This blog contains snippets from the world of Formula 1 and other automobile sports: drivers, teams, rumours, events etc.... and especially news on Britain's youngest Formula 1 World Driver's Championship winner, Lewis Hamilton.
Narain Karthikeyan replaces Tonio Liuzzi in the HRT to be the only Indian on track for the inaugural Indian Grand Prix. In the drop out zone after Q1 were KOB, KOV, TRU, RIC, KAR, DAM, GLO.
Solo Indian at inaugural Indian Grand Prix
Out of Q2 were: PET, MSC, DIR, MAL, SEN, BAR, PER and the top 10 were VET, HAM, WEB, ALO, BUT, MAS, ROS, SUT, BUE, ALG.
For me, these three words describe the 2011 Italian Grand Prix:
Unfortunate: for Rosberg and Petrov who didn't get the chance to complete a lap of the race. They retired due to a collision caused by Liuzzi.
Agonising: Lewis Hamilton got stuck behind Schumacher for several laps and had to cope with illegal defensive moves from the German. He lost a place to his team-mate and had an unsuccessful last-lap attempt to overtake Alonso to gain a podium place.
Emotional: Bruno Senna scored his first F1 WDC points in his newly acquired seat in Lotus-Renault and the Senna name makes an apperance on the points board for the first time in 18 years.
Alonso had a great start which delighted the Ferrari 'tifosi'. Both McLarens were sluggish off the line and they dropped several places at start. Liuzzi's crash within a few minutes of race-start brought out the safety car, and at the re-start, Schumacher got ahead of Hamilton. And there began the British driver's race woes.
Hamilton (running 5th) was 'stuck' behind a relatively evenly-paced Mercedes of Schumacher (4th) and because of the scarcity of braking zones at Monza, there weren't many opportunities to harvest energy for KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System).
Schumacher had to be 'reminded' by his team-boss to leave enough room for the Brit and while trying to make a pass past the German, Hamilton lost 4th place to his team-mate, Button.
Hamilton eventually made it past Schumacher several laps later (by which time the leading pack had built a decent gap to the rest of the field), and almost chased down Alonso in the last few laps. He finally crossed the line in 4th place - to the delight of the tifosi - who were happy to see a Ferrari driver on the podium.
Italian GP Podium (photo via www.ausmotive.com)
Hamilton refrained from commenting on the Schumacher incident and just seemed content and grateful just to finish a race after his latest run of bad luck
Video from Sixtybuckss YouTube Channel (via BBC.co.uk)
Top 10 drivers: VET, BUT, ALO, BUT, SCH, MAS, ALG, DIR, SEN, BUE.
Notable Drives
Of the rookies, Di Resta was the only one to score points, finishing in 7th place. Kovalainen equalled his best finish of 13th and both Toro Rosso drivers finished in points-scoring positions, having started from 16th (Buemi) and 18th (Alguersuari). My drivers of the day were Alguersuari and Di Resta.
Rain was expected on Sunday as the cars lined up at the start of the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. However it was dry as the red lights went out, and what a start it was.
Hamilton had a fantastic start and quickly made his way ahead of the field. Webber appeared to have his hands full defending first place from Hamilton and preventing his team-mate from overtaking him: he prioritised keeping the other Red Bull car behind him. At one point, Vettel was in a Ferrari sandwich however Ferrari's Alonso managed to stay in front and they settled into this order: HAM, WEB, ALO, VET, ROS, MAS by the end of the first lap.
Alonso, Hamilton and Webber traded first place several times, but the McLaren driver was ahead for most of the race.Great pit-stops, bold non-DRS overtaking moves and a perfectly-timed strategy call to change to prime tyres, meant that Hamilton finished the race ahead of Alonso and Webber. His second win this season and his 16th career win.
After drab and rainy practice sessions on Friday, Qualifying on Saturday was practically dry. Drivers who dropped out after Q1 were the usual suspects of: Kovalainen, Chandhok (who takes Trulli's place this weekend), Glock, D'Ambrosio, Liuzzi, Ricciardo. Kobayashi was the surprise exit in Q1 as he was edged out by other drivers on soft tyres. HRT driver, Liuzzi incurs a 5-place grid penalty for changing his gear box and so, starts behind rookie team-mate Ricciardo.
Second Qualifying session was dominated by Hamilton who finished with a time of 1min30.998. And these 7 drivers didn't progress to Q3: Heidfeld, Di Resta, Maldonado, Barichello, Perez, Buemi, Alguersuari
The last shoot-out saw an epic effort from McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, swapping second place with Alonso early in the session. Red Bull's Mark Webber eventually took pole with 1min30.079, and Hamilton pushed Vettel into 3rd with a 1min30.134 lap time. The rest of the top ten were Alonso, Massa, Rosberg, Button, Sutil, Petrov and Schumacher.
Top 3 Drivers after Qualifying for German Grand Prix
Rain is expected tomorrow so Nurburgring's swansong is set to be an exciting one.
Amendment: Buemi's qualifying time was later disallowed due to fuel irregularities, and will start at the back of the track. Story courtesy of Autosport.com
