INDIA in F1

Author: David Bodapati

  • Chandhok 8th among 41 cars for JRM in Round 2

    Spa-Francorrchamps (Belgium) 5 May 2012: In qualifying for round two of the FIA World Endurance Championship, driving JRM Racing’s Honda Performance Development ARX-03a, Indian racing star Karun Chandhok set the eighth-fastest time for the 6-hours of Spa – amid an overall grid of 41 cars.

    Chandhok enjoyed his first ever qualifying session in Sportscar racing at Spa and is confident of a better showing in the race. He commented, “The car ran well, even though we were trying different set-ups during the practice sessions and qualifying, which had an effect on our pace. I feel there’s more to come and, with a good clean run tomorrow, I see no reason why we won’t be able to improve on our start position.”

    Having arrived at the ionic Belgium circuit earlier this week, the team prepared the car for it’s first competitive outing since the opening round of the championship at Sebring in March. With three practice sessions – two on Thursday and one today (Friday) – the intention was to build on the car’s proven performance on its first outing and set up the car specifically for Spa’s unique layout.

    Although running well in the first of the 1.5-hour practice sessions, with David Brabham and Chandhok behind the wheel, the car developed a braking issue that caused the rear wheels to lock momentarily. Deciding that fixing the problem would be more important than continued running, the team opted not to complete the second-session.

    But with everything working 100%, Peter Dumbreck took the car out for the third and final practice period this morning, with Chandhok finishing off the driving in readiness for his qualifying stint. Having ran perfectly for the full-hour, all that was left for the team to do was hone the car’s set up and, although eighth fastest in the 20-minute qualifying session was a step in the right direction, the team knows there is still more to come for the race tomorrow.

    Team Manager and Head of Engineering Nigel Stepney commented, “The problems in practice meant we didn’t do all we wanted in terms of set-ups, so to start eighth is very promising. Six hours of running at Spa is a long time and, if we can make a few more improvements, then we should be on target for another good run. Of course, at this track the weather can also play a part, which could certainly shake things up.”

    Team Principal James Rumsey is looking to finish higher than their start position after the team is confident of the changes made to car. He said, “Even with the reduced running time so far, we have been able to gather a great deal of information and data, which is not only good for Spa, but Le Mans too – which is valuable, as it’s the most important race of the year and the next round of the championship. However, we have a six-hour race tomorrow, and a lot can happen in that amount of time and we therefore have every opportunity of getting a good result.”

    Following a half-hour warm-up session tomorrow morning, the six-hour race gets the green light at 14.30 CEST (13.30 GMT). The race can be watched live at: www.fiawec.com

    Karun Chandhok puts JRM in 8th place at Spa for the second round in the World Endurance Championship. The race is on Sunday. Photo JRM team.

     

  • Indian Archers storm into the final of World Cup at Antalya

    Mumbai: Indian men recurve archers today created a major upset today when they beat favorites South Korea to storm into the final of the World Cup at Antalya, Turkey, said a mail from Olympic Gold Quest.

    Rahul Banerjee, Tarundeep Rai (both supported by OGQ) and Jayanta Talukdar were in red hot form for Team India and shot brilliantly to get better of the hugely experienced Korean Team in the semis. Going into the final 6 arrows, India was trailing by 1 point, but all 3 Indian archers held their nerves to clinch the tie by 1 point  and win 225-224.

    L-R: Archers Rahul Banerjee, Tarundeep Rai and Jayanta Talukdar at the CWG 2010 men's team event in New Delhi. Photo: OGQ
    Team India had finished an impressive fifth in the qualifying round on Wednesday. Earlier today, they started their campaign against Mexico in the Round of 16 and beat them by 217-215 points. In the quarterfinals they beat Netherlands 216-215 to set up the semi-final clash with the Koreans. Now India will take on Great Britain in the finals on Sunday.
    OGQ has funded the training of Rahul Banerjee and Tarundeep Rai under the renowned Korean coach  Lim Chae Wong. OGQ has also provided them the support of peak performance trainer Vaibhav Agashe and physiotherapist Dr. Nikhil Latey, Head, Sports Science and Rehabilitation at OGQ.
    Wish our archers good luck for the final on Sunday.
    Cheers,
    Team OGQ

  • Jean Todt, FIA chief visits HRT’s brand new facilities

    Madrid, 4 May 2012:
    Today has been an important day for HRT Formula 1 Team who received the visit of Jean Todt, President of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile, to its brand new facilities at the Caja Mágica in Madrid. Guided by the team’s CEO, Saúl Ruiz de Marcos, and Team Principal, Luis Pérez-Sala, the head figure of the FIA toured the team’s new facilities.
    From the management area to the workshop where the mechanics were working on the F112 for the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix, passing through the administration, operations and engineering areas.
    Todt also counted with the help of other exceptional guides such as Pedro Martínez de la Rosa, Dani Clos and Ma Qing Hua, who accompanied him during the tour and, once they arrived at the workshop, explained the main upgrades for the race in Barcelona and the work carried out by the team in these brief but intense months.
    The President of the FIA attended the Caja Mágica alongside the President of the Spanish Motorsport Federation and Vice-President of the FIA, Carlos Gracia, who already visited the facilities a few days ago and offers great support to the team, and was impressed with the operational facilities. Together with them were the Vice-President of the Spanish Motorsport Federation, Joaquín Verdegay, the President and Vice-President of the RACE, Carmelo Sanz and Andrés Celaya, and the President of the RACC, Sebastià Salvadó.
    Also accompanying us was Rosario Alessi, President of the FIA Academy, who, along with Jean Todt, is in Madrid to hand the FIA Academy gold medal to His Majesty the King Juan Carlos I of Spain.
    Jean Todt, FIA President: “I’m happy to be in Spain today because we are going to give a special award to the King Juan Carlos I. But also because today I’ve got a great opportunity to visit HRT Formula 1 Team’s beautiful and new facilities alongside my friends from the Spanish Motorsport Federation, the RACE and the RACC. The facilities are impressive, modern and functional. You can see that everything is brand new and it will be even better once they’ve spent a couple of months there working. I wish the best for the future of HRT”.
    Carlos Gracia, President of the Spanish Motorsport Federation: “It’s the second time I visit the headquarters. I made a brief first visit and the second time round I’ve liked them even more and I’m sure that the third time round it will be even better because this team is doing a fantastic job and are taking giant strides. I think that the facilities are wonderful and that they send an image out of what HRT Formula 1 Team is going to be in the short, medium and long term. It’s important to have the headquarters in Spain and for the team to become more Spanish and hand out opportunities to young mechanics, drivers and engineers from this country. We’re aware that in a Formula 1 team you need to have the best people from the best countries but to have a Spanish base is important looking ahead to the future”.
    Luis Pérez-Sala, Team Principal: “We’re very thankful towards Jean Todt for having the courtesy of coming to visit us and we’re delighted to have received him and shown him the new facilities. It was important for him to come and see it personally because on the track all you can see are the cars. You can explain everything that’s behind the scenes but nothing compares to seeing it and experiencing it firsthand to understand the work that is being done. It also gives a chance to explain him the team’s current project and plans to grow in the future. That growth that we’re currently experiencing and will continue to do so is what, with time, will translate into an improvement on the track. I also want to thank the rest of the FIA members, Carlos Gracia and the Spanish Federation, the RACC and the RACE for joining us and I’m very proud that they are also a part of this”.

    ends

    FIA president Jean Todt visit the HRT facilty. HRT F1 team photo

  • Grosjean quickest again at Mugello

    Day Three of F1 testing at Mugello went the same way as Day Two with Romain Grosjean’s Lotus on top, narrowly ahead of Sebastian Vettel.

    Mugello, 3 May 2012: Another full day saw the F1 teams take their last opportunities of the 2012 season to test with their regular drivers. Yesterday’s sunshine was replaced by cloud and so with slightly cooler track temperatures, many teams took the opportunity to run harder tyres – though the performance of most seemed unaffected by the change, according to an FIA press release.

    For the second day in a row Romain Grosjean’s Lotus was the fastest car at Mugello, two-tenths quicker than Sebastian Vettel. “We were conducting a specific programme of evaluating components, so to be quick relative to our opposition even when we were not looking specifically to try to top the times is satisfying,” reflected Grosjean. “I’m happy at the progress we’ve made here in Italy and looking forward to seeing how well this translates into lap time when we get to Barcelona.”

     

    Vettel and Red Bull were happy with their efforts, having gone past the 100-lap mark again and suffered no mechanical problems: “It’s been a useful couple of days and I’ve enjoyed the track a lot,” reflected Vettel. “As usual we now have a lot of data to get through and that will take some time. We tried a few things and the results look encouraging; it’s always difficult to tell whether we improved and by how much, but we got some good laps and some good information.”

    Third quickest was Fernando Alonso who took to the track with a Ferrari F2012 featuring a heavily revised rear end. Alonso was the fastest man on track early in proceedings but his progress came to a halt when he hit the barriers. The damaged car came back to the garage on a low-loader and spent two and a half hours in the garage for repairs before Alonso could get underway again. “The feeling I have after the test is a positive one,” said Fernando in the evening. “We have introduced a few small – and I stress that word – aerodynamic updates, that have produced the response we were expecting and that is the most positive news, which means I am confident for the future, in the short and the long term. It means that what we see in the factory in Maranello has now also been confirmed on track.”

    Fourth quickest was Daniel Ricciardo for Toro Rosso who also managed heavily mileage and pronounced himself pleased with the day. “With new parts you always hope they will deliver a big improvement, but the reality is that we must now look at the data to see where we really are,” said the Australian. Fifth was Sergio Pérez for Sauber ahead of Nico Hülkenberg for Force India. Having got very little running over the first two days the Silverstone-based outfit decided to continue with Paul di Resta (tenth fastest) in the morning before handing over to Hülkenberg in the afternoon.

     

    Following Hülkenberg was the Williams with Pastor Maldonado taking over today. He spent much of the morning in the garage as technical problems grounded the car. “We had a disappointing start to this morning’s session with an electrical problem that necessitated stripping the car, thus incurring a large loss in track time,” confirmed chief operations engineer Dr Mark Gillan. When the problem was fixed Maldonado was able to get out and run a modified programme of 63laps.

    Chinese Grand Prix winner Nico Rosberg had a busy day for Mercedes. While only eighth quickest he racked up 129 laps for the Silver Arrows, equivalent to just over 670km and behind him McLaren had a productive run with Oliver Turvey in the car, concentrating on testing various front wing and exhaust iterations. Di Resta followed Turvey on the time sheet, ahead of Heikki Kovalainen, whose 139 laps was comfortably the most mileage of the day.

    “I enjoyed myself out there – even though a lot of what we were doing was pretty repetitive, it’s still a good place to drive an F1 car around and having got through everything we’d planned it’s good to leave this test on a positive note,” said Kovalainen. “We tried a variety of new parts and it felt like we may have found a couple of things that we can take to the next race. You can never tell just how much of an improvement something has been until you go through all the data, but the fact we’ve brought new parts that feel like a step forward is good.”

    Bringing up the rear of the field was Timo Glock who managed 110 laps for Marussia, putting behind them the steering issues which blighted their running on Wednesday.

    Testing at Mugello by Lous. An FIA photo

    ends

  • Lotus and Sauber catch the eye at mid-season testing

    Mugello, 2 May 2012: While McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull have already won in 2012 it was their nearest challengers who topped the timesheets on day two. Romain Grosjean Kamui Kobayashi both posted times of 1:21.603 on a day where fine weather replaced Tuesday’s thunderstorms many of the teams maximised their time on track.

    Grosjean set his time during the morning,with Kobayashi joining him as the day drew to a close. “It’s always good to end the day on top, but we have to remember that in testing lap times mean very little,” said Grosjean, who was awarded first place on the timing screens by virtue of having set his time earlier. “This test gives us an opportunity to try things that we wouldn’t have time to do during a race weekend, so hopefully it’ll help us to keep pushing forward.”

    Behind them came Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber who were sharing the running for Red Bull. Vettel’s best time in the afternoon was two-tenths off the pace set by Grosjean and Kobayashi, and a tenth ahead of his team-. Between them they managed 118 laps. “We had absolutely truck loads of stuff to go through, but so far so good,” said Webber. “Mileage is so limited these days it was good to be in the car again; this test has been very useful.”

    Fifth quickest was Felipe Massa for Ferrari. Massa spent much of his day doing half-speed aero runs with a now-familiar sensor top hat fitted to his role hoop. He still managed to breakthrough the 100-lap mark when his team switched to a study of tyre behaviour later in the day.

    Jean-Eric Vernge completed his test for Toro Rosso before handing over to Daniel Ricciardo in the afternoon. Vergne was testing different diffusers in the morning, while for Ricciardo the job was back-to-backing different exhaust packages. “This was the best day’s testing I have done,” said Vergne after his shift. “We had no problems, we got through a lot of items on the job sheet and, as a first impression, the new elements we tested seem to work well. Daniel still has more things to try tomorrow and if we can put all the best elements of this test together, then I am hopeful it could represent a step forward in Barcelona.”

    Michael Schumacher in eighth place put in more miles than anyone else with 144 laps. “Unlike yesterday, we were able to gather really a lot of data, and like this we are learning more and more about our car which is absolutely positive,” said Schumacher. Ninth was Charles Pic for Marussia, who completed 46 laps and then handed over to Timo Glock. Glock, however spent much of his afternoon in the garage with his steering rack being replaced.

    Vitaly Petrov put in 112 laps for tenth place as Caterham tried out various components of its Barcelona upgrade package. “We completed everything we targeted in today’s runplan,” said Petrov. “This afternoon we started running some new parts and even though it’s too early to make any judgements on what sort of step forward they give us, I can say the new rear wing we tried immediately felt like it was giving us more downforce.”

    Gary Paffett continued for McLaren and managed to complete 59 laps before a gearbox issue halted his progress in the afternoon. Paul di Resta’s day was more severely curtailed, the Scot managing just fourteen laps after a hydraulic problem caused Force India to spend most of the day in the garage.

    “It’s never nice to spend so much time sitting in the garage, but we had a few reliability concerns that we needed to resolve before we continued running,” explained chief engineer Jakob Andreasen. “We suspected the issue was related to the hydraulic system of the car so changed that as a precaution. At the same time we chose to make the most of the downtime by bringing forward the engine change, which had been planned for the end of the session. It has been a tough day for the guys in the garage, but they did a great job to get the car out for the final half hour and give Paul the chance to complete a handful of laps in preparation for tomorrow.”

    Last on the time sheet but with a solid 100 laps in the bag was Bruno Senna for Williams. Following the pattern laid down in the winter the team concentrated on aero and mechanical work and seemed in no particular hurry to set quick times. “We gained a lot of information from our runs and have some good knowledge to carry forward into tomorrow,” said Senna. “We aim to continue improving and to be competitive on the final day. Mugello is an awesome track. It’s really fast and physically challenging.”


    Duration of test    		   Three days (May 1-3)

      Unofficial testing times

    Pos Driver Constructor Time Laps

    1

    		 Romain Grosjean Lotus

    1m21.035

    66

    2

    		 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing

    1m21.267

    106

    3

    		 Fernando Alonso Ferrari

    1m21.363

    98

    4

    		 Daniel Ricciardo Scuderia Toro Rosso

    1m21.604

    117

    5

    		 Sergio Perez Sauber

    1m22.229

    118

    6

    		 Nico Hulkenberg Sahara Force India

    1m22.325

    55

    7

    		 Pastor Maldonado Williams

    1m22.497

    63

    8

    		 Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG

    1m22.579

    129

    9

    		 Oliver Turvey Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

    1m22.662

    99

    10

    		 Paul di Resta Sahara Force India

    1m23.002

    34

    11

    		 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham

    1m23.169

    139

    12

    		 Timo Glock Marussia

    1m23.466

    110

     

    Chart courtesy Vodafone Mclaren Mercedes F1 team.

    Photo caption: To mark the modernisation of its Hungarian network, Vodafone hosted a four-day extravaganza on the streets of Budapest, where all activities geared towards improvement and the desire to do better. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes photo.

    ends

  • 98 entries for inaugural Autocross Nationals

    Bangalore, 29 April 2012:  The opening event of the inaugural edition of the AOM Indian National Autocross Championship has received a tremendous response with 98 entries and top drivers from across the country with many established rally stars will showcase their skills at the Palace grounds here on Sunday.

    Some of the famous Indian National Championships are the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC), the Indian National Racing Championship (NRC) and the Indian National Karting championship of the 7 championships. The Indian National Drag Racing championship made a debut last year and this year it would be Indian National Autocross championship, thanks to the interest taken by promoters and organisers.

    Autorcross is a miniature version of the rally, where the spectators can enjoy watching the cars rally from a vantage point at one place without moving around for a fraction of the action during a rally.

    There are six categories in which participants can drive to gather points. The driver who gets most number of points, overall in the six events to be held across the country this year, will be champion. Many have entered in more than one category, of the six classes that are based on cubic capacity of the engines while a seventh category is only for women.

    Like the famous Australian Autocross, the event will see two drivers starting at the same time and competing against each other. They start from two different points and criss cross each other with the wooden bridge acting as a highlight with each driver going over it once and under it to complete the cross-over. However, the best-timed particpant will be on the leaderboard. Points are given to the first ten. The two lanes of the track measure to about 900 metres a lap and will be run twice. After the qualifying to determine the starting order, the Autocross proper will be held on Sunday afternoon and Monday.

    The recce on Saturday was a bit delayed but nevertheless entertaining. With both the organisers and participants racing against the clock, to get the cross-over bridge ready, it was an anxious wait, worth it in the end.

    Mysore maestro Lohitt Urs, who quit MRF to prove his stuff in INRC last year, Rahul Kanthraj, the jovial tactician, Vikram Devadasen, the technical hero and the evergreen Chetan Shivaram with the pompous Babban Khan will be some stars to watch.

    Two cars will race against each other at a time over two laps on a circuit that is a mix of tight corners and fast sections that should test the driver and also the tuner of the car. The autocross has a unique, dirt and tarmac mix as the sections will see a run on both the hard and rough terrains providing a challenge for the tyre performance.

    The first place gets 25 points and the one who finishes 10th, one point, just as in Formula One.

    Calendar: The six rounds of the Indian National Autocross Championship will take place in Bangalore, Kochi (May 26-27), Coimbatore (July 14-15), Chennai (Sep 15-16) and Mumbai (Nov 3-4) and Bangalore on Dec 8-9.

    It’s official: The Federation of Motorsports Clubs in India, the official ASN of FIA, the international federation, has granted a national status to the National Autocross Championship. It would be run under the aegis of Federation Internationale de l’Automabile (FIA) and subject to regulations laid down the international federation. So the FIA Sporting Code and FIA General Prescriptions (GP for Rally) and the FMSCI Autocross Championship Regulations will be under force.

    Tarmac Queen returns: Navaz Sandhu, a star of yesteryears, who was dubbed as Tarmac Queen for her prohibitive speeds on hard surface, has successfully conducted as the clerk of the course, the two new rallies in Jodhpur and Orissa in the last two years for Indian National Rally Championship. She will be back, in the drivers’ seat, as she confirmed for the opening leg in Bangalore.

    Safety first: Safety of the spectators, participants and everyone is of prime importance. As per the Federation guidelines, organisers have taken strong measures to barricade the entire circuit for spectator safety. Trauma care ambulances and fire engines are all in place, standing by for any emergency that all motorsports events throw up.

    Rock your way: Two decades and going strong. Parikrama, will be there to rock the speedsters. The promoters and organisers saw it fit to provide a wholesome entertainment for the motorsport fans. And there you rock. The INAC Rock Hammer Competition is around. Several rock bands are expected to get an opportunity to showcase their talents and to perform alongside the everlasting Parikrama, Palace Grounds will ROCK on Sunday.

    The BIG BOYS, we call them PANDHIS: The Bangalore Pandhis are a familiar name in the motoring circles. They don the stunning machines you and me dream of. The Harley Davidsons. Its not just a machine. It is a beast. The BIG BOYS will be here to entertain and show off. The Promoters Wynnsport, made sure that the Harley Davidson Club, showcase at least 25 bikes of their members.

    Acrobatics: There will also be an Adventure Zone, complete with rappelling and games as well as an acrobatic show by the group Lakshya of Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bi Karega fame.

    ends

  • Vettel back to winning ways; Iceman Kimi returns

    By our Special Correspondent

    Bahrain, 22 April 2012: Starting from pole, double world champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing team stormed to victory to win his 22nd GP title at the Bahrain Grand Prix, the fourth round of the Formula One World Championship at the Sakhir International Circuit here on Sunday. Sebastian Vettel who dominated the season last year won his last race at the Budh International Circuit, near Delhi in October last year. He made a stunning start and showed glimpses of his last year’s dominance take over-2-second lead by the end of the first lap. Lewis Hamilton, the current leader before going into the race finished 8th.

    The win threw this year’s world championship open, as four different drivers from four different teams won the first four races this season. But the significance of Bahrain is the strong return by former world champion Kimi Raikkonen, who came seond for Team Lotus with compatriot Grosjean making it a double finish for the team which used to be called as Williams, till last year. Jenson Button of McLaren won the first race at Melbourne, Fernando Alonso was a surprise winner at the rain-hit Malysian GP on March 25 while Nico Roseberg notched his first Formula 1 title at China’s Shanghai circuit last Sunday.

    Mark Webber earned his fourth consecutive fourth place to keep him in the hunt for an attack on the title. Nico Roseberg of Mercedes finishd 5th while Fernando Alonso of Ferrari took the seventh place while his teammate Felipe Massa was 9th. Force India’s second driver  Nico Hulkenberg finished in 12th position.

    Force India's Paul finishes Bahrain GP in 6th place.
    Paul Di Resta of Sahara Force India finishes the Bahrain Grand Prix in 6th place as he successfully stops a challenge from Fernando Alonso of Ferrari at the Sakhir International Circuit on Sunday 22 April 2012. Photo: Sahara Force India F1 team.

    Sahara Force India’s Paul di Resta, withstood a late challenge from Fernando Alonso seconds before the finish, to take a well deserved 6th place which prompted Star Sports commentator and former Indian F1 driver Karun Chandhok to say that the Force have underperformed this season in the first three races after a strong showing in the season early testing. Narain Karthikeyan, the only Indian on the grid, was content to successfully finish the race with the HRT team, whose target is to see that both the cars finish the race until new updates for the car. Narain finished in 21nd place while his teammater Pedro de la Rosa was ahead at 20th place. The back-end team is struggling with cooling systems but saw great performance by Narain in rain during the third race at Sepang in Malaysia last month. Narain Karthikeyan: “The start today was good, but then the first few laps were quite tough because there was dust everywhere. I settled behind Pedro but I think I pushed too hard in the first stint because my tyres were dead very quickly. After my first pitstop, I improved a lot and from there my lap times were consistent. We did a four-stop strategy, which I think went very well, and in the end we were only half a second behind Pedro at the checkered flag. My race performan

    The victory takes, Vettel to the top of the leader board in the Drivers’ championship with 53 points, four points aheadd of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. Red Bull Racing team also takes the top spot in the Constructors’ championship with 101 points ahead of McLaren, who has 92 points. Lotus, with a double finish today, have 57 points for a third spot. Force India is in the eight place in the Constructors’ championship while Paul di Resta is in the 10th place in the Drivers’ list with 15 points.

    In the 48th lap, Nico Roseberg overtook Paul di Resta for a 5th place and four laps later Jenson Button, mounting a challenge on Paul was forced to pit for a puncture which effectively put him out of points giving Michael Schumacher a last-ditch points place in tenth position.

    The controversial race finally ended without any security issues. The only glitch, a minor one, was when Force India was forced to quit a session on Friday to make sure that team members reach their hotels safely before dark after they were caught up in an incident earlier when they were travelling in a private taxi. The next race will be in Spain on May 13 after a long break which teams are expected to use for testing and updates.

    ends

  • It’s Pintxos time at HRT hospitality

    Bangalore, 22 April 2012: It’s always hectic on a race day. More so if you are travelling to the circuit. The F1 teams compete with others in offering hospitality for the media at every race. Some do it with a touch of warmth. Onc such team is HRT. The Hispania team, not just because our very own Narain Karthikeyan is with the team, has offered the mouth-watering Pintxos, a Spanish delicacy, which your correspondent first tasted at Sepang. So when the inbox announces, “From the Far to the middle-east,” I opened it with memories taking back to the HRT Hospitality in Malaysia last month where after waiting for a long time for Narain, the Pintxos were the only consolation.
    The mail said: “The Asian swing at the start of the season is about to reach its end. We’ve crossed half the world in just over a month, and we’ve already lived a lot of experiences, visited different continents and tasted various cuisines. This small island offers a delicious gastronomic world, and as our philosophy each Sunday is to be loyal to local customs without losing a Spanish essence, the combination is perfect.
    “We want our hospitality to become a meeting point, that’s why at HRT and Arzak-Bokado we are pleased to invite you to enjoy, once again, such a Spanish moment as is “pintxo time” with us. We offer the table and you the company.
    Spanish delight, Pintxos, offered by HRT team hospitality at the paddock at Bahrain. HRT photo
    “We continue to have pintxos around the world, taking in every culture that we’re lucky enough to come across and extracting all of its authenticity and essence. And, as always, we want to share it with you.
    The pintxo is more enjoyable in company so don’t let this opportunity pass to taste this week’s bitesize delight and stop by our hospitality tomorrow from 13.00h onwards. Get there as soon as possible in case someone eats two!
    How I wish I was in Bahrain too.
    ends

  • Force India looking for strong finish at Bahrain

    From our Special Correspondent
    A Force India car at the qualifying in Bahrain on Saturday. Photo: Sahara Force India F1 team.
    Bahrain, 21 April 2012: The only Indian outfit in the Formula One World Championship headed by liquor baron Vijay Mallya and co-owned by the Sahara Group has managed to stay afloat in the first three races of the season but failed to come up with anything substantial as the mid-level teams have made enough developments to the car. However, Sahara Force India delivered a strong showing in Bahrain’s Saturday qualifying session with Paul Di Resta qualifying in tenth place and teammate Nico Hulkenberg lined up in P13.
    The VJM05, the fifth edition of the Force India car was lucky to get into points for Paul at the first race of the season in Australia and the teams did manage to sustain the car in adverse conditions and a double finish at the rain-hit Malaysian Grand Prix on March 25 boosted the confidence of both the drivers and the team. The third race, at Shanghai in China failed to get any points for the Indian team and though the cars were getting the race pace, the team need to bring in more developments, if they have to mount a good challenge to the mid-teams, if they have to retain the sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship this year.
    Paul di Resta, who set a time of 1 min 33.510 seconds in the qualifying after a slower 1:34.624 in Q1 did not take to Q3 to save tyres and the enginre as the team was satisfied with a tenth place on the gird.  “I’m very happy with our qualifying performance today. With our reduced programme on Friday, it wasn’t easy getting all the work done but the team did a good job to get the car dialled into the track before qualifying. I had a great lap in Q2, just three tenths away from the quickest time but in Q3 we all took the decision from a strategic point of view to save tyres. I think this will put us in the best shape for tomorrow and I hope we can deliver a strong race.”
    The other young driver, Nico Hulkenberg who joined the team this year exuded confidence too. He did 1 minute 34.601 seconds in Q1 to improve to 1:33.807 in Q2 for a 13th place on the grid. The German who was in Bangalore last Tuesday to watch a cricket match said from Bahrain: “It has been a very busy day for us, but we learned a lot this morning and improved the car all the way through to qualifying where we showed some good speed. My Q2 lap was looking very strong until the final sector where I got some oversteer and ran wide, which cost me a few tenths. Otherwise I think we could have had both cars in the top ten. But I’m still pretty pleased and I feel that we can fight for points tomorrow.”
    Robert Fernley, the Deputy Team Principal, who virtually heads the technical running of the team was happy with the teamwork ahead of the controversial Bahrain race as they did not have enough time after the back-to-back race with the Chinese Grand Prix the previous Sunday. He said: “I think the whole team has delivered an impressive performance today, which leaves us in a competitive position heading into the race. We worked hard at improving the car between final practice and qualifying, and I think the track conditions came to us as well. Paul’s pace in Q2 shows the potential we have in the car and allowed him to reach Q3 for the first time this year, which was a tremendous effort. Nico was close to joining him too, but a small mistake cost him some time in the final part of the lap. We are now looking forward to the race and building on today’s showing to help put on a great spectacle for Bahrain.”
    ends

  • Our intention is to go for the win: McLaren team

    Bahrain, 21 April 2012: Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton exuded confidence and would be going for an all-out win in the Bahrain Grand Prix, the fourth GP of thw Formula One World Championship, at the Sakhir international circuit on Sunday though he would be starting from the second place.

    While Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, the current world champion got the best position this year by taking the pole position, Lewis Hamilton who got three podium places in the last three races (after starting on pole) took the top spot on the leader board of the drivers’ championship and is all geared up to go for a kill from the second place with teammate Jenson Button taking the fourth spot..

    LEWIS HAMILTON

    MP4-27A-03

    P3

    4th                                         1m33.782s (+0.528s) 16 laps

    Qualifying

    Q1 16th                    1m34.813s (on Primes)

    Q2 1st                      1m33.209s (on Options)

    Q3 2nd overall         1m32.520s (on Options)

     

    “I’m very happy with how qualifying went and the job the team has done so far this weekend. I’ve put the car on the front row at every race this year, and I feel this was one of my best qualifying performances so far. Both my laps in Q3 were very good and I feel I got everything out of the car.

    “Fingers crossed for tomorrow: both Red Bull drivers will be very hard to beat in the race, but we’re less than a tenth behind on race pace. The start could be key – we’ve had good launches all season so I expect us to be able to challenge Seb [Vettel] down to Turn One.

    “This season is shaping up to be very interesting: it’s anyone’s for the taking, at the moment”

     JENSON BUTTON

    MP4-27A-04

    P3

    6th                            1m33.899s (+0.645s) 14 laps

     

    Qualifying

    Q1 15th                    1m34.792s (on Primes)

    Q2 6th                      1m33.416s (on Options)

    Q3 4th overall         1m32.711s (on Options)

    “Fourth position wasn’t quite what I’d been hoping for, but it’s not too bad. It’s always a horrible feeling on your final Q3 lap when the balance isn’t quite where you want it. I couldn’t get the best from the car so I pitted early to save the tyres. Besides, fourth isn’t too bad anyway.

    “The car is definitely a lot better than it was yesterday – we made some improvements overnight. We’d expected the Red Bulls to be very quick in qualifying, so to be close to them is a positive. A nice surprise is that we’re ahead of Nico [Rosberg] who was on pole just a week ago.

    “A good launch tomorrow will be very important – both Lewis and I will be starting on the dirty side of the grid, which makes things more difficult, so we’ll need to get it right. Tyre management will be crucial too.

    “I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

    MARTIN WHITMARSH

    Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

    “As we’ve already got used to seeing this season, it was very tight at the top today.

    “Even the early stages of qualifying – Q1 and Q2 – are nowadays extremely hard to get through. Michael [Schumacher] and Kimi [Raikkonen] can confirm that.

    “As for our boys, well, Lewis drove an excellent lap, and missed out on pole position by just a tenth of a second. Jenson, too, was his usual rapid and reliable self, ending up in fourth place, directly behind Lewis on tomorrow’s grid.

    “The race will inevitably be a physically challenging one for all the drivers, as is always the case in hot climates such as Bahrain’s, but we’ve got two tough racers in Lewis and Jenson and our intention is to go for the win.”

    ends