Did you happen to miss the Chinese GP over the weekend? Did you forget to record it too? Ok well then we apologize that you suck but again we are here to help. Below are the official results and a post race recap from the NBC Sports boys.
WARNING: SPOILER BELOW
Unfortunately Lewis Hamilton could not repeat as the China winner. Instead it was Fernando Alonso who pushed his Ferrari to victory over the weekend. He was followed (distantly) by Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton managed a third place finish. There were a few good battles and a few hiccups as well. Learn all about it in the post race report below!
If you did not get a chance to catch round two of the Formula One world championships and you need to know who wins then I am here to help! WARNING: SPOILER ALERT..
Sebastian Vettel took the victory in a damp (sometimes very wet) Malaysia this weekend with his teammate Mark Webber taking second and Lewis Hamilton grabbing third. Last weekend’s winner Kimi Raikkonen struggled in the wet but still managed to stay in the points by taking 7th place.
For highlights check out the video below and for a post race wrap-up with three very familar F1 fans check out the second video below!
Yesterday was the final race of a crazy and unpredictable 2012 Formula One season. We saw 8 different winners in 8 races at the begining of the season as well as tremendous ups and downs at the front and back of the grid. There was controversy, triumph, elation, and anger. When it was all said and done it would come down to one final race in the home country of Ayrton Senna. Sebastian Vettel came into the weekend holding onto the points lead but thanks to Lewis Hamilton’s win at the USGP and Fernando Alonso’s strong finish, the Spaniard was still very much alive for the championship.
The weekend started off with Lewis Hamilton capturing the pole and his teammate Jenson Button coming in P2, locking out the front row. Right behind the two McLarens were the Red Bull’s of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber respectively. In order for Fernando to win the title he needed to finish the race or finish at least 5 positions ahead of Vettel. When the race started the clouds opened up and provided a wet track for the start. As the pack bunched up at turn 1 Vettel spun which opened up a massive ray of light for Fernando.
For a long time it looked like Fernando might just pull through and get the points he needed to get his third world championship. However, staying ahead meant staying out on dry tires on a track that was becoming increasingly damp. Eventually Fernando had to switch to intermediate tires and just when he did the track dried up again. In fact the entire field made several tire changes to try and cope with very indecisive weather. Despite the shoe swapping Fernando managed to make it to second place while Jenson Button was leading the race. Although, Sebastian Vettel was in 7th place, exactly where he needed to be to finish 3 points ahead of Fernando and win the championship.
Just when it looked like Fernando might start pushing for the race win Vettel moved up to 6th place. Then on the final lap an accident brought out the safety car, locking in the positions thus giving Sebastian Vettel his third straight world championship title. Vettel is only the third driver in Formula 1 history to win three titles in a row. The other two are the great Fangio and none other than Michael Schumacher. To achieve such a task at only 25 years old will definitely put Vettel in the history books.
The finish of this race also meant the end of Michael Schumacher’s F1 career as a driver, Lewis Hamilton’s final race with McLaren, and the end of SPEED’s broadcast coverage of F1 in the United States. Times certainly are “a changin’” Let us hope they are changing for the better.
For now, you can watch SPEED’s final post race wrap up. Do me a favor and tell them thank you for 16 years of awesome coverage!
It was back in 2010 when an investment group announced that they had designs on building a world class race track near Austin, Texas in an effort to bring Formula 1 back to the United States after a 5 year abscence. Along the way there were ups and downs but in the end they got the track finished and it was finally ready to hold its first official F1 event; which took place yesterday in front of over 100,000 fans. As a matter of fact the event sold out completely. Every last cheap seat to the super luxury suites were sold and accounted for by the time race weekend arrived.
So now that it is Monday, what happened? Did it all go off without a hitch? To put it shortly: Yes. The teams and drivers descended upon Austin, Texas at the beginning of the week and glitz & glamor aside it was business as usual. The only real talking point as far as the track went was the fact that the surface was very slippery since it was so very new. Before the F1 event only a few race cars have run the circuit so the asphalt was not “rubber-ed in” at all, making for a slick track. This made practice and qualifying very interesting! However, despite the slippery asphalt the cream still rose to the top as Red Bull, McLarren, and Ferrari still topped the charts.
On Saturday it was Sebastian Vettel who captured the pole position. Lewis Hamilton put up a valliant effort but missed Vettel’s time by a tenth of a second. Mark Webber qualified third which put Lewis in dangerous territory.
Then, we have the points battle. Sebastian Vettel came to America with a mission to clinche the driver’s title for himself and the constructor’s title for Red Bull. After the math was done it was determined that in order for Vettel to clinche the driver’s championship he had to win the race and Fernando Alonso had to finish 5th or worse. If Vettel finished second then Fernando could do no better than 9th, and if Vettel finished 3rd then Fernando would have to score no points at all. The third scenario seemed pretty unlikely so Vettel had to concentrate on winning.
Once the race went under way and the drivers charged up “Phil Hill” things seemed to go Red Bull’s way as Vettel and Webber began to run away from the group. However, Fernando charged his way from 9th place up to 4th. About mid way through the race Hamilton made his way around Webber then set his sights on Vettel. Meanwhile Fernando started to smell blood as Mark Webber’s race car started to have issues. The Aussie’s car finally gave up and Fernando Alonso grabbed third place and held on for all it was worth.
Vettel must have been shaken by the news that his teammate was no longer there to protect him because Lewis Hamilton caught Sebastian in lapse of concentration and pulled off a brilliant pass to take the lead. Hamilton went on to win the race with Vettel taking second place and Fernando Alonso kept his championship hopes very much alive by finishing third. Despite Mark Webber’s DNF, Vettel’s second place finish was enough for Red Bull to secure the constructor’s title and secure them a heafty check to add to next year’s budget.
The driver’s championship on the other hand will all come down to the final race of the season in Brazil next week. Without clinching in Texas, Vettel cannot drive with his “nothing to lose” attitude that he had in the final race of last year. Meanwhile Fernando Alonso will be racing with every ounce hes got to try and win his third championship.
While still technically in the middle east, and despite having a very similar track layout, the snore-fest that was the Indian GP was a stark contrast to the absolutely crazy weekend that was the Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi yesterday. The weekend started very well for Lewis Hamilton. Despite announcing his departure from McLaren and being on the verge of mathematical elimination from the championship, Lewis and his crew showed that they will continue pushing hard until the season is over. He was one of, if not the fastest car during practice and he put on a dominant performance during qualifying.
Speaking of qualifying, that was the point which the weekend got interesting. Sebastian Vettel, fighting downforce and braking issues managed to earn a P3 qualifying spot but once Q3 was over his team immediately ordered him to stop the car. Doing as he was told, Vettel pulled his Red Bull car over to the side of the front straight and hitched a ride in the safety car back to his pit. It is still unclear why his team asked him to shut the car down but it is against FIA regulation to not return a car to the pit under its own power after qualifying unless it has a certain amount of fuel left in its tank for independent analysis purposes. Vettel’s car was 150ml (or approximately 10 tablespoons) short of that required amount. As such officials disqualified him from the session and he woudl have to start the race on Sunday dead last, from the pit lane.
This was obviously horrible news for Red Bull Racing but awesome news for Ferrari. With Fernando Alonso qualifying 6th, he had a pretty good chance to take back the championship lead and maybe even build a points cushion for the last three races of 2012. However, things did not quite work out that way for Alonso. Despite starting in dead last, Sebastian Vettel clawed his way through the accident prone mid-field and fought his way to the front pack. For the most part that did not mean squat to Lewis Hamilton who was running away from the entire field; Until lap 20 when his car suffered some type of electrical malfunction and gave out, completely voiding his awesome performance all weekend up to that point.
From there it was Kimi Raikkonen who took over the lead in his Renault-powered Lotus. Great news for Kimi. Horrible news for Lewis, and completely indifferent to Fernando Alonso who just wanted to make sure he stayed in front of Vettel and that Vettel did not get any closer to him. Unfortunately for Alonso, Vettel who passed just about everyone else on the track after starting from pit lane was right behind him sitting in third place. Fernando’s only hope to leave the race ahead of Sebastian in the points was to win but the Spaniard could not catch Kimi “The Iceman” Raikkonen.
Lotus, not used to being in a winning position for quite sometime could not help but constantly remind Kimi what was at stake. A seasoned driver and former champion Kimi responded on the radio “Leave me alone, I know what I’m doing!” (true story!). The iceman knew what he was doing indeed as he kept both Fernando and Sebastian at bay to take his first win of the season and Lotus’ first win ever (in their current incarnation anyway).
Finishing in second place was Fernando Alonso who is still well in the fight for the championship, and rounding out the podium in third was Sebastian Vettel who would leave Abu Dhabi 10 points ahead of Fernando.
There are only two races left now: the return of F1 to the United States at the Circuit Of the America’s, and the final race in Brazil. Can Fernando come back in just two races and win his third career championship? Or will Sebastian stay on top to get his third consecutive title? The fight continues two weeks from now when Formula One finally returns to America at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.
Over the weekend Formula One returned to Southern Korea for the Korean GP. While there was plenty to talk about, one of the biggest topics of the weekend was, you guess it: Gangam Style! It had officially taken over Formula One as you can see in the picture above. Gangnam rapper “Psy” was even the grand martial of the race and got to wave the checkered flag! Awesome as that was it is time to move on to the important stuff. The weekend started with Mark Webber taking the pole position during qualifying in a stellar performance. His teammate Sebastian Vettel, qualified in second position which resulted in the first Red Bull front row lock out of the season.
When the lights went out on Sunday, it was Vettel who charged to the front and hung on to it. Despite suffering tire wear problems on his right front, Vettel continued to push the car as hard as he could, constantly setting fast lap. Webber seemed to have much better tire wear but could not catch Sebastian. Fernando Alonso (third place) and Felipe Massa (fourth place) tried their best to stay up front and keep Fernando in the points battle. In fact, Scuderia Ferrari were so conered about Alonso’s points that they “suggested” to Massa that he not try to pass his teammate. Even though he had nothing to worry about from Felipe, Fernando still had nothing for Webber nor Vettel up front.
Sebastian went on to win the race, followed by Mark Webber taking second place, and Fernando Alonso holding on for third. Despite Fernando’s podium finish, Sebastian Vettel’s victory officially puts him ahead of the Spaniard by 4 points going into the last four races of the season.
One of my favorite (and most controversial) stops on the F1 calandar as of late is Signapore. It has all the glamor of Monte Carlo but in a night time setting. In fact they use so much lighting equipment that if you look at the track from an aerial view, it looks like a bright ribbon of light twisting around the city! Pretty awesome! Awesome as it was though, it was serious business for the likes of Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen, and Sebastien Vettel. Fernando came into the weekend with a comfortable points lead in the championship and set a goal for a podium finish. Normally you would expect his goal to be a victory but after a lack luster practice and qualifying performance he did not feel like he had the car to win.
Lewis Hamilton on the other hand did feel like he had the car to win. He blew everyone away in qualfying with a blistering lap to capture pole position and when the lights went out on Sunday he took full advantage of his position and proceeded to run away from the pack. For most of the race he avaraged a 1.5 to 2 second gap over Sebastien Vettel but disaster struck Hamilton on his third stint as his transmission gave out forcing him to retire from the race. From that point Sebastien Vettel took over the lead and eventually went on to win the race. Lewis’ teammate Jenson Button captured second place, keeping McLaren in the constructor’s championship battle, and Fernando Alonso achieved his podium goal by grabbing third place, but only after a few hard fought battles with Sergio Perez.
With Fernando’s third place win he was able to maintain his points lead. Lewis Hamilton on the other hand fell from 2nd place to 4th, but he still has 6 races to claw his way back! Sebastien Vettel’s victory has bumped him up to 2nd place and Kimi Raikkonen remains a threat in third place. Next up on the calandar is Suzuka Circuit in Japan, the site where many great champions have found victory. Will Japan be kind to Fernando? Or will it favor someone else?
For a full Singapore GP wrap up check out the post-race report from the guys at SPEED.
Fanatec makes some of the most high-end and expensive racing wheel peripherals and they really got famous by making replicas of real life steering wheels from cars like Porsche 911s for use on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 consoles. Today they are announcing that another wheel will be available and it is likely to be incredibly expensive and rightly so. You see, Fanatec is offering up the first prototype of their new CSR Elite unit with a special F1 style wheel rim attached for auction on eBay. What will set this particular wheel apart from their other products is the simple and awesome fact that it is autographed by two-time Formula One World Champion Sebastian Vettel while he visited the Goodwood Festival Of Speed a short while ago.
Starting on September 30th through October 7th the signed wheel will be up for auction on eBay as part of an effort to raise money and awareness for an organization called “Wings for Life“, an organization that funds research projects targeted to help find cures for spinal injuries. It should also be noted that Wings for Life is supported by other Red Bull driver/athletes like Vettel’s teammate Mark Webber and David Coultard. So, in short the winning bidder gets a one of a kind wheel, signed by a one of a kind talent, all for a more than worthy cause. That sounds like a million kinds of awesome does it not? The only very very slight downside is that the auction is open to European bidders only so if you live here in the states you will unfortunately not get a shot at the wheel. Although that should not stop you from donating to Wings for Life or other worthy causes. Sure, you might not get an autographed video game wheel but you will make a difference, which is a hell of a lot better in the long run.
Fanatec wheel signed by Sebastian Vettel to be sold at auction in aid of Wings for Life UK
The item will be available for online auction on eBay on September 30th.
Landshut, Germany – 12.09.2012 – Endor AG is proud to announce that it will be auctioning the CSR Elite with the Formula rim autographed by the famous Formula One racing driver: Sebastian Vettel. The auction will be held on eBay on September 30th, 6pm (CEST) until October 7th, 6pm (CEST) and open to European bidders. All the proceeds will be donated to the charity Wings for Life UK.
Wings for Life fund cutting-edge research projects and clinical trials across the globe aimed at accelerating progress towards a cure for spinal cord injury. The charity also facilitates the development of technology designed to reduce the risk of injury, particularly during sport. Through their research, Wings for Life provide hope to the thousands of people affected by spinal cord injury around the world.
During the last Goodwood Festival of Speed,the Formula 1 pilot visited theRed Bull Gridstersand signed the very first prototype of the Fanatec CSR Elite with Formula rim. The rim features 11 buttons and two (mirrored) 4-way joysticks. This is a robust metal construction with metal shifters paddles just like on the Formula rim for ClubSport Wheel. The grips are made of artificial leather, which provides a great feeling and is easy to clean.
Features:
- Multiplatform: Xbox 360 / PC / PlayStation® 3.
- Wireless connection to Xbox360 and USB cable to connect to PC and PS3.
- DirectSensor™ technology: the sensor is mounted directly on the steering axis to avoid interference and performance issues that are inherent in belt and gear drives that have motor mounted sensor systems.
- Strong and fast120W dual force feedback motors plus 2 vibration motors in the wheel rim.
- Large silent fans are installed to provide ample cooling.
- Newly designed belt drive mechanism that’s made completely of metal and uses high quality ball bearings and German made belts to deliver the smoothest, most precise force feedback on the market.
- Tuning functions with LED display that allows players to adjust the turning angle (90° to 900° of steering rotation), force feedback, vibration, sensitivity, with the ability to save up to five pre-sets.
- Five ‘Drift mode’ adjustments to allow quicker turning ratio.
- Compatible with standard pedals (with clutch), ClubSport, CSR Elite and CSR pedals. With an adapter, it can be used with the Logitech® G25 / G27 pedals.
As the Formula One series reached Budapest’s own Hungarioring many thought rain would be the story of the weekend. However, when race day came on Sunday the weather could not have been better. In fact the weather was so good, the track was so grippy that Pirelli predicted that many drivers would probably only make one pit stop for the entire race. Pirelli turned out to be right in that respect. Not only were they right, but pit stops were a key factor.
The weekend started with Lewis Hamilton taking pole position during a great qualifying session and when the lights went out on Sunday he certainly did his part not to squander his front row position. Although a hiccup in his first pit stop put him down to 4th position. Luckily for Lewis, Sebastien Vettel, Mark Webber, and teammate Jenson Button all had pit troubles as well. With some determination Lewis was able to fight his way back to the front, but all the while he had both Lotus cars on his tail.
Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean fought each other hard for the opportunity to attack Lewis for the lead, but their battle slowed them just enough for Lewis to hold on to his lead and take his second win of the season. Kimi stayed ahead of Romain for second place and Grosjean took third.
Lewis’ win brings him up to fourth place in the points, bumping Kimi to fifth. Sebastien Vettel (who finished fourth) held on to third spot in the points and Fernando Alonso (who finished fifth) still leads the point with a very comfortable 40 point cushion over Mark Webber.
OK, first things first. I totally forgot about the British GP in my last post race report so allow me to formally say “my bad”. Now on to business. Over the weekend Formula 1 returned to the Silverstone Circuit for the British Grand Prix, the home GP of the McLaren team (and both their drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button) as well as the Red Bull Racing team. However with all the British pride on the grid it was Ferrari putting on a show for the crowd as Fernando Alonso was kicking butt all weekend. He started by qualifying on pole in the wet, then on race day the skies parted and sunshine hit Silverstone, to which he took full advantage of. On a dry track it seemed like he would be unstoppable as he was able to brilliantly manage his tires despite the fact that his team was a bit thrown off by the sudden run of good weather.
Fernando pushed and pushed and it looked like he was well on his way to earn his third win of the season but as the race started to wind down, so did his tires. Mark Webber, who was on fresher tires was able to capitalize on Fernando’s misfortune and grabbed the lead away from the Spaniard and continued to drive on to a victory at Red Bull Racing’s home GP. Fernando took second (retaining the points lead), and Sebastien Vettel earned third place.
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