Lewis Hamilton wins Malaysian Grand Prix

Hamilton wins Malaysian Grand Prix

It was a dominant display from Lewis Hamilton in the Malaysian Grand prix. He started from Pole and won without any hiccups. Unlike the season opening race in Australia, Hamilton didn’t suffer any problems and finished the race in style. Hamilton needed 3 pit stops to complete the 56 lap race.

Lewis Hamilton’s teammate Nico Rosberg finished second. He was followed by Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull to a third place finish. Though Vettel was P2 in qualifying, he was overtaken at the start by Rosberg as well as Ricciardo. In the first couple of corners. At one point it appeared that Vettel was about to catch Rosberg, but soon Vettel fell behind.

Vettel’s teammate Daniel Ricciardo had to retire in the 49th lap. Before that he was handed a 5 second stop/go penalty. His front hit the kerbs and dragged for a while, infact for three races it scraped the track before he was brought in to pit.

Fernando Alonso of Ferrari benefitted from Ricciardo’s misfortune and finished in 4th position. In the 54th lap he took the benefit of fresh tyres to overtake Nico Hulkenberg of Force India who finished in 5th position. Hulkenberg was the only top ten finisher to use a 2 stop strategy as opposed to the 3 stop strategy employed by others. The other 2 stopper was Kamui Kobayashi of Caterham who finished a creditable 13th. However, Alonso’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen was not so fortunate as he got a puncture after getting hit by Magnussen of McLaren in the 2nd lap. Kimi finished in 12th position.

Jenson Button of McLaren finished in sixth position. He was followed by the Williams duo of Felipe Massa and Valteri Bottas in 7th and 8th positions respectively.

Magnussen of McLaren finished a lap down in 9th . Kvyat of Toro Rosso took the 10th and final points paying position.

Romain Grosjean of Lotus would be a relieved man as this is the first time a Lotus car in this season could finish a race. He did well by holding off Kimi Raikkonen. Romain finished in 11th position. His teammate Pastor Maldonado was however done in by Jules Bianchi in the 1st lap and had to retire in lap 7. Bianchi retired in lap 8.

The Caterhams of Kobayashi and Ericsson finished in 13th and 14th positions. These positions may become critical later in the season and may decide the 10th placed team.

Max Chilton of Marussia finished in 15th position.

Retirements in Malaysian Grand Prix

Driver             Team              Lap

Ricciardo         Red Bull          49

Gutierrez         Sauber             35

Sutil                Sauber             32

Vergne            Toro Rosso     18

Bianch            Marussia           8

Maldonado      Lotus                7

Perez               Force India       0         

Lewis Hamilton scores Pole in Malaysia

Hamilton scores pole in a wet Malaysian grand Prix

As was expected, it rained in Sepang during the Malaysian Grand Prix qualifying. And that helped in reducing the times and brining the competitors much closer to each other. Despite that, Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes scored the pole with a time of 1’59.431. This was his second pole in as many races in the 2014 formula 1 season. However, unlike the previous race where he had to retire, he would be hoping to win.

However, Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull came second. He was 0.055 seconds off Hamilton’s time.

Hamilton’s team-mate Nico Rosberg came third with a time of 2’00.050 seconds. So Hamilton and Vettel were the only two drivers who were below the 2 mins barrier.

Fernando Alonso of Ferrari came in 4th and will start along side Rosberg in the second row. Alonso scored 2’00.175

Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull who was disqualified in the previous race due to a fuel flow issue, qualified in P5 with a time of 2’00.541. Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari qualified P6 with a time of 2’01.218.

Nico Hulkenberb of Force India qualified at P7 with a time of 2’01.712. However, his teammate Sergio Perez could only qualify at P14.

Kevin Magnussen of McLaren came in 8th with a time of 2’02.213. Jean-Eric Vergne of Toro Rosso scored the P9 position with a time of 2’03.078.

Jenson Button of McLaren who had gambled on intermediate tyres, couldn’t cope up when the rain increased and came up 10th in the top ten shoot out in Q3 with a time of 2’04.053.

Torro Rosso’s new hire Kvyat came in 11th, followed by Esteban Gutierrez of Sauber at 12th. Felipe Massa of Williams qualified at 13th followed by Sergio Perez of Force India at P14. Valtteri Bottas of Williams came in at P15.

The lotus duo of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado qualified at P16 and P17 showing how far the Lotus has fallen this season. Adrian Sutil of Sauber was P18, followed by the regular backbenchers Jules Bianchi of Marussia at P19, Kamui Kobayashi of Caterham at P20, Max Chilton of Marussia at P21 and Marcus Ericsson of Caterham at P22.

Maldonado and Sutil might be feeling bad for being caught out in Q1 as Ericsson of Caterham crashed and created a red flag bring down their chances of going through to Q2.

We will have to see how the weather holds up tomorrow. Given Lewis Hamilton’s bad luck in the previous race, he would be desperetly hoping that the race goes well.

Rosberg wins as Hamilton retires in Australian GP

Nico Rosberg wins Australian GP as Hamilton retires

The Australian GP 2014 had lots of drama and an aborted start. So there was another formation lap. And finally when the race started (which was reduced to 57 laps), the Pole sitter Lewis Hamilton was told to retire to "save his engine".

The opening was chaotic and two drivers retired in the opening lap itself as Kamui Kobayashi making his return to F1 after a year using the funds donated by his fans to buy a seat in Caterham, ploughed into the back of Felipe Massa of Williams.

Third placed Nico Rosberg took the lead in the first corner itself by jumping ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and comfortably won the race. Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull finished second. However, he was later disqualified by the stewards as his car was found to have more than 100 kg/hr fuel flow to the engine. The Red Bull team had protested that the sensor technology for limiting the fuel flow is not reliable. However, FIA rejected their contention and Ricciardo was disqualified.

Rookie Kevin Magnussen of McLaren who was originally third, inherited the second place. His teammate Jenson Button of McLaren is now classified third.

Fernando Alonso of Ferrari admitted after the race that they are slower than the Mercedes. He had originally finished in 5th, but is now classified as 4th due to the disqualification of the Red Bull car.

Valteri Bottas of Williams now has a lifetime high position of 5th. His teammate Felipe Massa would be ruing his luck. An aggrieved Felipe Massa has called for a ban on Kamui Kobayashi for plunging into his back in kamikaze style.

Nico Hulkenberg of Force India is now 6th followed by Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari in 7th. Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniil Kvyat of Toro Rosso are now 8th and 9th. The 10th and final points paying position now goes to Sergio Perez of Force India.

The Sauber duo of Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutierrez are 11th and 12 respectively. They are followed by the Marussia duo of Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi at 13th and 14th positions. These positions are now critical because when the competitiveness of the teams increases these positions will be difficult to beat for the other teams like Caterham. Only the top 10 teams get paid and the 11th team doesn't get any prize money. That is equivalent to several million dollars hit if the team doesn't finish in 10th position.

The lotus duo of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado drove their cars for sometime before retiring. Given the state of their problems, covering 49 and 23 laps is considered a big thing for them.

Marcus Ericsson of Caterham retired after 27 laps.

Last years world champion Sebastian Vettel retired in the 3rd lap and Renault is looking into the engine problems that he faced.

Hamilton starts Formula 1 2014 season with Pole

Lewis Hamilton starts the Forumla 1 2014 season with pole at Melbourne

The formula One 2014 season has seen a raft of rule changes including shift to smaller V6 engines. The preseason testing was a nightmare for RED Bull and other Renault powered cars. It was expected that the pecking order will be changed in 2014. And so it seems with Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes scoring the pole position at Melbourne, Australia on a rainy saturday.

However, Daniel Ricciardo who shifted from Toro Rosso to Red Bull kept the hopes of Red Bull fans by scoring his first front line qualifying position of his career when he scored P2. His illustrious teammate Sebastian Vettel could only score P13.

It was expected that Mercedes and Williams will be strong. However, Hamilton's team-mate Nico Rosberg could only score P3 with 0.364 seconds slower than the pole winning time.

Kevin Magnussen, a rookie in the first F1 qualifying race of his career, outpaced his team-mate and former world champion Jenson Button of McLaren to score P4 vs P11. McLaren must be happy with their choice.

Fernando Alonso of Ferrari was P5 whereas his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen crashed and finished at P12.

Jean-Eric Vergne of Toro Rosso was P6 followed by Nico Hulkenberg of Force India in P7. D Kvyat of Russia, another rookie, scored the P8 position for Toro Rosso.

Felipe Massa and Valeri Bottas scored P9 and P10. However, Valeri Bottas will serve a penalty for gear box change.

Adrian Sutil of Sauber was P14 followed by Kamui Kobayashi who was making his return to F1 with Caterham.

Sergio Perez of Force India would not be a happy man as he could only score a P16 vs his team-mate's P7.

Max Chilton of Marussia came ahead of his team-mate Jules Bianchi at P17 and P18 respectively.

Esteban Gutierrez of Sauber qualified at a lowly P19 ahead of M Ericsson of Caterham at P20. Lotus found itself in an unfamiliar position of coming last with Romain and Maldonado at P21 and P22 and desperately hoping that Lotus corrects their cars. 

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