One of the benefits of Kimi Raikkonen finishing so close to Sebastian Vettel in the German Grand Prix is that it gave the media at the post-race press conference a chance to quiz both drivers about the possibility of racing in the same team next year. As you’d expect both played a fairly straight bat, but it was still interesting to read what both had to say on the topic of replacing Mark Webber in 2014.
[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]
For all of the amazing things Sebastian Vettel has achieved in his Formula 1 career, a win at his home grand prix had eluded him. But not any more. Victory at the Nürburgring for his first German Grand Prix trophy is Vettel’s 30th career win, becoming only the sixth driver in F1 history to reach that mark.
Close behind the Red Bull ace was Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) who finished strongly, just one second adrift of Vettel. The final podium position was taken by Romain Grosjean (Lotus).
For Vettel it was a controlled race, but behind him there were two bizarre incidents that helped to shape the result. Mercifully, neither included the exploding tyres we saw in Silverstone last week. The first incident ruined Mark Webber’s race. The Aussie made a great start from P3 and challenged for the lead into the first corner. Pole sitter Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes AMG) was swamped by the two Red Bulls and Vettel took the lead.
At the first round of pit stops Webber’s left rear wheel was not put back on correctly, yet he was still waved out and metres later the wheel came loose. Unfortunately the wheel bounced down the pit lane and hit a cameraman. Reports suggest the cameraman suffered minor injuries and is expected to make a full recovery. Mark was able to rejoin the race, after being pushed back into his pit box, albeit a lap down.
The second incident started on lap 22, when Jules Bianchi (Marussia) pulled to the side of the circuit after his car caught fire. The flames were extinguished and the car was abandoned awaiting collection from the marshals. Two laps after the car came to rest, it began to roll down the hill, across the track before coming to rest thanks to an advertising hoarding. Cue the Benny Hill theme, but thankfully no harm was done.
What Bianchi’s runaway car did do was bring out a Safety Car. This not only allowed the field to bunch up, but also allowed Mark Webber to unlap himself. Racing resumed on Lap 30, half race distance.
Vettel maintained his lead, despite a late charge from Kimi Raikkonen. Webber was able to put in a commendable recovery drive to finish in P7, which included a pass on Sergio Perez on the second half of the final lap. Not a bad effort after being dead last after the Safety Car came in.
Speaking after the race Webber expressed his disappointment, knowing he had the package to fight for the win. “Today was a bit of a nightmare and you want to wake up tomorrow and have another go at it,” he said. “We had an excellent start and were in a great position leading up to the first stop with Seb, but we lost all of that. We lost a lot of points today and a chance to challenge for the win, but there’s no rewind button now.â€
Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) was unhappy with his day, which saw him start from P6 only to finish in P12. “A frustrating and rather dull race for me,” Daniel said. “After the start, I was able to hold position on the Option, but once we pitted for the Prime tyre, I really struggled for pace and couldn’t push as hard as I wanted to in order to get more out of the car.
“I can’t explain why for now, so we will need to look at the data to see why we were just too slow for much of the weekend.â€
On the positive side for Ricciardo, his teammate, Jean-Eric Verge, was forced to retire with a hydraulics problem.
[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]
Here’s your pics from an epic British Grand Prix at Silverstone. If not for a customary dodgy start we may have been looking at Mark Webber with hands raised in triumph in the photo above. Instead Mark almost won, on the back of a gutsy recovery effort.
Ifs, buts and maybes—as likeable and charismatic as Mark has been during his F1 career—that pretty much sums him up. Now that his Porsche move has been confirmed, we can enjoy the Mark Webber F1 farewell tour. Certainly a win at Silverstone would have been a great way to start the journey, but a win at the Nürburgring, the venue of his maiden grand prix victory would have a nice symmetry to it as well.
Oh yeah, well done Nico Rosberg. A solid win for you. There’s over 90 pics from the British GP ready to be enjoyed after the break.
The 2013 Canadian Grand Prix was a pretty easy day out for Sebastian Vettel. Indeed those ‘Mounties’ were as close as anyone got to him on race day. We didn’t want you to miss out on the fun, so here’s 86 images from the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve that will bring you as close to Vettel as any of his competitors got.
As you can see Nico Rosberg was pretty happy to have won the 2013 Monaco Grand Prix. And who can blame him. It’s one thing to win the race for yourself, but to do so 30 years after your old man achieved the same thing is very special. Well done him and well done Keke.
The existence of the Monaco Grand Prix really is an anachronism in the 21st century, but we hope it never goes. Watching the cars fly through turns 13 and 14 is perhaps the best example of the directness of F1 cars we see all year. And the dramatic elevation changes on such a short track, although flattened out on TV screens, also makes for one of the most spectacular circuits all year.
In our latest F1 in pictures gallery we have exactly 100 images from the glitz and glamour enjoyed by all in Monte Carlo.
Here’s your photographic refresher of what went down at the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix. As usual there’s an excellent assortment of images, there’s 97 in all, starting with a sea of Maranello red.
Here’s the full text from the post-race presser at the Spanish Grand Prix. It was Fernando Alonso’s 32nd career victory which moves him one clear of Nigel Mansell. The two-time world champion is now only behind Ayrton Senna (41 wins), Alain Prost (51) and Michael Schumacher (91).
From the press conference we liked this answer from Alonso when asked how he expects Mercedes to perform at the forthcoming Monaco Grand Prix: “They will arrive as favourites for Monaco. They’ve been on pole position for the last three races, they were on pole last year with Michael’s lap, so it would be a surprise if they weren’t on pole position in Monaco… it’s more difficult to overtake in Monaco, so maybe they can keep good positions for longer. It’s something we need to understand and we need to do a better job on Saturday, Felipe and I, and Monaco is one of those places where we must do it.”
Some pre-race psychology from Fernando there?
[Pic: Ferrari]
Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) won his second Spanish Grand Prix in a race dominated by tyre conservation. It’s Alonso’s third win on home soil, adding to his 2012 European GP title and his 2006 Spanish GP win with Renault in 2006.
In second place was the ever reliable Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus), notching up his 33rd consecutive race finish. Rounding out the podium was Felipe Massa (Ferrari).
The Mercedes AMG front row once again failed to live up to the scrutiny of race day with both drivers finishing well below expectations. Nico Rosberg finished sixth, but Lewis Hamilton finished out of the points in P12.
Red Bull collected enough points to stay ahead in the constructors’ race, with Sebastian Vettel coming home in P4, ahead of teammate Mark Webber, who did well to finish fifth after another poor start. Webber started from P8 but was in the mid-teens by the end of the first lap.
“We were struggling for the range and a bit of pace today, to be honest. The Ferraris and the Lotus were in a bit of a different league and that made it hard for us to compete today,” Webber said after the race. “I think we got the most out of what we had, particularly as by the first corner I was probably 14th or 15th, so to come back with that result was pretty good.
“If you don’t have the pace, then you can’t have the magic strategy. I was happy with how I drove and we got some points, but it wasn’t the result we wanted.â€
Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) claimed the final world championship point on offer for P10 making it a double-points success for the Australian drivers. Although, Ricciardo was not overly happy with his race.
“I had a really poor start off the line, with a lot of wheelspin and, to be honest, the first few laps of the race I really struggled with front grip and locking the front brakes,” explained Daniel. “At the first stop, we made quite a few changes in terms of wing settings and tyre pressures and that helped, so the next two stints were quite good and I made a few passing moves, so it was certainly not a boring race.
“But then, towards the end of the race, our pace began to fade again. It wasn’t easy to get tenth, even if we looked on course to get more than the one point earlier in the race, so it’s better than nothing.â€
For the second race in a row Jean-Eric Vergne failed to finish, this time he can apportion blame on a pitlane incident with Nico Hulkenberg to the Sauber team for an unsafe release.
There were over 80 pit stops for tyres in this race and while we all like to see the closer racing that’s been brought about with the less than perfect Pirelli tyres, perhaps this has gone a bit too far. Often times you’ve got no real idea who’s racing who because tyre strategies are all over the place. It’s not until all drivers have made their final stops that things become clearer.
One thing is certain it doesn’t make for the greatest spectacle for us viewers. But Fernando Alonso won’t care at all about that, he’ll be happy to bank the 25 points and start preparations for Monaco in two weeks.
A little later than usual here’s your pictorial reminder of the 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix. There’s 87 pics to fill your racing boots this week. Be sure to check back in after the Spanish Grand Prix for more wallpaper-friendly F1 pics in a few weeks.
After the break you can read the full transcript from the first three drivers from the 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix.
Before you do here’s the Aussie update with words from Mark Webber (Red Bull) first and Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) second.
Mark Webber: “The beginning wasn’t too bad, but we lost quite a bit of time in the second stint trying to clear people. We went aggressive on the first few out laps, which meant we jumped people, but the tyres didn’t like it. That meant the second stint was a disaster really in terms of pace at the end and that loaded the other two stints up.
“In the middle of the race I thought I could get on the podium, but then it was about pace management and it’s a fine line between racing and saving tyres. Others pitted a bit before me at the end, but it wasn’t enough for me to get home. If you race people hard then you run out of tyres, but if you don’t then they come through. In the end it was a pretty good battle with Lewis for both of us; neither of us had any tyres left, but we were trying to race as best we could.”
Daniel Ricciardo: “I got a reasonable start, better than some of the guys around me and I got ahead of Grosjean. Then at some point, I locked up the wheels and lost a position or two. All afternoon, we just struggled with speed: in the first stint, tyre warm-up was a problem and I was losing a lot of time on braking.
“We never really recovered, even though we tried to make a few changes to the balance of the car at the pit stops. We must look into what exactly was wrong with the car as we were really limited in terms of downforce.â€
[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]
Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) started the Bahrain Grand Prix from the front row and went on to pocket yet another easy F1 victory in last night’s race. He finished ahead of the Lotus pairing, with Kimi Raikkonen extending his sequence of race finishes to an impressive 31 by taking second place and Romain Grosjean enjoying his return to the podium in third.
Those paying attention at home will recognise these are the same podium placings we saw in Bahrain last year.
Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) raised a few eyebrows by claiming pole position and his subsequent race finish of ninth proved that surprise was justified. Rosberg just didn’t have the race pace and although he led from the start Vettel was able to overtake him without too much bother on the second lap. And for Vettel that was pretty much the end of his troubles. It is his 28th race win and puts him clear of Sir Jackie Stewart on the all-time winners list.
Perhaps Vettel may have been given a tougher test if the rear wing on Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari had a spine to match its driver. Twice Alonso was forced into the pits in the early stages to have his DRS flap closed, yet he was able to fight his way back into the top 10, finishing eighth and earning himself four very valuable points.
Paul di Resta (Force India) looked set to earn his first podium finish thanks to some good raw pace and a two-stop tyre strategy, the same as Raikkonen, alas for him Grosjean was able to reel him in and demote the Scot to fourth place, which is still a career best for him.
Speaking of being reeled in, Mark Webber’s year and perhaps his whole Red Bull career was encapsulated in the final lap, which he started in fifth place and ended in seventh, all while his teammate cruised to glory. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) first, then Sergio Perez (McLaren) got passed Mark and his rapidly deteriorating tyres on the last lap to claim fifth and six places. Not the best result for Mark in his 200th F1 start.
Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) had an almost anonymous race and after his previous high in China will have been disappointed to finish in P16. But, at least he finished, unlike teammate Jean-Eric Vergne, who got tangled up with backmarkers and was the only driver who failed to finish.
There’s a couple of weeks off before the F1 circus finds its way back to Europe and as is often the case the season is wonderfully placed with so much potential to surprise. Let’s just hope the season doesn’t mirror the result in Bahrain and sees Vettel race off into the sunset unopposed.
[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]
Before we head off to Tasmania for a week to follow the close knit tarmac rally community here’s 93 photos from the Chinese Grand Prix. We hope you like them!