SEBASTIAN Vettel was crowned Formula1 World Champion yet again over the weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka. Vettel holds the records of being the youngest double world champion in the history of the sport and should his form continue in the remaining 4 races of the season, there are a few more records that he will go on to break.
Jenson Button, the 2009 Formula1 World Champion, won the race for Mclaren, his first win at Suzuka a little over a second ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso. The podium finishers were separated by less than 2 seconds and for the first time in many years two double world champions were a part of the podium ceremony, Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel.
Vettel needed one point to clinch the title and he did so by finishing third in the race. The young German racer had clinched his 12th pole of the season in Saturday’s qualifying and was one of the few drivers who failed to convert their pole position to victory on Sunday. History shows that 75% of the races in Suzuka have been won from pole and Vettel had done exactly that in 2009 and 2010.
Moving on from the top 3 finishers, both Indian drivers, Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok drove for their respective teams in the Free Practice 1 session on Friday; a good sign that their teams are giving them some much needed time in the cockpit before the Indian Grand Prix. Having said that, Team Lotus is yet to confirm Karun Chandhok’s drive for the Indian Grand Prix, which is 20 days away. While I have mentioned in my earlier columns that the team is expecting some additional sponsorship from Karun, the other view which is now public is that the team is keen on defending their 10th place in the Constructor’s Championship.
Team Lotus have suffered from 8 retirements this year, higher than any other team and hence need to ensure that both their drivers finish races and to remain ahead of their immediate competition, Virgin Racing. The team’s Japanese Grand Prix performance should be a big boost as this was the first time that both Team Lotus cars finished on the lead lap and 2 laps ahead of their competition. As for Karun, his fastest laptime was 8 tenths off his team-mate Jarno Trulli’s and was classified as 20th on the timing sheet. Narain on the other hand was 6 tenths off his HRT team-mate Daniel Ricciardo and was classified as 24th and last.
Force India, who are chasing 5th place in the Constructor’s Championship, were in the middle of thick competition with Lotus Renault and Sauber through the weekend. In qualifying, Force India’s Adrian Sutil, a veteran of the Suzuka circuit, narrowly missed the top 10 qualifying shoot out by 0.080 of a second and managed to clinch P11 as his starting position. Team-mate, Paul di Resta was 2 tenths down in P12. This was his first outing at Suzuka.
Come Race Day, both Force India cars made excellent starts and were racing in the top 10 for most part of the race, with their key competitors behind them. The Force India drivers had chosen the faster three stop strategy as opposed to the conservative two stops chosen by Renault and Sauber. However, a Safety Car incident on lap 24 worked against the Force India drivers who had pitted for fresh rubber only a few laps before and negated their advantage by bringing the two stopping cars into contention. Towards the end of the race, the two stopping cars (Renault of Vitaly Petrov and Sauber of Sergio Perez) overtook the Force India cars because they were on fresher tyres eventually rendering India’s only F1 team pointless in Suzuka. Force India still stands 6th in the Constructor’s Championship table with 48 points. They are 8 points ahead of Sauber and 24 points behind Renault.
On the Indian Grand Prix front, Red Bull Racing organized Red Bull Speed Street in Delhi where their test driver Daniel Ricciardo drove the Red Bull show car on Rajpath. At this event, the Red Bull Racing team also announced an association with Big Bazaar (India’s largest retail chain) for the Indian Grand Prix. The association will see Red Bull Racing host events and promotions at various Big Bazaar outlets across the country. This association is Red Bull’s attempt to get to a mass audience, especially during the festive season. Big Bazaar, the retail arm of the Future Group, has 210 stores spread across 80 cities across the country. This association is a barter between the two brands with Red Bull Racing getting access to the Big Bazaar outlets and audiences, and the retail brand getting logo presence on the Red Bull Racing car, the RB7.
Such nature of a tie-up is not new for Red Bull, who has executed a similar deal with 7-Eleven, a retail chain in Singapore, for the Singapore GP. So the next time you go shopping at a Big Bazaar outlet near you, don’t be surprised when you see a Red Bull display car. Just go and pose alongside!
