Formula 1 General Chat & Discussion

Timo Glock 18th March 1982
[Versteckter Link - Registrierung notwendig]
Happy Birthday to your 31st anniversary

Damn, didn't know we had already started

I told ya: ''this is the year of kimi'' !!

Raikkonen takes emphatic victory in season opener :
Kimi Raikkonen played a two-stop strategy to perfection to beat Fernando Alonso to victory in an enthralling Australian Grand Prix. All predictions of tedious Red Bull domination proved way off the mark, as Sebastian Vettel finished third, overshadowed by the Lotus and Ferrari. The champion's team-mate Mark Webber was only sixth after a poor start, behind Felipe Massa's Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes, while Force India driver Adrian Sutil also led for long periods. The superiority Red Bull had displayed in all the weekend's dry running so far was never evident in the race. Webber immediately plunged outside the top five with a poor start, and Vettel was unable to get away from the fast-starting Massa and Alonso, who both passed Hamilton on lap one.
Raikkonen overtook the Mercedes soon afterwards, and then closed in on Vettel, Massa and Alonso to make a four-car lead train. All the frontrunners pitted very early to get rid of their fragile super-soft tyres.
The order among that quartet remained the same into the second stint, but they had to fight their way through those running longer, including Sutil - who had started on mediums and found himself in the lead by lap 15.
Vettel, the Ferraris and Raikkonen were soon on the Force India's tail. They could not pass though, and Sutil was able to make his first pitstop at the same time as Vettel, Massa and Alonso made their second, bringing the Force India onto the same sequence as the victory contenders. Alonso pitted a lap before Sutil and Vettel and was able to leapfrog both. Sutil stayed ahead of Vettel in the pits but was overtaken into Turn 3 a lap later. Vettel could not put any pressure on Alonso however, even as the Ferrari had to battle through drivers on other strategies - including Hamilton, with whom the Spaniard had a spectacular dice before getting clear.
By this time, Raikkonen's strategy had come into play . He stayed out until lap 34, a dozen laps longer than the other leaders, making it clear that Lotus was going for a two-stop to their three. That left him with a comfortable lead over Alonso and Vettel when they made their third stops, and although the Ferrari initially began carving chunks from the Lotus's advantage, once Alonso had used his new-tyre grip, the gap stabilised.
Raikkonen was therefore able to claim victory by 12 seconds, as Alonso pulled 10s clear of Vettel.
Massa faded in fourth after a very strong first half of the race.
Hamilton was next up, having had to abandon his intended two-stop strategy and pit for a third time. Webber made a quiet recovery to sixth, just behind Hamilton, whose team-mate Nico Rosberg retired with electrical problems. Sutil stayed with the leaders until he finally had to take on super-softs with 12 laps to go. They did not last as he had hoped, and Sutil had to be content with seventh, just ahead of team-mate Paul di Resta.
Jenson Button finished ninth for McLaren, while Romain Grosjean completed the scorers, holding off Sergio Perez and Jean-Eric Vergne. Nico Hulkenberg failed to take the start due to a pre-race fuel system problem on his Sauber. Pastor Maldonado spun off at Turn 1 before half-distance, and Daniel Ricciardo retired a sick-sounding Toro Rosso. Jules Bianchi dominated the backmarker pack in 15th.

1. Kimi Räikkönen Lotus 1:30:03.225
2. Fernando Alonso Ferrari +12.451
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull +22.346
4. Felipe Massa Ferrari +33.577
5. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +45.561
6. Mark Webber Red Bull +46.800
7. Adrian Sutil Force India +1:05.068
8. Paul di Resta Force India +1:08.449
9. Jenson Button McLaren +1:21.630
10. Romain Grosjean Lotus +1:22.759
11. Sergio Perez McLaren +1:23.367
12. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso +1:23.857
13. Esteban Gutiérrez Sauber +1 lap
14. Valtteri Bottas Williams +1 lap
15. Jules Bianchi Marussia +1 lap
16. Charles Pic Caterham +2 laps
17. Max Chilton Marussia +2 laps
18. Giedo van der Garde Caterham +2 laps

DNF:
19. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso +19 laps
20. Nico Rosberg Mercedes +32 laps
21. Pastor Maldonado Williams +34 laps

Fastest Lap : Kimi Raikkonen : 1:29.274
Pitstop Sutil : 2
Bat.2 Teams : Hamilton > Webber
Gr.Pos. Rosberg : DNF

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

constructors standings
1 Ferrari 30
2 Lotus-Renault 26
3 Red Bull Racing-Renault 23
4 Mercedes 10
5 Force India-Mercedes 10
6 McLaren-Mercedes 2
7 STR-Ferrari 0
8 Sauber-Ferrari 0
9 Williams-Renault 0
10 Marussia-Cosworth 0
11 Caterham-Renault 0

driver's standings
1 Kimi Räikkönen Finnish Lotus-Renault 25
2 Fernando Alonso Spanish Ferrari 18
3 Sebastian Vettel German Red Bull Racing-Renault 15
4 Felipe Massa Brazilian Ferrari 12
5 Lewis Hamilton British Mercedes 10
6 Mark Webber Australian Red Bull Racing-Renault 8
7 Adrian Sutil German Force India-Mercedes 6
8 Paul di Resta British Force India-Mercedes 4
9 Jenson Button British McLaren-Mercedes 2
10 Romain Grosjean French Lotus-Renault 1
11 Sergio Perez Mexican McLaren-Mercedes 0
12 Jean-Eric Vergne French STR-Ferrari 0
13 Esteban Gutierrez Mexican Sauber-Ferrari 0
14 Valtteri Bottas Finnish Williams-Renault 0
15 Jules Bianchi French Marussia-Cosworth 0
16 Charles Pic French Caterham-Renault 0
17 Max Chilton British Marussia-Cosworth 0
18 Giedo van der Garde Dutch Caterham-Renault 0
19 Daniel Ricciardo Australian STR-Ferrari 0
20 Nico Rosberg German Mercedes 0
21 Pastor Maldonado Venezuelan Williams-Renault 0
22 Nico Hulkenberg German Sauber-Ferrari 0

2013 FORMULA 1 PETRONAS MALAYSIA GRAND PRIX
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Fri 22 March 2013
Practice 1 03:00 - 04:30
Practice 2 07:00 - 08:30
Sat 23 March 2013
Practice 3 06:00 - 07:00
Qualifying 09:00
Sun 24 March 2013
Race 09:00

australian gp results
1. Kimi Raikkonen Finand Lotus-Renault 58 laps 1hr 33m 03.225s
2. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 12.4s
3. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +00m 22.3s
4. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 33.5s
5. Lewis Hamilton Britain Mercedes-Mercedes +00m 45.5s
6. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +00m 46.8s
7. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +01m 05.0s
8. Paul di Resta Britain Force India-Mercedes +01m 08.4s
9. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +01m 21.6s
10. Romain Grosjean France Lotus-Renault +01m 22.7s

11. Sergio Perez Mexico McLaren-Mercedes +01m 23.3s
12. Jean-Eric Vergne France Toro Rosso-Ferrari +01m 23.8s
13. Esteban Gutierrez Spain Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
14. Valtteri Bottas Finland Williams-Renault +1 lap
15. Jules Bianchi France Marussia-Cosworth +1 lap
16. Charles Pic France Caterham-Renault +2 laps
17. Max Chilton Britain Marussia-Cosworth +2 laps
18. Giedo van der Garde Holland Caterham-Renault +2 laps

Rtd Daniel Ricciardo Australia Toro Rosso-Ferrari 40 laps completed
Rtd Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 26 laps completed
Rtd Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Williams-Renault 24 laps completed

Dns Nico Hulkenberg Germany Sauber-Ferrari

Fastest lap:

Kimi Raikkonen Finand Lotus-Renault 1m 29.274s lap 56

Vettel storms to first pole of 2013 F1 season
Sebastian Vettel made the most of a drying track to beat Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber to pole for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Damp conditions for the delayed remainder of qualifying raised hopes of a mixed-up grid, but in the end the pole shootout took place on slicks on a nearly-dry circuit, and it was the champion team that prevailed.
Vettel put himself a second and a half ahead of the field with his 1m27.407s lap when he produced it.
Webber looked poised to beat it until a mistake at the penultimate corner left him 0.420 seconds adrift. Vettel was improving further on his next lap before pitting when it became clear he was unbeatable.
Lewis Hamilton kickstarted Mercedes' season with third on the grid, 0.6s off Vettel's pace.
That was three places higher than team-mate Nico Rosberg, despite the German having been the class of the field when the track was wet. He comfortably topped Q2, having also flown in Saturday's Q1.
The Ferraris split the Mercedes, Felipe Massa outqualifying team-mate Fernando Alonso by 0.003s to grab fourth place.
Row four will be filled by the Lotus pair, Kimi Raikkonen ahead of Romain Grosjean.
Paul di Resta got as high as second for Force India early in Q3 when intermediates were still the best choice. But on slicks he was pushed back to ninth, ahead of McLaren's Jenson Button, the first man to come out on dry tyres in the pole segment.
Several drivers had tried slicks in the final minutes of Q2, but this move proved premature.
While Button immediately returned to intermediates, his team-mate Sergio Perez persisted with slicks and found himself 15th on the grid for his McLaren debut.
Having looked a likely top-five man on intermediates, the slick move left Jean-Eric Vergne only 13th, albeit ahead of inter-shod Toro Rosso team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.
Valtteri Bottas discovered slicks made no difference to Williams's plight in 16th, while Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber and Adrian Sutil's Force India had the right tyres but were still squeezed back to row six.

1. Sebastian Vettel : Red Bull - 01:27.407
2. Mark Webber : Red Bull - 01:27.827
3. Lewis Hamilton : Mercedes - 01:28.087
4. Felipe Massa : Ferrari - 01:28.490
5. Fernando Alonso : Ferrari - 01:28.493
6. Nico Rosberg : Mercedes - 01:28.523
7. Kimi Räikkönen : Lotus - 01:28.738
8. Romain Grosjean : Lotus - 01:29.013
9. Paul di Resta : Force India - 01:29.305
10. Jenson Button : McLaren - 01:30.357

Q2
11. Nico Hülkenberg : Sauber - 01:38.067
12. Adrian Sutil : Force India - 01:38.134
13. Jean-Eric Vergne : Toro Rosso - 01:38.778
14. Daniel Ricciardo : Toro Rosso - 01:39.042
15. Sergio Perez : McLaren - 01:39.900
16. Valtteri Bottas : Williams - 01:40.290
Q3
17. Pastor Maldonado : Williams - 01:47.614
18. Esteban Gutiérrez : Sauber - 01:47.776
19. Jules Bianchi : Marussia - 01:48.147
20. Max Chilton : Marussia - 01:48.909
21. Giedo van der Garde : Caterham - 01:49.519
22. Charles Pic : Caterham - 01:50.626

Qual : 01:27.407
Pole : Sebastian Vettel
T.Bat. : Vergne > Ricciardo
Gr.Pos. Sutil : 12th place

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi


Race starts at 07.00u !!!

News-update :

Q2 en Q3 tonight at 01.00u
Qualifying at Albert Park has been postponed until race day amid persistent rainfall, with Q2 and Q3 yet to run. The start of the second grid-deciding phase had been put back on numerous occasions until the looming sunset forced a delay, with the action set to resume at 11am local time (GMT +11) tomorrow morning.
Saturday's opening qualifying session was disrupted before the action had even begun, with race control announcing a trio of ten minute delays following heavy rain showers. Once the action got underway and after a number of lead changes, Nico Rosberg set the initial pace to end Q1 four tenths ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso. Track workers attempt to improve the surfaceThere were a number of incidents during the session, with Lewis Hamilton narrowly avoiding a premature exit after spinning between Turns 1 and 2. Felipe Massa and Giedo van der Garde also suffered early troubles, losing their respective front wings after contact with the barriers. The biggest drama came in the late stages, however, when Charles Pic and Esteban Gutiérrez crashed in the second sector at almost the same moment, bringing out the yellow flags and effectively ending the session early. After Q1, in which Pastor Maldonado, Gutiérrez, Jules Bianchi, Max Chilton, Giedo van der Garde and Charles Pic were eliminated from the running, there was a wait of around two hours before race control ultimately decided to halt proceedings. Increasing showers and the upcoming sunset ultimately posed too much of an issue. The last time Formula 1 witnessed a qualifying delay was at the Japanese Grand Prix in 2010, when monsoon conditions hit Suzuka and forced the track to be closed.
Sunday's delayed qualifying session in Melbourne gets underway at 11am local time (GMT +11 ) is 01.00u tonight

Regards
Shaky-Schumi

I doubt they will finish the qualifying today.
Hope for dry conditions tomorrow.

The 3rd practice session is over , here are the final standings of this session :

Grosjean quickest as problem halts Vettel :
Romain Grosjean put Lotus on top after rain hit the track during the final practice session for the Australian Grand Prix. But having led both of yesterday’s sessions Sebastian Vettel hit trouble when his car stopped in the dying minutes of the final hour. All the drivers had hit the track within minutes of the start as teams hurried on with their programmes in anticipation of the incoming rain
The Ferrari pair led the times initially with Fernando Alonso stopping the clocks on exactly 87 seconds. But just before the rain came he was pipped by Romain Grosjean’s Lotus.
Several drivers had switched to the super soft tyres in an attempt to get a run in on those when the rain arrived with less than 15 minutes’ running completed. No one managed a run on the softer tyres before the track was doused, and for the next 20 minutes there was no action at the track.
Felipe Massa broke the silence with 25 minutes remaining, taking to the track on wet weather tyres. Most of the drivers soon followed them, including the four who failed to set a time when the track was dry.
Once the rain stopped the track dried quickly, and with just over ten minutes to go drivers had begun using the intermediate tyres. Vettel had just gone out on the intermediates when his car came to a stop at turn four. Race engineer Guillaume Rocquelin was quick to tell him to pull over to look after the car.
The slippery track caused several off-track moments for other drivers including Giedo van der Garde and the Sauber pair. But by the end of the session it had dried sufficiently that some teams were considering a switch to slicks.
1 : Romain Grosjean : Lotus-Renault - 1’26.929
2 : Fernando Alonso : Ferrari - 1’27.000 + 0.071
3 : Felipe Massa : Ferrari - 1’27.241 + 0.312
4 : Lewis Hamilton : Mercedes - 1’27.246 + 0.317
5 : Paul di Resta : Force India-Mercedes - 1’27.533 + 0.604
6 : Kimi Raikkonen : Lotus-Renault - 1’27.625 + 0.696
7 : Daniel Ricciardo : Toro Rosso -1’27.849 + 0.920
8 : Jean-Eric Vergne : Toro Rosso -1’27.860 + 0.931
9 : Adrian Sutil : Force India-Mercedes - 1’28.069 + 1.140
10 : Nico Hulkenberg : Sauber - 1’28.253 + 1.324
11 : Esteban Gutierrez : Sauber - 1’28.253 + 1.324
12 : Nico Rosberg : Mercedes - 1’28.486 + 1.557
13 : Valtteri Bottas : Williams - 1’29.779 + 2.850
14 : Sebastian Vettel : Red Bull - 1’29.808 + 2.879
15 : Mark Webber : Red Bull - 1’30.073 + 3.144
16 : Jules Bianchi : Marussia - 1’30.388 + 3.459
17 : Giedo van der Garde : Caterham - 1’30.598 + 3.669
18 : Charles Pic : Caterham - 1’30.959 + 4.030
19 : Jenson Button : McLaren - 1’33.236 + 6.307
20 : Sergio Perez : McLaren - 1’33.527 + 6.598
21 : Pastor Maldonado : Williams - 1’39.232 + 12.303
22 : Max Chilton : Marussia - 1’42.872 + 15.943

At 07.00u will be the 1st qualifying of this season !!!

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

with stil 7min. left is the session for Vettel over ,he had put his car next the track ,car problem !
Still a bit of rain !

The Rain has just started pooring/falling down heavy in this 3rd practice session!!!!
With only 40 min. left it looks not that good for the drivers aswel for the fans

The Top 5 so far :
1 Grosjean , 2 Alonso , 3 Massa , 4 Di Resta , 5 Raikkonen

2nd practice is finished ,here's the result :

Vettel fastest again as Mercedes hit trouble :
Sebastian Vettel stayed on top of the times in the second practice session for the Australian Grand Prix.
It was a one-two for Red Bull with Mark Webber second ahead of Nico Rosberg. But both Mercedes drivers came to a stop in the final minutes of the session.
Having set the pace in first practice, Vettel returned to the top of the times in short order as the second session began. A lap of 1’26.274 put him comfortably ahead, with Lewis Hamilton half a second down.
Williams and Toro Rosso were the first team to sample the super-soft rubber early in the session, finding around a second in lap time but remaining in the midfield.
Fernando Alonso’s first effort on the red-coloured rubber left him the best part of half a second of Vettel’s mark on the medium tyres. It was Mark Webber who eventually took the best time off his team mate. Vettel set out to respond and set a quicker time in the first two sectors before having to back off when he caught Pastor Maldonado. Vettel eventually produced a 1’25.908, taking the fastest time off his team mate by over a quarter of a second. Shortly afterwards he reported a KERS problem on his car.
Hamilton looked like he might threaten Vettel’s time after a quick run through the first sector on super-softs. But he locked his brakes on the bumpy run into turn nine and took to the run-off area. His subsequent lap on now rather worn super-softs was only four thousandths of a second faster than his medium-tyre effort had been.
Giedo van der Garde was at the bottom of the times for the second session running. The Caterham driver ran wide at turn three early in the session and got stuck in the gravel trap, ending his session.
He was in good company as Hamilton’s session ended in a similar way, the Mercedes driver stopping at turn eight with six minutes to go. “I’m in the gravel, something’s wrong with the car,” he reported.
Moments later his team mate joined him as Mercedes told Rosberg to stop due to a gearbox problem. A hectic end to the session also saw Webber spin at turn 13 but he kept his car out of the barriers.
1: Sebastian Vettel : Red Bull - 1’25.908 laps 33
2: Mark Webber : Red Bul l- 1’26.172 + 0.264 laps 31
3: Nico Rosberg : Mercedes - 1’26.322 + 0.414 laps 26
4: Kimi Raikkonen : Lotus -1’26.361 + 0.453 laps 38
5: Romain Grosjean : Lotus -1’26.680 + 0.772 laps 32
6: Fernando Alonso : Ferrari - 1’26.748 + 0.840 laps 35
7: Lewis Hamilton : Mercedes - 1’26.772 + 0.864 laps 28
8: Felipe Massa : Ferrari - 1’26.855 + 0.947 laps 32
9: Adrian Sutil : Force India -1’27.435 + 1.527 laps 35
10: Nico Hulkenberg : Sauber -1’28.187 + 2.279 laps 34
11: Jenson Button : McLaren - 1’28.294 + 2.386 laps 30
12: Paul di Resta : Force India - 1’28.311 + 2.403 laps 37
13: Sergio Perez : McLaren - 1’28.566 2.658 laps 33
14: Daniel Ricciardo : Toro Rosso - 1’28.627 + 2.719 laps 31
15: Esteban Gutierrez : Sauber - 1’28.772 + 2.864 laps 33
16: Pastor Maldonado : Williams - 1’28.852 + 2.944 laps 36
17: Jean-Eric Vergne : Toro Rosso -1’28.968 + 3.060 laps 36
18: Valtteri Bottas : Williams - 1’29.386 + 3.478 laps 39
19: Jules Bianchi Marussia - 1’29.696 + 3.788 laps 32
20: Charles Pic : Caterham - 1’30.165 + 4.257 laps 37
21: Max Chilton : Marussia - 1’30.600 + 4.692 laps 36
22: Giedo van der Garde : Caterham - 1’32.450 + 6.542 laps 11

Tonight at 03.00u till 04.00u will be the 3rd practice session , followed with the qualifying at 07.00u !!!

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi