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

Sebastian Vettel on pole in US Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel on Pole in US F1 Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel ran a brilliant third sector to beat his team mate Mark Webber of Red Bull by 0.1 seconds and grab the pole position in the US Grand Prix. It appears that Vettel will again score a win, since this year we have seen his teammate Webber faces numerous equipment problems as well as unfavourable strategies adopted by his team to ensure that Vettel wins the championship.

Behind the Red Bull cars, it was expected that Mercedes will line up. However, it was Romain Grosjean who scored the P3. In this race Heikki Kovalainen is racing for the Lotus team in place of Kimi Raikkonen, who opted to sit out the two races and have back surgery. Heiki Kovalainen who has earlier raced for Lotus's previous avatar as Renault and then with McLaren and have won race as well, was the surprise choice. He had been earlier dumped by Caterham who went in search of pay drivers to fill their coffers. Heikki Kovalainen came 0.6 seconds behind his team mate and it translated to P8 position.

Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber who is in contention for the vacant Lotus seat next year was earlier invited by Lotus to drive for them for these last two races. However, he wisely decided to say no, as the deal for next year with Lotus is not yet done. So he didn't want to antagonise Sauber either. He was 0.141 seconds behind Romain Grosjean with a time of 1:37.296

Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes scored a P5 position with a time of 1:37.345. He was followed by Fernando Alonso of Ferrari at 1:37.376. Interestingly both their teammates Nico Rosberg of Mercedes and Felipe Massa of Ferrari could score 14th and 15th positions with time of 1:38.364 and 1:38.592

Sergio Perez who has been having his first and last season with McLaren scored a P7 with a time of 1:37.452 where as his experienced team mate and former world champion Jenson Button could score only a P13 with 1:38.217. Sergio Perez has been unexpectedly dropped from McLaren after only a season and he is now struggling to find a drive next year.

Valtteri Bottas got some cheer for the Williams team when he finished at P9 with a time of 1:37:836. Unfortunately his experienced teammate Pastor Maldonado could only finish in P18. Bottas was followed by Esteban Gutierrez of Sauber with a time of 1:38.034. Gutierrez was later handed a 10 spot grid penalty for having impeded Pastor Maldonado. Gutierrez was weaving on the track to warm up his tyres when Maldonado was on a flying lap. He will accordingly start at the back of the grid.

Pastor Maldonado has said that he suspects someone from the Williams team has tried to tamper with the car to scuttle his chances. He said that since he is leaving the team at the end of the season, the Williams team wanted to show that he is worse than his teammate. He said "..I think in my car somebody is playing with the pressures and temperatures - its not that clear. One more race to go...so great." Later he added "it was not just the typical problems we have had all through the season, today we have something more". Williams though denied that they will do such a thing. "Never in Williams' history would we ever do that" was the comment by Williams Deputy Team Principal Claire Williams.
Max Chilton will serve a drive through penalty within the first five laps of the race because he impeded Pastor Maldonado and Adrian Sutil during qualifying.

Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso was 11th with a time of 1:38.131 and was followed by Paul di Resta of Force India with 1:38.139

US F1 Grand Prix Qualifying

1. Sebastian Vettel                Red Bull

2. Mark Webber                   Red Bull

3. Romain Grosjean             Lotus

4. Nico Hulkenberg             Sauber

5. Lewis Hamilton                Mercedes

6. Fernando Alonso             Ferrari

7. Sergio Perez                      McLaren

8. Heikki Kovalainen           Lotus

9. Valteri Bottas                    Williams

10. Esteban Gutierrez          Sauber

11. Daniel Ricciardo            Toro Rosso

12. Paul di Resta                   Force India

13. Jenson Button                McLaren

14. Nico Rosberg                 Mercedes

15. Felipe Massa                   Ferrari

16. Jean-Eric Vergne            Torro Rosso

17. Adrian Sutil                     Force India

18. Pastor Maldonado         Williams

19. Giedo van der Garde     Caterham

20. Jules Bianchi                  Marussia

21. Charles Pic                      Caterham

22. Max Chilton                   Marussia

Sebastian Vettel wins Abu Dhabi 2013 F1 Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel win’s his 7th consecutive Grand Prix

It was another dominant performance by Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull who started from second position but could easily take the lead in the first lap.


Mark Webber was about half a second slower than his teammate and finished second. Mark Webber was heard complaining over radio about his Kers. Pat came the reply “It’s a bit empty at the moment, we will charge it”. The team knew that Webber’s KERS is empty, however they waited for him to inform that KERS is not working. Without KERS, it was clear that Webber had a slow start and Vettel could easily overtake him.

This year has been pretty bad for Webber as his car has consistently failed in most of the races. In hindsight, he may regret deciding to driving this year again with Red Bull after so much of bad blood between him and Red Bull as his teammate Vettel was the preferred driver in Red Bull.

Nico Rosberg of Mercedes who had started in third position appeared to snatch the second position. However, he finished 2.8 seconds behind Mark Webber. Romain Grosjean of Lotus finished in fourth position 1.1 seconds behind Rosberg.

Fernando Alonso finished a further 32.1 seconds behind Grosjean and in 5th position. Alonso was a massive 67.1 seconds behind the winner Vettel. One can gauge how far the Ferrari has fallen behind Red Bull. So it was no wonder that Alonso couldn’t compete for the world championship.

Paul di Resta brought some good news for Force India as he finished 10.9 seconds behind Alonso and finished in 6th position. He made a one stop strategy work for him and came home in 6th position.

Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes who had a problem in his car during qualifying could only finish in 7th position ahead of Felipe Massa in 8th.

Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus was earlier excluded from the qualifying results as the stewards deemed his car floor to flex beyond the permissible limit. Lotus though argued that the floor of Raikkonnen’s car was flexing more because the car hit a kerb, however, those arguments didn’t cut any ice with the stewards. Accordingly, Raikkonen was sent back to the field. However, Raikkonen immediately stopped after starting the race as he appeared to have hit the back of a caterham car and damaged his car. Given that Kimi Raikkonen hasn’t been paid a single euro by Lotus, and has threatened to stop driving the remaining three races, Abu Dhabi race may be the last time Kimi is driving this season.

Abu Dhabi 2013 F1 Results

1. Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull

2. Mark Webber        Red Bull

3. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes

4. Romain Grosjean   Lotus

5. Fernando Alonso   Ferrari

6. Paul di Resta          Force India

7. Lewis Hamilton      Mercedes

8. Felipe Massa          Ferrari

9. Sergio Perez           McLaren

10. Adrian Sutil         Force India

11. P. Maldonado      Williams

12. Jenson Button     McLaren

13. E. Gutierrez          Sauber

14. N. Hulkenberg     Sauber

15. V. Bottas               Williams

16. D. Ricciardo          Toro Rosso

17. J. Vergne              Toro Rosso

18. G. van der Garde Caterham

19. Charles Pic           Caterham

20. Jules Bianchi        Marussia

21. Max Chilton         Marussia

Retirements in Abu Dhabi 2013

Kimi Raikkonen         Lotus

Mark Webber on Pole in Abu Dhabi

Mark Webber scores Pole in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Mark Webber of Red Bull in his last race at Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix became only the third person to score a pole position apart from Vettel and Hamilton, when Hamilton spun in the final sector and brought yellow flags. That was his 13^th pole position in F1 races.

Mark Webber’s team mate Sebastian Vettel who has already been coronated as the 2013 F1 champion in the Indian Grand Prix settled for 2^nd postion.

Nico Rosberg of Mercedes came ahead of his team mate Lewis Hamilton in P3. Hamilton would be surprised at his rare spin and had to be content with his P4 position.

Kimi Raikkonen, who had considered withdrawing from the Abu Dhabi race due to payment dispute with Lotus raced to a P5. He was followed by Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber in P6.

Romain Grosjean of Lotus qualified in P7 followed by Felipe Massa of Ferrari in P8. Interestingly, Massa’s teammate Fernando Alonso of Ferrari couldn’t even qualify in the top ten. Alonso settled at P11.

Sergio Perez of McLaren qualified in P9 whereas his more experienced teammate former world champion Jenson Button could only qualify at P13.

Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso qualified in P10. Daniel will drive instead of Mark Webber in the Red Bull car next year. Daniel Ricciardo’s team mate Vergne qualified in P14.

We have to wait and see if Mark Webber faces another car failure or Red Bull decides to alter his strategy to give his teammate Sebastian Vettel the upper hand as it has done this entire season.

Final Standings in Abu Dhabi 2013 F1 Qualifying

1. Mark Webber        Red Bull

2. Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull

3. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes

4. Lewis Hamilton      Mercedes

5. Kimi Raikkonen     Lotus

6. Nico Hulkenberg   Sauber

7. Romain Grosjean   Lotus

8. Felipe Massa          Ferrari

9. Sergio Perez           McLaren

10. Daniel Ricciardo  Toro Rosso

11. Fernando Alonso Ferrari

12. Paul di Resta       Force India

13. Jenson Button     McLaren

14. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso

15. P. Maldonado      Williams

16. V. Bottas               Williams

17. E. Gutierrez          Sauber

18. Adrian Sutil         Force India

19. G. van der Garde Caterham

20. Jules Bianch         Marussia

21. Charles Pic           Caterham      

22. Max Chilton         Marussia

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