Tag: lewis hamilton

F1 2013: Texas GP Preview – F1 Giddy’s Up For Austin

It seems appropriate that Texas is the second biggest state in America as it gears up to host the biggest motorsport series in the world.

Legendary racing tracks from Watkins Glen to Indianapolis have hosted the Formula 1 world championship and in total ten different circuits throughout the United States have featured on the F1 calendar. In 2012 Austin’s Circuit of the Americas joined this list as it welcomed the F1 paddock to the lone star state. The inaugural race in Texas was lauded by drivers and fans as highly successful. “It’s a real credit to everyone involved in organising the inaugural event (last year) that it passed so smoothly. And Austin is a great city, so I see no reason why F1 can’t gain a true foothold in the US at this venue,” said Red Bull driver Mark Webber.

The saying in racing is that you can’t win the race in the first corner. However, it can certainly be lost in the first corner and the Austin GP’s first corner is a mammoth climb with twenty-two Formula 1 cars heading for its blind apex. The remainder of the first sector is features a series of several high speed changes of direction similar to Korea’s Yeongam circuit.

The second sector of the lap includes the straight and medium to low speed turns requiring good traction and precision on throttle application. The long continuous curve from turns fifteen to seventeen highlights the final part of the 5.513 km lap.

Drivers are expected to make 59 gear changes every lap and run at an average speed of 200 kph. The circuit’s demand on engines is quite high with 63% of the lap spent at full throttle. Pirelli has made the white side-walled medium compound and orange side-walled hard compound tyre available for this weekend. Coincidentally, neither Pirelli’s green Cinturato Intermediate tyre nor its blue full wet tyre has been used in a race this season. This stat is unlikely to change for the 18th round of the season as the typical weather around these parts predict a warm & sunny weekend.

From a set-up point of view, drivers’ and engineers’ first priority will be to understand how the track surface has evolved in twelve months since F1’s last visit. “Last year we were all sliding quite a lot because the tarmac was still so new, especially on the tight and twisty bit towards the end. It was sometimes almost more rally style than Formula One, because it was so slippery! The section after the steep hill at the beginning is particularly challenging. Last year it took me quite a while to get my bearings and to position the car correctly,” said Sebastian Vettel.

Then McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton won the inaugural race in Texas by delivering a fine drive which included overtaking four time champ Sebastian Vettel on track. The Brit called it one of the best wins of his career and will unquestionably want to defend his victory this weekend. It is debatable however whether or not Hamilton’s Mercedes will be up to the task. Despite solid performances in Saturday’s qualifying sessions Hamilton has been, for most of the time, unable to translate the pace to race day. Nevertheless, the Brit may not be such a bad bet this weekend.

The fight of second place in the driver’s title will be contested without Kimi Raikkonen as the Finn will miss the final two races of the season to undergo back surgery in Salzburg on Thursday. The Finn’s manager Steve Robertson shared the news on Sunday morning and said the 2007 champion will need four weeks to recover; thereby ruling Raikkonen out of both the Austin and Brazilian GP. Lotus are expected to promote development driver Davide Valsecchi to the race seat for the final two rounds of the 2013 season.

The saying goes that everything is bigger and better in Texas and as Formula 1 finds a foothold in the States here’s hoping the on track racing takes this adage to heart. Giddy Up!

Photo credit: Lewis Hamilton at 2012 Austin GP via mclaren.com

November 11, 2013
F1 2013: Abu Dhabi GP Review – Juggernaut Vettel Crushes Competition

It isn’t only Kimi Raikkonen who knows what he’s doing around the Yas Marina circuit. Sebastian Vettel delivered yet another dominant display to take victory by half a minute at the 2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Mark Webber secured pole position with a stonker of a lap from Vettel on Saturday and if one driver had the ability to challenge the four time champ it was the Australian; or so it appeared. A controversial weekend for the Lotus team got significantly worse as Raikkonen, who qualified fifth overall, was relegated to the back of the starting grid. The Lotus failed a floor deflection test after the qualifying session.

Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton secured the second row of the grid in their quest for second overall in the constructor’s championship. Contrastingly, Fernando Alonso endured a difficult session in which he failed to advance to the third part of qualifying. Felipe Massa, supposedly on the verge of signing a 2014 deal with Williams, managed to squeak through to the top ten shoot-out.

Nevertheless, race day is the one that counts and seeing as Vettel has put together a near perfect season there was no reason to suspect he would not ace the start of this race either. He did exactly that as he swooped into the lead of the race as the red lights extinguished and never looked back. A Singapore-style domination ensued and Vettel was more than a minute ahead of sixth place by lap 35. Alonso was the sixth placed man.

There was to be no repeat of 2012 for Raikkonen as the Finn suffered damage to his steering in a collision with Giedo van der Garde’s Caterham in Turn One. Raikkonen was the only retirement in the race but insisted that he had no regrets about the decision not to start from the pitlane after his exclusion from qualifying. “I went to the inside and then somehow managed to touch with a Caterham,” Raikkonen explained. “We didn’t touch hard but I think the angle was very unlucky and it broke the steering.” It was also revealed that Raikkonen’s management and Lotus team owner Gerard Lopez had reached a provisional agreement to settle their financial issues. The agreement will see the Finn race at the final two races of the season.

Without a care in the world, Vettel was in a class of one with an untouchable pace of 1.5 to 2 seconds faster than anyone else. The most frightening thing was that Vettel was hardly pushing to the limit of what the Red Bull is capable of. The competition must shudder to think what the Red Bull would truly be able to pull out if it was under pressure.

As Vettel disappeared down the road quicker than the sun could set, the dice for second remained close all the way to the chequered flag. Rosberg ran second for the first quarter of the race ahead of Mark Webber who was suffering with a slight KERS issue. By the 20th lap however, AussieGrit was on it once more and took second place from Rosberg. Romain Grosjean kept both the Mercedes and Red Bull honest throughout the race but was unable to mount a challenge for the remaining steps of the podium.

Hamilton endured a difficult afternoon after qualifying on the second row of the grid. The Brit fell back into the field and admitted after the race that he had to do a better job to match teammate Rosberg. “Clearly with Nico’s result the car’s better than what I’m able to bring home with it,” said Hamilton. “Same old … different day. It’s the same every race. It can’t be other people’s fault. Nico’s been getting great points for the team. I just need to work harder to try to do the same.”

Several incidents throughout the race required the stewards’ attention but only Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg was given a drive-through penalty for an unsafe release in the pitlane. Adrian Sutil and Pastor Maldonado were under investigation for exceeding the track limits as was Alonso. The incident involving Sutil and Maldonado was chalked up to a racing incident, but Alonso’s off track excursion was reserved for judgement after the race. The Spaniard switched to the soft compound tyres on lap 44 and rejoined the circuit alongside Jean-Eric Vergne. However, Alonso was outside of the track limits, as indicated by the white lines, when he made the pass on the Toro Rosso driver. Alonso was quoted post race as saying that Vergne should have given him more space. The stewards agreed with Alonso and no penalty was imposed.

As Vettel, Webber and Rosberg wrapped up the podium ahead of Grosjean, Alonso’s last dash on the soft compound tyres earned him the fastest lap and fifth overall. Paul di Resta resisted pressure from Hamilton in the closing stages of the race to finish sixth. Hamilton managed seventh place on the day as Felipe Massa, who enjoyed a long stint ahead of his teammate, brought his Ferrari home in eighth place. Sergio Perez snatched ninth place from Sutil on the final lap as they rounded out the points paying positions.

The untouchable Sebastian Vettel celebrated his seventh consecutive victory with several donuts. Vettel was fined 25 000 Euros in India for celebrating his fourth world title in the same manner but didn’t receive the same punishment this time as he returned the car to parc ferme.

Vettel’s race engineer, Rocky, instructed the German to bring the car back to the pits to which Vettel responded : “Let me quote: Yeah, yeah, yeah I know what I’m doing.” It seems he most certainly does.

November 3, 2013
Wonderful Webber on Pole in Abu Dhabi

Red Bull’s Mark Webber put in a scintillating flying lap in Q3 to take pole position for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

With both the Red Bulls on the back foot through Q1 and Q2, they seemed to have found some extra pace in Q3 to lock out the front row with Mark Webber in P1 with a 1:39.957 and Sebastian Vettel in P2 with a 1:40.075. Vettel who wasn’t very far behind is team mate made a mistake at the exit of T1 on his flying lap by running wide onto the astro-turf and lost a bit of time there.

The Mercedes pair of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton locked out the second row of the grid in P3 (1:40.419) and P4 (1:40.501) respectively. Both Rosberg and Hamilton were in the top two in Q1 and Q2 and were faster than both the Red Bulls. But they were no match for the Red Bulls who seemed to have found a bit of extra pace in Q3. Hamilton’s final Q3 run did not end the way he wanted it as he had an over steer moment coming out of the T13 chicane. He ran wide over the kerbs and spun. “Something gave way on the right side of the car. I got out of the chicane and something snapped on the car” said Hamilton.

Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen will line up 5th on the grid alongside Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg who had another strong qualifying session in 6th. The other Lotus of Romain Grosjean will start in P7 with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa in P8. McLaren’s Sergio Perez (P9) and and Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo (P10) round up the top 10.

It was another bad qualifying for Fernando Alonso who could only manage P11. It is the first time in the 2013 season where Alonso did not go through to Q3. “A difficult weekend for us. We are not competitive. My laps were not clean. We will see what we can do with a fresh set of tyres in the race” said Alonso. McLaren’s Jenson Button was the other big name that did not appear in Q3. Button, whos qualified in P13, was left feeling rather frustrated with his performance saying that everything for them today was a challenge. “We were maxed out on front wing from the word go. There’s nothing much we could do” said Button after being knocked out at the end of Q2.

Below is the full timing sheet from the 2013 Fomrula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

November 2, 2013
F1 2013: Practice 3 Report – Abu Dhabi GP

Sebastian Vettel headed the timing sheets of the third free practice session ahead of the Abu Dhabi grand prix.

The newly crowned four time world champion was followed by teammate Mark Webber as Red Bull again locked out the top two positions in the standings. The session got underway with a track temperature of 47 degrees Celcius; three degrees warmer than Friday’s first free practice session.

Several drivers including Lotus’ Romain Grosjean and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso endured several off track excursions during the session but sustained no damage. Marussia’s Jules Bianchi was as fortunate as contact with the barrier brought a slightly premature end to his session. However, the Ferrari of Alonso looked a handful as the Spaniard was shown sawing away at the wheel of the car as the coaxed it through the corners around Yas Marina circuit.

Pastor Maldonado and Valterri Bottas ran the Williams with a revised exhaust system and both driver’s provided encouraging feedback. The system is a reversion to an ‘old-style’ system which sees the exhaust exit to top of the body work.

The qualifying simulation, run on the yellow walled soft tyres, revealed an average gain of 1,7 seconds but several drivers were able to gain more than two seconds during their run. Nevertheless, we are of course unaware of the different fuel levels that are being run by teams in practice sessions.

The Mercedes pairing of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton appeared as the best of the rest behind the Red Bulls. Interestingly, Mark Webber set the quickest first and second sector while Vettel came out tops in the final sector of the lap. Abu Dhabi has never been a happy hunting ground for the Aussie but Webber may yet prove Vettel’s stiffest competition in qualifying later on this afternoon.

November 2, 2013
Vettel On Top in FP2 in Abu Dhabi

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel topped the time sheets at the end of the second free practice session at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.

The young German set the pace this evening in Abu Dhabi with a 1:41.335 with his team mate Mark Webber P2 with a 1:41.490, 0.155s slower than Vettel. What was also encouraging for Red Bull was the very good long run pace they had on the primes and on the soft option tyre.

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton finished the session in P3 with a 1:41.690, 0.355s off the pace of Vettel. Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen finished P4 with a 1:41.728 and Nico Rosberg ended his session in P5 with a 1:41.758. Raikkonen was very strong on his long run pace this session, his team mate Romain Grosjean who finished FP1 in P1 finished FP2 in P12.

McLaren’s Sergio Perez received some very encouraging news towards the end of the session from his race engineer Andy Latham telling him that they were very similar on pace to Mercedes and they were quicker than Ferrari. Checo ended the session in P6. Jenson Button trailed a very different setup by running a very shallow rear wing. The proof of which reflected in the speed traps where he was quickest.

Ferrari seemed to be struggling for pace in the session. Fernando Alonso ended the session in P8 and his team mate Felipe Massa finished in P10. They’re long run pace seemed to be there about, but nothing close to Lotus or Mercedes. It looks like its going to be a difficult weekend for them.

The full time sheet for the session is included below:

November 1, 2013
Grosjean fastest in first Friday practice at Abu Dhabi

Romain Grosjean topped the time sheets after the first practice session this morning with Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton taking up the second spot. Four time world champion, Sebastian Vettel finished the practice session in 3rd place.

The track was super hot with temperatures over 45C and saw Hamilton and Vettel trading quickest times for most of the session. But it was Grosjean who beat the heat to put in the top practice time of 1.44.241 with less than two minutes of the session remaining.

Vettel’s time in third place was just over a quarter of a second slower than Grosjean’s time.

Jenson Button, who finished the session in 8th place once again had difficulty with traction, at one stage complaining to his team, “WOW! We really have no grip at all!”.

Rather surprisingly, both Ferrari drivers finished outside of the top 10 with Fernando Alonso in 12th and Felipe Massa down in 17th place.

Here is the full time sheet for the first free practice session at Abu Dhabi.

Photo by Lotus F1 Twitter Team

November 1, 2013
Abu Dhabi GP Preview Quotes – Mercedes

Preview Quotes from the Mercedes Team ahead of this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
2012 Qualifying – 8th, 2012 Race – DNF
“The Abu Dhabi weekend is a real favourite of mine and it’s a great event for the fans, our partners and the team. It’s also very unique as a twilight race and working on a different timetable makes a nice change from the usual race weekend. On the track, we will be looking to continue the pace and performance of the car that we saw in India and hopefully the result. It was a really positive weekend for me and I’m pleased that the team now has renewed momentum in our fight for second place.”

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2012 Qualifying – 1st, 2012 Race – DNF
“The race in Abu Dhabi is always a fun weekend and one which I really enjoy. The circuit and the whole Yas Marina complex are so impressive and racing from the sunshine into the twilight is quite special. With three races left of the season, we are still pushing and there is a lot that our team can achieve in that period. It’s all about consistency now and making sure that both Nico and I score good points so that we can keep the other teams behind us. We’re up for the challenge!”

Ross Brawn, Mercedes team principal
“The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is undoubtedly one of the highlights on the Formula One calendar and a weekend that everyone at the team always enjoys. The uniqueness of the twilight racing and the wonderful facilities at the Yas Marina Circuit make for quite a spectacular show, both for the crowds at the track and for those watching on television. The circuit layout is challenging with the brakes under particular strain and overtaking can be tricky despite the long straights. This is a demanding period with four of the seven season-ending flyaway races now completed and I am pleased with how the motivation and commitment levels at our team are remaining so high. India was a strong weekend for us with some valuable points scored and we will aim to have another positive weekend in Abu Dhabi to consolidate our position.”

Toto Wolff, Mercedes team executive director
“We delivered a good team result in India, with podium number eight this year and our biggest points total since the Belgian Grand Prix. Our target now is to build on that momentum in Abu Dhabi. We know what to expect at Yas Marina: a circuit where good traction is important, as well as strong straightline speed, and conditions in which it’s important to look after the rear tyres, especially through the first stint when the track temperatures are still high. All of us in the team know that the battle for second place in the Constructors’ Championship will go down to the final race. We are ready for the fight.”

October 31, 2013
Ross Brawn to Leave Mercedes at the end of the Season

The BBC reported that Mercedes AMG Pertronas Team Pricipal Ross Brawn will leave the Brackley based team at the end of the 2013 Formula 1 season.

This comes after much speculation of Brawn’s future after Mercedes hired Paddy Lowe from McLaren earlier this year. The plan Mercedes had in mind was for Brawn to eventually hand over to Lowe in the future, but no specific time was given. He made it very clear that if he were to stay on, he was to retain his influence in the team.

Despite Niki Lauda urging Brawn to stay and with both Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton expressing their opinion that Brawn should stay on it seems that talks between Brawn and Mercedes have broken down with either party unable to agree on terms which left Ross Brawn with no option but to leave.

From next season Mercedes will be run by their two executive directors, Toto Wolff and Paddy Lowe. Wolff will run the financial and commercial aspects of the team while Lowe will take over the operations and technical side of the team.

With Brawn being a free agent from next season there is lots of speculation where he may end up. Word is that he might move to McLaren with them being powered by Honda engines from next year since he’s had experience with Honda in 2007 and 2008. Some are hoping that he goes back to Ferrari to bring the team to its former glory.

Update: After the the report Mercedes neither confirmed nor denied that Ross Brawn will leave the team at the end of the year.

October 29, 2013
F1 2013: Indian GP Review – Super Seb Achieves Greatness

The Indian grand prix has found itself in the privileged position of crowning Sebastian Vettel as the 2013 driver’s world champion.

There are few greater moments in this majestic sport than seeing a driver crowned champion. Whether you are a fan of Sebastian Vettel or not seems irrelevant in the face of this massive achievement. Only Juan Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher and now Sebastian Vettel has won four consecutive world titles. It not only deserves recognition but tremendous respect.

The Budhh International circuit played host to the third Indian GP and tyre strategy dominated the headlines from the first free practice session on Friday. It was evident early on that the yellow walled soft compound tyres were extremely fragile and would, presumably, dictate the rest of the weekend. Unsurprisingly, Saturday’s qualifying session saw a split in tyre strategy with several drivers opting to set their fastest time in Q3 on the medium tyre. Mark Webber emerged as the best of those on the alternate strategy with fourth place and seemed in the pound seats for Sunday’s race. The untouchable Sebastian Vettel went about his business and wrapped up yet another pole position ahead of the Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.

The dicey option tyres were given the short prognosis of lasting a maximum of six to seven laps. Sebastian Vettel made his customary break in the first lap of the race and by the end of it was leading Felipe Massa by 3.5 seconds.

Not wanting to risk anything on the perilous Pirelli rubber Vettel dived into the pits on the second lap and fitted the medium compound tyres for his second stint. The German dropped into masses of traffic and seventeenth place overall. This was the moment that those who started on the more durable tyre were expected to craft a sizeable gap over the number one Red Bull. But Sebastian Vettel is never one to be outdone not by rivals and certainly not by strategy. He scythed his way through the pack and by the end of the twentieth lap he was right on the gearbox of Sergio Perez’s third placed McLaren.

The only man who could mathematically stop Vettel from winning the title was Fernando Alonso. However, the Ferrari driver’s race got off to a disastrous start as collisions with Mark Webber and Jenson Button demanded a front-wing change. The Spaniard never recovered from his early set back and ended the race in eleventh place. Teammate Felipe Massa enjoyed a far better outing and led the Indian GP for a spell before pitting for fresh rubber. The Brazilian ultimately finished a solid fourth place. Sergio Perez provided a boost for McLaren with a fifth place finish after pulling off a great overtake on Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton finished a quiet race in sixth place for Mercedes.

Raikkonen, after having made a late race pitstop, finished seventh whilst struggling with overheating brakes in the beginning of the race and fuel issues towards the closing stages. Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil came home eighth and ninth at Force India’s home race as Daniel Ricciardo secured the final point on offer for Toro Rosso.

The podium finishers looked as if they would include both Red Bull drivers but an alternator failure felled Mark Webber and promoted Nico Rosberg to second overall. The German’s second place finish was his and Mercedes’ first of the season. Rosberg’s other visits to the podium this season have all been victories. Romain Grosjean delivered a stunning drive to recover from 17th place in qualifying. The Frenchman and his ever improving consistency netted him third place over all; but not without some controversy for his Lotus team.

Lotus tried to play the long game with Kimi Raikkonen’s tyre strategy by suggesting a more than 50 lap stint on the medium tyre. Pirelli had advised teams that a thirty-five lap stint was potentially the most tyres would be able to stand and although some drivers pushed a bit further than the 35 lap limit Lotus’ pitwall thought they would the exception to the rule. The appalling strategy called failed, as it did in China, and Raikkonen was left defenseless and losing nearly two and a half seconds per lap. It smacks again of Lotus being a team who are not able to handle complicated strategy calls in the heat of the moment.

Logic suggests that as soon as Raikkonen starting losing chunks of time, around lap 40 to 45 with a nineteen second gap over Massa and Hamilton, the call to pit should have been made. Raikkonen’s tyres were shot by the time Grosjean caught up to the back of the Lotus nevertheless the Finn’s racer’s heart demanded that he fight for his position; and fight for the place against Grosjean he did.

Alan Permane, head of trackside operations for Lotus, revealed the less than cordial feelings the team has for Raikkonen with vulgar radio message: “Kimi, get out of the f&^$ing way.” Raikkonen responded by asking the team not to shout at him. Raikkonen has also responded by driving without being payed for the majority of the season, paying his own traveling costs, and with 183 of Lotus’ 285 constructor’s points. Since Raikkonen put pen to paper to join Ferrari in 2014 Lotus’ attitude toward the Finn has taken a significant turn. Snide comments in the press about Raikkonen being “ungrateful” were a small insight to this shift. However, this radio message painted the picture a lot more clearly. Permane revealed after the race that he was “disappointed” that Raikkonen had chosen to fight for position. Perhaps his disappointment could be better served by aiming it at the strategic calls made by the team.

In the end, the day belonged to the incomparable Sebastian Vettel. Four times a world champion Vettel has earned the respect of the motorsport world with a sublimely flawless racing craft that is second to none. Success in Formula 1 demands the perfect blend of man and machine and Vettel has flawlessly delivered his end of the deal.

Personally, he has handled the jeering of the crowds with great character; professionally he has blown away any suggestion that he is anything less than pure class. Vettel thrilled the Indian crowd with several donuts on the start/finish straight but in truth he has thrilled motorsport fans with a superlative talent that knows no bounds. At only 26 years old Sebastian Vettel has entered into Formula 1 immortality.

October 27, 2013
F1 2013: Free Practice 1 Report – Indian GP

The first free practice session for the Indian GP was headed by the Red Bull duo of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

Proceedings took nearly forty minutes to get underway at a hazy Budhh International circuit. The first driver out on track and setting flyers was McLaren’s Sergio Perez. The rest of the front-running teams seemed reluctant to venture out on circuit.

Nevertheless, several cars gradually made their way onto circuit and got on with the task of preparing for Sunday’s race. Lotus are believed to be trying some bit and pieces on the E21 this weekend as they bid for second place in the constructor’s championship. Britian’s James Calado took over the Force India from an “under the weather” Paul Di Resta. However, the Scot was seen in the paddock and pointed out that he had to give up some friday practice time to the young Brit at some stage during the remainder of the season.

Lewis Hamilton reported his car as being “all over the place” throughout the session but Nico Rosberg showed encouraging pace for the Mercedes team. Lotus’ Romain Grosjean, still in doubt about his future with the Enstone team, featured near the top of the timing sheets while teammate Raikkonen went about his business quietly down the bottom end of the table.

Fernando Alonso spent the first half hour of the session sat in the back of the garage. And when the Spaniard did venture out a suspected gearbox issue brought an end to his session. Felipe Massa has also confirmed that he is in talks with Williams for the 2014 season.

Jenson Button is carrying Porsche SuperCup racer Sean Edward’s helmet emblem on the top of his lid for the weekend and Sebastian Vettel is sporting a carbon inspired design for the Indian grand prix. The Mercedes team is also running an Airtel sponsor for the weekend as Nico Rosberg invited some kids to the circuit earlier in the weekend to see a Formula 1 car and steering wheel up close. Apparently, the steering wheel shown to the kids was Lewis Hamilton’s and Rosberg later joked that should the Brit be missing some pace that a few adjustments may have been made on the wheel by the kids.

All images – www.twitter.com

October 25, 2013