, was leading the race when others had gone for their first pit stop. Soon after Alonso passed Rosberg, Vettel too made his move and passed Rosberg in turn 7. After that it was a time for Fernando Alonso to consolidate. On the other hand after this it was a downhill drive for Rosberg. Fortunately he finished in points unlike his team mate Lewis Hamilton who started at 2nd position but was one lap down and finished outside points at 12th. An eminently forgettable day indeed for him fortunately he finished in 6th.

Kimi Raikkonen was on another strategy and used 3 stops. He pitted for his third and final stop in lap 46 and was immediately lapping close to a second faster than Alonso and Massa in each sector of the race. Alonso and Massa soon pitted for their final tyre changes and Alonso reeled off a series of fast laps. It then became clear that it would be difficult for Kimi Raikkonen to beat Alonso. So both of them settled into a rhythm and Fernando Alonso won his home Grand Prix in Spain. Kimi finished second.

Felipe Massa of Ferrari finished third. World champion Sebastian Vettel finished 4th ahead of his team mate Mark Webber in 5th. Pole sitter Nico Rosberg was harassed by Paul di Resta, but surprisingly despite being within a second, di Resta could not overtake Nico Rosberg and finished on 7th. At least Force India would be happy of di Resta’s performance as Adrian Sutil finished in 13th.

Jenson Button of McLaren who started down in 14th finished at 8th infront of his teammate Sergio Perez in 9th. Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso albeit down by one lap finished in 10th just ahead of Esteban Gutierrez of Sauber to take the 10th and last point.

Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes finished 12th – a ten place drop from his starting position of second. Clearly Mercedes is trying for one lap pace to hog the limelight at the cost of race pace. So Ross Brawn is somehow able to impress his bosses and keep his job. Wily old fox that he is!

It was unfortunate for Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber as he was having a strong race. However an unsafe release in the pits resulted in a collision and the subsequent 10 second stop and go penalty ruined his race.

Final Standings in Spanish Grand Prix

1. Fernando Alonso               Ferrari

2. Kimi Raikkonen                 Lotus

3. Felipe Massa                      Ferrari

4. Sebastian Vettel                Red Bull

5. Mark Weber                      Red Bull

6. Nico Rosberg                      Mercedes

7. Paul di Resta                      Force India

8. Jenson Button                    McLaren

9. Sergio Perez                       McLaren

10. Daniel Ricciardo              Toro Rosso

11. Esteban Gutierrez           Sauber

12. Lewis Hamilton               Mercedes

13. Adrian Sutil                     Force India

14. Pastor Maldonado          Williams

15. Nico Hulkenberg             Sauber

16. Valeri Bottas                    Williams

17. Charles Pic                       Caterham

18. Jules Bianchi                    Marussia

19. Max Chilton                     Marussia

Retirements in Spanish Grand Prix

Jean-Eric Vergne                   Toro Rosso

G. van der Garde                   Caterham

Romain Grosjean                   Lotus