2013 Indian Grand Prix

[AndyL]

Some fruit loop is petitioning the Indian Supreme Court to get the race cancelled:

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2013/10/i ... cellation/ (http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2013/10/indian-grand-prix-under-threat-after-petition-seeks-cancellation/)

Apparently he thinks F1 should have been paying more tax because it's too entertaining, or something :crazy: On that basis, if they ever get a Moto3 or Moto2 race at Buddh it'll fund the Indian space programme for a decade.

Meanwhile in real news, Red Bull are dominating Friday practice so it looks like we can expect a race between Webber, the Renaults and the Mercedes for the lower podium steps.

[henners88]

It'll be Vettel winning again, a Lotus second and hopefully either Mercedes in third. I can't see that we can expect any surprises as most of the teams if not all over them are looking to next year now. I just hope we are treated to some racing in the mid field.

[Tazio]

Interesting that Kimi's excuse ;) for performance drop-off in the latter part of the season is due to restrictions on tire camber and pressure not suiting his style :angel:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/110861
Perhaps his form will improve this weekend once the track is fully rubbered in, however I suspect Kimi may have a difficult race, and Rogro to a lesser degree. Look out for Felipe baby this weekend I think he may be the surprise of the field.
Of course I really don't know jack. :laugh:

[Parabolica]

Red Bull do have some tyre-wear issues on the soft, so it seems from practice. Vettel eat his softs after a few laps.

Ok, it's a slim hope.

But slim is better than none.

I wouldn't put money down, though.

[steveaki13]

Some impressive pace from the Bulls again.

I would like to see Mark win another race before he retires. Likely though he will be racing the rest for second.

[dj_bytedisaster]

Red Bull do have some tyre-wear issues on the soft, so it seems from practice. Vettel eat his softs after a few laps.

Ok, it's a slim hope.

But slim is better than none.

I wouldn't put money down, though.

Everybody seems to have tyre-wear issues on the softs. Perez said they don't even last a single lap. How I see it, we either get a race where we see the first pit stops in lap 5 or we'll have another 'look after the tyres' greenpeace memorial run.

[longisland]

Nice wheels from Gutierrez

[henners88]

Red Bull totally dominant in all sessions, pole is a foregone conclusion and I think we are going to see the likes of Lotus, Ferrari and Mercedes gunning for the second row only. Webber looks in good shape for second and it would be nice to see the guy win another race before his time in F1 comes to an end. Highly unlikely as Vettel is simply the faster driver but it would be nice if Vettel did the decent thing after his championship is sown up. :)

[dj_bytedisaster]

Lotus: Epic Fail :dozey:

[longisland]

RoGro will be pretty miffed with the team

[truefan72]

madness by the lotus folks
completely destroying Grosjean's chances for the race
this one was done to the shambolic team strategy from the grosjean side of the garage
early award for donkey of the race is the his race engineer

they had enough time to bring him in and change his tire
SMH

[truefan72]

Lotus: Epic Fail :dozey:

indeed!

[truefan72]

the way that RBR is going
it looks like a vettel pole and win tomorrow
every car except his had to do times on softs
...and please don;t tell me about the webber side of the garage. As far as I'm concerned they don't care about that car whatsoever
and I won't be surprised if it isn't getting the updates etc.

yes vettel drives well, but the car makes it all too easy

[dj_bytedisaster]

the way that RBR is going
it looks like a vettel pole and win tomorrow
every car except his had to do times on softs
...and please don;t tell me about the webber side of the garage. As far as I'm concerned they don't care about that car whatsoever
and I won't be surprised if it isn't getting the updates etc.

yes vettel drives well, but the car makes it all too easy

would you mind getting new lyrics? That song's getting pretty old... Vettel has monstered all India races so far. No other driver but him has even led a lap in India. No wonder he's up on the business end of the pack. Why start the conspiracy theories before the bloody race even begins?

[henners88]

Great to see the Merc's in the top three! Good job boys I say. :)

Surprised Webber wasn't second. Lewis made a mistake on the final corner and was looking to be second until that point, never mind he's in a good position to be winner of the rest lol.

[dj_bytedisaster]

Great to see the Merc's in the top three! Good job boys I say. :)

Surprised Webber wasn't second. Lewis made a mistake on the final corner and was looking to be second until that point, never mind he's in a good position to be winner of the rest lol.

Webber did his runs on the primes. It would't look good for the Mercs if he had been second. But I think we'll see someone else but Vettel lead in India tomorrow, when Seb and the Mercs need to get rid of the comedy softs tomorrow.

[henners88]

Great to see the Merc's in the top three! Good job boys I say. :)

Surprised Webber wasn't second. Lewis made a mistake on the final corner and was looking to be second until that point, never mind he's in a good position to be winner of the rest lol.

Webber did his runs on the primes. It would't look good for the Mercs if he had been second. But I think we'll see someone else but Vettel lead in India tomorrow, when Seb and the Mercs need to get rid of the comedy softs tomorrow.
Very true, lets hope Mark had the better approach then. It would be nice to see Vettel racing the Merc's tomorrow rather than the usual sprint management. Maybe the race will have some excitement after all. Fingers crossed from me any way. :)

[henners88]

Suzi Perry has just ruined the MotoGP qualifying result for me. If I hadn't had such a crush on the woman for the past 10 years I would be annoyed lol. At least it give me the excuse to do something more constructive with the rest of my Saturday now! :)

[A FONDO]

First pick for elephant of the race - the stewards for allowing drivers to leave the track as much as they want. Especially at turn 15, the competition is who will go wider.

[dj_bytedisaster]

First pick for elephant of the race - the stewards for allowing drivers to leave the track as much as they want. Especially at turn 15, the competition is who will go wider.

True. Just about everyone ran wide there. Alonso and Webber cut one of the S-corners, too. What is it with these stewards. One weekend they penalize drivers for breathing the next week they let them get away with everything :|

[steveaki13]

Wow, Seb was quite Fast.

Good to see the Mercs and Webber in the mix to battle for second and third.

Grosjean. Oh dear.

Actually looking forward to this tomorrow. We will see Vettel win the race and another World Title in all probability which is always worth seeing.

And I think we will see some great battling in the midfield.

[dj_bytedisaster]

I wouldn't count out Webber. He is in an even better position that he was at Suzuka. According to Fernando's interview with RTL the option tyres on a full tynk could be dead as early as lap 3. I would hazard a guess that by lap 5 Webber is in the lead and Vettel and the Mercs are stuck in traffic after such early pitstops.

[Finski]

I'd put my money on..

Vettel
Webber
Raikkonen

Although i'd love to see raikkonen or webber take the win, looking forward to the race.

[Ranger]

Webber might be in with a chance if he can make the tyres last a decent distance and not fluff the start. But neither of them are particular strong points.

I still think it will be Vettel's race to lose.

[truefan72]

as many have noted, the stewards decision to allow track cutting is farcical
it was quite absurd watching all the drivers leave the track, often times all 4 wheels off, and have that lap count
despite there being clear rules about corner cutting in qualifying.

Here is a simple solution
enforce the bloody rule and disallow/penalize track cutting
one or two wheels here and there is barely acceptable in my book
but all 4 wheels off, is making a mockery of the circuit and its intended layout

also their excuse that the track cutting does not provide an advantage is comical as well
pretty shameful

[donKey jote]

morning gurlz :wave: :D

[Tazio]

Top o' the morning! :sailor:

[steveaki13]

Morning Doc's and Donkeys and the rest of ya

[henners88]

Wey hey my first live race in months! :)

[Tazio]

Henners? I'm shocked :eek: :p:

[Warriwa]

If Vettel hits the first corner in front, I think he will win it.
If one of the mercs can hold him off for a while, the race is on! imo

[donKey jote]

gogoogogogogoooooo :D

[henners88]

wow gooo Felipe!!

[donKey jote]

oh well, back to bed :p

[henners88]

Seb in already

[N4D13]

Seb is pretty much champion already. Not that anybody doubted it but even if he has a DNF, it looks unlikely that Alonso would be able to get 5th place. At least he didn't bin it like in Malaysia. :D

[Tazio]

donkey webber!

[henners88]

Hamilton was accused of being aggressive in Japan for clipping Seb's front tyre at the start (I disagree), are we going to have the same said for Webber on Alonso, or is it simply another racing incident? :p

[henners88]

donkey webber!
Yeah, not the start he needed, lost far too much ground!

[Tazio]

Go Felipe!! ;)

[Warriwa]

Kimi chopped Webbo.

[N4D13]

Hamilton was accused of being aggressive in Japan for clipping Seb's front tyre at the start (I disagree), are we going to have the same said for Webber on Alonso, or is it simply another racing incident? :p
I wouldn't blame Webber for that - that was simply a racing incident IMHO. At first I thought that Alonso had no fault in it, but when you looked at his in-board camera, it seemed that he might have made a mistake under turning and went kinda straight into Webber. This doesn't necessarily mean that he was at fault but I wouldn't rule it out that he was at fault himself, at least partly.

[henners88]

Hamilton was accused of being aggressive in Japan for clipping Seb's front tyre at the start (I disagree), are we going to have the same said for Webber on Alonso, or is it simply another racing incident? :p
I wouldn't blame Webber for that - that was simply a racing incident IMHO. At first I thought that Alonso had no fault in it, but when you looked at his in-board camera, it seemed that he might have made a mistake under turning and went kinda straight into Webber. This doesn't necessarily mean that he was at fault but I wouldn't rule it out that he was at fault himself, at least partly.
I totally agree. :)

[steveaki13]

I'd love Seb to just park it up and have a champagne party while the rest still race to celebrate his championship.

[steveaki13]

I love the commentators trying to make it sound as if Seb is in crisis for pitting so early. All I see is a Red Bull 1-2 and either Seb wins and gets the title or Webber gets one more win before he retires. All in all it seems a dominant 1-2 for Red Bull.

[Ranger]

DRS looks pretty excessive for this track.

That or Vettel has a long final gear that is making it look rather easy down the back straight.

[steveaki13]

At the start I don't think anyone deserved a penalty. All just normal bumping during the chaotic opening corners.

[henners88]

I love the commentators trying to make it sound as if Seb is in crisis for pitting so early. All I see is a Red Bull 1-2 and either Seb wins and gets the title or Webber gets one more win before he retires. All in all it seems a dominant 1-2 for Red Bull.
You must be listening to that div Brundle! :p

[steveaki13]

DRS looks pretty excessive for this track.

That or Vettel has a long final gear that is making it look rather easy down the back straight.

DRS is stupid everywhere, but here it doesn't even require drivers to be late on the breaks at the end of the straight. No talent required to pass at all. :mad:

[steveaki13]

I love the commentators trying to make it sound as if Seb is in crisis for pitting so early. All I see is a Red Bull 1-2 and either Seb wins and gets the title or Webber gets one more win before he retires. All in all it seems a dominant 1-2 for Red Bull.
You must be listening to that div Brundle! :p

Yep. :p

[henners88]

I love the commentators trying to make it sound as if Seb is in crisis for pitting so early. All I see is a Red Bull 1-2 and either Seb wins and gets the title or Webber gets one more win before he retires. All in all it seems a dominant 1-2 for Red Bull.
You must be listening to that div Brundle! :p

Yep. :p
Gary Anderson has called it from the start so the comm's have been pretty realistic so far. The predictions already are a Vettel, Webber one two.

[steveaki13]

It should be a Red Bull 1-2 by 20-30 seconds really. However with Webber still to run the softs and make 2 stops. He might fall behind someone before the end.

[donKey jote]

nice pass alo

[henners88]

Vettel back in to second place already! Really demonstrates the performance gap that has opened up since the summer break. The power that car has on the straights and slower corners is staggering.

[Parabolica]

Kimi Chop.

Webber Aggressive.

Fernando Unlucky.

[Tazio]

Yep easy Vettel win!

[steveaki13]

No one but Vettel has won since July. :|

[steveaki13]

No one but Vettel has won since July. :|

[steveaki13]

So good I posted it twice.

[henners88]

Yep easy Vettel win!
Horner trying to make it sound a lot harder than it looks :p

Yeah, its well in the bag for Seb

[N4D13]

Yep easy Vettel win!
Well, he's had to work for it, hasn't he? He has managed to overtake swiftly while many other people haven't been able to. Even though he has a (very significant) car advantage, it's impressive nonetheless. So far, he's the DotR for me.

[steveaki13]

DRS helped

[N4D13]

But still, everyone has DRS, not just Vettel. And they didn't overtake anywhere as easily* as Vettel.

* Is this correct? I haven't had much sleep and I'm not using the finest grammar.

[henners88]

DRS and the better straight line speed of the Red Bull have been Seb's friend. All of his overtakes have come in the wide corners at the end of the straights, so he pretty much breezed through the field after his early pit stop IMO. As usual its impressive driving from Seb but we can't compare him to other drivers failing to overtake as easily because they don't have the same advantage from what I have seen.

[steveaki13]

You're right, but such a fast car and drs.

I just personally think this isn't going to be one of Sebs most impressive wins even if it is easy.

[steveaki13]

DRS and the better straight line speed of the Red Bull have been Seb's friend. All of his overtakes have come in the wide corners at the end of the straights, so he pretty much breezed through the field after his early pit stop IMO. As usual its impressive driving from Seb but we can't compare him to other drivers failing to overtake as easily because they don't have the same advantage from what I have seen.

This. :)

[henners88]

But still, everyone has DRS, not just Vettel. And they didn't overtake anywhere as easily* as Vettel.

* Is this correct? I haven't had much sleep and I'm not using the finest grammar.
They all have that driver aid but come on, that Red Bull is in a class of its own in this race. The ease with how he got back to second place after the early stop was not just down to him being the bestest best driver that has ever lived! :p

[N4D13]

I think we all agree there. There's no point in arguing with the obvious, is it? :D But still, if anyone has put a commendable drive so far, that's Seb IMHO.

[Tazio]

Indeed!

[henners88]

I think we all agree there. There's no point in arguing with the obvious, is it? :D But still, if anyone has put a commendable drive so far, that's Seb IMHO.
Indeed :)

Also to add, Alonso has been trading positions all race and that is something Vettel doesn't have to worry about because nobody can get near the back of him. Once he is passed, he's passed.

[N4D13]

This must be a helluva boring race if instead of arguing, everyone is agreeing with everyone else! :p

[henners88]

This must be a helluva boring race if instead of arguing, everyone is agreeing with everyone else! :p
Just be thankful this is generally a friendly place with one or two exceptions, and sometimes the obvious is not worth arguing about :p :)

[Parabolica]

Come on Felipe.

You owe us.

[steveaki13]

Webbo retires.

[donKey jote]

balls poor webbo :(
always his car :mad:

[henners88]

Gutted for Webber. Driving a good race after a poor start.

[steveaki13]

The Luck that guy has. :( :confused: :rolleyes:

[Ranger]

Joke.

[henners88]

balls poor webbo :(
always his car :mad:
Its a damn shame all of Red Bull's unreliability goes to Mark :(

[N4D13]

balls poor webbo :(
always his car :mad:
Its a damn shame all of Red Bull's unreliability goes to Mark :(
Actually, that's just been on the last seasons. In their first seasons together in RBR, it was Seb who got the most issues. A friend of mine made a list of all the (race-ending) issues they've had and it was obvious that they were quite even.

[Tazio]

balls poor webbo :(
always his car :mad:
Its a damn shame all of Red Bull's unreliability goes to Mark :(
shocking isn't it? :p:

[henners88]

balls poor webbo :(
always his car :mad:
Its a damn shame all of Red Bull's unreliability goes to Mark :(
Actually, that's just been on the last seasons. In their first seasons together in RBR, it was Seb who got the most issues. A friend of mine made a list of all the (race-ending) issues they've had and it was obvious that they were quite even.
Its just the way it seems thats all. I know Vettel had a DNF at Silverstone this year. Webber just has more KERS issues that tends to affect his finsihing postion rather than always take him out completely.

[steveaki13]

Sutil one stopping and 18 laps on soft tyres. He aint getting no points with that strategy surely.

[Warriwa]

when will kimi stop again? He pitted on about lap 8.

[steveaki13]

He wont. He is one stopping.

[Warriwa]

Grosjean is catching Kimi at over a second a lap. Could be interesting last couple of laps.

[gm99]

Kimi going backwards...Strange strategy by Lotus once again...

[donKey jote]

Pérez pass of the race :D

[Koz]

Why would Kimi not less grosjean pass?

[N4D13]

Kimi is pitting on lap 59... :-/

[steveaki13]

Kimi is leaving Lotus. Why would he care if Grosjean passes or not?

[henners88]

Pérez pass of the race :D
I think I could have passed Kimi and Hamilton considering how old their tyres are! Seriously though it was a good pass. Two cars in one move is always pleasing for a driver. :)

[N4D13]

OK, this is it. See you in 2014. :p

[henners88]

Sebastian Vettel 2013 World Drivers Champion, well done to him :)

[Koz]

Kimi is leaving Lotus. Why would he care if Grosjean passes or not?

He hasn't left yet, has he?

Why hold a team mate up?

[steveaki13]

Congrats Seb. Nice win and a nice title.

[donKey jote]

nice donuts seb :up: :D :D

[Ranger]

Kimi looked pretty dumb right there.

He has been looking very ordinary in the past few races.

[N4D13]

Kimi is leaving Lotus. Why would he care if Grosjean passes or not?

He hasn't left yet, has he?

Why hold a team mate up?
I wouldn't say he held Grosjean up. It's probably just that he found it difficult to take the turn without going wide with such tyre wear.

[steveaki13]

Kimi is leaving Lotus. Why would he care if Grosjean passes or not?

He hasn't left yet, has he?

Why hold a team mate up?

I think Kimi was so angry at the strategy he was determined to hold on. He had the red mist down and didn't care.

[Tazio]

One has to wonder what Rogro could have done if his quali hadn't been screwed!

[gm99]

nice donuts seb :up: :D :D

In light of Webber's penalty is Singapore, I wonder though if Seb will be punished for not bringing his car into parc fermé?

[N4D13]

I doubt it. Even the FIA isn't dumb enough to punish drivers for this kind of thing. The Webber-Alonso thing in Singapore was both stupid and dangerous - but I'd say Seb's was neither.

[Warriwa]

DoughNuts! should be mandatory

[Parabolica]

Raikkonen.

Please don't be like that next year.

[F1boat]

Not a great race, but a great emotion in the end

[jarrambide]

Pérez pass of the race :D
I think I could have passed Kimi and Hamilton considering how old their tyres are! Seriously though it was a good pass. Two cars in one move is always pleasing for a driver. :)
The Ice Man had very old tires, but didn't Hamilton and Perez had their last pit stop very close to each other?

[AndyL]

The Ice Man had very old tires, but didn't Hamilton and Perez had their last pit stop very close to each other?

Hamilton stopped 3 laps before Perez. If either of them still had a new set to put on that could have made the difference effectively more or less of course.

[henners88]

Pérez pass of the race :D
I think I could have passed Kimi and Hamilton considering how old their tyres are! Seriously though it was a good pass. Two cars in one move is always pleasing for a driver. :)
The Ice Man had very old tires, but didn't Hamilton and Perez had their last pit stop very close to each other?
Hamilton stopped a few laps before and was radioing the team the lap before he was overtaken saying his tyres were off. He held Perez off for a number of laps but it got to the point where it wasn't worth defending and losing more positions than needed. Not taking anything away from Sergio, he overtook Lewis regardless of the circumstances.

[jarrambide]

Hamilton stopped a few laps before and was radioing the team the lap before he was overtaken saying his tyres were off. He held Perez off for a number of laps but it got to the point where it wasn't worth defending and losing more positions than needed. Not taking anything away from Sergio, he overtook Lewis regardless of the circumstances.
Someone else said 3 laps, I asked because 3 laps should not make a real difference unless they had the soft tires, which they didn't.
If 3 more laps make that big of a difference, it makes me think that either:
a) One of the drivers destroyed his tires quicker than the other drivers.
or
b) The other driver was able to take better care of his tires and still keep pushing.

Edit: My original comment says that 3 laps should not make a big difference, unless both set of tires had a very different number of laps already on them before that last pit stop.

[henners88]

Hamilton stopped a few laps before and was radioing the team the lap before he was overtaken saying his tyres were off. He held Perez off for a number of laps but it got to the point where it wasn't worth defending and losing more positions than needed. Not taking anything away from Sergio, he overtook Lewis regardless of the circumstances.
Someone else said 3 laps, I asked because 3 laps should not make a real difference unless they had the soft tires, which they didn't.
If 3 more laps make that big of a difference, it makes me think that either:
a) One of the drivers destroyed his tires quicker than the other drivers.
or
b) The other driver was able to take better care of his tires and still keep pushing.

Edit: My original comment says that 3 laps should not make a big difference, unless both set of tires had a very different number of laps already on them before that last pit stop.
Hamilton may have destroyed his tyres quicker than Sergio for all I know. One could have used a set of scrubbed and the other not. It was a good overtake, and Sergio drove a good race. Hamilton struggled, but he's not crap all of a sudden. I was happy with his performance in a race where the season is virtually over apart from a few constructors points. It's about having fun now until the end of the year with focus shifting to 2014. My pulse certainly won't be rising again this season lol.

[airshifter]

It was interesting to watch the race and different strategies play out. Almost every "#1" driver beaten by their supposed inferior team mates. At race end there were a lot of tires long gone near the front of the field, regardless of tire strategy.

Perez made that two for one pass look easy.

[Storm]

I doubt it. Even the FIA isn't dumb enough to punish drivers for this kind of thing. The Webber-Alonso thing in Singapore was both stupid and dangerous - but I'd say Seb's was neither.

oh no ..the FIA is indeed dumb enough..I read today that he is fined 25k euros.

[dj_bytedisaster]

I doubt it. Even the FIA isn't dumb enough to punish drivers for this kind of thing. The Webber-Alonso thing in Singapore was both stupid and dangerous - but I'd say Seb's was neither.

oh no ..the FIA is indeed dumb enough..I read today that he is fined 25k euros.

The team is fines 25k. Vettel got a reprimand. Same as Alonso and Webber got for Singapore.

[Storm]

why is the team fined for what is perceived as a driver breaking rules? even if they are stupid rules.

[555-04Q2]

FIA are basically saying...you can't have any fun in F1 :shock:

[dj_bytedisaster]

why is the team fined for what is perceived as a driver breaking rules? even if they are stupid rules.

Because the FIA report says, that the team failed to instruct the driver sufficiently to return to the pits straightaway like a good boy. Funny thing is, they did just that. Rocky instructed him to perform the ususual drill - cool down lap, píck up marbles, come in, wag the finger. Vettel replied (according to his own words in the RTL interview): "Lick my arse, I've got to do something. I'm going to pull a few burnouts and donuts."

So in essence the team was fined for Vettel trolling them. :laugh:

[Tazio]

We all know the real reason that Seb/RB got punished, is that it messes with a very tight T.V. schedule. However if this was a very close championship, won at the last race the post race procedure is important for scrutineering.

[henners88]

Its a pretty minor punishment and one Seb doesn't care one bit about I would imagine. It was worth it and he's the champion. The FIA have to maintain rules or are supposed to so I can see why a punishment came even if I disagree with it entirely. Had he had his victory stripped off him or something more serious, I don't think anybody would side with the governing body.