On Lap 9, Nice Rosberg is pulling away from the pack. Michael Schumacher is struggling to hold second place and with Jenson Button in the DRS zone its becoming tougher and tougher.

On Lap 11 , Kimi Raikkonen have a good fight inside the pitlane. Kimi almost noses the McLaren while coming out. Did Lewis Hamilton overtake Kimi Raikkonen in the pitlane ? Its too close to call.

On Lap 13, Michael Schumacher comes in for a pit stop and loses position to Lewis Hamilton as he takes on the harder compound tyres. Race over for Michael Schumacher as he rolls to a standstill on the track side. He lost a wheel apparently (whatever that means).

We just see a replay of Michael Schumacher’s mechanic frantically trying to stop Michael’s car, nut didn’t go on properly.

Lap 27 and the race is a bit boring, Mark Webber overtakes Felip Massa for 12th place I think. Yeah these are Ferraris and Red Bulls fighting for out of points positions.

Lap 31, Massa asked to let Alonso pass as the 2 Ferraris are on different strategies.

Lap 41 , Another pit disaster, Jenson Button’s rear jack fails, loses more than 6 seconds in the pits which ensures that Nico Rosberg isn’t pressurized. Mercedes tells Nico to take it easy.

Lap 50, race is getting super duper exciting, everyone is off the racing line, Raikkonen is probably slower than my grandma at this point, from 2nd place to 12th for him.

Note to Karun Chandhok : Don’t make your co-commentator look like a super fool on international television.

Lap 56/56 – Nico Rosberg all set to take the chequered flag on a 2 stop strategy.

Nico Rosberg wins the Chinese Grand Prix, his 1st grand prix win. Jenson button takes second place for McLaren and Lewis Hamilton makes it a McLaren 2-3.

The camera shows a shot of Michael Schumacher rejoicing, bitter sweet joy there.

Race report in some time.

Its so good to have another Asian race, so you wake up, have coffee and there is qualifying on TV for you. And on the television you see Chinese girls with tattoos of ‘I love Kimi Raikkonen’ alongwith a weird rendition of the Finnish flag on their cheeks.

Qualifying Session 2

As the boring Q1 finishes, Narain Karthikeyan is last as usual but within 107% of qualification time so he gets to start again. Its now Q2 and 16 cars are out on track, Romain Grosjean is sitting inside since he used the prime tyres in the 1st session. Alonso is struggling, Ferrari is even slower than the Saubers at this point. Talking of Romain Grosjean, no one has told me who issued him a driver’s license ? Maybe he got his FIA superlicense here in India through some agent.

Nico Rosberg goes fastest and Michael Schumacher is second fastest in what could be his last Chinese Grand Prix as per the 3 year contract he is supposed to have signed with the Mercedes GP F1 team. The Mercedes GP team with Schumi were the fastest during Friday practice , they really seem to have got their setup right this time. A welcome change from mistake after mistake

As the session comes to an end, Felipe Massa is 10th fastest, and every other car is clocking 11th fastest, Massa is living dangerously. And Perez with a P3 time pushes Massa to 11th place. So no qualifying session 3 for Massa, Fernando Alonso is the only Ferrari in top 10 at 10th place. Sebastien Vettel is 11th fastest and he wont be in the 3rd leg of qualifying. Massa is only 12th fastest. Very poor results for both Vettel and Massa. Vettel would be heartbroken especially when Mark Webber is P1 after Q2. Maybe its karma for calling Narain Karthikeyan a cucumber.

Qualifying Session 3

Nico Rosberg is the 1st car out on track, you may think it’s a bad move, but the track is getting cooler, so it could be smart of the Mercedes GP team as cooler track means slower lap times. Rosberg sets a 1:35.1 lap time. That’s pretty awesome I tell you. Michael Schumacher is a full half second slower and Lewis Hamilton now splits the 2 Mercedes.

The Red Bull struggle continues, Webber only manages a P5 on his 1st hot lap with only 5 cars on the track.

And as the session comes to an end Rosberg is still  P1 , Lewis Hamilton is P2 and Michael Schumacher is P3. First ever pole position for Nico Rosberg in 110 races as Michael congratulates him after disembarking from his car. Lewis Hamilton will only start 7th though due to a gearbox change.

And did I mention I like this new Star Sports raceday host, she keeps rooting for Michael Schumacher. Here are the final timings from the qualifying and a smashing portrait of the man of the moment : Nico Rosberg

Anyway, here is the full press release from the Indian Grand Prix team :

April 10, 2012, Greater Noida: Jaypee Sports International Limited (JPSI) has commenced the sale of tickets for 2012 Formula 1 Airtel Grand Prix of India which will take place at the Buddh International Circuit (BIC), Greater Noida, on October 28, Sunday.

Mr Sameer Gaur, MD & CEO, JPSI, launched the sale of tickets and gave the first ticket to Deccan Chargers captain Kumar Sangakkara and his team mates at a simple ceremony held at BIC today.  

“By the grace of God and good wishes of millions of Indians, we managed to host a hugely successful F1 race last year. It demonstrated, among other things, India’s ability to hold highly challenging international sporting events. Let me take this opportunity to thank motorsport fans, international community, government agencies, and media for their support. The Group needs their good wishes and active support for this year’s F1 Indian GP as well,” said Mr Sameer Gaur.

He also thanked Deccan Chargers and the media for sparing time to be present at the function. He said “facilities at BIC had been improved further and you can look forward to a far more entertaining F1 race this year. We are also trying to bring some other thrilling international races to BIC, details of which will be announced soon”.    

In order to give motorsport enthusiasts a chance to watch the highest level of motor racing from a vantage point, JPSI has reduced the price of its Main Grand Stand by Rs 5,000. Thus, F1 fans can witness the grid and pit lane action just for Rs 30,000 on October 26, 27, and 28.  The ticket is inclusive of food and beverages vouchers worth Rs 3,000 but not parking charges which one will have to pay separately at the time of booking tickets. A limited number of tickets are also available for the main race day — October 28 – at Rs 20,000/- only. Moreover, early birds will get BIC merchandise free of cost on booking the 3-day MGS tickets.  

The minimum ticket for the three-day action packed event will be available for Rs 3,500 for the natural stands. Tickets and all the other relevant information about ticket slabs, parking charges, shuttle services from various points in NCR, location of stands, etc is available online on the website of Jaypee Sports.

Besides the motor-racing action, fans will also enjoy a variety of entertainment programmes and shopping of BIC and F1 teams merchandise at the F1 village which will be set up at the back of the Main Grand Stand. Catering services, public conveniences, and ATMs will however be available near stands all across the 5.1 KM long circuit.    

Before the launch of the 2012 F1 Indian GP tickets, the cricketing stars of Deccan Chargers took three laps each of the BIC track which had come in for all round praise last year from F1 drivers and others for being extremely fast and challenging.  

Season ticket prices for various categories of tickets:

Stand                                                  Price (INR)                                   

Main Grand Stand                               Rs 30,000*                             

(Season ticket)

Main Grand Stand                               Rs 20,000                                 

(Limited Sunday ticket)

Premium                                             Rs 14,000                               

Star                                                   Rs 8,500                                 

Classic                                                 Rs 6,500                                             

Natural                                                Rs 3,500                                             

*Inclusive of food and beverages voucher worth Rs 3,000

“The F1 generates huge returns for Bahrain by regenerating interest in Bahrain as a friendly and hospitable environment,” Sheikh Salman said.

Sheikh Salman is the chief executive officer of the Bahrain International Circuit which has also been criticized for firing folks on whims and fancies like liking a facebook age which promoted democracy for Bahrain.

The official news agency of Bahrain is doing even more propaganda hinting that the racing event is needed for national unity (while people are still getting arrested ?). Below is an excerpt from a press release on Bahrain News Agency’s website.

So unfortunate it was when the Bahrain Grand Prix Race was cancelled last year, even more unfortunate were the events that lead to that. Bahrain had gone through a rough period of time in 2011, but the comeback of the event of the year is proof that our beloved Bahrain can, is and will always be moving forward and in alignment with the progression of the rest of the world, that Bahrainis will, at the end of the day, always put their differences aside and unite in their love for their country, and the Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix is the perfect event to set the ideal mood and the ideal scene for unity. The excitement, the anticipation, the economic opportunities and the festive events and shows that are all steady companions to the Grand Prix every year are sure to unite us.

The event is currently scheduled for the April 20-22 weekend, and F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone is in no mood to back down and cancel the race. In a rare show of support for any such activity. He made the following comments :

“Of course the race is going to happen. No worries at all,” Bernie Ecclestone

“What I don’t understand are the negative statements being made, people catching them and continuing them. They’re saying things they don’t understand.

“People say to me ‘There’s not going to be a race.’ And I say ‘Well how do you know?’ And they tell me they saw or read something, but it’s all nonsense.

“These people (the Bahrainis) were brave enough to start an event in that part of the world, and that’s it. We’ll be there as long as they want us.”

My personal opinion is that its shameful that commercial interest is being put above human rights and formula one will be allowed to be a showcase for Bahrain to fake to the world that all is ok.

We had recently reported about Vettel’s outburst against Narain Karthikeyan calling him a cucumber after they had an accident during last week’s Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang. Due to the collision Sebastien Vettel was able to secure only 11th place in the race.

Narain called Vettel’s outburst unprofessional, an opinion which most of us share.

“For a world champion to say things like that is really shameful,” Karthikeyan told the Hindustan Times which is an Indian Daily.

“It is really unprofessional.”

“For a driver who has achieved so much to take out his frustrations on me just because he is having a difficult year is really sad. One does not expect a professional sportsman to be such a cry baby.”

Narain Karthikeyan was not very happy about the stewards decision to handle him a  drive through penalty. He hinted that Vettel had influenced their decision and he was not given a chance to defend himself.

“The race stewards didn’t care about what I had to say because Mr Vettel told them God knows what when he went and talked to them,” he said.

Sebastien Vettel’s race was ruined by a collision with Narain Karthikeyan towards the end of the race when he suffered a rear tyre puncture causing him to pit and later on the collision also caused other problems to his car, overheating brakes etc.

If you read our live blog (last post), you would see that he also didn’t have radio contact with his team towards the end of his race, his team was frantically asking him to retire, which he didn’t, at first we thought it was only due to his grit to finish the race, but as it turns out it was due to him losing radio contact with his team.

“Most crucially we lost radio communication and that makes it very difficult in these conditions to know what’s going on. Nonetheless, we did our maximum today and got up to fourth.

To then lose the race how I did is very frustrating. Some people (Narain Karthikeyan) need to look more where they are going.

He also added to another media source

As in real life, there are a few cucumbers on the road.”  (Referring to Narain Karthikeyan)

Cucumber of course meaning idiot over here. I know Indian drivers can be bad on roads , trust me I have seen 100s of them, but calling Narain a cucumber stems of a little arrogance, watch it there Sebastien, don’t want to go the Lewis Hamilton way there . Have a look at the video below where he curses Karthikeyan after the incident, that’s just the index finger though, no middle finger there. Watch it before FIA takes it off Youtube.

Team Principal Christian Horner thankfully was more reserved in his comments :

“The incident with Narain Karthikeyan caused damage to the rear brake duct, which went into thermal runaway,” Horner said.

“We wanted to stop the car before the end from a safety point of view, but Seb couldn’t hear us because of the loss of the radio and continued.

“Thankfully his car got to the end without failing, but the incident cost Sebastian at least a fourth place finish today.”

At the start of the race no one would have placed their bets on seeing a scarlet car on the podium let alone winning the race, even Ferrari wouldn’t have bet on Ferrari winning the race, but heavy rain which was followed by a game of tyre poker ensured a Ferrari and Fernando Alonso victory even as Sauber’s Sergio Perez won hearts challenging Fernando Alonso till the end of the race and being the faster of 2 cars almost throughout the race.

The race was well dominated by the McLarens before they lost the plot in tyre strategy and before Jenson Button turned out to be an idiot clipping the back of Narain Karthikeyan’s car who wasn’t a back marker as the Brit tried to pass him and was infact racing for position. This damaged his front wing and he had to pit. Needless to say this cost him the race.

Later on Jenson Button accepted blame for the unfortunate? accident

“I was struggling to keep the tyres up temperature and it was totally my fault,” Button admitted.

“I hit the brakes, I lost the rear. I was struggling to get the car slowed down. I tried to get around the corner but I couldn’t do anything but hit him really.”

Moving onto the happy story of the day though, luck favoured Alonso as the Spaniard even though a full 3 seconds slower than second place Perez on most laps clinched the chequered flag.

“It’s an unbelievable result, a great job from the team,” Alonso said.

“It’s a big surprise to win. We were not competitive in Australia and we were not competitive in qualifying here.”

Sergio Perez on the other hand was disappointed, although the second place result was more than what Sauber Ferrari driver would have ever hoped for, Perez was much faster than Alonso and just couldn’t pass him. In the end it had to do with racing experience which Perez didn’t seem to have a lot of.

“Today a win was possible,” Perez said.

“I was catching Fernando and I knew I had to get him soon because  the sectors with high speed I was losing the front tires.

“I touched the curb and I went onto the dirty side of the track. It was completely wet and I lost the win.”

This young lad can go a long way , just needs the right guidance.

Lewis Hamilton in his superfast McLaren was third. The McLarens are easily the pick of all the cars, superfast, super slick, they were off the grid at the start at such a pace that all other cars looked like 800cc cars of the past.

For a more detailed report, you can go through our live blog (previous post).

After Malaysia we head to China now, lets see how the race unfolds in Shanghai !

The clouds are dark and it certainly looks like its going to rain. I am sure Michael Schumacher in the back must be praying that it rains. Sebastien Vettel with his hard compound tyres would be kicking himself in the butt at this point ? If all the cars start from the pits or head into the pits for slicks, the clouds are looking menacing, definitely.

One thing to note is Narain Karthikeyan’s optimism with the HRT racing team, he mentions a few problems with cooling and power steering and no KERS, but still doesn’t fail to proudly mention that there is a provision for DRS in the car. Provision –> Working Prototype –> Final Product , there is a definitely a good million Euros there.

Confirmation of rain on some parts of the track, the cameras have droplets on them and it’s a rainy race for sure. Someone just called Michael a rainmeister ? , what’s up with that ? Nico Rosberg’s engineer has suggested him to use intermediate tyres, there are chances that the rain would be blown away also. The first corner would be interesting to see how many cars crash out this time.

Owen Wilson just recorded the start on his Nokia E series phone (I think), will the FIA sue him ? And Pedro De La Rosa’s car fails to move off the grid.

The red lights go off, McLarens are fast, Schumi is slow off the grid but tries to fight back. Michael Schumacher just spun, now he is at the tail of the field. Not a good start for Schumi.

The rain is getting heavier, will it be tyre poker again in Sepang ? Seeing the start replays again, boy those McLarens are quick off the grid, no other car matches their start speed and acceleration , not even the Red Bulls who seem to have lost most of their last season’s advantage this season.

Michael Schumacher was spun by Grosjean, the reckless racer claims another victim it seems. Reminds folks of the Schumi of earlier days ?

McLaren opting for Slick tyres for Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton however is still on intermediates. Lewis Hamilton into the pits very next lap, everyone is coming on slicks now, has Mercedes GP lost the plot ?

Narain Karthikeyan is in 13th place in his HRT, that’s because he started in full slicks, good call by them there, getting a taste of a decent track position which they may never get again this season.

Lap 8 : Safety car is out now, too dangerous to race in these conditions, spins and slips everywhere.

Lap 9 : Red flags, race is stopped ! Pit crews are back on track, all the commentators can think of is that Narain Karthikeyan may just get a point.

Is formula 1 racing getting more and more sissy ? Have people forgotten the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix ? Let the cars race and not be covered in tents on the starting grid

Another joke about Indians, 9-10-11 we have Karthikeyan and Force India.

Lap 19 : Things starting to settle down, Bruno Senna  showing spunk, but fails to overtake Ricardo. No DRS allowed the commentator reminds us for the 1000th time.

Lap 26 : Perez sets the fastest lap, really ? Sauber Ferrari showing what tyre management can do.

Lap 27 : Vergne overtakes Massa in style, makes Felipe Massa look like an amateur.

Lap28 : Massa realises he needs new tyres after Bruno Senna almost overtakes him on all corners of the Sepang circuit.

Lap 44 : Race turns boring, everyone on dry weather tyres now. Rain forecast is maybe !

Lap 45 : Can Perez overtake Fernando Alonso ? 2 seconds faster than the race leader, Alonso must be scared !

Lap 48 :  Vettel just lost a tyre, coming into pit lane, throwing rubber all over the track.

Lap 50 : Whats up with Steve Slater, 2 laps ago suggesting Perez had gone over Vettel’s rubber and now that Perez runs wide, he reacts like he won a lottery.

Lap 54 : Kimi Raikkonen sets a fastest lap in his Lotus Renault, looks like he has avoided a Michael Schumacher and done his team proud.

Lap 55 : Williams lose the last championship point as their car billows blue smoke, Schumi gets into the last point scoring position in 10th place, disappointing race again from Michael Schumacher but Grosjean is to blame.

Lap 56 : Sebastien Vettel asked to retire the car and then asked to stay out, cant Red Bull make up their mind or are they high on redbull ? And now he is told “Emergency, stop the car, stop the car”

Fernando Alonso takes the chequered flag, Perez in second place, Lewis Hamilton is a distant third. Mark Webber salvages the race for Red Bull in 4th place. Who would have thought Ferrari would have a win today ?

I am starting a new thing, wherein I will be penning my thoughts as the sessions progress. The third session of qualifying is about to start and Star Sports just showed 30 seconds of footage with 10 seconds focusing  on a driver’s wife/girlfriend with race control headphones on before going into a commercial break again.

Iceman Kimi Raikkonen is the first man out on track in his Lotus Renault followed by last year’s champion Sebastien Vettel in his Red Bull and McLaren’s Jenson Button. Red Bull seems to be totally off pace so far this season although they tasted some success in Melbourne.

After the 1st three cars have set a flying lap, its Lewis Hamilton in P1,  leading Jenson Button who leads Kimi Raikkonnen.

As more cars set their 1st Q3 times, Sebastien Vettel only manages a P6 in his Red Bull. I am eagerly awaiting the 2 Mercedes and the Ferraris at this point. Nice Rosberg and Michael Schumacher are on their warm-up laps even as I write.

As they head onto their flying laps, Michael is inside the best time on Sector1 (Lewis Hamilton’s) while Rosberg is much slower in the 1st Sector and outside Hamilton’s P1 time. Schumi is just outside Hamilton’s time in sector 2 where Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren gained the most time and is the fastest.

Haven’t felt this excited by a Michael Schumacher flying lap in a long time, Schumi is off Hamilton by .18 of a second at the end of his flying lap, but its nice to see Michael Schumacher at the top again (almost). The Mercedes cars opting only for 1 lap in Q3, I wonder why, it was always awesome to see Michael doing flying laps 1 by  and getting awesome times in. Here is a photo from Friday with Michael surveying the track in trademark style on his scooter.

Red Bull and Lotus are now pushing in their second laps in the last 20 seconds of Q3. Some random commentary chatter about Red Bulls (its Sebastien Vettel only) using harder compound tyres putting the race ahead of qualifying. Webber still gets P3 and Button is pushed to 5th position by Kimi Raikkonen’s 4th best time.

But wait Jenson Button fights back with a P2 time now. It’s an all McLaren front row with Button’s time, Michael Schumacher has to be content with a second row P3. Kimi Raikkonen has a 5 place penalty to contend with so his P4 isn’t actually a P4.

And the qualifying sessions ends, the final order being (before penalties):

Good news for the HRTs finally, they make the race cut this time unlike the disappointment in Australia. Although, I sometimes wonder if its even worth it. They are so off the race pace that it makes no sense for them to be in formula one racing,what do you think ?

Narain Karthikeyan’s sponsors have to do some soul searching and get him a better drive, who knows what he can do in a Sauber or a Red Bull.

Force India is not living up to their pre-season hype and is struggling to keep pace not making it to the Q3 also.

Onto the Press conference now, Lewis Hamilton isn’t swearing this season, what’s up with that ? Also its Michael’s best qualifying since Monza 2011, where he was 5th. That’s just wow !

With rain predicted for tomorrow, Steve Slater would bet on Lewis Hamilton, really Steve ? The lady host would bet on Michael Schumacher though, finally some support. sorry I don’t know who your are or your name

Ever wondered how different US pro sports compare with each other, although formula one is not a US Pro sport yet, it will soon become one. I came across the below site consolidates this information.

Unfortunately I don’t think there is a formula one site which does this yet ?

I will also put forward a feature request to include the US formula one ticket prices and  driver salaries for comparison , in the meantime you can enjoy the other sports and their corresponding stats.

Via: ABC Tickets

Fernando Alonso is paid more than anyone in the above infographic, he earned 28 million USD in the 2011 season beating all of the above in terms of annual salary.