Tag: nico rosberg

F1 2013: Italian GP Post-Qualfying Report – Red Bull Romp To Front Row

Sebastian Vettel secured his thirtieth and Red Bull Racing’s fiftieth Formula 1 pole position in Saturday’s qualifying for the Italian GP.

Sebastian Vettel’s domination has been tempered by Lewis Hamilton in the last four races but the German maestro was not going to play second fiddle at the same historic venue as where he memorably won his first ever grand prix.

The pace of the Williams car wasn’t much to write home about but Pastor Maldonado still manged to drag his Renault powered car into the second part of qualifying. Teammate Valterri Bottas didn’t manage to emulate the Venezuelan as he joined Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez, Giedo van der Garde, Charles Pic, Jules Biachi and Max Chilton at the back-end of the grid.

Drama and a closely fought battle was predicted for the final pole position shoot-out but the second session of qualifying is where the real commotion materialized. Paul di Resta, in recovery mode after a practice crash, failed to advance to the top ten and was joined by teammate Adrian Sutil and Pastor Maldonado. The real kicker however was the failure of Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean to advance to the final session of qualifying.

Lewis Hamilton, notoriously hard on himself, was quoted as saying that he “drove like an idiot” in the second part of the qualifying session. Twelfth place is certainly not what the Brit expected but chin up LH there’s always tomorrow. Lotus’ Romain Grosjean bemoaned the fact that he was unable to heat up his medium compound tyres prior to his final effort and Kimi Raikkonen…said nothing. Nevertheless, it is rather peculiar that the Lotus team dedicated both free practice sessions on Friday to testing the long wheelbase car with Kimi Raikkonen and then electing to pursue it further this morning.

The final top ten shoot-out could not have worked out better for Red Bull if they had scripted it themselves. Untroubled be the rest of the pretenders Vettel and Webber locked out the front row of the grid for the 20th time.

Ferrari’s ‘towing’ system didn’t quite go to plan in the final minutes of the session much to the displeasure of Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard could be heard during the run telling his team that Felipe Massa was too far ahead of him to gain an advantage from the tow. Sky F1 later reported that the former world champion allegedly told his team: “You are stupid, you are all stupid, you wrecked my qualifying.” Felipe Massa out qualified his teammate.

The undoubted star of qualifying was Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg who miraculously qualified third on the grid for tomorrow’s race. Nico Rosberg, Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez, Jenson Button and Jean-Eric Vergne rounded out the top ten.

September 7, 2013
Vettel on top in Free Practice 3

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel took the honours again in Free Practice 3 for the Italian Grand Prix to finish top of the time sheets.

Vettel, with a time of 1:24.360 was the fastest time of the session. Not far behind was Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso with a time of 1:24.643, only 0.283s slower than Vettel. Mark Webber in the other Red Bull finished P3 with a 1:24.677, Hamilton in his Mercedes with a 1:24.712 finished P4 and Sergio Perez in his McLaren finished in a very encouraging P5 with a 1:24.864.

Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes was out quite early in the session with an overheating car. The team will have to work hard to turn it around to get his car ready for qualifying.

Force India’s Paul Di Resta put his car into the barrier at the entry to Parabolica, after the car snapped on him. He managed to catch the over-steer but he ran out of road, and the only way from there was over the gravel and into the barrier.

It was a very encouraging session for McLaren who showed genuine pace with Perez finishing P5.

Qualifying is certainly going to be very interesting. At the moment it looks like Vettel is the man to beat.

September 7, 2013
Italian Grand Prix Preview Quotes – Mercedes F1 Team

The Mercedes F1 Team share their Italian Grand Prix Preview Quotes.

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
“Monza is always one of my favourite races and I love driving the track with its unique high-speed and low-downforce layout. The last European race of the season always has a special atmosphere and the Italian fans are so passionate about Formula One. It’s really cool for me that I speak Italian and can communicate easily with the fans in and around the circuit. To go to Monza with the feeling that we have a quick car is fantastic and I hope we will achieve another strong team result as we did in Belgium. We have to keep pushing now and I know everyone is working really hard at the factories to do just that.”

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
“Monza is a truly amazing circuit and it’s a great feeling to drive at our top speeds of the year there. The layout and atmosphere of Monza are very special and it really feels like you are going back to Formula One’s roots when you race there. The car has a completely different aerodynamic package to anywhere else on the calendar with really low downforce to make the most of the four long straights. My win at the Italian Grand Prix last year was the first of my career at this circuit and it was a great feeling. We had a strong weekend in Belgium with a good team result and that’s what we need to keeping doing in the second half of the season.”

Ross Brawn, Mercedes team principal
“The Italian Grand Prix marks the traditional end of Formula One’s European season and is one of my favourite race weekends on the calendar. Monza has a special atmosphere all of its own with its historic location and the passion of the tifosi making it an inspirational venue. From an engineering perspective, Monza is unique and requires a special low-downforce aerodynamic package to make the most of the high-speed layout which also places great importance on the strength of the engine on the long straights. I was very pleased with the team’s performance in Belgium and the consolidation of our current position of second place in the Constructors’ Championship. We weren’t quite in the position to fight for the win but we will keep pushing hard to close that gap and keep fighting.”

Toto Wolff, Mercedes team executive director
“We scored a good team result at the last race in Belgium, with third and fourth places, and that underlined one of the team’s strengths this year: our drivers. As their performances this season have shown, Lewis and Nico are probably the most closely matched and balanced driver pairing in Formula One. Their combination of speed and consistency has taken Mercedes to second place in the Constructors’ Championship and our clear target is to consolidate this position over the coming races. For the Italian Grand Prix, we will use a refined version of the low-drag package introduced at Spa. We hope to see an improvement in race pace after the lessons we learned over the race weekend in Belgium.”

Photo by the Mercedes F1 Team

September 4, 2013
Belgium GP: Post Qualifying Report – Hamilton times it to a tee

The notorious Spa weather had a definitive say in today’s qualifying sessions as Lewis Hamilton snatched pole position in the dying seconds of the session.

The fickle weather dampened the 7 km long circuit enough to prompt the fitting of intermediate tyres all twenty-two cars. It was the opportunists who would cash into the difficult conditions and on this occasion both Caterham and Marussia happily took the gamble to run the medium compound slick tyres towards the end of the first twenty minute session.

As the circuit dried considerably so the laptimes tumbled. The Williams duo who had found themselves heading the timing sheets ultimately ended up outside the top sixteen. Giedo van der Garde for Caterham and Marussia Chilton and Bianchi all advanced the second part of qualifying thanks to some quick thinking tactics.

The second session was run in completely dry conditions and it was Kimi Raikkonen who a set a low 1 minute 48 to end the session quickest of all. While Jenson Button stuck his McLaren into 5^th place on the sheets teammate Perez failed to advance.

The dry running would be confined to the second part of qualifying as the light rain marked the start of the top ten shootout. As the field rushed out of the pitlane on white-walled medium tyres only Paul di Resta opted to remain in his garage. The Force India emerged shortly afterwards on intermediate tyres. It appeared to be a stroke of tactical genius by the Force India team as the other nine cars on circuit all returned to the pitlane for inters.

Di Resta was left with a clear track and what appeared to be the best track conditions as the rain intensified and circuit became a slippery thrill ride. For the majority of the session it looked as if the Scotsman was on course for his first pole position. Nevertheless, there would be a late twist in the tail. The rain had ceased and conditions had hugely improved towards the end of the ten minutes.

As several drivers snatched the top spot it was Lewis Hamilton who timed it to perfection. The Brit was the last driver to cross the line – therefore setting his lap at the time the circuit was at its best.

Hamilton snatched the pole position by two tenths of a second from championship leader Sebastian Vettel. Mark Webber lines up third ahead of the sister Mercedes of Nico Rosberg in fifth. Paul di Resta ended up with fifth place ahead of Jenson Button, Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen. Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa rounds out the top ten.

August 24, 2013
F1 2013: Belgium GP: Spa – the greatest place on Earth

There aren’t many things that Formula 1 teams and the sport’s fans see eye to eye on. But the one thing that has everyone’s unanimous agreement is that Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps is incomparably the best racing track on the face of the planet.

Where other circuit’s layouts are identified by numbers, here corners are named. Eau Rouge, Pouhon and Blanchimont ooze Formula 1 history and have demanded respect from every era’s most talented drivers. Sites such as Abu Dhabi and Singapore are modern-day showpieces but Spa is where it is every driver’s desire to be part of its mystical history.

The Belgian circuit stands apart in other areas as well. It is the longest on the calendar at 7.004 km and houses its own micro-climate in the foothills of the Ardennes mountain range. The weather effect has been as colossal as the circuit is demanding. The temperamental rain has been known to severely limit running in free practice. While the over 7km long race track stretches through a grand vista of sprawling hills it brings with it the likelihood of contradictory weather conditions at either end of the circuit.

Several teams will bring upgrade packages to the race this weekend with Lotus expected to bring their last major upgrade for the year to their E21 car. A final decision on whether to run the passive DRS system has not been made yet but according to Lotus’ trackside operations director Alan Permane there is a “good chance” that the device will be deployed this weekend.

German sources have suggested that Red Bull Racing is expected to announce Daniel Ricciardo as Sebastian Vettel’s teammate for 2014 this weekend. Dr. Helmut Marko was quoted as confirming that the announcement would be made at Spa. No official announcement has been made by Toro Rosso or its drivers.

What then of Raikkonen’s rumoured move to the championship winning outfit? Rumours of an impending move back to Ferrari have gained a lot of momentum during the month-long break. Subtly, Finnish media have been using images of Raikkonen in Ferrari gear alongside articles and several sources maintain that the Finn has inked a two-year deal with the option of extending for another year.

Raikkonen’s time at Ferrari came to an unpleasant end in 2009 with team president Luca di Montezemolo calling the Finn “unmotivated”. Many have speculated that Raikkonen had gotten on well within the Ferrari team and that the only potential animosity was created by LDM’s comments. If Raikkonen does return to the Maranello outfit it will be slightly humiliating for di Montezemolo who favoured a sponsorship deal with Spanish bank Santander over Raikkonen. Nevertheless, it is guaranteed that if Raikkonen is to return to his former team that Ferrari will welcome their last world champion back with open arms. What the dynamic will be between Fernando Alonso and Raikkonen is debatable; but it is surely a match made in Formula 1 heaven.

Opportunities for overtaking may be abundant but a good qualifying position is nonetheless vital. If for no reason other than to avoid being caught up in someone else’s accident. Romain Grosjean was the perfect case in point in 2012 as he took out several cars including potential race contenders Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.

The cooler track temperature coupled with the tougher medium and hard compound Pirelli tyres will favour a team like Mercedes and with a confident Lewis Hamilton they may be a good bet. However, Fernando Alonso needs to make inroads on Vettel’s championship lead and the Spaniard has never won the famous Spa-Francorchamps race. This is more than enough motivation for the double world champ. In reality however his chances will hinge on what Ferrari has up their upgrade sleeves this weekend. Kimi Raikkonen has won the Belgium GP four times once, in 2009, with an exceptionally sluggish Ferrari. He goes into the race a hot favourite for victory.

The best drivers, the greatest sport on the planet on the world’s premier racing circuit – Spa-Francorchamps is unquestionably a Formula 1 fan’s nirvana.

August 22, 2013
F1 2013 Mid Season Review

Starting with a hazardous Australian Grand Prix with ever changing weather conditions to a controlled race in Hungary we’ve had everything from tyre explosions to loose wheels, pitlane accidents, cars on fire and controversy galore. The 2013 F1 season has been a thrilling, wild ride for teams, drivers and fans alike.

With ten races behind us, it’s time to look at the season so far and how things have been shaping up.

Here is our F1 2013 Mid Season Review ahead of what is set to be an tumultuous second half of the season.

Red Bull Racing – 277 points

Sebastian Vettel – 172 points, Mark Webber – 105 points

Red Bull is still the team to beat and are the only team to really maximise their results every race so far this season. Leading the championship with 60 points over Mercedes in second place, it’s bound to be business as usual for the team following the break. Sebastian Vettel is sitting pretty in the drivers’ championship too – 38 points ahead of his nearest rival, Kimi Raikkonen in second place.

Vettel has raced all out so far this season – even defying team orders to score an extra 6 points – and remains on track for his 4th world championship.

Red Bull have an incredibly quick car – perhaps the quickest on the grid – and have remained incredibly consistent but have suffered like the other teams with tyre degradation issues and saw Vettel retiring from the British Grand Prix with mechanical failures. Vettel however will be very hard to beat going forward and his rivals know it.

Mark Webber, who announced that he will be leaving F1 at the end of the season, has had a more inconsistent – and really unlucky – season. Webber has had no wins yet this season but you can be sure that he’ll be looking to add to his nine career wins before he bows out of F1. His frustration became very clear in Malaysia when Vettel defied team orders to pass Webber for what would have been his only win this season.

Mercedes – 208 points

Lewis Hamilton – 124 points, Nico Rosberg – 84 points

With Niki Lauda and Toto Wolff assuming high profile positions and Lewis Hamilton joining the Brackley based team, all eyes were on Mercedes even before the season got underway.

Nobody expected Hamilton to be challenging for race wins in his first season at Mercedes, but he was on the podium within two races and took his first race win at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Team mate Nico Rosberg has already recorded two race wins so far this season and continues to impress.

Mercedes has made quite a turn-around this season and their prospects are not looking bad at all. With a 69 point deficit to championship leaders Red Bull, it seems unlikely that they will challenge for the championship though.

Ferrari – 194 points

Fernando Alonso – 133 points, Felipe Massa – 61 points

A mid season review of the Ferrari team’s performance so far this year, seems all too familiar. Ferrari started off really well with both drivers having a really good start to their season.

Alonso banked a solid second place at the first race in Australia, and Massa also started off well – regularly out-qualifying his team mate and recording point finishes.

But things have been on a downward spiral after Alonso’s wins in Spain and China. In contrast to the 2012 season when Alonso had a 40 point lead at the summer break, the team has lost their second place in the championship and qualifying seems to be a big problem for the team. Massa was struck by a number of crashes and race retirements pushing him far behind his team mate as far the driver standings go.

They’ve just not kept up with the pace of development at Red Bull. Alonso has slipped back into third place in the championship – but it would be silly to discount the Spaniard just yet – his entire championship lead was wiped clean by Vettel in the second half of the 2012 season so that should be a clear indication of how quickly things can change.

Lotus – 183 points

Kimi Raikkonen – 134 points, Romain Grosjean – 49 points

The Lotus F1 Team started the 2013 season on a high, with a win for Kimi Raikkonen at the Australian Grand Prix. But that early strong form has not led to further victories for Raikkonen or the team, with the Finn collecting five second-place finishes and teammate Romain Grosjean – the former ‘first lap nutcase’ added two third-places to his name.

Lotus have been in the midst of the battle at every race. Their constant evolution and the way the tyres work for them has made this team a contender for the podium every race weekend. But their downfall is Saturday qualifying – the E21 has simply not had the outright pace in qualifying to make Sundays a little easier for the team.

Raikkonen has moved up to second place in the championship, one point ahead of Alonso, but if he hopes to catch Vettel they’re going to need to start winning races and with technical director James Allison leaving for Ferrari, it remains to be seen whether they’ll be able to keep up the development pace that will be required to catch the Red Bull.

Force India – 59 points

Paul di Resta – 36 points, Adrian Sutil – 23 points

For the purposes of a mid season review it can be said that Force India have had a pretty impressive season in general – especially in the earlier part of the calendar. Their car has far outshone the team’s resources and their drivers have both delivered on track, scoring points and making Force India’s mark as the strongest of the mid-field teams.

Adrian Sutil, who recently celebrated his 100th race, has driven really well especially in Monaco when he fearlessly overtook his rivals on the narrow street circuit. But unfortunately, like his team mate Paul Di Resta, the pace has just not lasted and they’ve both been rather lack-lustre of late. The final two races before the mid season break were their worst of the year so far and the tyre change in Budapest seemed to affect them particularly negatively.

Both drivers have worked really hard though and this has culminated in the team now ahead of McLaren in the Constructors’ championship. The Woking-based team is breathing down their necks though and they’ll have to pull up their socks in the remainder of the season if they hope to hold onto 5th place in the championship.

McLaren – 57 points

Jenson Button – 39 points, Sergio Perez – 18 points

The fact that McLaren is being discussed this far down in the mid season review should be a clear indication of the difficult, disappointing season the Woking-based team have had. McLaren are used to being in the heat of the battle for the championship but are currently on 6th in the standings, behind Force India. The dramatic slump in their form will certainly be a surprise to most.

Their drivers both try really hard – sometimes a little too hard as is often the case with Sergio Perez, but their car can’t keep up and they’re left fighting the mid-field.

Jenson Button’s strategy calls have been his only saving grace – in the last four races he was able to challenge for 5th and 6th places but this is obviously not where the team are used to being.

McLaren has said that they are no longer developing their 2013 car and are now working on their 2014 car instead, so don’t expect too much from them in the second half of the season. Jenson Button however has said he is very positive going into the Belgian Grand Prix and has predicted a podium at Spa. Let’s wait and see how that pans out.

Toro Rosso – 24 points

Daniel Ricciardo – 11 points, Jean-Eric Vergne – 13 points

Toro Rosso may not be fighting for titles and race wins but they have shown some significant progress during the season so far.

Daniel Ricciardo, who is still first in line for Mark Webber’s Red Bull seat, has put in some very strong qualifying performances.

Team mate Jean-Eric Vergne has brought home some very impressive race drives. With Vergne out of the running for the Red Bull seat, one can only hope that the Frenchman will still come out fighting for the rest of the season as the battle of the team mates has been the most interesting thing to watch within the Toro Rosso team.

It is unsure how long Toro Rosso will continue development on their current car, given the mammoth task of developing the much-changed 2014 cars that lies ahead.

Sauber – 7 points

Nico Hulkenberg – 7 points, Esteban Gutierrez – 0 points

Sauber has had a really challenging season so far and the mid season review of their performance leaves a disappointed taste in the mouth. Everyone had great hopes for Sauber – their car was the star of the 2013 car launches, but things have just not materialised for the team.

I guess a lot can be blamed on their budget and financial troubles but from the very beginning Sauber were on the back foot with a car that has struggled from the word go, and two brand new drivers in the team.

Nico Hulkenberg has done his best with the car he’s been given and has managed to secure 7 points for the team. His team mate Esteban Gutierrez has not done too badly for a rookie but has failed to bring home any points.

Sauber have closed a deal with Russian investors to help save the team, so let’s hope that pans out well for them or we may never see a C-33.

Williams – 1 point

Pastor Maldonado – 1 point, Valtteri Bottas – 0 points

At the back of the grid it’s been a very disappointing season for the Williams team. After winning a race last year in the FW34 we all expected much more from the FW35 but alas. They only scored their first point for the entire season at the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest.

The car lacks downforce and both Pastor Maldonado and team mate Valtteri Bottas have found the car difficult to drive, resulting in the team doing a mid season review of their own and overhauling their technical team. Most notably, technical director Mike Coughlan has left the team and been replaced by former Renault and Marussia man, Pat Symonds. He is bound to make a huge difference to the team but I’m afraid it’s a little too late to expect it to make a difference for the 2013 season though so let’s hope they’re already working on next year’s car.

Marussia – 0 points

Jules Bianchi – 0 points, Max Chilton – 0 points)

Marussia continues their battle for tenth place in the championship with the Caterham team. They started the season very impressively and after the Australian Grand Prix you would have been forgiven for thinking they may even be set to trouble the mid-field teams this season, but instead they’ve pretty much been racing the Caterham team all season.

They have gained a lot since last year though, especially in the form of rookie driver Jules Bianchi who has had some impressive performances.

His fellow rookie team mate Max Chilton has struggled a little to come to grips with driving an F1 car but the Marussia team have been impressed by his consistency and the feedback they get from him.

They’ve been dealt a pretty big blow with Pat Symonds leaving for Williams but for now, they still hold on to tenth place thanks to Bianchi’s 13th place finish in Malaysia.

We’re not expecting much in terms of development from the Marussia team for the rest of the season but for now, it seems they should be able to stay ahead of the green machines for the remainder of the season.

Caterham – 0 points

Charles Pic – 0 points, Giedo van der Garde – 0 points

Caterham’s season has been an uphill battle all the way. The team was targeting the mid-field but have just not managed to make any headway. It was only after Heikki Kovalainen was called in to advise the team that they started making some headway and finally in Bahrain – at the fourth race of the season – they managed to out qualify Marussia.

Slowly but surely their car has been improving and their upgrades have steadily resulted in progress. In Hungary they were able to easily out qualify both Marussia’s.

Both Giedo van der Garde and Charles Pic have put in solid performances, doing they best they can with what they have so they’ll be hoping that they can take back tenth from Marussia before the end of the season.

And that’s a wrap on our mid season review of the 2013 Formula 1 season. The first half of the season has been a thrilling one but has been dominated by tyres. With that behind us, and teams now on revised Pirelli rubber, the second half of the season should see some real battles taking shape. As we head to Spa for the Belgian Grand Prix you can bet that everyone will be bringing their A game.

What are you hoping for in the second half of the season? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Photo credits:

Photo of Bianchi’s car on fire – F1 Madness screen grab

Photo of Vettel gearbox failure – F1 Madness screen grab, Sky Sports HD

Lewis Hamilton after the Hungarian GP – Mercedes F1 Twitter Team

Massa and Alonso – Ferrari F1 Twitter team

Raikkonen – Lotus F1 Team

Adrian Sutil – Force India Twitter team

Jenson Button – Wikimedia Commons

Daniel Ricciardo – Red Bull Twitter Team

Sauber launch – Sauber F1 Team

Pastor Maldonado – Williams F1 Twitter Team

Max Chilton – Marussia F1 Twitter team

Giedo van der Garde – MyCaterham Twitter team

August 19, 2013
F1 2013: Hungarian GP Race Review – Miracle man Hamilton routs the pack

Ten races into the 2013 Formula 1 season Lewis Hamilton has claimed his first win of the year and the first for his Mercedes team at the Hungarian grand prix.

Red Bull and Mercedes found themselves locked in the battle for pole position on Saturday. 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton snatched pole position from Sebastian Vettel’s grasp by a mere 0.038s. It couldn’t get any closer and it couldn’t have been a more perfect lap for the Brit. Regarded as a qualifying ace, Hamilton has played second fiddle to teammate Rosberg but if the tables were going to turn Hungary is where it would happen. On three occasions Hamilton had won the Hungarian GP. However, all of these victories were behind the wheel of a McLaren. This weekend Hamilton mentioned those who thought he was daft to make the move to Mercedes. He regards his first victory for Mercedes as one the most special of his sparkling career and though he may not say it, he will be enormously satisfied to have proved the non-believers wrong.

While Hamilton had it mostly his own way for all of the seventy laps of the race the battle for the podium positions was anything but straightforward.

Sebastian Vettel barely maintained second place off the starting line before he had to defend against a feisty Romain Grosjean in a somewhat pacier Lotus in the early stages of the race. Despite Grosjean’s best efforts however the notoriously difficult overtaking conditions around the Hungaroring meant he stayed behind the Red Bull driver.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso made his customary lightening start but could only gain one position to run fourth at the end of the first lap. The afternoon wasn’t one to remember for the Marenello based team as Alonso lacked the pace to fight amongst the frontrunners for the entire race. “We didn’t have the pace. We were too slow with the soft. We were too slow on the medium. We just had no pace,” said a frustrated Alonso.

There is no doubt that as a true championship winning driver Fernando Alonso can be expected to be fighting for this world title until the last possible moment. Questions have always been about how a driver will acclimatise to team, how he will adapt to the DNA of a new car. In Alonso and Ferrari’s situation it’s the opposite. The question is can Ferrari deliver a car that is worthy of Alonso; and if not how much longer can Fernando Alonso be expected to remain loyal to the prancing horse? Ferrari and Fernando Alonso were also fined 15,000 Euro for illegally using DRS three times while not within the prescribed one second range of the car in front.

This particular Sunday was all about Lewis Hamilton. Doubts about how Mercedes would fare of the new Pirelli tyres were on the forefront of most people’s minds. In the post qualifying press conference, despite being on pole position, Lewis Hamilton said that it would take ‘a miracle’ for him to win the Hungarian grand prix. However, as the race progressed it was evident that Hamilton was not going to face the immense level of tyre degradation the team had suffered at previous race weekends. Hamilton was the first of the frontrunners to enter the pitlane as he swopped his softs for the medium compound tyres on lap nine.

As Vettel encountered a slower Jenson Button after his first pit stop Lewis Hamilton edged the gap out to nearly ten seconds over the Red Bull driver. By the halfway mark of the race it was evident, due to Hamilton’s pace that the three time former winner of the Hungarian GP was not going to be caught.

It set up a fight between the two Red Bull’s and the two-stopping Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn had pitted thirteen laps earlier than Vettel and should have been a sitting duck for Vettel and his fresh rubber. Raikkonen, not a pushover by any stretch of the imagination, held off the German for second place. Raikkonen completed the longest stint of laps on the medium compound – 33 laps in total.

Mark Webber put in a fighting drive to recover from tenth on the grid to fourth on Sunday. Fernando Alonso held off Romain Grosjean for fifth in a typically determined drive. Grosjean pulled off a tremendous move around the outside of turn four to overtake Felipe Massa but was later struck with a harsh drive-through penalty for leaving the circuit and gaining an advantage. It went from bad to worse for Grosjean as he was hit with a 20 second post race penalty for a causing a collision with Jenson Button. Nevertheless, Grosjean retains his sixth place finish.

Jenson Button and Felipe Massa finished seventh and eighth respectively while the sister McLaren of Sergio Perez was ninth. Nico Rosberg’s late retirement from the race, which appeared to be engine related, gave Pastor Maldonado tenth place overall and Williams their first point of the 2013 season.

Lewis Hamilton ended his victory drought in great style by taking a dominant fourth victory at the Hugaroring. A first win for Mercedes will undoubtedly by cherished but what was more impressive about Hamilton’s drive was the sheer determination and hunger that practically oozed from the former champ. An on song Lewis Hamilton is a formidable opponent and if Hungary is anything to go by he is far from letting go of this championship without a fight.

Photo credits:

Lewis Hamilton – Photo via Mercedes F1 Twitter Team

Grosjean vs Vettel – Screen grab by F1 Madness Team

Alonso – Screen grab by F1 Madness Team

Raikkonen – Lotus F1 Twitter Team

July 28, 2013
F1 2013 Hungarian GP – Qualifying Report

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton secured his thirtieth career pole position as he set the fastest time in qualifying for the Hungarian grand prix.

The biggest casualty of the first session of qualifying was Force India’s Paul di Resta. The Scot seemed struggled throughout the first part of qualifying and sounded perplexed on the radio to his team. Some suggest that the new kevlar belted tyre may not be as well suited to the characteristics of the Force India as was the old steel-belt construction. Di Resta will start in 18th position.

The second part of qualifying, always a bit more frantic, saw drivers leaving the pitlane on scrubbed sets of the softer tyres. Mark Webber’s pitwall informed the Australian that he had suffered a kers failure making the Red Bull driver’s afternoon all the more difficult. Nevertheless, Webber was able to advance to the final part of qualifying.

For the majority of the second part of qualifying Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg appeared to be on course for the top ten. However, the track evolution and several drivers opting for a new set of softs saw the Sauber driver relegated to 12th place. McLaren’s Jenson Button missed out on advancing but teammate Sergio Perez, recovering from a crash in the final practice session, managed to scrape through.

Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo delivered another impressive qualifying performance and will start from 8th on the grid.As Mark Webber departed the scene without taking to the track in the final session of qualifying it was teammate Vettel who carried Red Bull’s hopes. However, by 0.038s Lewis Hamilton snatched pole position from the German. Hamilton has won the Hungarian grand prix on three previous occasions and is the only driver in the last eight years to win the race from pole (2007, 2012).

Lotus’ Romain Grosjean underlined the pace shown in the morning practice session with a third place starting position for tomorrow’s race. Nico Rosberg will start fourth – some four tenths off teammate Hamilton.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso quietly qualified fifth ahead of Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen in sixth. Felipe Massa, Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez* and Mark Webber** round out the top ten, respectively.

* Sergio Perez has opted for an alternate strategy by setting his fastest lap on the medium compound tyres.

** Mark Webber did not complete a lap in the final part of qualifying; this allows him his choice of tyre on which to start tomorrow’s race.

July 27, 2013
F1 2013 Hungarian GP – Free Practice 2 Report

The second free practice session for Sunday’s Hungarian GP was headed by Red Bull duo Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

An incident free second free practice session was run in scorching conditions around the Hungaroring this afternoon. The track temperature reached a high of 45 degrees celcius and the Red Bulls’ pace was just as hot.

Where Mercedes is expected to hold the advantage over a single flying lap teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg could not get closer than half a second to Sebastian Vettel’s fastest time of 1:21:264.

The long runs didn’t swing it anyone else’s favour either. Mark Webber looked to be the quicker of the two Red Bull drivers on the medium compound tyres as the Australian set several laps within a tenth of each other. The soft compound tyre looks in the region of a second a lap faster than the white-walled medium tyre but the degradation level revealed a life-span of roughly eigth to ten laps.

Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen was the only question mark with regards to his one lap pace as the Finn encountered traffic on both attempts of setting a flying lap. However, the Iceman did pop in a time quickest enough for eight after three flying laps while Grosjean set his fastest time on his second flying lap. An indication perhaps that the Lotus is looking after the softer compound a bit better than their competition.

Ferrari looked to be struggling on the softer of the two compounds with a drop off of about two seconds being the result for both Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso.

As the checquered flag fell at the end of the second free practice session it was Red Bull who looked to have the best package both in quali and race trim. It’s up to the rest of the pack to find something overnight.

July 26, 2013
Hungaroring Preview Quotes – Mercedes F1 Team

The Mercedes F1 Team Preview Quotes ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. Thoughts from Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Ross Brawn and Toto Wolff.

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
“The Hungaroring is always a track that I enjoy driving and it has quite a challenging layout for the drivers. With all the twists and turns, it feels very much like Monaco but takes place on a normal circuit. Qualifying will be important this weekend which is good for us but we know that we have to deliver on Sunday as well. The forecast looks hot and it is likely to very demanding on the tyres. Physically it will be a tough race and the lack of straights means that you never get a moment to relax. It would be great for us to come away from Hungary with another strong result to take into the summer break.”

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
“I have always enjoyed the Hungaroring and it’s a track that I have been lucky enough to win at three times so far. I love the layout of the circuit and Budapest is a really cool city which has a great atmosphere over the race weekend. It will be an important weekend for us and we need to get off to a good start on Friday when we have the chance to try the new tyres for the first time. I’ve spent some time at the factory since we returned from Germany and I know that everyone there is working really hard to improve our overall performance and to address the issues that we experienced at the last race. It would be great to reward all of that effort with a strong weekend in Budapest and I’ll certainly be pushing to make that happen.”

Ross Brawn, Mercedes team principal
“The final race before the summer break is always a milestone for the team and an opportunity to review our performance before our staff enjoy a well-deserved break during the summer shutdown. Our team are currently in second place in the Constructors’ Championship with two race wins to date. However the season has not been without its challenges and we have had some very tough races. This happens over the course of a season and you have to take the highs and lows and find your path to making improvements. Both Nico and Lewis have visited the factory in the two weeks since we returned from Germany and everyone has been working very hard to investigate our tyre sensitivities ahead of the elevated temperatures that we will undoubtedly experience this weekend in Budapest. The Hungaroring is a very slow circuit with mainly low and medium-speed corners, which present an interesting technical challenge. Friday will also be our first opportunity to work with the new tyres on our car, so we have a great deal to learn in a short space of time. We want to finish the first half of the season on a high but the challenge facing us is clear.”

Toto Wolff, Mercedes team executive director
Hungary will mark the end of the first half of the season and it has been a generally positive one for our team. We go into the race weekend with two victories and six pole positions under our belt. Those results show how much hard work we have put into our year so far and the successful way the team is coming together. But we are under no illusions for the second half of the year and this weekend in Hungary we have a number of challenges to overcome. First, we will need to do extra homework on Friday to understand how the new tyres work with our car. Then we will have to get to grips with the high temperatures, a demanding circuit and the soft and medium compound Pirelli tyres. During the race at the Nürburgring, we were overheating the tyres and we want to minimise the chance of suffering a repeat problem in Hungary, where the track temperatures will also be high. The team has worked thoroughly since Germany to improve the situation and we will find out how the new tyres will affect that situation, too. Our motivation is high to score a good result that we can take into the summer break but we know there is plenty of good work needed to achieve that.

July 24, 2013