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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:10:29:08:54:18 by De_JOKKE.

Thx DJ!!! Great job!!!

About the race. I think we have good shot for 2 spot in WCC. Alonso also had some trouble with tires atleast in Q so i think we might get more points if our bad form and bad strategies finally will turn to better.

Nothing we can do the RB i am afraid. But still 2nd is not bad. There is good chance to fight that spot!!

Bring it on!!

I'm afraid RBR will walk it again but you never know when a dnf lures around the corner for Vettel. Still hoping for a hamilton victory these last 4 races though...


"Leave it to Lewis Hamilton to ruin Red Bull's day" - Martin Brundle

In memoriam: Sessions

Mercedes previews the Indian Grand Prix at Buddh International Circuit

22 October, 2013

The Indian Grand Prix, Round 16 of the 2013 Formula One World Championship, takes place on Sunday 27 October at the Buddh International Circuit located just outside of the city of New Delhi.
•Between turns 7 and 14, no corner is taken lower than 4th gear and the average corner speed is around 220 km/h
•Seven of the circuit’s 16 corners see lateral loadings in excess of 3.5G (turns 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14)
•The drivers exceed 280 km/h three times, before turns 1, 4 and 5 – and scrub over 200 km/h under braking for turn 4
•In the two Indian Grands Prix so far, Sebastian Vettel has led every one of the 120 racing laps and won both from pole

Nico Rosberg: I’m looking forward to our trip to India. It really is a fascinating country and there is always something new to see or experience when you are there for the race weekend. The track itself is pretty challenging and there are good overtaking opportunities at the end of the long straight so the race should hopefully be quite exciting. The Indian fans are very passionate and increasingly knowledgeable about our sport and I hope they will enjoy the experience and provide some good support for our team. The last few races haven’t been the best for us so I am hoping for a good weekend. We are all determined to finish the season strongly and to continue our challenge for second place in the Constructors’ Championship.

Lewis Hamilton: I have really enjoyed our two visits to India so far. It’s such a vibrant country and the support that we’ve received from the fans there has been fantastic. They love sport and the knowledge that some of the fans that I’ve met have had about Formula One has been great to see. I really hope that we can see the country take Formula One to heart in the future. I also really like the Buddh International Circuit. The layout has a great rhythm and I love the fast turns and high speeds. We’re hoping for a strong weekend after a couple of difficult races and I know that everyone has been working really hard to make sure that we can get all of the performance possible from the car over the last four races. We know that we have a good car and, if we can put together a good race weekend, then we have the potential for some great results before the season is over.

Ross Brawn: The Buddh International Circuit presents a good challenge for the drivers and engineers with its combination of low-speed corners and long straights. The track also has one of the highest average speeds of the year. After two visits to India, we hope to see our sport continue to grow in popularity and look forward to more fantastic support from the Indian fans. We are once again pleased to have agreed a race partnership with Airtel, title sponsors of the Indian Grand Prix, and we look forward to welcoming them to our team over the weekend. There has been a great deal of analysis and hard work taking place at Brackley and Brixworth since we returned from Japan and I am pleased with the continued work ethic of the team and the determination to achieve our goal of second place in the championship. Both Nico and Lewis have been in the factory this week to assist with our preparations for the next two races and we are all looking forward to the challenge of securing strong finishes for both drivers

Toto Wolff: The last three races have shown us that we have a real fight on our hands to secure second place in the Constructors’ Championship – but also that we have the performance to achieve our goal if we consistently deliver the full potential of the car. We quickly put the disappointing weekend in Japan behind us and are now fully focused on the final four races of the season. The engineering team has been working hard to extract every last bit of performance and Nico and Lewis are both hungry to achieve strong finishes. We have no reason to fear any of the upcoming circuits, as we have been strong on all types of track so far this season. That should once again be the case this weekend in India, on a circuit that includes one of the most demanding corners of the year at turn 10. We will aim to do our usual, professional job, maximise the performance of the car and our target for both drivers will be a podium finish.


"Leave it to Lewis Hamilton to ruin Red Bull's day" - Martin Brundle

In memoriam: Sessions

I hope they've sorted that 7th gear setting out...


"Leave it to Lewis Hamilton to ruin Red Bull's day" - Martin Brundle

In memoriam: Sessions

Looks like another RBR clean sweep, hope hami can take the podium with Rosberg right behind him. We need to overhaul Ferrari. Lotus looks strong again

[www1.skysports.com]


I hope Vettel gets a blown soft tyre.


[en.espnf1.com]



Meanwhile, Brawn predicted that Red Bull will once again be difficult to catch this weekend.

Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber finished one-two in both of Friday's practice sessions, even though the World Champion-elect suffered KERS problems and both cars struggled with tyre degradation.

Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were fourth and sixth respectively in P2, with Brawn saying: "We'll take every opportunity that comes. I don't think we want to give up completely that there might be an opportunity.

"They are very strong at the moment, Red Bull. Since the summer break, they've been extremely strong, they seem to have found the solution with these tyres and realistically it's going to be very difficult to beat them."


"Leave it to Lewis Hamilton to ruin Red Bull's day" - Martin Brundle

In memoriam: Sessions

FP2 results:
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m25.722s 35
2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m26.011s +0.289s 38
3. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m26.220s +0.498s 36
4. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m26.399s +0.677s 36
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m26.430s +0.708s 39
6. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m26.582s +0.860s 40
7. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m26.601s +0.879s 41
8. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m26.632s +0.910s 32
9. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m26.857s +1.135s 40
10. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m26.972s +1.250s 39
11. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m27.304s +1.582s 17
12. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m27.375s +1.653s 36
13. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m27.429s +1.707s 31
14. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m27.491s +1.769s 40
15. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m27.608s +1.886s 38
16. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m27.720s +1.998s 23
17. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m27.949s +2.227s 34
18. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m28.431s +2.709s 30
19. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m28.692s +2.970s 39
20. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m28.799s +3.077s 32
21. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m29.366s +3.644s 37
22. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m30.164s +4.442s 27

Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg completed the first day of the 2013 Formula 1 Airtel Indian Grand Prix in fourth and sixth positions respectively after three hours of free practice today.

The morning session saw both drivers focusing on set-up work to dial the car in to this challenging circuit. In the afternoon, Lewis complete a tyre comparison before conducting race simulation work, running option then prime. Across the garage, Nico followed a similar plan, with his race simulation work also completed using option then prime. In total, the drivers completed 120 laps - equivalent to exactly two race distances - during today's practice sessions.

Lewis Hamilton: We made some good progress over the two practice sessions today. This morning wasn't so good but we completed a lot of laps this afternoon and made some good progress. It's difficult to get the set-up right here and this circuit is pretty tough on the tyres so I think everyone was struggling with the soft compound. Our car feels pretty good at this early stage but there are definitely some areas we can improve overnight. We're working towards a strong qualifying performance tomorrow afternoon, ideally on the second row, and then hopefully a place on the podium, that would be nice.

Nico Rosberg: That was quite a tough day for us: we learned a lot but still have a lot of work ahead tonight so that I can find the best set-up. Generally, it seems that the main question this weekend is who can get third position behind the two Red Bulls, because they look pretty unstoppable at this circuit. But I'm confident we will have a role to play in that battle tomorrow and on Sunday.

Ross Brawn: We had a decent second practice session this afternoon. We managed to improve the car balance relative to this morning and did the work we wanted to. As always, we now have a busy evening ahead of us exploring the data and seeing where we can make further improvements. We didn't encounter any major problems today, so it was a good, steady start to our weekend and we will aim to build on that tomorrow.

Toto Wolff: Friday times are always hard to read because of the different fuel loads that teams run, so trying to predict the exact competitive order is more like gazing into a crystal ball than anything else. We didn't have a perfect day when you compare our pace to that of Red Bull but we put in 120 laps so there's lots of information the engineers will be working through tonight. I am sure it will be a close fight with our direct rivals Lotus and Ferrari, as it has been at recent race weekends. We all know how important it is to extract the full potential of our package tomorrow and most importantly on Sunday.


"Leave it to Lewis Hamilton to ruin Red Bull's day" - Martin Brundle

In memoriam: Sessions

Just as I thought: all focus on '14 and no updates Timba:

Q: ‘and on the subject, Ross, of that intense battle between now and the end of the season, is that something you welcome at Mercedes, or causing you a headache you could do without with 2014 and the big regulation changes looming large?
Ross Brawn: No, I think this business is mostly about managing several programmes and obviously from a development perspective most, or all, of our efforts are in the 2014 programme. Couple of things we still want to learn with this car and in terms of racing, I think what’s crucial for these last four races boils down to who races most effectively - because I think the teams are all quite close. We’ve not raced very well the last few races. I don’t think we’ve scored the points that we could have done or should have done and it’s now up to us to make sure we race well in the last four races. Of course if we had something available to make the car go faster, we’d fit it but we don’t - and I don’t think the others do, so I think between the three teams it’s a question now of who races well: the team; the strategy; the drivers and that will determine who finishes second in the championship.


"Leave it to Lewis Hamilton to ruin Red Bull's day" - Martin Brundle

In memoriam: Sessions

What do you think?

it's a good starting position but I'm afraid they'll slip back during the race. I hope we can get more points than lotus and ferrari. Grosjean starting from p 17 is a welcome gift.


Nico was faster than Lewis, so congrats but it seems that there was more to it:

Team-mate Lewis Hamilton qualified in third, the Briton admitting Mercedes is unlikely to be able to battle Vettel in the race.

"I've struggled with something different on the car this weekend which Nico had experienced in the past," he said.

"I'm happy with the result and laptime I could get. We will try to push these guys as much as possible but they are in another world and we will try to be the best of the rest."

I wonder what this thing is...


"Leave it to Lewis Hamilton to ruin Red Bull's day" - Martin Brundle

In memoriam: Sessions

video: [url][/url]


"Leave it to Lewis Hamilton to ruin Red Bull's day" - Martin Brundle

In memoriam: Sessions

Good Job by both. Hope We Can Keep These Positions at race tomorrow

Race with mixed feelings:

Okay we got 2nd back in the WCC


BUT mercedes is keeping its brain fades ongoing with another cock-up by not pitting hami 1 lap after Rosberg.

Could have been a 2rd-3rd result.


"Leave it to Lewis Hamilton to ruin Red Bull's day" - Martin Brundle

In memoriam: Sessions

Good result!! Not bad At all 2nd in wcc!! Congrats to Vettel!!

How come that Lewis was 22 second behind Niko ???
Who is a turtle ?

I'll answer with this:

How come Merc didn't pit Lewis 1 lap after Rosberg, who is a strategic moron?


"Leave it to Lewis Hamilton to ruin Red Bull's day" - Martin Brundle

In memoriam: Sessions

Come on guys! 2nd in WCC!! Bring it on! It wasnt bad at all. We had great race!

But 2nd was max. And we got it. So we are clearly the 2nd best team now.

And i bet we will keep the 2nd spot. It is great achievement and a really good jump in form for Merc from 2012!!

2014 1st!!!

Congrats to Nico from 2nd. It really was like a victory. Because there was no chance vs. Vettel really. So it was the max.

Hammi a Turtle, yeah right. Stop stirring s..t.

Seems that Mercedes drivers form the best pair at te moment, they are so close eachother that they must do their best all the time.

My respect for Nico has now risen, when he drove with schumi one could say is wasn´t THE Schumi anymore, but now he is doing well with Hammy.

They are both good.

Hi Kajo, nice to see you back here around the forum.

Indeed Nico is holding up well against Lewis but don't forget that Lewis is still adjusting (had/has brake problems + whole new team) and the car is more built around Nico than Lewis.
Now I'm not saying Lewis will trash Nico, but we might see a slight change next year...

For now in 2013: 16 races:

=> QWF and RACE battle: Lewis - Nico: 10-6

Lewis beats Nico even if Nico manages to outperform Lewis in the last three races. But as I thought, Nico is Lewis' strongest teammate after Alonso.


"Leave it to Lewis Hamilton to ruin Red Bull's day" - Martin Brundle

In memoriam: Sessions



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:10:30:12:16:38 by De_JOKKE.