Qualifying: Vettel grabs pole at a wet Sepang

Sebastian Vettel was probably happiest when the rain came down in Malaysia as the German secured pole position ahead of Felipe Massa

The German posted a 1:49.674 to beat Ferrari's Massa to pole position. It was Vettel's 38th career pole. Fernando Alonso qualified in third place ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg. Australian GP winner Kimi Raikkonen was seventh, joined on the fourth row by Jenson Button.

Qualifying 1
It was standard Malaysia warm as we headed into Q1 with the inevitable chance of a shower or two. The ambient temperature was an unwavering 32C with the track at 41C but no chance of a shower in the first few minutes. Thus we had to wait till there were 17 minutes left on the clock before the Marussias came out on track.

It was the Williams of Valtteri Bottas who set the first sub-1:40 time at 1:38.376 (faster than his team-mate) for P1 followed by Nico Rosberg whose 1:37.239 stood as P1 for a long time in the session.

The Force Indias had chosen to go out on the faster, medium tyre for their first runs, and they were joined by the Lotuses. Adrian Sutil took over P1 with a 1:36.809 and Kimi Raikkonen slotted into P2 for Lotus. Further down the field Nico Hulkenberg was vocal on team radio about being blocked by Sergio Perez, who didn't take his McLaren off line for his old team.

Red Bull, who were rumoured to have stationed ten different rain spotters in a circle around the track, left it very late in the session to leave the garage and with four minutes to go had yet to set a time for either car. At this point the bottom end of the grid looked like:
14. Hulkenberg, 15.Vergne, 16.Ricciardo, 17.Bianchi, 18.Chilton, 19.Pic, 20.Van der Garde, 21.Webber, 22.Vettel.

The Red Bulls duly set a time, but they weren't particularly quick, Mark Webber was P15 and Sebastian Vettel P13 as the tail end of the field put in faster laps. At this stage, the P.17 drop-point was: 15.Webber, 16.Gutierrez, 17.Bottas, 18.Vergne

Bottas, who had been overtaken by team-mate Maldonado couldn't improve, Gutierrez jumped to P11, Webber jumped up to P9 as Vettel's time started to dip towards the drop-zone. Although the World Champion was on a strong lap, Jean-Eric Vergne's Toro Rosso was the only car capable of demoting him and so when JEV could no longer improve, the Red Bull team brought Vettel in to save his tyres.

So, out went: 17.Vergne, 18.Bottas, 19.Bianchi, 20.Pic, 21.Chilton, 22.Van der Garde.

At the end of Q1 Gutierrez had run ten laps and Sutil just three. Marussia would have got both cars ahead of the Caterhams if it hadn't been for a lurid moment at Turn 6 for Max Chilton which dropped him 1.2 seconds behind his team-mate.

Qualifying 2
A significant item at the beginning of Q2 was the fact that the FIA rain radar went down. This was another failure of the official telemetry system after Australia last week. There would be no cockpit warning lights, or DRS activation or safety Car systems because of the problems for a second GP in succession - something that could be critical in setting in-lap deta times for Safety Car periods.

Paul di Resta was out first on the set of used medium tyres he'd just finished Q1 with. He was en route to setting a reasonable lap (fastest middle sector, but then again everyone else was only on out-laps, so he should be) when the team brought him in. It was his team-mate Adrian Sutil who set the first significant P1 time with a 1:36.834.

Again it was Nico Riosberg at the top of the timesheets in the W04 with a 1:36.190 - Lewis Hamilton slotted into P2, which was then taken by Mark Webber.

Hamilton reported back that there were spots of rain between Turns 5 and 6 and the rain started to increase. Without the FIA radar the teams hadn't seen it coming and so Paul Di Resta and Pastor Maldonado had yet to put in serious laps. In fact Paul Di Resta set a very competitive 25.0 for sector 1 before hitting trouble.

At this point of the session, with most cars anticipating at least one more run, the order was: 1.Rosberg, 2.Webber, 3.Hamilton, 4.Raikkonen, 5.Sutil, 6.Massa, 7.Alonso, 8.Button, 9.Vettel, 10.Perez, 11.Grosjean, 12.Hulkenberg, 13.Ricciardo, 14.Gutirrez, 15.Di Resta, 16.Maldonado

DiResta ran off track at Turns 5/6 as the rain began to increase. Nobody was going to set a faster time and it was pointless going out. So the Q2 times were locked and out went. 11.Grosjean, 12.Hulkenberg, 13.Ricciardo, 14.Gutirrez, 15.Di Resta, 16.Maldonado.

Most frustrated of anyone was Romain Grosjean whose mystery chassis problems and annoyance at team-mate Raikkonen getting all the development parts was plain to see as he got out of the car. Pastor Maldonado was relatively at-ease with failing to get in a competitive lap, pleased to see the car improved and probably most pleased of all to put some distance between himself and his team-mate.

Qualifying 3
The rain had fallen for fifteen minutes and the sun was emerging over part of the circuit as the cars came out for Q3 creating a rainbow. It was intermediate tyres for everybody through the whole session and so the top ten would be allowed to choose their own tyres for the race start (should it be dry) tomorrow.

Despite the period of rain, the temperatures were exactly the same as when the session had started, but this time the DRS was disabled.

Adrian Sutil took some karting (outside) lines around corners as he set provisional pole at 1:58.293, this was beaten by Sergio Perez with a 1:56.640 and then Lewis Hamilton with a 1:54.899. Nico Rosberg jumped to the top with a 1:53.898 as the track dried out and times got progressively faster. Sebastian Vettel proved this with a superb 1:52.576 before diving into the pits for some fresh intermediate tyres. Mark Webber was good for P2.

Webber continued on his single set of intermediates, as did the McLaren drivers, whereas Vettel, Alonso and Massa took on a second set. Webber edged out Vettel with a 1:52.244 lap and then was elbowed out of the way by Lewis Hamilton with a 1:51.699.

All ten drivers were on track and with the track rapidly drying the times were tumbling. Perez took P6, Button moved up into P4, Raikkonen took P4, Rosberg grabbed P3. Alonso then jumped into provisional pole with a 1:50.727 before Sebastian Vettel went a whole second quicker to take his 38th pole with a 1:49.674.

However there was more drama in the final seconds as Felipe Massa crossed the line to take P2, the second race in a row to beat team-mate Fernando Alonso. Hamilton had beaten Rosberg when it counted after lagging for most of the session, Button was in front of Perez, P8 and P10, and Kimi Raikkonen would start another race from P7. The most important thing was that the top 10 could start on exactly the same tyre as the rest of the field, though everyone is expecting rain at some stage tomorrow.

Times
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:49.674
2. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:50.587 +0.913
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:50.727 +1.053
4. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:51.699 +2.025
5. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:52.244 +2.570
6. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:52.519 +2.845
7. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1:52.970 +3.296
8. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:53.175 +3.501
9. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:53.439 +3.765
10. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1:54.136 +4.462
11. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:37.636 +1.446
12. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1:38.125 +1.935
13. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:38.822 +2.632
14. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1:39.221 +3.031
15. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:44.509 +8.319
16. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault no time
17. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:38.157 +1.348
18. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1:38.207 +1.398
19. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1:38.434 +1.625
20. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1:39.314 +2.505
21. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1:39.672 +2.863
22. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1:39.932s +3.123

Source: Planet-F1

Practice Two: Kimi quickest before the rain

Kimi Räikkönen set the pace ahead of Sebastian Vettel before the rain came down in Friday's second practice for the Malaysian GP

With rain threatening, the drivers were quickly into the action with Jean-Eric Verge setting the first P1 time. Two minutes later, though, he was down in seventh place and two seconds off the pace such was the franetic nature of the early minutes in FP2.

Fernando Alonso had a turn in the P1 slot before losing out to Kimi Raikkonen, who posted a 1:37.042. Behind them was Sebastian Vettel, Felipe Massa and Mark Webber.

Meanwhile, Sauber rookie Esteban Gutierrez headed back into the pits after an extinguisher discharged in his car. It was reportedly caused by an exhaust issue.

Just 20 minutes in to the session - with reports of rain ten minutes down the line - the drivers begun to switch to the quicker medium tyres.

Massa hit the front with a 1:36.661 while Alonso climbed to second, 0.324s behind his team-mate. Jenson Button improved from 20th on the hards to eighth on the mediums. The two Red Bulls also made the swap with Vettel hitting the front with a 1:36.588, which was 0.073s up on Massa. Mark Webber improved to fourth.

After that it was the two Lotus drivers, the two Force India drivers, the two McLarens and the two Saubers. The two-by-two, though, changed when Raikkonen hit the front, overhauling Vettel by 0.019s. The Mercs also entered the mix as, having been focused on race set-up, they put in some quicker laps with Nico Rosberg taking seventh and Lewis Hamilton ninth.

The rain, which had thrown down a drop or two, begun to fall a bit heavier in some parts of the circuit with 40 minutes to go. However, the asphalt was so hot it had little impact at first.

Nico Hulkenberg was the first to get caught out when it came down harder and found himself on the grass down the road leading into the pits. Thankfully he got his car pointing the right way and did not collect Vettel as his fellow German made his way back into his dry garage.

After a brief lull the drivers strapped on the intermediate tyres and headed back out. With the track dry in some parts and very wet in others, drivers slipped and slid with Esteban Gutierrez getting the first off. He was followed by Sergio Perez as the drivers were lapping about 20s slower than their previous bests.

Although the track dried out as the clock counted down and the drivers returned to the slick tyres, it was never dry enough to launch an assault of Raikkonen's P1 time. He finished the session 0.019s up on Vettel.

Times:
1 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1:36.569
2 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:36.588 +0.019
3 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:36.661 +0.092
4 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:36.985 +0.416
5 Mark Webber Red Bull 1:37.026 +0.457
6 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:37.206 +0.637
7 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:37.448 +0.879
8 Paul di Resta Force India 1:37.571 +1.002
9 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:37.574 +1.005
10 Adrian Sutil Force India 1:37.788 +1.219
11 Sergio Perez McLaren 1:37.838 +1.269
12 Jenson Button McLaren 1:37.865 +1.296
13 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:38.068 +1.499
14 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:38.645 +2.076
15 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:38.738 +2.169
16 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:38.801 +2.232
17 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:38.904 +2.335
18 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:39.508 +2.939
19 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:39.660 +3.091
20 Charles Pic Caterham 1:40.757 +4.188
21 Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1:40.768 +4.199
22 Max Chilton Marussia 1:41.438 +4.869

Source: Planet-F1

Practice One: Webber sets the pace

Mark Webber led the way at a hot and humid Sepang circuit on Friday morning, edging Australian GP winner Kimi Raikkonen by 0.068s

It was a slow start to the session as the teams all waited for another to blink. Eventually - after 30 minutes - Max Chilton ventured out and clocked a 1:42.513. McLaren joined the Marussia driver out on track with Sergio Perez going quickest while Romain Grosjean took second ahead of Jenson Button. However, halfway through FP1 they were the only four drivers on the timesheets.

Shortly after more headed out with Lewis Hamilton taking over at the front after posting a 1:38.113. The Mercedes driver had a brief exchange with Grosjean for the top spot before his team-mate Nico Rosberg entered the fray.

Rosberg's reign, though, was also short-lived as Mark Webber climbed to the top of the timesheets while his team-mate Sebastian Vettel made it a Red Bull 1-2 ahead of a Mercedes 3-4.

With the Red Bulls looking secure in first and second the battle was on for third with Fernando Alonso taking the fifth to the Mercedes drivers as he climbed to fourth place ahead Adrian Sutil, Felipe Massa and Paul di Resta. Hamilton was down in eighth with 30 minutes remaining in the session.

Esteban Gutierrez brought out the first yellow flags of the session as he came up behind the slower Ferrari of Massa and balked as he braked. The Mexican rookie touched the grass and found himself backwards on the run-off area. Moments later Adrian Sutil was seem lapping with a broken front right wing courtesy of a trip over the grass.

A mixture of strategies emerged in the final 30 minutes as Kimi Raikkonen opted for used tyres, which put him up to second place, while Hamilton switched to race set-up and putting in a few 1:44s before being told by his Merc engineer that he needs to get that down to a 1:42.

The final ten minutes of FP1 saw some serious tyre issues for some of the drivers with anyone from reigning Champ Vettel complaining about "vibrations" to newcomer Giedo van der Garde pointing his out to his Caterham team. The old tyres meant that the drivers were not able to improve their times and Webber finished quickest of all, 0.068s up on Raikkonen.

Times:
1 Mark Webber Red Bull 1:36.935 15 laps
2 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1:37.003 +0.068 15 laps
3 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:37.104 +0.169 21 laps
4 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:37.319 +0.384 13 laps
5 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:37.588 +0.653 19 laps
6 Adrian Sutil Force India 1:37.769 +0.834 17 laps
7 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:37.771 +0.836 15 laps
8 Paul di Resta Force India 1:37.773 +0.838 15 laps
9 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:37.840 +0.905 18 laps
10 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:37.915 +0.980 17 laps
11 Jenson Button McLaren 1:38.173 +1.238 16 laps
12 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:38.673 +1.738 16 laps
13 Sergio Perez McLaren 1:38.830 +1.895 17 laps
14 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:39.054 +2.119 17 laps
15 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:39.204 +2.269 16 laps
16 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:39.208 +2.273 19 laps
17 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:39.284 +2.349 17 laps
18 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:39.567 +2.632 16 laps
19 Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1:40.728 +3.793 17 laps
20 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:40.996 +4.061 14 laps
21 Charles Pic Caterham 1:41.163 +4.228 18 laps
22 Max Chilton Marussia 1:41.513 +4.578 14 laps

Source: Planet-F1

Räikkönen leaves Jerez on top

Kimi Raikkonen set the pace on the final day at Jerez during which a disintegrating kerb caused a midday stoppage

Friday's running began in a fiery fashion as, after just two laps in the new Ferrari F138, Pedro de la Rosa had to leap from the car after it caught fire.

The marshals were quickly on the scene and put out the flames which were reportedly caused by a gearbox malfunction.

With the track again green, Sebastian Vettel was the first to slide under the 1:19 barrier before Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez topped his time.

Vettel, though, returned to the front shortly after on a soft tyre run and was leading the way with a 1:18.565 when a hole in a kerb brought proceedings to a halt.

The red flags were out for almost a full hour as track worked sought different way to repair the damage to the kerb at Turn 9 before finally bringing out the cement.

With the action back underway the drivers ventured and were soon joined by de la Rosa in his repaired Ferrari.

Force India hopeful Jules Bianchi, who has yet to learn whether or not he'll race for the team this season, was the first to lower the benchmark time as he posted a 1:18.175.

Bianchi's time, though, was edged by Kimi Raikkonen when - with an hour to go - the Lotus driver went 0.027s quicker.

Although not quicker than the week's best of 1:17.879, which was set by Felipe Massa on Thursday, Raikkonen's time proved to the second quickest of the four-day test.

Vettel finished in third place, 0.417s down, while Sauber rookie Gutierrez was fourth ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne who put in a very late charge to move up the order.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton had a much better day in the W04 as he amassed 145 laps with a best time of 1:18.905.

His McLaren replacement Sergio Perez was seventh quickest, finishing ahead of Valtteri Bottas, who was the only driver in an old 2012 car.

Times
01. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1m18.148 82 laps
02. Jules Bianchi Force India 1m18.175 + 0.027 56 laps
03. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1m18.565 + 0.417 96 laps
04. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1m18.669 + 0.521 142 laps
05. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1m18.760 + 0.612 92 laps
06. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m18.905 + 0.757 145 laps
07. Sergio Perez McLaren 1m18.944 + 0.796 97 laps
08. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1m19.851 + 1.703 91 laps
09. Pedro de la Rosa Ferrari 1m20.316 + 2.168 50 laps
10. Charles Pic Caterham 1m21.105 + 2.957 109 laps
11. Luiz Razia Marussia 1m21.226 + 3.078 81 laps
12. Paul di Resta Force India 1m23.435 + 5.287 49 laps

Source: Planet-F1

Massa tops the charts on Day Three

Felipe Massa posted the fastest time of the week at Jerez on Thursday, half a second up on the previous best

As the sun once again shone down on the Spanish circuit on Thursday morning, the third day of the pre-season action got underway.

Massa moved to the top of the timesheets during the morning's session when the Ferrari driver posted a 1:17.879 during a short run on the soft tyres.

The Brazilian, who is hoping to launch a title bid of his own this season, followed that up a little while later with another lap that was only marginally slower on a similar short run.

Nico Rosberg finished second quickest on the day, 0.887s adrift of Massa, demonstrating for the first time what the Mercedes W04 is capable of if the car runs smoothly. Rosberg amassed a very busy 148 laps.

Reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel also hit the 100-lap mark as the Red Bull racer, driving the RB9 for the first time, was third quickest, a further 0.3s down.

Kimi Raikkonen, another driver making his pre-season debut, was fourth quickest in his Lotus E21. However, the Finn covered just 40 laps as a large part of the morning was spent ensuring he is comfortable in his new car.

Jean-Eric Vergne was fifth for Toro Rosso, finishing ahead of Force India's James Rossiter. The Brit test driver had a few issues during his morning stint when he hit one his mechanics as he missed his braking point into the pits.

"I hold my hands up, that was totally my fault," he said. "We were doing some aero runs and everything was cold, the brakes were too cold, the tyres were too cold.

"Thank God Marcus is okay and he's only got a few bruises. I'm sure I'll be buying him many beers and he won't be forgetting it soon!"

Another driver to run into problems was Jenson Button who brought testing to its conclusion five minutes early on Thursday when he broke down out on track.

Esteban Gutierrez made his Sauber debut with the Mexican racer setting the eighth fastest time as he completed 110 laps.

Times
01. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m17.879s 85 laps
02. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m18.766s +0.887 148 laps
03. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1m19.052s +1.173 102 laps
04. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1m19.200s +1.321 40 laps
05. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1m19.247s +1.368 85 laps
06. James Rossiter Force India 1m19.303s +1.424 42 laps
07. Jenson Button McLaren 1m19.603s +1.724 83 laps
08. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1m19.934s +2.055 110 laps
09. Max Chilton Marussia 1m21.269s +3.390 78 laps
10. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1m21.575s +3.696 86 laps
11. Charles Pic Caterham 1m22.352s +4.473 57 laps
12. Paul di Resta Force India 1m23.729s +5.850 7 laps

Source: Planet-F1

KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN AND JENNI DAHLMAN-RÄIKKÖNEN CONFIRM: "SEPARATION IS A SAD FACT"

Formula One driver Kimi Räikkönen and show jumping rider Jenni Dahlman-Räikkönen have decided to separate and live apart after 8 years of marriage, just before the start of a new F1 season.

Sad news of the separation was confirmed first in the world to Seiska by a trustee of Räikkönen’s: "Separation is a sad fact.".

The couple, despite their young age, have been together for over 12 years.



Source: Seiska.fi

US GP: Hamilton Triumphs In America

Lewis Hamilton said he wanted the US GP win and that's exactly what he secured on Sunday and in doing so played an integral role in the title race

Starting from pole position Sebastian Vettel led off the line, first ahead of Mark Webber and a few laps later ahead of Hamilton while his title rival Fernando Alonso slotted into fourth place.

The order changed on lap 18 when Webber retired with a suspected alternator failure, elevating Alonso to third and closing Vettel's advantage in the Championship to 20 points.

However, that was narrowed even further on lap 42 when Hamilton, having dogged the German for several laps, used traffic and DRS to take the lead off the Red Bull driver.

Hamilton tried to pull away but this time it was Vettel's turn to dog the McLaren driver with the help of his DRS.

Vettel, though, was unable to mimic Hamilton's move and the tenacious McLaren driver went on to clinch his fourth victory of the season. It was also his second US GP triumph as Hamilton won the race the last time F1 was in America.

Vettel, who let rip about traffic in the form of an HRT costing him the lead, brought his RB8 home in second place, extending his lead over Alonso in the Championship to 13 points. The Spaniard completed the podium in a distant third place.

It was an exciting race for those off the podium as they fought tooth-and-nail even running three abreast during the early stages. Overtake over overtake - and several without the use of DRS - resulted in a thrilling race for the 100,000-plus fans packed into the Circuit of the Americas grandstands.

Felipe Massa, who had taken a grid penalty after Ferrari broke the seal of his gearbox in order to put Alonso on the clean side of the grid, finished fourth ahead of Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen.

Results
01. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1h35:55.269
02. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 0.600
03. Alonso Ferrari + 39.200
04. Massa Ferrari + 46.000
05. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 56.400
06. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 1:04.400
07. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 1:10.300
08. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 1:13.700
09. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 1:14.500
10. Senna Williams-Renault + 1:15.100
11. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1:24.300
12. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:24.800
13. Rosberg Mercedes + 1:25.500
14. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
15. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
16. Schumacher Mercedes + 1 lap
17. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
18. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
19. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
20. Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps
21. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
22. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
Did Not Finish
Webber Red Bull-Renault 17
Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 15

Source: Planet-F1

Räikkönen hoping for more good weather

Kimi Räikkönen reckons that more warm weather is just what his Lotus needs as he prepares for Sunday's inaugural race at the Circuit of The Americas

The Finn put his strong qualifying down to warmer temperatures, and will be hoping for more of the same on race day.

Though he was outqualified by team-mate Romain Grosjean, Raikkonen will still line up in a very respectable fourth on the grid after Grosjean was handed a five-place grid penalty as a result of a gearbox change ahead of the qualifying session.

"That was probably better than I expected," said Raikkonen of qualifying fourth. "Because of the difficulties in the practices, it finally got a bit more hot and the tyres started to work so it helped us.

"Usually we've been more strong in the race, so hopefully it should be a bit warmer tomorrow and it should be better for us. Hopefully it's another thing tomorrow that improves our car and we can fight more."

While Raikkonen's last F1 victory came amid sweltering heat in Abu Dhabi, his Lotus certainly won't be benefitting from those kinds of temperatures in Texas on Sunday.

Like many of his fellow drivers, he is also concerned about starting on the left-hand side of the grid, where grip is particularly low.

"It's been very slippery anyhow, the circuit, and then the racing line goes more or less over the right-hand side so we expect it's going to be very slippery on the left. We'll have to wait and see tomorrow what happens," he said.

Raikkonen also denied that set-up changes played a part in the sudden improvement in grip he experienced - though he did still spin in Q1.

"It was very difficult to get them working at all until the qualifying and then we got them to work much better. It's still not like we want them to work but it was much better," he said.

"I knew already in the first qualifying that the tyres were much better than this morning or yesterday. It just seemed to improve and we found better pressures for the end. It's just getting better and better all the time.

"I don't think the circuit has improved for us, it's just the tyres - if you get them switched on then everything changes. It's not like the circuit suddenly changes for us, it's just the tyres."

Source: Planet-F1

Practice One: Vettel claims first CoTA P1

Sebastian Vettel put in a late charge to beat Lewis Hamilton to the first P1 at the Circuit of the Americas by 1.4s in a practice that saw drivers slipping and sliding all over the place

The action started early, from the very first installation lap, as the drivers slipped and slid their way around on the new surface. In fact, the track surface was so slippery that Nico Hulkenberg told his team it was like driving on a "wet" track.

Kamui Kobayashi had the honour of setting the first-ever lap time on the CoTA, a 1:54.846. However, the Sauber driver struggled to keep his car pointing in the right direction as almost every second corner resulted in a slide or a twitch. He lowered the benchmark to a 1:51 and then a 1:48.517.

Lap after lap the Sauber driver improved his time with Mark Webber playing a brief cameo in the P1 slot before losing out to Kobayashi with a 1:45.866. That was the P1 time after the first 30 minutes with Webber second ahead of Bruno Senna, Kimi Raikkonen, Sergio Perez and Daniel Ricciardo.

Webber hit the front again while his team-mate Sebastian Vettel went ninth on his first time lap and flew off the track on the second. The German, though, was by no means the only driver testing the limits as Michael Schumacher and Jean-Eric Vergne also had moments. Vettel's next lap boosted him up the order to second with Lewis Hamilton taking third. Hamilton's next lap had him taking first with a 1:42.603.

Fernando Alonso was the next to lead the way but was topped by Hamilton with a 1:40.918. As the grip levels increased, the lap times dropped, although that didn't mean the drivers were yet sticking to the tarmac with Jenson Button and Felipe Massa flying off at Turn 19. Sergio Perez had a near-miss with the pit lane entry barriers.

With 30 minutes remaining Hamilton was leading the way with a 1:40.175, 0.353s up on Button while Alonso was a further 0.07s down. Vettel was 11th but soon after improved to fourth as he ventured out for another run. Alonso upped his pace but remained third. It was more of the same as Vettel went quicker but stayed second, Alonso went quicker but stayed third and Hamilton went quicker to hold a 0.648s advantage with ten minutes to go.

Putting in the laps Hamilton went even quicker but that didn't stop Vettel from taking the P1 slot off him with a 1:38.692, which was 0.8s up on Hamilton's best and 1.6s quicker than Alonso's. And then he went even quicker - 0.5s up on his previous best - as the chequered flag fell.

Times
01 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:38.125 30 laps
02 Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1:39.543 1.418 28 laps
03 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:40.337 2.212 29 laps
04 Jenson Button McLaren 1:40.528 2.403 29 laps
05 Mark Webber Red Bull 1:40.650 2.525 30 laps
06 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:40.966 2.841 26 laps
07 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:41.023 2.898 29 laps
08 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1:41.036 2.911 28 laps
09 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:41.159 3.034 32 laps
10 Sergio Perez Sauber 1:41.473 3.348 29 laps
11 Paul di Resta Force India 1:41.783 3.658 29 laps
12 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:41.825 3.700 28 laps
13 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:41.833 3.708 29 laps
14 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1:41.880 3.755 23 laps
15 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:41.998 3.873 27 laps
16 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:42.539 4.414 30 laps
17 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:42.588 4.463 25 laps
18 Charles Pic Marussia 1:43.288 5.163 23 laps
19 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham 1:43.443 5.318 28 laps
20 Vitaly Petrov Caterham 1:43.522 5.397 23 laps
21 Timo Glock Marussia 1:44.464 6.339 24 laps
22 Bruno Senna Williams 1:44.548 6.423 29 laps
23 Pedro de la Rosa HRT 1:46.917 8.792 13 laps
24 Ma Qing Hua HRT 1:48.559 10.434 19 laps

Source: Planet-F1

Kimi Is Back On Top With Abu Dhabi Win

Kimi Räikkönen claimed the first win of his comeback as he took the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi ahead of Championship protagonists Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel.

It was a grand prix of defining moments as Lewis Hamilton took the lead from pole position ahead of Raikkonen and Pastor Maldonado while Fernando Alonso took fifth off Mark Webber with an attacking move.

Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel, who started in 23rd place from the pit lane, had early troubles as his front wing was broken in an incident with Bruno Senna on the first lap.

On the ninth lap the Safety Car was deployed for the first time when Nico Rosberg and Narain Karthikeyan crashed as the Merc driver attempted to pass. Instead he misjudeged the closing speed and hit the HRT, launching over it before slamming in the barriers.

Under the Safety Car with the field bunched up, Vettel went off the road and hit a polystyrene block that did further damage to his already broken wing. He pitted on lap 14 for a new front wing and dropped to the back.

Six laps later the race had a new leader as Hamilton, who was 3.4s ahead of Raikkonen, slowed down and retired as his McLaren "lost all power".

Up into first place Raikkonen slowly but surely edged away from Alonso and Jenson Button only to lose his advantage on lap 39 when Romain Grosjean, Sergio Perez and Paul di Resta had some argy-bargy that resulted in Grosjean and the innocent Webber retiring. Perez was handed a ten second stop/go penalty for causing the carnage.

With the field bunched up, Raikkonen, Alonso, Button and Vettel pulled away from the chasing pack with Vettel passing Button with three laps remaining. Alonso meanwhile hunted down Raikkonen and, with two laps to go, was with DRS activation. The Ferrari driver, though, was not able to take advantage.

Raikkonen took the chequered flag and his first victory since Spa 2009, putting the Lotus name on the top step of the podium for the first time since Ayrton Senna's win at the 1987 American GP.

Alonso was second ahead of Vettel. The Red Bull racer's podium means he still holds a 10-point advantage in the title race.

Times
01. Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 1h45:58.667
02. Alonso Ferrari + 0.852
03. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 4.163
04. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 7.787
05. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 13.007
06. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 20.076
07. Massa Ferrari + 22.896
08. Senna Williams-Renault + 23.542
09. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 24.160
10. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 27.400
11. Schumacher Mercedes + 28.000
12. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 34.900
13. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 47.700
14. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 56.400
15. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 56.700
16. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1:04.500
17. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 1:11.5

Did Not Finish
Pic Marussia-Cosworth 42
Grosjean Lotus-Renault 38
Webber Red Bull-Renault 38
Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 20
Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 8
Rosberg Mercedes 8
Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1

Source: Planet-F1

Photos: Kimi Räikkönen at Korean Grand Prix 2012

Source: F1GrandPrix

Qualifying: Webber pips Vettel to pole

Mark Webber claimed his second pole position of the season as he edged team-mate Sebastian Vettel in Korea on Saturday

Although Vettel was the favourite to take pole position at the Yeongam circuit, it was his Aussie team-mate who stole the show with a 1:37.242. That put Webber 0.074s up on Vettel and secured the 36-year-old's second pole of the season.

The second row has Lewis Hamilton alongside Fernando Alonso. Kimi Raikkonen qualified fifth ahead of Felipe Massa and Romain Grosjean.

Qualifying Report
It was overcast at the sparsely spectatored Yeongam circuit with an ambient temperature of 22C and the track at 28C.

Pastor Maldonado set the first sub-1:40 lap at 1:39.716 which was ramped up by Fernando Alonso with a 1:39.543 and then Felipe Massa did considerably better with a 1:39.074. Kimi Raikkonen moved it down to 1:38.887.

Drivers were running multiple laps on the harder of the two tyres (the Soft) and so Alonso edged his time down even though he didn't improve his place. Sebastian Vettel needed just three laps to set the definitive time of 1:38.208. Mark Webber slotted into P2 and then Jenson Button took P2 off him. Lewis Hamilton was faster than Alonso but not by much and was having issues getting his car stopped into Turn 1.

Narain Karthikyean had already ended his qualifying after a front brake disc failure pitched him into a spin in the braking zone for Turn 3, the HRT car out on the spot.

With four minutes left to run the danger positions were: 14.Hulkenberg, 15.Perez, 16.Vergne. 17.Kobayashi, 18.Kovalainen, 19.Petrov, 20.Senna.

The switch to the red-walled supersoft tyre was taken by all the mid-grid teams with Bruno Senna most vulnerable, already down amongst the new teams. However a set of supersofts immediately produced results as Maldonado jumped to P10, Senna to P13 and Kobayashi to P4.

With other cars improving the timesheet was rapidly turning over and seconds later the positions were: 14.Hamilton, 15.Alonso, 16.Senna, 17.Schumacher, 18.Vergne.

Ferrari were alive to the possibilities of Alonso going out and sent him back on track with a set of supersoft tyres. Hamilton stayed in the garage.

When Vergne put his Toro Rosso into P6 that pushed Michael Schumacher into P18, and when he grabbed P8 it made the positions: 16.Hamilton, 17.Alonso, 18.Senna. What's more Senna and Alonso were on laps that looked like improving their position yet Hamilton was sat looking at the timing screens.

Alonso took a scruffy P16 pushing Lewis to P17, but then after a good opening sector Bruno Senna had a 44.1 second middle sector (his best had been 43.6) and that was his Q1 over. The Williams team called him back into the pits, much to the relief of McLaren.

Out went: 18.Senna, 19.Petrov, 20.Kovalainen, 21.Pic, 22.Glock, 23.de la Rosa, 24.Karthikeyan (no time)

It was another poor result for Bruno Senna, although ultimately Pastor Maldonado would not finish that much further in front of him. Great outcomes for Petrov and Pic outqualifying their team-mates against the run of form this season. Overall the difference between P1 (Vettel) 1:38.2 and P17 (Hamilton) 1:39.1 was just 0.9 of a second.

Qualifying 2
There was no-one anxious to get clear track space at the beginning of Q2 and it took almost a minute before Sergio Perez came out to set the benchmark time of 1:38.981. Sauber team-mate Kamui Kobayashi reduced it to 1 1:38.504 before Fernando Alonso became the first man to break the 1:38 barrier with a 1:37.987.

Ferrari will have been encouraged to see that Sebastian Vettel couldn't beat that by very much - a 1:37.767 for Vettel put him top with Mark Webber slotting into P3 and then Lewis Hamilton displacing him in P3.

The McLarens had more brake locking issues than most and Jenson Button should have put in a faster first lap than he did on his opening tour but locked up. With four minutes of the session left to run the danger positions were: 6.Grosjean, 7.Schumacher, 8.Button, 9.Raikkonen, 10.Kobayashi, 11.DiResta, 12.Rosberg, 13.Perez, 14.Ricciardo, 15.Hulkenberg,16.Vergne, 17.Maldonado.

Everyone but Vettel went for another run on track, though not necessarily using a new set of tyres. With low wear on the smooth (underused) Yeongam circuit the supersofts could be used for more than one fast lap.

Nico Hulkenberg jumped up to P7, Maldonado could only improve to P13 and then the yellow flags came out for Daniel Ricciardo's Toro Rosso which he parked at the side of the track in the final sector (gearbox). Despite the yellow flags Perez improved to P10, Rosberg moved to P7, then Raikkonen to P5, pushing Button into P11 where he stayed.

As the session closed, out went: 11.Button, 12.Perez, 13.Kobayashi, 14.DiResta, 15.Maldonado, 16.Ricciardo, 17.Vergne.

Button was the big casualty, losing out by 0.005 to Michael Schumacher, unable to put in a fast final sector, while Paul diResta hit a lot of traffic and was slower on a new set of softs than he was on a scrubbed set.

Qualifying 3
Mercedes produced an almost pantomime start to the final qualifying session by going to the end of the pitlane (with the green light on) and just sitting there, letting their tyres go cold. First Rosberg, and then Schumacher parked their cars. In fact Michael was sat there for an age while all the other cars went round him.

Hamilton was keen to get on with his outlap and passed both a Red Bull and a Lotus in his anxiety to get the track position he wanted.

Across the line they came on their opening laps, Massa set the benchmark with a 1:38.010, followed by Alonso 1:37.667. Grosjean slotted into P3 and then Lewis Hamilton displaced him in P3.

Sebastian Vettel then produced the much-expected provisional pole lap of 1:37.316, while team-mate Mark Webber could only manage P3 behind Alonso.

The keen-to-park-up Mercedes cars had come into the pits without setting a lap time, but in the second round decided to go for it. In fact Michael Schumacher was launched into the pitlane right in front of Lewis Hamilton who adeptly swerved round him.

The Force India of Nico Hulkenberg wasn't saving tyres either and claimed P7. Next round was a blistering lap from Mark Webber who put his Red Bull on provisional pole. Lewis Hamilton did a lot better to cross the line in P3, Alonso stayed P4, Nico Rosberg outqualified team-mate Michael Schumacher by taking P8, but lost a place when Romain Grosjean came past him to grab P7.

All eyes turned expectantly to Sebastian Vettel who would no doubt reclaim P1 but a poor first sector ruined his chances and he came up short of his team-mate.

So it was a Red Bull front row but with some interesting neighbours on the grid - Alonso just in front of Raikkonen who punctured Alonso's rear tyre at the last start in Suzuka. Grosjean next to his team-mate and not far away from Rosberg (who got shunted out of the last race) and Schumacher who he's had the pleasure of colliding with in the past.

Given that the low-tyre wear surface could produce a grinder of a one-stop race for some teams, then track position on the opening lap will be key. And with a lot of dust on the used-once-a-year-track that might generate some mistakes on Lap 1 tomorrow. Vettel and Webber should be clear of it, but further back there could be a lot of 'fun'.

Times

01. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m37.242
02. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m37.316 + 0.074
03. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m37.469 + 0.227
04. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m37.534 + 0.292
05. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m37.625 + 0.383
06. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m37.884 + 0.642
07. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m37.934 + 0.692
08. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m38.266 + 1.024
09. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m38.361 + 1.119
10. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m38.513 + 1.271
11. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m38.441 + 0.674
12. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m38.460 + 0.693
13. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m38.594 + 0.827
14. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m38.643 + 0.876
15. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m38.725 + 0.958
16. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m39.084 + 1.317
17. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m39.340 + 1.573
18. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m39.443 + 1.235
19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m40.207 + 1.999
20. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m40.333 + 2.125
21. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m41.317 + 3.109
22. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m41.371 + 3.163
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m42.881 + 4.673
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth no time

Source: Planet-F1

Räikkönen hoped for a little more from Lotus-team's update

Kimi Räikkönen tested the new exhaust system based upon the Coanda-effect for the first time on Friday in Korean Grand Prix -practice. Kimi wasn't completely assured about it's benefits at once.

In theory it should give half a second to the laptimes.

- It was quite a difficult day. It's not easy to get the car to fall in place. Hopefully it goes better on Saturday, Räikkönen said.

Then what about the update-side?

- We will now look at the data we collected and decide if we will continue with it or not. Maybe we expected a bit more from it than it looked like, Kimi estimated.

James Allison let understand that the update-part will be kept in the car this weekend.

- It's still far from the optimum, but we are relatively satisfied with how it worked during practice, Allison assured.

It's difficult to compare, because the feeling in the car on Yeongam track is different when compared for example tohttp://www.ts.fi/moottoriurheilu/f1/400 ... eltaSuzuka with the same machinery.

- This is a completely different track and since I haven't drove with this new system anywhere else, it's completely impossible to evaluate my feelings, Kimi emphasized.

Yeongam is the season's first completely new track for Kimi.

- It's an ok track, although it was surprisingly bumpy on some parts when thinking that it's a new track. We are pretty much the same we always are on Fridays. Hopefully we get the car better for Saturday, because now it looked like we need to get one second more. Then again others surely also improve.

– Laptimes don't matter, what matters is that we get the right impression from these practices for Saturday, Räikkönen reminded.

Turun Sanomat

HEIKKI KULTA

Courtesy: Nicole