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Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May need a new driver for The Grand Tour Season 2 and Mark Webber reckons he suits the role well. With the trio stating that the new test driver must not be fat, clumsy or slow, Formula One driver Mark Webber was the first to show up at The Grand Tour's test track in a Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid. Watch the hilarous video and see how he performs... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBy6XRHPODQ
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30 years after his father claimed victory, Nico Rosberg took the highest step of the podium at the Monaco Grand Prix - fighting off stiff competition from title defender Sebastian Vettel. Rosberg - a resident of Monaco - managed to fend off Vettel till the end while Webber completed the podium despite sustained pressure from Hamilton. A pit stop strategy worked well for the Red Bull team to leap ahead of Hamilton, during the first safety car period - trigged by Massa at lap 30 who managed to replicate a crash similar to Saturday
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Red Bull wins a 1-2 ahead of the Mercedes duo and Massa in the sole Ferrari
PetrolHead posted a blog entry in MyAutoBlog
Like Jeremy Renner's character from the Academy Award winning film - The Hurt Locker - the Red Bull and Mercedes AMG racing teams were clouded in tension as their drivers were getting increasingly frustrated by team orders and driver rivalry. More than skill or strategy - frustrations between team mates and radio messages spilled out the plot of the Malaysian Grand Prix from the end of the middle stint. In the Mercedes AMG camp, Nico Rosberg missed a podium appearance by obeying instructions to not challenge his team mate and personal friend - Hamilton - from Team Principle Ross Brawn. The eventful and tense Malaysian Grand Prix could have ended in disaster for the Austrian-U.K. racing team. Defending champion Vettel ignored team orders - which post-race claimed he was unaware of, and 'stole' a rightful win away from Webber by racing him unexpectedly. At that stint of the race Webber was 'coasting' his car to the end of the race and wasn't prepared for an attack by his team mate. Vettel's radio message from his team could not have been sharper or clearer to the millions of motorsport enthusiasts the world over as he crossed the finishing line, "Great job Sebastian, it looked like you wanted it more. But still there'll be some explaining to do." The green room and podium were showing a multitude of emotions as all three winners felt glum, gloomy, anger, frustration, disappointment and remorse. Despite all the tension, the race staged its fair share of incidents - starting with Alonso whose race ended at the end of the first lap, after his mildly damaged front wing broke off completely and sent him skidding into a gravel trap. Force India retired both their cars after a pit stop error involving a wheel nut. Button retired as well while his team mate Perez contributed two points to the team by bringing home his McLaren in ninth. Nostalgia hit third place winner Hamilton during a pit stop as he 'accidentally' pulled in at his former team - McLaren's - pit box. The McLaren crew were all set to receive Button before Hamilton came in on lap seven. Fortunately Hamilton completed his pit-stop in the right garage and resumed his fight for the lead. Last week's race winner Raikkonen and the Lotus team in general seemed to lack pace despite finishing a respectable seventh behind his team mate. Massa on the other hand finished a credible fifth in the sole prancing horse after a weak start and a surprisingly unimpressive middle stint. At the end of the race Vettel leads the drivers' championship at 40 points while Kimi Raikkonen and Mark Webber trail the German at 31 and 26 points respectively. On the constructors championships, Red Bull is leading at 66 points while Lotus and Ferrari are currently tied at 40 points as the F1 circus heads to China in three weeks. -
2011 British Formula 1 at Silverstone: Ferrari finally wins a race
Rigval posted a blog entry in MyAutoBlog
[extract] It rained during the British Formula 1 Grand Prix at Silverstone on the 10th of July. This basically meant that racing was at its finest (subjectively speaking that is). Ferrari managed to break its dry spell in this wet race with Fernando Alonso taking the win with the usual suspects, Sebastian Vettel coming in second and his Red Bull counterpart, Mark Webber taking third. It is Ferrari -
2011 Spanish F1 - Deja Vu happens with Sebastian Vettel winning again
Rigval posted a blog entry in MyAutoBlog
The Spanish Formula 1 Grand Prix in a nutshell - Deja Vu. This is what Formula 1 is all about these days. Or worse than that Formula 1 is Groundhog Day. You know that Bill Murray movie where the hero re-lives one day of his life over and over again? Well, in this 2011 Formula 1 version we get the same person winning over and over again regardless of what transpires throughout the race weekend. Yes, Sebastian Vettel wins again. This is even with Mark Webber taking pole position during qualifying (with Vettel starting from second place), with Vettel not having KERS during the later part of the race and a very on-form Lewis Hamilton breathing down his rear diffuser right till the very end of the race. Lewis Hamilton must have been pretty pleased with the setup of his McLaren as the car was basically the better one but I suppose starting in third behind Vettel (and Webber) in their very optimized Red Bull-Renaults is still an uphill climb. I suppose getting a close look at the rear of Vettel's car is all that one can do these days. I suppose Mark Webber is one of the losers in the Spanish Grand Prix. He started out first but ended up fourth. This I believe was down to bad luck, or if one believes in Groundhog Day nothing he does will make him come in ahead of his team mate. Coming out from the pits behind the slower Ferrari of Fernando Alonso is bad luck. Speaking about Ferrari, at least they're finishing in the top 5 for the last two races. They still have got to improve if they want a whiff of some trophies. And speaking of an ex-Ferrari driver, one 42 year old male adult who goes by the name of Michael Schumacher, he's doing pretty well by coming in sixth after starting in tenth. He basically came in ahead of his younger team mate Nico Rosberg who was slightly unlucky this time around with a failing rear wing (F1 cars these days seem to have failures in funny places) and a faulty radio. I suppose if you just ignore the fact that in nearly every race Sebastian Vettel wins Formula 1 is actually fun as a lot of things are indeed happening from the second position downwards. Results 01. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h39:03.301 02. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 0.630 03. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 35.697 04. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 47.966 05. Alonso Ferrari + 1 lap 06. Schumacher Mercedes + 1 lap 07. Rosberg Mercedes + 1 lap 08. Heidfeld Renault + 1 lap 09. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap 10. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap 11. Petrov Renault + 1 lap 12. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap 13. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap 14. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap 15. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap 16. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 2 laps 17. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 2 laps 18. Trulli Lotus-Renault + 2 laps 19. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 3 laps 20. D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth + 3 laps DNF: Massa Ferrari 60 Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 49 Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 29 photo credit: planetf1 -
[extract] Let
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Lewis Hamilton claimed victory at the China Formula 1 Grand Prix held on the 17th of April 2011. It was quite a feat as just before the race the McLaren mechanics were hard at work repairing Hamilton's car which suffered a fuel leak. It was a major victory of sorts as this is the 3rd race of the 2011 season and finally someone has ended Sebastian Vettel's run of victories. He came in second nonetheless ahead of Red Bull's other driver, Mark Webber who himself drove a fabulous race. He started from 18th on the grid and made it to 3rd on the second last lap of the race. Now for those that thought F1 lacked overtaking, this one had a lot of it. But before we talk about overtaking, let's talk about the start of the race. The grid's top 10 were Vettel, Button, Hamiton, Rosberg, Alonso, Massa, Alguersuari DiResta, Buemi, and Petrov. As stated Lewis Hamilton managed to get onto the start line 35seconds before the pitlane was deemed closed. What we were told in the commentary was that he actually started with some body parts still not fitted onto his car. At the start, there was no major accidents. No bits of carbon or wings or tires here and there. It was pretty decent with pole position holder Vettel botching up his start a little and allowing Jenson Button pass as well as a very aggressive Lewis Hamilton. Vettel was third at the end of the first lap with Nico Rosberg of Mercedes GP and the two Ferraris of Alonso and Massa following closely. Michael Schumacher must have been on form at the start as he went from fourteenth to ninth. Mark Webber who started at 18th actually opted to start with the harder Pirelli tires. By lap 9 he was even overtaken by the Sauber of Sergio Perez and at lap 10 he pitted to go with the softer choice that all the front liners used at the start. However, his move must have actually paid off as he could then choose the softer compound throughout the race. A 3rd placing from a start at 18th due to the choice of tires. Actually tires made a whole lot of different at the China GP. Those that did 3 stops were better than those that did 2 stops. On Lap 30 Hamilton passed Alonso (who was on a 2 stop strategy) on Turn 14 of the circuit and later stated that he had never never overtaken anyone there before unless it was a backmarker. The softer Pirellis were to choice instead of the harder Prime tire. Surprising, but it caused a lot of upset, especiallyy with the Ferraris. In simple terms, the lighter 3 stopping cars actually did far better lap times and even by their third stop, the driver up front could be so far ahead of a 2 stopper like Alonso. However, Fernando Alonso also added that their 2 stop strategy wasn't totally Ferrari's undoing but the Ferrari's aren't up to par as yet. But say what you want as Vettel was on a 2 stop strategy and he basically suffered. Actually more incidents happened at the China GP. It had all the drivers on their toes with a whole lot of overtaking involved. Lewis Hamilton took 1st place ahead of the two Red Bulls. Jenson Button had to be content with 4th after being out driven at the last moment by a flying Mark Webber. Mercedes GP did well with Nico Rosberg into taking 5th. Felipe Massa of Ferrari in 6th with Fernando Alonso in 7th. Michael Schumacher in 8th and Lotus Renault's Petrov was around 30 seconds behind in ninth. A dry race with overtaking. It must have been down to the Pirelli tires. It looks like the moral of the story is that you actually need tires that aren't so consistent (or can I say, crappy tires) to have added excitement in F1. The next race is on 8th of May at Istanbul Park, Istanbul, Turkey. Race Results 01. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1:36:58.226 02. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull +5.198 03. Mark Webber Red Bull +7.555 04. Jenson Button McLaren +10.000 05. Nico Rosberg Mercedes Grand Prix +13.448 06. Felipe Massa Ferrari +15.840 07. Fernando Alonso Ferrari +30.622 08. Michael Schumacher Mercedes Grand Prix +31.026 09. Vitaly Petrov Renault +57.404 10. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber +1:03.273 11. Paul di Resta Force India +1:08.757 12. Nick Heidfeld Renault +1:12.739 13. Rubens Barrichello Williams +1:30.189 14. Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso +1:30.671 15. Adrian Sutil Force India +1 Lap 16. Heikki Kovalainen Team Lotus +1 Lap 17. Sergio Perez Sauber +1 Lap 18. Pastor Maldonado Williams +1 Lap 19. Jarno Trulli Team Lotus +1 Lap 20. Jerome d' Ambrosio Virgin Racing +2 Laps 21. Timo Glock Virgin Racing +2 Laps 22. Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT F1 Team +2 Laps 23. Narain Karthikeyan HRT F1 Team +2 Laps DNF 24. Jaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso +47 Laps photo source:planetf1
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Sebastian Vettel wins the 2011 Australian Formula One Grand Prix
Rigval posted a blog entry in MyAutoBlog
The 2011 FIA Formula 1 Grand Pirx began at Melbourne, Australia on the 27th of March with a victory to reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel and his team, Red Bull Racing. He started from pole and basically took the lead from the start with a minor challenge from Lewis Hamilton of McLaren Mercedes who came in second in front of Vitaly Petrov of Renault. This race started without much excitement and suspense with only Rubens Barrichello losing it on the gravel on turn 3 and then Michael Schumacher suffering from a puncture. This race also marks the first race in which Pirelli is the tire supplier and I have to say that the tires weren't as bad as they were reported to be during pre-season tire tests. And back to super senior Schumacher, the punctured tire due to being tagged by J. Aguersuari during the first few corners caused damage to his car's floor causing him to retire after around 20 or so laps. There was some surprise to see Lewis Hamilton coming in second when it seemed that the McLaren was slightly down in lap times during initial tests. He manged to keep Vettel in sight and exchanged fastest laps times with Vettel throughout the race. Of course it still wasn't enough for him to actually get absolutely close for neck to neck racing. But this is only the first race and things change really quickly in Formula 1. There was a slight problem for Hamilton during the race though, the front skid plate at the bottom of his car came loose and started scraping the tarmac. One important ruling after completing the race is that the skid plate has a certain level of thickness left in them and if it got too thin, the FIA stewards would have deemed the car was running lower than the prescribed ride height. So far, no news on this would mean that Hamilton is secure in his second place. For me the man who had a heck of a race must have been Fernando Alonso of Ferrari. At the end of the first lap he was placed 9th. He managed to claw right up to 4th position at the end of the race with a pit stop jump in position over Red Bull's Mark Webber. He was only a second adrift of 3rd place Petrov and if the race went a few laps longer could have taken that position. The other Ferrari driver, Filipe Massa finished in 9th. I suppose this was a decent start for most of the teams. Red Bull's victory is not surprise with Alonso of Ferrari stating that Vettel's driving was from another planet. What surprised me was the performance of the Lotus Renault. It also marked Petrov's first podium finish and a first podium finish for the Renault-Lotus team-up. It also looks like THIS Lotus team is the one I'd put my money on instead of the one that's now called Team Lotus, run by AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandez. Oh yes, there was a disqualification for the Sauber team. Both cars were deemed to have run illegal rear wings causing a change in the final race results. Quite sad news as one Sauber finished 7th. I suppose sometimes the teams try too hard to interpret the rules and it falls flat on their faces. This race also marks more use of the KERS energy recovery system for that extra push during overtaking and down on the straights as well as the use (by some of the teams) of something called the DRS or drag reduction system, which to my understanding is pretty simple technology. This is one of the big changes in Formula 1 this year whereby the cars can have an electronically movable rear wing that (obviously) reduces drag and theoretically will assist overtaking during the course of a race. The DRS utilized the on track electronic timing system at designated points on the circuit, when the trailing car is within one second of the car in front the system will be armed and the driver will have access to the DRS. He will not however be able to use the system until another designated point of the track around 600 metres before the next corner. The last point is subject to ongoing adjustment as the system is bedded in. There will be markings on the circuit to indicate the points where the timing assessment is made and where the driver may use the system to assist spectators and TV viewers. All for the sake of entertainment I suppose. Whatever the case, the F1 circus moves over the Sepang, Malaysia. Race weekend is on th 8th, 9th and 10th of April 2011. Results 01. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h29:30.259 2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 22.297 3. Petrov Renault + 30.560 4. Alonso Ferrari + 31.772 5. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 38.171 6. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 54.300 7. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1:05.800 8. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1:16.800 9. Massa Ferrari + 1:25.100 10. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap 11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap 12. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap 13. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap 14. Heidfeld Renault + 1 lap 15. Trulli Lotus-Renault + 2 laps 16. D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth + 3 laps Not classified/retirements: Glock Virgin-Cosworth 50 Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 49 Rosberg Mercedes 22 Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 19 Schumacher Mercedes 19 Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 10 Revised results 1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 3. Vitaly Petrov Renault 4. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 5. Mark Webber Red Bull 6. Jenson Button McLaren 7. Felipe Massa Ferrari 8. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso 9. Adrian Sutil Force India 10. Paul di Resta Force India 11. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso 12. Nick Heidfeld Renault 13. Jarno Trulli Lotus 14. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin Not classified/retirements/disqualified: Sergio Perez Sauber 58 -
Formula 1 has a new world champion - Sebastian Vettel wins in Abu Dhabi
Rigval posted a blog entry in MyAutoBlog
Formula 1 has a new world champion in the shape and form of Sebastian Vettel. The Red Bull driver, who seemed to have started the 2010 Formula 1 season on a high, then faltered mid-season and then making a strong comeback even with a fabulous mid-season charge by Double World Champion, Fernando Alonso. Whatever the case, Formula 1 has a new World Champion and it was decided at the last race of the 2010 calendar, in Abu Dhabi last Sunday. I'd also have to add that it must be terribly disappointing for Alonso, who entered this race as championship leader. Finishing 7th basically scuppered all hope of winning the title. It is so frustrating watching the Alonso's race as he was basically behind Renault's Petrov, who somehow managed to hold up a two time world champion for almost two-thirds of the whole race -
Red Bull captures the Formula 1 Constructor's Championship in Brazil
Rigval posted a blog entry in MyAutoBlog
[extract] Red Bull pulls off a 1-2 victory at Interlagos, Brazil and captures the FIA Formula 1 Constructor -
Formula 1 at Suzuka, Japan: Sebastian Vettel finally wins something
Rigval posted a blog entry in MyAutoBlog
[extract] Sebastian Vettel finally wins something after dominating qualifiying and sometimes in the races itself but failing to capitalize on it. He came out first in Suzuka, Japan at last weekend -
The Italian Formula 1 Grand Prix that was held last Sunday was won by Ferrari's Fernando Alonso. Considered as Ferrari's home race, the win is a poignant one for the team in what was quite an event filled race this time around. Of course, by event filled, this basically means the mad dash to the first corner at the start and the pit lane tire change strategies. The start and first lap tussles claimed Lewis Hamilton who couldn't continue after his steering column gave way due to a come together with Felipe Massa. The planned tire changes which caused various strategies to be mapped out and this time, team HRT to be fined a good US$20,000 for injuring one of their mechanics who was adjusting HRT driver Sakon Yamamoto's radio during the Japanese driver's pitstop when the lollipop man released him off. The mechanic had to be driven to the nearest hospital to get his injuries looked at. What the outcome of this race was that Mark Webber is now once again Championship leader, overtaking Lewis Hamilton, who crashed out on the first lap, in the points. This outcome came regardless of the fact that Webber himself finished in sixth position. He was pretty frustrated as he started fourth, lost some track positions due to a bad start, then had a tussel with the Williams driver Nico Hulkenberg who refused to yield even though he was driving much slower than Webber (hey, its racing for position and finished seventh behind Webber
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Somehow Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull seems to start in pole position but fail to capitalize on this. At the Hungarian Formula 1 Grand Prix last Sunday, his team mate, Mark Webber was instead the victor. With Lewis Hamilton of McLaren crashing out of the race, it looks like the championship chase is still an open book too. The race basically got on to a usual 'follow the leader' kind of opening lap but there was an incident that shook things up a little in lap 17. The Petronas Mercedes of Nico Rosberg lost a wheel right (below) after he pitted for a tire change. Upon pulling out the tire started detaching itself from the car and nearly hit some other team's pit crew. He was in sixth before the incident. Pit lane incidents seem to be in abundance in Hungary, Robert Kubica of Renault was released too early by his lollipop man and he ran into Force India's Adrian Sutil just as he was about to enter the pit entry box. Due to this the Force India car couldn't continue but Renault was able to send Kubica out again where the race stewards slapped on him a 10-second stop-go penalty for an unsafe release from the pits. There was a safety car incident that also allowed Lewis Hamilton to take the lead, but on lap 24 his transmission gave way on turn three. This makes it the second retirement suffered by the McLaren driver. This and another incident played things out to Mark Webber who was by this time running in fourth position. The incident in question is when the race stewards decided that Sebastian Vettel had to receive a 5 second drive through penalty for exceeding 10 cars lengths behind the safety car. Being the race leader at one point of the race, he had backed up the pack of cars too far from the safety car which was about to pull in to the pit lane. Mark Webber also emerged the victor due to staying out longer as everyone pitted due to the safety car. Pulling fast laps somehow ensured that when he pitted for the second time, he still had a good 20seconds lead over the number two, Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari (which seem to be quietly performing after last week's team orders fiasco). Results 1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1h41:05.571 2. Alonso Ferrari + 17.821 3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 19.252 4. Massa Ferrari + 27.474 5. Petrov Renault + 1:13.100 6. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth + 1:16.700 7. De la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap 8. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 1 lap 9. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap 10. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap 11. Schumacher Mercedes + 1 lap 12. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap 13. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap 14. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth + 3 laps 15. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth + 3 laps 16. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 3 laps 17. Senna HRT-Cosworth + 3 laps 18. Di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth + 4 laps 19. Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth + 4 laps Did not finish Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 25 lap Kubica Renault 25 Rosberg Mercedes 17 Sutil Force India-Mercedes 17 Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2 photos: planetf1
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Mark Webber wins the British Formula 1 Grand Prix - Even with some in-team conflict
Rigval posted a blog entry in MyAutoBlog
After becoming airborne in the European GP due to a massive crash with a Lotus, Red Bull's Mark Webber wins this edition of the British Formula 1 Grand Prix held last Sunday. This time, aggressive driving and a bit of luck, his tussle with his team mate, and pole position holder, Sebastian Vettel, somehow caused Vettel to go a little wide and got a puncture. That gave him the lead over Lewis Hamilton of McLaren by the first few corners, who ended the race in second. Third place went toward Nico Rosberg, driving the Mercedes. Ferrari had an early incident with Massa colliding with Alonso and Massa suffering a puncture too. The race pace of the Red Bull is as good as the pace it had during qualifying. Webber managed to pull a lead over Hamilton and this somehow held even though there was a Safety Car incident, due to Pedro de la Rosa's front wing debris on the track after a small accident. The drive of the day could be handed to Jenson Button of McLaren though as he started all the way down in P14 and worked his way through the field. His storming effort, like a knife through nice soft butter, was effectively held back by Nico Rosberg. Button's 4th place must have felt like a bigger victory altogether. The biggest loser in this British GP is Fernando Alonso. He was given a drive through penalty due to overtaking Robert Kubica of Renault wrongly. This was as all four wheels of his Ferrari was off the track and this constitutes an offence. I suppose Alonso's argument was that Kubica had defended his position aggressively and that caused him to veer off the track. The race stewards thought otherwise and gave his that penalty. He started in 3rd and finished 14th due to this. Mark Webber's win was not without any incidents off the track. It seems that Red Bull had handed Webber's new specification front wing to his team-mate, Seb Vettel, even though the wing was already fitted on his car. It is safe to assume that he wasn't very pleased with the incident. When he won, his response on the radio to team principal Christian Horner was -
The European F1 at Valencia: Red Bull's Vettel takes his 2nd win of the season
Rigval posted a blog entry in MyAutoBlog
[extract] Right. It has been a tiring weekend for me with the World Cup and all. This had nearly made me forget that the European Formula 1 Grand Prix was held over the last weekend in Valencia and Sebastian Vettel claimed his second victory of the season. This race -
Who says Monaco will be a race where it becomes a procession or a 'follow the leader race'? This time the 2010 Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix was action packed and there was action down to the wire. The final two laps were run under a safety car and just before the end of the final lap, the safety car pulled in and there was even an overtaking move made by Michael Schumacher on Fernando Alonso, which he somehow managed to pull off. Pole sitter Mark Webber won this race which was totally action filled. Sebastian Vettel made it a 1-2 finish with Robert Kubica of Renault coming in third. The Monaco street circuit is a yearly glamour event for the F1 circus. You get to see movie stars, billionaires and pop singers aside from the usual motorsport people. The tight circuit is somehow loved by the drivers as it requires a lot more concentration due to the narrow track and the barriers. The race started with Webber blasting away from the lead while Robert Kubica of Renault tries to hold off Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull, but he can't do it and it's a Red Bull 1-2 through the first corner. Ferrari's Massa is fourth ahead of McLaren's Hamilton followed by Barrichello, Schumacher, Rosberg, Liuzzi, Sutil, Button. Although everyone made it past the first corner, Nico Hulkenberg, crashed at the exit of the tunnel causing the safety car to come out and also causing Jenson Button of McLaren to retire from a cooked engine (pic above) (caused by the slower safety car speeds and an error by the McLaren team on failing to remove an engine cover). This was the first of four safety car incidents. The second one was in lap 32 when Rubens Barrichello decided to stuff his Williams into the barrier. The third was when a drain cover coming lose at around lap 44. The final one was a real stunner in itself but it also caused another interesting event to happen, which I will get to right after this. The final safety car incident was caused on lap 76, two laps before the end. Jarno Trulli of Lotus tried to take Force India's Chandhok but hit him and the Lotus was airborne and landed on Chandhok's car. By this time everyone thought that the race would end with a safety car and with all the positions already settled. But Michael Schumacher had other ideas and right at the end, just after the safety car had pulled in he overtook Fernando Alonso to clinch sixth. I mean, if you blinked or started to rush for the loo, you'd miss it. Alonso must be miffed, as he started last from the pits, made his way though all the backmarkers and then at the last corner get taken by Schumacher. Then again, being seventh from last is a fabulous result anyway. Webber and Vettel are now tied in the Drivers' standings on 78 points each and Red Bull hold a 20-point advantage over second placed Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship. It was a great race at Monaco this weekend. Four safety car incidents, lots of crashes, tactics and last minute action made it a great race. Actually, having more chances to view that new Mercedes SLS Safety car is a good thing too. POST RACE UPDATE: Michael Schumacher was demoted from 6th to 12th for his overtaking move which was deemed as illegal after a post race investigation. Mercedes will not appeal the result of the investigation. Tough luck Schummi! The Results: 1. Webber -Red Bull-Renault 1h50:00.000 2. Vettel -Red Bull-Renault + 0.448 3. Kubica -Renault + 1.600 4. Massa -Ferrari + 2.600 5. Hamilton -McLaren-Mercedes + 4.300 6. Schumacher -Mercedes + 5.700 7. Alonso -Ferrari + 6.300 8. Rosberg -Mercedes + 6.600 9. Sutil -Force India-Mercedes + 6.900 10. Liuzzi -Force India-Mercedes + 7.300 11. Buemi -Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 8.100 12. Alguersuari -Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 9.100 13. Petrov -Renault + 4 laps Retirements: Hulkenberg - lap 1 - crash Button - lap 3 - engine failure De la Rosa - lap 23 - mechanical Glock - lap 24 - suspension Kobayashi - lap 27 - technical Di Grassi - lap 28 - hydraulics Barrichello - lap 31 - crash Senna - lap 62 - mechanical Kovalainen - lap 62 - technical Trulli - lap 75 - crash Chandhok - lap 75 - crash Petrov - lap 76 - wheel problem Sources: Free TV and PlanetF1.com (for the pics)
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Formula 1 at Barcelona: Mark Webber wins from pole position
Rigval posted a blog entry in MyAutoBlog
It seems the three weeks break has done wonders for Red Bull as Mark Webber gets his first win of the 2010 season. He started from pole position and steamed ahead of his team mate Sebastian Vettel at the start of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix at the Catalunya Circuit in Barcelona. The race was basically pretty straightforward as there was no overtaking on the track whatsoever. Fernando Alonso of Ferrari was second (to the delight of Spanish fans as he's Spanish) and third was Sebastian Vettel. I'd have to say that the only pit stop was used by most of the front runners to strategize an overtaking maneuver and only those taking up the rear of the field were taking a crack at each other. Moments of action were when Sebastian Vettel lost out the Lewis Hamilton of McLaren in the pit stop but unfortunately for Mr. Hamilton, he suffered a puncture on the penultimate lap causing him to hit the tire barriers and be classified in 14th. Tough luck. The other McLaren, driving by the reigning world champion Jenson Button lost out to the venerable Michael Schumacher. He spent 40 laps or so stuck behind Herr Schumacher, unable to overtake. It seems the Brawn Mercedes that Michael Schumacher was driving has a few updates. Particularly the longer wheelbase which seems to suit Schumacher's driving style (at the expense of Nico Rosberg's style, it seems) and the aero upgrades
