Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel says he does not like the plan to give drivers penalty points, which could see them being handed a one race ban. Under the new proposed system, stewards would hand out penalty points – similar to road users getting points on their driving licence – in addition to existing punishments, such as drive-through penalties, for misdemeanours on track. Stewards will be free to choose the number of points handed out, although they will be given an advisory level to work from. Should a driver accumulate 12 points over a 12-month period, they would received a one More…
Sebastian Vettel continued to set the pace during free practice for this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, but it was very close between him, Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber and it promises to be a very competitive weekend. As with pre-season testing the long run performance of the Lotus of Romain Grosjean was the stand out from the day and combined with Raikkonen’s single lap pace, just 2/10ths of a second slower than Vettel, Lotus look to be a force this weekend as well. There was a scare for Paul Di Resta who suffered what appeared to be a left rear More…
Championship leader Sebastian Vettel says the Sochi Olympic Park Circuit, which will host the inaugural Russian Grand Prix next year, is very impressive. Along with former F1 driver David Coulthard, Red Bull’s Vettel drove part of the track, which is still under construction, in an Infiniti road car a day after winning the Bahrain Grand Prix. The German three-time world champion then toured the venue in Sochi, a southern Russia Black Sea resort near the Caucasus Mountains, with officials from the Russian government. Russia’s first grand prix is scheduled to join the F1 calendar next year at some point after More…
Sebastian Vettel pulled off two key overtakes and managed his tyres to perfection to get early control of the Bahrain Grand Prix and take an easy victory, ahead of impressive drives through the field from Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean. It was the same podium as last year’s race, with Vettel again starting on the front row and the Lotus cars being forced to come through the field. After losing his second place to Fernando Alonso at the start of the race, the World Championship leader scythed past the Ferrari in the midfield esses section and promptly set about taking More…
Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel is targeting a return to the podium after narrowly missing out in the Chinese Grand Prix. And a glance at the drivers’ championship table shows that, without the extra seven points he gained controversially by taking the win in Malaysia despite team orders not to, he would now by second behind Kimi Raikkonen with arch rival Fernando Alonso just two points behind him, having recovered from his retirement in the Sepang. Knowing that they didn’t have the pace in Shanghai, the Red Bull driver chose a different strategy to the Ferraris, Lotus and Mercedes which More…
Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel says Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber did not “deserve” to win the Malaysian Grand Prix and that his decision to ignore team orders was “indirectly” paying Webber back for a lack of support in the past. Webber, 36, was leading Vettel, 25, last time out in Sepang when the team ordered both drivers to hold position after the final pit stops. However, Vettel chose to ignore the order and past his team-mate with 13 laps to go to take victory. Vettel was quoted on Wednesday as saying he will never apologise for winning but it’s More…
The teams are gathering for the Chinese Grand Prix and inevitably the focus of attention at the start of this weekend will be the Red Bull drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. But it could move on pretty quickly. In the run up to the event there have been some messages placed in the media setting out a few markers; there will no longer be team orders as in Malaysia, Red Bull mechanics are celebrating their record 2.05 second pit stop in Sepang and Helmut Marko says he never meant to criticise Mark Webber before the season. The Sepang incident More…
It is clear that the Malaysian Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel’s 103rd F1 race, will prove a turning point in his career. Vettel admitted on Sunday night in the post race press conference that he will be looked upon as the “black sheep” after he ignored team orders and passed Mark Webber in the closing stages of Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix, when the Australian thought the race had been called off by the Red Bull team. Interestingly, had they finished with Webber ahead, they would now be level on 33 points in the drivers’ table. And the way Red Bull works, More…
Sebastian Vettel has won a tense Malaysian Grand Prix after edging out Red Bull team mate Mark Webber with a close move late in the race, after Webber had been told to turn down his engine and drive to the finish. As Vettel attacked on lap 46 of 56, the pair almost collided several times, but the German squeezed through for the win. Vettel apologised to Webber, but the Australian did not say that he accepted it, instead commenting that Red Bull management “protects” Vettel. Team boss Christian Horner meanwhile confirmed that Vettel had “taken things into his own hands” More…
For Sebastian Vettel the Malaysian weather played in to his hands as he took a sensational pole position in changeable conditions for the second Grand Prix of 2013, almost a second ahead of Ferrari duo Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso. It was the fourth Grand Prix in a row that Massa has outqualified his team mate Alonso, stretching back to Austin last season. Alonso bristled in the official press conference at suggestions that this is a problem for him, pointing out that Massa has always been a strong reference point for him, despite his problems of the last few years. More…
Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel set the pace on the first day of the season in Melbourne. The German was the only driver to set a time under 1m 26s and his best time was set on the third lap on his supersoft tyres, having been forced to abort the first lap on the final sector due to traffic. This suggests that there was more to come. Vettel’s Red Bull team mate Mark Webber was second, with Nico Rosberg third for Mercedes. However Rosberg ended the session walking back to the paddock after a gearbox problem stopped his car on More…
Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel says the Pirelli tyres lack consistency and admits his disappointment with his Red Bull team’s final days of testing. The Milton-Keynes based team managed 158 laps over the weekend, compared to the 248 Mercedes managed. High degradation with Pirelli’s new 2013-spec tyres has been an issue for all the teams so far this year and Vettel, who has won the title for the last three years, said the lack of mileage has meant the team didn’t quite gather all the data they had hoped for with regards the tyres. “We haven’t been able to tick More…
Four-time world champion Alain Prost believes Sebastian Vettel will equal his own tally of championships with a fourth successive victory in the title race this season. Only three drivers – Juan Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher and Prost – have won four or more titles since the Formula 1 World Championship began in 1950. But Frenchman Prost, 58, who won his four championships with two teams – Williams and McLaren – over a nine-year period, said “Oh yes” when asked whether Red Bull’s Vettel could join that illustrious group. “Although I hope he doesn’t have a start to the season like More…
Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel said he was pleased with Red Bull’s progress despite having his running halted twice because of reliability issues on day two of the Barcelona test. Vettel, 25, was forced to suspend his running during a race simulation run in the afternoon session to investigate a hydraulic pressure issue and then the German brought out the red flag after stopping on the exit of the pit lane with a loose wheel. Despite the problems, the German still clocked up 84 laps and finished the day second fastest, 0.349 seconds slower than pacesetter Sergio Perez in the More…
Red Bull launched its new 2013 challenger the RB9 today in a ceremony at the team’s base in Milton Keynes, near Silverstone. But we will have to wait until testing starts next week to see what changes and evolutions the team has made as the launch car gave little or nothing away. It’s going to be a tough season for all the top teams and Red Bull know that the successes of the last three years mean nothing when the new season starts. If anything, maintaining the astonishing work rate and inspiration gets harder with each passing year and keeping More…
[Updated] For the past few days there has been some debate – on this site and others – as to whether the FIA should review the result of the Brazilian Grand Prix and with it the world championship, as there is video evidence suggesting that Sebastian Vettel made a pass under yellow flags three laps into the race. An on-board video clip presented on one of the Sky subscription channels and reposted on You Tube by a fan, shows Vettel passing Jean-Eric Vergne on the Reta Oposta straight before Turn 4, while yellow lights are still visible on his dashboard More…
Three times world champion Sebastian Vettel returned to the Red Bull Racing factory in Milton Keynes yesterday, to celebrate with the team and to do some media commitments. And JA on F1 was there. Vettel looked slightly weary after a late night in a Sao Paulo night club on Sunday night after the race and then a flight to London, “We definitely had a very good time on Sunday night, you have to do that,” he said. “What we achieved for the team and for myself is very special. “From a numbers point of view, you look at it as More…
Sebastian Vettel has become only the third man in history – and the youngest – to claim three consecutive Formula One World Championship titles after an exhilarating season finale in Brazil, which saw Jenson Button claim victory. Vettel overcame a first lap collision which dropped him to 17th, three pit-stops and a broken radio which meant the team wasn’t expecting him for one of his stops, to take sixth place and join Michael Schumacher and Juan Manuel Fangio as triple-consecutive World Champions, as his fellow contender, Fernando Alonso, finished second in the race and three points behind Vettel at the More…
It was inevitable that in the run up to the World championship showdown there would be mind games between rivals but so far Sebastian Vettel, who has the 13 point advantage over Fernando Alonso, has been the one on the back foot. Alonso has been banging the drum lately about racing Red Bull design guru Adrian Newey, suggesting that Newey’s contribution is the more significant, “At the moment we are not fighting against Sebastian only,” he said in India. “We are also fighting against Newey let’s say. “It is not so easy to fight, especially on Saturday, but on Sunday More…
Sebastian Vettel claimed his sixth pole position of the season and surely one of the more important, to put one hand on the world championship crown, as fellow contender Fernando Alonso could only manage eighth place for Austin’s inaugural United States Grand Prix. A win tomorrow would mean that Vettel would need at worst a 6th place finish on Brazil to be champion, regardless of Alonso’s results, but if Alonso doesn’t climb at least five places from his grid slot, the German will be champion tomorrow night. Vettel maintained his supremacy from free practice to top every phase of qualifying More…
Formula 1’s latest attempt to put down permanent roots in America got underway at the Circuit of the Americas today and it was the man who made his debut the last time the sport raced in the United States five years ago, Sebastian Vettel, who enjoyed the most dominant of Fridays. The Red Bull driver has his first chance to clinch his third consecutive world title this weekend if results go his way and in practice he demonstrated the kind form needed to at least keep to his part of the bargain with big margins of superiority in both FP1 More…
And so it comes to this: Two races in eight days to decide the outcome of the 2012 world championship. It’s been a long road to this point, but which of the two drivers has done a better job? Here we present an analysis of what has led us to this point. The margin between them is small at 10 points. But it will be all over this weekend if Vettel wins with Alonso 5th or lower. It can also be settled if Vettel is 2nd with Alonso 9th or lower or if Vettel is 3rd and Alonso is out More…
Sebastian Vettel the world championship leader, has been excluded from the results of the Abu Dhabi qualifying session for having insufficient fuel in his car at the end of qualifying for the FIA to perform the usual checks. He will start tomorrow’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from the pit lane, on a track where overtaking is not straight forward. Red Bull took this option so that they could set up the car specifically for overtaking, optimising the DRS opportunities and changing the gearbox and gear ratios to improve straight line speed. THe fuel irregularity is a similar offence to the More…
This weekend looks like being a fight between the championship leader Sebastian Vettel and the two McLaren drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, with Vettel and Hamilton in particular squaring up for a fight for victory. Vettel was faster on the soft tyres in FP2, after Hamilton had set the pace on medium tyres in FP1. Last weekend in India we saw the Red Bull faster in the opening stint of the race on the soft tyres but giving something up to the McLarens and Ferraris on the hard tyre. It will be interesting to see whether that pattern repeats More…
Here is something new: our first translation of a piece of JA on F1 content into Spanish. With a very positive response from the piece on Alonso and Vettel’s bid to become a three times world champion, we’ve had it translated so our Spanish speaking friends can enjoy it too. Disfrutar! Ya sabemos que al final de esta temporada la Fórmula 1 tendrá un nuevo tricampeón, ya que Sebastián Vettel o Fernando Alonso ganará este campeonato y, con él, adquirirá la condición mítica de pilotos como Ayrton Senna y Sir Jackie Stewart de ser un triple campeón del mundo. Convertirse More…
Sebastian Vettel cruised to a dominant victory in the Indian Grand Prix to increase his lead in the World Championship ahead of Fernando Alonso, with Mark Webber in third. The title is now a two horse race between Vettel and Alonso with three races to go. In a fairly uneventful race, Vettel survived a late scare with a floor stay to take his fourth consecutive race victory and extend his Championship lead to 13 points over Alonso. Vettel’s car began to produce sparks due to a loose skid block in the final dozen laps, giving Alonso some false hope, but More…
Ferrari’s mysterious blogger, The Horse Whisperer has made one of his occasional interventions on a day when the BBC F1 website ran a story with a strong line that Sebastian Vettel is headed to Ferrari in 2014. And, as always, the Whisperer’s view is interesting for what is said and for what is not said. It started with the BBC F1 site, where this morning’s headline was “Ferrari plan for arrival of Vettel” Underneath the thrust of the argument was, “Ferrari sources say they already have a deal in place with double world champion Vettel, with an option for the More…
Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time in Friday’s second Free Practice for the Korean Grand Prix, edging out Red Bull team mate Mark Webber by 0.032 seconds, with championship leader Fernando Alonso third. The Red Bulls were three tenths quicker than their rivals at the head of the field to go into Saturday’s final practice and qualifying at Yeongam as favourites. However, the McLarens and Ferraris weren’t too far behind in overall pace, with Mercedes also in the mix, to suggest there will be a close fight for the rest of the weekend. “This afternoon the track was quite slippery More…
Sebastian Vettel became the first back to back race winner in 2012 at the Japanese Grand Prix, cruising to an easy win after a start line accident eliminated championship leader Fernando Alonso for the second time in four races. A separate incident also dropped Mark Webber down the order, Romain Grosjean once again the culprit in triggering an accident at the start. Webber recovered to finish 9th. Felipe Massa scored a potentially vital second place, as far as his Ferrari career is concerned, from 10th place. It was his first podium for two years, although Ferrari celebrations will be muted More…
Sebastian Vettel took pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix and with Red Bull looking very fast this weekend, he looks set to close the gap on Fernando Alonso in the championship. It was Vettel’s 34th pole position, his fourth in a row at Suzuka, which puts him third in the all time pole position list ahead of Alain Prost and Jim Clark. Vettel is only 25 years old and has just Senna and Schumacher ahead of him in the list of pole sitters, the ultimate benchmark of speed. And with Mark Webber alongside him on the front row, it More…
Sebastian Vettel took his second win in Singapore and the second of this 2012 campaign after pole sitter Lewis Hamilton dropped out at one third distance with a gearbox failure. The Red Bull driver had jumped Pastor Maldonado at the start and was too fast for Jenson Button in the second McLaren. When Hamilton pulled off the road on lap 23, the way was clear for Vettel to control the race and despite two safety car periods to allow for accident damage to be cleared away, he steered the Red Bull home for the 23rd win of his career. Button More…
Sir Jackie Stewart has warned Sebastian Vettel against swapping the stronghold of support he has built up at Red Bull for a move to Ferrari to go up against Fernando Alonso. Strong reports over recent months from respected outlets in the Italian media have suggested that reigning two-time world champion Vettel has some sort of agreement in place with Ferrari over potentially joining the Maranello marque as Alonso’s team-mate in 2014, although Red Bull chief Christian Horner, whose team announced last year that Vettel had signed a contract extension up to the end of the season after next, has insisted More…
[Updated] Fernando Alonso won the German Grand Prix from pole position, his third win of the season and another stunning drive under intense pressure by the Spaniard, who increased his lead in the drivers’ championship to 34 points. It was the 30th win of Alonso’s F1 career, one less than Nigel Mansell and his second consecutive win at Hockenheim, following on from his controversial win in 2010. Sebastian Vettel finished second on the road, his 40th podium in F1, with Jenson Button third, but afterwards Vettel was given a 20 second penalty by the stewards for passing Button by going More…
Sebastian Vettel has denied that he has any kind of understanding with Ferrari, despite persistent rumours that a mechanism is in place which could take him to the Scuderia in 2014. At the same time the news coming from Vettel’s home country Germany around F1 is not positive, with only 54,000 tickets sold for this weekend’s German GP at Hockenheim – at least 20% down on expectations – and news that the Nurburgring has been denied any governmental bail out to settle its debts. Vettel took the opportunity of an interview in Bild newspaper, the leading tabloid in Germany, to More…
[Updated] World champion Sebastian Vettel is taking on some leading online driving gamers this weekend at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. On Saturday Vettel is taking on Hakki Jr, world Trackmania champion on Gran Turismo 5, as a showcase for the Red Bull Gridsters competition. It’s quite a leap for the organisers at Goodwood, one of England’s great stately homes and the home of the Festival, a well established part of the British summer of motorsport. But this year’s theme of the Festival is “Young Guns”, so a gaming challenge certainly fits the bill. Red Bull Gridsters aims to find More…
[Updated] We’ve grown so used to seeing almost perfect reliability from F1 cars that what happened on Sunday in Valencia with both Sebastian Vettel and Romain Grosjean retiring from potential race winning positions, seems surprising. Throw in Lewis Hamilton also retiring from a podium position after crashing out with Pastor Maldonado and it’s a real throwback to the 1980s, when finishing a race was never a given, even for championship contenders. Since the early 2000s the cars have become super-reliable because teams have imported quality control processes from industry. Last year’s European Grand Prix was unique because it featured all More…
Sebastian Vettel needed just one lap at the end of qualifying to claim a sensational pole position in Valencia ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Pastor Maldonado. The Red Bull driver had struggled in an ultra competitive Q2 session and used up two sets of option tyres getting into Q3, leaving him with only one new set for Q3. But he managed the situation and pulled out his usual optimum lap to grab the pole. But the Lotus cars are poised to play a role in the outcome of the Grand Prix, when track conditions are expected to be hot and More…
Sebastian Vettel made use of a heavily revised RB8 to set the fastest time of the day in Valencia during Friday’s second practice session ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Kamui Kobayashi. Red Bull have brought a raft of upgrades to the European Grand Prix, focused on the exhausts blowing on the floor and diffuser, predominantly working on the rear-end stability of the car, which is of particular importance around the street circuit. And those changes have proved successful with Vettel also taking second position in FP1 ahead of team-mate Mark Webber. Webber also tried some front wing modifications and there More…
World Champion Sebastian Vettel became the first F1 driver to sample the new Port Imperial circuit this week, which will host the Grand Prix of America next June. Vettel stopped off after Montreal in New York both to drive the street circuit, which is still under construction and to make an appearance on the popular David Letterman show. Vettel drove the track in a road car as part of a promotion for Red Bull partner Infiniti and described the circuit as like a street circuit version of Spa Francorchamps, due to the elevation changes. “It’s a pretty steep uphill and More…
Sebastian Vettel gave himself the best chance of becoming the first driver to win a second race in 2012, by taking pole by 3/10ths of a second from Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. If he could do it, it would be the first win for Red Bull in Canada, which has been something of a bogey circuit for the team. Vettel made a mistake on the last lap in 2011, losing the win to Jenson Button. It was Vettel’s second pole in a row in Canada and the 32nd of his career in just 88 Grands Prix. It was Vettel’s More…
Adrian Newey, Formula 1’s foremost designer of the past two decades, was recognised on a national scale this week when he collected his OBE from the Queen at Windsor Castle. Red Bull Racing’s chief technical officer was recognised for his services to motorsport during a career that has seen him design multiple championship-winning cars for Williams, McLaren and now his current team. Newey had been honoured in the same New Years Honours List as Nigel Mansell – who took the designer’s Williams FW14B to the 1992 drivers’ title – the 31-time grand prix winner having received a CBE for his role as More…
Sebastian Vettel has been honoured by his nation, Germany, in a ceremony in the capital Berlin. The double world champion travelled there on Wednesday after completing his two days test in Barcelona to receive the Silver Bay Laurel Leaf, a sports award issued by the office of the President. According to Wikipedia, “The Silberne Lorbeerblatt (Silver Bay Laurel Leaf) is the highest sports award in Germany. It had been endowed on June 23, 1950 by the German President Theodor Heuss. To be honored with the Silberne Lorbeerblatt an athlete or a team has to be nominated by the president of More…
Yesterday the boss of Red Bull, Dietrich Mateschitz, said that “Sebastian (Vettel) has improved and is stronger than ever. He has prepared during the winter break like never before and he will certainly not let us down.” With just two weeks to go until the wraps come off the new cars from the challengers for the championship, attention is building on what kind of season we will have and how close the racing will be. Mateschitz went on to say in the same interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, that he thinks the closest challenger this year will be McLaren, then More…
World Champion Sebastian Vettel scored his 15th pole position of the season, setting a new record that beats the one set by Nigel Mansell which has stood for almost 20 years. It was Vettel’s 30th pole position in just 81 Grands Prix. It was a scintillating lap by Vettel, only a tenth faster than team mate Mark Webber, but a perfect summing up of the season in many ways, as the German put everything together in one lap. The Red Bull’s prowess in the middle sector was the decisive factor in keeping them ahead of the McLaren of Jenson Button, More…
Sebastian Vettel staged a dramatic last minute smash and grab raid on McLaren with a stunning lap to take pole away from Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. It was Vettel’s 14th pole of the season, equalling Nigel Mansell’s record from 1992 and the 29th of his career. McLaren had controlled the pace throughout the weekend, but in the final crucial phase they lost out to Vettel, who strung together a perfect lap, with a stronger Sector 1 and Sector 2. It seemed that the McLaren didn’t perform quite as well as the Red Bull when the temperature came down to More…
Sebastian Vettel made more history today as he won the first Indian Grand Prix, setting a new record for most laps led in a season in the process. The German went past Nigel Mansell’s 692 laps led from the 1992 season. It was his 11th win of the season and the 21st of his career. It was one of Vettel’s most comfortable wins of the season; he won from pole position, led every lap and set the fastest lap. “I’m very proud to be the first winner of the Indian Grand Prix,” said the world champion, “It’s a great country, More…
Sebastian Vettel may have clinched the 2011 World Championship, but it’s not dented his motivation as he again out raced and out thought his opponents, despite the race not working out the way Red Bull had thought it would in terms of tyre strategy. Pole sitter Lewis Hamilton battled with understeer all race and finished second. It was Vettel’s 10th win of the season, making him the only driver apart from his countryman Michael Schumacher do win 10 or more races in a season. It was the 20th victory of his career and with Mark Webber’s third place it gave More…
Some say he’s going to win as many titles as Schumacher, others say he’s still improving as a driver, while others say it’s all the car and Vettel cannot overtake. No 24 year old driver has achieved more – two world titles, 19 wins, 27 pole positions. And now Fernando Alonso has challenged him to a contest to see who can be the youngest ever three times world champion – one of them is likely to beat Ayrton Senna’s record of 31 years of age. Alonso has been waiting five years for his third title.. Whatever the hype, the hyperbole More…
Sebastian Vettel became the youngest double world champion in the history of F1 today, the 24 year old finishing third in the race and wrapping up the title with four races still to go. “To win the championship here is fantastic,” said an emotional Vettel. “I’m so thankful to everyone in the team, working day in and day out pushing hard. We found ourselves in a strong position and it’s great to achieve our goals. This year we have always been one step ahead. There is no secret, it’s step by step. The hardest thing is winning after winning, to More…
Sebastian Vettel is just one point away from clinching the world championship after another dominant performance in the Singapore Grand Prix. Only Jenson Button stands in his way, but a single point from any of the remaining five races will do it for him. It was Vettel’s ninth win of the season, he joins Michael Schumacher and Nigel Mansell as the only drivers who have won nine races in an F1 season. It was also the 19th of his career. Amazingly, having led almost 600 laps this year this was the first time this year he has led a race More…
Many readers will be wanting to know the mathematical situation going into tomorrow’s Singapore Grand Prix with regard to Sebastian Vettel clinching the championship. As I said in my qualifying post, Vettel has been untouchable all weekend in qualifying and race pace and only a misfortune of some kind will rob him of victory tomorrow. He easily has the pace to win. Thanks to Sean Kelly, who goes by the soubriquet of Virtual Statman and is the stats guy for many of the TV companies working in F1, here are the permutations which will clinch it in Singapore. If Vettel More…
Sebastian Vettel set a blistering pace in qualifying today for the Singapore Grand Prix, taking his 11th pole position of the season. Mark Webber was second, with Jenson Button third and Lewis Hamilton fourth. If tomorrow’s race ended like that it would mean that the title race goes on to the Japanese Grand Prix, with Webber still in the hunt. In all likelihood we will see Alonso come up from fifth on the grid as the Ferrari has better performance and stronger tyre life in race conditions. It was Red Bull’s fifth 1-2 grid lockout of the season and Vettel’s More…
World champion Sebastian Vettel may be on the point of clinching his second consecutive world title, but he said today that he is in no hurry to do it here in Singapore with six races to go. Vettel, 24, can leave Singapore as world champion on Sunday, with the right combination of results for him and his rivals. But he says that he is taking a measured approach to the weekend and is neither keen to close it out here, nor risk averse with the prize in his grasp, “So far we haven’t won anything but we are in a More…
Sebastian Vettel is now potentially just one race away from being crowned world champion for the second year in a row and at the age of 24. A win at Singapore would guarantee him the title. He won his eighth race of the season on a track where Red Bull had not been considered one of the favourites, thanks to a bold pass on Fernando Alonso in the early stages of the race. It was Vettel’s 18th career win, his second at this circuit and Red Bull’s first at Monza. Behind him there were intense battles featuring Hamilton, Button, Alonso More…
Sebastian Vettel’s win on Sunday had many significant aspects to it, but perhaps the most significant is that it dealt a body blow to his rivals’ chances of closing the gap in the championship. Vettel has now extended his lead in the championship in the last two Grands Prix to the point where he can clinch his second world title as early as the Singapore Grand Prix, five races before the end of the season, if he wins in both Monza and Singapore. At just 24 years, he would be the youngest ever double champion. The reason is that with More…
After last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix, Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz articulated his philosophy of why his drivers would be allowed to race each other right to the end and the team would not intervene, “Let the two drivers race and what will be will be,” he said. “If Alonso wins we will have been unlucky. I predict a Hollywood ending. Worst case scenario we don’t become champion? We’ll do it next year. “But our philosophy stays the same because this is sport and it must remain sport. We don’t manipulate things like Ferrari do.” He got his Hollywood ending More…
Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner has today come out with some comments which close the door firmly on ideas of Lewis Hamilton joining the Red Bull Racing team. Horner met with Hamilton at the recent Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, starting all kinds of speculation which neither man was quick to shoot down. It was a puzzling incident from many angles; at Hamilton’s press briefing on Thursday in Valencia, he said that his meeting with Horner had taken place before qualifying in Canada. Horner later confirmed that it was at about 5pm on Saturday evening. With Vettel under contract More…
Sebastian Vettel dominated the European Grand Prix in Valencia, his sixth win from pole of the 2011 season and extended his championship lead to 77 points. A week short of his 24th birthday, he gave himself a present of pole position, win and fastest lap and he has the championship in his hands. It was also a great response to critics after he made a rare mistake on the last lap in Montreal two weeks ago. He also became the first man to finish either first or second in the first eight races of the season. He has only dropped More…
Sebastian Vettel took his seventh pole position of the season, ahead of team mate Mark Webber, showing that the FIA’s mid season rule changes to engine maps have had little effect on his or Red Bull’s competitiveness. It was the 22nd pole position of his career and the ninth in the last 11 races. Lewis Hamilton qualified third. The German was on imperious form, setting the fastest time in both the second and final parts of qualifying. But after a tricky start to the session, it was a strong finish by Webber who ended up only a tenth and a More…
Although he has started less than half as many races, Sebastian Vettel has now equalled Fernando Alonso’s 20 pole positions, has passed Lewis Hamilton’s pole tally easily and with his win on Sunday he equalled Hamilton’s total of 14 wins. The events of Monaco weekend showed that this is all rather hard to take for Hamilton, as it was for Alonso before him. The three men stand head and shoulders above the other F1 drivers in terms of their quality and their dominance of the sport. This year Vettel has the faster car and has made good use of it More…
Sebastian Vettel won his fourth race of the season – and extended his championship advantage to 41 points – in today’s Spanish Grand Prix, holding off a charging Lewis Hamilton in the closing laps. It was Vettel’s 14th career win and one of his most hard fought with Hamilton’s pressure very intense. Vettel did not have KERS for much of the race, yet another reliability issue which he had to deal with in qualifying and the race. Sooner or later that is going to really start costing them, especially as McLaren are right there on race pace. But he used More…
The grey overcast skies and light drizzle in the Istanbul paddock make for a lifeless, gloomy sort of atmosphere. Drivers huddle in their rain jackets, stepping over puddles on their way from garage to motorhome. The latest forecast is for it to improve from Saturday, which is a relief. Add in the total lack of crowd or any kind of buzz around the event and F1 seems to be in a sterile bubble this weekend, going about its business behind closed doors. But it still has to put on a show and luckily there is a lot going on in More…
Sebastian Vettel took a dramatic pole position at the very end of qualifying to steal pole position from McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton by a tenth of a second. It was a great showing from the pair, who eclipsed their team mates once again. Webber was third for Red Bull, a full three tenths off Vettel, while Button was a similar margin behind in fourth. It was Vettel’s second pole of 2011 and his 17th in just 64 Grands Prix – a ratio of 26%. Going back into last season as well, he has had pole in five of the last six More…
World champion Sebastian Vettel today committed himself to stay with the Red Bull team until the end of 2014 at least. Vettel is just 23 years old now and will still be only 27 at the end of this contract extension, traditionally seen as the age when a driver enters the peak period of his career. Fernando Alonso is in that period now; he turns 30 this year and will be 33 when Vettel’s contract runs out. By that time Alonso will have been in F1 for 14 years. The move will certainly put an end to stories about Vettel More…
World Champion Sebastian Vettel set the pace on day one of what could turn out to be a defining test in the build up to the new season. Unlike the permanent Valencia track and Jerez, Barcelona is an F1 race venue and is still considered one of the best circuits for showing up a good car. It’s combination of corners and short and long straights is a great test for a car’s aerodynamic efficiency and a quick car around Barcelona is always a contender. With the political situation in Bahrain still volatile, the F1 teams met to discuss the final More…
There is an interesting little item in Speedweek, the Red Bull owned magazine, in which certain details of the contract arrangement with world champion Sebastian Vettel are explained, most notably that if he finishes in the top three in the 2011 world championship and scores a certain amount of victories, he is tied to Red Bull Racing for the 2012 season. This is confirmed in the article by RBR special adviser Dr Helmut Marko, “We will not let any top driver go,” he says. Vettel signed a contract renewal in August 2009 until the end of 2011 with an option More…
Last night I went to the Autosport Awards at London’s Grosvenor House hotel, the annual end of season get together for the UK motor sport industry. It’s changed little over the years, my old ITV colleague Steve Rider still presents it; gently and respectfully taking the mickey out of many of the great names of the sport. Last night the two stars of the show were Kamui Kobayashi and Sebastian Vettel. Kobayshi was there to collect the Rookie of the Year award, previously won by Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Vettel. Strictly speaking Kobayashi wasn’t really a rookie this year More…
Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel have buried the hatchet after a season long duel for supremacy in the Red Bull team. The duo, who looked at times as though they were shaping up to reprise the bitter Senna/Prost team rivalry of the 1990s, have revealed that they spoke at length during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend and put their differences behind them. Webber also revealed that once the competition was over, and Vettel emerged victorious, it was important for him to drop his competitive guard and bow down to the younger man’s achievement. “I went to him, ” said More…
Sebastian Vettel took pole position for the final round of the 2010 World Championship ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. It was his 10th pole position of the season and a record equalling 15th pole of the season for Red Bull Racing. Mark Webber could manage only the fifth fastest time, which deals his title hopes a real blow. He has to hope for misfortunes to the others tomorrow, as starting behind Alonso on the road and with less points, he’s in a difficult position. Alonso made some changes to his car, reverting to settings from Friday, while Hamilton More…
Red Bull Racing clinched their first F1 Constructors’ World Championship at Interlagos as Sebastian Vettel led a 1-2 finish ahead of Mark Webber. Fernando Alonso was third and he goes to Abu Dhabi with an eight point lead over Webber. If he finishes second whatever the other two do, he is world champion for the third time. It was a difficult result to swallow for Webber, who would have been only one point behind Alonso if the team had backed him. But that is not their philosophy and you can debate the rights and wrongs of that. It would have More…
Sebastian Vettel will start tomorrow’s inaugural Korean Grand Prix from pole position after an extremely tight qualifying session. Mark Webber was just 7/100ths of a second slower in second place with Fernando Alonso a further 9/100ths off Webber. It is Vettel’s 14th career pole position and the 9th this season in 17 races. Perhaps more staggeringly it is Red Bull’s 14th out of 17 races. After second in Singapore, then pole and the win in Japan this is starting to look like a sprint finish by Vettel and Webber is looking nervously over his shoulder with a slender 14 point More…
Sebastian Vettel dominated last year’s Japanese Grand Prix weekend and the signs are strong that he and his Red Bull team are set to repeat this weekend. Vettel topped the time sheets in both Friday practice sessions, ahead of team mate Mark Webber. The margins were big again, not quite Hungary big, but certainly enough to dismay the opposition. Vettel was 9/10ths ahead of championship rival Fernando Alonso who was fourth. Of course it is only Friday but the Ferrari doesn’t look a match for the Red Bull this weekend. Robert Kubica looked very lively in the Renault, mixing it More…
Fernando Alonso won the Singapore Grand Prix by a margin of just 0.2 seconds after a race long battle with Sebastian Vettel on a day when the gloves well and truly came off between championship rivals Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton. The pair, who were one and two in the championship going into the race, were fighting for third place when they collided following a restart from a safety car period. It was Alonso’s 25th career victory, putting him level with the great Jim Clark and only two behind Jackie Stewart. More significantly it was his third win in five More…
There has been a clip on the internet for the last 48 hours showing the on board shot from Sebastian Vettel’s car as he lost control and hit Jenson Button. The clip was originally on You Tube, but has been taken down on the request of FOM. This is to protect the rights of the broadcasters, like BBC, RTL and La Sexta, who also have the online rights in their countries. As a result the clip is available on the BBC website today and maybe on your local broadcaters’ site. Apologies for raising this if your local broadcaster doesn’t have More…
In the aftermath of the Belgian Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel has come in for a fair bit of criticism for putting himself out of contention once again and damaging his championship chances. Spa was his third retirement of the season. He is now 31 points off the championship lead. He’s made things more difficult for himself, but with 150 points up for grabs, he can still recover. He’s under the spotlight for a collision with Jenson Button, which put the world champion out of the race and he made five visits to the pits, including a drive through penalty. It More…
After three days of voting by readers of this site and over 230 comments, the clear winner of the moment of the year so far is the collision between Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber in Istanbul. The second most popular moment was Lewis Hamilton taking pole position in Montreal, the only time in 12 races this season that Red Bull were not on pole. Mark Webber’s win at Silverstone, after being relegated to the old specification front wing was the third favourite moment followed by the breathtaking pass by Rubens Barrichello on Michael Schumacher and the McLaren battle for the More…
Sebastian Vettel took pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix by four tenths of a second over team mate Mark Webber, one of the larger margins we have seen between them this season. It was Vettel’s sixth pole of the season, the 12th of his career. Red Bull Team principal Christian Horner hailed the team’s 11th pole in 12 races as “our most dominant qualifying of the year” and it’s easy to see why; the margin back to Fernando Alonso in third place was 1.2 seconds, with 7/10ths of that coming in the middle sector alone. This is all about More…
Sebastian Vettel took pole position for tomorrow’s German Grand Prix, by just 2/1000ths of a second from Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso in a fantastic qualifying battle. It was Vettel’s sixth pole of the season and the 11th in his 54 Grands Prix, a ratio of 20%. But the exciting thing was that Alonso and Ferrari had been the pace setter throughout qualifying, building on the improvement they showed in Silverstone. But on the final run, Vettel found two tenths of a second to edge out the Spaniard. It is a huge weekend for Vettel, who needs to get a win to More…
The F1 paddock is abuzz this evening after Red Bull team principal Christian Horner took the decision to take the new front wing off Mark Webber’s car and give it to Sebastian Vettel for qualifying. It has triggered a new row about favouritism, which first reared its head after the pair collided in Istanbul. The German went on to take pole position today ahead of his team mate by 0.14 seconds. The difference between the two wings is quite clear, as you can see from these two pictures. The older one (pictured above on Webber’s car in the garage tonight) More…
Sebastian Vettel took his fifth pole position of the season ahead of team mate Mark Webber as Red Bull opened up a yawning gap over its competitors, but afterwards it emerged that the two cars were not in the same specification. Red Bull had two of its new specification front wings at Silverstone. Vettel’s was damaged in an incident during free practice this morning, where the mounting broke as he turned into the new Abbey corner. Team principal Christian Horner said that he had to take the difficult decision to give the other one to Vettel for qualifying, based on More…
Sebastian Vettel took pole position for the European Grand Prix at Valencia, ahead of Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton. It was a terrific qualifying session with the latest developments on several cars closing the performance gap to Red Bull and McLaren at the front. Throughout the three sessions the benchmark moved between Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and Renault and it was close until Q3 when the Red Bulls stretched their legs. It was Vettel’s first pole position since China and the fourth front row lock out for the Red Bull team this season. And this was at a track the More…
Red Bull has drawn a line under the episode in Istanbul where its two drivers hit each other, but the points remain lost. We calculate that the total points lost by Red Bull this season in the opening seven races adds up to 120. Under a photo with the caption “Sh*t happens” the team said that the two drivers plus Helmut Marko and Christian Horner met at the team’s HQ in Milton Keynes to clear the air. The statement also contained the first words from Vettel about the incident since his brief appearance in front of the microphones in Istanbul. More…
Last year after the race at the Nurburgring, I went into the Red Bull motorhome to congratulate Mark Webber on his first Formula 1 victory. There was no sign of Webber, but team principal Christian Horner and Dr Helmut Marko were deep in conversation next to the bar. Both looked pretty serious. Webber had won the race while Vettel had finished second, largely due to being rather tentative in qualifying, where he ended up fourth. I watched him very closely that weekend and spoke to him several times and I felt that he was really feeling the pressure of a More…
Lewis Hamilton won the Turkish Grand Prix, his first victory of the season with Jenson Button second and Mark Webber third. It is McLaren’s second one-two finish of the season. Webber leads the drivers championship, McLaren take over the constructors’ championship lead. But the race will be remembered for the extraordinary incident on lap 40 when the two Red Bull cars drove into each other while fighting for the lead. It is likely to prove a turning point in the championship and certainly in the relationship between the drivers. It will require incredible management skill by Christian Horner to establish More…
This thread has received an incredible response in the last 24 hours with over 330 readers suggesting a name for Sebastian Vettel’s new chassis, replacing the unfortunate “Luscious Liz”, which bit the dust in Monaco. Raja Sen’s suggestion of “Stickshift Stella” was a favourite while readers saw the funny side of Andrew’s suggestion of “Sweaty Betty”. Furtherdown, Speed Saint 85 went down the Sonic the Hedgehog route with their suggestion of “Seb-Sonic” while Jaelle took inspiration from the Star Wars movies with her offering – “Liz II: The Revenge”. But perhaps the name which drew the biggest reaction was Wu’s More…
As we mentioned the other day, Sebastian Vettel is getting a new chassis for next weekend’s Turkish Grand Prix. And in keeping with his tradition of naming cars after girls, it’s going to need a name. Red Bull announced that Vettel’s Monaco chassis was damaged and the team has built up and sent out a new one to Istanbul. It should be identical to the old one as chassis are homologated these days as a cost saving measure, so there is no incentive to bring out a B Spec car. Vettel has a tradition of naming his cars, as American More…
Fernando Alonso topped the timesheets today in practice for Sunday’s Monaco Prix. The two times Monaco winner was the only driver to dip below the 1m 15s mark, setting a best time of 1m 14.904s – just a tenth of a second shy of the fastest lap in low fuel qualifying last year. Alonso was having to contend with the back end stepping out quite a bit, but he always looked fast and believes that whereas Barcelona rewarded massive downforce, Monaco is about getting the car tuned in to the circuit, “Here, having the right set up can make more More…
In the aftermath of yesterday’s Grand Prix, everybody was focussed on Mark Webber’s stunning weekend and the last minute heartbreak of Lewis Hamilton, who had second place in the bag when his left front tyre blew, possibly as result of a wheel rim problem. But the most interesting story for me yesterday was Sebastian Vettel’s ability to overcome a host of technical problems and come though to collect 15 points. Along with the 12 points he salvaged in Bahrain after his spark plug problem, this could prove crucial later in the season. It could be what wins him the championship. More…
Mark Webber won the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona today, crushing the opposition in a Red Bull car they had described all weekend as ‘untouchable.” It is his third Grand Prix win and was one of those weekends where no-one could get near him either in qualifying or the race. It was the 10th time in a row this race has been won from pole position and Webber is the fourth different winner in five races this season. But it wasn’t a perfect day for Red Bull as Sebastian Vettel’s race was compromised by losing a place to Lewis Hamilton More…
The impression that Red Bull are untouchable this weekend in Barcelona was reinforced this morning in the final practice session before qualifying. Sebastian Vettel set a time of 1m20.528, while team mate Mark Webber aborted his final run after setting the fastest first sector time.So the margin was 7/10ths of a second between them. It looks like being a titanic scrap between the pair for pole position once again as on their previous runs there was only 2/100ths between them. A similar margin separated the McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button in 3rd and 4th places. While a resurgent More…
Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time on the first day of practice for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona. The German, who has had three pole positions already this season and one win, easily topped the times in the faster second session in the afternoon. He set a lap of 1m 19.965, which is 1/100th of a second slower than the outright fastest lap in qualifying last year. Red Bull team mate Mark Webber was second fastest with Michael Schumacher in the revised Mercedes third. The Red Bull pair were separated by just 2/10ths of a second. Many rivals, including More…
Sebastian Vettel took his third pole position of the 2010 season and Red Bull’s fourth – a clean sweep so far this season. As in Australia he headed team mate Mark Webber in a Red Bull front row grid lock out. But the margin was quite large, by their standards, over two tenths of a second, compared to the 8/100ths of a second in Melbourne. It was quite a turn around by Vettel, who had been shaded by Webber throughout the weekend to date and once again showed the German’s star quality. He admitted afterwards that he had been forced More…
Sebastian Vettel took pole position for the Australian Grand Prix with a stunning lap, where the car was right off the outer edges of the kerbs in the final corners. Red Bull team mate Mark Webber finished second 8/100ths of a second behind and Fernando Alonso was a similar margin behind in a qualifying session which lived up to the pre-season billing of being for closeness. It is the first all Red Bull front row. “We just had to nail it,” said a delighted Vettel afterwards. The session was also remarkable for the disappointing performance of Lewis Hamilton, who managed More…
Today was a real vindication of the decision taken last summer by Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali to stop development of the 2009 car and throw everything at the 2010 model. The Ferrari was the best car overall this weekend in various conditions. It was quick on the single lap, quick on the soft tyre at the start of the race when the car was heavy and quick on the medium tyre in the second part of the race as the fuel load lightened. The Red Bull may have been quicker in the soft tyre parts of that, but when the More…
Sebastian Vettel took pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka on a day when qualifying was stopped three times for accidents. Jarno Trulli took a very strong second place for Toyota and Lewis Hamilton a rather surprising third for McLaren, given that the team wasn’t expecting to go well here. The Brawn drivers were fifth and seventh and it looks like they have fuelled the cars heavily anticipating that they will be given a penalty and moved back down the grid after a stewards’ enquiry. Jenson Button did not slow down at the end of Q2, when yellow More…
Sebastian Vettel will be a Red Bull driver for at least another two seasons, with an option to stay for 2012 as well. The 22 year old German has developed in the last 12 months into one of the sport’s leading drivers and with Red Bull producing a race winning car this year the combination has become very strong. His decision to stay is no great surprise but it is timely as the driver market is starting to really kick in now and this announcement needed to be made to stop any speculation about Vettel’s future. Mark Webber was recently More…
On my way back from the airport on Sunday night my taxi driver was talking about Mosley this and Ecclestone that and I asked him if he was interested in other sports. He was. So then I asked him if he could name the regulatory and commercial bosses of any of those sports. He could not. These larger than life characters have actually taken over the limelight from the drivers this season, which is extraordinary but it looks like that is about to end and the focus for the final eight races will be on who is going to win More…
Sebastian Vettel was not his usual chirpy self this evening. I caught up with him at 4-30pm local time with some other media colleagues and fired a few questions at him. I’ve heard from other teams’ engineers that the data shows he’s been a little tentative this weekend. No-one would blame him for being tentative in the insane, changeable conditions we had this afternoon, but generally it seems that the occasion may have got to to him a little bit. This is totally understandable. He has inherited the mantle of Germany’s sporting hero from Michael Schumacher and the country doesn’t More…
Sebastian Vettel took his third pole position of the 2009 season today with a stunning lap on his final qualifying run at Silverstone. He and Red Bull team mate Mark Webber had been trading fastest laps all weekend, indicating that the Red Bull is now clearly the fastest car in F1. What is impressive about the latest round of developments on this car is that it is now clearly faster in the high speed corners, but also in the low speed corners, like the complex here in Silverstone. Brawn did a good job in Turkey of improving their car in More…
Sebastian Vettel was fastest in all three qualifying sessions today at Istanbul and picked up his second pole position of the season for Red Bull. Pole position changed hands three times in the final moments of a terrific session. First Mark Webber grabbed it, then Jenson Button went faster, but Vettel got the lap which mattered. Jenson Button again had a quiet build up, with various set up issues to be resolved in practice, but delievered a big lap at the end to start alongside Vettel on the front row. But the early indications are that the Brawn may have More…
Fernando Alonso
Kimi Räikkönen
Felipe Massa
Sebastian Vettel
Mark Webber Nico Rosberg
Paul di Resta Jenson Button
Sergio Perez Daniel Ricciardo Sebastian Vettel Kimi Räikkönen Fernando Alonso Lewis Hamilton Felipe Massa Mark Webber
Romain Grosjean Paul di Resta Nico Rosberg Jenson Button Sergio Perez Daniel Ricciardo Adrian Sutil Nico Hulkenberg Jean-Eric Vergne Esteban Gutierrez Valtteri Bottas
Pastor Maldonado Jules Bianchi Charles Pic
Giedo van der Garde Max Chilton
jQuery(function($){
$(".tweet").tweet({
join_text: "auto",
username: "jamesallenonf1",
avatar_size: 35,
count: 4,
auto_join_text_default: "",
auto_join_text_ed: "",
auto_join_text_ing: "",
auto_join_text_reply: "",
auto_join_text_url: "",
loading_text: "loading tweets..."
});
});
