Japanese Grand Prix: Webber pushes to the max!

The end of the Japanese Grand Prix was a bit of an anti-climax, in the closing few laps, simply because neutral fans were denied a fight between Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. The redeeming factor in preventing Webber from snatching the win back from Vettel, was a fellow by the name of Romain Grosjean. Grosjean showed a level of maturity and competency that we have not really seen from him before. On the podium he choked up a little, when interviewed by Eddie Jordan, and it was a fascinating display of how much success means to the young man. The old hand, Mark Webber, was a little disappointing and disappointed, in equal measure. Yelling at the TV screen, did very little to help Webber pass Grosjean at his first and most ideal opportunity, a pass that would almost certainly have seen him then racing with Vettel.

Vettel appears to simply get better and better. As the race began, he found himself squeezed and hampered by both Grosjean and Hamilton and was lucky to come out of it in third place. Hamilton was less fortunate, as he clipped his right rear tyre on Vettel's front wing and was victim to an instant puncture. The puncture all but ended his race and when he detected further damage he was forced to retire his Mercedes. Vettel played a game that many would have felt he was incapable of, protecting his tyres and saving his engine. He has become renowned for his habit of pushing hard when the team is telling him to ease off. However, in a race that quickly became a two stopper for the German, he had to preserve the car and did it perfectly.

Once again, the racing in the middle of the field was intense. Race cars chopping and dicing for positions, with tyres bouncing off each other on the exits of corners. DRS didn't seem to have too much impact on the race and it allowed some of the real quality to shine through. Nico Hulkenberg had yet another fantastic race, whilst the two McLaren drivers found themselves well down the order again. With only four races to go, despite Seb looking certain for the title now, its fair to say that the racing, further back down the order, will just get more exciting.

The Result:

	Driver	Car	Team	Grid	Fastest Lap	Race Time	Points
1	Sebastian Vettel	1	Red Bull	2	1:35.317	1:26:49.301	25
2	Mark Webber	2	Red Bull	1	1:34.587	+00:07.129	18
3	Romain Grosjean	8	Lotus	4	1:35.991	+00:09.910	15
4	Fernando Alonso	3	Ferrari	8	1:35.877	+00:45.605	12
5	Kimi Raikkonen	7	Lotus	9	1:35.516	+00:47.325	10
6	Nico Hulkenberg	11	Sauber	7	1:36.482	+00:51.615	8
7	Esteban Gutierrez	12	Sauber	14	1:36.499	+01:11.630	6
8	Nico Rosberg	9	Mercedes	6	1:34.650	+01:12.023	4
9	Jenson Button	5	McLaren	10	1:35.549	+01:20.821	2
10	Felipe Massa	4	Ferrari	5	1:37.001	+01:29.263	1
11	Paul Di Resta	14	Force India	12	1:37.407	+01:38.572	0
12	Jean-Eric Vergne	18	Toro Rosso	17	1:35.895	lapped	0
13	Daniel Ricciardo	19	Toro Rosso	16	1:35.020	lapped	0
14	Adrian Sutil	15	Force India	22	1:37.367	lapped	0
15	Sergio Perez	6	McLaren	11	1:35.845	lapped	0
16	Pastor Maldonado	16	Williams	15	1:37.423	lapped	0
17	Valtteri Bottas	17	Williams	13	1:37.856	lapped	0
18	Charles Pic	20	Caterham	20	1:37.489	lapped	0
19	Max Chilton	23	Marussia	18	1:38.713	lapped	0
20	Lewis Hamilton	10	Mercedes	3	1:41.202	retired, 7 laps	0
21	Giedo van der Garde	21	Caterham	19	No time	retired, 0 laps	0
22	Jules Bianchi	22	Marussia	21	No time	retired, 0 laps	0

Korean Grand Prix: Sparks flying in Korea...

The Korean Grand Prix started with a bang as cars ran wheel to wheel, four and sometimes five abreast. There was contact in to the second corner, as Filipe Massa locked up on the approach and lost the back end of his Ferrari. He appeared to clip his team mate, Fernando Alonso, but fortunately both drivers were able to continue and the race progressed with a complete field.

The racing was some of the best we've seen all season, with cars sometimes jostling for four or five positions at the same time and on the same piece of track. One of those notable instances came near the end of the Grand Prix, when Maldonado, Hamilton, Alonso, Rosberg and Guttierez were jostling for the fourth spot. At one point it was extremely difficult to follow who was in what position and you found yourself gasping and yelping at the TV.

It was Sebastien Vettel's weekend once again, as he cruised to yet another victory and made it possible for him to take the World Championship next weekend in Japan. That result requires a couple of technicalities, mainly revolving around Fernando Alonso's performance, however it is appearing more and more likely that he will become World Champion for the fourth time.

Alternately, Vettel's team mate, running in his final season in Formula One, was having a torrid time. Right at the beginning of the race, it looked as though Mark Webber's strategy was going to put him in good stead for the end of the race. It quickly became apparent that this wasn't going to be the case and shortly after the first safety car period, he was T-boned, as Di Resta found himself in a spin in to the second corner. The impact against the side of pod of Webber's car ruptured an oil or fuel line and the car dramatically burst in to flames. He casually abandoned his car and so commenced the second safety car period, ludicrously led by an AWOL Fire Marshall car.

As trackside marshalls tried to extinguish the flaming Red Bull car, the camera cut to the second straight and, notably, the second DRS zone. In the foreground a Fire Marshall jeep was cruising toward Webber's stricken car, whilst in the background the train of race cars was streaming around the first corner and heading on to the same high speed straight. It was a surreal sight and the drivers did well to understand the situation and slow down together.

It was a great race, packed with incident and, although not great for Perez and McLaren fans, who witnessed their man suffer a massive tyre delamination incident, or Nico Rosberg fans who saw their driver lose his nose, spraying sparks everywhere, it was a wonderful spectacle for the neutral viewer. Despite things being a bit of a foregone conclusion, right at the top of the standings, it is important to recognise that the drivers are desperately fighting for every position in the championship, making every race extremely exciting.

The Result:

Pos	#	Driver	Car	Laps	Gap	Difference	Reason
1	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	55
2	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus-Renault	55	4.224	4.224
3	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	55	4.927	0.703
4	11	Nico Hulkenberg	Sauber-Ferrari	55	24.114	19.187
5	10	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	55	25.255	1.141
6	3	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	55	26.189	0.934
7	9	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	55	26.698	0.509
8	5	Jenson Button	McLaren	55	32.262	5.564
9	4	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	55	34.390	2.128
10	6	Sergio Perez	McLaren	55	35.155	0.765
11	12	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	55	35.990	0.835
12	17	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Renault	55	47.049	11.059
13	16	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	55	50.013	2.964
14	20	Charles Pic	Caterham-Renault	55	63.578	13.565
15	21	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham-Renault	55	64.501	0.923
16	22	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Cosworth	55	67.970	3.469
17	23	Max Chilton	Marussia-Cosworth	55	72.898	4.928
18	18	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	53	2 laps	2 laps
19	19	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	52	3 laps	1 lap
20	15	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	50	5 laps	2 laps
Not classified
	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	36	19 laps	14 laps	Accident
	14	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	24	31 laps	12 laps	Accident

Singaporean Grand Prix: lighting up the night...

Anybody that claims that the pace or the quality is not with Vettel but with the Red Bull Racing car, is either seriously deluded or is only attempting to be controversial. Vettel was supreme in Singapore and showed that he is the best driver out there at this time. From the moment, after the safety car period, that he was told by his race engineer that he had more fuel than he needed and that he could use his tyres and open up the gap, Sebastian began lapping over two seconds faster than Rosberg in second place.

It has become a regular feature of Formula One Grands Prix this season, that the race begins with a modicum of excitement, followed by a slightly boring and processional middle period and then finishing with a nail biting conclusion. The Singaporean Grand Prix was a perfect example of that, as Nico Rosberg squeezed past Sebastian Vettel in to the first corner. In a killer move, Vettel denied Rosberg the lead by instantly biting back, taking to the lead and then hurtling away. The middle of the Grand Prix was very tedious and then only picked up after the safety car period and the competing strategies that ensued.

On lap 25, Daniel Ricciardo had a massive lock up, resulting in him ploughing in to the barrier and forcing the safety car out. It was at this moment that all the race strategies changed, leading to the battle of attrition in the closing laps. By the end, Mark Webber and the two Mercedes cars began reeling in Kimi Raikonnen and the two McLarens. It was Webber who looked to make it on to the podium, until he ran in to trouble of his own

.

Webber passed all the way up from just outside the top ten to fourth and was in pursuit of Raikonnen for the third podium place, but with five laps to go he was told to take conservation measures. He was told to short shift, then reduce revs and before you could say 'gives you wings' Mark was losing more and more time to the Mercedes cars, Massa and then the McLarens. On the final lap he was forced to pull over with flames spilling out of the rear end of his Red Bull. Despite that bad luck for Mark, it resulted in us witnessing a sight that is always so special for Formula One fans, as Fernando Alonso gave Mark a lift home on the side pod of his Ferrari. It is most likely that Alonso will incur some sort of reprimand for allowing Mark to precariously perch on his car, however it is always such a touching sight in the sport, so it's a sacrifice we are all thankful for.

Singapore GP Qualifying...

The big story, and the big question on everybody's lips, entering the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, was raikonnen's move to Ferrari and the question of who is better, Kimi or Fernando? Only time will tell, but it is important to recognise that each driver is very different to one another and both drivers are World Champions. The interesting thing to observe next season will be Ferrari's team orders and their notion of which driver is number one and which is number two.

As for the actual qualifying session, well it was completely dominated by a world class Sebastian Vettel. He showed his awesome quality by out classing all of the competition, including his team mate, who was almost a full second off Seb's pace. Vettel was so dominant that he popped his pole position time in at the very start of the third qualifying session and sat watching his rivals trying their hardest to match it. This made for an exciting closing minute to the session as Rosberg, Grosjean and Webber all came close to going faster than Seb, but none of them could manage it.

The woes for McLaren and Force India continue to grow as Di Resta and Perez go out in the first and second sessions, respectively. Force India had such a strong and promising start to the season, but it is slowly slipping away, whilst McLaren are having a torrid year. Both teams must be considering beginning development on next year's cars, since the hopes of achieving much this year is becoming less and less likely.

Italian Grand Prix: A race of two halves...

It wasn't the most exciting of races in Monza. The race started well, with no shortage of excitement as drivers jostled for position, some making contact. Hamilton's race was damaged even more than by qualifying, as he went through the first corner. He drove over a couple of bits of carbon fibre and in a few laps was suffering with a slow puncture. After an early pitstop he was down to nineteenth and watching his race and Championship challenge disappearing.

It was a race for Red Bull to simply scoop up and chalk up as another first and second, however Sebastian Vettel could be seen to have damaged Mark's race, right at the start. Webber had one of his best starts in a long time, finally managing to get away from the grid faster than his teammate. The problem for Mark was Sebastian's aggressive defence, which allowed Felipe Massa to hurtle up the outside and take the second place. As they went through the first chicane Vettel was leading, with Massa following up in second and Webber having to defend against Alonso.

Vettel's win was well deserved, since there were times when he had to preserve the engine and gearbox by short shifting and easing off. Webber was unfortunate not to be able to beat Alonso to second place and it is worth considering that if Sebastian hadn't held him up he may well have made Red Bull's result a clean sweep.

After the start, the race settled in to a processional affair, with the threat of rain bringing a little hope that things might get mixed up. Rain stayed away and it took until around the forty-third lap of fifty-three for excitement to be injected back in to the event. Kimi Raikonnen and Lewis Hamilton, despite fighting it out for eleventh place, were fighting like their careers depended on it. Lewis eventually got past Kimi and then began forging his through the pack in the final laps to finish ninth and pick up some points.

The driver that suffered the most this weekend was quite obviously Paul Di Resta. After everything else that he had to deal with during practice and then qualifying, his race was over very quickly. He was involved in an incident, approaching the second chicane, in which he found himself in a tight spot, squeezed to the point that he lost his front wing and left front wheel. A torrid weekend for some, but a great weekend for Red Bull Racing, who may well have just about sealed the Championship.

The Result:

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time
1.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	1:18:33.352
2.	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	+5.467
3.	Mark Webber	Red Bull	+6.350
4.	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	+9.361
5.	Nico Hülkenberg	Sauber	+10.355
6.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	+10.999
7.	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	+32.329
8.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	+33.130
9.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	+33.527
10.	Jenson Button	McLaren	+38.327
11.	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus	+38.695
12.	Sergio Perez	McLaren	+39.765
13.	Esteban Gutiérrez	Sauber	+40.880
14.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	+49.085
15.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	+56.827
16.	Adrian Sutil	Force India	+1 Lap
17.	Charles Pic	Caterham	+1 Lap
18.	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham	+1 Lap
19.	Jules Bianchi	Marussia	+1 Lap
20.	Max Chilton	Marussia	+1 Lap
Did not finish
21.	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	+39 Laps
22.	Paul di Resta	Force India	+53 Laps

Italian Grand Prix qualifying...

Qualifying in Monza started slowly and then by the time Q2 arrived things really took off. There were some shock results at the end of the second session and many of the top players failed to make it through to the final shoot out. The Force India drivers look to be having another one of their difficult weekends, Paul Di Resta having a crash in Free Practice and then both cars failing to make it in to Q3.

Both Lotus cars failed to make it to Q3, which is a huge blow to Kimi Raikonnen's championship challenge. The small consolation for Kimi will be the massive shock of Lewis Hamilton dropping out in Q2. He was back to his unprofessional ways in his post session interview, in which he decided not to be reserved and diplomatic, but instead to call himself an idiot and blame Adrian Sutil for one of his poor laps. However, Lewis will certainly feel that he has thrown away his chance at the Championship.

Red Bull Racing were wonderfully dominant again and showed up the Ferrari drivers who attempted a bit of team strategy, which couldn't have backfired better. Alonso was meant to receive a tow in Massa's slipstream and instead was out qualified by Felipe. Vettel took pole position, with Mark Webber taking the second place on the grid. Hulkenberg was the surprise qualifier, securing the third grid slot, without a Mercedes car in sight. It will be interesting to see what Lewis and Kimi can do from way down the grid, but it is more likely that we will see the Red Bull's flying to yet another victory.

Belgian Grand Prix: Far from a relaxing Spa weekend!

Spa was an action packed affair this weekend, with passing by the truck load. The 2013 Belgian Grand Prix should be entered in to the Guinness Book of Records, for being the Grand Prix with the most overtakes, and many of them featured Romain Grosjean. In fact, Grosjean should receive a very large pat on the back, since he was heavily involved, but amazingly managed to avoid catastrophe. There was one incident involving Romain, which caused some controversy. Perez was deemed to have squeezed Grosjean of the circuit and as a result had to serve a drive-through penalty. Some feel the penalty was a little harsh, whilst others seem to side with Grosjean, perhaps feeling it was time something went his way.

In regards to the result, Vettel was totally unstoppable. Lewis Hamilton was visibly disappointed, whilst still allowing himself a wry smile with Sebastian after the race. Vettel stretches his lead even further in the Championship fight and is looking more and more like sealing his fourth consecutive World Championship title. Alonso stays within touching distance after another consistent podium finish, but will need to try push his Ferrari harder in the next few races, just like in previous seasons. It's fair to say that if anyone can do it then Fernando Alonso can

There were a lot of daring overtakes and at times the drivers were racing like it was the last race of the season. One of those times was when Maldonado got out of shape near the end of lap 30 and found himself challenged by Gutierrez and the two Force India cars of Adrian Sutil and Paul Di Resta. They weaved and passed each other right up to the bus stop chicane, where it all became a little too much for Pastor and he ended up clipping Sutil's car before careening in to a helpless Di Resta. It was a situation that provided a huge amount of entertainment but, for the rival teams, was easily avoidable, half way through a highly competitive and close season.

The race ending was quite an anti climax, with Vettel storming to victory and barely any racing in the closing laps. The threat of rain was in the air and on the weather monitors, however it stayed away and Sebastian's race was unhindered. It deprived the fans of another exciting race finish
, but for Vettel and Red Bull Racing it was exactly what they needed.