Tag: Red Bull

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Reaction to Mark Webber’s Porsche move

Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, Jenson Button

The reaction to Mark Webber’s decision to quit Formula 1 and switch to endurance racing with Porsche has captured the attention of the media across the world.

To be honest we’ve been a little surprised by how much coverage there has been, especially in the F1 paddock. Perhaps that says a lot about the high regard in which Mark is held, where his no nonsense and honest approach is greatly appreciated.

So here’s a grab of some of the comments that have been made since Mark’s move to Porsche was announced, starting with the FIA’s Thursday press conference ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

It’s interesting to note that Mark said his mind has been made up for some time, which adds more weight to the early rumours which first emerged in June last year and again in April this year.

Q: A momentous announcement from you today. Tell us the thinking behind the announcement of your retirement from Formula One. And how significant is the year, 2013 to 2014?

Mark WEBBER: Well, the timing is perfect for me. Very, very excited about my new chapter and the new challenge ahead. One of the most famous and most well-respected brands in automotive and motor racing in Porsche, so that’s something which personally I’m very satisfied about taking on. The decision has been there for quite a long time for me actually. So, I’ve known for quite a while, I’ve had a plan and I’ve stuck to it. But still, in the meantime, respecting the profession that I have now at this level and focusing on achieving very, very strong results in my last season in Formula One.

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Vettel re-signs with Red Bull until 2015

Sebastian Vettel

A short and sweet article on the official Red Bull Racing website has confirmed that Sebastian Vettel has extended his contract with the team until the end of 2015.

Vettel is the youngest triple world champion in Formula 1 having won titles in 2010, 2011 and 2012. After victory in Canada on the weekend the 25-year-old currently enjoys a 36 point lead in the 2013 championship standings.

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

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Ferrari Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

2013 Canadian GP: Post-race press conference

2013 Canadian Grand Prix

Back whenever it was that the FIA started to interview the drivers on the podium after each race (2012 British Grand Prix) we thought it was a clumsy approach. To be fair, there were some teething problems and it did get better. It’s true, also, that fans at the track probably deserve to hear from the drivers they have paid, in many cases, several hundred dollars to watch.

And yet, when you read the transcript below, you won’t really get too much of a clue that all the while during Eddie Jordan’s interview with Sebastian Vettel the German was being booed while Fernando Alonso was being cheered along.

To be fair, the transcript does read a little odd and Jordan seems to cut-off Vettel. In fact he did cut-off the race winner mid-sentence partly to stop the jeering from the crowd we suspect. It was a bad look all around and perhaps the FIA may have cause to reconsider the practice of on-track interviews.

For now, we expect the status quo will remain, as it probably should, but as much as we dislike Vettel at times, he deserved better than the Canadian crowd gave him.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Sebastian Vettel wins 2013 Canadian GP

2013 Canadian Grand Prix

The Sebastian Vettel–Red Bull dominance of recent years was captured perfectly at the 2013 Canadian Grand Prix, as the three-time world champion converted his 39th career pole position into his 29th career victory.

Vettel wasn’t troubled during the 70 lap race and the 14.4 second margin back to Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) in second place flatters the rest of the field. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) rounded out the top three.

Mark Webber (Red Bull) flirted with the podium positions for much of the race, despite minor front wing damage suffered on lap 37 in a collision with Giedo van der Garde (Caterham). Webber was not pleased with van der Garde’s actions either, slamming the 28-year-old as a “a pay driver with no mirrors”.

“I got a sensational start, but I didn’t have too many places to go,” said Webber.”We lost some time with Nico in the first stint, and the car was getting hot behind him in the slip stream. Once I got in free air, the car was handling much better. Then we had the incident with Giedo van der Garde which caused some front wing damage and made it more difficult; the whole top section of the wing was gone on the left hand side, so it didn’t help from then on. I don’t know what he was doing.

“There were some positives from today, but it would have been nicer to have finished a bit further up the road.”

Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) finished fifth, ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) who finished a career-best sixth.

Daniel Ricciardo was well behind his Toro Rosso teammate and could only manage P15. “I got a really good start, making up two positions off the line,” said Ricciardo afterwards. “I felt we could have a good race, but after just four laps, the car was oversteering like crazy and I couldn’t manage the tyres anymore. As the race went on, we tried to improve the car balance and maybe we improved it a bit, but our pace was really slow.

“We didn’t change so much on the car since Friday, so why we were so slow is a mystery to me at the moment.”

Both McLaren drivers finished outside of the points in P11 and P12, ending McLaren’s 64-race run of at least one car scoring championship points.

In awful post-race news it emerged that a marshal was killed in a terrible accident with a crane removing Esteban Gutierrez’s Sauber. The marshal slipped while out of sight of the crane driver and was run over. He was rushed to hospital and passed away last night. Our thoughts are with his family and colleagues.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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2013 Canadian GP: Qualifying report

2013 Canadian Grand Prix

Rain and a red flag couldn’t stop Sebastian Vettel from claiming his 39th career pole position overnight. The Red Bull driver set the fastest time (1:25.425) at the Canadian Grand Prix and will start ahead of Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes, 1:25.512).

Next is a surprise result for Valtteri Bottas (Williams, 1:25.512), who will start from P3, easily the best qualifying position in his short F1 career. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes, 1:25.512) may have started the last three grands prix from pole, but the best the Monaco Grand Prix winner could manage was fourth.

Mark Webber (Red Bull, 1:25.512) will line up on the third row of the grid in P5, with Fernando Alonso (Ferrari, 1:25.512) alongside from P6.

Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso, 1:27.946) outqualified his teammate Daniel Ricciardo (1:27.946) and it’s the first time this year both made it into Q3. Vergne will start from P7 and Ricciardo qualified tenth but will start from P11 (see below).

Felipe Massa again found trouble in qualifying, following up his crash at Monaco with another barrier-finding moment here in Canada. That brought out a red flag in Q2 with just under two minutes left to run. When the track re-opened all the remaining cars lined up in pit lane to chase entry into Q3.

Several drivers were side-by-side in pit lane, leaving some drivers outside the designated fast lane, which is not strictly allowed. However, only Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) and Daniel Ricciardo were penalised. Both were given two-spot penalties and will now start from P10 and P11 respectively. In a quirk of process both drivers only move back one grid place, as explained by the FIA.

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2011 Monaco Grand Prix: Post-race press conference

2011 Monaco Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel has made it back-to-back wins for Red Bull Racing at the Monaco Grand Prix by claiming victory in a dramatic race overnight. His fifth win of the year, and his first on the famous street circuit, has given him a seemingly unassailable 58 point lead in the drivers’ standings. Fernando Alonso achieved Ferrari’s best result for the season to date by finishing second, ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button.

As always, Monaco provided plenty of action and gave us the first Safety Car laps of the year. The race was heading for a thrilling climax with Vettel, Alonso and Button all nose-to-tail with six laps remaining. All drivers were on different tyre strategies with Vettel, having only stopped once on lap 16, hoping to hold his track position by running 62 laps on the Prime tyres.

Vettel was somewhat forced into a one-stop strategy after the usually lightening quick Red Bull crew made a hash of his first pit stop (9.6 seconds) and followed that immediately after with a worse stop for Webber (15.5 seconds); all but ruining the Australian’s race, who did well to fight back to fourth place.

Meanwhile, in the closing stages Alonso’s tyres were fresher than Vettel’s, but still 20-odd laps old, while Button’s three-stop race meant he had the cleanest and quickest rubber of the top three.

On lap 72, while fast approaching slower traffic, the leading trio were lucky to miss a bit of kerfuffle immediately ahead of them involving Vitaly Petrov (Lotus Renault GP) and Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso). The pair crashed into the barriers and caused the second Safety Car period of the race, which quickly turned into a red flag after initial concerns over the well being of Petrov. With just six laps left to race it was first thought the race would end and Vettel would be declared the winner. Petrov was safely removed from his car and it subsequently appears he will be okay.

While Petrov was being attended to the cars formed up on the grid and under red flag conditions were able to make the most of a relatively lengthy delay by making minor adjustments to their cars if required. Crucially, this also gave teams the chance to fit fresh rubber if available to them. Ultimately, this handed Vettel the race who, after the restart, was able to hold off Alonso and Button for what looked like a comfortable win. Although, at various times all three men on the podium would have felt like they were best placed to win.

You can read what they had to say after the break. Video highlights are available at the One website.

[Pic: Ferrari]

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2011 Chinese Grand Prix in pictures

2011 Chinese GP

Still buzzing after the excitement of the Chinese Grand Prix? We reckon Lewis Hamilton probably is after he managed break the grip Sebastian Vettel was starting to force on the 2011 Formula One season.

Here’s 90 pics to help you relive all the action.

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Jenson Button reveals desire to drive for Red Bull

Jenson Button cocks up

Jenson Button took centre stage yesterday in one of the more bizarre incidents in Formula One history. Well, actually, what he took was Sebastian Vettel’s parking spot when the two drivers came in to pit during the Chinese Grand Prix.

As world champion constructor Red Bull Racing has the first garage in pit lane. McLaren, Button’s team, has the next garage down. So, when Button and Vettel raced into pitlane mechanics, from both teams were out waiting for their drivers. Button charged straight into the Red Bull spot, paused a little, was frantically waved on by Red Bull’s lollipop man, and then moved ahead to his McLaren bay a few metres ahead. Vettel seemed unfazed and the Red Bull team reacted with precision by sending out their man ahead of Button.

So, did Button simply make a rookie error? Was it a devious ploy to distract his rival team? Or has Button (not so) secretly revealed his wish to drive for Red Bull Racing?

While you can, check out the clip after the break.

[Pic: twitpic via @keithdaltons]

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Ricciardo sets blistering pace to stay on top

Daniel Ricciardo

On the second and final day of young driver testing Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo, driving for Red Bull Racing, stayed on top of the time sheets by setting a fastest lap time of 1:38.340 – a blistering effort that bettered Sebastian Vettel’s pole position time from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix by 1.3 seconds.

Ricciardo was driving Mark Webber’s chassis which won the Hungarian Grand Prix and the 21-year-old used it to his best advantage by setting the quickest times in both the morning and afternoon session. A full list of times can be seen after the break.

The F1 teams will have a rest day before commencing testing with new Pirelli tyres on Friday.

[via Autosport]

UPDATE: A new statement from the Ricciardo stable has been added below.

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Sebastian Vettel talks about winning the World Championship

Sebastian Vettel

Here’s a brief video of Sebastian Vettel talking about his Formula One World Championship success. He starts by talking about his relationship with Mark Webber, before discussing his emotional response to discovering he had just won F1’s biggest prize.

[Thanks to Wes for the tip]

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2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in pictures

2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Here is our last image gallery from the 2010 Formula One season. Bringing you these pics has been a fun, albeit labour intensive, addition to the AUSmotive routine and we look forward to bringing you more great pics in 2011.

For now, though, here are 101 photos from the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. It is Sebastian Vettel’s time to shine; Mark Webber fans – you may want to look away now.

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2010 Abu Dhabi GP – Post-race press conference

2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

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.

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