The recent launch of Ferrari’s F150 challenger marks the unofficial beginning of the 2011 Formula One season. So, for a quick reminder of the immediate season past, take the jump to watch an excellent highlights clip which celebrates the sport’s 60th anniversary year.
It’s a very entertaining piece of footage and is the perfect complement to our 2010 pictorial season review.
Unfortunately for Mark Webber fans, and Ferrari fans too, the decision to pit early for fresh tyres at last night’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix has not become any wiser. Seventh for Alonso, and eighth for Webber, left those two in places that are darker than they could have imagined before the race began. However, it’s nothing but sunshine for Sebastian Vettel.
At 23 years, 4 months, 12 days, Vettel’s victory on the Yas Marina circuit saw him become the sport’s youngest ever World Champion. On balance the young German has been the quickest driver across the season, his 10 pole positions and five race wins attest to that.
It seems a long time ago now, but poor fortune through mechanical failure robbed him of victory in the first two races at Bahrain and Australia. Then, the recent engine failure in Korea stole another race win from his grasp. Add 75 points to his tally of 256 points and take 50 points away from Alonso, who was the man to benefit with a win in two of those three races, and all of a sudden you can see how the 2010 season may well have been a procession, much like last night’s race.
Sadly, this means it wasn’t to be for Mark Webber, who must be congratulated for running Vettel right down to the wire. Webber wasn’t given much chance at the start of the year and his five pole positions and four race wins certainly made quite a few people stand up and take notice. Especially those in his own garage. Here’s hoping Webber proves to be solid nuisance value again in 2011.
For now, you can read the post-race press conference including Vettel’s comments and those of the McLaren pair of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. Perhaps, a nice sight to see the two most recent World Champions on the podium to crown the sport’s newest king.
There’s not long to go now. The first Free Practice session at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix begins in under 12 hours. This is the first time in Formula One history that four drivers have still been in the hunt for the Drivers’ title going into the last race.
There are numerous permutations that could lead to any one of those guys in the picture above being crowned World Champion after the race; the pressure on Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Red Bull’s Mark Webber, in particular, is huge. Check out the pre-race presser after the break to see how they’re coping so far.
[Pics: Red Bull/Getty Images]
To honour Red Bull’s success in the 2010 Constructors’ Championship and the genius of Adrian Newey’s RB6 here is their post-Brazilian Grand Prix press release, accompanied by a short video montage from BBC TV. Of course, there’s more images from Red Bull’s celebrations in the Brazilian Grand Prix in pictures article.
Also joining in the fun is Renault who have just inked a new two-year deal with Red Bull.
[Thanks to Micky for the video tip]
So it was another Red Bull Racing one-two in Brazil this morning, with the young German Sebastian Vettel taking the win to keep his title hopes well and truly alive. Australia’s Mark Webber came home second and is still the closest man to Ferrari’s Fernando, some eight points behind. Alonso, third, simply needs to finish second or better at next weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to become the youngest man to be crowned a triple World Champion.
The Constructors’ Championship was decided in Sao Paulo with the maximum points haul for Red Bull enough for the Milton Keynes based outfit to deny the chances of McLaren. Cast your mind back to the bits and pieces that were left over from the old Jaguar team at the end of 2004 and consider their reincarnation as Red Bull Racing is now the best team in F1; very impressive given the resources and history of their closest opponents. As Team Principal it is fair and reasonable that Christian Horner was on the podium to claim the team’s trophy, perhaps, though, it should have been Adrian Newey; without him the RB6 may not have been the dominant car in season 2010.
Clearly Fernando Alonso is the odd man out in the picture above, will it be him, or one of the Red Bull men with the broadest smile after the season finale?
You can gauge the thoughts of all three contenders with the full transcript from the post-race press conference below.
[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]
Red Bull Racing returned to the victory dais at Suzuka today with Sebastian Vettel claiming his third race win of the year. Constantly at the top of the time sheets, Vettel was the dominant man all weekend and started the race from pole position. Teammate Mark Webber completed the Red Bull Racing domination by securing an comfortable looking second place. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso took the final podium position.
With three races to go the title race now looks set to be a race between Webber, Vettel and Alonso. A solid haul of points saw Webber slightly extend his championship lead this weekend. He is now on 220pts, with both Alonso and Vettel close behind on 206pts.
The full post-race press conference transcript is available below.
Formula One’s mid-season break is almost over. That means it’s time for the Belgian Grand Prix. Mark is also back to tell us about Belgian sausages, rain and, of course, one of the best circuits on the F1 calendar. For a bird’s eye look at the Spa F1 circuit click here. The view from the Red Bull simulator can be seen after the break.
Let’s hope we see Webber leaping for joy late on Sunday night!
With victory at Silverstone overnight Mark Webber became the first driver to win three races in 2010. And, following that qualifying wing-swap controversy with teammate Sebastian Vettel, what a satisfying win it was too.
Webber was determined to take the lead by the first corner and after the race he explained, “It was pretty straightforward. I made a good start. I was very keen to make it my corner and it worked out well for me, so it was good.”
The Australian was still firm in his views when asked in the post-race press conference about the situation from qualifying, “Yesterday was a really unique situation. It was the first time that the team had really had one component. Honestly I would never have signed a contract again for next year if I believed that that was the way it was going to be going forward. That’s why I was disappointed yesterday and was honest with you guys. Let’s see how it goes in the future but I just keep doing what I do and hopefully it’s enough.”
The complete transcript from the press-conference is now available at Formula1.com. Also, selected team and driver quotes recorded after the race, including words from Vettel, can be read as well.
After the jump a set of Red Bull Racing images captured from race day and qualifying are available. Images from other teams to follow soon.
UPDATE: SMH.com.au brings us some amazing allegations of intra-team rivalry at Red Bull Racing: “Webber’s mechanics were said to have removed the ‘old’ front wing that Webber had been forced to race with and waved it at Vettel’s side of the garage.”
UPDATE II: New pics from McLaren, Mercedes GP, Williams, Sauber, Force India, Toro Rosso, Renault and Ferrari added below.
Mark Webber has won his third Grand Prix of the 2010 Formula One season at Silverstone this evening. Webber started from second on the grid, behind his Red Bull Racing teammate Sebastian Vettel, but was able to edge ahead of Vettel into the first corner.
Through the next series of corners Vettel ran wide and picked up a puncture after minor contact with Lewis Hamilton. This setback which sent Vettel to the back of the field. From there it was a masterful race from Webber who maintained the lead for the rest of the race.
Lewis Hamilton finished second and was able to pressure the Australian in the in the first part of the race when both drivers were on the softer compound tyres. Hamilton came into change tyres before Webber, but Red Bull Racing got Webber in and out safely on the next lap and back out ahead of Hamilton. Once on the harder prime tyres Webber was supreme and the only way Hamilton could close the gap was thanks to a safety car period to clear some debris from the track.
After the restart Webber once again pulled away and established a comfortable lead. As the race drew to an inevitable end Webber slowed his pace and coasted to victory just 1.3 seconds ahead of Hamilton. Nico Rosberg finished in third place. Vettel, for his misfortune at the start of the race, managed to make the most of the safety car period to fight back into the points finishing in seventh position.
Mark Webber’s series of track previews filmed from the Red Bull Racing simulator have been a great insight before each Grand Prix this year. What we haven’t been given is a closer look at the simulator itself. It’d be every gamers dream to have a rig as complex and realistic as the RBR machine seems to be. If that’s you, well, you’re in luck.
With this clip Webber takes us behind the scenes look at Red Bull’s driving toy. Don’t worry, its not like F1’s newest perfect match Mark and Sebastian get all the fun. Shown above is young Aussie driver Daniel Ricciardo and the Scuderia Toro Rosso team also get their time behind the virtual wheel, as well.
Stay tuned for Webber’s preview of the Canadian Grand Prix, which should be online in the next day or two.
Mark Webber has driven a masterful race at Monaco to win his second Formula One Grand Prix in as many weekends. After clutching pole position at the death during qualifying he was able to keep his Red Bull machine out of trouble from the start and take the chequered flag unchallenged. This is the first Australian win at Monaco since Sir Jack Brabham’s 1959 breakthrough victory
Several Safety Car periods ensured Mark had to keep his wits about him, but after each green flag he was able to simply drive away with apparent ease. In fact the race almost finished behind the safety car after an incident between Jarno Trulli and Karun Chandok. The tangled mess happened right in front of Webber. The Australian kept his cool and was able to avoid the incident and maintain his lead.
As it was the Safety Car pulled in at the last corner to allow Webber to cross the line at full noise to claim his fourth career victory. Amazingly, Webber now leads the World Championship. Sebastien Vettel finished the race second and joins Webber on 78 points. However, Webber is classified as Championship leader on account of winning two races to Vettel’s one. Pleasingly for Red Bull they are turning their qualifying dominance into race wins.
Robert Kubica finished third in a great result for Renault. Of course, the Red Bull RB6 is powered by Renault engines, thus giving the French company a clean sweep of the podium.
Speaking after the race Webber with a beaming smile declared it was “the greatest day of my life today.” The significance of a Monaco Grand Prix victory on his CV was not lost on Mark who said, “it was a very, very rewarding win, and (I’m) just absolutely elated. To join Aytron Senna and those guys around here, it’s real blue riband event.”
In further good news for Australian motorsport young gun, and Red Bull test driver, Daniel Ricciardo won the Formula Renault 3.5 race at Monaco earlier today.
[Pics: via OneHD]
Mark Webber is back in his fancy Red Bull Racing computer game thingy. This time he’s giving us a preview of what to expect from this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix. Well, apart from lots of fans for Fernando and a tough race for car and driver.
You can see the video below after the break.