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US Grand Prix In Stats

2013-11-11T06:11:00.000-08:00

Circuit Name	Circuit of the Americas
Country	United States of America
City	Austin
Circuit Type	Permanent course
Capacity	120,000
Designer	Hermann Tilke
First Race Held	2012
Number of Races Held	1
Number of Laps	56
Circuit Direction	Anit-Clockwise
Total Number of Corners	20
Number of Right Hand Corners	9
Number of Left Hand Corners	11
Maximum G-Force	3.7 G
Circuit length	5.513 km (3.427 miles)
Race length	308.9 km (191.9 miles)
Pit Lane Length	m
Longest Stretch at Full Throttle	TBC
Time Spent At Full Throttle	63%
Number of Gear Changes	59
Most Successful Team	McLaren, 1 win
Most Successful Driver	Lewis Hamilton, 1 win
Lap Record	1:39.347 - Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing, 2012
Lap Record Average Speed	200 km/h (124 mph)
Top Speed Recorded	315 km/h (195 mph)
Wins From Pole	0/0%
Time Zone	UTC -6
Coordinates	30° 7′ 58″ N, 97° 38′ 28″ W
Average Temperature	22°C
Average Weather	Warm, Sunny

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix In Stats

2013-11-03T07:37:00.003-08:00

Circuit Name	Yas Marina Circuit
Country	United Arab Emirates
City	Abu Dhabi
Circuit Type	Permanent course
Capacity	50,000
Designer	Hermann Tilke
First Race Held	2009
Number of Races Held	5
Number of Laps	55
Circuit Direction	Anit-Clockwise
Total Number of Corners	21
Number of Right Hand Corners	10
Number of Left Hand Corners	11
Maximum G-Force	4.0 G
Circuit length	5.554 km (3.451 miles)
Race length	305.5 km (189.8 miles)
Pit Lane Length	360m
Longest Stretch at Full Throttle	14 seconds
Time Spent At Full Throttle	59%
Number of Gear Changes	52
Most Successful Team	Red Bull, 2 wins
Most Successful Driver	Sebastian Vettel, 2 wins
Lap Record	1:40.279 - Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 2009
Lap Record Average Speed	199 km/h (124 mph)
Top Speed Recorded	320 km/h (198 mph)
Wins From Pole	1/25%
Time Zone	GMT +4
Coordinates	24° 28′ 2″ N, 54° 36′ 11″ E
Average Temperature	31°C
Average Weather	Hot, Sunny

CIRCUIT INFO

The circuit is one of very few on the F1 calendar to run in an anti-clockwise direction, and it is also unique as the only track with an underground pit lane. Leaving the track on the right, it crosses underneath and rejoins on the left. Concerns were raised that the tunnel was too narrow and dangerous, and any accidents would be difficult to clear quickly.

Granted the final go-ahead by the FIA in 2009, Bruno Senna was the first driver to complete a test lap during the GP2 testing. When the teams arrived in Abu Dhabi for the season finale in October 2009, not a single driver had driven the track.

Much more spectator-friendly than soulless near-neighbour Bahrain, some drivers have complained the circuit is too safe. "The car can go everywhere, cutting off corners, and you don't ever lose time," moaned Adrian Sutil after the 2009 grand prix. "That can make racing very boring. There's no real flow." Purists also lamented the need to build chicanes on a new track given their only purpose was to slow down cars on existing circuits.

Yas Marina made history when the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix hosted F1's first day-night race, starting at twilight with the race finishing in the dark. Floodlights were used from the start of the event to illuminate the circuit and ensure a seamless transition from light to dark. Lewis Hamilton started the race on pole but was forced to retire with brake problems. Sebastian Vettel won the race, the fifth victory of his F1 career, beating team-mate Mark Webber and 2009 champion Jenson Button to seal second place in the championship.

Vettel Wins in India Bringing Home His Fourth Title

2013-11-03T07:22:00.003-08:00

First and foremost.... Congratulations Sebastian Vettel for bringing home your fourth consecutive title!

Race start and the only real threat (so to be thought) was teammate Mark Webber. But as luck would have it, Webber’s retirement from second place with alternator failure on the 39th of the 60 laps took that chance away from the Australian.

Things went wrong for Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso (the other man who could stop Vettel from securing the title in India) right from the start. As Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen and Webber collided at the first corner, Alonso was left with nowhere to go and collected parts of the Red Bull, damaging his front wing and forcing him to pit for a replacement on the second lap. After that his Ferrari was never right and he never got higher than his eventual 11th place finish.

But Vettel was never realistically threatened. After Webber's retirement on lap 40, the team turned down all electronic devices on Vettel's car in order to try and avoid a repeat. Having crossed the line to secure his fourth title, Vettel returned to the grid instead of pulling in to the pits and proceeded to carry out some doughnuts in celebration in front of the main grandstand, before jumping out of the car and throwing his gloves in to the crowd and bowing to his car.

While Rosberg eventually finished in a comfortable second place, Romain Grosjean drove from 17th on the grid to third on the podium with a hugely-impressive one-stop strategy, surviving a late scrap with team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.

Massa took fifth after a strong start had left him in second place, ahead of McLaren's Sergio Perez, Lewis Hamilton (who struggled with his tyres) and Raikkonen (who made a last-minute pit stop before taking fastest lap). Perez benefited from Raikkonen's struggles to pass both the Lotus and Hamilton in one go on the back straight three laps from the end, but was too far behind Massa to threaten the Ferrari.

Paul di Resta took his first points since Silverstone in eighth place ahead of Force India team-mate Adrian Sutil in ninth and Daniel Ricciardo in tenth.

Sebastian Vettel	Winner
Nico Rosberg	Second
Romain Grosjean	Third
Felipe Massa	P4
Sergio Perez	P5
Lewis Hamilton	P6
Kimi Räikkönen	P7
Paul di Resta	P8
Adrian Sutil	P9
Daniel Ricciardo	P10
Fernando Alonso	P11
Pastor Maldonado	P12
Jean-Éric Vergne	P13
Jenson Button	P14
Esteban Gutiérrez	P15
Valtteri Bottas	P16
Max Chilton	P17
Jules Bianchi	P18
Nico Hülkenberg	P19
Mark Webber	Retired
Charles Pic	Retired
Giedo van der Garde	Retired

India Grand Prix in Stats

2013-11-03T06:58:00.001-08:00

Circuit Name	Buddh International Circuit
Country	India
City	Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh
Circuit Type	Permanent course
Capacity	100,000+
Designer	Hermann Tilke
First Race Held	2011
Number of Races Held	2
Number of Laps	60
Circuit Direction	Clockwise
Total Number of Corners	16
Number of Right Hand Corners	9
Number of Left Hand Corners	7
Maximum G-Force	4.0 G
Circuit length	5.137 km (3.192 miles)
Race length	308.2 km (191.5 miles)
Pit Lane Length	600m
Longest Stretch at Full Throttle	15 seconds
Time Spent At Full Throttle	62%
Number of Gear Changes	57
Most Successful Team	Red Bull, 2 wins
Most Successful Driver	Sebastian Vettel, 2 wins
Lap Record	1:27.249 - Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 2011
Lap Record Average Speed	210 km/h (130 mph)
Top Speed Recorded	317 km/h (197 mph)
Wins From Pole	2/100%
Time Zone	GMT +5:30
Coordinates	28° 21′ 2″ N, 77° 32′ 6″ E
Average Temperature	33°C
Average Weather	Hot, Sunny

FILE

Formula One toyed with the idea of Indian Grand Prix as long ago as 1997, and in 2003 a deal was signed to host the event near Hyderabad for seven years from 2007 although that soon fell by the wayside. In 2007, Bernie Ecclestone announced a provisional agreement to host a race at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida, 50 kms from Delhi, from 2009, but delays meant that it was delayed until 2011.

Almost inevitably, Hermann Tilke was commissioned to design the 5.1km track which was expected to cost around $320 million with a predicted opening date in February 2011, although delays caused by the weather soon pushed the deadline back to July 2011 for an October 30 race date.

The inaugural grand prix was well received despite inevitable teething problems.

Vettel Wins In Japan... But Still No Title

2013-11-03T06:49:00.000-08:00

At times it seemed that Lotus’s Romain Grosjean or Red Bull’s Mark Webber might emerge victorious from a tactical race in Japan on Sunday, but in the end it was Webber’s team mate Sebastian Vettel who took his ninth success of the season - and fifth in a row - after a finely judged two-stop race.

All three drivers led the race at one point or another, but as the Red Bulls split their strategies between a two-stop for Vettel and a three-stop for Webber, the single Lotus got outfoxed and outpaced over the 53 laps. Webber forced his way through to second place on the penultimate lap, with a strategy that put the emphasis on on-track action rather than playing out the passing in the pit stops.

Alonso played second fiddle for a long stint to Ferrari team mate Felipe Massa, but then he moved ahead of the Brazilian. And in the closing stages fought and won a tight battle with Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg. (The latter was also displaced near the finish by Kimi Raikkonen, who brought his Lotus home fifth) But as Esteban Gutierrez drove the best race of his short F1 career to score his first points with seventh place, it was a fantastic race for the team.

It was a tough race for Mercedes (who lost Lewis Hamilton as a contender in the first corner). As Grosjean came down the inside Hamilton was pinched between the two Red Bulls. As Vettel had to move left to avoid the Lotus he clipped the Mercedes’ right-rear tyre with his left front-wing. Hamilton managed to get to the pits with a puncture, resumed, but soon retired as the resulting aerodynamic damage was costing too much a lap.

Paul di Resta drove a great race for Force India but just lost out on points to Button and Massa in the closing stages and thus finished 11th, while Jean-Eric Vergne fought to 12th for Toro Rosso, just ahead of team mate Daniel Ricciardo.

Caterham and Marussia lost Giedo van der Garde and Jules Bianchi at the very first corner when the Dutchman and the Frenchman collided at the start, but after serving a drive-though penalty in the first five laps for driving through a red light during qualifying, Charles Pic fought through to lead Marussia’s Max Chilton home.

Sebastian Vettel	Winner
Mark Webber	Second
Romain Grosjean	Third
Fernando Alonso	P4
Kimi Räikkönen	P5
Nico Hülkenberg	P6
Esteban Gutiérrez	P7
Nico Rosberg	P8
Jenson Button	P9
Felipe Massa	P10
Paul di Resta	P11
Jean-Éric Vergne	P12
Daniel Ricciardo	P13
Adrian Sutil	P14
Sergio Perez	P15
Pastor Maldonado	P16
Valtteri Bottas	P17
Charles Pic	P18
Max Chilton	P19
Lewis Hamilton	Retired (Puncture)
Giedo van der Garde	Retired (Accident)
Jules Bianchi	Retired (Accident)

Japanese Grand Prix In Stats

2013-10-09T16:52:00.000-07:00

Circuit Name	Suzuka Circuit
Country	Japan
City	Suzuka
Circuit Type	Permanent course
Capacity	110,000
Designer	John "Hans" Hugenholtz
First Race Held	1987
Number of Races Held	24
Number of Laps	53
Circuit Direction	Figure Eight
Total Number of Corners	17
Number of Right Hand Corners	10
Number of Left Hand Corners	7
Maximum G-Force	4.0 G
Circuit length	5.807 km (3.608 miles)
Race length	307.5 km (191.2 miles)
Pit Lane Length	400m
Longest Stretch at Full Throttle	16 seconds
Time Spent At Full Throttle	469%
Number of Gear Changes	49
Most Successful Team	Ferrari/McLaren, 7 wins
Most Successful Driver	Michael Schumacher, 6 wins
Lap Record	1:31.540 - Kimi Räikkönen, McLaren 2005
Lap Record Average Speed	222 km/h (138 mph)
Top Speed Recorded	320 km/h (198 mph)
Wins From Pole	12/50%
Time Zone	GMT +9
Coordinates	34°50′35″N 136°32′26″E
Average Temperature	22°C
Average Weather	Sunny, changeable

CIRCUIT INFO

Although unique is a much over-used word in F1, it can rightly be referred to Suzuka. Not only is the Japanese circuit the only one that crosses over itself, in a figure of eight format, but this fact means that it is also the only circuit that runs both clockwise and anti-clockwise. The grounds play host to a huge funfair, and the big wheel is prominent on the skyline.

Designed as a test track for the Honda Motor Company in 1962 by Dutchman John Hugenholtz, it was mainly used for vehicle development. After hosting numerous races in lower formulae Suzuka began its quest to host the Japanese Grand Prix, a feat it managed in 1987, when it took the honour away from Fuji, Toyota's test track. Although the grand prix returned to Fuji for 2007 and 2008 the race is now confirmed to take place at Suzuka till 2011.

An extremely fast and technical circuit, Suzuka is popular with drivers and spectators alike and has some notorious corners including Spoon Curve and 130R. The circuit closed for a year in 2008 in order to make revisions necessary for F1, it re-opened on April 12, 2009.

Vettel Wins In Korea and Closes In For the 2013 Drivers Title

2013-10-09T16:40:00.002-07:00

Sebastian Vettel claimed his fourth successive 2013 victory in an action-packed race in Yeongam on Sunday.

Just like in Singapore, Vettel kept his head as several behind him appeared to lose theirs, and in doing so made sure the wheel-to-wheel battling stayed firmly in his mirrors. But Vettel was less dominant in Yeongam than he had been in the previous three races, and had to be careful to nurse his right-front tyre in a race in which several rivals ran into graining problems.

Grosjean took the fight to the Red Bull man initially by passing Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes on the opening lap, but the Frenchman was later jumped by team mate Räikkönen.

When Sergio Perez’s McLaren had thrown the tread off its right-front Pirelli tyre on the 31st lap it sent safety-car into action as the debris was cleared up. After the usual rash of pit stops (which included Red Bull's Mark Webber taking an extra stop because of a puncture from the debris), the racing resumed on the 37th lap.

When the race restarted six laps later, it took just a few corners for another major incident to occur, Force India's Adrian Sutil colliding with Red Bull's Mark Webber, sending the Australian spinning out of the race and setting his car on fire. A bizarre decision to send a fire truck on to the track before a safety car had been deployed will surely be investigated, with FIA race director Charlie Whiting later admitting that it had given marshals clearance to deploy it but had not anticipated that it would be sent out from T1, ahead of the leaders, before the safety car had had time to slow them down.

The RB9 was eventually recovered so that the racing could resume a second time on the 41st lap.

Vettel quickly resumed his lead while Hülkenberg made a move stick on Hamilton at Turn 3. At the end of the lap Grosjean made a mistake in the penultimate corner and opened the door for Räikkönen to pass into Turn 1 to take second. Grosjean, with fresher tyres on his car, was soon on the radio asking for a free pass, but was told to race his team-mate for position and failed to find a way past.

However, a more exciting battle was unfolding behind as Hamilton attempted to reclaim fourth position. He had the pace into Turn 1 to attempt a move on lap 48, but Hülkenberg's better traction out of Turn 2 allowed him to pass the Mercedes again ahead of Turn 3. Alonso, watching events from sixth position, then attacked Hamilton into Turns 4, 5 and 6, but the Mercedes was placed with precision to make sure it was always blocking each apex. Hamilton came on the radio to ask for suggestions about how to pass the Sauber, but clearly an answer was not forthcoming as he remained stuck behind Hülkenberg until the end of the race and settled for fifth.

Further back the race standings, Nico Rosberg lost out as he was held up by Button’s McLaren. Rosberg had briefly caught (and passed) Hamilton on the 28th lap before his Mercedes’ nose broke and started sparking spectacularly (while dragging on the track). He fell back behind his team mate when it proved difficult to change the nose during his resulting pit stop. He took advantage of the lifelines of the safety cars, and got back into contention for fourth in the closing stages but as Button lost pace on his ageing tyres, Rosberg lost out on the Hülkenberg-Hamilton-Alonso scrap, and they were out of reach by the time he had overtaken Button on the 53rd lap.

Felipe Massa battled for a strong recovery (from a half spin going into the third corner on the opening lap) which caused upsets and wing damage for Button and Sutil, but the intensity of a fight with McLaren’s Sergio Perez on the 43rd lap will be investigated by the stewards. The young Mexican recovered from his tyre failure and finished seven-tenths of a second behind the Ferrari to take the final point.

The stewards have four incidents to review following the race, including the Massa-Perez (one mentioned above). Perez is also under investigation for forcing Paul di Resta off track, while Van der Garde and Chilton are to be looked at for speeding under the safety car. Finally, Pic, Van der Garde and Bianchi are under investigation for failing to slow for yellow flags.

The result in Korea brings Red Bull within seven points of their fourth consecutive constructors’ crown, and Mercedes within a point of Ferrari for second in the standings - Red Bull have 402 points, Ferrari 284 and Mercedes 283, while Lotus are on 239, McLaren 81 and Force India 62.

Vettel extended his championship lead over Alonso to 77 points and now sits on a total of 272. As a result the German could clinch the title in Japan next week were he to win with Alonso ninth or lower. The Spaniard has 195, and Räikkönen as displaced Hamilton from third with 168 to his 161. Webber remains fifth on 130 with Rosberg on 122.

So all in all, the Japanese Grand Prix is going to be a spectacular race!

Sebastian Vettel	Winner
Kimi Räikkönen	Second
Romain Grosjean	Third
Nico Hülkenberg	P4
Lewis Hamilton	P5
Fernando Alonso	P6
Nico Rosberg	P7
Jenson Button	P8
Felipe Massa	P9
Sergio Perez	P10
Esteban Gutiérrez	P11
Valtteri Bottas	P12
Pastor Maldonado	P13
Charles Pic	P14
Giedo van der Garde	P15
Jules Bianchi	P16
Max Chilton	P17
Jean-Éric Vergne	Retired Mechanical)
Daniel Ricciardo	Retired (Mechanical)
Adrian Sutil	Retired (Accident)
Mark Webber	Retired (Accident)
Paul di Resta	Retired (Accident)

Note - Webber qualified third, but penalised 10 grid places for accumulating three stewards' reprimands. Bianchi qualified 21st, but started 22nd after being penalised three grid places for impeding Di Resta in qualifying

Singapore Grand Prix in Stats

2013-09-19T18:41:00.004-07:00

Circuit Name	Marina Bay Street Circuit
Country	Singapore
City	Singapore
Circuit Type	Street course
Capacity	110,000
Designer	KBR, Inc
First Race Held	2008
Number of Races Held	5
Number of Laps	61
Circuit Direction	Anti-clockwise
Total Number of Corners	24
Number of Right Hand Corners	10
Number of Left Hand Corners	14
Maximum G-Force	3.0 G
Circuit length	5.067 km (3.148 miles)
Race length	309.1 km (192 miles)
Pit Lane Length	400m
Longest Stretch at Full Throttle	9 seconds
Time Spent At Full Throttle	45%
Number of Gear Changes	81
Most Successful Team	Red Bull, 2 wins
Most Successful Driver	Fernando Alonso/Sebastian Vettel, 2 wins
Lap Record	1:45.599 - Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari 2008
Lap Record Average Speed	175 km/h (108mph)
Top Speed Recorded	305 km/h (186 mph)
Wins From Pole	3/60%
Time Zone	GMT +8
Coordinates	1° 17′ 29.51″ N, 103° 51′ 49.86″ E
Average Temperature	30°C
Average Weather	Warm, humid

CIRCUIT INFO

Although Singapore hosted numerous non-championship races in the late 60s and early 70s, there was not a race after 1974. The announcement of the new event came at the end of 2007 and was met with mixed reaction from fans. Excitement began to build when the FIA announced that to ensure prime-time viewing for the European market the Marina Bay circuit would host F1's first ever night race.

The non-permanent road circuit brought in innovative lighting techniques to ensure daylight conditions for the drivers and those working in the pits, while still offering spectators the atmospheric conditions of a night race. The first race in 2008 was won by Renault's Fernando Alonso, it was a complete sell-out, but will always be marred by the crashgate scandal. It later emerged that Renault asked driver Nelson Piquet Jnr to deliberately crash his car, in order to help his team-mate Alonso win the race.

For the 2009 race the circuit was modified through the first three turns to encourage more overtaking, modifications were also made to the high kerbs at turn ten that had caused so many accidents the previous year.

Vettel Wins in Monza

2013-09-19T18:30:00.001-07:00

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel survived a number of small issues to take his sixth win of the season in the Formula 1 Gran Premio d'Italia 2013 in Monza on Sunday afternoon.

Vettel, having held on to his lead from pole position, was never in danger as he eased away at the front. It did seem though, at one stage, Fernando Alonso threatened to close the gap (ahead of the pit stops) but the German's opening laps on the hard compound tyre (at the start of the second stint) ensured that he retained a cozy and comfortable lead. Sebastian Vettel eased home by 5.4 seconds after slowing in the final laps. Nerves started playing on the pit wall as Vettel was ordered to look after his front tyres and gearbox, but the Red Bull barely missed a beat as it took the reigning world champion to his sixth victory in 2013.

In the second half of the race teammate Mark Webber fought back and put Alonso under pressure (until he was also told to start short-shifting in lower gears by the pit wall) and he had also struggled with front wing damage. But at the checkered flag, the Australian was still less than a second behind the Ferrari. With Felipe Massa in a distant fourth.

Though Massa came in fourth, Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg closed to within a second on the final lap after another very impressive performance. Nico Rosberg finished sixth while Daniel Ricciardo proved to Red Bull his potential for next year with a seventh-place finish ahead of Romain Grosjean.

It was a tough race for Lewis Hamilton as his race strategy was upset by a slow puncture and a failed radio in his Mercedes’ on the 12th lap, and thus had to make two pit stops to almost everybody else’s one.

As for Kimi Raikkonen, he ran into the back of Sergio Perez (who ended the race 12th) at the start of the race meaning he also had to make an unscheduled pit stop, and was unable to to score any points as Jenson Button held him off for 10th place.

Behind Perez in 12th, fellow Mexican Esteban Gutierrez brought his Sauber home ahead of the Williams duo of Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas. A little further back Charles Pic managed to come home ahead of Caterham team mate Giedo van der Garde, as Jules Bianchi led home Marussia team mate Max Chilton.

It was a terrible race for Force India, with Paul di Resta a first-lap casualty after running into the back of Grosjean at the second chicane and Adrian Sutil retiring on the penultimate lap when running behind the Hamilton/Raikkonen battle. Jean-Eric Vergne had kept Button and Hamilton at bay in the early stages until a transmission problem on his Toro Rosso put him out on the 15th lap.

Sebastian Vettel	Winner
Fernando Alonso	Second
Mark Webber	Third
Felipe Massa	P4
Nico Hülkenberg	P5
Nico Rosberg	P6
Daniel Ricciardo	P7
Romain Grosjean	P8
Lewis Hamilton	P9
Jenson Button	P10
Kimi Räikkönen	P11
Sergio Perez	P12
Esteban Gutiérrez	P13
Pastor Maldonado	P14
Valtteri Bottas	P15
Adrian Sutil	P16
Charles Pic	P17
Giedo van der Garde	P18
Jules Bianchi	P19
Max Chilton	P20
Jean-Éric Vergne	Retired (Transmission)
Paul di Resta	Retired (Accident)

Note - Sutil qualified 14th but was penalised three grid spots for impeding Lewis Hamilton during Q2.

Qualifying At The Italian Grand Prix

2013-09-07T06:12:00.001-07:00

As the skies have cleared and the track temperature began to rise, qualifying at Monza had begun.

Q1 and cars came on track as soon and the lights turned green. With Monza holding the final European race, and being the home race to Ferrari, there was so much to gain. Esteban Gutiérrez was the first man out in his Sauber but many other driver's had the world attention. First the pair of Ferrari's had the majority of the grandstand audience's eyes. Many people were watching as Mark Webber was qualifying for his final European race and then many other's were keeping an eye on the the Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo (to see if Red Bull had made the right decision in hiring him on as Webber's replacement).

Eleven minutes left in Q1 and still no movement from the world champions garage. Sebastian Vettet was still yet to be seen on track. Finally at nine minutes left Vettel made his way to track. And nearly immediately. he took quickest lap.

But with 3:30 left on the clock, the race was on for Q2. Nearly all the driver's were back on track and no one was feeling safe. Monza in notorious for being one of the fastest tracks and with less than a second between P1 and P18.

A good session with great runs by all the driver's but it seemed that just when eyes were else where, Jean-Éric Vergne was the man that was to be watched on track, ending the session with the third fastest time, behind Ricciardo and die Resta.

After an entertaining first segment at the royal park and here is the list of those who didn't make it after Q1:

17) Esteban Gutiérrez 1:25.226s
18) Valtteri Bottas 1:25.291s
19) Giedo van der Garde 1:26.406s
20) Charels Pic 1:26.563s
21) Julies Bianchi 1:27.085s
22) Max Chilton 1:27.480s
Lights go green for Q2 and Daniel Ricciardo was the first man out. Possibly keen to see his car was still in good shape after that mistake at the second Lesmo. It seems that Ricciardo's car was fine as he set a 1:24.746 on his first lap.

Though the driver's are indicating that the tyres are heating up too much, it is only in the corners. The problem with Monza is that the tyres really cool down on the straight and that's why you often see the drivers weaving to gaining temperature on their laps.

As the time ticked down for Q2, the driver's were starting to push a little hard. Both Romain Grosjean and Lewis Hamilton both ran wide off the track.

Over three minutes left in the second session in qualifying and the pair of Red Bulls finally made it to track. The pair were both on track earlier in the session but decided to ditch the run they were doing on used mediums and going straight for a fresh tyre.

With less than a minutes left, Vettel set the fastest lap (and by some margin) 1:23.977. Hoping that no one would beat it. And with no surprise, no one did.

Q2 ended with massive disappointments all around! Raikkonen got bumped back to 11th with a late improvement from Felipe Massa. Disaster for Lotus though as both drivers miss out and Hamilton was out qualified by ten other drivers.

An amazing second segment and the elimination list of those who will not make the shootout are:

11) Kimi Räikkönen 1:24.610s
12) Lewis Hamilton 1:24.803s
13) Romain Grosjean 1:24.848s
14) Adrian Sutil 1:24.932s
15) Pastor Maldonado 1:25.011s
16) Paul di Resta 1:25.077s

Top Ten Shootout and Nico Rosberg was the first man out on track. Followed Closely by the pair of Red Bull's and Ferrari's.

With qualifying being what it is, as more cars came to track, the one's out pitted. But with just over a minute left in the third session, the track came back to life as the rest of the cars join Ricciardo. All ten were on track, ready to give the fans exactly what they came for, a show.

And that is exactly what happened! Felipe Massa out qualified his teammate, Fernando Alonso, for P4. Nico Rosberg ended in P6 (much better than his teammate Hamilton) but it was Sauber's Nico Hülkenberg that made the biggest impression. Ending his qualifying in P3.

All in all, the grid is set for a fantastic race tomorrow in Italy!

Sebastian Vettel	P1
Mark Webber	P2
Nico Hülkenberg	P3
Felipe Massa	P4
Fernando Alonso	P5
Nico Rosberg	P6
Daniel Ricciardo	P7
Sergio Perez	P8
Jenson Button	P9
Jean-Éric Vergne	P10
Kimi Räikkönen	P11
Lewis Hamilton	P12
Romain Grosjean	P13
Adrian Sutil	P14
Pastor Maldonado	P15
Paul di Resta	P16
Esteban Gutiérrez	P17
Valtteri Bottas	P18
Giedo van der Garde	P19
Charles Pic	P20
Jules Bianchi	P21
Max Chilton	P22

Italian Grand Prix in Stats

2013-09-05T18:59:00.000-07:00

Circuit Name	Autodromo Nazionale Monza
Country	Italy
City	Monza
Circuit Type	Permanent course
Capacity	115,000
Designer	Alfredo Rosselli
First Race Held	1950
Number of Races Held	62
Number of Laps	53
Circuit Direction	Clockwise
Total Number of Corners	11
Number of Right Hand Corners	7
Number of Left Hand Corners	4
Maximum G-Force	3.8 G
Circuit length	5.793 km (3.600 miles)
Race length	306.7 km (190.6 miles)
Pit Lane Length	420m
Longest Stretch at Full Throttle	16 seconds
Time Spent At Full Throttle	74%
Number of Gear Changes	40
Most Successful Team	Ferrari, 18 wins
Most Successful Driver	Michael Schumacher, 5 wins
Lap Record	1:21.046 - Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari, 2004
Lap Record Average Speed	250 km/h (155 mph)
Top Speed Recorded	320 km/h (198 mph)
Wins From Pole	22/35.48%
Time Zone	GMT +1
Coordinates	45°37′14″N 9°17′22″E
Average Temperature	25°C
Average Weather	Sunny

CIRCUIT INFO

Few names are as evocative as Monza, built in 1922 and for many years one of the fastest circuits. It was the first purpose-built venue to stage a grand prix and the first to charge for entry. It was also two tracks. One, a US-style oval with two straights and two heavily-banked corners (demolished in 1938) the other a facsimile of a road circuit. But while hugely popular, it was also highly dangerous. In 1928 a driver and 27 spectators were killed, and despite safety modifications, five years later three top drivers died in one race.

A new banked circuit was built in 1955 but this only staged two grands prix before being ditched because of concerns over the stresses it imposed on cars. But even the road course was unsafe, and in 1961 Wolfgang von Trips died along with 14 spectators when he crashed. Subsequent additions of chicanes reduced speeds.

Despite numerous modifications over the years to improve safety for both drivers and spectators, the circuit faces criticism for its lack of run-off especially at the Variante della Roggia corner. Despite the ongoing safety debate the circuit is still a firm favourite with fans who can always expect an action-packed high-speed race. Legendary Ferrari fans, known as the Tifosi, turn the stands to a sea of red on race day, as they cheer on their team at their local circuit.

One of the old-school of grand prix circuits Monza has a very special atmosphere; the Italians often refer to it as "La Pista Magica" or the magic track.

NOTES

On September 10, 1961 Wolfgang von Trips was killed when his Ferrari collided with Jim Clark's Lotus. His car was launched into the air and he was thrown fatally from the car, which landed in the crowd, instantly killing 11 spectators.

Just nine years later at the 1970 Italian Grand Prix, Jochen Rindt died at the same track as his hero His Lotus inexplicably ploughed into a barrier at Monza during practice. Rindt became the only driver to be awarded the drivers' title posthumously.

Ronnie Peterson died from his injuries after a crash at the 1978 Italian Grand Prix. James Hunt's McLaren clipped Peterson's Lotus, sending him crashing into the barriers. Vittorio Brambilla collided with the wreckage, and the car burst into flames. Peterson's legs were badly broken and he had suffered mild burns, and he later died from his injuries in hospital.

Vettel Dominates in Belgium To Take the Win

2013-08-30T18:06:00.002-07:00

Sebastian Vettel eased to victory at the Belgian Grand Prix ahead of title rivals Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.

The German's victory in his Red Bull (his fifth in 11 races this season) moved him 46 points clear of Ferrari driver Alonso in the championship with 200 points (and the title) still available.

After taking pole position on the Saturday though, Lewis Hamilton could not match the pace of the Red Bull and lost the lead after hitting the kerbs through Eau Rouge on the first lap. He eventually dropped to third, finihing behind Alonso (who made a fantastic start from 9th and then worked his way up to second). Nico Rosberg ended the race exactly where he started (in fourth) while Mark Webber spent the race recovering from yet another shocking start to finish fifth.

Jenson Button finished sixth in Spa for McLaren (just 6.9s off Webber by the checkered flag). Button had been attempting to complete a one-stop race as he ran but it never looked like he would be able to hold off the Mercedes pair behind and came in to the pits late on. Button's result was still enough for McLaren to jump past Force India in the constructors' championship.

Felipe Massa finished seventh ahead of Romain Grosjean despite struggling with a KERS problem. Grosjean looked to have a step up on Massa with a one-stop strategy but his hard tyres gave way in the closing laps and the Ferrari was able to get ahead while the pair headed into Les Combes.

Adrian Sutil earned Force India two more points. Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo was also quick towards the end, passing Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber and team mate Jean-Éric Vergne to claim the race's final point.

The McLaren of Sergio Perez finished in Spa 11th after the young Mexican had to serve a drive-through penalty for squeezing Grosjean off track at Les Combes while relieving him of 10th place on the eighth lap. Vergne, who finished behind him (did not get a similar penalty despite appearing to do the same to Nico Hülkenberg as they battled later at Les Combes). Behind all th above, the Sauber driver's team mate Esteban Gutiérrez's race to 14th saw him get a drive-through penalty for gaining an advantage by leaving the track limits.

All in all, it was a pretty much straight forward race. Here is hoping that the weekend in Monza will provide more entertainment!

Sebastian Vettel	Winner
Fernando Alonso	Second
Lewis Hamilton	Third
Nico Rosberg	P4
Mark Webber	P5
Jenson Button	P6
Felipe Massa	P7
Romain Grosjean	P8
Adrian Sutil	P9
Daniel Ricciardo	P10
Sergio Perez	P11
Jean-Éric Vergne	P12
Nico Hülkenberg	P13
Esteban Gutiérrez	P14
Valtteri Bottas	P15
Giedo van der Garde	P16
Pastor Maldonado	P17
Jules Bianchi	P18
Max Chilton	P19
Paul di Resta	Retired (Collision)
Kimi Räikkönen	Retired (Brakes)
Charles Pic	Retired (Oil Leak)

Qualifying at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps

2013-08-24T06:08:00.000-07:00

After what seemed like a summer break that was three weeks to long, Formula One was back at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

As Q1 was about to begin, it appeared that it wasn't just the fans that were eager to get back to the races but also the teams. A queue had formed at the end of the pit lane with both William's, Toro Rosso and the pair of Marussia's ready to take to the track the moment the likes turned green. Avery short time later, the Ferrari's and Mercedes took to track as well.

Two minutes into Q1 and all driver's were out on track (just as the William's pair were about to start their timed laps). As the cars started making their way around the track, it appeared that it wasn't the break as much that was forcing the driver's to track but more so the weather that was coming.

But as the time started ticking down, the weather cleared up and the driver's began looking (and weaving) to find wet patched on track. With eleven minutes left in Q1, teams were now finding themselves in a tough situation, were they going to burn through another set of intermediates or take the chance and put slicks on their driver's and hope for the best. With a dry line forming quite quickly, it seemed that the teams at the back were opting for the slicks as the front runners were heading back out with a new set of intermediates.

As the timer clicked to 0:00, the driver's were taking turns and constantly leap frogging each other to the top. But a massive surprise for Marussia.... Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton both made it into Q2, guessing that their slick tyre choice paid off! Understandably, they will not make in into Q3 but still... Amazing job though!

After an almost unbelievable first segment of qualifying at Spa. Here is the list of eliminated drivers after the late shuffle:

17) Pastor Maldonado 2:03.072
18) Jean-Éric Vergne 2:03.300
19) Daniel Ricciardo 2:03.317
20) Valtteri Bottas 2:03.432
21) Esteban Gutiérrez 2:04.324
22) Charles Pic 2:07.384

Q2 and what a spectacular sight to see a pair of black and red cars enter the track. Four minutes in the nearest rain was measured at four miles from the circuit. Bring any remaining drivers onto the track. No one wanted to be caught out without a fast lap before the rain hit.

With Mother Nature being as she is, Q2 was able to end out on a dry note. But unlike Q1, there were only a few drivers vying for fastest lap, not 12+ drivers!

Button and his crew finally have made it through into Q3. And as predicted, Q2 ended out with the back three being the Caterham and the pair of Marussia's, but still, seeing them in Q2 was something of a treat. A busy end to the segment with quite a few position changes. Here is the Q2 elimination list:

11) Nico Hülkenberg 1:49.088
12) Adrian Sutil 1:49.103
13) Sergio Perez 1:49.304
14) Giedo van der Garde 1:52.036
15) Jules Bianchi 1:52.563
16) Max Chilton 1:52.762

As the lights go green for the Top Ten Shootout, the rain has started. Nearly all the driver's were ready for the lights as to beat the rain because we are all aware that rain on track could mean anything from a little sprinkle to a full out river flowing across the track. Not even one lap in and the only car that was able to a 'decent lap' in the beginning stages in Q3 was Paul di Resta. All other driver's were queuing up in the pits for a set of intermediates.

Four and a half minutes left and the skies opened up over part of the track. The easiest way to see how rain can affect the times is.... Nico Hülkenberg was knocked out in Q2 with a 1:49.088. Paul di Resta set his time in Q3 at a 2:02:332.

With a minute and a half left, the rain was so heavy over part of the track, that it appeared that Force India was about to take their first pole position. It seemed that Force India had played their card right when they sent di Resta out late at the lights.

It all seemed so right for Force India until the checkered flag fell and the rain stopped... First Rosberg knocked di Resta out of P1 and then he just fell from there. It must have been a terrible feeling for di Resta, if the rain had only kept up for another one to two minutes, he would have had P1 in Spa. But it just goes to show how fickle the weather can be in Belgium.

Hopefully Sunday at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps proves to be just as interesting!

Lewis Hamilton	P1
Sebastian Vettel	P2
Mark Webber	P3
Nico Rosberg	P4
Paul di Resta	P5
Jenson Button	P6
Romain Grosjean	P7
Kimi Räikkönen	P8
Fernando Alonso	P9
Felipe Massa	P10
Nico Hülkenberg	P11
Adrian Sutil	P12
Sergio Perez	P13
Giedo van der Garde	P14
Jules Bianchi	P15
Max Chilton	P16
Pastor Maldonado	P17
Jean-Éric Vergne	P18
Daniel Ricciardo	P19
Valtteri Bottas	P20
Esteban Gutiérrez	P21
Charles Pic	P22

Belgian Grand Prix In Stats

2013-08-22T19:56:00.002-07:00

Circuit Name	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Country	Belgium
City	Spa
Circuit Type	Permanent course
Capacity	90,000
Designer	Jules de Their and Henri Langlois Van Ophem
First Race Held	1950
Number of Races Held	45
Number of Laps	44
Circuit Direction	Clockwise
Total Number of Corners	20
Number of Right Hand Corners	11
Number of Left Hand Corners	9
Maximum G-Force	3.5 G
Circuit length	7.004 km (4.352 miles)
Race length	308.2 km (191.5 miles)
Pit Lane Length	390m
Longest Stretch at Full Throttle	24 seconds
Time Spent At Full Throttle	70%
Number of Gear Changes	48
Most Successful Team	Ferrari, 12 wins
Most Successful Driver	Michael Schumacher, 6 wins
Lap Record	1:47.263 - Sebastian Vettel, 2009
Lap Record Average Speed	233 km/h (145 mph)
Top Speed Recorded	315 km/h (195 mph)
Wins From Pole	16/35.56%
Time Zone	GMT +1
Coordinates	50° 26′ 13.2″ N, 5° 58′ 8.4″ E
Average Temperature	16°C
Average Weather	Changeable

CIRCUIT INFO

Belgium's Spa Francorchamps circuit is one of the oldest on the current F1 calendar, hosting its first race in 1922 and its first grand prix in 1925.

The original circuit made up of narrow roads was 9.3miles long (14.9km) and was notoriously dangerous. It was a fast course and until 2000 it was possible to travel over the track as it was a public road.

Its speed meant Spa had a poor safety record. At the 1960 grand prix Chris Bristow and Alan Stacey were killed within minutes of each other, and in 1966 Jackie Stewart crashed and found himself upside down in the cellar of a farmhouse with petrol pouring over him. The old track hosted its final race in 1970, when it was deemed too dangerous for F1; a year earlier drivers had boycotted the race

Spa was missing from the F1 calendar until 1983 when it returned with a drastically reduced circuit of almost 4.5miles. Despite the cuts in length the circuit still managed to retain its magic. The mix of long straights and fast corners, combined with a picturesque setting and notoriously changeable weather keeps it at the top of both drivers and spectators favourite circuits.

Part of the magic of Spa is that it is known and respected as one of the most challenging in the world, and to prove that fact only six drivers have managed to win the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa more than twice: Juan Manual Fangio and Damon Hill both have three wins to their name, Jim Clark and Kimi Raikkonen managed one better with four wins and Ayrton Senna won the race five times. The undisputed Spa master though, is Michael Schumacher who has won a record six times.

NOTES

Cooper driver Chris Bristow was killed in 1960 after his car hit the bank on the Burnenville corner. It was a gruesome accident and Bristow was decapitated after being flung from the car into a barbed wired fence.

In the same race, just a few hundred yards away, Alan Stacey died after he was hit in the face by a bird and crashed his Lotus at 120mph.

Qualifying at the Hungaroring

2013-07-27T06:11:00.001-07:00

With the track temperature reaching a 48 degrees Celsius, and Esteban Gutiérrez is the first to take to the track in Q1, followed closely by Pastor Maldonado.

As more and more drivers make it to track, the McLaren team was still working furiously in the garage to repair the damage to Sergio Perez's car which happened when he crashed in third practice this morning having just set the third quickest time.

As the time hit the half way mark in Q3, the leader board was in a constant state of change as many of the top teams were yet to enter the track. It wasn't until the timing indicated six minutes left that the Ferrari's and Lotus'.

But as the track temperatures reached 50 degrees Celsius and 19 minutes had passed in Q1, all 22 drivers had set a times. Then it came time to race for Q2.

It was a Mercedes one-two as Nico Rosberg moved to the top of the charts, 0.013 seconds quicker than his team-mate Lewis Hamilton with Romain Grosjean only 0.097 seconds off the pace in the third. But a big disappointment for Force India as their man, Paul di Resta failed to make it though. After a busy segment (once it finally got going), here is the list of eliminated drivers after Q1:

17) Esteban Gutiérrez 1:21.724s
18) Paul di Resta 1:22.043s
19) Charles Pic 1:23.007s
20) Giedo van der Garde 1:23.333s
21) Jules Bianchi 1:23.787s
22) Max Chilton 1:23.997s

Q2 started and it looked as thought there were no takers. Until movement in the Lotus garage and Kimi Räikkönen burst onto track. Within two minutes, nearly half the remaining drivers were out.

Four minutes in and the inevitable radio transmission was hear, Webber was advised that his KERS had failed. and that will cost the Australian through the session. A minute later, as the wounded Red Bull continued to lap the track, his team-mate, Sebastian Vettel, entered the track with the pair of Mercedes.

Watching as the Mercedes pair were setting lap times, it looked as though both Rosberg and Hamilton were out to beat each other. When Lewis Hamilton first was signed to Mercedes, everyone thought that we would be the number one driver at the team. But as the 2013 season has progressed, Nico Rosberg has shown that he is maturing into a fantastic driver. Here in Hungary, the pair seemed to be having a race of their own in Q2.

With less than two minutes left in Q2, Mark Webber came back to track to race the other 15 driver's for a spot in the Top Ten Shootout. As the checkered flag ended the second session in qualifying, many driver's made great improvements on their lap times, but others fell through the ranks and were pushed out of Q3.

An entertaining segment in qualifying ended and following drivers have been eliminated after Q2:

11) Adrian Sutil 1:20.569s
12) Nico Hülkenberg 1:20.580s
13) Jenson Button 1:20.777s
14) Jean-Éric Vergne 1:21.029s
15) Pastor Maldonado 1:21.133s
16) Vallteri Bottas 1:21.219s

Q3 and all but one driver was out on track, preparing to set a lap time. By the time the clock showed three minutes left, eight out of ten drivers had set a time and mad their ways back to their respective garages. As happens in many qualifying sessions, teams and drivers were waiting for the very last moment to better their time.

But as most drivers were making their way back onto track, there was one driver who was out of his car and off into the back of the pits. Mark Webber was out of Qualifying. But as many fans were upset with the prospect of Webber not making it closer to pole, his results from previous races indicate that we should not count him out. We have seen Mark Webber make his way from P18 to P4 and from 83 seconds behind P21 to P7 (after loosing a wheel in the pits).

With Lewis Hamilton taking pole ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Sunday has certainly been set up to play out a fantastic race. With all statistics pointing to someone rather than the pole sitter likely to win the race, only time will tell.

Lewis Hamilton	P1
Sebastian Vettel	P2
Romain Grosjean	P3
Nico Rosberg	P4
Fernando Alonso	P5
Kimi Räikkönen	P6
Felipe Massa	P7
Daniel Ricciardo	P8
Sergio Perez	P9
Mark Webber	P10
Adrian Sutil	P11
Nico Hülkenberg	P12
Jenson Button	P13
Jean-Éric Vergne	P14
Pastor Maldonado	P15
Vallteri Bottas	P16
Esteban Gutiérrez	P17
Paul di Resta	P18
Charles Pic	P19
Giedo van der Garde	P20
Jules Bianchi	P21
Max Chilton	P22

Hungarian Grand Prix in Stats

2013-07-24T06:45:00.001-07:00

Circuit Name	Hungaroring
Country	Hungary
City	Mogyoród
Circuit Type	Permanent course
Capacity	120,000
Designer	Government
First Race Held	1986
Number of Races Held	27
Number of Laps	70
Circuit Direction	Clockwise
Total Number of Corners	16
Number of Right Hand Corners	10
Number of Left Hand Corners	6
Maximum G-Force	3.9 G
Circuit length	4.381 km (2.722 miles)
Race length	306.7 km (190.6 miles)
Pit Lane Length	360m
Longest Stretch at Full Throttle	11 seconds
Time Spent At Full Throttle	56%
Number of Gear Changes	59
Most Successful Team	McLaren, 11 wins
Most Successful Driver	Michael Schumacher, 4 wins
Lap Record	1:19.01 - Schumacher, Ferrari, 2004
Lap Record Average Speed	300 km/h (186 mph)
Top Speed Recorded	194 km/h (120 mph)
Wins From Pole	12/44.44%
Time Zone	GMT +1
Coordinates	47° 34′ 56″ N, 19° 15′ 4″ E
Average Temperature	27°C
Average Weather	Sunny

CIRCUIT INFO

Although Hungary first hosted a grand prix in the 1930s, the Second World War and the advent of the Iron Curtain meant motor racing in Eastern Europe was seriously limited until the late 60s.

In the 1980s Bernie Ecclestone looked to introduce a race behind the Iron Curtain, looking initially at Moscow before turning to Budapest, with a plan to run a race on a temporary road circuit in the city centre.

Organisers made the bold move to build a completely new circuit in a valley 12 miles from Budapest; the circuit was completed in just eight months and the landscape offering amazing spectators facilities with around 80% of the circuit visible from any vantage point.

The circuit held its first race in August 1986; it was a huge success attracting a crowd of nearly 200,000. The tight and twisty track has offered some excellent close races over the years, notably the 1990 race when Thierry Boutson won the race by less than 0.3 of a second from Ayrton Senna. The circuit is loved by some and considered twisty, hot and dusty by others.

Vettel Wins At The Nürburgring

2013-07-16T16:55:00.002-07:00

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel held off a strong challenge from Kimi Räikkönen and Lotus to win his home grand prix in German Grand Prix for the first time.

The Red Bull driver grabbed the lead at the start after out-dragging the polesitter, Lewis Hamilton, and fending off fast-starting team mate Mark Webber into the Nurburgring’s first corner. The young German then controlled the pace as the first round of pit stops pushed Romain Grosjean into a challenging position as the Frenchman ran a long opening stint for Lotus.

Grosjean led laps nine to 13 but he lost his advantage over team mate Raikkonen after an almost funny moment on the 24th lap.

Jules Bianchi’s Marussia ground to a halt on the rise to the NGK chicane on the 22nd lap, momentarily catching fire, and two laps after the Frenchman had abandoned it there (and before the marshals had recovered it) the red and black car began to roll slowly back down the hill, across the track. Thankfully, nobody was approaching at the time, but the safety car was deployed and did not go in until the end of the 29th lap, with racing resuming on the 30th tour.

Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber's race seemed to be ended at his first pit stop when an error from Red Bull saw him leave his pit box with a loose right rear wheel. The wheel detached and struck an FOM cameraman (who broke his collar bone and two ribs and was taken to Koblenz hospital to be kept under observation) leaving Webber a lap down when he rejoined.

Webber lost a lap before restarting, but was waved past the safety car to make up that lap before the race was allowed to restart.

The safety car came into pits at the end of lap 29, leaving just over half the race for the pair of Lotus' to attempt to pass Vettel. At this stage in the race, Vettel was struggling with a KERS issue. Grosjean was able to close within a second, but it became clear that if Lotus wanted to find a way past Red Bull they would have to employ strategy.

Romain Grosjean then became the pawn in a high-speed chess match. Grosjean was called into the pits for a new set of tyres (much earlier than he needed them). Which saw Vettel and Red Bull (who still had to make another stop) forced to react in attempts to avoid Grosjean undercutting him and a lap later the Red Bull entered the pits.

Kimi Räikkönen was then let loose in the lead and had two options before him: First was to try to make it to the end of the race on his current set (which would require a risky 36-lap stint) or second, make a late pit stop to take on fresh tyres and attack the leader. Lotus opted for the second option and Räikkönen pitted with ten laps remaining for a set of soft tyres.

The Finn rejoined 2.3 seconds behind Grosjean (who was 1.5secs behind Vettel) with Alonso a further 4.4secs behind.

Räikkönen managed to closed in on Grosjean (who was then ordered to let the Finn by with five laps to go) and had five laps to close the 2.5-second lead to Vettel. He managed to close to within a second at the start of the final lap but although that put him in the range that allowed him to use the DRS overtaking aid, he was too far back when he entered the zone leading up to the final chicane and Vettel held on to win by one second.

Behind them, Fernando Alonso’s stealthy race for Ferrari brought him to Grosjean’s tail in the closing stages. He had stayed on medium tyres for most of the race until taking on the softs on the 53rd lap for the last stint. At one stage it seemed a likely that he would pass the second Lotus, but Grosjean held on for a much-needed podium finish.

The result increases Vettel’s points score to 157 with Alonso on 123 from Räikkönen's 116, Hamilton 99, Webber 93 and Rosberg 84.

In the constructors’ stakes, Red Bull have 250 to Mercedes’ 183, with Ferrari third on 180, Lotus on 157, Force India on 59 and McLaren on 49.

Sebastian Vettel	Winner
Kimi Räikkönen	Second
Romain Grosjean	Third
Fernando Alonso	P4
Lewis Hamilton	P5
Jenson Button	P6
Mark Webber	P7
Sergio Perez	P8
Nico Rosberg	P9
Nico Hülkenberg	P10
Paul di Resta	P11
Daniel Ricciardo	P12
Adrian Sutil	P13
Esteban Gutiérrez	P14
Pastor Maldonado	P15
Valtteri Bottas	P16
Charles Pic	P17
Giedo van der Garde	P18
Max Chilton	P19
Jean-Éric Vergne	Retired (Hydraulics)
Jules Bianchi	Retired (Engine)
Felipe Massa	Retired (Spun Off)

Qualifying at the Nürburgring

2013-07-06T06:10:00.002-07:00

The green lights came on for Q1 and it seemed that many of the drivers were in no hurry to get out on track as most of the were walking around in their respective pits. That was until Force India's Paul di Resta took to the track followed by Marussia's Jules Bianchi. Who was swiftly followed by teammate Max Chilton.

Five minutes in and only one driver had set a time (which soon changed). But there was still no movement within the top teams garages. As that thought passed, Nico Rosberg joined the racetrack for a run.

The talk during Q1 was all about tyres and possible outcomes. Off of last weekends tyre issues, Pirelli took the week to create and manufacture over 1000+ tyres and brand new compounds. They certainly did not want a repeat of Silverstone. Some teams took the opportunity to poke fun at the whole situation, but Pirelli was taking it quite serious. After what Bridgestone ended up preparing for Formula one (tyres that certainly did not need to be changed during the race out of ware, only out of regulations). And so, Pirelli sent out their new tyres with a warning that all could see.

With five minutes left, the Red Bulls finally made it on track. Bring close to a busy first segment and here is the all-important elimination list:

17) Valtteri Bottas 1:31.693s
18) Pastor Maldonado 1:31.707s
19) Charles Pic 1:32.937s
20) Jules Bianchi 1:33.063s
21) Giedo van der Garde 1:33.734s
22) Max Chilton 1:34.098s

It was a tight end to Q1 for McLaren's Sergio Perez and it was only after the flag fell that he posted a time to get him through. Looking back at Silverstone, five out of the six dropped driver's qualified the exact same position here at the Nürburgring. Only Maldonado qualifying lower in Germany than Great Britain.

Q2 started and within four minutes, all the drivers were out on track. All but the Red Bulls and McLarens. Seven minutes left and the McLarens made it out on track, making the track come alive and looking to cause a bit of traffic with most of the driver's bunched together.

As Q2 starting coming to and end, the track temperature crested the 40 degrees mark, making for better runs for the Lotus' and the Ferrari's. It seemed that when the Red Bull boys heard that, they put their foot down. Immediately setting a time for a one - three. But that did not last long. Ferrari came up with a one - two. And by the end of Q2, Räikkönen had set himself comfortably between the pair of Ferrari's.

As the checkered flag waived, huge disappointment in the Mercedes pits as Hamilton made it through to the top ten shoot out but the team was too late and Rosberg (the hometown hopeful) was pushed out of the top ten.

An amazing end to the segment as one of the potential polesitters is dramatically kicked out of the session!

11) Nico Rosberg 1:30.326s
12) Paul di Resta 1:30.697s
13) Sergio Perez 1:30.933s
14) Esteban Gutiérrez 1:31.010s
15) Adrian Sutil 1:31.010s
16) Jean-Éric Vergne 1:31.104s

The Top Ten Shootout and nine of the ten drivers were out on track setting times within the first three minutes. Looking at the possibilities, the temperature predicts that the Lotus or a Ferrari will get pole (and within the Ferrari garage, Massa has been consistently faster than Alonso all weekend) but not one single driver is going to let the temperature hamper their times.

But as the time ticked by, only five of the ten drivers had posted a time. But as it always happens, with only two minutes left on the clock, all the drivers were out on track, setting up to be the last across the line once the flag waives.

Eight of the ten driver's managed to make it across the line before the time ran out. Unfortunately though, for McLaren's Button and Sauber's Hülkenberg set no time and thus, will start in P9 and P10 respectively.

So it's Hamilton versus the Red Bulls, with the Lotus drivers ready to pick up the pieces, while the Ferraris and Rosberg are further down the order.

But all in all, it is set to be a fantastic race tomorrow at the Nürburgring!

Lewis Hamilton	P1
Sebastian Vettel	P2
Mark Webber	P3
Kimi Räikkönen	P4
Romain Grosjean	P5
Daniel Ricciardo	P6
Felipe Massa	P7
Fernando Alonso	P8
Jenson Button	P9
Nico Hülkenberg	P10
Nico Rosberg	P11
Paul di Resta	P12
Sergio Perez	P13
Esteban Gutiérrez	P14
Adrian Sutil	P15
Jean-Éric Vergne	P16
Valtteri Bottas	P17
Pastor Maldonado	P18
Charles Pic	P19
Jules Bianchi	P20
Giedo van der Garde	P21
Max Chilton	P22

German Grand Prix in Stats

2013-07-04T05:51:00.001-07:00

Circuit Name	Nürburgring
Country	Germany
City	Nürburg
Circuit Type	Permanent course
Capacity	290,000
Designer	Eichler Architekturbüro
First Race Held	1951
Number of Races Held	39
Number of Laps	60
Circuit Direction	Clockwise
Total Number of Corners	16
Number of Right Hand Corners	10
Number of Left Hand Corners	6
Maximum G-Force	3.9 G
Circuit length	5.148 km (3.199 miles)
Race length	308.9 km (191.9 miles)
Pit Lane Length	380m
Longest Stretch at Full Throttle	12 seconds
Time Spent At Full Throttle	64%
Number of Gear Changes	50
Most Successful Team	Ferrari, 14 wins
Most Successful Driver	Michael Schumacher, 5 wins
Lap Record	1:29.468 - Schumacher, Ferrari, 2004
Lap Record Average Speed	300 km/h (186 mph)
Top Speed Recorded	199 km/h (124 mph)
Wins From Pole	16/41.03%
Time Zone	GMT +1
Coordinates	50° 20′ 8″ N, 6° 56′ 51″ E
Average Temperature	21°C
Average Weather	Cloudy

PROFILE

The modern circuit, built in the 1980s, is a shadow of the 1920s beast that went before. Opened in 1925, the original North Loop track was 17½ miles long, no more than 30 feet wide, with 174 turns and an undulating surface. Even in those less safety-conscious times, it was deemed too dangerous and by the late 1930s the shorter 14.17-mile Nordschliefe was in use. To add to the challenge, the location was prone to rain and fog, even in the summer, and its length meant conditions could vary even on a single lap.

The old track was nicknamed The Green Hell by Jackie Stewart and is widely considered the toughest, most dangerous, and most demanding purpose-built racing circuit in the world. Many top drivers never really mastered the course and it was growing concerns over safety that led to major changes in 1970, but by the time it staged its last grand prix in 1976 - remembered for the horrific accident which almost killed Niki Lauda - it had become an anachronism.

Between 1982 and 1983 the start-finish area was demolished to create a new GP-Strecke, and the F1 circus returned to the Nurburgring in 1984 but the venue had little in common with the original other than the name. A new circuit, built inside the old, was only 2.8 miles long and had some overly-cautious huge run-off areas. Sadly, the changes had robbed it of almost all its character and charisma, so much so that some fans protested it had no right to be called the Nurburgring.

Originally, the track featured four track configurations: the 28.265 km (17.563 mi)-long Gesamtstrecke ("Whole Course"), which in turn consisted of the 22.810 km (14.173 mi) Nordschleife ("Northern Loop"), and the 7.747 km (4.814 mi) Südschleife ("Southern Loop"). There also was a 2.281 km (1.417 mi) warm-up loop called Zielschleife ("Finish Loop") or better known as Betonschleife, around the pit area, and this is currently used for all major and international racing events. However, the shortened Nordschleife is still in use, for racing, testing and public access.

Roseberg Wins at the 'Russian Roulette' in Silverstone

2013-07-02T09:29:00.002-07:00

Nico Rosberg held fast for a for victory at a British Grand Prix, which was marred by tyre blow outs as he managed to hold off Mark Webber by 0.7s as they crossed the finish line.

Lewis Hamilton had led early on and looked comfortable but dropped to the back of the field when his tyre exploded while leading the race. Sebastian Vettel inherited first place.

Hamilton wasn't the only driver to suffer a tyre failure - all of which were left rears - as Felipe Massa then had one at Aintree and then Jean-Eric Vergne also suffered a blow out at the end of the Hangar Straight. This third failure caused the first safety car to be deployed. The safety car was deployed on the 16th lap as marshals cleared up the debris at Stowe corner caused by Vergne’s tyre incident (by which time the teams were telling their drivers to avoid using the kerbs in case they were causing the tyre trouble).

When the grand prix resumed on the 22nd lap, Rosberg started chipping away at Vettel’s lead. Eventually the pair were only a couple of seconds apart as they started to lap traffic, but then... the world champion’s car rolled to a halt just past the pit entry on the 41st lap, prompting another safety car deployment when Vettel’s stricken Red Bull was moved off the track.

The safety car reshuffled the field as Rosberg, Webber and Alonso all pitted. Rosberg and Mercedes appeared to timed it best (retaining the lead) but Webber dropped from third to fifth and Alonso from fourth to eighth.

When the safety car exited the track on lap 46, Mark Webber immediately over took the Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo for P4. Then proceeded to take Adrian Sutil’s Force India for P3, before speeding by Lotus’s Kimi Räikkönenfor second on lap 49.

But before Webber had taken Räikkönen there was still time for one last tyre failure. Sergio Perez (which Alonso did well to avoid at the start of the Hangar Straight) and then for Hamilton to follow the Ferrari through ahead of Sutil and Räikkönen . But the Hamilton was just unable to snatch a late podium as Alonso held on to take 15 points out of Vettel's championship lead.

McLaren had another disappointing race as Jenson Button was in the fight for points when the second safety car went in, but dropped dramatically from seventh in line behind it to a bitterly disappointing 13th place by the race finish. Teammate Sergio Perez had also been a contender (running sixth behind the safety car before suffering his tyre failure as the race resumed) eventually stopping his McLaren in retirement.

Esteban Gutierrez was 14th for Sauber as Charles Pic came home ahead Marussia’s Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton, and team mate Giedo van der Garde.

Romain Grosjean was another to have been in the fight for points, before parking his car in the Lotus garage close to the end to join Vettel and Vergne (whose Toro Rosso had suffered damage during its tyre failure) in retirement.

The results in Silverstone tightend up the fight for the driver's championship. Vettel still leads with 132 points, but Alonso closes in with 111 from Raikkonen on 98, then Hamilton on 89, Webber on 87 and Rosberg on 82.

In the constructors’ stakes, Red Bull have 219 to Mercedes’ 171, Ferrari’s 168, Lotus’s 124, Force India’s 59 and McLaren’s 37.

Nico Rosberg	Winner
Mark Webber	Second
Fernando Alonso	Third
Lewis Hamilton	P4
Kimi Räikkönen	P5
Felipe Massa	P6
Adrian Sutil	P7
Daniel Ricciardo	P8
Paul di Resta	P9
Nico Hülkenberg	P10
Pastor Maldonado	P11
Valtteri Botas	P12
Jenson Button	P13
Esteban Gutiérrez	P14
Charles Pic	P15
Jules Bianchi	P16
Max Chilton	P17
Giedo van der Garde	P18
Romain Grosjean	P19
Sergio Perez	Retired (Tyre)
Sebastian Vettel	Retired (Gearbox)
Jean-Éric Vergne	Retired (Tyre)

Qualifying at Silverstone

2013-06-29T06:09:00.000-07:00

Over the last few days, Formula One is set to lose another constant. Mark Webber released that he will be leaving F1 for le Mans at the end of the season. With this in the mind of many fans, they are hoping that Webber will repeat his 2012 year. Taking pole and the win.

With a warm, sunny day, qualifying started at Silverstone. First car out on track was Nico Hülkenberg in the Williams followed closely by his teammate Esteban Gutiérrez .

As Q1 dropped under the 15 minute mark, the wind began to pick up a little. It doesn't seem like much but wind has always been an issue on this circuit (which is a big open airfield). It has always been a challenge when a gust can significantly change the balance of the car.

It's easy to see why the grandstands do not look as full during qualifying as they do during the race. When you see some drivers exit the it to take one flying lap and return. When the split between the two 'race' is so far that the top teams and drives do no feel it necessary to stay out ad run. Fully understanding that if they have a time in the top five is Q1, there is no worry of being knocked out.

The first session in qualifying at Silverstone did not bring out much unexpected. The only major difference from Montreal to Silverstone is Valtteri Bottas. Ending qualifying in Canada in P3 compared to Great Britian in P18.

Eliminated drivers after that first segment:

17) Valtteri Bottas 1:32.664s
18) Esteban Gutiérrez 1:32.666s
19) Charles Pic 1:33.866s
20) Jules Bianchi 1:34.108s
21) Giedo Van der Garde 1:35.481s
22) Max Chilton 1:35.858s

Q2 begins and with the cars going round, the track was getting a layer of rubber laid down. Making the times start to drop.

For the first 12 minutes of Q2, it looked more like a practice session then a qualifying. Car were on track but no one seemed to really be putting in a 'good effort'. That was until the last four or five minutes.

When Vettel set the sessions fastest time with four minutes left. The remaining drivers started to really pick up their pace. For some of the drivers, they were able to keep up. For others through, not so much.

A big disappointment all around the paddock and track was the lack of McLaren's in the top ten shoot out. Both Button and Perez failed to make it though the cut off.

With a busy end to the qualifying segment. Here are the six drivers who have been eliminated:

11) Jenson Button 1:31.649s
12) Felipe Massa 1:31.779s
13) Jean-Éric Vergne 1:31.785s
14) Sergio Perez 1:32.082s
15) Nico Hülkenberg 1:32.211s
16) Pastor Maldonado 1:32.359s

The moment the Top Ten Shootout began, the racing was on.

Even with five minutes left in the session, the times were beginning to flirt with the 1:20's. First you have Mark Webber, who is trying for his best (as this is in final race at Silvestone), then you have Sebastian Vettel, who will do anything to be first. And then Lewis Hamilton, who just wants to make his hometown crowd happy.

The timing begins to tick down to the last minute and all ten drivers make their way onto track. Times continue to drop and the checkered flag came out. Even through the flag was waiving, the racing continued. Many of the quickest laps come under the pressure of the final lap and Silverstone was no different. Lewis Hamilton took his 28th pole position with an astonishing time of 1:29.607.

With times like that in qualifying, Sunday should prove to be quite and interesting race!

Lewis Hamilton	P1
Nico Rosberg	P2
Sebastian Vettel	P3
Mark Webber	P4
Paul di Resta	P5
Daniel Ricciardo	P6
Adrian Sutil	P7
Romain Grosjean	P8
Kimi Räikkönen	P9
Fernando Alonso	P10
Jenson Button	P11
Felipe Massa	P12
Jean-Éric Vergne	P13
Sergio Perez	P14
Nico Hülkenberg	P15
Pastor Maldonado	P16
Valtteri Bottas	P17
Esteban Gutiérrez	P18
Charles Pic	P19
Jules Bianchi	P20
Giedo van der Garde	P21
Max Chilton	P22

British Grand Prix In Stats

2013-06-28T11:30:00.004-07:00

Circuit Name	Silverstone Circuit
Country	Great Britian
City	Silverstone
Circuit Type	Permanent course
Capacity	150,000
Designer	Populous
First Race Held	1950
Number of Races Held	46
Number of Laps	52
Circuit Direction	Clockwise
Total Number of Corners	18
Number of Right Hand Corners	10
Number of Left Hand Corners	8
Maximum G-Force	5.0 G
Circuit length	5.901 km (3.667 miles)
Race length	306.9 km (190.7 miles)
Pit Lane Length	420m
Longest Stretch at Full Throttle	12 seconds
Time Spent At Full Throttle	66%
Number of Gear Changes	46
Most Successful Team	Ferrari/McLaren, 12 wins
Most Successful Driver	Alain Prost, 5 wins
Lap Record	1:30.874 - Alonso, Ferrari, 2010
Lap Record Average Speed	308 km/h (191 mph)
Top Speed Recorded	234 km/h (145 mph)
Wins From Pole	16/34.78%
Time Zone	GMT
Coordinates	52°4′43″N 1°1′1″W
Average Temperature	19°C
Average Weather	Cloudy

CIRCUIT INFO

Like many UK historic tracks, Silverstone was built on the site of an old RAF airfield with the original circuit making use of the three runways in a triangle formation, so common to World War Two airfields.

The first race at the circuit is reported to have taken place in September 1947 between local resident Maurice Geoghegan and 11 friends who raced on a two-mile ad-hoc circuit. The race was plagued by sheep wandering onto the circuit; the event was nicknamed the 'Mutton Grand Prix' after Geoghegan hit one of the unfortunate creatures, signalling the end for both car and sheep.

The following year the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) took a lease on the airfield and set out a more formal circuit marked by hay bales. The layout still retained use of the original runways and led to a circuit consisting of long straights joined by hairpin corners. In 1949 the layout was revised to use the perimeter track and this layout formed the circuit for the first Grand Prix held there in May 1950. In the presence of King George VI, the race was won by Nino Farino in his Alfa Romeo, finishing two laps ahead of team-mate Luigi Faglioli.

The start-line was moved from Farm straight to the current location for the 1952 Grand Prix and the layout remained largely unaltered for the next 35 years. The circuit continued to host grand prix events but shared hosting duties with Brands Hatch and Aintree up to 1986. As the speeds of the cars began to rise, a chicane was introduced in order to slow the competitors through Woodcote corner, Bridge was also subtly altered in 1987, also for safety reasons.

After the 1990 Grand Prix, Silverstone underwent a major redesign in time for the 1991 race which proved popular with fans. The circuit's cause was no doubt helped when local hero Nigel Mansell won the race. At the end of the race Mansell stopped to give stranded Ayrton Senna a lift back to the pits on the side pod of his car, a now iconic F1 image.

Following the death of Senna at Imola in 1994, many F1 tracks were modified in a bid to drastically reduced speeds and increase safety. For Silverstone this meant modification to Stowe corner and the flat-out Abbey kink converted to a chicane.

Having hosted the British Grand Prix permanently since 1987, rifts began to show between the British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC), who owned the facility, and the FIA. It came to a head when in September 2004 BRDC president Sir Jackie Stewart announced that Silverstone would not feature in the 2005 provisional F1 calendar. A last-minute agreement was reached in December, securing the race's future at Silverstone until 2009.

The circuit's future post-2009 looked rocky when Bernie Ecclestone said that he no longer wanted to deal with the BRDC and instead wanted an official promoter appointed. He also said major redevelopment was required for them to regain the race, including a new pit and paddock complex. In August 2007 Silverstone got the go-ahead to start renovations; however on July 4, 2008 Ecclestone dropped the axe on the Northamptonshire venue by announcing the event would move to Donington Park in 2010.

As Donington's plan appeared more and more shaky Ecclestone softened his "Donington or nothing" policy and admitted that Silverstone may get a chance to host the event. When Donington failed to raise the £135million it required for renovations Ecclestone once again opened discussions with Silverstone.

In December 2009 British Racing Driver's Club (BRDC) president Damon Hill announced that they had agreed a 17-year deal to keep the race at Silverstone, and a £5 million refurbishment, which involved changes to the track layout, followed.

Sebastian Vettel Dominates in Montreal

2013-06-18T16:23:00.002-07:00

Sebastian Vettel extended his championship lead as he eased to another victory at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Vettel looked to have gotten a great start from pole position and certainly did as he was able to establish a lead of two seconds on the opening lap before disappearing off into the distance.

Vettel’s initial pace was so good that he seemed to be on a three-stop strategy, but it soon became evident that he was not and also that nobody was going to be able to challenge him. He even had a brush with a wall on the back of the circuit on the 10th lap, and then make an mistake in the first corner (quite unlike him) on the 52nd, all without being even remotely threatened.

In Vettel's wake, Lewis Hamilton drove his heart out to leave his Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg well behind, and seemed to have second in the bag up until Fernando Alonso launched a blistering attack in the final stint to take Hamilton's 10-second lead to nothing. Hamilton lost time lapping both Felipe Massa and Adrian Sutil, and could not stop Alonso's Ferrari from sweeping ahead of him on the lap 63. He attempted to counter-attacked on the 64th lap (while on both occasions the pair looked to make light contact) but did not.

It was Red Bull’s Mark Webber that should have been a contender for the podium in Montreal but his race was spoiled when Caterham’s Giedo van der Garde inadvertently turned into the hairpin with Webber alongside him on the 36th lap, damaging the Red Bull’s left-front wing. That left Webber to take a distant fourth (though well ahead of Rosberg).

Jean-Eric Vergne passed Valtteri Bottas early on in the race and then had a wonderful, trouble-free race to sixth place (the best result of his Formula One career) while Paul di Resta put in a fantastic drive to come through from 17th on the grid all the way to 7th. Di Resta completed over 50 laps on one set of medium tyres before making his one and only pit stop, with Massa also climbing through the field to ninth (just 1.9s behind di Resta having passed Räikkönen).

Adrian Sutil dropped from his eighth place grid to tenth late in the race as a result of a drive-through penalty he received (for ignoring blue flags as Hamilton and Alonso approached) but it ensured that the two McLarens of Jenson Button and Sergio Perez finished 11th and 12th alike.

Lotus’s Romain Grosjean also went a long way after starting on the medium tyres, but didn’t get much mileage out of the supersofts and had to stop again for more medium tyres, dropping him from eighth to 13th by the end of the race.

Despite his fantastic grid position, Valtteri Bottas dropped back to 14th place by the chequered flag and it looked like it could have been worse had Nico Hulkenberg not retired (following a collision with van der Garde), while Esteban Gutiérrez dropped out of the race by hitting the wall on the outside of Turn 2 late.

Daniel Ricciardo crossed the chequered flag in 15th as Pastor Maldonado came in 16th (after he was required to make an extra stop after getting a drive-through penalty for a collision with Sutil early on in he race).

Jules Bianchi, in the Marussia, comfortably beat out Charles Pic’s Caterham and team mate Max Chilton as the final finishers in Montreal.

*The race puts Vettel well ahead in the drivers' championship with 132 points to Alonso’s 96, Raikkonen’s 88, Hamilton’s 77 and Webber’s 69. While in the constructor standings, Red Bull have 201 to Ferrari’s 145, Mercedes’ 134 and Lotus’s 114.

Sebastian Vettel	Winner
Fernando Alonso	Second
Lewis Hamilton	Third
Mark Webber	P4
Nico Rosberg	P5
Jean-Éric Vergne	P6
Paul di Resta	P7
Felipe Massa	P8
Kimi Räikkönen	P9
Adrian Sutil	P10
Sergio Perez	P11
Jenson Button	P12
Romain Grosjean	P13
Valtteri Bottas	P14
Daniel Ricciardo	P15
Pastor Maldonado	P16
Jules Bianchi	P17
Charles Pic	P18
Max Chilton	P19
Esteban Gutiérrez	Retired (Collision)
Nico Hülkenberg	Retired (Collision)
Giedo van der Garde	Retired (Collision)

Qualifying at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve

2013-06-08T18:00:00.003-07:00

Five minutes before Q1 was to start, the rain began. Even with light rain falling, all drivers attempted to get away with supersoft tyres for a lap when the lights went green. Within the first few laps, Kimi Räikkönen slid his Lotus straight over the grass at Turn 2, while Max Chilton spun his Marussia at the hairpin. By laps three, all o the drivers came in for intermediates. And the rest of the session was run on the inters despite the track continuing to dry, but drizzle prevented anyone switching to slicks.

With the times steadily dropping, it was all about who could improve late on. But both Paul di Resta and Romain Grosjean failed to get clean laps in and were unable to improve enough on their final laps as the rain intensified slightly.

After an amazing first qualifying session the six that hed been eliminated were:

17) Paul Di Resta 1:24.908s
18) Charles Pic 1:25.626s
19) Romain Grosjean 1:25.716s
20) Jules Bianchi 1:26.508s
21) Max Chilton 1:27.602s
22) Giedo van der Garde 1:27.110s

It seemed that conditions deteriorated further for Q2, which was stopped with a red flag with 1:59s to go when Felipe Massa got Turn 3 wrong and ended up broadsided into the tyre wall.

When the session finally was restarted (at 13.47) there was a fight not unlike the first lap of a race as everyone tried to make it back round in time to record single flying laps. Hamilton did it best, jumping to first place with 1:27.649s. But with very little time left in Q2, many of the drivers appeared to be pushing to hard and a large majority of them were cutting the final chicane, thus losing their flying laps times.

With only a few time jumps in the final moments of Q2, the list of eliminated drivers after the session were:

11) Nico Hülkenberg 1:29.435s
12) Sergio Perez 1:29.761s
13) Pastor Maldonado 1:29.917s
14) Jenson Button 1:30.068s
15) Esteban Gutiérrez 1:30.315s
16) Felipe Massa 1:30.354s

So it all came down to Q3, The Top Ten Shootout. As the conditions showed very little signs of a large improvement, intermediates remained the tyre of the day. And in the end, it all came down to what each driver was able to managed in their first runs in Q3. As the drivers never got the tyres up to temperatures in the final sector (once they had all swapped to new intermediates).

As the rain started to fall more steadily in the final five minutes of Q3, (preventING any further improvements). The Top Ten Shootout ended with Nico Rosberg having to settle for fourth ahead of Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso. It was a good session for Vettel as his other title rival - Kimi Raikkonen - only lines up ninth.

That left Sebastian Vettel fastest but just as it appeared that Lewis Hamilton was on course to beat Vettel's time, Hamilton missed the turn in to the final corner (missing the chicane) and he lost the lap time, leaving him sitting in P2 for tomorrows race. It was Valtteri Bottas that surprised everyone today. With 2013 being this rookies first year in F1, it has only taken six races for the Finn to make it onto the second row at race start.

Well done Valtteri and Williams!

Sebastian Vettel	P1
Lewis Hamilton	P2
Valtteri Bottas	P3
Nico Rosberg	P4
Mark Webber	P5
Fernando Alonso	P6
Jean-Éric Vergne	P7
Adrian Sutil	P8
Kimi Räikkönen	P9
Daniel Ricciardo	P10
Nico Hülkenberg	P11
Sergio Perez	P12
Pastor Maldonado	P13
Jenson Button	P14
Esteban Gutiérrez	P15
Felipe Massa	P16
Paul di Resta	P17
Charles Pic	P18
Romain Grosjean	P19
Jules Bianchi	P20
Max Chilton	P21
Giedo van der Garde	P22

Q1 107% Time 1:28.080

Note - Grosjean qualified 19th; penalized 10 grid spots for causing collision at previous round. Räikkönen and Ricciardo qualified ninth and tenth respectively; penalized two grid spots each for pit-exit infringements.

Montréal Grand Prix in Stats

2013-06-05T16:13:00.001-07:00

Circuit Name	Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
Country	Canada
City	Montréal
Circuit Type	Permanent Street Circuit
Capacity	100,000
Designer / Owner	Ville de Montréal
First Race Held	1978
Number of Races Held	33
Number of Laps	70
Circuit Direction	Clockwise
Total Number of Corners	15
Number of Right Hand Corners	9
Number of Left Hand Corners	6
Maximum G-Force	3.6 G
Circuit length	4.316 km (2.709 miles)
Race length	305.3 km (189.7 miles)
Pit Lane Length	400m
Longest Stretch at Full Throttle	14 seconds
Time Spent At Full Throttle	58%
Number of Gear Changes	53
Most Successful Team	Ferrari, 10 wins
Most Successful Driver	Michael Schumacher, 7 wins
Lap Record	1:13.622 - Barrichello, Ferrari, 2004
Lap Record Average Speed	205kph, 128mph
Top Speed Recorded	213kph (133mph)
Wins From Pole	14/42.42%
Time Zone	GMT −5
Coordinates	45°30′2.08″N 73°31′20.86″W
Average Temperature	24°C
Average Weather	Warm, Sunny, Cloudy

CIRCUIT INFO

Formerly called the Ile Notre-Dame Circuit and built on a partly man-made island in the Saint-Lawrence River, the circuit held its first race in 1978 after too many complaints over the safety levels at Mosport. It was renamed in 1982 to honour the late French-Canadian driver Gilles Villeneuve who claimed his maiden Formula One victory at the venue's inaugural F1 race in 1978.

Known for its tricky hairpin bends and the kilometer-long straight, the circuit is also famous for its "Wall of Champions". Situated at the end of the very long high-speed straight, the chicane has caught out many drivers over the years, notably in 1999 when three world champions - Michael Schumacher, Jacques Villeneuve and Damon Hill - all fell foul of the tricky chicane.

The first lap is notorious for accidents, the cars are funneled from the grid into the tight Senna curves, and so frequent is the safety car deployed that teams actually prepare strategies with one or two safety-car periods in mind.

The 2009 Canadian Grand Prix was dropped from the calendar following the failure to reach a deal with F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone. The government refused to pay the increased fee that they were faced with on renewal of the contract. However, after further discussions a deal was brokered that saw the popular event making a return in 2010.

NOTES

Notable fatalities: Riccardo Paletti, 1982. Starting from the back of the grid, crashed heavily into polesitter Didier Pironi's stalled car.