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Showing posts with label Sebastian Vettel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sebastian Vettel. Show all posts
Vettel dominates Korea
Lewis Hamilton's title hopes are effectively over after his McLaren struggled to 10th. Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen took fifth, stretching his lead over Hamilton in third place in the championship, but Vettel has a 48-point lead over Raikkonen and a further 14 over Hamilton with only 100 points still available in the remaining races in India, Abu Dhabi, the USA and Brazil.
Vettel's second crushing victory within a week - along with Webber's comfortable second place - confirms the impression that Red Bull have made a significant step forward with their car and that the German is on course for a third consecutive title.
The Red Bull driver got the jump on team-mate Mark Webber from second on the grid and was able to ease away to his third win in a row and go six points clear of Fernando Alonso, despite concerns his right-front tyre would wear out in the closing laps. Webber was a solid second as Red Bull became the first team to secure a one-two finish in 2012, with Alonso getting the maximum out of his Ferrari with third place.
Vettel takes Sakhir pole
Hamilton had set the Q3 pace for McLaren with 1m 32.671s, but Webber beat that on his second run with 1m 32.637s to go fastest until Vettel posted 1m 32.422s, and Hamilton’s subsequent improvement to 1m 32.520s put him back on the front row. When it was clear that his second run would not better his first one’s time of 1m 32.711s, McLaren team mate Jenson Button eased off and will start fourth.
In a disappointing session for Mercedes, Nico Rosberg could only manage 1m 32.821s for fifth as Michael Schumacher lines up only 17th after a rear wing problem in Q1.
Daniel Ricciardo was a star all through qualifying and will start his Toro Rosso an excellent sixth on 1m 32.912s.
Romain Grosjean put his Lotus seventh on the grid with 1m 33.008s, with Sergio Perez for company on row four with 1m 33.394s for Sauber. Fernando Alonso messed up the first sector on his first run and thus did not record a Q3 time for Ferrari, while Force India's Paul di Resta completed just exploratory Q3 laps - notably on the harder tyre - also without setting a time. They start ninth and 10th
Vettel holds off Hamilton in Barcelona
Vettel pipped Hamilton by just 0.6s as the McLaren proved to be a match for Red Bull in race trim. Jenson Button recovered from a bad start to take third place, this time making a three-stop strategy work, while pole-sitter Mark Webber lost out badly behind Fernando Alonso and finished fourth ahead of the Ferrari. The race result took a little while to be confirmed, however, as Hamilton, Button, Webber and Jaime Alguersuari were all under investigation for their pace under yellow flags, eventually being reprimanded but not penalized.
Vettel was the first of the leaders to pit and was released right behind Button and Massa, but dispatched both on his out lap. Alonso responded by pitting immediately, as did Webber, and Alonso maintained the lead. Webber was stuck behind Massa - who had been passed by Button - and when Hamilton pitted he got the jump on the Red Bull.
The front three ran very close together during the second stint, but as both Vettel and Hamilton could use their DRS, neither could make much of an impression. Button pitted later and managed to exit ahead of Petrov and Rosberg. He closed up on Schumacher within a lap and passed him as Schumacher ran wide through turn three.
Vettel pitted early for a second time, and even though Alonso pitted immediately afterwards, Vettel managed to use his fresh tyres to undercut the Ferrari and in clear air was able to show the true Red Bull pace. Lewis Hamilton stayed out for an extra three laps to try and jump ahead of Alonso, and managed to do so by a second. Hamilton then pulled away and started to use his fresher tyres to close the gap at the front.
Alonso and Webber both pitted together on lap 30 for the third time, and matched each other by putting on the hard tyre. As they exited the pits Alonso just got out ahead, and the pair started to battle over position. Webber made a move down the inside in to turn ten but Alonso came back up the inside in to the next corner. As they fought, the three-stopping Button cruised up behind them and took them both on the same lap; first bravely round the outside of Webber in to turn one and then up the inside of Alonso through turn 11.
Content credits: ESPN F1 / Chris Medland. Read the full acticle at ESPN F1 here...
Vettel second Mark Webber exceptional performance
It was an odd race, that began with Button and Hamilton leading from Vettel, before Vettel repassed them as the first pit stops were made. He jumped Hamilton just before his stop on Lap 13, but admitted he was somewhat bemused when leader Button initially drove into the Red Bull pit before frantically being waved through to McLaren next door!
Rosberg had stopped on Lap 12 and then had a spell in the lead for Mercedes from Lap 17 until he stopped again on Lap 25. That put Vettel back in the lead until he stopped for the second and last time on Lap 31, whereupon Massa had a spell in front. The Brazilian was right back on form, comfortably outpacing team mate Fernando Alonso this day.
Such are the characteristics of the Pirellis that the form of races is not established until the final stints, and by Lap 40 Vettel was out front, 3.6s ahead of Massa with Rosberg third from Hamilton, who had overtaken Button. Steadily Massa reeled in Vettel, but it was the McLarens that were on the move. Hamilton took Rosberg on Lap 42, Massa on 44, and then slashed a 3.7s deficit to Vettel before forcing his way by in Turn Seven on the 52nd lap.
For a while it seemed that Button might follow suit, but Webber had the freshest tyres. He ran the primes until Lap 10, then switched to the softer options and, having made his final stop on Lap 40, was flying. As Button began to move in on Vettel, having passed Massa and Rosberg, Webber was stalking him and dived by on the penultimate lap to make the podium after a superb effort.
Three-stopping Rosberg was left fifth, ahead of the disillusioned Massa and Alonso for whom two-stop strategies had not worked out, while a decent afternoon's work left Schumacher eighth. Renault's two-stop strategy didn't do the trick either, but Vitaly Petrov took ninth place from Paul di Resta on the 52nd lap, and Kamui Kobayashi pushed the Scottish rookie out of the points for the first time in his short Formula One career soon afterwards.
By the finish Di Resta was under heavy pressure from Nick Heidfeld too, after the German had had an adventurous race trapped in the midfield. He held off the Renault, however, but was disappointed to miss out on a point after yet again being Force India's faster driver.
Rubens Barrichello was 13th for Williams after a race spent dicing mainly with Heikki Kovalainen's Lotus, while Toro Rosso's promising afternoon evaporated right at the start as Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi dropped back. The Spaniard became the race's sole retirement when he lost the righ-rear wheel after his first pit stop, while Buemi had to be satisfied with 14th after a deeply disappointing afternoon.
The Swiss driver headed home Adrian Sutil, who was involved in a collision for which Sauber's Sergio Perez was given a drive-through penalty. The Mexican finished 17th, behind Kovalainen, and ahead of Williams' Pastor Maldonado and Jarno Trulli in the other Lotus, who had relatively uneventful races. Jerome D'Ambrosio was again Virgin's faster runner, heading home Timo Glock in 20th and 21st places, while Tonio Liuzzi caught and passed HRT team mate Narain Karthikeyan on the final lap after having to make up a lot of ground following a drive-through penalty early on for jumping the start.
Vettel now has 68 points from Hamilton's 47, with Button third on 38 from Webber's 37, Alonso's 26 and Massa's 24. Red Bull still lead the constructors' championship, with 105 points to McLaren's 85, Ferrari's 50 and Renault's 32.
Vettel wins one of most dominant drives of his career
From the moment the five red lights disappeared to finally raise the curtain on the new campaign, the 23-year-old German was never troubled. Vettel's margin of victory was a yawning 22 seconds to McLaren's Hamilton, who had earlier damaged his car in running wide at turn one.
"I don't think it was an easy race, the start was crucial. I tried to hold the gap but then you see how quickly things change.
Jenson Button came home sixth, an impressive recovery after a drive-through penalty, ahead of the one-stopping Sergio Perez and the other Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi. Felipe Massa and Sebastian Buemi (Toro Rosso) completed the top ten.
Sebastian Vettel analyzed by David Coulthard
Q: Will winning the title make Vettel a better driver??
"Drivers go through various stages in their career. Winning the title will move Vettel out of the first one - when, if you like, you're young and somewhat naive and everything's new and exciting and you're driving on your instincts - into the next one, when you're established and starting to mature.
"Drivers are very young when they come into F1 these days - and Sebastian was no exception; he made his debut at 19. So they have not had the chance to develop fully into adult life before being put under the spotlight of the media and public, and all the adulation that comes with that.
"I remember people saying to me: 'Don't change.' But the reality is you have to change. Your environment changes, you're growing as an individual, you develop tastes.
"That's a long-winded way of saying what I've been impressed with about Sebastian is how inwardly calm and confident he is without being arrogant.
"If you compare him to Michael Schumacher, Michael was often pigeon-holed as having what appeared to be an arrogant persona. At no time has Seb displayed that in his short time in F1.
"Whether that's the way he's wired, the way he's been brought up, we'll find out in time. But I would be surprised if he became a slightly distant and aloof champion.
"He has achieved a goal and a milestone in his life and reset the counter and is now going to try to do it again, in the same way as Fernando Alonso has always had the same approach to his racing, whether he was at Minardi, Renault, McLaren or Ferrari.
"Fernando has a steel edge to him - his whole demeanour shouts: 'Don't mess with me, otherwise I'll use all the tools at my disposal to screw you back.' But if you don't poke him, he doesn't come looking for trouble.
"I've always respected his position, even when it was easy to give him a bashing when it was Lewis and him in the same team and it was the Brit and the 'nasty Spaniard'.
"You've got to respect someone's position if they're consistent in what they ask for and how they react. I think that's a quality not a negative and it's one Vettel has, too."
Q: How does Vettel approach his racing?
"He keeps his private life very private. That's a conscious decision - he's a racing driver, he comes to the track and does his racing and when he's not at the track he does whatever else it is he does.
"He's very clear on what he wants and how he expects things to be, but equally if it's explained to him that's not the way it's going to be, then he moves on. He fights the battles he can win and steps over the ones that are just going to use energy.
"So there's a high degree of intelligence and social skills there that I'm hoping will make him a very good ongoing champion and representative of the sport.
"It should also ensure he can really enjoy this period of his life because the demands on his time will increase as he gets more and more recognised."
Q: Will he make fewer mistakes than in 2010?
"Irrespective of whether he'd won the championship or not, you've got to hope you make fewer mistakes as you go through life.
"Inevitably, when your job is balancing a racing car on the limits of adhesion, then occasionally you will get that wrong.
"Alonso hasn't made a great deal of mistakes in his career but he dropped it in his McLaren year in Japan and he dropped it in Spa last year while running all alone.
"These guys will make mistakes. They are only human.
"What will be telling is how Vettel deals with the aftermath - such as walking away doing the 'nutter' symbol after he and Mark Webber crashed into each other in Turkey. I think Seb would do that differently next time around having lived through that.
"You've got to imagine there has to be something that clicks within you when you've achieved your goal and won a world championship - a tick against the inner peace box.
"I'm curious to see how he reacts. I'm a fan not because I have an association with the team, but because he shows a level of respect for the sport but equally he knows it's his journey and he has to do it himself without getting a leg-up."
Q: What are Vettel's F1 ambitions?
"It's interesting, listening to some of the things he says, that he clearly wants to set new statistical records. Often during the race he will ask what the fastest lap time is so he can better it despite no points being on offer."
"Whether that is about statistics or ego is an open question, but I think it's more about statistics. I think he's entirely comfortable in his own skin.
"I've read that he has his sights on beating Schumacher's records. He's never come out and said that, but I suspect that's true. Look at the way he's going after fastest laps.
"Unless he turns around and says that's not the case, we have to presume he's doing it for the pleasure of having the fastest lap, and having it down in the record books."
Q: How ultimately good is he?
"This is one of the things we're going to find out - is he has good as Hamilton, is he as good as Alonso? Well, that remains to be seen. I think it's a valid question and it has to be asked.
"So far, in terms of top-line drivers, Vettel has only been up against Mark Webber in equal equipment.
"Mark had a long journey to a front-running car - from Minardi to Jaguar to Williams before going to Red Bull, where he was involved in building the team up to where it is today.
"I think that took the wind out of Mark's sails a bit. And when he got a winning car, he was already 33 and had a lot of other stuff going on in his life, such as being an investor in a GP3 team.
"The difference between Vettel and Webber last season was on average about a 10th of a second in qualifying, which is absolutely nothing. And you have to remember that Mark was never able to achieve the same weight distribution in the car for qualifying because he is a bigger, heavier guy.
"If Mark could have got the weight to absolutely the right position, it could have been a 10th the other way. And track position being king, suddenly the whole balance of power changes.
"You've got two guys with potentially equal speed, one with the responsibilities that you assume through life and the other starting his journey and presumably with fewer commitments away from the track.
"If he was up against Mark five years ago without all the other stuff going on, then maybe Mark would have walked away with the championship.
"He did lead it for most of the season, and it's such a fine line between success and failure.
"So I think Seb was allowed a comfort zone - because of his natural speed and his youth.
"Let's wait and see. I just hope we get the chance to see a real good wheel-to-wheel battle between them and Fernando and Lewis while they're all at their peak.
"Seb is very much at the beginning of his career. He is the youngest world champion, a class driver, a great ambassador for the sport. He has, in many ways, rebuilt some of the bridges that were damaged during Michael's time as a German world champion.
"He's very special. I'm a fan. He's a very level-headed young racer, and he's at an exceptionally high level. But I think it's fair to say in the fullness of time we'll be able to answer more questions."
Content credits: BBC Formula 1
Vettel grabs title glory in style
Vettel made the most of his pole position to lead into the first corner from Hamilton and a fast-starting Jenson Button who got the jump on Alonso. But the big incident came immediately behind the leaders, Michael Schumacher spinning his Mercedes in an attempt to defend position from team-mate Nico Rosberg.
Unable to put the brakes on in time, Tonio Liuzzi ploughed into Schumacher's car, his front wing and nosecone just missing the seven-time world champion's head. It marked the end of a disappointing return to Formula One for Schumacher but it could easily have ended in far worse circumstances.
When racing resumed after the safety car period, Vettel was disappearing into the distance, pulling out a second a lap to Alonso by lap eight. Red Bull was the first team to blink on lap 12, Webber coming in for an early tyre change, the Australian paying the price for running his one set of soft tyres longer in qualifying. Four laps later it was Alonso's turn, Ferrari reacting to Red Bull's move and the Spaniard coming out just ahead of Webber.
But with the tires failing to come to Alonso, so his title chances disappeared into the Abu Dhabi night, Webber also struggling to make any inroads from the midfield. In stark contrast, Button's legendary tyre management and race craft paid handsome dividends, the 2009 champion staying out and momentarily grabbing the lead of the race.
But there was to be no denying Vettel, who once again took the lead after Button's late stop to win the title in style by taking the chequered flag from Hamilton and Button. In truth, it has to be said that Vettel is a deserved world champion and but for some technical misfortunes and unfortunate retirements could well have wrapped up the title earlier in the season.
As it was, Vettel won by four points from Alonso with Webber 14 points behind in third. But McLaren's double podium means they finished second in the constructors' standings ahead of Ferrari.
For Alonso, the quest for a third drivers' title must wait for 2011 and there will now be no repercussions into the rigged German Grand Prix result. Some may say that justice was done.
Credits: ESPN F1
Sebastian Vettel wins ahead of Webber for a Red Bull 1-2
Both Vettel and Webber made short work of pole-sitter Nico Hulkenberg at the start, Alonso also finding a way past the Williams car within a few laps of the start. But Lewis Hamilton was unable to do likewise and found himself stuck behind the young German, losing valuable ground on his title rivals before eventually passing for fourth.
The race then followed something of a procession until a late crash by Tonio Liuzzi into turn 2 brought out a late safety car to bunch up the field. But the Red Bulls were again able to stretch away from their rivals to set up a grandstand finish in Abu Dhabi.
Credits: ESPN F1
