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2011 Hungarian GP: Qualifying press conference

2011 Hungarian Grand Prix

After a couple of poor races by his standards Sebastian Vettel has placed his Red Bull Racing machine on pole position for tonight’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

The 2010 world champion set a fastest time of 1:19.85 on his second timed run in Q3 and it was just enough to edge out Lewis Hamilton (McLaren, 1:19.978). The young Brit looks in good shape following his win in Germany last week, and he has a spare set of super-softs up his sleeve for the race.

In his 200th Grand Prix, Jenson Button (McLaren, 1:20.024) qualified third on the grid. With their mid-season fortunes on the improve Vettel will have a genuine fight on his hands to keep the McLarens at bay.

It was a disappointing result for Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing, 1:20.474), defending race winner in Budapest, who could only manage sixth place to follow his consecutive pole positions at Silverstone and the Nürburgring. Alongside him is the fast starting Fernando Alonso (Ferrari, 1:20.365) and in fourth is Felipe Massa (Ferrari, 1:20.350).

Daniel Ricciardo (Hispania Racing Team) looked set to out qualify his teammate Tonio Liuzzi for the first time in his brief career. However, Liuzzi saved his best for last, lapping 0.15 seconds faster. Good news for Ricciardo, though, in that he will start the race from P22, off the last row for the first time. He qualified ahead of Jerome D’Ambrosio (Virgin) and will inherit one place after Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso) receives his five-spot grid penalty following an incident with Nick Heidfeld (Lotus-Renault) at the German Grand Prix.

Comments from the top three drivers can be read after the break.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Formula 1 Infiniti Red Bull Racing

Mark Webber & Sebastian Vettel on the Nürburgring Nordschleife

Red Bull Racing duo Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel took some time out of their German GP preparations to flog a couple of company cars around the awesome Nürburgring Nordschleife.

With an Infiniti M each the pair trade wisecracks as they lap the old circuit. It would appear, even in a gig like this, that Seb gets preferential treatment; his cars had KERS and Mark’s didn’t.

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F1 in pictures Ferrari Lotus McLaren Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing Renault

2011 German Grand Prix in pictures

2011 German Grand Prix

We give you over 80 images to help you relive the German Grand Prix. You’ll see race winner Lewis Hamilton shaking hands with former McLaren adversary Fernando Alonso. You’ll also see Fernando welching on his taxi fare with Mark Webber. And, as always, you’ll get access to fantastic high-quality Formula One images at 2000px super image sizing right here on AUSmotive. See you next week after Hungary, where we hope Mark Webber can back up his 2010 success.

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Ferrari Formula 1 McLaren Red Bull Racing

2011 German GP: Post-race press conference

2011 German Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton won the German Grand Prix overnight, helping to ease the perceived pressure on McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) relegated Red Bull off the top two steps for the first time in 2011, while Mark Webber (Red Bull) managed third place. In some respects it was a disappointing result for Mark after he started from pole position.

All three men on the podium led the race at varying stages and in the first half of the race were nose to tail. It was after the second round of pitstops that Hamilton was able to slowly build a race-winning lead.

It’s the second race in a row now where the Red Bulls have not had the race pace to hold off their competitors. The second half of the 2011 season could have some real excitement if Ferrari and McLaren can remain consistent on Sundays.

Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) registered his worst result for the year finishing fourth. A position he claimed on the second last lap in pit lane when he and Felipe Massa (Ferrari) came in to make a compulsory tyre change.

Vettel (216pts) still enjoys a very comfortable 77 point lead in the drivers’ championship over Webber (139pts). The fight for second is hotting up, however, with Hamilton (134pts) and Alonso (130pts) close behind. In the race for the constructors’ title Red Bull would have to suffer a total loss of performance to squander their 112pt cushion.

Daniel Ricciardo finished the race in 19th position and was the sole finisher for HRT following Liuzzi’s retirement on lap 37. The young Aussie is making steady progress but is hungry for more. It’s probably fair to say many were expecting his performance relative to his teammate to be much closer. With more experience let’s hope he closes the gap further.

You can read the full post-race press conference, courtesy of the FIA, after the break.

[Pic: Vodafone McLaren Mercedes]

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Formula 1 McLaren Red Bull Racing

2011 German GP: Qualifying press conference

2011 German Grand Prix

Mark Webber’s mid-season resurgence continued at the German Grand Prix overnight when he racked up his ninth career pole position and second P1 in succession.

Webber lapped his RB7 machine around the Nürburgring in 1:30.079. He held provisional pole in Q3 after his first lap, but needed to improve on his time in order to keep a flying Lewis Hamilton (McLaren, 1:30.134) from claiming top honours.

Hamilton’s time means Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull, 1:30.216) will start from the second row at his home Grand Prix. This result ends a sequence of 14 consecutive front row starts for the 2010 World Champion.

Fernando Alonso (Ferrari, 1:30.442) and Felipe Massa (Ferrari, 1:30.910) round out the top five.

Daniel Ricciardo (Hispania Racing, 1:37.036) improved slightly on his British GP qualifying effort by finishing just two hundredths of a second behind his teammate, but still set the slowest time.

Comments from the top three drivers can be read after the break.

[Pics: Red Bull/Getty Images]

 

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Christian Horner tries his hand at comedy

2011 Australian Grand Prix

In the build up to this weekend’s German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring we are reminded of the little upset Mark Webber caused at Silverstone when he chose to ignore Christian Horner’s team orders. After chasing Vettel’s tail all year, you’d expect Webber to take any chance to get one over his teammate, don’t you think?

Speaking to the BBC, Mark Webber has revealed Horner has a new show he’d like to take on the comedy circuit after the Red Bull Team Principal “guaranteed me [Webber] if it was the other way round, if Seb was closing on me, he would have shut the race down.”

Apparently, Christian recommends you try the veal; washed down with a refreshing Red Bull, of course.

[Source: BBC | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Mark Webber expected to re-sign with Red Bull

2011 British GP

Mark Webber’s decision to ignore team instructions in the closing stages of the British Grand Prix last weekend has brought out the inevitable circus of rumours. Mostly, it has been a repeat of 2010; suggestions Kimi would return to F1 with Red Bull and hints Mark would be off to Ferrari being the order of the day.

Thankfully, someone in this faux-drama has kept their head. That someone is none other than Red Bull’s grand poobah Dietrich Mateschitz who told Autosport, “Mark Webber will re-sign with us. This will happen for sure. He is very popular within the team, he feels very comfortable and it is an excellent relationship. He knows this and we know it.”

On the direct matter of Webber’s decision to race to the flag Mateschitz said, “This is no problem for us. Sebastian realised that Fernando Alonso was gone and could not be caught anymore, so he backed down. This let Mark close in. He would be a very bad racer had he not tried to attack and gain a position.”

With any luck Daniel Ricciardo will secure a full-time drive as well and we can look forward to two Aussies in F1 again in 2012.

[Source: Autosport | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

UPDATE: Mark shares his thoughts on team orders and recent discussions with Christian Horner in his new and regular column on the BBC website.

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F1 in pictures Ferrari Lotus McLaren Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing Renault

2011 British Grand Prix in pictures

2011 British GP

Here’s the pics from Silverstone. You’ll see plenty of Alonso in his winning Ferrari, plenty of action and plenty of Prince Harry. He gets around a bit, too, spotted at most of the media portals while we were sourcing the pics from the British Grand Prix. He really doesn’t look too much like his dad, does he?

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Christian Horner talks team orders

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8IpUjUStgo

Following the fallout from the 2011 British Grand Prix where Christian Horner instructed the fast-closing Mark Webber to hold his position behind Sebastian Vettel the subject has been covered in some detail on the BBC fan forum.

Horner faced a panel including former F1 world champion Damon Hill, former F1 drivers David Coulthard and Martin Brundle, as well as other F1 commentary luminaries such as Murray Walker and Eddie Jordan.

The topic has received a little bit too much hot air in our opinion and in this interview Horner explained his position quite rationally. Of course, fans of Mark Webber will applaud Damon Hill’s stance, who took up the case for the drivers, suggesting they should be able to decided when they can race.

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Ferrari Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

2011 British GP: Post-race press conference

2011 British GP

Fernando Alonso has celebrated the 60th anniversary of Ferrari’s first world championship race win in the best possible manner by taking out the 2011 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Starting from third on the grid the dual-world champion capitalised on an uncharacteristic pitlane mistake from Red Bull Racing to drive past Sebastian Vettel for the lead. Vettel, stuck in his pit box waiting for his right rear wheel to be secured, was powerless to stop Alonso. From there Alonso’s Ferrari seemed in a league of its own slowly building a race winning buffer.

Vettel had taken the lead of the race on the first lap. Red Bull teammate Mark Webber got a clean start from pole position but was unable to defend Vettel’s move into the first corner.

The race began in somewhat bizarre conditions with half of the track being very wet while the other was dry. Starting on intermediates the drivers were free to use the softer compound tyres for the rest of the race when conditions allowed. A three-stop strategy was the order of the day even if it cost Vettel a chance of victory.

McLaren also made an awful blunder that robbed Jenson Button of a tight tussle with Mark Webber. Button was released from the pits before his front right wheel was fastened and he had no choice but to pull to the side of the track on the pit exit.

In the closing stages Webber was closing in fast on Vettel and appeared to have the pace to fight for second position. On the last lap the radio instruction from Christian Horner came telling Mark to ‘maintain the gap.’ A comment which, in true F1 style, has created all sorts of controversy in response to the use of team orders. Webber himself has admitted he paid no attention to the order, which first came with four or five laps remaining, so we must assume that he tried but was unable to pass Vettel.

Sebastian Vettel maintains a stranglehold on the drivers’ champsionship table, 80 points clear of Webber who is now in outright second place. Alonso’s win moves him up into third. Red Bull Racing also enjoys a strong lead in the constructors’ title race.

It was a tough race for Daniel Ricciardo who was unable to make an impression on Hispania Racing teammamte Tonio Liuzzi. We’ll have more coverage from HRT later today.

The full transcript from the post-race transcript is available below, which includes plenty of questions from the press gallery about team orders.

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Formula 1 Motorsports News Red Bull Racing

Mark Webber presented Hawthorn Memorial Trophy for 2010

Alan Gow (L), Mark Webber (R)

Australia’s Mark Webber has been presented with the Hawthorn Memorial Trophy for 2010 following his third placing in last year’s drivers’ world championship.

Presented with the trophy at the 2011 British GP by Alan Gow from the Motor Sports Association UK, Webber joins Sir Jack Brabham and Alan Jones—both three-time winners—as the third Australian to win the prestigious award since its introduction in 1959.

Named after 1958 F1 world champion Mike Hawthorn, who died in a road accident in 1959, the trophy is awarded to the British or Commonwealth driver who places highest in the F1 drivers’ championship.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Ferrari Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

2011 British GP: Qualifying press conference

2011 British GP

Mark Webber claimed his eighth career pole position after posting the fastest time in qualifying at the British Grand Prix overnight. One Australian leads the field, while another is at the rear, with F1 debutant Daniel Ricciardo setting the slowest time in a weather-affected Q1.

Expectations at Hispania Racing are not so high, of course, and there will be greater things to follow for young Ricciardo.

Webber, on the other hand, will be expecting to win tonight’s race. Silverstone is clearly a place where Webber loves to race, following his famous win last year and at the 2008 British Grand Prix he found himself on the front row for the first time.

Despite hissy fits from Christian Horner and Martin Whitmarsh over changes to exhaust mapping, Red Bull again found a way to lockout the front row of the grid. Webber’s quickest time (1:30.399) was just three hundredths faster than runaway championship leader Sebastian Vettel (1:30.431), who maintains his 2011 record of starting every race from the front row.

Fernando Alonso is the next best in his Ferrari (1:30.516) ahead of teammate Felipe Massa (1:31.124), Nico Rosberg (MercedesGP, 1:31.898) and Paul di Resta (Force India, 1:31.929).

Comments from the first three can be read after the break, along with words from Daniel Ricciardo and HRT.

[Pics: Red Bull/Getty Images & Hispania Racing]

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