Formula 1 General Chat & Discussion

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Ferrari with Italian Navy Flag on.

Here is the official result of the qualifying :

1. Sebastian Vettel : Red Bull Racing : 1:25.283 -
2. Mark Webber : Red Bull Racing : 1:25.327 + 0.044
3. Lewis Hamilton : McLaren : 1:25.544 + 0.261
4. Jenson Button : McLaren : 1:25.659 + 0.376
5. Fernando Alonso : Ferrari : 1:25.773 + 0.490
6. Felipe Massa : Ferrari : 1:25.857 + 0.574
7. Kimi Räikkönen : Lotus : 1:26.236 + 0.953
8. Sergio Perez : Sauber : 1:26.360 + 1.077
9. Pastor Maldonado : Williams : 1:26.713 + 1.430
10. Nico Rosberg : Mercedes GP : no time set -

Q2
11. Romain Grosjean : Lotus : 1:26.136 + 0.853
12. Nico Hulkenberg : Force India : 1:26.241 + 0.958
13. Bruno Senna : Williams : 1:26.331 + 1.048
14. Michael Schumacher : Mercedes GP : 1:26.574 + 1.291
15. Daniel Ricciardo : Toro Rosso : 1:26.777 + 1.494
16. Paul di Resta : Force India : 1:26.989 + 1.706
17. Kamui Kobayashi : Sauber : 1:27.219 + 1.936

Q1
18. Jean-Eric Vergne : Toro Rosso : 1:27.525 -
19. Vitaly Petrov : Caterham : 1:28.756 + 3.473
20. Heikki Kovalainen : Caterham : 1:29.500 + 4.217
21. Timo Glock : Marussia F1 Team : 1:29.613 + 4.330
22. Pedro de la Rosa : HRT F1 Team : 1:30.592 + 5.309
23. Narain Karthikeyan : HRT F1 Team : 1:30.593 + 5.310
24. Charles Pic : Marussia F1 Team : 1:30.662 + 5.379

Comment of the qualifying :
Sebastian Vettel translated his domination of Indian Grand Prix practice into another pole position as Red Bull again filled the front row in qualifying at Buddh. An error at Turn 7 on his first Q3 run gave Vettel's rivals a tiny hint of potential vulnerability. But the world champion responded with a 1m25.283s at the second attempt to beat team-mate Mark Webber to the top spot. Webber's retaliation was then compromised by a mistake at Turn 3. Vettel stayed out in case he had to defend his position, before abandoning the lap once it became clear he was out of reach . His championship rival Fernando Alonso starts back in fifth. The McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button filled row two, pushing the Ferraris of Alonso and Felipe Massa down to row three.
Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus and Sergio Perez's Sauber will share row four.
Despite fearing that Williams lacked qualifying pace this weekend, Pastor Maldonado still made it into Q3 again and took ninth. Nico Rosberg also reached the pole shoot-out but did not set a time.
Several teams saw one of their drivers reach the top 10 while the other ended up in the midfield.
The second Lotus of Romain Grosjean was pushed outside the Q3 cut late on, leaving him 11th. Bruno Senna's promising start to Q2 did not translate into a top-10 appearance and his Williams fell to 13th, and Michael Schumacher was 0.6s off Mercedes team-mate Rosberg as he qualified 14th.
There were big intra-teams gaps for Force India and Sauber too, with 0.7s splitting Nico Hulkenberg in 12th and Paul di Resta in 16th, and Kamui Kobayashi a long way off emulating Perez's Q3 form in 17th.
Jean-Eric Vergne was again eliminated in Q1. Heikki Kovalainen spun into the gravel at the end of the opening segment, leaving his Caterham team-mate Vitaly Petrov free to lead the tail-end pack.

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

The times of the 3rd practice session :

1. Sebastian Vettel : Red Bull Racing : 1:25.842 -
2. Jenson Button : McLaren : 1:26.034 + 0.192
3. Mark Webber : Red Bull Racing : 1:26.108 + 0.266
4. Lewis Hamilton : McLaren : 1:26.151 + 0.309
5. Kimi Räikkönen : Lotus : 1:26.209 + 0.367
6. Bruno Senna : Williams : 1:26.214 + 0.372
7. Fernando Alonso : Ferrari : 1:26.521 + 0.679
8. Nico Hulkenberg : Force India : 1:26.531 + 0.689
9. Michael Schumacher : Mercedes GP : 1:26.652 + 0.810
10. Romain Grosjean : Lotus : 1:26.664 + 0.822
11. Felipe Massa : Ferrari : 1:26.691 + 0.849
12. Pastor Maldonado : Williams : 1:27.140 + 1.298
13. Sergio Perez : Sauber : 1:27.162 + 1.320
14. Paul di Resta : Force India : 1:27.193 + 1.351
15. Nico Rosberg : Mercedes GP : 1:27.229 + 1.387
16. Daniel Ricciardo : Toro Rosso : 1:27.374 + 1.532
17. Jean-Eric Vergne : Toro Rosso : 1:27.711 + 1.869
18. Kamui Kobayashi : Sauber : 1:27.983 + 2.141
19. Heikki Kovalainen : Caterham : 1:29.035 + 3.193
20. Vitaly Petrov : Caterham : 1:29.237 + 3.395
21. Timo Glock : Marussia F1 Team : 1:29.617 + 3.775
22. Charles Pic : Marussia F1 Team : 1:30.298 + 4.456
23. Narain Karthikeyan : HRT F1 Team : 1:30.824 + 4.982
24. Pedro de la Rosa : HRT F1 Team : 1:30.873 + 5.031

Comment of the 3rd session :
Sebastian Vettel continued his and Red Bull's perfect start to the Indian Grand Prix weekend by once again setting the pace in the final practice session.
The German hit the front 25 minutes into the session and was never then displaced, despite being one of the last to switch onto soft rubber.
Having struggled for one-lap pace, McLaren did at least have the comfort of getting closer than it was able to in second practice, when Vettel enjoyed a commanding gap of more than six tenths of a second over the field.
Jenson Button got to within 0.192s of the German at the top of the timesheets, while Lewis Hamilton was fractions down the road in fourth.
The two silver arrows were split by the second Red Bull of Mark Webber, who captured third late on on his soft tyre run.
Kimi Raikkonen sealed fifth in the final minutes, while the impressive Bruno Senna - who had run third before the field switched to softs – ended sixth fastest.
In contrast to McLaren, Ferrari struggled more, although it also stuck to its own individual programme, waiting until the session's halfway mark to post its first times and then playing with drafting shortly afterward.
Fernando Alonso, looking to respond to Vettel's run of three straight wins, could only finish seventh fastest, six tenths down on Vettel.
Force India's Nico Hulkenberg, Mercedes' Michael Schumacher and the second Lotus of Romain Grosjean rounded out the top 10.
The session has begun slowly, with the first laptimes only being set a quarter of the way into the hour.
Raikkonen was the first to post a time, immediately going fastest with a 1m27.686s that kept him top until Webber and then Vettel went out.
Nico Rosberg was also out early, but quickly hit problems as he ran through the gravel while shadowing the second Lotus of Romain Grosjean.
Even as he did, Grosjean was on his radio complaining of a lack of balance and grip, a problem echoed down the pitlane.
Sergio Perez was also struggling with a nervous Sauber and could only manage 13th fastest at the flag, five places up the road from team-mate Kamui Kobayashi.
That put him behind Felipe Massa and Pastor Maldonado in the second Ferrari and Williams respectively.
Paul di Resta was seventh before the field switched to soft rubber, but found himself dropping down the order and eventually wound up 14th, just ahead of Nico Rosberg and the two Toro Rossos.
Daniel Ricciardo had the edge in the STR intra-team battle, ending the session three tenths faster than Jean-Eric Vergne. Heikki Kovailainen and Caterham were meanwhile best of the rest.
Rosberg's trip across the gravel and Webber's spin at the final turn were the only moments in a realtively-incident free session.

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

For those who are interested ...there is a -20% till the end of this month if you order weekend tickets for the Belgian GP of 2013 !!!!

Here is a link for the website
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One advice...if you order tickets ..is it for the Belgian GP or for another country ..it's always better and safer to do it trough there official website ...the reason that i tell you this ..there was a real serious problem for those who did it on a Dutch website ....the site/company was bankrupt and so a lot of people where without tickets ...lost there money ,no refund ..no tickets !!!! But the promotor of the Belgian GP worked something out for those people and in the end some of them got there tickets !

My ticket for next year is allready ordered and payd for next years Belgian GP

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

As promissed are here the times of the 2nd session :

1. Sebastian Vettel : Red Bull Racing : 1:26.221 -
2. Mark Webber : Red Bull Racing : 1:26.339 + 0.118
3. Fernando Alonso : Ferrari : 1:26.820 + 0.599
4. Nico Rosberg : Mercedes GP : 1:27.022 + 0.801
5. Kimi Räikkönen : Lotus : 1:27.030 + 0.809
6. Lewis Hamilton : McLaren : 1:27.131 + 0.910
7. Jenson Button : McLaren : 1:27.182 + 0.961
8. Nico Hulkenberg : Force India : 1:27.233 + 1.012
9. Romain Grosjean : Lotus : 1:27.397 + 1.176
10. Bruno Senna : Williams : 1:27.738 + 1.517
11. Paul di Resta : Force India : 1:28.004 + 1.783
12. Sergio Perez : Sauber : 1:28.178 + 1.957
13. Michael Schumacher : Mercedes GP : 1:28.222 + 2.001
14. Daniel Ricciardo : Toro Rosso : 1:28.239 + 2.018
15. Felipe Massa : Ferrari : 1:28.296 + 2.075
16. Kamui Kobayashi : Sauber : 1:28.455 + 2.234
17. Pastor Maldonado : Williams : 1:28.596 + 2.375
18. Jean-Eric Vergne : Toro Rosso : 1:29.167 + 2.946
19. Heikki Kovalainen : Caterham : 1:29.320 + 3.099
20. Vitaly Petrov : Caterham : 1:29.606 + 3.385
21. Pedro de la Rosa : HRT F1 Team : 1:30.950 + 4.729
22. Timo Glock : Marussia F1 Team : 1:31.113 + 4.892
23. Narain Karthikeyan : HRT F1 Team : 1:31.372 + 5.151
24. Charles Pic : Marussia F1 Team : 1:31.493 + 5.272

Comment of the 2nd session :
Red Bull dominated the second practice session even more emphatically than it did the first in India, with world championship leader Sebastian Vettel ahead of Mark Webber by 0.118s.
The German's best time of 1m26.221s was 0.6s faster than his world championship rival Fernando Alonso could manage in the third-placed Ferrari, though the Spaniard would have taken heart from the F12012's apparently strong race-pace late in the 90-minute run.
The track lost some of the adhesion the field worked so hard to build in through the first session, so the early minutes of FP2 were marked by several names jumping to the front as the track improved all over again.
All the usual suspects, including Jenson Button, Vettel, Alonso and Lewis Hamilton had spells at the top of times in the first 20 minutes before things settled down.
When they did, it was Alonso who emerged as the fastest initial hard tyre runner with a lap of 1m27.402s, some 0.246s faster than Vettel, with Hamilton third. Intriguingly though, Alonso would ultimately end up quickest with the silver-painted tyres.
Massa spun at Turn 11, 20 minutes in, after taking liberties with the Astroturf on the inside. That damaged his hard set and prompted him to become the first of the frontrunners to switch to the yellow-walled soft option tyre.
Lotus's Romain Grosjean suffered a similar mishap. Half an hour in and Vettel was back in front, having set a 1m27.256s lap, ahead of Alonso and Hamilton. Bruno Senna, having also spun at Turn 4, was an impressive fourth at the time given his lack of running in the morning.
Kimi Raikkonen was next to switch on to options, along with team-mate Grosjean and the Toro Rossos, so it was perhaps no surprise that the Finn found himself at the top of the pile halfway through the session with a time of 1m27.030s.
Meanwhile, Massa spun again at Turn 9, complaining of 'a very strange balance' in the car. That pretty much curtailed his running for the day as Ferrari reported damage to both his sets of tyres and set about discovering the source of the Brazilian's misery.
As Massa was rotating, Nico Rosberg, also on options, shot to the top in the Mercedes with a 1m27.022s. But that didn't last long as first Vettel, on soft, and then Alonso, still on hards, moved ahead.
At the turn of the hour Webber finally made it out on track after a lengthy period in the pits and immediately went to the top of the times himself with a 1m26.399s. But only for mere moments until Vettel responded again with a 1m26.221s.
With only 30 minutes of Friday's practice left, Red Bull had a laptime advantage of 0.4s over Alonso and the chasing pack. The Spaniard, however, was consistently quick in his soft-tyre longs runs too.
Red Bull was also strong, delivering low 1m33s similar to that of Lotus. But Alonso's Ferrari and Hamilton's McLaren were in the 1m32s, although fuel loads were apparent.
Behind Alonso in the times, separated by 0.008s were Rosberg and Raikkonen, while the fastest McLaren was that of Hamilton, who was nearly a second down on Vettel.
Button was seventh fastest ahead of Force India's Nico Hulkenberg, with Grosjean and Senna completing the top ten.
Paul di Resta was 11th fastest ahead of Sergio Perez, who was back in his Sauber for the second session, having handed it over to Esteban Gutierrez for FP1

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi .

Here are the times of the 1st session :

1. Sebastian Vettel : Red Bull Racing : 1:27.619 -
2. Jenson Button : McLaren : 1:27.929 + 0.310
3. Fernando Alonso : Ferrari : 1:28.044 + 0.425
4. Lewis Hamilton : McLaren : 1:28.046 + 0.427
5. Mark Webber : Red Bull Racing : 1:28.175 + 0.556
6. Nico Rosberg : Mercedes GP : 1:28.447 + 0.828
7. Felipe Massa : Ferrari : 1:28.542 + 0.923
8. Michael Schumacher : Mercedes GP : 1:28.993 + 1.374
9. Daniel Ricciardo : Toro Rosso : 1:29.204 + 1.585
10. Kimi Räikkönen : Lotus : 1:29.291 + 1.672
11. Valtteri Bottas : Williams : 1:29.691 + 2.072
12. Paul di Resta : Force India : 1:29.760 + 2.141
13. Kamui Kobayashi : Sauber : 1:29.802 + 2.183
14. Nico Hulkenberg : Force India : 1:29.850 + 2.231
15. Romain Grosjean : Lotus : 1:29.895 + 2.276
16. Pastor Maldonado : Williams : 1:30.041 + 2.422
17. Jean-Eric Vergne : Toro Rosso : 1:30.401 + 2.782
18. Vitaly Petrov : Caterham : 1:30.630 + 3.011
19. Giedo van der Garde : Caterham : 1:30.896 + 3.277
20. Esteban Gutierrez : Sauber : 1:31.212 + 3.593
21. Charles Pic : Marussia F1 Team : 1:31.903 + 4.284
22. Narain Karthikeyan : HRT F1 Team : 1:32.125 + 4.506
23. Timo Glock : Marussia F1 Team : 1:32.369 + 4.750
24. Pedro de la Rosa : HRT F1 Team : 1:32.859 + 5.240

Comment of the 1st session :
Sebastian Vettel picked up in India where he left off in Korea, as he ended up more than 0.3s faster than the opposition in the first free practice session at the Buddh International Circuit.
In an absorbing session, that for the most part promised a closely fought out weekend, Vettel's best lap, posted in the final five minutes, gave him a clear edge over Jenson Button and the German's chief championship rival Fernando Alonso.
Lewis Hamilton was fourth fastest ahead of Mark Webber, Nico Rosberg, Felipe Massa and Michael Schumacher. Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen completed the top ten.
Sickly Sergio Perez's stand-in Esteban Gutierrez was the first to set a time, just before the half-hour mark, though his 1m46.071s time was not very representative. The Sauber man wasn't the only man on track however, and quickly the two McLarens of first Hamilton, and then Button, began hammering in times in the 1m33s/32s.
The two chrome machines, and Pastor Maldonado's Williams, engaged in a game of swap the top spot for a little while as the Indian track cleaned up.
Indeed such was the rapid improvement of the circuit's adhesion that whole seconds were lopped off the standard each time one of them crossed the line. Hamilton finally ended his run on a 1m32.074s, while Button stayed out to set a 1m29.684 on the next lap - more than two seconds down the road.
Splitting the Britons by the end of this phase were Romain Grosjean and Bruno Senna's stand-in Valtteri Bottas.
Rosberg emerged from the Mercedes pits near the halfway point, and his first effort put him second fastest, though his 1m30.918s was still not even within a second of Button's best.
The German's second attempt was closer, but not as much as Massa's, who closed to within 0.325s of Button, the Briton all the while watching proceedings on the McLaren monitor with a cheeky smile.
Rosberg got closer still to Button, using the impressive straightline talents of the Mercedes to set one fastest first sector after another during his stint, before giving up a tenth away from the McLaren.
Just as he pitted though, as if to rub it in, first his team-mate Schumacher and then Mark Webber bumped Button to third, the Australian Red Bull driver setting a new target of 1m28.963s as the RB8 ominously began to stretch its legs.
With half an hour to go, man of the moment Vettel made his first appearance in the top ten, lining up 0.288s behind Webber, while Alonso, went third moments later, though his best was nearly six tenths off the quickest Red Bull. The Spaniard matched Webber's time to the thousandth before the Australian went quicker still on a 1m28.229s. Vettel then posted a lap 0.3s away from Webber, moving back to second, now ahead of Hamilton, Alonso, Rosberg and Massa.
Into the last 20 minutes and things changed again as first Alonso rocked up on the top spot with a 1m28.210s, and then was almost instantly replaced by Hamilton, who set a 1m28.046s.
As the session entered the last ten minutes, Vettel began banging in some pacey laps. The first of those was good enough to go top, by a hundredth ahead of Hamilton, and the second would have been much faster but for a sideways moment in sector three.
Alonso, sporting aero tweaks on his Ferrari, emerged from the pits for a final throw of the dice and got within 0.08s of Vettel's best until the world champion tired of the fight and fired in a 1m27.619s - ending all arguments.
Button then moved up to second again, bumping Alonso to third ahead of Hamilton and Webber.

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

later on the times of the 2nd session that is stil going on till 12.00u
here is a link to follow it ...... [hidden link - please register]

A little reminder for this weekend !

Friday :
1st practice session : 06.30u-08.00u CET
2nd practice session : 10.30u-12.00u CET

Saturday :
3rd practice session :07.30u-08.30u CET
Qualification : 10.30u CET

Sunday :
Race : 10.30u CET

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

Indian Grand Prix - Buddh International Circuit - 2° edition
Another track designed by Hermann Tilke. There are the usual long straights that begin and end with slow corners, but the second and the third sector are better than Yeongam. with a sequence of sweeping corners, quite fast. Probably the most interesting part of the circuit is the slightly banked curve 10/11. It is a double-apex right-hander. The Buddh International Circuit has another good feature: there are several ups and downs. The track surface will be extremely dusty at the beginning, but during the week end the grip level will increase every day. Of course the large run-off areas are almost all in asphalt, as in many other circuits. I do not like this solution. Instead, on the outside of curves, I would prefer gravel or sand, as in the past. But right now the question is: who will win his third championship: Alonso or Vettel? The Red Bull team continues to improve race after race. Victories, pole positions, the whole front row in qualifying and the fastest lap in race. In the last month Vettel won on three very different kind of tracks Singapore, Japan and Korea and the next race in India is a middle way between Suzuka and Yeongam. The situation at Ferrari does not seem so good. For the Indian Gran Prix, the engineers have promised new updates on the cars, but in Maranello have problems with the wind tunnel that will be closed for upgrades in the coming months. Vettel has gained 75 points from the last three Gran Prix, and Alonso only 30, but the races are unpredictable. Anything can happen.
Tyres: Pirelli have decided to bring for this GP: tyres hard “silver” (prime) and tyres soft “yellow” (option). The same compounds as at Barcelona Silverstone and Suzuka. There will be two different DRS zones with two distinct detection points; the first one on the start-finish straight, and the second DRS zone that runs on the long straight between turns 3 and 4.
Podium 2011: Vettel – Button – Alonso. Fastest lap on race: Vettel – pole position : Vettel 1'24''178
The statistic of this season after 16 races
wins: Vettel(4) Alonso and Hamilton (3)Webber and Button (2), Rosberg and Maldonado (1)
second place: Raikkonen and Button (3); Alonso, Vettel and Perez (2), Rosberg, Grosjean, Webber and Massa(1)
third place: Alonso(4) Raikkonen and Hamilton(3) Grosjean (2), Vettel, Schumacher, Perez and Kobayashi (1)
pole: Hamilton(5) Vettel (4); Alonso and Webber (2), Rosberg, Maldonado and Button (1)
fastest lap: Vettel(4); Raikkonen and Rosberg (2), Button, Kobayashi, Grosjean, Perez, Schumacher Senna, Hulkenberg and Webber (1) - Never second Hamilton never third Button and Webber

23/10/1966 alex zanardi former italian f1 driver
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f1 memories
21/10/2007 - Formula 1 : after a great recovery, Kimi Raikkonen and Ferrari graduate world champions respectively for the first and the fifteenth time in the last GP of the season in Brazil

19/10/1981 heikki kovalainen finnish f1 driver
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Susie Wolff became the fourth woman to drive a car of Formula 1 over the last decade. The Scot, tester for Williams , he covered the distance of 100 km on the international circuit of Silverstone. 's dedication to his first experience of a car has been given to Maria de Villota , the Spanish lost an eye as a result of an accident in the month of July at Duxford Airfield.

17/10/1979 kimi raikkonen finnish f1 driver
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shaky-schumi wrote:Short News :



Ferrari hands Felipe Massa one-year contract extension
Felipe Massa will stay at Ferrari for another season after the Italian squad confirmed a new deal for the Brazilian driver on Tuesday.i

sorry, but for me this is a really BAD news.

my compliments to felipe for his another year in the ferrari team