Sebastian Vettel Returns To Winning Ways In Bahrain

Sebastian Vettel Returns To Winning Ways In Bahrain


Sebastian Vettel managed to convert his first pole in 2012 to his first win in 2012 holding off both Lotus Renault drivers throughout the entire race. Vettel controlled his tyre degradation along with the hard task handling fuel consumption from lights to flag which helped him move into 1st in the Drivers World Championship & Red Bull Racing into 1st in the Constructors World Championship.

Before the race Lotus Renault Team Principle - Eric Boullier - told Sky F1's Natalie Pinkham that he would be delighted if the team could manage to get both drivers into the top 6, so the Frenchman must be ecstatic at the fact that the team got both drivers onto the podium & at stages threatened Vettel for the lead with Kimi Raikkonen.

Romain Gorsjean produced one of the starts of the season so far along with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso who gained 4 places from 9th to 5th posistion after turn 1. The Ferrari team had another hard weekend but managed to place both drivers into the points positions for the first time this season. Despite this success the team still had an hair raising moment when Fernando Alonso was released into the path of Mexican driver Sergio Perez in the pits. Sky F1's Martin Brundle commented saying the team will most likely get away with it but the incident is being investigated after the race.

Another team being investigated after the race are Mercedes, and in particular Nico Rosberg. Rosberg was brought back down to earth this weekend after his win in China when he qualified 5th and finished in the same place. Despite this the place could be taken off Rosberg for 2 "dangerous maneuvers" when fending off 1st Lewis Hamilton & then Fernando Alonso. Both World Champions radioed into there teams complaining about the young Germans aggressive driving saying "you must leave a gap". Schumacher on the other hand will feel satisfied with gaining 12 places from 22nd to 10th.

After Force India's mixed weekend the team will be delighted with Paul Di Resta's 6th posistion collecting some crucial world championship points for himself & the team. Along with Paul, Nico Hulkenberg showed some great mid race pace and was unlucky not to collect some points himself.

After Bahrain the teams travel to Mugello in Italy for a mid season test but 2 drivers who are not attending are McLaren's Lewis Hamilton & Jenson Button. The team and both drivers will feel that after the opening 4 races this season they had the potential in the car to be leading the championships but critically weather conditions + bad luck in the pit stops has cost them. With Lewis collecting 3 points today and Jenson scoring 0 after a puncture and eventually engine failure the team will want a strong show in Barcelona to bounce back and mount there title challenges.

Pos Driver Team Time

1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h35:10.990

2. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 3.333

3. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 10.194

4. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 38.788

5. Rosberg Mercedes + 55.460

6. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 57.543

7. Alonso Ferrari + 57.803

8. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 58.984

9. Massa Ferrari + 1:04.999

10. Schumacher Mercedes + 1:11.490

11. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1:12.702

12. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 1:16.539

13. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:30.334

14. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1:33.723

15. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap

16. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1 lap

17. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap

18. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 1 lap

19. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps

20. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps

21. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps

22. Senna Williams-Renault + 3 laps

Valsecchi Takes GP2 Pole For GP2 Feature Race

Valsecchi Takes GP2 Pole For GP2 Feature Race


Davide Valsecchi will start on pole posistion for tomorrows GP2 feature race in Bahrain after setting the fastest lap in the second Qualifying session of the season. The Italian driver racing for French team DAMS delivered the goods on his 3rd timed lap after a 1.41.327s and a cool down lap.

Valsecchi will be joined on the front row by Young Rising Start Esteban Gutierrez for the Lotus GP team. Esteban was o0.279s off the Italians lap time but will be confident he can grab a victory tomorrow in the feature race.

The top 3 is locked out by team mate of Valsecchi Felipe Nasr & championship leader Luiz Razia is starting a massively disappointing 9th. The Arden Intentional team driver will feel lucky to leave the weekend still leading the GP2 championship despite being 7 points clear of Nasr.

Pos Driver Team Time Gap

1. Davide Valsecchi DAMS 1m41.200s

2. Esteban Gutierrez Lotus 1m41.479s + 0.279s

3. Felipe Nasr DAMS 1m41.785s + 0.585s

4. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering 1m41.798s + 0.598s

5. Johnny Cecotto Addax 1m41.858s + 0.658s

6. Stephane Richelmi Trident 1m41.862s + 0.662s

7. Marcus Ericsson iSport 1m41.933s + 0.733s

8. James Calado Lotus 1m41.939s + 0.739s

9. Luiz Razia Arden 1m41.962s + 0.762s

10. Max Chilton Carlin 1m41.980s + 0.780s

11. Rio Haryanto Carlin 1m42.097s + 0.897s

12. Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1m42.139s + 0.939s

13. Jolyon Palmer iSport 1m42.156s + 0.956s

14. Dani Clos Addax 1m42.158s + 0.958s

15. Tom Dillmann Rapax 1m42.190s + 0.990s

16. Fabio Onidi Coloni 1m42.374s + 1.174s

17. Rodolfo Gonzalez Caterham 1m42.409s + 1.209s

18. Nathanael Berthon Racing Engineering 1m42.427s + 1.227s

19. Julian Leal Trident 1m42.456s + 1.256s

20. Fabrizio Crestani Lazarus 1m42.706s + 1.506s

21. Brendon Hartley Ocean 1m42.782s + 1.582s

22. Stefano Coletti Coloni 1m42.853s + 1.653s

23. Nigel Melker Ocean 1m42.895s + 1.695s

24. Simon Trummer Arden 1m43.014s + 1.814s

25. Giancarlo Serenelli Lazarus 1m43.907s + 2.707s

26. Ricardo Teixeira Rapax 1m44.078s + 2.878s

Will you be watching the GP2 races? Let me know via a comment or Tweet me through the link below..


Twitter - @PhillipNunesF1
https://twitter.com/#!/PhillipNunesF1 

Perez - "I am very confident for tomorrow"

Perez - "I am very confident for tomorrow"


Rising start Sergio Perez has today revealed he is looking forward to Qualifying tomorrow & the race on Sunday in Bahrain. The Sauber team has started the season hugely impressively with Sergio Perez unlucky not to pick up his maiden Formula victory & the teams first since Canada with Robert Kubica.

Perez has stunned the F1 paddock with his driving this season & I am sure he intends to carry on doing so for many years. The young Mexicans trademark is his ability to make the notoriously high degradation Pirelli tyres last longer than the rest of the field & his natural fast pace. These characteristics were both displayed in Australia & Malaysia this season.

The Telmex backed driver commented today praising the teams work in Friday practice & revealed the teams have learnt a lot regarding rear tyre wear for this weekend.

To me this was a very positive day," said Perez. "I am happy about having had a good Friday and I am very satisfied with the work we have done.

"We have learnt a lot and we managed the tyre degradation on the rear, which everybody has problems with, quite well. We still need to sort out a few set-up issues for qualifying, but I am very confident for tomorrow."

"The lap times on the soft tyres in the short run didn't look too bad, but for qualifying there is still some work to do. Even more improvement is necessary for the long runs and for me this goes for both tyre compounds, soft and medium."

How do you see Perez performing this weekend? let me know with a comment or Tweet me via the link below..

Twitter-@PhillipNunesF1

https://twitter.com/#!/PhillipNunesF1

Nico Rosberg - "Tyres are a big issue"

Nico Rosberg - "Tyres are a big issue"


Hot off his maiden win in Formula 1 German Nico Rosberg has calmed talks of a second Mercedes win in successive weekends by highlighting the teams tyre wear is worse than ever. Rosberg took a commanding victory in China last weekend seemingly silencing the critics over Mercedes GP high tyre wear, but after FP1 Nico commented saying he feels "tyres are a big issue" for the team.

The Brackley based team have admittedly always struggled with high tyre wear but it came apparent this season was a greater amount than previous seasons. This problem has been made even more bitter as the team had a stroke of genius producing the "Super F-duct" which gives them immense 1 lap pace, but before China they could not convert this into the results needed to challenge for both championships.

The cooler climate of China allowed the Team & Nico to manage the tyre wear to a minimal amount helping the talented son of Keke Rosberg grab his 1st race victory. Many people also feel the high tyre wear demonstrated in the previous races this season helped the team get there tyres up to optimum temperature quicker than others, therefore allowing them to deliver quicker laps times earlier into the drivers stint.

Although the problem was thought to be fixed Rosberg  has highlighted he feels the team will struggle with the tyres this weekend.

"We have to analyse things. In general, conditions are probably the worst they have been here with the tyres overheating.

"We learned a lot and we are looking much better than maybe we would have thought. But we need to see where we are. We are having to make changes because out there it's very unusual - conditions are very tough."

"The tyres are a big issue because they are just going away like nothing but it's the same problem for everybody," he added. "It will improve a bit. Let's see how many tyres we are going to need in the race."

Can you see Nico grabbing his second career pole & victory this weekend? Let me know with a comment or Tweet me via the link below...

Twitter - @PhillipNunesF1
https://twitter.com/#!/PhillipNunesF1