Tag: Sebastian Vettel

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Sebastian Vettel wins 2013 United States GP

2013 United States Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel has just won the 2013 United States Grand Prix to wrap up his eighth grand prix victory in a row. Nobody else has ever done that in a single season before. It’s Vettel’s twelfth win of the year and if he can win next weekend’s race in Brazil he will equal Michael Schumacher’s record for the most wins in a season.

Off the line Vettel was okay, but Mark Webber and Romain Grosjean, especially, got away faster. Starting from P2 Webber was squeezed tight on the climb into Turn 1 and Gorsjean and Lewis Hamilton were able to pass him around the outside, leaving Vettel to scamper off into the distance.

Soon after Mark overtook Lewis and that’s pretty much your race, at least for the top three. In the closing stages Mark was fighting with Romain for P2, but he couldn’t quite get close enough to effect a move and had to settle for third place.

Hamilton finished fourth ahead of Fernando Alonso. Nico Hulkenberg performed well for Sauber coming home in P6 around four seconds ahead of Sergio Perez, who will be very happy to finish in the points and ahead of Jenson Button after being sacked by McLaren.

Valtteri Bottas collected his first world championship points by finishing in eighth place comfortably ahead of Nico Rosberg. Button claimed the last point on offer with a late move on Daniel Ricciardo, who finished in P11.

The only real excitement during the grand prix happened early on when Adrian Sutil and Pastor Maldonado squabbled on the first lap. Sutil lost the battle and crashed out of the race, bringing the Safety Car out until his car was safely out of harm’s way.

Hosting it’s second Formula 1 Grand Prix, Austin seems to be winning plenty of fans and all the drivers seem to like racing on the Circuit of the Americas. Maybe F1 has finally cracked the US market?

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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2013 United States GP: Qualifying report

2013 United States Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel snatched P1 from Mark Webber’s hands early this morning at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, to collect his 44th career pole position.

In their final laps in Q3 Webber (1:36.441) already held provisional pole and he looked to have done enough improving by several tenths. After the first two sectors of his final lap Vettel (1:36.338) was behind Webber but the four-time world champion nailed the final sector to edge his Red Bull teammate by 0.13 seconds.

Romain Grosjean (1:37.155) was the best of the rest, putting his Lotus on P3. One of the favourites to be his teammate in 2014, Nico Hulkenberg (1:37.296) will start alongside in his Sauber. A nod to the future of Formula 1 as well, perhaps.

The third row is the best Mercedes AMG and Ferrari could muster, with Lewis Hamilton (1:37.345) to line up from fifth place and Fernando Alonso (1:37.376) from sixth. Still, they’d be much happier than their teammates who will start well down the grid. Nico Rosberg (1:38.364) didn’t make Q3 and will start from P13 and he’ll have Felipe Massa (1:38.592) alongside him, way back on the seventh row of the grid.

Sergio Perez (1:37.452) will have a wry smile after putting his McLaren well inside the top 10, with Jenson Button (1:38.217) qualifying thirteenth, but sent back three place for passing under a red flag in FP1; he’ll now start from P16.

Heikki Kovalainen (1:37.715) did pretty much what was asked by Lotus and he will line up from P8, with Valtteri Bottas (1:37.836) and Esteban Gutierrez (1:38.034) rounding out the top 10.

Daniel Ricciardo (1:38.131) just missed Q3 and will start from P11, four places ahead of his Toro Rosso teammate, Jean-Eric Vergne (1:38.696), who moved up one place to P15 following Button’s penalty.

“Overall, I am pretty happy with eleventh, which is clearly very close to making the cut to Q3,” said Ricciardo. “Now I’m looking forward to the race: I’m just outside the top 10, I’m on the clean side of the track and I get a free tyre choice.”

Due to the time difference back to the United States the FIA hasn’t got the press conference transcript available just yet, but it can’t be far away. In the meantime you can see the full starting positions for tomorrow’s race after the break.

UPDATE: Word just through from race stewards that Esteban Gutierrez has been given a 10-spot grid penalty for impeding traffic in Q1. That puts him back to P20 for the race. Max Chilton has also been penalised with a drive-through penalty which must be served in the first five laps of the race.

UPDATE #2: The post-qualifying press conference transcript has now been added.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Formula 1 Infiniti Red Bull Racing

Some people are never happy

2013 Indian Grand Prix

The dominance of Sebastian Vettel in Formula 1 has had many people suggesting the sport has become boring. That it’s turning fans away from the category. The fact Vettel and his team have won the two biggest prizes in the sport for four consecutive years helps to support this claim.

As bad as that might be for the average F1 punter, if it is bad at all, you’d reckon team sponsors would be loving all the attention. Apparently not. Arriving late to the Red Bull gravy train—first as ordinary sponsor in 2011, then as title sponsor at the end of last year—Infiniti has always been an odd and slightly misleading fit with F1’s premier team, given Renault builds the engines. And now they’re actually having a whinge that Vettel’s success is bad for their sponsorship.

Yes, really. Here, look:

“It’s a fact that we are in F1 to gain awareness of our brand, and that’s all about getting eyeballs on screens.

“From that point of view you could say Sebastian has been too successful. Wrapping up the championship with four races to run is maybe not good news for us from that perspective.”

They’re the words of Andy Palmer, Infiniti’s Executive Vice President, and he may as well add moron to his otherwise impressive job title. Perhaps he’d prefer INFINITI Red Bull Racing to be fighting with Williams as the best former high achievers in the field scrapping over tenth place and whatever dignity that might offer.

A sponsor complaining that the team they back is too successful? Really, get a grip Andy. Proving his own flaws Palmer adds they will be leeching off Red Bull and Renault successes further by creating more special editions carrying Vettel’s name. Authentically, too he insists.

“The beauty of Seb is that he won’t get involved in any project that isn’t utterly authentic,” said Palmer. “So he turns up at our test days and puts in the hard work. It’s a genuine benefit, and we have plans to use his expertise on more models bearing his name. But the point is we want to do them properly, and that means they are inevitably a couple of years down the line in the product cycle.”

“Utterly authentic.” Do you reckon he had a straight face when he said that?

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

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2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in pictures

2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Another grand prix another stroll in the park for Sebastian Vettel. At least the photographers were given a tougher ride than Vettel at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, having to contend with twilight conditions before freezing the action under lights. We think you’ll agree they did a fine job, too.

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

VIDEO: Get your free donuts here!

2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Last week it cost Red Bull €25,000 so newly crowned world champion Sebastian Vettel could indulge in the art of the donut. This week the team has not only learnt its lesson but seen both Vettel and Mark Webber celebrate their one-two finish with a simultaneous donut display.

The best part is, it turns out if you return your car back in parc ferme, as per usual protocol, you are free to do donuts to your heart’s content. Although, we do wonder how long the FIA will humour drivers before providing some guidelines on when you can and can’t be a loon.

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2013 Abu Dhabi GP: Post-race press conference

2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Reflecting on his victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel was asked what it was like to equal the record of seven successive race wins jointly held by Michael Schumacher and Alberto Ascari. As is often the case Vettel spoke with humility and grace. He may be Formula 1’s pantomime villain, but after some time he’s maturing into a pretty decent guy, really.

In his comments Mark Weber spoke openly about his struggle with the Pirelli tyres, especially the soft compound rubber. He looked very happy on the podium last night and it was great to see him enjoying himself.

Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo expressed his disappointment after starting in the top 10 but finishing down in P16. Let’s hope he doesn’t develop Mark’s habit of poor starts when he moves to Red Bull. “This was not at all the race I was hoping for,” he said. “In this sport, if the start doesn’t go well, it’s hard to recover, so I want to look at the data to understand what happened. The car didn’t get off the line well and then, at Turn 1 there was a bit of chaos as I dropped back into the group behind me.

“I had to run wide to avoid some accidents and from then on, my race was pretty much over. At the moment, our pace is not sufficient to fight back into the top 10 if something like this happens. We must see what we can do to have better starts, because when we get good ones, we have generally gone on to score points.”

The full transcript of the post-race press conference featuring the first three drivers can be read after the break.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

Sebastian Vettel wins 2013 Abu Dhabi GP

2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel literally drove off into the sunset at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, on the way to another all too familiar dominant victory. It’s his seventh grand prix win in a row and his 30.8 second margin over Red Bull teammate Mark Webber tells the story.

Mark got off the line okay but was quickly gobbled up by Sebastian then Nico Rosberg (Mercedes AMG), who slipped back to third at the end of the race. Rosberg finished less than three seconds behind Webber and felt a second place may have been possible but was happy to be the best of the rest.

An expected challenge for the podium from Romain Grosjean didn’t bear fruit for the Lotus driver who finished fourth. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) once again raced better than he qualified, finishing fifth ahead of Paul di Resta (Force India) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes AMG).

Felipe Massa (Ferrari) and Sergio Perez (McLaren) provided some entertaining moments in mid-pack battles on the way to P8 and P9 respectively. While Adrian Sutil (Force India) picked up the final point on offer in a close fought affair.

Daniel Ricciardo couldn’t convert his ninth place start into points and he and Toro Rosso teammate Jean-Eric Vergne took a form finish of sorts back in sixteenth and seventeenth.

Kimi Raikkonen’s (Lotus) fight through the field from last place on the grid was short lived after contact with Giedo van der Garde (Caterham) forced him into retirement after the first corner.

Red Bull will be pleased with the one-two finish taking them to a total of 100 podiums in F1. But, as usual, the night was all about Sebastian and for the second race in a row he delighted fans with a series of donuts. This time though he took his car back to parc ferme as required.

Right now, he’s just too bloody good.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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2013 Abu Dhabi GP: Qualifying report

2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

For the second time in three races Mark Webber will start from pole position. In qualifying at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix overnight Webber (1:39.957) was the only driver to lap below 1 minute 40 seconds after he nailed his lap to leave everyone in his wake.

Speaking after qualifying Mark said greater experience at the Yas Marina circuit helped him achieve pole. “You can never stop learning, mate, even at this age, so it was a good day and puts us in a good position tomorrow,” he said.

Teammate and newly crowned 2013 world champion Sebastian Vettel (1:40.075) was close behind, with some margin back to Nico Rosberg (1:40.419) in P3. Lewis Hamilton (1:40.501) will start alongside his Mercedes AMG teammate and will be happy to do so after spinning out late in Q3.

Kimi Raikkonen (1:40.542) qualified fifth but he was disqualified when stewards found fault with the floor of his car. He will start at the back of the grid and his relationship with Lotus must be close to breaking point.

Nico Hulkenberg (1:40.576) is the first driver to benefit from Raikkonen’s misfortune, moving to P5. Behind him will be Romain Grosjean (1:40.997) and Felipe Massa (1:41.015), who once again qualified ahead of his more fancied teammate Fernando Alonso (1:41.093) back in P10.

Daniel Ricciardo (1:41.111) got himself into Q3 and now moves to P9 after Kimi’s penalty, but says he could have done better. “My Q2 lap was a very good one, but not the best, so I came into Q3 feeling I could improve in a few areas. We decided to make a slight adjustment to the front tyre pressures which turned out not to be the right decision, as I then had to work harder to warm the tyres. The lap itself was not too bad, but the time never came.”

And so we wait for the start of the race, with Webber in P1. It’s Mark’s thirteenth career pole position and brings him equal with Sir Jack Brabham to hold the record for most pole positions by an Australian driver. Fingers crossed he can make a clean and fast start.

[Pics: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

I’ll have €25,000 worth of donuts please

Sebastian Vettel at the 2013 Indian Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel’s decision to celebrate his fourth world championship with a series of donuts after winning the Indian Grand Prix earned him a post-race appointment with the FIA race stewards.

An FIA statement read in part: “The driver failed to proceed directly to the post race parc ferme as detailed under article 43.3 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations.

“Due to the special circumstances the Stewards accepted the explanation of the driver. The team failed to instruct the driver sufficiently to return directly to post race parc ferme.”

Vettel was handed an official reprimand, his first of the season, and Red Bull Racing was fined €25,000 for failing to instruct their pesky charge to return his car to his reserved #1 parking spot in pit lane.

We’re not sure what the FIA will do with that money, but we think there’s probably a worthy charity or two in India which could continue to benefit from the presence of Formula 1 in their country.

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

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2013 Indian Grand Prix in pictures

2013 Indian Grand Prix

Hats off to Sebastian Vettel, this gallery from the Indian Grand Prix is all about celebrating his achievements. There’s still heaps of photos from the rest of the field, of course. But it’s not every day a 26-year-old is crowned a four-time Formula 1 world champion and so we begin with a large sample from Red Bull’s media collection.

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2013 Indian GP: Post-race press conference

2013 Indian Grand Prix

In the unlikely event you haven’t heard the news, Sebastian Vettel is now a four time Formula 1 world champion, thanks to his Indian Grand Prix victory. There’s no surprises that Nico Rosberg and Romain Grosjean didn’t attract too many questions in the post-race press conference; it’s not every day a guy wins four titles in a row.

Before you get to the transcript of the post-race press conference a few words from Mark Webber (DNF) and Daniel Ricciardo (P10).

Mark Webber: “Obviously I’m pretty disappointed with today’s race, but there is not much I can do, the alternator went wrong with very short notice so we had to stop straight away. It’s tough because we did a lot of things right this weekend, but I’ve got a smile on my face as I could not have done any more.

“Well done to Seb on his Championship and also to all the Team; to get a fourth title is amazing. It’s been a great job by the whole team to achieve the title four years on the trot and it has once again set itself as the benchmark for the others.”

Daniel Ricciardo: “I am pretty pleased with today’s performance, even if during the race I thought we were looking better than a tenth place finish, especially after the first stint went well and the pace was looking good. It seemed as though we could have matched Sutil and Di Resta, so there’s a little bit of disappointment about the fact I couldn’t get past them and get a couple more points. Generally, I am pleased with what I did in the car and now we move on to Abu Dhabi, where we have a lot of support, so I hope we can give them a good result next Sunday.

“Vettel? Phenomenal! Particularly since the summer break, when he grabbed the title and never let anyone else look at it.”

[Pic: Lotus F1 Team/LAT Photographic]

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Sebastian Vettel wins 2013 Indian GP

Sebastian Vettel wins 2013 Indian Grand Prix

It’s just too easy for him isn’t it. So it would seem from afar at any rate.

Sebastian Vettel has cruised to victory at the Indian Grand Prix and in doing so secured his fourth consecutive world championship. He’s just 26 years old and while he has his fair share of detractors noone can take away what he has achieved. It’s quite remarkable.

From pole position, Vettel established an early lead; 2.4 seconds by the end of Lap 1. It was clearly a case of how far for the Red Bull ace. He took a small risk by pitting early to rid himself of his soft compound tyres but then showed his class by carving his way through the field to re-establish a race winning position.

Despite a messy start, suffering light contact with both Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber spent quite a bit of time leading the race. His different tyre strategy giving him an early edge over the other drivers around him. The plan was to establish a strong enough gap over Vettel to keep the lead. On this day, again, Vettel was unstoppable and his victory proved to be a formality. However, Mark was driving well and was on track for a comfortable second place.

Unfortunately for Mark he was instructed by his team to retire on account of an alternator problem. Vettel received a few warnings, as well, but he still posted quick laps and managed to win the race by almost 30 seconds over Nico Rosberg.

Even with Vettel’s huge achievement the drive of the day goes to Romain Grosjean who fought his way to P3 after the disappointment of starting from P17. His growing maturity has been one of the stories of the latter half of the season.

Daniel Ricciardo drove a long first stint, running as high as third and may have had eyes on a better result than the P10 he managed. That said he’ll be pleased with his efforts after he managed to hold off Fernando Alonso in the closing laps to grab a championship point.

And not much else really matters from tonight’s race because, deservedly, it’s all about Sebastian Vettel. His win secured a fourth constructors’ title in succession for Red Bull as well. Instead of returning his car to parc fermé, Vettel chose to entertain the crowd with a series of donuts on the main straight. Is there a better way to celebrate a record-breaking dual championship result?

It’s worth noting at the mid-season break, after the Hungarian Grand Prix, Vettel lead the championship title race by 38 points over Raikkonen. Handy, but not insurmountable. Fellow world champions Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton were also in touching distance. Since then, though, Vettel has won the ensuing six races and his unbeatable championship lead is now a staggering 115 points.

Vettel joins Juan Manuel Fangio, Alain Prost and Michael Schumacher as the only men to win four world titles. By some margin Vettel is the youngest man to achieve this record. The rule changes of 2014 may well upset Red Bull’s on-track dominance, making a fifth title harder to predict. But you sense a fifth world crown, and perhaps more, will come before he retires from the sport.

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