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Fernando Alonso delights home fans with Spanish GP win

By Waqar Masood on May 13, 2013 in
Alonso wins in Spain

Alonso wins in Spain

Fernando Alonso of Ferrari proved to be untouchable in Spain, as he succeeded by a clear margin on Sunday, May 12, 2013. He was quick right from the start of the race and no one managed to cause problems for him in the end. His team-mate Felipe Massa also did a decent job and finished third on the podium.

Alonso was aggressive on the opening lap and gained lead after the first round of pit stops. Once he was in front, he started pulling away from his rivals. His only concern would have been Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen, who was managing his tyres really well and stopped one time less than most of the top-10 cars.

However, the Finn was unable to gain any advantages because of that and had to settle for second position on the podium. He did manage to beat Massa though because of the fact that the Brazilian pitted a bit late in his final stint.

Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel was unable to fight for the podium and finished fourth overall ahead of team-mate Mark Webber.

Pole setter Nico Rosberg had to suffer the disappointment of losing positions due to tyre wear once again, as he ended in sixth place. He could have lost that position to Force-India’s Paul di Resta in the end, but the latter driver failed to overtake the Mercedes of Rosberg in the final couple of laps.

Eighth and ninth places went to the McLaren duo of Jenson Button and Sergio Perez respectively. The pair had a mixed race and showed signs of improvement overall. However, they lacked the speed to finish in the top five and would have been pleased to score some useful points.

Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo managed to grab the final point from the race. He finished one place of rookie Esteban Gutierez, who came close to winning the first ever point of his career in Formula 1.

After the end of the Spanish GP, Vettel is still on top of the Driver’s Championship with 89 points whereas he is followed by the iceman, who is four points behind. Meanwhile, Alonso’s victory has put him in third place with 72 points overall.

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Nico Rosberg leads first front row lockout for Mercedes at Spanish GP

By Qasim Javed on May 11, 2013 in
Rosberg puts Mercedes ahead in Spain © Getty Images

Rosberg puts Mercedes ahead in Spain © Getty Images

Nico Rosberg of Mercedes AMG Petronas team led the way 0.3 seconds clear of the rest of the field to lead a front row lockout of the team for the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix since they returned to the sport in 2010.

Rosberg’s benchmark time of 1 minute and 20.718 seconds which he set early in the Q3 session was enough to give him his second consecutive pole position of the season and his career’s third. His teammate Lewis Hamilton tried his best to improve on his time, but was still almost 0.3 seconds behind Rosberg.

Behind the Mercedes duo was Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing with a time of 1 minute and 21.054 seconds. He was marginally ahead of Kimi Raikkonen who will start tomorrow’s race in fourth position.

Both Ferraris, who looked supremely dominant throughout the three practice sessions over the weekend, and topped two out of those, could only manage to qualify in the third row. Fernando Alonso pipped Felipe Massa by just one thousandth of a second to set a best time of 1 minute and 21.218 seconds.

Raikkonen’s teammate, Romain Grosjean was seventh behind the two Ferraris with a time of 1 minute and 21.308 seconds. He might benefit from a possible Felipe Massa penalty which he might incur as he was seen blocking Mark Webber in his flying lap. Webber, as a result of Massa’s move, qualified in eighth position.

Sergio Perez managed to find some consolation for McLaren as he qualified in ninth place, three tenths of a second faster than his experienced teammate Jenson Button, who was eliminated in Q2 as the team continues to struggle with its MP4-28.

Paul di Resta of Force India managed to finish tenth in the qualifiers.

The Spanish Grand Prix will get underway tomorrow at the Circuit de Catalunya. Let’s see if Mercedes are able to finally capitalise on this front row lockout and take their first win of the season.

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Sebastian Vettel dominates Bahrain GP

By Waqar Masood on April 21, 2013 in
Vettel takes dominant win in Bahrain

Vettel takes dominant win in Bahrain

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel proved to be dominant yet again in Bahrain, winning the race comfortably to stretch his championship lead to 10 points over Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus, who finished second on the podium behind team-mate Romain Grosjean.

The start of the race was quite interesting, as there were quite a few aggressive maneuvers by some of the drivers. Pole setter Nico Rosberg started off well and stayed in the lead for a few laps. However, there was some action behind him between Vettel and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.

The latter of the two was unlucky, as he had to pit early because of a rear wing problem. He was running in second place behind Vettel, when the DRS wing on his car got stuck. This ruined his race overall and he ended up way down in eighth place. His team-mate Felipe Massa was also unable to make an impression too, as he finished outside the points in 15th place.

One driver, who looked impressive right from the start of the weekend was Paul di Resta of Force India. He started the race from fifth and was looking quite good for a podium finish. However, his team was unable to choose the right strategy for him due to which he had to settle for fourth place in the end.

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton managed to score some useful points, after overtaking red Bull’s Mark Webber on the final lap of the race for fifth place. The latter driver would have liked to score more points like his team-mate, but he lacked the grip and speed to finish on the podium.

Sixth place went to McLaren’s Sergio Perez, who would have been pleased with the result today. He also managed to take advantage of  the Hamilton-Webber fight and finished one place ahead of the Red Bull driver. The eighth, ninth and 10th places went to Alonso, Rosberg and Button respectively.

The next race of the 2013 championship will be held in Spain on Sunday, May 12, 2013. All teams will have time to improve their cars and fight for solid points.

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Nico Rosberg takes surprise pole in Bahrain

By Waqar Masood on April 20, 2013 in
Rosberg on pole in Bahrain

Rosberg on pole in Bahrain

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg took his rivals by surprise after taking pole position for the Bahrain GP. He looked far from being the fastest in the final practice session this morning, but cooler track conditions helped him secure a strong position in the end.

Earlier, the German driver was upset with the set up of his car and claimed that the speed was not there at all, especially after the Friday practice sessions. However, his engineers seem to have found the right set up for the Qualifying session, as he ended up posting a stunning lap time of 1 m 32.3 seconds.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel tried his best to beat his compatriot, but was unable to do so in the end. Despite that, the reigning world champion will be quite happy with his overall performance and will be looking to score some solid points tomorrow, especially knowing that Mercedes struggle with tyre wear during the race.

Fernando Alonso of Ferrari was the third fastest in the session. He would have been a touch disappointed, as he was looking quite strong throughout the practice sessions. He was a clear favourite to start the race from pole, but will have to fight his way up in the race. His team-mate Felipe Massa was on a different strategy, as he came out on hard tyres.

The Brazilian was sixth fastest overall, but will start from a couple of places higher on the grid because of penalties to Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes and Red Bull’s Mark Webber, who originally qualified in fourth and fifth places respectively.

The former of the two had to change his gearbox before the Qualifying session, so he will drop down five places whereas Webber will be demoted three places down for his collision with Jean-Eric Vergne in China.

Due to the penalties, both Force-India drivers Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil will move up a couple of places each. They qualified in seventh and eighth places originally. McLaren’s Jenson Button did not post a lap time and will be starting his race from 10th on the grid.

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Fernando Alonso takes first win of the 2013 season at Chinese Grand Prix

By Qasim Javed on April 14, 2013 in
Alonso dominates the 2013 Chinese Grand Prix © Getty Images

Alonso dominates the 2013 Chinese Grand Prix © Getty Images

Fernando Alonso of Ferrari took his first win of the 2013 season at the Chinese Grand Prix held on Sunday in Shanghai.

The win has ensured that the Spaniard has reduced the gap to Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing in the drivers’ championship to just 9 points. This will be a huge sigh of relief for the Spaniard who could not pick up any points after the Malaysian Grand Prix which Vettel went on to win.

Alonso, who qualified in third position, easily overtook pole sitting Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes in the fifth lap. In fact, both the Ferraris were in the lead at that stage. However, once they all pitted to change their soft tyres, the drivers on the medium compound tyres, Nico Hulkenberg and Sebastian Vettel were leading the pack.

From then onwards, Alonso got his tyre strategy absolutely right and overtook Sebastian Vettel in his final pit stop to ensure that he won the race comfortably. Behind him though, was a fierce battle between Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus, Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel who finished just 0.2 seconds off the podium and will be terribly disappointed with his effort.

Jenson Button of McLaren came home in an impressive fifth position while the second Ferrari of Felipe Massa was sixth in the end. Daniel Ricciardo, managed to finish at an extremely impressive seventh place ahead of Paul di Resta, Romain Grosjean and Nico Hulkenberg.

Vettel’s teammate Mark Webber has a forgettable weekend as after he was penalised in his qualifiers and had to start from the pitlane, saw his race ended prematurely as his right rear wheel loosened. He was also slapped with a three-place grid penalty for the Bahrain Grand Prix due to his collision with Jean-Eric Vergne.

Lewis Hamilton’s teammate, Nico Rosberg, who managed to win the Chinese Grand Prix last year, also had a poor result in the end. He retired early in the race due to a suspension issue and the thinking heads at Mercedes will be back to the drawing board as soon as possible to iron out their reliability issues.

With this result, Ferrari have closed the gap to Red Bull Racing to just 5 points in the constructors’ championship with Lotus and Mercedes behind. In the drivers’ championship, Vettel is still leading the way, albeit with just three points from Kimi Raikkonen, who is another 6 points ahead of Fernando Alonso. Lewis Hamilton is also in the mix with 40 points from the three rounds so far and is just 12 points off the top slot.

The next round of the 2013 Formula 1 championship gets underway next week in Bahrain. Stay tuned for all the updates from there!

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