Tag: brazilian grand prix

Rosberg Top in Wet Second Practice in Brazil

Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg set the fastest time of the second practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix

With steady rain falling at the circuit, Rosberg managed to set the fastest time of the session just before the end with a time of 1:27.306. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel set the second fastest time of the session with 1:27.531, 0.255s slower than Rosberg. Mark Webber in the second Red Bull finished the session in P3 just 0.061s slower than Vettel with a 1:28.129. Lotus substitute driver, Heikki Kovalainen did rather well to get his Lotus up into P4 with a 1:28.129. Lewis Hamilton finished the session in P5 with a 1: 28.147. He could have finished the session higher up, but he was held up a few times and there were plenty wheel-spin moments for him. “I’m struggling just to keep it on the track” he said after the session. All the drivers set their times on the intermediate tyres towards the end of the session.

There were quite a few aquaplaning moments, and plenty of wheel spin out of the corners which made things very tough for all. Nico Hulkenberg, on the full wet tyres was trying quite hard to get up the time sheets. “We’ve just hit a wall in terms of performance, grip. There’s nothing more I can do” he said to his race engineer over the radio. He managed to set a time of 1:28.560 in P8.

With tricky conditions and with limited wet weather tyres teams were very reluctant to do a lot of running. If the weather doesn’t improve there could be very little running in P3.

Below is the full time sheet for Free Practice 2 for the 2013 Formula 1 Petrobras Brazilian Grand Prix

November 22, 2013
Mercedes Duo Top of the Time Sheets in First Free Practice in Brazil

The Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton finished on top of the time sheets for the first free practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Nico Rosberg finished in P1 with a time of 1:24.781. His team mate Lewis Hamilton finished in P2 with a 1:25.230, 0.449s off the pace of his team mate. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel finished P3 with a time of 1:25.387 and McLaren’s Jenson Button in P4 with a time of 1:25.593. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso ended the session in P5.

With the track damp and slippery it made it nearly impossible for teams to test the new Pirelli tyre compounds for next season but that did not stop Vettel venturing out on track for two laps with them in order to obtain some data about them.

Young Daniil Kvyat was particularly impressive in the wet, finishing the session in P8 with the Toro Rosso in only his second outing for the Faenza based team.

Below is the full timing sheet for Practice 1 for the 2013 Formula 1 Petrobras Brazilian Grand Prix

November 22, 2013
Weather report for the 2013 Formula 1 Petrobras Brazilian Grand Prix

The final race of the season and its going to be rainy. The Brazilian Grand Prix isn’t really known for its sunny weather, this year is no exception. It will be rainy and damp throughout the entire race weekend with temperatures hovering in the low 20s. We can expect a few showers on Friday practice and that only means one thing. Very limited running during the sessions. For qualifying it is expected to be rainy, but it could dry up. The same can be said for race day. We are in for one very interesting final race of the season.

November 19, 2013
Broadcast times for the Grand Premio Petrobras Do Brasil 2013

The final round of the Formula 1 World Championship takes place at the Autodromo José Carlos Pace in Sao Paulo Brazil.

The battle for second in the constructors championship is still wide open and can be won by either, Mercedes, Ferrari or Lotus. We can be sure that Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel will not be taking it easy, he will fight for the win to make it 9 victories in a row. It wont be easy though as rain is forecast for the entire race weekend.

Below are the broadcast times for the 2013 Formula 1 Pertrobras Brazilian Grand Prix

Free Practice 1: Friday 14:00

Free Practice 2: Friday 18:00

Free Practice 3: Saturday 15:00

Qualifying: Saturday 18:00

Race: Sunday 18:00

As always you can follow the action on our Twitter account (@F1_Madness) where we will bring you periodic updates throughout the practice sessions and live updates for Qualifying and the Race.

November 19, 2013
Confirmed: Kovalainen to replace Raikkonen for final two races

Lotus have confirmed that Finnish driver Heikki Kovalainen will indeed be replacing Kimi Raikkonen for the remaining two races of the 2013 season. Raikkonen will miss the remaining two races of the season as he will be undergoing back surgery.

It emerged yesterday that following Hulkenberg turning down an offer to take over, Kovalainen became the next favourite to drive out the season for the team.

Lotus have announced the news via Twitter saying, “@H_Kovalainen will join the team for the final 2GPs this year #WelcomeHeikki #GetWellSoonKimi”.

The move comes as a surprise for many who expected that 2012 GP2 Champion Davide Valsecchi – Lotus’ reserve driver – would step into the cockpit for the Austin and Brazilian Grand Prix.

Lotus team principal Eric Boullier said in a statement on the team’s website, “Obviously we had to move quickly following the news of Kimi’s non-participation in the final two races of this season, and we found ourselves facing a difficult decision in terms of who should take the wheel in Austin and São Paulo. On the one hand we had our reserve driver Davide Valsecchi – who is a talented young driver that has shown a great deal of promise – and on the other we had the opportunity to bring in a seasoned Formula 1 competitor in Heikki.”

“Whilst we have every faith in Davide’s abilities, we are obviously involved in a tight Constructors’ Championship battle, so it was decided that the experience Heikki could bring to the team would be invaluable as we aim to finish the year in the best position possible. We must thank Tony Fernandes and Caterham F1 Team for their professional conduct in allowing Heikki to join us for the final races of this season.”

Kovalainen, who has experience with the current cars and tyres having done FP1 work for the Caterham team, is also gearing up for a full time return to the Caterham team in 2014.

Kovalainen is very excited about the opportunity saying, “It is a fantastic opportunity for me to join Lotus F1 Team for the final two races of 2013. We’ve seen this year that the E21 is a car which can win races and finish on the podium, so I will be pushing hard for the best results possible. Jumping into a car so late in the year when you have not been competing in the races all season will be a challenge, but I know the team at Enstone well so I have no concerns about getting up to speed. This is a great opportunity for me, so I would like to thank Tony Fernandes and Caterham F1 Team for allowing me to take advantage of it.”

November 14, 2013
Michael Schumacher rejects Lotus offer

Lotus have been working hard at replacing Kimi Raikkonen who will miss the final two races of the season to have back surgery.

After being rejected by Nico Hulkenberg yesterday, the team approached Michael Schumacher who also turned down their offer to make an Formula One comeback at the Austin and Brazilian Grands Prix.

Sabine Kehm, Schumacher’s spokeswoman, confirmed the approach to the 44-year-old, who quit F1 last year after a three-year comeback with Mercedes following his earlier retirement from Ferrari.

“Michael’s performance against Nico (Rosberg last year) and Nico’s performance against Lewis (Hamilton this year) made a lot of people aware of how good Michael still was,” she said.

“Plus, he is still very fit. But he just feels so good in his new life.”

She added that Schumacher has been approached on several occasions since he’s retirement.

Lotus are expected to announce an agreement with former Renault, McLaren and Caterham driver Heikki Kovalainen later this morning.

November 14, 2013
Kovalainen set to replace Raikkonen for final two races

Heikki Kovalainen is set to replace Kimi Raikkonen at Lotus for the final two races of the 2013 season.

According to MTV Sport in Finland, Kovalainen will be completing the season for Lotus since Raikkonen will be missing the Austin and Brazilian races for a back surgery.

Earlier today, news emerged that Sauber driver Nico Hulkenberg turned down an offer to finish the season off with Lotus. It was then expected that Lotus’ reserve driver, 2012 GP2 champion Davide Valsecchi would fill in for Raikkonen but with Lotus trying desperately to improve their standings in the Constructors’ Championship, it would seem that they’re going for the more experienced driver.

Lotus Team Principal Eric Boullier told the Italian blog website blogf1.it, “We are fighting for third place in the constructors’ championship and we need a pilot experience, used to struggle to gain placements in the points. I’m not saying that David does not deserve a chance, because he did a great job and we are pleased him, but pays the lack of experience.”

It would make a lot of sense for Lotus make use of the experienced Kovalainen as he has experience with the current cars and tyres having driven for Caterham from 2010 – 2012, and has also been doing Friday Free Practice work for them.

We await official confirmation from the Lotus team as to whether Kovalainen will in fact be racing for them or not, but according to sources inside the Enstone team, an announcement is imminent.

November 13, 2013