While it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Sebastian Vettel took the pole and stormed away to the victory. However, while no one may have seen the Korean Grand Prix in person, it was still a very interesting race where all sorts of odd happenings occurred.
Off track, while there hasn’t been much movement in the driver market, we do have a new 2014 schedule, a new Concorde Agreement and a new concern over how much the drivers weigh and its affect on the driver market.
The Formula One World Championship may have left Europe but the change of scenery doesn’t mean that there has been a change at the head of the field. Sebastian Vettel dominated the weekend and the race with such a dominant win that you almost wonder if everyone else ran GP2 cars this weekend instead of F1 cars.
The fastest that a Formula One car goes during the season is about 210 MPH. That happens on the long front straight of the Monza circuit which is home to the Italian Grand Prix. It’s that speed which makes the Italian GP one of the more exciting during the season.
While one would typically associate high top speed with the Mercedes and Ferrari powered teams, it was the Renault powered Red Bull team that dominated the weekend with Sebastian Vettel picking up the win. I guess they’re fast on more than just the twisty bits.
Given the recent history of the Canadian Grand Prix and the controversy over the Mercedes GP tyre test, one would have assumed that tyres would have played a factor in the outcome of the race. While the tyres were a story, they weren’t the deciding factor of the Canadian GP as Sebastian Vettel stormed off into the distance en route to a dominant win. Don’t worry, though, there was plenty of off-track drama to keep us entertained.
Since the Arab Spring protests that started in 2011, Formula One’s stop in a country with protests has been very controversial. Many think that the race should be cancelled because a Grand Prix is just a way to legitimize the Bahrain government because of the economic impact of the race. Other’s think that making a decision based on political reasoning isn’t something F1 should do because it’s a sport.
Still, the race took place again amid the protests. For the second year running we had an all Renault engine podium and it was actually the exact same podium in the exact same order as last year as Sebastian Vettel picked up his second straight Bahrain Grand Prix win.
Is Formula One a team sport or an individual sport? This has to be the question on everyone’s mind after this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix. Team orders played into the first four finishing positions. In one team, orders were ignored. For the other, team orders were followed when it was clear the other driver was faster.
In a surprise for many cynical race fans, it was the Red Bull Racing boys who ignored team orders. Sebastian Vettel went by teammate Mark Webber after the race was supposed to be over between them and went on to take the win.
We all went into the Brazilian Grand Prix thinking that Vettel’s faster car and higher qualifying spot than Alonso meant that he’d cruise to his third-straight World Drivers’ Championship. That lasted until Turn Four and we were treated to the best race of the season as Vettel came from the back of the field to barely win his third Championship. Continue reading
The last time Formula One was racing in America, the race was won by Lewis Hamilton, his second win in a row, and a young driver named Sebastian Vettel made his F1 debut driving for BMW-Sauber and became the youngest driver to score a point. Five years later, Formula One returned to America and it was once again Lewis Hamilton who scored the win and Sebastian Vettel, this time driving for Red Bull, once again scored points but finished 2nd instead of 8th. Continue reading
After being disqualified from qualifying and starting from the pit lane, it appeared as though Sebastian Vettel would see his lead in the World Drivers’ Championship shrink, if not disappear altogether. However, the speed of the Red Bull combined with some luck with the safety car mitigated the damage.
Fernando Alonso was able to shrink the lead but didn’t take the win. Kimi Raikkonen benefited from a great start and a little bit of luck to win his first race since returning to Formula One. Continue reading
The season started with seven different race winners from the first seven races. The narrative has changed slightly as the last four races have been won by one man. Sebastian Vettel picked up his fourth-straight race win after leading every lap of the race from pole. Elsewhere, there was a news update on next season’s Grand Prix of America and more developments in the 2013 driver market. Continue reading
The Lowdown 