2013 Formula One Season

[Troy]

Was an identical crash to the one he had in practice as well. Massive impact into the barrier.

Breaks up the front row lockout of Mercedes with Hamilton no longer behind Rosberg, can Vettel pass him now?

 

[Doink]

Still think Rosberg will hang on, Button & Perez are exciting to watch, it's like they are at war lol

 

[Troy]

Button and Perez battling for the number one spot on the team is interesting with Button not wanting to concede at all.

!!!!Barrier destroyed and in the track. Chilton drives into Maldonado and send him right into the barrier and then another car wrapped it around Maldonado. Good to see Maldonado walking away. Red flag situation.

 

[Doink]

Red Flag!!! This makes it interesting, I reckon Vettel will win from here. Good to see Maldonado ok, but then again hes used to it, guy crashes nearly every race.

 

[Troy]

He is doing what Grosjean did last year. Crazy to think that Maldonado actually won a race last year.

Every driver gets new tyres now so no more pit stops until the end unless there is damage. Rosberg should be able to maintain his lead here, does need a good restart though.

 

[Troy]

Grosjean just showed that he hasn't completely changed from last year. Just drove right into and over Daniel Riccardo's car. No idea what he was doing there and he has cost Riccardo his spot in the race. Another safety car, the third today after having none so far this season.

 

[Troy]

Fantastic drive from Nico. Lead from start to finish and he wins Monaco 30 years after his dad did. Very happy that Webber got third and is back on the podium again.

 

[AZUCAR!]

Mercedes may yet get the victory taken away from them. They did a 1000km test with Pirelli after the Spanish GP in Barcelona 2 weeks ago with this years car and tyres, which is against the rules. You're allowed to test this years tyres if asked by Pirelli but I believe you're not allowed to use this years or last years car. There was a rumor Ferrari tested the Pirelli tyres after the Bahrain GP using their 2010 car. Red Bull found out about this on Saturday night before the race yesterday, and got Ferrari involved with them. They tried to get Lotus involved too, but I believe they are staying out of it.

Mercedes are saying the FIA gave them permission to test with Pirelli, but the FIA said after the Monaco GP they had no knowledge of this. Pirelli have also said they've asked teams to test and some have said yes and some no. Here's the full FIA statement from yesterday:

'At the beginning of May, the FIA was asked by Pirelli if it was possible for it to carry out some tyre development testing with a team, using a current car. Within the contract Pirelli has with the FIA as a single supplier, there is provision for them to carry out up to 100km of testing with any team - provided every team is offered the opportunity to do so.

'Pirelli and Mercedes-AMG were advised by the FIA that such a development test could be possible if carried out by Pirelli, as opposed to the team that would provide the car and driver, and that such tests would be conditional upon every team being given the same opportunity to test in order to ensure full sporting equity.

'Following this communication, the FIA received no further information about a possible test from Pirelli or from Mercedes-AMG. Furthermore, the FIA received no confirmation that all teams had been given an opportunity to take part in this test.

'In addition, with regard to the application of the sport's rules, including principles of sporting equity, it should be remembered that the International Sporting Code provides that on the basis of a report of the stewards of the meeting, or on its own initiative, the prosecuting body of the FIA may bring a matter before the International Tribunal.

'The Tribunal may decide to inflict penalties that would supercede any penalty the stewards of the meeting may have issued. Such procedure would be followed in pursuance of the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules.'

 

[Troy]

Ferrari are now being investigated as well for illegal tyre testing. They say that they used the 2011 car but the FIA are still looking into it. No word yet on how long this investigation will take.

Will be a shame if Rosberg loses the victory because of this. Was a great moment with him winning it 30 years after his dad won it.

 

[Troy]

Canadian GP was last night and it is one of my favourite tracks but the time difference is terrible. Race starts at 3:30am so I missed it this year. Vettel won with his most dominant performance of the year with Alonso and Hamilton getting the podium spots behind him. Webber was challenging for second until Van Der Garde didn't move for the blue flags and didn't bother checking his mirrors and damaged Webber's front wing. Sad news that one of the marshalls was killed when he was hit by a crane that was removing a damaged car.

 

[Troy]

Red Bull driver Mark Webber has decided to leave Formula 1 at the end of this season.
The 36-year-old Australian is joining Porsche's new sportscar programme and will compete in the classic Le Mans 24 Hours race for the German manufacturer.

Webber had options to stay in F1, either with Red Bull or another top team, but feels it is time to move on.

Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion, is favourite to replace Webber, who made his F1 debut in 2002.

Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne are also options.

So the rumours that surfaced soon after Vettel double crossed Webber to steal the win earlier this year turn out to be true. Gone at the end of the season to race for Porsche. Fair enough that after more than a decade in F1 that he wants to try something else. Has had a great run at F1 especially for a number two driver I just wonder what could have been if he was given the same support that Vettel has had. Still he has had a great career and it will be a shame not seeing him going around next year.

I can see Red Bull going for an experienced driver but they will need to find one that is happy to be a number two guy. Kimi is a great driver, very consistent, but I don't know how happy he would be to be second fiddle to Vettel. Should be interesting to watch Ricarrdo and Vergne for the rest of the year as they are potentially fighting for an open position.

 

[Troy]

This tyre situation is ridiculous. 3 delaminations in 16 laps, Vergne is very lucky that he was able to control his car at 190 MPH. Issues when they over heat and then the kerbs are cutting them somehow. Pirelli need to fix this.

Webber had a shocking start and then Grosjean lived up to his reputation and hit him.

 

[Troy]

!!! Vettel is out of the race with a gearbox issue! Opens things up completely and these final laps are going to be exciting. Ricciardo and Webber are 4th and 5th currently. Fingers crossed they have good runs to the end.

 

[Troy]

Restart after Vettel's car is removed from the track and Perez suffers a delamination! Fourth of the race so far. Webber takes Ricciardo and Sutil to go to third. Ricciardo down to 7th but he was screwed after Sutil cut him off before all this drama and wasn't penalised. He should have been ahead of Sutil before this last safety car.

 

[Troy]

Holy crap that was a good finish. Webber was flying and his overtake on Kimi was centimetre perfect. Needed one more lap and he would have taken Rosberg as well. Second is a brilliant result though after a poor start and after Grosjean hit him. Ricciardo dropped to 8th, his pit team is terrible they are slow on pit stops and he should have been brought in to change tyres when Vettel went.