F1 chief analyst Eddie Jordan: "Felipe Massa has had a weekend to forget. He needs to remember there are a lot of talented young drivers out there and while he has a contract for next year his future at Ferrari is not absolutely guaranteed. You never know in F1. He caused a lot of damage to the right-hand side of the car in qualifying and then did exactly the same on the left in the race."
LAP 48: Vettel scorches down the fourth longest straight in Formula 1, 2.9 seconds ahead of Jenson. Alonso 16 seconds further back and Webber in close attendance. Schumi looking good in fifth and he's told to stay out as his lap times are red hot. Rosberg, Hamilton, Alguersuari, Senna and Sutil complete our top 10, folks.
LAP 46: Now Button comes in too... and that's another super stop, although he almost collides with the HRT of Karthikeyan as he returns to the track. Nervy moments.
LAP 45: Hamilton and Rosberg pit for a fresh set of hard tyres and Schumacher rises to fifth.
BBC F1 commentator Martin Brundle: "I was in the gym the other day and Michael Schumacher is in such immense condition. He has such a lot of muscle. Sebastian Vettel looks like stick insect in contrast but somehow it's never been a problem for him."
 |
 |
LAP 41: Button sets a new fastest lap - he couldn't mount a challenge to Vettel, could he? One man who certainly won't be is Felipe Massa. We've just seen him trudging back to the main building the his helmet still on and visor firmly down. Not a happy bunny.
LAP 38: Red Bull bring Webber in for a fresh set of hard 'option' tyres and switch him to a two-stop strategy, hoping that will see him through to the end of the race. Massive performance difference between the two compounds but the hard tyres will last longer.
| |
LAP 37: Vettel pulls six seconds clear of Button as Webber slips further adrift. Alonso now pressing hard to pass the Aussie. Team-mates Rosberg and Schumacher sitting pretty in fifth and sixth. Schumi warned about the dastardly orange kerb that did for Massa. Sausage, croissant, baguette... call it what you like, it's a little devil.
LAP 34: Massa has to come in for a fresh set of hard tyres at the end of lap 33 and Hamilton scorches past. Chaos averted. And Massa's day goes from bad to worse when he hits the kerb at Turn Eight - just like he did at Turn Seven on Saturday - thus destroying his front left suspension. Game over for the Brazilian.
| |
LAP 31: Massa serves his drive-through immediately, Hamilton overtakes Alguersuari and guess what that all means... Hamilton is a place behind Massa! Here we go again...
LAP 30: ***Massa is handed a drive-through penalty for the incident with Hamilton***. Lewis had to come in for a new front wing and that dropped him down to eighth.
BBC F1 commentator Martin Brundle: "I think it was close to being a racing incident but I have a feeling he will get a penalty."
LAP 28: Massa reports "a problem with my gearbox on the downshift". He's still fifth though, the Brazilian. Up front, Vettel leads Button by 3.2 seconds, with Webber and Alonso in third and fourth. Alonso sets the fastest lap of the day. We've lost Buemi to suspected engine failure.
BBC F1 co-commentator David Coulthard: "I think because of the history between the two drivers this season, there could well be a penalty applied. I think racing is racing and sometimes you have incidents and I would put that down as an incident. I don't think there was any malicious intent."
| |
LAP 24: And there it is! Hamilton and Massa collide! Can't say we didn't see that coming. Lewis tries to get up the inside of his old foe, both will argue they had the racing line, Felipe turns in a touch and Lewis smashes into his left-hand sidepod. DRAMA! That incident, at Turn Five, will be investigated by the stewards. TV pictures of Rowan Atkinson squirming in the McLaren garage. Massive talking point.
LAP 23: Hamilton has closed right in on Massa. Oh ho ho, here we go again. Sparks to fly?
Katie, Woking, via text on 81111: "They have baguettes on the chicanes and what appear to be giant croissants in turns 10 and 11. Breakfast anyone?"
| |
LAP 19: ... solid pit stop. The new compounds seem to be doing the tick for Hamilton - he's matching Vettel for pace. Shame five places separate the pair. In comes Vettel and with a 21-second gap, he'll return to the track in first place barring a catastrophic tyre change.
LAP 18: Massa pits at the end of Lap 17 and almost collides with Ferrari team-mate Alonso on the exit. That would have been nasty. In comes Button...
LAP 16: New fastest lap for Vettel as Webber, Alonso and Hamilton all pit for a fresh set of soft 'prime' tyres. We've also lost Maldonado.
Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi: "Someone hit me from the back and I spin but I also got a puncture. I saw some smoke from the gearbox or whatever and I had to stop the car."
BBC F1 pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz: "Lewis Hamilton was crowded out a bit by Felipe Massa at start but McLaren feel they are quicker than the Ferraris. The team are going to tell Lewis to turn it up now and see what they can do at the pit-stops."
LAP 11: Button posts the fastest lap so far to close in on Vettel by a couple of tenths. Still comfortable by the German, mind. Six seconds covers the top three, 10 the top five. Hamilton still in sixth. Senna's Kers power-boost system has packed up while Glock is out.
| |
LAP NINE: Alguersuari duly passes Senna. Good job by the Spaniard. Team-mate Buemi does Senna too.
Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari's pit radio: "Keep pushing Jaime. We have to pass him. We have to pass him. We are losing time. You've got get passed him. You can do it."
LAP EIGHT: Vettel's gap still 4.7 seconds as Button continues to fend Webber off. Jenson seems intent on wading through the dust to clear a line of his own. Very bold. Hamilton dropped a place at the start and would like to be lapping a lot quicker, but we're hearing McLaren are content with his progress.
BBC F1 commentator Martin Brundle: "Vettel is the thick end of a second a lap faster than anyone else. Soon he'll be saying: 'Come on guys, give me a race. Somebody come and challenge me.'"
| |
LAP FIVE: Battle royale between Button and Webber, fighting tooth and nail for second place. Button holds first but it's playing into the hands of Vettel, who already leads by 4.2 seconds! Alonso, Massa and Hamilton complete the top six, Rosberg, Schumacher, Sutil and Senna also in the top 10.
| |
LAP THREE: Glock, Trulli and Barrichello all pit. Kobayashi, involved in the first-corner incident, is out.
LAP ONE: There's a spin at the first corner as Barrichello is hit. Moments later the Lotus of Trulli shoots on to the grass. Super start for Schumacher, though, up from 11th to eighth. Yellow flags.
LAP ONE: Brilliant start by Vettel (as always) but it's a shocker for Alonso in third, who goes wide and allows Button to get through. Button then works his way past Webber for second!
0933: GO! GO! GO!
0929: Engines rev up, pit crews scurry away, formation laps under way. The inaugural Indian Grand Prix is...
BBC F1 commentator Martin Brundle: "We've seen the Bollywood stars, we've seen the cricketing stars and now it's time to see what the Formula 1 stars can do."
| |
0926: A warm embrace between Lewis Hamilton and his father Anthony before the 2008 world champion jumps into his cockpit. Lovely touch and one we haven't seen for some time.
BBC Sport's Sarah Holt in Greater Noida: "Everyone in the paddock wants F1 to put on a good show at the inaugural Indian Grand Prix but there is also a bit of a worry that Red Bull could be untouchable. Double world champion Sebastian Vettel starts on pole as he targets an 11th win of the season and his team-mate Mark Webber, who is still looking for his first victory, is right behind him. Ferrari's Fernando Alonso starts in third ahead of the McLarens of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton. The drivers reckon that it won't make too much difference which side of the gird they start on because there is still so much dust and sand around the edge of the circuit. Pirelli said it had taken a conservative approach to tyre choices this weekend by bringing the soft and hard compounds. The soft tyres are lasting much longer than expected, as many as 35 laps, which means that a two-stop race is likely to be the strategy of choice. The dustiness off line means we should also keep our eye out for the safety car, especially because the inexperience of the marshals here means that the FIA are more likely to send out Bernd Maylander and his machine to slow down the field."
BBC F1 pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz: "There is a problem with the front wing of the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso. We've just spoken to team boss Stefano Domenicali and he wasn't aware there was a problem until we mentioned it. The mechanics are now working on the wing. It's like microsurgery trying to get this fixed this close to the start of the race."
Force India driver Paul Di Resta: "There's a lot of excitement. It's an important day for the team and hopefully we can secure some points. We've optimised the long run performance over qualifying so it was always going to be tricky on Saturday but we've got to think ahead and stay positive. Hopefully going aggressive might pay off in the race."
0920: BBC pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz reports a problem with Fernando Alonso's front wing. Last-minute tinkering ensues...
BBC F1 co-commentator David Coulthard: "It's absolutely fitting that F1 pays its respects to MotoGP and IndyCar and the drivers all wanted to be part of that. They wanted to pay their respects."
BBC Sport's Sarah Holt in Greater Noida: "The new Buddh International Circuit has been built on flat farmland about 25 miles outside the Indian capital, Delhi. Each morning en route to the track we've seen workers collecting and beating crops with the help of their traditional bovine helpers. An interesting report by the BBC's Andrew North points out some of the pitfalls of building the new track on previously untouched land with some labourers saying they are out of work now the land has been sold. There have also been reports that some farmers are disgruntled about the price they received for their land. But Indian motorsports chief Vicky Chandhok, who advised grand prix organisers the Jaypee Group and is a friend of F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, described their claims as 'speculation and rubbish'. He added: 'The land was acquired from the farmers 10 years ago. There are places 30 miles up the road where the farmers have issues because they want recognition too. It's not a problem at all.'"
0916: Very emotional. Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli. RIP.
0915: We pause for a minutes silence.
Red Bull's Mark Webber who is starting second: "I'm feeling pretty good. It looks reasonably even grid-wise. My last few starts have been pretty good and it would be nice to continue that and have a bit of a crack at Turn One."
0912: Martin Brundle's first-ever Indian Grand Prix grid walk is under way. Special times. Quotes as and when we get them. "A bit chaotic," says Bernie. Plain black shirt for MB today, in sharp contrast to EJ's traditional red number and DC's spotless white slacks.
BBC Sport's Sarah Holt in Greater Noida: "Force India boss Vijay Mallya - who is also a billionaire businessman and an independent member of parliament in India - has been reflecting on realising his dream of bringing a grand prix to his homeland. Mallya reckons the new circuit 'has to rate as one of the best tracks in the world'. But he also says the event has great importance beyond the boundaries of F1. 'It puts India on the map as a vibrant, modern country,' he said. 'This event will not only have a great impact on motorsport but the economic benefits from such a mega event means India is going to be the winner.' There has been some bad news though for Mallya, who is known as the King of Good Times. He reckons he hasn't had any time to party because he's been too busy working. Alas."
| |
BBC F1 pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz: "Felipe Massa's crash in qualifying has put Ferrari in a tricky position. Massa's front wing has been generating raised eyebrows here this weekend after it was seen oscillating, flexing and scraping the ground during practice. Rival teams believe Ferrari were pushing to the limit the rules restricting flexible bodywork. Ferrari took that wing off Massa's car before qualifying, replacing it with one that has not been seen to flex in the same way. Unfortunately that replacement wing was destroyed in Massa's accident, so Massa must race the original wing that showed the flexing symptoms. If it repeats what it did in practice it may be deemed to be unsafe, so Ferrari may have to change it to an older-spec front wing in a pit stop. When asked why the original wing oscillated and the next one didn't, Ferrari technical director Pat Fry said "It's a different wing. So that was a different one from what we had on the car later on in the [final practice] session and in the afternoon [qualifying]."
 |
BBC Sport's Sarah Holt in Greater Noida: "India's first F1 driver Narain Karthikeyan says it is a 'fantastic sensation' to drive in front of his home fans at the country's first-ever grand prix. But he told me he's had a bit of trouble managing expectations because he is starting on the back row for HRT, who are only in their second season in F1. 'I've done a lot of TV ads and so on and everyone knows my face,' said Karthikeyan. 'People say: "Oh you're going to win for us," but you have to say: 'Hold on guys, we are a small team and obviously Ferrari and the other big teams have much more resources…' It's difficult for them to understand why I'll be at the back.'"
0904: By the way, there has been a change to the starting line-up at the back of the grid with Virgin's Timo Glock now starting 22nd, rather than last 24th as was announced by the FIA on Saturday, with HRT's Daniel Ricciardo and local boy Narain Karthikeyan dropping back one place to 23rd and 24th respectively.
India cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar: "It's nice that it hasn't coincided with the cricket and I'm sure that there are many Indians who are F1 fanatics. This is going to be a mega event which will be accepted by Indians. I've been well prepared and well informed for waving the chequered flag. In 2002 I watched my first F1 race at Silverstone and I wondered if it would ever go to India and it has. It's very exciting."
| |
 |
0850: Just to let you know, 15 minutes before the race starts there will be a minutes silence in memory of Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli. IndyCar driver Wheldon died following a massive 15-car accident at the Las Vegas Indy 300, 12 days ago. Then on Sunday, Italian MotoGP rider Simoncelli died after having his helmet knocked off in a horrific accident at the Malaysian Grand Prix. Motorsport has been rocked by the deaths, but Force India's Paul di Resta insists Formula 1 is safe.
Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher: "It's pretty impressive to see the track and a great challenge for us to drive here. There's a good combination of overtaking spots, long straights and slow corners as well as the challenge of high-speed stuff. We had a safety group meeting a while ago before the track was finalised and results of part of the discussion can be seen over here. There has been a widening of the corner entries and opening up of braking zones for tight corners which allows for multiple lines and a good fighting situation."
 |
| |
0840: Now for the real reason F1 is in India... the racing. First up for Jake, a chat with seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher. I'll get the quotes over to you fine people very shortly indeed.
0834: We're watching Jake, EJ and DC partaking in full-on Indian dancing inside a beautiful Delhi building. Fair to say the professional dancers alongside our boys are making them look a little better than they are. The words 'two', 'left' and' feet' spring to mind. Eddie looking good in a traditional red sherwani, though, don't you think?
BBC Sport's Sarah Holt in Greater Noida: "Here's just a glimpse of some of the charming chaos that I promised. Each of our journeys to the circuit has been a Wacky Races style melee of honking horns and avoiding the odd horse/family/autorickshaw in the road. There have been bats flapping at BBC and Media HQs - and not forgetting the stray dog that scampered on to the track and held up Friday practice. There have been a few cases of sickness in the paddock and McLaren even had to fly in reinforcements. There is only one response to the colour and the chaos - you have to embrace it."
0830: Exactly an hour 'til the lights go out on the Indian Grand Prix and an opportune moment to point you in the direction of BBC One or the video console at the top of this page. The Chain is cranking up as we speak. Look out for EJ's outfit. I hear it's rather special!
BBC Sport's Sarah Holt in Greater Noida: "Our first visit to India has seen colour and chaos in equal measure. There have been adventures for BBC F1 commentator Martin Brundle, who has a pair of elephants stationed outside his hotel, Jake Humphrey and David Coulthard, who joined in with a Bollywood dance troupe, and Eddie Jordan as he made an impromptu drumming performance alongside local musicians played shehnais, which are a bit like conical oboes. You can see India in glorious technicolour on the BBC One race show. And I'll have more on the chaos later."
0825: We'll be inundated with comment from the track over the next hour or so, but there's one other party who have a huge role to play in this production. Yes, it's YOU. We want the be hearing your thoughts, suggestions, predictions and India-related experiences. All you need to do it tweet me @bbcsport_david using the Twitter hashtag #BBCF1 or text in on 81111 (UK).
| |
Indian businessman Anand Mahindra on Twitter: "The F1 is a turning point. I see Indians becoming the most car-crazy&car-knowledgeable people on earth..Now,let's build those roads.."
Team Lotus on Twitter: "Namaste from BIC on race day at the first Indian GP. It's going to be hot, it's going to be dusty and it's definitely going to be MEGA!"
 F1 supremo Ecclestone shows cricket legend Tendulkar around |
| |
0805: Namaste (hello), and welcome to BBC Sport's coverage of a very special sporting occasion. The Buddh International Circuit is ready and so are we. An hour and 25 minutes from now, the moment we've all been oh so eagerly awaiting will be upon us. Until then, lots and lots and lots of extremely interesting build-up. Stay tuned.
0800: For the majority of Formula 1's 60-year history, this was not even a serious consideration. Once it became exactly that, there were genuine doubts it would actually come to fruition. But with the help of Hermann Tilke, 10bn rupees, 8,000 labourers and the will of the world's second most populous nation, here we are. The very first INDIAN GRAND PRIX. A dream is about turn into reality.
0 comments:
Post a Comment