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!
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.
The Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka Circuit has special meaning to many hardcore F1 fans and drivers alike. Suzuka was the stage in which Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost had their battles for the championship. To win where Senna decided his titles is a big freaking deal and something that is not lost on any F1 driver to this day. Beyond that several drivers at the top of the points battle had specific missions to accomplish. Following a third place performance in Singapore, Fernando Alonso needed to step his game up to keep Sebastian Vettel from chipping away at his points cushion even more. With a win in Singapore, Vettel smelled blood and he needed to really attack Japan to put even more pressure on Fernando Alonso. Lewis Hamilton needed a good performance to give people something else to talk about besides his departure from McLaren at the end of the year to go to Mercedes GP. Felipe Massa just needed to not screw up since his job at Ferrari is hanging in the balance. Finally, there was Kamui Kobayahsi who was hunting for a good performance in front of his home country.
So, how did it all play out?
Well Sebastian Vettel came into the race with a leg up after capturing pole position on Saturday. On Sunday when the lights went out, a funnel cluster into turn one claimed several victims. Most notably Fernando Alonso! Felipe Massa was able to fight through the mess and chase Vettel for the rest of the race. Meanwhile, young Kobayashi managed to run up front in third place. He did not quite have what he needed to bring the fight to Massa but for the most part he held his position. At the end of the race he faced some serious contention from Jenson Button but managed to hold him off. In the end Sebastian Vettel won the race (also had fastest lap), Felipe Massa gave himself some extra job security by finishing second, and Kamui Kobayashi became a part of history by being only the third Japanese driver to podium in F1, the second Japanese driver to podium in Japan, and also earned his first personal podium ever!
Meanwhile back at the points. Due to Vettel’s win and Fernando’s DNF, the Ferrari driver is now only 4 points ahead of the young German two-time champ with only 5 races to go. Sebastian is the first driver to get back-to-back victories this year. If this is a start of a trend it can mean serious trouble for Fernando Alonso’s championship hopes. Up next is the Korean GP and I predict that Fernando will probably give us one of his best performances ever to make sure he stays ahead in the points battle.
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.
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.
Just one week after the season opener in Australia the Formula 1 field was ready to go in Malayisa. The weather was an issue in Malasyia from the second the field showed up as the tempratures swung from very hot to pouring rain. Hamilton managed to capture another pole position in qualifying just as he did in Australia and he was determined not to throw it away during the race like he did once before. When the lights went out in Malaysia Hamilton held off his teammate Jenson Button (who qualified 2nd) in the first corner and retained the lead. Unfortunately Hamilton’s lead was short lived as just 9 laps into the race a severe downpour hit the circut forcing the officials to red flag the race.
After an hour of waiting out the rain the drivers were allowed to resume the race but all the teams were scrambling with trying to work out when to switch tires and what type of tires they should switch to in an effort to predict what mother nature would do next. McLaren dropped the ball when they kept Hamilton out longer and had Button come in to the pits first. When Hamilton came in Button grabbed the lead away from his teammate but then he suffered contact with rookie Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan which damaged the nose on Button’s McLaren forcing him to come back into the pits. From there Fernando Alonso took the lead. Hamilton was holding on to second but lost position to Sergio Perez as Hamilton struggled to find grip.
In the end Fernando Alonso took the checkered flag with Sergio Perez in tow managing his first ever Podium finish, followed by Lewis Hamilton capturing third.
The Formula One season finally came back this weekend as all the teams brought their shiny new 2012 cars down under for the Australian Grand Prix. The talk of the silly season was the new “step nose” that most teams adapted in order to comply with new rules on having the nose of the car at a specific height. However McLaren found away to keep with the rules without having such a drastic dip in the nose line of their car. Many wondered if this would turn out to be a hindrance or a help. Well when Lewis Hamilton qualified on pole followed by his teammate Jenson Button, that question was answered! Surprisingly the Red Bull cars struggled to keep pace with McLaren and Mercedes GP. In an even bigger surprise French driver Romain Grosjean with Lotus GP took the third spot in qualifying but fell victim to contact during the race which ended his chances at a podium finish for the black and gold. Jenson Button managed to get around Lewis as the field dove into the first corner at the start of the race and thats where he remained until the checkered flags fell. Lewis fought hard to keep up with Jenson but some Red Bull pit stop trickery allowed Sebastien Vettel to get past Hamilton for second but Lewis held on for third place. With McLaren taking two of the three spots on the podium does this mean it is their year? Will Red Bull come back fighting? Will Ferrari wake up? I guess we will find out next weekend when Formula 1 goes back to Malaysia!
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