Indian Grand Prix: Is there Hope?

Formula 1 boss, Bernie Ecclestone has put the ball firmly in the court of Jaypee Group when he was asked about the future of the Indian Grand Prix. The Indian Grand Prix at the Budh International Circuit was first held in 2011 and continued for the next two years. There was supposed to be a break for a year to shift the time to the beginning of the calendar. However, it remains out of the calendar till date.

Bernie Ecclestone however said that it is upto Jaypee group to agree and revive the contract. He however cautioned that time is running out and the Jaypee Group has to revert back within the next two months.

It is known that Bernie Ecclestone demands his pound of flesh and the contract is such that the circuit owner makes very little profit, if miraculously it can make any. Bernie's recent statement is more in a technical nature to squarely put the blame on the shoulders of Jaypee Group.

Bernie Ecclestone runs F1 in a very tight fisted manner and this results in many participating teams running into losses, going bankrupt and dropping out of formula 1. However, he continues to blame the teams and people of not being able to run their business. Same thing happens with the circuit owners. We estimate that it would be a miracle to find the Indian Grand Prix in the 2016 calendar.

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

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. 

Vettel leads Redbull to 1-2 in Indian Grand Prix Qualifying

Vettel leads RedBull 1-2 in Indian Grand Prix 2012

Sebastian Vettel continued with his dominant run and scored the pole position which was barely 0.044 seconds than his team mate Mark Webber.

The second row is occupied by the McLaren drivers lead by Lewis Hamilton.

The third row now belongs to Ferrari drivers lead by Fernando Alonso.
Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus was seventh followed by Sergio Perez of Sauber. Amul would be very happy sponsoring the Sauber team. Pastor Maldonado of Williams was 9th followed by Nico Rosberg who didn’t choose to make a run in Q3.

Michael Schumacher was the big casualty as he could not qualify for the Q3 and was only 14th fastest with a time of 1:26.574. He was more than half a second slower than his team mate Nico Rosberg. We are not sure why there was a such a big gap between the two. In the last few grand prix races it was Michael who was generally faster than Nico Rosberg. We hope tomorrow will be better for Michael Schumacher as this will be his last Indian Grand Prix.

A late run from Pastor Maldonado resulted in him going to the top spot in Q1. The Williams team gave a strong performance in the Indian Grand Prix.

Heikki Kovalainen breached his Caterham in the dying minutes of Q1. He was eliminated in the Q1 along with Jean-Eric Vergne 1:27.525, Vitaly Petrov 1:28.756, Timo Glock 1:29.613, Pedro de la Rosa (1:30.592), Narain Karthikeyan (1:30.593) and Charles Pic (1:30:662). The 107% time was 1:32.071 and hence all drivers qualified and we will see a full grid tomorrow.

Narain Karthikeyan excelled in the Indian Grand Prix and was just one thousandth of a second slower than his team mate. He qualified at P23 followed by Charles Pic of Marussia.

Qualifying results of Indian Grand Prix 2012

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

First Lady Principal of Formula One

Formula One gets its First Woman Team Principal

Monisha Kaltenborn, an Indian by birth, is the first Lady to be a Principal of a Formula One team. In the high technology, motor racing battlefield, assuming the role of principal is not an easy job, especially when the Principal is not just for show.

Monisha Kaltenborn, 41,  has been given one third of the stake by its owner Peter Sauber.

A Sauber team statement said "we decided a long time ago that Monisha would take over from me, but we left the timing open. Now is a good time for both of us, so this is the right moment to pass on the baton. After all, there have been a number of races that I haven't been able to attend - most recently the Japanese Grand Prix, where the team put in an excellent performance."

The statement further added "I am in no doubt that Monisha has all the necessary skills to be an outstanding team principal, and I am equally certain she will ensure that the values underpinning the company live on. That is very important to me."

This is a significant event and the way she has quietly transformed the Sauber team is for all to see, as its young and erratic drivers have been in more podium positions than the Mercedes drivers in this season. Fernando Alonso, recently said about Michael Schumacher's competitiveness by saying that if Michael Schumacher had been driving Sauber's car, then he would have won three races by now. It is sad that Michael Schumacher and Sauber could not agree on a partnership next year else Schumacher would have been wining races for them.

Monisha Kaltenborn being an Indian by birth had first joined Sauber in 2000 and to run their legal department and had weaved her way upto the role of CEO in 2010. She immediately connected with sponsors in India before the inaugural Indian Grand Prix in 2011 and companies like Amul went on to sponsor them for other races as well. She will have a massive impact on Formula 1 in the years to come. All the best Manisha! India is proud of you.

Base Batteries unveils battery for HRT Formula one car

Base batteries had earlier announced its tie up with HRT team due to Narain Karthikeyan driving for it. Today, in a glittering ceremony in New Delhi, Base battery finally launched its battery for Formula 1 Cars and it was unveiled by India's First Formula 1 driver Narain Karthikeyan. Base Batteries became the first Indian Battery manufacturer to become the official supplier of a Formula 1 Car.

The battery specs were listed as 114mm x 39mm x 87mm (LxWxH) at 12V, 2.3 amperes and weighing 0.9 kg. The batteries have got improved charge recovery capability from near or deeply discharged conditions. It has got a longer shelf life and as is expected the batteries can withstand extreme vibrations. The battery uses silver instead of lead and that is supposed to give higher performance and being better for the environment. The R&D budget for developing this battery is supposed to be to the tune of 3 million USD. It is to be seen whether this battery will be fitted to the HRT car during the coming Indian Grand Prix.

Colin Kolles, the HRT Team Principal said "We are confident that the innovative design and the world class technology that Base Batteries bring to the HRT race car is in sync with our ambitions to excel. We are looking forward to a long standing and wonderful partnership with Base Batteries in the coming years. "

With the sponsorship, albeit for one race by Hero Motors, if Narain Karthikeyan is able to do well in the Indian Grand Prix, then many sponsors will get convinced to sponsor HRT. Oct 30th is going to be a watershed day in the history of Indian Motor Sports.