‘10 Hungarian Grand Prix – Saturday Qualifying – Vettel heads Red Bull lockout

Red Bull continued their relentless hold on pole position as Sebastian Vettel sort of decimated the opposition and his teammate into grabbing the front place for the Hungarian Grand Prix at Hungaroring. Mark Webber had to settle for second place on the grid with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso eight-hundredths of a second behind in third place.

This is the sixth time in this season that Red Bull have locked out the front row and its an all-Ferrari second row with Felipe Massa fourth fastest. McLaren were in danger of being overtaken as the third fastest team but Renault but Lewis Hamilton salvaged a fifth place on the grid as teammate Jenson Button could not make it out of Q2 and will start 11th. Nico Rosberg will start sixth on the grid, ahead of the two Renaults of Vitaly Petrov and Robert Kubica – the Russian out-qualifying his illustrious teammate for the first time this season. Sauber’s Pedro de la Rosa lines up ninth on the grid with Williams’ Nico Hulkenberg rounding off the top ten.

It was a commanding performance from Red Bull and while they were half-a-second faster than the Ferraris in Friday practice, the others had a hope that the gap could be closed come Saturday. But little did they know that it would only increase, with both Ferrari and McLaren in awe about the pace of the Red Bull. Hope the race start would be as exciting as in Germany and we’ have a five-way battle for the lead, with the Ferraris and the sole McLaren taking the fight to the rampaging Bulls.

Race Reports: BBC Sport | Grandprix.com | Formula1.com

’10 German Grand Prix – Sunday Race – Fernando ‘is faster’ Alonso leads home a Ferrari 1-2

Ferrari announced their revival with a one-two at the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim as Fernando Alonso took victory with teammate Felipe Massa finishing 2nd. Sebastian Vettel finished 3rd from pole position with Lewis Hamilton finishing 4th and Jenson Button 5th. Mark Webber took 6th place ahead of Robert Kubica in 7th, Nico Rosberg in 8th, Michael Schumacher in 9th and Vitaly Petrov in 10th.

But the victory will have a twinge of controversy in it as team orders – which are banned – might have come into play in deciding he outcome. Massa was leading the race after the first lap and despite Alonso’s attempts to string together a passing manoeuvre, Massa held fort. There’s no disputing that Alonso was quicker and the same was conveyed to Massa rather un-discreetly in lap 47, who “magnanimously” gave up his lead and settled for second place. I still think Alonso would have passed Massa on the track and all this needn’t happen…but the Ferrari hierarchy obviously didn’t want to wait and watch!

Half of the race outcome was decided at the start itself as pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel’s over-exuberance to hold off Fernando Alonso meant he had kept the door wide open going into turn one and Felipe Massa took full advantage of it and stormed into the lead. Alonso himself managed to outbrake Vettel into the second corner and halfway through the first lap, we had a Ferrari 1-2 at the head of the order. Down the order, Mark Webber had a bad start and dropped off behind both the McLarens – who themselves had a decent start and managed to hold position. Toro Rosso had a forgetful start as Jaime Algersuari barged into the back of teammate Sebastian Buemi into the hairpin and took off the rear wing off his car and that meant an early retirement for Buemi. Lotus’ Jarno Trulli was another early retirement with what looked like a driveshaft problem.

‘10 German Grand Prix – Saturday Qualifying – Vettel pips Alonso to Pole

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel clinched Pole Position for his home race – the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim – from Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso by a mere two thousandths of a second as they battled out for the fastest lap all throughout the Qualifying Session. Ferrari’s had another reason to rejoice as Felipe Massa took P3 with the second Red Bull of Mark Webber in P4. The McLarens occupy the third row with Jenson Button P5 and Lewis Hamilton P6. Robert Kubica, Rubens Barrichello, Nico Rosberg and Nico Hulkenberg complete the top ten.

The German Grand Prix returned to Hockenheim after alternating with Nurburgring last year and it was off to a wet start as Friday’s first practice and Saturday’s third practice sessions were marred by rain. Qualifying, however, remained dry and contrary to form and expectations, it was Ferrari and not McLaren who were taking the fight to Red Bull.

Alonso has been quickest throughout the weekend and finished atop the timesheets during Friday’s practice session but Vettel topped Saturday’s practice session. During the first two qualifying sessions, it was Alonso who held the upper hand as he set fastest times both times and even held pole position during the initial runs in Q3. For their second runs, Ferrari elected not to release Alonso a bit later and the traffic ahead of him might have contributed to his not matching Vettel’s lap – although the difference was a mere 0.002 seconds!

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5 Years. Just Flew By!

Movie Review – The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

The movie’s trailer doesn’t say it (maybe) but from the producers and director of the hit movie National Treasure, comes this summer’s magical journey into the world of sorcery, ages-old battle between good-versus-evil and one in which the fate of mankind lies in the hands of an unsuspecting 20-year physics nerd. Who doesn’t want to be, but has to become, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

Nicholas Cage stars as Balthazar Blake, an ageless sorcerer, who’s been fighting alongside fellow sorcerer Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina) & sorceress Veronica (Monica Bellucci) under the guidance of sage sorcerer Merlin, against the evil Morgana Le Fay. In 740 AD, Horvath turns against them and along with Morgana, kills Merlin but before they could wreak havoc upon mankind, Veronica absorbs Morgana within herself and Balthazar entraps all three into a prison-doll called the grimhold. Merlin suggests Balthazar should search for a sorcerer who’s the Prime Merliner, one who’s destined to defeat these evil powers. Balthazar’s quest cuts across history before he finds David Stutler (Jay Baruchel). Balthazar becomes Dave’s master and as his apprentice, Dave must learn to control the magical powers and use them to save the world!

I’m a big fan of the National Treasure movies which were about treasures, clues in plain-sight and a fun-ride for its hunting. Director Jon Turteltaub and Nicholas Cage turn into the mystical world of sorcery and magic for TSA and it isn’t as fun a ride as a treasure hunt. For one, movies such as Harry Potter, Narnia, LoTR have made it a far lesser novelty of a genre and unless it is typically different or offers something new, its gonna be a yawn-inducing affair. Thankfully, TSA has few interesting happenings which though not novel, do hold the audience’s sway, especially the fun-loving ones. Cynical ones will find this boring (ahem!)

‘10 British Grand Prix – Sunday Race – Webber strikes back

Mark Webber took victory in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone as the outcome was decided at the start of the race as pole-sitter Vettel ran wide and then picked up a puncture that ruined his race. Lewis Hamilton stuck like glue to the back of Webber and finished second in what will be seen as a great result, given their team’s woes over Friday and Saturday. Nico Rosberg scored the third podium finish for Mercedes this season as he finished third.

McLaren’s woeful weekend was bettered further by the fourth place finish for a resurgent Jenson Button. Williams’ Rubens Barrichello finished 5th, BMW Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi in 6th place with Sebastian Vettel recovering to take home 7th place and leading an all-German line-up of Adrian Sutil in 8th, Michael Schumacher in 9th and Nico Hulkenberg in 10th.

The race went off to an exhilarating start as Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton, starting on the dirty side of the track, had a better start than pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso, who were on the cleaner side of the track. As they approached the fist corner, Webber had his nose in front and Vettel was forced wide onto the grass and then got tagged in the back by Hamilton and picked up a rear puncture. In the blink of an eye, he went from pole-sitter to end-propper as an early pit-stop put paid to his hopes of a repeat win at Silverstone.

Felipe Massa was another big loser in the first lap as a coming together with his teammate Alonso caused a right-rear puncture and he too had to undergo a quick pit-stop. Renault’s Robert Kubica had a good start and was upto third ahead of Rosberg and Alonso and so did McLaren’s Jenson Button, who jumped up from 14th on the grid up into 8th. For the ensuing few laps, Kubica lead a train of 6-7 cars, some faster than him but unable to pass and all the time, Webber and Hamilton were edging ahead with each lap. By the time the pit-stops came up, Hamilton pitted and rejoined in second place whilst Webber held onto his lead after his stop.

If Ferrari’s race was compromised by Massa’s first-lap puncture and subsequent pit-stop, it was further ruined when Alonso overtook Kubica by cutting a chicane and was handed a drive-through penalty.  Kubica’s race ended a few laps later with suspension problems but in spite of that, Alonso had to serve his penalty. And it went from bad to worse as the Safety Car was celled in coz there were debris on the track & while without it Alonso would’ve dropped back a couple of places, with the field bunched up, he dropped down to 16th. From starting on 3rd and 7th on the grid, they finished 14th and 15th and took home zero points!

‘10 British Grand Prix – Saturday Qualifying – Another Pole for Vettel. Another 1-2 for Red Bull.

Red Bull continued their qualifying domination as they took Pole position and a 1-2 in the British Grand Prix’s Saturday Qualifying. Sebastian Vettel will start on Pole Position ahead of his teammate Mark Webber. Fernando Alonso will start from P3 as he matched Ferrari’s best qualifying position. This is Red Bull’s 9th pole out of 10 races and their fifth one-two of the season. Incidentally, Webber was the first driver to break the 1 Min 30s barrier but was immediately eclipsed by Vettel as he wheeled round his Red Bull in 1:29.695 and then scored a 1:29.615 on his second run to grab pole position.

Lewis Hamilton managed P4 in an underperforming McLaren, which was shorn of its new diffuser and other updates after they didn’t bring the needed advantage. Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg will start on P5 with Renault’s Robert Kubica in P6. Felipe Massa will start P7 with the Williams of Rubens Barrichello beside him on P8. BMW Sauber’s Pedro de la Rosa and Michael Schumacher complete the top ten.

The British Grand Prix is back at Silverstone after it was thought to be going to the Donnington Park circuit but after the latter failed to secure the necessary funding & the Silverstone owners made some modifications to the circuit, it is now back for the next 17 years. And with two British drivers in the team, McLaren’s home race will be all the more important. But they got off on the wrong foot as they had to ditch their plans of the ‘blown rear diffuser’ after it slowed them down considerably in the Friday and Saturday practices.