US-Qatar planning Formula 1 takeover

Something is cooking in Formula 1. CVC Capital Ventures the majority shareholders of F1 may be trying to divest off their shares, if BBC reports are to be believed.

And surprisingly the prospective investors are a consortium comprising RSE Ventures of America and Qatar Sports Investments. RSE Ventures is owned by property tycoon Stephen Ross and owns football team Miami Dolphins. Qatar Sports Investments is a Sovereign fund of Qatar and owns the Paris St- Germain football club.

The deal, which is not finalised yet, could be anywhere between 7 and 8 billion dollars. There are other bidders also who are prospecting acquisition of the Formula 1 shares.

At present there is an F1 Grand Prix held at Austin, Texas and no races are held at Qatar. Infact it is said that when Bahrain signed in to host the first race in middle east, it had a clause that there can be only two races in Middle East. So apart from Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, there cannot be a third race in Qatar.

Qatar, with the FIFA football worldcup in its bag, albeit controversially, is looking at increasing its sports footprint and hence bringing in more tourist revenue, as well as investments.

America is the home of automobile majors, although these automobile companies have declined, the demand for automobiles continues as well as the demand for motorsports.

Nascar is popular in America and despite the sole F1 race at Austin, Formula 1 hasn't caught the imagination of the american public. American ownership of Formula One management may kick start the love for Formula 1 in USA.

It also may be a good opportunity for CVC to exit Formula One as the viewership has been declining. Bernie Ecclestone is also not growing younger any longer and the shrewd businessman that he is, it is not wonder that he may be looking at exiting F1 by enchasing his 5% shares and any other additional bonus that he wants.

The final word on this hasn't been heard yet. 

Hamilton on pole in inaugural Russian Grand Prix

Hamilton on inaugural Russian Grand Prix pole

Lewis Hamilton scored the pole position in the inaugural Russian Grand Prix at Sochi ahead of his teammate and world championship rival Nico Rosberg of Mercedes. Hamilton was 200th of a second faster than his teammate. Hamilton set a time of 1m 38.513 seconds. Rosberg set a time of 1m 38.713 seconds.

Valtteri Bottas of Williams came in third with a time of 1m 38.920 seconds. No one else could come within the 1m 39 seconds mark. Bottas did a mistake and had to settle for third else he could have easily beaten Nico Rosberg. His teammate Felipe Massa was not so fortunate as he faced some engine issues and had clearly less power. Massa was eliminated in the Q1 of the Russian F1 Grand Prix qualifying and came in 18th. It would be an uphill battle for him as the overtaking chances in this circuit is expected to be less.

As expected McLaren was closer in pace and Jenson Button came in P4 with a time of 1m 39.121 seconds. Button who is widely expected to be dropped from McLaren next season is showing his class and should do well in the race tomorrow.

Kvyat of Toro Rosso finally strung a good lap to came in 5th with a time of 1m 39.277. Being a Russian driver he would have warmed many a hearts in this Russian F1 Grand Prix. Kvyat who is going to Red Bull next year, came ahead of both the Red Bull drivers as well. His teammate Jean-Eric Vergne came will start in 10th.

Kvyat was followed by Kevin Magnussen of McLaren in 6th with a time of 1m 39.629 seconds. Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull came in at P7 with a time of 1m 39.635 seconds. Fernando Alonso of Ferrari was P8 with a time of 1m 39.709seconds followed by his teammate Kimi Raikkonen in P9 who set a time of 1m 39.771seconds. Jean Eric-Vergne of Toro Rosso was P10 at 1m 40.052. He was ahead of Sebastian Vettel of RedBull who will start in P11 tomorrow.

Vettel was followed by the Force India duo of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez in 12th and 13th positions respectively. The Force India duo were followed by the Sauber drivers Esteban Gutierrez and Adrian Sutil in 14th and 15th positions. Romain Grosjean of Lotus was P16 followed by Marcus Ericsson of Caterham in P17.

Felipe Massa was P18 followed by Kamui Kobayashi of Caterham in P19, Pastor Maldonado of Lotus in P20 and Max Chilton of Marussia in P21.

Marussia is only running one car in this race as a mark of respect for Jules Bianchi who is battling for survival due to a severe head injury incurred in the race in the Japanese Grand Prix last sunday.

Lewis Hamilton makes it three in a row in China

Lewis Hamilton raced away from pole position at Sanghai in the Chinese F1 Grand Prix 2014 and comfortably opened up a huge lead. He stamped his class all over the race and won it comfortably.


Nico Rosberg who started the race from 4th position breathed down the neck of Fernando Alonso, who had a great start, and could overtake him in Lap 42, the long straights in China favouring the powerful Mercedes engine more than the Ferrari. Rosberg finished second with a massive gap of 18.6 seconds.

Fernando Alonso finished in third position and this would come as a morale booster for the struggling Ferrari team.

Sebastian Vettel had a good start and had passed his teammate Daniel Ricciardo who had started ahead of him in 2nd place. However, he was tricked into believing that Ricciardo was in a different strategy than him and hence he allowed Ricciardo to pass. Later on Vettel was told that they were on the same strategy. Wish we can see some of the behind the scenes antics of Vettel after the race. Looks like Daniel Ricciardo is the new boy favoured by the Red Bull team after his good performance of beating Vettel in the first three races of the season. Daniel Ricciardo finished in fourth position followed by Sebastian Vettel in 5th.

Nico Hulkenberg of Force India finished 6th. He could barely manage to hold off Valtteri Bottas of Williams by half a second. The other Williams car driver by Felipe Massa was not so fortunate as despite having a good start he had hit the sides of Alonso’s car. Perhaps that was the cause of the pitstop problem where the mechanics struggled to replace the tyres and hence Massa was forced to drop down the order and never recovered from that.

Kimi Raikkonen had an uneventful race. He finished in 8th position. Sergio Perez would be happy to take 2 points from the race as he finished in 9th position followed by Danil Kvyat of Toro Rosso in 10th.

Chinese F1 Grand Prix 2014 Results:

1.         Lewis Hamilton          Mercedes

2.         Nico Rosberg              Mercedes

3.         Fernando Alonso       Ferrari

4.         Daniel Ricciardo        Red Bull

5.         Sebastian Vettel        Red Bull

6.         Nico Hulkenberg       Force India

7.         Valtteri Bottas            Williams

8.         Kimi Raikkonen         Ferrari

9.         Sergio Perez               Force India

10.       Danil Kvyat                Toro Rosso

11.       Jenson Button            McLaren

12.       Jean-Eric Vergne       Toro Rosso

13.       Kevin Magnussen     McLaren

14.       Pastor Maldonado     Lotus

15.       Felipe Massa              Williams

16.       Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber

17.       Kamui Kobayashi      Caterham

18.       Jules Bianchi              Marussia

19.       Max Chilton               Marussia

20.       Marcus Ericsson        Caterham

Retirements in Chinese F1 Grand Prix

Romain Grosjean       Lotus

Adrian Sutil               Sauber

Hamilton on Pole in Wet Sanghai F1 Qualifying

Hamilton blitzes the opposition in a wet Sanghai F1 Grand Prix qualifying

Lewis Hamilton had enough pace to be half a second ahead of second placed Daniel Ricciardo of Redbull and was 1.2s faster than his own teammate Nico Rosberg of Mercedes who qualified in P4.

Lewis Hamilton later said that his Pole position time of 01m:53.860s could have been even lower had he not made a mistake in Turn 10. With the race day on Sunday likely to be a dry race, Lewis Hamilton could have much more pace than the second and third placed RedBulls and definitely open up a huge gap with others.

Nico Rosberg - who is currently leading the drivers championship due to winning the opening race while Hamilton had an engine problem – made a mistake in Turn 14 and then a spin in the final corner and will now start behind the RedBulls of Ricciardo and Vettel. Unless he overtakes these two cars soon, challenging Lewis Hamilton would remain a pipe dream.

Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull, the reigning World Champion, again qualified behind his team mate Daniel Ricciardo. The gap of half a second between them shows that this year, Ricciardo may have the better of Vettel. It is not everyday that a four time world champion gets beaten by his teammate every race. However, that is what is happening this year so far.

Fernando Alonso of Ferrari after his impressive P1 position in the first practice on Friday, qualified in P5 here. However, his teammate Kimi Raikkonen could only qualify at 11th position. The new Ferrari chief would like both these drivers further ahead in the field. Unless Ferrari goes for a drastic change in their approach, this years championship may be over for them.

The Williams duo of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas scored P6 and P7. It appears that Williams car is not good in rain. However, tomorrow being a dry race, the Williams drivers may do better.

Nico Hulkenberg of Force India qualified in P8 followed by Jean-Eric Vergne of Toro Rosso.

In a major surprise, Romain Grosjean of Lotus could move into the top ten shoot out. Though it may be due to rain, however, given the perilous situation of Lotus in the previous races where it struggled to complete a race, this is indeed good news.

Jenson Button of McLaren could only come in at P12 with his teammate Kevin Magnussen at P15.

Danil Kvyat of Toro Rosso scored P13. Adrian Sutil of Sauber was P14.

Sergio Perez coming from the high of being in the podium in the previous race, could only qualify at P16. Esteban Gutierrez of Sauber was at P17.

Kamui Kobayashi of Caterham could score the 18th position followed by Jules Bianchi of Marussia in 19th, Marcus Ericsson of Caterham in 20th and Max Chilton of Marussia in 21st. Pastor Maldonado has a sensor problem from the funny crash he had during practice and couldn’t take part in the qualifying. He may race at the discretion of the Stewards.

Sanghai F1 Grand Prix Qualifying Positions

1.         Lewis Hamilton          Mercedes

2.         Daniel Ricciardo        Red Bull

3.         Sebastian Vettel        Red Bull

4.         Nico Rosberg              Mercedes

5.         Fernando Alonso       Ferrari

6.         Felipe Massa              Williams

7.         Valtteri Bottas            Williams

8.         Nico Hulkenberg       Force India

9.         Jean-Eric Vergne       Toro Rosso

10.       Romain Grosjean       Lotus

11.       Kimi Raikkonen         Ferrari

12.       Jenson Button            McLaren

13.       Danil Kvyat                Toro Rosso

14.       Adrian Sutil                Sauber

15.       Kevin Magnussen     McLaren

16.       Sergio Perez               Force India

17.       Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber

18.       Kamui Kobayashi      Caterham

19.       Jules Bianchi              Marussia

20.       Marcus Ericsson        Caterham

21.       Max Chilton               Marussia

22.       Pastor Maldonado     Lotus

Hamilton snatches Pole in Hungarian Grand Prix Qualifying

Hamilton snatches Pole in Hungarian F1 Grand Prix Qualifying

In the Final leg of the Qualifying, Lewis Hamilton drove at a scorching pace to snatch the pole position from Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull. Lewis Hamilton scored 1:19.388 vs 1:19.426 of Sebastian Vettel.

Romain Grosjean of Lotus came third in 1:19.595. He was followed by Nico Rosberg in 4th with a time of 1:19.720.
Fernando Alonso of Ferrari came 5th and will start in the 3rd row with Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus on 6th. They were timed at 1:19.791 and 1:19.851.
Felipe Massa of Ferrari scored 1:19.929 to come at P7th and was followed by Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso at 8th with a time of 1:20.641.

Sergio Perez of McLaren came 9th with a time of 1:22.398. He was followed by Mark Webber of Red Bull - who had limped into the Q3 ie. Final leg of qualifying – choosing not to set a time.

We were surprised when Mercedes took P1-2 positions in the first segment of the qualifying Q1 in the F1 Hungary Grand Prix. With Romain Grosjean topping the timesheets in the Practice 3, it was expected that the lotus will give a fight to the Red Bulls. However, Mercedes decided to show its hand in the Q1 in qualifying with Nico Rosberg leading his teammate Lewis Hamilton 1:20.350 to 1:20.363 for P1 and P2 positions.

Mark Webber of Red Bull had an electrical problem and finished at 13th position in the Q1. Paul di Resta of Force India was a surprise dropout in the Q1.

Drivers eliminated in Q1 in Hungarian F1 Grand Prix Qualifying

17. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:21.724
18. Paul di Resta Force India 1:22.043
19. Charles Pic Caterham 1:23.007
20. G. van der Garde Caterham 1:23.333
21. Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:23.787
22. Max Chilton Marussia 1:23.997

In the Q2 it was again P1 and P2 for the Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton with times of 1:19.778 vs 1:19.862. Whereas Sergio Perez could squeeze in to 10th position his team mate Jenson Button was only 13th. Daniel Ricciardo was 7th in Q2, but his teammate Jules Eric Vergne couldn’t make the top ten shoot out as he finished in 14th with times of 1:20.527 vs 1:21.029. Clearly Daniel Ricciardo is making his case stronger for getting the Red Bull seat next year, atleast above Vergne.

Drivers eliminated in Q2 in Hungarian F1 Grand Prix Qualifying

11. Adrian Sutil Force India 1:20.569
12. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:20.580
13. Jenson Button McLaren 1:20.777
14. Jules Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:21.029
15. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:21.133
16. Valteri Bottas Williams 1:21.219

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 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.

Rosberg leads Mercedes 1-2 in Spanish Grand Prix

Rosberg leads Mercedes 1-2 in Spanish Grand Prix Qualifying

Nico Rosberg bags his second back to back pole in Spanish Grand Prix 2013

Nico Rosberg locked up the all Mercedes front row in Spanish Grand Prix 2013 qualifying with Lewis Hamilton qualifying second. Rosberg was faster than Lewis in all the three sectors.

Championship leader Sebastian Vettel of Redbull will start on third while Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus will start on 4th and in the second row alongside Vettel.

Fernando Alonso of Ferrari and his teammate Felipe Massa are on row three having qualified on 5th and 6th.

Romain Grosjean of Lotus will start on 7th followed by Mark Webber of Red Bull at 8th. Much was expected of Mark Webber after his not so good showing in the previous two Grand Prix. Many had expected that Mark Webber will come out stronger in his battle with Vettel but it seems Webber is unable to match up to him.

Sergio Perez of McLaren qualified on 9th and Paul di Resta of Force India is 10th.
Paul di Resta of Force India could manage to set the 10th fastest time in the Q2 and qualify for Q3. His teammate, Adrian Sutil was about 0.3 seconds slower and finished in 13th. Jenson Button of McLaren finished in 14th and to make matters worse his younger teammate Sergio Perez was about half a second faster than him and finished at 7th position in Q2. After Perez and Button were elbowing each other in the previous Bahrain Grand Prix, this huge mismatch in qualifying should come as a loss of face for Button.

Raikkonen was impeded by Sauber’s rookie paid driver Gutierrez. The result of the investigation will be known after the qualifying.

The Toro Rosso cars made a move upwards as none of their drivers got out in Q1. However, they just couldn’t make to the Q3. Both Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne finished in 11th and 12th positions.


Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez of Sauber qualified in 15th and 16th positions.

Williams made the headlines, albeit for the wrong reasons as both its drivers got eliminated in Q1. Charles Pic of Caterham came up 22nd and last among the drivers. Both the Marussia cars of Jules Bianchi at 20th and Max Chilton at 21st qualified ahead of him. Van der Garde managed to beat his team mate as well as both the Marussia cars and qualified at 19th.

Pastor Maldonado at 18th again got outqualified by his rookie teammate Valeri Bottas who finished at 17th. Both the Willams drivers had driven identical 9 laps in Q1. It must be a strange feeling for Pastor Maldonado as last year at this venue he was on Pole position and had won the race.

We will notify the final grid positions after the investigation of the stewards.

Alonso wins Chinese Grand Prix 2013

Fernando Alonso of Ferrari overtook pole sitter Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes in the 5th lap and registered the first win for himself in the 2013 season.

Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus nursed a damaged front wing to come second. Hamilton took the third position by barely managing to thwart a charging Sebastian Vettel of Redbull. The difference between Hamilton and Vettel was only 0.2 seconds. Kimi Rakkonen was a further 2.1 seconds ahead of Hamilton.

Jenson Button of McLaren would have considered himself to be fortunate as he scored a fifth position ahead of Felipe Massa of Ferarri. The retirements of Nico Rosberg of Mercedes in 21st lap and Mark Webber of RedBull in 15th lap obviously helping the struggling Mclaren. Jenson Button would obviously having more prayers in his lips for some of his competitors not to finish the next race, as it is not known as to how much time McLaren will take to improve their car.

Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso finished a creditable seventh. Paul di Resta of Force India was done in by his own team mate Sutil. However, he managed to recover and finish 8th. His team mate Sutil perhaps had to face his own karma as Esteban Gutierrez of Sabuer ran into the back of Sutil and both of them retired. Gutierrez earned a five places grid penalty for the next race at Baharin.

It is to be seen if Force India can manage their warring drivers and ensure that there is no repeat collision between the two.


Romain Grosjean of Lotus finished at 9th. Last year he was at his erratic best, served a one race ban, however he was fast as well. This year, he has not collided with anyone in the first three races, but there has been a huge gap between Kimi and Romain. If this continues, it will be seen whether Eric Boulier will still retain him next year.

I wish Michael Schumacher were driving in place of Romain Grosjean and Lotus would have been steadily beating the other top teams.

Nico Hulkenberg who moved from Force India to Sauber finished at 10th place. Wonder if he is happy as the Sauber this year has been a far cry from the previous years car.

Sergio Perez who moved from Sauber to McLaren finished at 11th. Jean-Eric Vergne of Toro Rosso finished in 12th ahead of the two Williams cars of Valeri Bottas and Pastor Maldonado.

Jules Bianchi of Marussia was ahead of the Caterham of Charles Pic for 15th and 16th positions and Max Chilton of Marussia finished at 17th ahead of Giedo Van der Garde of Caterham.

Worried by the poor showing of his drivers Tony Fernandes of Caterham brought back Heikki Kovalainen as a reserve driver and he will drive in the FP1 in the next two races to give his feedback. Qing Hua Ma who is the reserve driver with Caterham drove in the First Practice. It is not known how many millions he has brought to the Caterham team to allow him some track time in the car. Last year he was with the HRT team as reserve driver and had driven in the First Practice in several races including the Chinese Grand Prix. Caterham seems to be in deep trouble financially and unless they beat Marussia, they will also lose millions that comes as a bonus for the 10th position.

Final Standings in the drivers championship after Chinese Grand Prix 2013

1. Sebastian Vettel Redbull 52 points
2. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus  49 points
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 43 points
4. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 40 points
5. Felipe Massa Ferrari 30 points
6. Mark Webber Redbull 26 points
7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 12 points
8. Jenson Button McLaren 12 points
9. Romain Grosjean Lotus 11 points
10. Paul di Resta Force India 8 points
11. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 6 points
12. Adrian Sutil Force India 6 points
13. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 5 points
14. Sergio Perez McLaren 2 points
15. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1 point
16. Valeri Bottas Williams 0 points (Best place finish 11th)
17. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 0 points (Best place finish 12th)
18. Jules Bianchi Marussia 0 points
19. Charles Pic Caterham 0 points
20. Pastor Maldonado Williams 0 points
21. Giedo Van der Garde Caterham 0 points
22. Max Chilton Marussia 0 points

Inaugural US GP pole for Sebastian Vettel

Inaugural United States GP pole for Sebastian Vettel

Sebastian Vettel managed to score the pole in the inaugural Grand Prix in Austin by using parts that were specially flown in the night before. Red Bull has been relentlessly developing the car to ensure Sebastian Vettel to win the drivers championship. In comparision his competitor for this years driver's championship title Fernando Alonso has been forced to depend on his individual brilliance as his Ferrari team has been lagging behind in this development race. Ferrari being a marque team with a huge motor racing history as well as sports car business is lagging behind Red Bull which is a soft drinks company. The humiliation for Ferrari can't be more. Considering the fact that in 2010, Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel stole the title from Fernando Alonso in the last race.

Lewis Hamilton, driving his penultimate race for McLaren gave a big fight to Sebastian Vettel but had to settle for second position scoring 1:35.766 s to Vettel's 1m 35. 657seconds.

Mark Webber of Red Bull came third and was allowed to retain his place though he missed a mandatory post qualifying weigh in.

Romain Grosjean outqualified his fancied team mate Kimi Raikkonen to score a 4th postion. However, he picks up a five place grid penalty for changing his gearbox. So Kimi Raikkonen will now start at 4th position.

Michael Schumacher - the God of Formula One - driving the penultimate race before his retirement, scored a strong sixth position. Due to Grosjean's penalty, he will now start at fifth position. His much younger teammate Nico Rosberg starts at a poor 17th position. As usual, Nico Rosberg was quick to jump to his defence and talked about using a different exhaust system than Michael. Nico Rosberg was faster than Michael in FP1 and FP3 and had never talked about using a different exhaust system than Michael Schumacher. However, he choose to give an excuse when he was 11 places lower than Michael Schumacher in Qualifying. This has been the story in every race when Micahel Schumacher is faster. On the other hand, Michael Schumacher being a self assured person doesn't even talk about equipment deficiency when his car breaks down or when that leads to his slower times.

Ferrari team mates Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were 7th and 9th and will now start at 6th and 8th due to Romain Grosjean's grid penalty.

Nico Hulkenberg of Force India, brought some good news for his team at a time when both the majority owners of Force India are having financial troubles, by qualifying in 8th place. His team mate Paul di Resta will start at 13th.

Pastor Maldonado of Williams will start at 10th position whereas his team mate Bruno Senna will start at 11th. Jenson Button of McLaren will start at a poor 12th position, separated by a massive ten positions from his teammate Lewis Hamilton who will start second. Since Hamilton is leaving McLaren after this season to join Mercedes, the McLaren team will be ruing the mistake they did by not giving in to the demands of Lewis Hamilton. Some of those sore points which led to Lewis Hamilton's moving away to Mercedes was the right to retain the winner's trophy. McLaren wanted to take away the trophy won by its drivers.

Jean-Eric Vergne of Toro Rosso gave a good account of himself by scoring the 14th position. He was followed by the Sauber's of Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi at 15th and 16th.

Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso was 18th. Timo Glock and Charles Pic of Marussia scored 19th and 20th positions ahead of the two Caterham cars of Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov. With Marussia now being ahead of Caterham in the driver's championship due to Timo Glock's 12th place finish in the Singapore Grand Prix, and the Marussia showing more pace than the Caterham cars, it appears that Marussia will score the 10th place in the team championship. That should be worth about 20 million pounds and will come as a severe blow to the Caterham team.

The rear was brought up by Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan of HRT. Narain Karthikeyan's car stopped with a problem. The HRT team is financially very weak and its management is hoping to sell the team outright. It is not sure if the HRT team can do a good job in the race, as there are some doubts about the parts being used. They have stopped development long time ago due to paucity of funds.

It would be good if an Indian company like Tata's can buy this F1 team outright and invest resources and turn it into a winning team. Narain and the Indian fans deserve it.