It was a walk in the Albert Park for Mercedes as Lewis Hamilton started off the season with a win at the Australian Grand Prix ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg. Sebastian Vettel finished third on his Ferrari debut (ditto Kimi, eh!)
Ferrari’s improved showing was kinda soured with Kimi Raikkonen’s retirement because of an ill-fitted tyre at his second pit stop.
The 2015 Formula 1 season is underway with the Australian Grand Prix and it seems we picked up where we left last year – Mercedes in front & the others chasing them!
Lewis Hamilton took pole position ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg with Felipe Massa (yep, not Valtteri Bottas) starting third.
Ferrari & not Red Bull were next on the grid with Sebastian Vettel ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen. Some positives after last year’s troubled times. Honda, as (un)expected, were at the back of the grid.
Well, it has been quite a while since I’ve done this. Not following the draw but actually writing about it on the blog. As it is, I have some time to kill and why not just post the draw again…hours after it concluded and with almost every other footballing site & blog having already posted it!
Here is the draw for the Quarter Finals stage of the UEFA Champions League 2014:
First legs of the quarter finals will be played on 1st & 2nd April with the return legs scheduled on 8th & 9th April.
Of course the stand out draw is Manchester United versus Bayern Munich. The team toiling in seventh position in the Premier League against the runaway leaders in the Bundesliga. A manager who has won just one Community Shield against a manager who has a grand total of 13 major honours in club football. A midfield of Michael Carrick, Marouane Fellaini & Tom Cleverley against the likes of Bastian Schweinsteiger, Toni Kroos & Mario Gotze. Fullbacks Rafael and Alex Buttner against the flying wingers Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery.
Only advantage as I see it – Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck & Robin Van Persie against Dante, David Alaba & Jerome Boateng.
Bring it on!
Red Bull broke their hoodoo at the Circuit Gilles de Villeneuve as pole sitter Sebastian Vettel took a commanding victory in what turned out to be a dry race after Saturday’s wet qualifying session. Second place went to the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso, who also drove quite brilliantly after his disappointing race at Monaco and finished ahead of the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton in third place. The margin of Vettel’s victory can be put into perspective by his 15 second lead over second place and that he lapped everyone from 6th place downwards as he romped to the chequered flag.
Mark Webber finished fourth ahead of the other Mercedes of Nico Rosberg in fifth, Toro Rosso’s Jean Eric-Vergne in sixth and one-stopping Force India of Paul Di Resta in seventh. Felipe Massa made up some good places in the race to finish eighth ahead of the Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen in ninth – his drive hampered by brake problems on his car and the need to conserve fuel towards the latter part of the race. Adrian Sutil took the last point in tenth place, having dropped from sixth place to serve a late drive-through penalty for ignoring blue flags.
At a circuit which has seen several safety car excursions in the past, today’s race was cleaner but equally exciting in some places. Red Bull stuck to their tried and tested plan of “qualify at the front and blast away at the start to stay off DRS” and Vettel abided by it perfectly, with a clean start and maintaining his lead through the pit stops. Drive of the day was arguably by Fernando Alonso, having started sixth and made his way past Bottas at the first lap into fifth place, he then passed Mark Webber, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton on his way to second place.
Continue reading “2013 Canadian Grand Prix – Sunday Race – Vettel reigns supreme”
It was Red Bull’s turn to take the pole position back from Mercedes as Sebastian Vettel emerged fastest of them all in a wet qualifying session for the Canadian Grand Prix at the circuit Gilles de Villeneuve in Montreal. Try as he might, Lewis Hamilton could only manage P2 ahead of the surprise entry of the session – the Williams of Valtteri Bottas in P3.
Nico Rosberg will start in fourth ahead of Mark Webber in fifth, Fernando Alonso in sixth and Jean Eric-Vergne in seventh. Adrian Sutil managed eighth fastest in what was Force India’s 100th grand prix, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in ninth and Daniel Ricciardo in tenth. Both the the McLarens didn’t make it to Q3 with Perez only 12th fastest and Jenson Button 14th fastest. Felipe Massa suffered his third crash in as many weeks and will start from sixteenth on the grid.
It was at the end a predictable yet incident packed race at the principality of Monte Carlo as Nico Rosberg took a lights-to-flag victory at the Monaco Grand Prix, followed by the two Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. Predictable, because the pole-sitter eventually won and much of the race was a procession of sorts. Incident packed, as it saw two safety car periods and a red flag stoppage for around 25 minutes.
Mercedes could not convert their one-two start into a one-two victory as Lewis Hamilton could only finish fourth, ahead of the Force India of Adrian Sutil and McLaren of Jenson Button. Fernando Alonso finished seventh – finishing lower than he started for the first time in 2 years barring accidents & retirements – ahead of the Toro Ross of Jean Eric-Vergne in eighth, Paul Di Resta in ninth and Kimi Raikkonen in tenth, thus continuing his continuous points scoring finishes to 23 races! That almost didn’t happen as Kimi was forced into a late pit-stop with five laps to go after a collision with the McLaren of Sergio Perez and dropped to the back of the pack. But with fresher tyres, he stormed up the pack to claim the solitary point for tenth place.
Continue reading “2013 Monaco Grand Prix – Sunday Race – Rosberg takes lights to flag victory”
The AMG Mercedes F1 Team’s dominance of the pole position continued as Nico Rosberg emerged fastest in the Saturday Qualifying session for the Monaco Grand Prix at the glamorous street circuit. It was Mercedes’ fourth pole of the season and Rosberg’s third consecutive one. Team mate Lewis Hamilton was second fastest with Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel third.
The grid will line up in a Mercedes 1-2 and a Red Bull 1-2 as Mark Webber was fourth fastest ahead of the best of the rest – Kimi Raikkonen fifth for Lotus, Fernando Alonso sixth for Ferrari, Sergio Perez seventh for McLaren, Adrian Sutil eighth for Force India, Jenson Button ninth and Jean Eric-Vergne in tenth for Toro Rosso.
Light rain at the start of qualifying ensured that the initial runs were made on the intermediate tyres but the latter sessions were dry enough which saw the slicks come into play and although Red Bull put up a brief fight with Webber & Vettel holding the one-two positions provisionally, the last runs saw both the Mercedes pip them and claim their own one-two.
My Wierd Wired World 