Tag: safety car

Virtual Safety Car Rules Finalized for 2015

The FIA have finalized the procedures for the new Virtual Safety Car (VSC) system that will be used to neutralize races in 2015.

The VSC was brought about after Jules Bianchi’s accident at the Japanese Grand Prix last year where he crashed out of the race with serious head injuries under yellow flag conditions.

The new VSC rules have been integrated into the 2015 sporting regulations and will be used to neutralize a race or “normally be used when double waved yellow flags are needed on any section of track and competitors or officials may be in danger, but the circumstances are not such as to warrant the use of the safety car itself”.

Under the VSC rules, drivers are not allowed to enter the pits except to change tyres, this means that stop-and-go penalties may not be served during the VSC period. Drivers will have to stick to a minimum delta time set by the FIA in each sector. To ensure drivers do not drive too slow, the rule makes provision for drivers that drive erratically and “unnecessarily slowly. If a driver is found to breach these rules, a penalty will be imposed. A penalty will also be imposed for drivers who do not stick to the delta time.

Once the race director is satisfied and it is safe to resume racing, teams and drivers will be notified via the official lighting system. Once the notification is given, a green flag signal will be given on the FIA light panels. Drivers can continue to race from that point on.

January 10, 2015
F1 2014: Hamilton Wins Overshadowed Japanese GP

Every now and then we lapse into an almost oblivious comfort zone where we’re inclined to almost forget that we’re witnessing some of the greatest motorsport talent in the world.

Treacherous conditions at the Japanese GP brought these driver’s tremendous talents into sharp focus this weekend. The grand prix had been under threat of a typhoon for several days but the worst of it was always predicted for Sunday. The calculations proved spot on as the heavens opened a few hours before the start of the race. Streams of water across the track surface and poor visibility demanded a start behind the safety car but it was soon evident that even this precaution would not be enough. The race was red-flagged after two laps behind the safety car.

Pole sitter Nico Rosberg was led into the pitlane for what would become a 25 minute delay. The safety car restart brought drama for Ferrari as Fernando Alonso was forced into retirement with an electronic problem. The resumption of racing brought with it the much anticipated battle between Rosberg and Hamilton. It was Hamilton, renowned for his wet weather skills, who piled on the pressure and eventually took the lead with a terrifyingly courageous move around the outside of turn one. If Rosberg was struggling with his tyres, or conditions or even car performance the fact remains that when it comes time to go wheel-to-wheel with Hamilton he has not yet stepped up. By being consigned to second place Rosberg finds himself ten points adrift of the championship leader.

Another master in wet conditions Jenson Button made an early call for intermediate tyres and was running as high as third. JB eventually fell prey to the much faster Red Bulls and brought the McLaren home in fifth. Although the 2009 champion is yet to nail down his seat for 2015 his display in this race underlined his class.

The superstar that is Daniel Ricciardo once again lit up the race with several brilliant overtaking manoeuvres. The Aussie boldly overtook both Williams’ drivers in the Esses in indescribably difficult conditions. Of Williams there was regrettably not much to get excited about. Despite locking out the second row of the grid Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa were decidedly absent from proceedings. So much so, that you wouldn’t have been blamed for thinking that they had already closed up shop and headed off to Russia.

Sebastian Vettel, who announced that he will be leaving Red Bull at the end of the season, kept close quarters with his teammate but a late stop for fresh tyres dropped him to fourth. However, on count back, following the second and final red flag the future Ferrari driver was elevated to third.

Sadly, the Japanese GP was overshadowed by an accident for Marussia’s Jules Bianchi. The 25-year-old went off at Turn seven on lap 43 and crashed heavily into a recovery vehicle which was in the process of removing the Sauber of Adrian Sutil who had crashed a lap earlier. The accident resulted in the second red flag and prompted race control to call the race result. The Frenchman was taken to the circuit medical centre and soon afterward transported to a nearby hospital. The official news, confirmed by the FIA, is that Bianchi suffered a severe head injury which has required surgery.

The mood amongst Japanese GP podium finishers Hamilton, Rosberg and Vettel was decidedly sombre after having learnt of Bianchi’s crash as it was for all motorsport fans. In a show of respect and great sportsmanship no champagne was sprayed on the podium.

We get used to it when nothing happens and when something does happen we are surprised, understandably upset and looking to place blame where it seems to be most convenient. The truth is, and will remain, that hindsight is always 20/20. We want to blame the FIA for not starting the race earlier; we want to blame race control for not hanging out the red flag earlier or putting out a safety car, we’ll even speculate as to why Bianchi did not slow in the face of double waved yellow flags.

Ultimately, this is a reminder that regardless of how well organised or how many contingencies are put in place there will occasionally be a situation that exposes the danger of Formula 1. All our thoughts and prayers reside with Jules Bianchi. Forza Jules.

October 5, 2014
F1 2014: Singapore Lights Up Championship Fight

If there are only a handful of things that can be counted on as a certainty in Formula 1 one of them will be the erratic fickleness of it all. Singapore played the joker that may just have turned the 2014 F1 season on its head.

The unfortunate victim of the ever dependable randomness of F1 was Nico Rosberg. A healthy, even comfortable, 22 point lead was completely blown away as unreliability struck the German before the start of the Singapore GP. An apparent steering wheel problem relegated Rosberg to a pitlane start which only delayed the inevitable. With already having to stage a comeback from the back of the field Rosberg was lapping five second off the pace and eventually had to retire with an unresponsive car. Toto Wolff confirmed that the entire system had broken down due to the failure of a “lume within the steering column.”

It left Lewis Hamilton with the delectable opportunity of regaining the championship lead. However, the characteristics of the Marina Bay circuit and a safety-car period allowed both Red Bulls and Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari to within striking distance of the Silver Arrow, or so they thought. It was to be nothing more than a far-fetched pipedream for those behind Hamilton as he easily dismissed their feeble attempts at beating him.

If Formula 1 is our religion then we need to bow down the designers of the W05 Mercedes. In the last decade we’ve seen the Red Bull domination net itself four world championship titles but it certainly did not boast a lap time advantage as great as three seconds.

Never let it be known that Hamilton isn’t a man who doesn’t rise to the occasion. The safety-car appearance meant the Brit would have to pit and re-take the lead in order to win the race. First he would have to build a gap to second place and within several laps Hamilton’s staggering pace had ensured that he would emerge in the thick of the Red Bull fight. His superior speed, and fresh rubber, easily saw him past Sebastian Vettel and just to rub a bit of salt in the wounds he again extended the gap to fourteen seconds by the chequered flag.

Ferrari showed improved pace on the Singapore streets and with added benefit of the supremely gifted Fernando Alonso the Scuderia’s weekend wasn’t too shabby at all. The never-say-die Spaniard once again unleashed a masterful driving performance. The double world champ got to within touching distance of the podium, even second place, but was stranded behind the two Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo in fourth.

What is it about this Fernando Alonso that makes him the wonder that he is? To consistently out-perform what he is given and make a car do things no one dares think is possible. He’s preference for over-steery cars makes the current Ferrari a bit easier to drive but beyond this there is very little of the F 14T that is good. Surely then it can only come down to him, it does. His relentlessness seemingly knows no bounds and there is very much a feeling of a single-minded stubbornness when Alonso is in the cockpit. The sort of tenacious belief that he will get a lap time out of that car come hell or high water. Even if he isn’t your Formula 1 be-all-and-end-all he is still to be admired and commended.

Felipe Massa defied belief, and all statistical predictions, as he completed a mammoth 35 lap stint on the soft compound tyres to finish fifth. Teammate Valtteri Bottas nearly pulled off the same feat but lost several positions on the final lap as his tyres finally gave up the ghost. Jean-Eric Vergne overcame two five-second penalties to finish a brilliant sixth.

There was a bit of argy-bargy and some lost carbon fibre in the mid-field between Sauber’s Adrian Sutil and Force India’s Sergio Perez. Perez suffered significant front-wing damage as he was squeezed up against the barriers by Sutil and the shards of carbon fibre strewn across the track were the catalyst for the safety-car deployment. It was a bit surprising that the Stewards didn’t penalise Sutil whose actions did appear a bit dicey. Nevertheless, Checo did stage a fine recovery to finish seventh.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen never recovered from a software glitch in qualifying and finished eighth ahead Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India. McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen wrapped up the final point of the day but teammate Jenson Button lost sixth position after being forced into retirement with a suspected electronic issue.

A slender, but perhaps decisive, three points is Lewis Hamilton’s world championship lead over teammate Nico Rosberg. With five races remaining, and double points on offer in Abu Dhabi, this exceptional battle is, thankfully, far from over.

September 22, 2014
F1 2014: German GP – Relentless Rosberg Scores Home Victory

Life happens to be pretty good if you’re name is Nico Rosberg. Not only has he extended his Mercedes contract but he’s gotten married in-between races, secured a comfortable pole position on Saturday and wrapped up a dominant home grand prix victory to boot.

The battle for supremacy between the Mercedes teammates was dealt a severe blow as Hamilton was exiled to 20^th place on the grid following a brake disc failure in qualifying and a subsequent gearbox change.

Nico Rosberg was completely in control of the 67 lap German GP as he led fellow front-row starter, Valtteri Bottas, to the chequered flag for his first victory on home soil. The Finn delivered yet another stunning drive to hold off a recovering Lewis Hamilton for his third consecutive podium. Even though Williams’ biggest target is to finish ahead of Ferrari in the constructor’s championship their ability to keep one Mercedes at bay is, on merit, is a tremendous result.

McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen’s inexperience was telling as he collided with the Williams of Felipe Massa into turn one. Massa’s car was flipped onto its roll-bar before coming to rest on the tarmac run-off area of turn one. The Brazilian was uninjured but suffered his second retirement in three races.

In fairness, Magnussen should have yielded the corner to Massa as he was out of the Williams driver’s sight. The incident was mopped after a short safety car period and the race re-started with Rosberg in the lead.

Lewis Hamilton unleashed a determined drive from the back of the field but it wasn’t without a few risky moments. There was slight contact with Kimi Raikkonen at the hairpin as he passed both the Ferrari driver and Daniel Ricciardo. Later on a rather dicey attempt at overtaking Jenson Button into the same hairpin resulted in a damaged front-wing endplate. A three-stop strategy meant that Hamilton ran the last two stints of the race on the quicker supersoft tyre. However, despite his clear pace advantage he was unable to overtake Bottas for second place. Hamilton’s rather glum face after the race showed his disappointment with the third step of the podium. Some may take exception to Hamilton’s body language but it tells of a driver for whom winning is the only acceptable result.

A spin by Sauber’s Adrian Sutil on the main straight gave rise to a contentious moment in the race. The stricken Sauber was parked horizontally on the straight which would ordinarily prompt an appearance from the safety car. Surprisingly, the race director chose to forego the safety car and opted for marshals to recover the car under double-waved yellow flags. Any situation in which marshals are required to venture onto the circuit is a safety risk which makes this decision controversial.

Behind the podium finishers the rest of the field put on an exhilarating show of wheel-to-wheel racing at its finest. Sebastian Vettel got the better of Fernando Alonso in a fabulous fight for fourth before Daniel Ricciardo continued a thrilling battle with the Spaniard. Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg finished seventh ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button. Kevin Magnussen recovered to ninth after his collision with Felipe Massa while Sergio Perez rounded out the top ten positions.

While all twenty-two Formula 1 drivers have by and large respected the rules and each other there have been too many instances in the past where the fear of a penalty curbed their eagerness to take the fight to each other. As a result the exhilarating fights throughout the field at Silverstone and in Germany are a direct result of the steward’s announcement that they would take a more lenient stance on dishing out penalties.

Daniil Kvyat’s race came to a fiery end as the rear-end of his Toro Rosso was engulfed by flames. Lotus Romain Grosjean’s difficult season continued as the Frenchman was forced into retirement with a suspected power unit issue.

If Lewis Hamilton was unsure about the prowess of his teammate before it is definitely not in doubt any longer. An unrelenting Nico Rosberg has extended his championship lead to fourteen points and what is particularly threatening is that he appears to have done it with disturbing ease.

July 22, 2014
2013 Korean GP: Flawless Vettel Wins

The Korean grand prix is not well attended by fans, it’s situated in the middle of nowhere and its place on the F1 calendar is in doubt. Despite this the Yeongam circuit was riddled with brilliant battles and delivered one of the most electrifying races of the season.

Sebastian Vettel led away from yet another pole position but the Red Bull driver’s advantage wasn’t the dominantly supreme pace of two weeks ago in Singapore. He was however in complete control even with the moderate threat from Romain Grosjean. The Lotus driver had managed to get ahead of second place starter Lewis Hamilton and make a slight impression on Vettel.

Fernando Alonso, despondent about the Ferrari’s pace throughout the weekend, could not make much headway at the start of the race. In fact, the Spaniard was lucky to avoid being taken out by spinning teammate Felipe Massa. Alonso found himself tucked up behind the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Kimi Raikkonen bearing down on his gearbox. Raikkonen was able to overtake his future teammate before the first round of pitstops commenced.

Lewis Hamilton’s afternoon didn’t go to plan as tyre degradation severely limited the pace of the Mercedes. The Brit was on the radio, several times, bemoaning the Pirelli’s lack of grip. The team remained adamant and stuck to their original strategy and advised Hamilton to remain out on circuit. The driver though seemed fed up with the situation and appealed to the team to call him in. “You need to call me in now, these tyres are ******,” implored Hamilton.

To add insult to Hamilton’s injury a spectacular failure of Nico Rosberg’s front-wing meant his teammate was called into the pits ahead of him. Mercedes’ strategy calling from the wall left a lot to be desired in this race.

The first of two safety cars was deployed on lap 31 as McLaren’s Sergio Perez suffered a complete delamination of his front-right tyre. A stint of twenty plus lap and a severe flat spot was the perfect was the reason given by Pirelli for Perez throwing the tread off the tyre. Mark Webber was a casualty of the debris from the McLaren and was forced into the pitlane with a slow puncture. Webber commented after the race that Pirelli’s official reason for the failure may not be spot on. “The reason drivers are locking up [the tyres] is because there’s no tread left [on the tyre].”

The deployment of the safety car resulted in a rash of pitstops. The Mercedes team escaped their bad strategy call with Hamilton and allowed Rosberg to recover to a points paying position. The restart of the race had Kimi Raikkonen capitalising on a minute mistake by teammate Grosjean and the Finn snatched second place from the Frenchman who was not too pleased with the “situation.”

Grosjean reportedly voiced his irritation on having been overtaken by Raikkonen and according the teamboss Eric Boullier “he was begging some team orders to let him past.” Grosjean was not able to retake the position with fresher tyres nor was it handed to him by the team. He was told by Lotus’ Director of Trackside Operations, Alan Permane, “We’ll talk about this later, but big ******* smile on the podium, big smile on the podium.” Permane went on to praise Grosjean’s “incredibly strong driving” and Raikkonen’s “luck.”

The race was just about settled down when Adrian Sutil’s spinning Force India smacked into the side of Mark Webber’s Red Bull on lap 38. Webber’s car caught fire and with slow responding marshals erupted into quite a blaze. It later emerged that the fire was caused by a burst oil radiator. The drama intensified as a fire vehicle took to the track ahead of the leaders; prompting the second appearance of the safety car. The FIA said after the race that they had called for the fire vehicle but expected it to come from the Turn 3 marshalling post and not Turn 1.

As the race resumed Vettel was able to move clear of Raikkonen and win the race by four seconds. And while Romain Grosjean complained about not being let through Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg drove the race of his life to hold off Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. Hulkenberg withstood immense pressure from Hamilton lap after lap and undoubtedly boosted his shares in driver market. The difference between Grosjean and Hulkenberg is subtle. Although the Frenchman has matured as a driver it’s Hulkenberg who showed that he is a true racer. These two could be an interesting match-up if the rumours of Hulkenberg to Lotus in 2014 have any authenticity.

Several fights throughout the field spiced up the Korean GP enough to declare it a thoroughly entertaining race. Sebastian Vettel however was completely oblivious to the majority of it. Calm and controlled at the head of the race the German delivered yet another faultless drive and the rest as they say is record breaking history.

October 6, 2013
F1 2013: Korean GP Preview: F1 knuckles down in Korea

Speed, glamour and exotic locations are everyday associations with Formula 1. But F1 is also considered as the most advanced racing series in the world. These advances include revolutionary technological innovation and taking the sport to all corners of the globe.

There is no genuinely substantial connection between South Korea and motorsport however it did not detract from the construction of a world class racing venue. The Yeongam International Circuit has proven to be a diamond in the rough.

The circuit layout is a perfect blend of medium to high-speed corners with a distinct street track feel to the barrier lined final sector. “It’s a somewhat technical course, one that rewards precision more than it does commitment, so the main challenge comes from dialing the car into the track, which is satisfying when you get it right because there’s a lot of time to be had from running a well-balanced car,” said McLaren’s Sergio Perez.

The first sector of the lap is typified by long straights which translate to opportunities for overtaking. The entries to turns One and Three are the best prospects for overtaking at this weekend’s Korean GP before the tight and twisting nature of the rest of the lap dictates far fewer chances.

The race will be run over 55 laps under usually changeable conditions. When the rain comes down around these parts it has been known to reach monsoon levels. The inaugural race in 2010 was red flagged after only a handful of laps behind the safety car.

Sebastian Vettel has won the last two Korean GP and would have made it a hat trick had his Red Bull not given up the ghost in 2010. There is very little to suggest that the German will not be ahead of the pack this weekend. Team Principal Christian Horner has tried to play down Vettel’s dominant display in Singapore as a “once off” but it is hard to believe that Red Bull will suddenly have to fight tooth and nail for victory. Nevertheless, the Yeongam circuit does have attributes to it that has not suited Red Bull in the past – long straights.

Ferrari and Fernando Alonso will need a bit of luck on their side if they are to make inroads into the gigantic lead held by Sebastian Vettel. Alonso will want to beat his fierce rival in a straight out fight but something extraordinary has to happen if the Spaniard is going to truly be in contention for the title. That something extraordinary could be Red Bull’s less than stellar reliability this season. Mark Webber suffered a mechanical failure in Singapore and both cars were nursed to the finish of the Italian GP.

Mark Webber will start this weekend on the back foot after incurring a ten place grid penalty in Singapore for running onto the circuit during the cool down lap and hitching a ride back to the pits with Alonso. Kimi Raikkonen also heads to the Korean GP with question marks around his fitness. Raikkonen was hampered by back pain in Singapore and will use the first free practice session of Friday to assess the issue.

The possible appearance of Typhoon Fitow has cast some doubt whether the race will be run as scheduled. However, accurately predicting the weather pattern remains a dark and mysterious art that few seem able to master. The only guaranteed prediction is that Super-storm Seb will undoubtedly be thundering around the Yeongam circuit more voraciously than ever.

Photo Credits

Sergio Perez – Photo by McLarenF1.com

Alonso/Webber lift – F1 Madness screengrab

October 3, 2013
F1 2013: Singapore GP Review – Invincible Vettel Shatters Competitors

It has been a well-known fact for a number of years now that Red Bull cars have a leg up on the competition. However, Sebastian Vettel’s complete domination of the Singapore Grand Prix weekend will strike fear in the most resolute of hearts.

Nico Rosberg flew out of the blocks and momentarily snatched the lead of the race. However, the Mercedes driver ran slightly wide into turn one allowing Vettel the opportunity to re-take the lead of the race. Master-of-the-starts Fernando Alonso started seventh but scythed his way into third ensuring that Ferrari’s afternoon wouldn’t be as glum as previously expected.

Nevertheless, by the end of the first lap Vettel had scampered nearly two seconds clear of Rosberg and continued to pull dramatically away from the field. It looked set to be an afternoon of which Vettel would be firmly in control but a rare driver error from Daniel Ricciardo brought out the safety car mid-way through the race on lap 24. As several drivers dove into the pits the deployment of the safety car was expected to add some spice to the race at the front. Nothing could have been more unlikely.

Sebastian Vettel was able to turn a scintillating pace at the start of the 61 lap race. But as the safety car pulled into the pitlane at the end of the 31st the pace that Vettel churned was so ludicrously quick it bordered on the nigh impossible. To conclusively prove that there was no one near the level of Vettel this weekend the three-time champ pulled out a mind-boggling twenty seconds in nine laps over second placed Nico Rosberg.

Overtaking manoeuvres on a street track are usually at a premium and Singapore was no exception. Nevertheless, Kimi Raikkonen managed to pull off some audacious moves regardless. Despite back pain, which required a cortisone injection before the race, Raikkonen delivered an amazing drive from thirteenth on the grid to third. Teammate Romain Grosjean was on for a decent haul of points but an air consumption issue brought an end to his race.

Only Vettel, Webber, the two Mercedes and Grosjean elected not to pit with the deployment of the safety car. This left Fernando Alonso in second, Raikkonen battling with Button for third and Perez, Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez on course for some championship points. Alonso and Raikkonen were able to nurse their medium compound tyres to the end but the McLarens and Saubers were struggling for grip towards the closing stages of the race.

It was Raikkonen who opened the overtaking floodgates with a brilliant move around the outside of turn 14 on Jenson Button. Mark Webber, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, all on much fresher rubber, made short work of the McLarens and Saubers and Felipe Massa fought his way into sixth behind the Mercedes duo.

Webber looked on course for a potential podium finish but was forced into retirement on the final lap with a gearbox issue. The Australian hitched a ride back to the pits with friend Alonso but with hindsight may have elected to take a stroll back to the garage. Webber has been given a ten place grid penalty as this is his third reprimand. Ultimately, the penalty is a bit harsh considering that it provided the fans with a moment worth remembering.

Jenson Button came close to the scoring McLaren’s first podium of the season but ultimately came home in seventh ahead of teammate Sergio Perez in eight. Nico Hulkenberg earned a welcome two points for Sauber with a ninth place finish ahead of Force India’s Adrian Sutil in tenth. Paul di Resta had been in the fight for the minor points but crashed his Force India six laps from the chequer.

Many criticize Sebastian Vettel and declare that the only explanation for his success is the Red Bull. His pace defies logic; many drivers in the fastest cars on the grid couldn’t deliver the same stunning pace. Sebastian Vettel was not in a class of his own this weekend; he was on a whole different planet. To lap nearly two and a half seconds per lap faster is mind-blowing and reminiscent of greats like Senna and Schumacher. That is class.

Red Bull sent a deafening, crystal-clear, message to their competitors – there is not even the slightest of hints that they will be relaxing their grip on this title fight. The pace of Sebastian Vettel this weekend was truly stupendous and at this stage of the game, with a 60 point lead, it is becoming more and more difficult to imagine anyone other than him grasping the world championship trophy at the end of the season.

September 22, 2013
F1 2013: German GP Review – Vettel breaks his German jinx

The 2013 German grand prix is one that will stay in the memory bank of Sebastian Vettel for quite some time. Bested in Saturday’s qualifying session by Lewis Hamilton the reigning world champion had it all to do in Sunday’s race.

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton finished a tenth clear of Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel to take pole position for the German grand prix.

The biggest casualty of qualifying was teammate and British grand prix race winner, Nico Rosberg. An initial run in the second part of Saturday’s qualifying appeared to be enough for the German to advance to the top ten shoot-out. However, a late flurry of flying laps in the closing stages of the second session of quali pushed Rosberg down to eleventh and out of contention for the front row of the grid. The German commented that the team had “underestimated the pace of the track.”

Ever dependable Jenson Button managed to drag his McLaren into the top ten and continually impressive Daniel Ricciardo and Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg advanced to the final part of qualifying.

But Saturday once again belonged to Lewis Hamilton. The 2008 champion pipped championship leader Sebastian Vettel to pole position but a tenth of a second. Former German grand prix winner Mark Webber will start third and Kimi Raikkonen, in the Lotus, fourth. Romain Grosjean and Daniel Ricciardo will start fifth and sixth ahead of Massa, Alonso and Button.

Acing the start was the easiest part of Vettel’s afternoon as he had to fight both the Lotus’ Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen. Vettel grabbed the lead of the race straight away and controlled the pace easily ahead of teammate Mark Webber.

The soft compound Pirelli tyres dictated early pitstops for the frontrunners and pushed Lotus’ Romain Grosjean into the lead of the race. Mark Webber’s first pitstop, on lap nine, took a dramatic turn as his right-rear wheel was not attached correctly. It bounced through the pitlane before striking and FOM camera-man, Paul Allen. The cameraman was being held for observation with a concussion, broken ribs and a fractured collar bone. Red Bull have been fined 30 000 Euro for unsafe release of Webber’s car.

A pitstop from Grosjean re-instated Vettel to the race lead but the German looked unlikely to maintain the lead under serious pressure from Grosjean’s Lotus. Nevertheless, the nearly ten second gap to third placed Raikkonen would soon be wiped out.

For what seemed like a fairly innocuous retirement from Marussia’s Jules Bianchi soon took a dangerous turn as Bianchi’s driverless car started to roll down the middle of the circuit. This prompted the deployment of the safety car on lap 24 and spurred a flurry of activity in the pitlane.

By the time the safety car pulled into the pitlane Vettel had both Lotuses breathing down his neck. Romain Grosjean tried his level best to overtake the Red Bull driver but it proved a bridge to far for the Frenchman who subsequently pitted on lap 40 for a fresh set of medium tyres. Vettel followed into the pitlane a lap later and relinquished the lead of the race to Kimi Raikkonen.

The Lotus driver was leading the race by 15 seconds over Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and felt that the tyres and the car were, possibly, performing well enough to hold on to the lead. However, communication problems between the pitwall and Raikkonen ultimately led to a late pitstop for the Finn.

“I could run longer and we had to think about if we should try to run until the end,” said Raikkonen. “But I had massive problem with the radio. I could hear the team but they couldn’t hear me, apart from at two corners.

Raikkonen last pitstop switched him to the soft compound Pirelli tyres and left him roughly three seconds adrift of the Red Bull. Despite closing down Vettel in the closing stages of the race and getting to within the DRS zone, the Finn was unable to regain the lead of the grand prix. Raikkonen finished one second behind race winner Sebastian Vettel.

Ferrari’s qualifying strategy hadn’t quite gone to plan with Felipe Massa retiring and Fernando Alonso only salvaging fourth. Polesitter Lewis Hamilton’s difficult afternoon was blighted with tyre issues but the Brit fought his way back to finish fifth overall. Jenson Button returned McLaren to the points paying positions with a fine sixth place ahead of a recovering Webber in seventh. Perez, Rosberg and Hulkenberg rounded out the top ten.

The dismal run of form for Williams continued this weekend as the team failed to score even a single point on the weekend they are celebrating 600 grand prix starts.

Just seven days ago Sebastian Vettel walked away from the British grand prix without a single point in the bank. But he’s no three champion by mistake and this is not the impetuous Vettel of 2009. A mature, in control, winning machine is what Vettel has transformed himself into – and that is going to take some stopping in 2013.

As impressive a collection of achievements as Sebastian Vettel has been able to put together winning his home race has always eluded him. But a finely judged drive and resisting big pressure from Raikkonen has earned the championship leader a coveted home race victory.

July 7, 2013