INDIA in F1

Author: David Bodapati

  • Walavalkar claims maiden single-seater driver’s Natioinal crown

    CHENNAI, 27 Nov 2011: 

    Dr RP Singhania, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, JK Tyre & Industries Limited, gives away the third place trophy to Vishnu Prasad of Chennai in the opening race of the final round of the 14th JK Tyre National Racing Championship on Sunday at Chennai. Prasad emerged the 2011 champion in the Polo R Cup category.

    Thirty-year-old Mumbaikar Ameya Walavalkar (Mars Racing) won a dramatic Formula LGB Swift race in the 14th JK Tyre National Racing Championship at the MMST Track in Sriperumbudur near here on Sunday, but chose to spend several anxious moments waiting to be confirmed winner of his maiden drivers’ championship, 22 points ahead of team-mate R Deepak.

    Chennai’s Vishnu Prasad followed Sailesh Bolisetti as the winner of the Polo R Cup series, run concurrently with the 14th JK Tyre National Racing Championship, with a mature approach in both races on Sunday. He finished third in the first race and fourth in the afternoon, but that was enough to help him emerge champion with 388 points, 12 ahead of Pune’s Oshan Kothadiya.

    “In three previous attempts in the Formula LGB Swift and Rolon classes, I have been in the running for the championship only to lose out in the final round,” Walavalkar recalled. “I am glad that I did not have to face such luck this time around. It has been a challenging year, considering that I had no points from a disastrous first round and had to face two disqualifications.”

    In a race that was run over two segments of two laps and 10 laps after Meco Motorsports team-mates Pushan Das and Raghul Rangaswamy crashed out and their cars had to be removed from the track, Walavalkar was content to let the aggressive Sarosh Hataria (Meco Motorsports) take the lead until he spun off a puddle. Walawalkar made the most of the chance to sneak ahead and take the checkered flag for the sixth time this season.

    Deepak overcame his doubts about wet conditions and made a gallant bid to rise from 15th in the grid but could finish no higher than fifth. He had to rest content with the second place in the championship. Karthik Krishna (TVS Girling), who finished third, was penalized for overtaking when the yellow flag was being waved and conceded his podium place to Chitesh Mandody (Meco Motorsports).

    Rad Racing’s N Leelakrishnan completed a memorable comeback to racing by winning the final race of the season – his third in nine starts in the Indian Touring Cars class. At the restart, he was moved to the back of the grid along with the new champion V Rajvirdhan (Prime Racing) for a yellow flag violation. He and Rajvirdhan set the wet track on fire and climbed up several positions. Leelakrishnan found his opportunity to get his nose ahead on the final lap even as GD Rajkumar (Prime Racing) and B Balavijay (MotoRev India) were trading the lead.

    HCZ Racing’s Feroze Khan claimed his season’s third win to finish third overall in the Indian Junior Touring Cars class behind Diljith Shaji (LCT Sigaram Sports) and Balavijay (MotoRev India) but one point ahead of LCT Sigaram Sports’ Jai Prashanth Venkat. It was a creditable show for the Chennai youngster who did not take part in the two rounds in Coimbatore.

    Mumbai youngster Rahil Noorani, a championship contender in the Polo R Cup series going into the final round, was excluded from the Polo R Cup after a post-race incident in the pits this afternoon when he vent his frustration at Ajay Kini (Chennai), who returned after missing the last two rounds of racing. The two drivers were involved in racing incidents in both races on Sunday.

    Sunday’s results:

    Formula LGB Swift (Merged result for 12 laps): 1. Ameya Walavalkar (Mars Racing) 14:13.709; 2. Sarosh Hataria (Meco Motorsports) 14:15.580; 3. 3. Chitesh Mandody (Meco Motorsports) 14:23.218; 4. Kartik Krishna (TVS Girling) 14:31.483; 5. R Deepak (Mars Racing) 11:59.421; 6. S Narendran (TVS Girling) 12:06.044. Fastest lap: Sarosh Hataria 1:09.371.

    Indian Touring Cars (merged result for 11 laps): 1. N Leelakrishnan (Rad Racing) 15:06.619; 2. V Rajvirdhan (Prime Racing) 15:08.880; 3. GD Raj Kumar (Prime Racing) 15:15.024; 4. B Balavijay (MotoRev India) 15:17.913; 5. Biren Pitawala (Team N1) 15:24.188; 6. K Arjun (Prime Racing) 15:25.736.

    Indian Junior Touring Cars: 1. Feroze Khan (HCZ Racing) 20:21.952; 2. Fahad Kutty (Game Over) 20:23.468; 3. Diljith Shaji (LCT Sigaram Sports) 20:24.755; 4. Gokul Krishna (MotoRev India) 20:31.311; 5. M Gautham (Performance Racing) 20:39.230; 6. Jai Prashanth Venkat (LCT Sigaram Sports) 20:47.892. Fastest lap: Fahad Kutty 1:20.012.

    Polo R Cup race 1 (15 laps): 1. Avdumber Hede (Goa) 18:58.343; 2. Oshan Kothadiya (Pune) 19:00.337; 3. Vishnu Prasad (Chennai) 19:10.284; 4. Ajay Kini (Chennai) 19:13.469; 5. Mihir Dharkar (Mumbai) 19:17.667; 6. Xie Jiawu (China) 19:23.858.Fastest lap: Avdumber Hede 1:14.808.

    Polo R Cup race 2 (15 laps): 1. Sunny Sidhu (Chandigarh) 19:48.996; 2. Maiken Rassmussen (Denmark) 19:50.219; 3. Mihir Dharkar (Mumbai) 19:50.495; 4. Vishnu Prasad (Chennai) 19:51.318; 5. Oshan Kothadiya (Pune) 19:51.318; Avdumber Hede (Goa) 19:52.245. Fastest lap: Rahil Noorani 1:17.673.

    Drivers’ Championship:

    Formula LGB Swift: 1. Ameya Walavalkar (Mars Racing) 162 points; 2. R Deepak (Mars Racing) 140; 3. Chitesh Mandody (Meco Motorsports) 120; 4. S Narendran (TVS Girling) 108; 5. Karthik Krishna (TVS Girling) 100; 6. Sandeep Kumar (TVS Girling) 98.

    Indian Touring Cars: 1. V Rajvirdhan (Prime Racing) 217 points; 2. N Leelakrishnan (Rad Racing) 169; 3. B Vijayakumar (Prime Racing) 132; 4. Sidharth Kishore (Performance Racing) 127; 5. TR Radha Selvarajan (Rad Racing) 126; 6. C Rajaram (Prime Racing) 71.

  • Pirelli finishes successful first year at Brazilian Grand Prix

    Interlagos, November 27, 2011 – The new Pirelli P Zero Yellow soft compound seen in competition for the first time today will be combined with a new profile for 2012 to form the basis of next year’s medium tyres, now that the current season is over. All of the slick tyres apart from the supersoft compound will be brand new next year, making their debut at the first official test of 2012 next February in Spain.

    With the anticipated threat of rain eventually holding off, Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber claimed his first win of a remarkable debut season for Pirelli at the final grand prix, using the new P Zero Yellow soft tyres and the P Zero White medium tyres.

    Webber took the lead on lap 29, after his team mate Sebastian Vettel lost time with a gearbox problem, having led from pole. Webber adopted a three-stop strategy, using three sets of soft tyres and one set of medium tyres to win the race by 16.9 seconds from his team mate. It was Webber’s seventh career victory, securing him third place in the final championship standings.

    A few isolated raindrops fell on the Interlagos paddock about an hour before the race started, but the grand prix got underway in dry conditions and temperatures of around 24 degrees. All 24 cars started on the P Zero Yellow soft tyres, giving them greater flexibility in their strategies in case of rain – which never materialised.

    McLaren’s Jenson Button was the first driver to switch to the medium tyre on lap 31, using a different strategy to his team mate Lewis Hamilton. The top four runners all adopted a three-stop strategy, with Ferrari driver Felipe Massa the highest-placed two-stopper in fifth, having run two stints on the soft tyre and one final stint on the medium.

    Button was the only driver to use the P Zero White medium for two stints, making his last stop on lap 52. The Englishman was able to push hard during his final stint, as he chased a top-three finish, which he claimed with nine laps to go: his eighth podium in nine races that cemented his runner-up place in the drivers’ championship.

    The fastest lap of the race was also set on the P Zero White medium tyre, by Mark Webber on the very final lap. It was Webber’s eighth fastest lap this year on Pirelli tyres.

    Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery commented: “This didn’t turn out to be the race that most people expected, with the predicted rain holding off. At the last race of the season there were a few mechanical issues for some cars, but our tyres were completely reliable – as they have been all year, with no structural failures – and we achieved our objective of having a performance gap of less than a second between the compounds, which should be the case next year as well. It’s been a season that has, if anything, exceeded our expectations – where we’ve seen the most overtaking in the history of the Formula One World Championship – and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of our team in Milan, Didcot and Izmit for their extraordinary work this season. They should all be proud of their achievements. I’d also like to thank all the teams and drivers for their unstinting support, advice and partnership.”

    Note: Migrated from old database in Nov 2021

  • Rajvirdhan emerges champ: Indian Touring cars

    CHENNAI, November 26: (JK Release) V Rajvirdhan (Prime Racing) claimed the drivers’ championship in the premier Indian Touring Cars class with a race to spare in the 14th JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Championship in great style on Saturday, making light of the wet conditions to take the checkered flag for the fourth time in 11 starts this season.

    Diljith Shaji, an 18-year-old Thrishoor lad, emerged champion in the Indian Junior Touring Cars class with some careful driving although he finished outside the podium, even as last year’s champion B Balavijay and his MotoRev India teammate Gokul Krishna drove aggressively for a 1-2 finish ahead of HCZ Racing’s Feroze Khan.

    With Formula LGB Swift championship leader R Deepak spinning during the second lap and finishing outside the points, his Mars Racing team-mate Ameya Walavalkar opened up a seven-point lead by nursing his misfiring car to fourth place on Saturday. It sets the stage for a gripping finale on Sunday when the final race of the season will be run.

    Rajvirdhan, who started third in the race today and with a 48-point lead over N Leelakrishnan, caught the eye at the start when he passed last year’s champion Sidharth Kishore (Performance Racing) at the first corner, but conceded the second place to him at the next turn. He then played the waiting game for a couple of laps before he made another move.

    “I could sense over the first two laps that my car was able to make quick exits from the corners and I knew there would opportunities to overtake the leaders,” Rajvirdhan said. “After losing both races to Leelakrishnan in the penultimate round last month, I badly wanted to be able to beat him. I am happy I was able to do that

    “It feels great to be able to close out the championship with a victory,” Rajvirdhan said. “To be honest, I would have been okay to finish seventh or eighth and take the drivers’ championship but I knew I had a good, fast car and wanted to complete the season with victories. I enjoyed going past Sidharth and Leelakrishnan on the third lap and then had to just stay on the track.”

    Diljith, who started with a 40-point lead over Balavijay, ran the risk of spending time in the slush beyond the kerbs but chose to back off rather than get into a gripping duel with Gokulkrishna. “I knew I had to finish the race and be among the top five drivers to be able to seal the championship with one race to spare,” he said. “I am pleased with what our team and I have achieved.”

    Deepak admitted to not liking wet conditions and was crestfallen after finishing outside the points and conceding the championship lead to Walavalkar. “After a bad qualifying and starting 15th, I was going well and had gained a few places in the first two laps when I spun just before the hair-pin bend. It was real hard work after that and a 11th place finish is no consolation,” he said.

    Walavalkar had a good start and was able to pass K Prashant to be in second place for half the race before his car started misfiring. “I realized that there was no use fighting for a podium finish and losing all points. I was happy to be able to bring the car home,” he said. “I had no idea that Deepak was badly off and would not secure any points today.”

    Goa’s Avdumber Hede claimed pole position from championship leader Vishnu Prasad (Chennai) in the Polo R Cup with a good opening lap in qualifying this morning. Title contender Rahil Noorani (Mumbai) will start fourth behind Oshan Kothadiya (Pune).

    Saturday’s results (provisional):

    Formula LGB Swift (15 laps): 1. Chitesh Mandody (Meco Motorsports) 19:04.173; 2. Sarosh Hataria (Meco Motorsports) 19:09.668; 3. K Prashanth (TVS Girling) 19:14.361; 4. Ameya Walavalkar (Mars Racing) 19:15.159; 5. S Narendran (TVS Girling) 19:24.938; 6. Sandeep Kumar (TVS Girling) 19:24.938. Fastest lap: Chitesh Mandody 1:14.810.

    Indian Touring Cars (15 laps): 1. V Rajvirdhan (Prime Racing) 19:50.518; 2. N Leelakrishnan (Rad Racing) 20:08.170; 3. Sidharth Kishore (Performance Racing) 20:08.367; 4. B Vijayakumar (Prime Racing) 20:14.595; 5. D Vidya Prakash (Prime Racing) 20:16.627; 6. G D Rajkumar (Prime Racing) 20:24.670. Fastest lap: Rajvirdhan 1:17.665.

    Indian Junior Touring Cars (15 laps): 1. B Balavijay (MotoRev India) 20:27.924; 2. Gokul Krishna (MotoRev India) 20:33.766; 3. Feroze Khan (HCZ Racing) 20:38.279; 4. Diljith Shaji (LCT Sigaram Sports) 20:38.390; 5. M Gautham (Performance Racing) 20:39.524; 6. S Sreeram (LCT Sigaram Sports) 20:41.491. Fastest lap: Fahad Kutty 1:20.565.

  • Vettel becomes most successful season qualifier in F1 history: A Pirelli view

    Interlagos, November 26, 2011  –  Today was the first qualifying session for Pirelli’s new P Zero Yellow soft compound tyre, making its competition debut in Brazil, which will actually form the basis of the medium tyre in 2012. As well as the soft compound, the other nominated tyre for the Brazilian Grand Prix is the current P Zero White medium.

    Two-time world champion Sebastian Vettel used the Pirelli tyres to become the driver who has scored the most pole positions in one season. By claiming his 15th pole position at the 19th and last grand prix of the year, the Red Bull Racing driver beats the record established by Nigel Mansell that has stood since 1992.

    Qualifying got underway in ambient temperatures of 27 degrees centigrade with cloudy conditions, underlining the risk of rain that is frequently a feature of the Brazilian Grand Prix. In order to get in a lap as quickly as possible, most drivers headed straight out at the beginning of qualifying one, with both Red Bulls, both McLarens, Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso and Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg using the P Zero White mediums to get through to qualifying two. The sudden rush caused plenty of traffic on one of the shortest circuits of the year, adding to the challenge for the drivers.

    It was a similar story during qualifying two, but this time all the drivers went straight onto the P Zero Yellow soft tyres in order to maximise dry running, with rain clouds just two kilometres away. The top drivers completed just one run during qualifying two, in order to maintain as many fresh soft tyres as possible for the final session.

    Conditions remained dry for qualifying three, with different approaches from the top runners on the P Zero Yellow tyres. McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Rosberg both completed a slower lap to warm up the tyres followed by a fast lap, while the Red Bull Racing cars and McLaren’s Jenson Button were straight onto a quick lap.

    Vettel set a time of 1m12.268s on his first run and then beat his own benchmark during the second run with a time of 1m11.918s on the soft tyres. His team mate Mark Webber qualified second ahead of the two McLarens. Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher went out on the medium tyre but did not set a time.

    Vettel also went quickest during the final free practice session this morning, held in dry and warm conditions, with a time of 1m12.460s on the P Zero Yellow: fractionally ahead of McLaren driver Jenson Button.

    Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery commented: “It was interesting for us to see the performance of our new compound in qualifying conditions, and I’d like to congratulate Sebastian Vettel for breaking the record of the most number of poles in one season with a spectacular lap: I actually had a bet with one of my colleagues that somebody would get under the 1m12s mark today. After the threat of rain didn’t materialise, it turned out to be a reasonably straightforward qualifying, but most people are expecting a much more mixed up race tomorrow. That’s obviously going to have a huge impact on the strategy, so we may well see our P Zero Orange wet tyres and P Zero Blue intermediates making their final appearance of the year.”

  • Lohit, Murthy win Coffee Day Rally; Arjun Balu retires

    Lohit, Murthy win Coffee Day Rally; Arjun Balu retires

    By David Bodapati

    Chikmagalur, 20 Nov 2011: Mysore star Lohit Urs and co-driver PV Srinivasa Murthy of Team MRF tamed the machine and conquered the track to come out triumphant defeating speed demon Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif) to win the Coffee Day Rally, the 5th round of the Speed Indian National Rally Championship, here on Sunday. However, with 136 points Gill still leads the Drivers’ championship leaderboard with second-placed Lohit Urs on a distant 91 points.

    The day also saw a stalwart in Indian rally scene Arjun Balu, who served MRF for 17 years, announced his retirement from INRC. “A gentleman and dedicated rallyist,’’ said his navigator, Sujit Kumar. The Coimbatore-based Arjun Balu was an unsung hero and he ever remained the bridesmaid in the team. His best moment came in August 2001 Asia Zone Rally Championship at Changchun, China, where he beat his teammate Naren Kumar and many other world-class drivers. He is popularly known as the “Gentleman of Indian Motorsports”.

    Meanwhile, it was a day to remember for Lohit Urs, who was struggling with his car all through the season.  After bagging his first win of the calendar year he said: “It was a great moment and I thoroughly enjoyed my drive today. The stages were fast and the Birur stage is comparable to the best in the world as it stayed true even after all the cars ran once with only about 10 per cent deterioration.’’  

    Lohit V Urs and PVS Murthy, winners of Coffee Day Rally in action on Sunday. Photo by George Francis

    With Castrol-supported Arjun Rao Aroor of AR Racing pulling out of this event, Team MRF made a clean sweep winning the first three places. Bengal lad Amittrajit Ghosh (co-driver Ashwin Naik), also of MRF, came second while compatriot Gaurav Gill, who had gear box problems stalled just 4 kms before the finish on the last stage, managed to drive back to take third place and earned some valuable points to remain on top of the championship borad. “I had problems with the clutch and was stuck. I managed to engage a gear and finished the rally driving in the `third’ all the way,’’ quipped the 30-year-old Asia Pacific Rally Driver from Delhi.

    In the 2000 N category, Karna Kadur, the talented youngster of Team Kadur, (co-driver Somonnita Ghosh) loved driving through his ancestral village Kadur in one of the stages, and rallied to beat overnight leaders Rahul Kantharaj and his sharp co-driver Vivek Y Bhatt clocking a time of 1 hour 32 min 12.2 secs. Overdrive editor Sirish Chandran and navigator Nikhil Vittal Pai finished third. But for a 10-second penalty Sirish and Nikhil would have come second.

    Bangalore brothers, Balram CG and Raghuram CG wrapped up the event in the 1600 cc class with a huge margin of more than two minutes. Mohammed Ismail and co-driver Dannanjay came an opportunistic second followed by Pune-Bangalore pair Aniruddha Rangnekar and Anoop Kumar, who are leading the class in the National championship.

    Raghu Nandan B (co-driver Adhiraj) won the 1400cc Rally Star cup with with Hrishikesh Thackersey and co-driver Ninad Mirajgaonkar taking the second followed by Pramod Raman and navigator Harish KN.

    Local lad Shafeeq Ur Rehman with Ajith KP as co-driver pushed Amartej Buwal and co-driver Nakul Mendiratta to second while Philip Thomas and John Philip managed to take third.

    Unofficial Provisional Final Classification

    Overall: 1. Lohit Urs/ PV Srinivasa Murthy (Team MRF) 1 hour 27 min 11.8 seconds; 2. Amittrajit Ghosh/ Ashwin Naik (MRF) 1:28: 19.5;  3. Gaurav Gill/ Musa Sherif  (MRF) 1:28:33.8;

    2000N cc: 1. Karna Kadur/Somonnita Ghosh 1:32:12.2; 2. Rahul Kantharaj/Vivek Y Bhatt 1: 32:28.7; 3. Sirish Chandran/ (Team Overdrive)/ Nikhil Vittal Pai 1:32: 33.9;

    1600 cc: 1. Balaram CG/ Raghuram CG , 1 hour 42: 02.6; 2. Mohammed Ismail/ Dannanjay B 1:44:12.4; 3. Aniruddha Rangnekar/ Anoop Kumar 01:46:47.0;

    1400 cc: 1. Raghunandhan B/ Adhiraju 1:39:32.9; 2. Hrishikesh Thackeresey / Ninad Mirajgaonkar 1: 41:24.4; 3. Pramod Raman/ Harish KN 1:41:36.2;

    Gypsy Class:  1. Shafeeq Ur Rehman / Ajith KP 01:40: 44.8; 2. Amartej Buwal/ Nakul Mendiratta) 01: 41: 46.5; 3. Philip Thomas/ John Philip 1: 45: 49.5.

  • Global Award for Buddh International Circuit

    Outshines 3 other racing facilities to win ‘Motorsport Facility of the Year’ award at the Professional Motorsport World Expo 2011, Germany

     

    New Delhi, 17 November 2011: (JayPee SI Release) Buddh International Circuit (BIC), which on October 30, 2011 hosted the first F1 Indian Grand Prix, has been awarded the ‘Motorsport Facility of the Year’ award at the Professional Motorsport World Expo 2011 Awards, held in Cologne, Germany. Boris Lazaric (COO – Construction, JPSI) collected the award on behalf of JPSI on November 15, 2011.

    The other contenders in the category were Baltimore Street Circuit, Mugello Circuit and Phoenix International Raceway but BIC emerged as a winner unanimously.

    Speaking on the occasion, Manoj Gaur, Chairman, JPSI said “This is a very proud moment for us and it feels great to be acknowledged for the hard work that made the inaugural Indian Grand Prix at BIC a resounding success. I would like to congratulate my team and dedicate this award to every member who worked tirelessly in making BIC a world class racing facility.”

    Gary Anderson, a member of the PMW Expo Awards judging panel added “Over the last 10 years we have seen many new Formula 1 circuits created around the world, most of these to an excellent standard as far as the overall facility is concerned but lacking imagination when it comes to the actual circuit design. Buddh International Circuit has gone the other way and created an excellent circuit layout, which the drivers, engineers and spectators love. With adequate facilities to put on a great event, it will mature into one of the best.”

    Professional MotorSport World Expo is central Europe’s leading trade-only motorsport exhibition. It is a meeting place for professionals to exchange technologies, innovations and ideas on how to drive the industry. Visitors are professionals from across the motorsport disciplines including: single-seater racing; saloon racing; drag racing; rallying; off-roading; historic motorsport; sports car racing; karting; and speed events.

    About Buddh International Circuit

    German architect and F1 race-circuit specialist Hermann Tilke designed the 5.14km long Buddh International Circuit (BIC) as one of the fastest, most exciting motor racing circuits in the world. It is well suited to the requirements of powerful, high-spec racing cars and motorcycles and will host some of the most challenging motorsports events on the planet. The track’s combination of 16 corners, high-speed straights and dramatic changes in elevation has been designed to provide ample opportunities for overtaking, which is what makes motor racing exciting. At the same time, in terms of adherence to safety norms and regulations, run-off areas, medical facilities, facilities for the media and overall infrastructure, BIC is among the best in the world.

    Buddh International Circuit:  fact sheet

    Length: 5.14km
    Turns: 16
    Highest point of elevation: 14m
    Width of the track:     Between 10m – 14m
    Top speeds on the circuit:     About 320km/h, for an F1 car
    Total seating capacity: About 100,000
    Distance from New Delhi: 40km approx.

    Jaypee Sports International Limited: About Us

    Established in October 2007, Jaypee Sports International Ltd., a subsidiary of Jaiprakash Associates Ltd. (JAL), has constructed India’s premier motorsports destination – Buddh International Circuit (BIC) – which hosted India’s first ever F1 Grand Prix on 30 October 2011. In addition to F1, the track is also expected to host other top-level international motorsports events.

    BIC will be a part of Jaypee Sports City, which is spread over 2,500 acres. This facility will include a Cricket stadium that is being developed in two phases and which will have a seating capacity of 100,000 people. There will also be a hockey arena, a sports training academy and infrastructure for other sports.

    Jaypee Sports City, the country’s first fully integrated megacity built around a sporting lifestyle and featuring premium residential and commercial spaces, has been designed by world-renowned architects and planners, WATG. One of the world’s leading design consultants for the hospitality, leisure and entertainment industries, WATG has made a significant contribution to making Jaypee Sports City the best of its kind anywhere in the world.

  • Fabio Leimer in Young Driver Days for Sauber

    Young Driver Days in Abu Dhabi – Day one
    Abu Dhabi, 15th November 2011 (Sauber Release): Fabio Leimer was at the wheel of the Sauber C30-Ferrari for the first of the three “Young Driver Days” in Abu Dhabi. For the 22-year-old Swiss it was the first test in a F1 car. He made himself familiar with the C30 quite quickly, and completed 74 laps on the 5.554 km long circuit on which he won the final GP2 race last weekend. The Sauber F1 Team was happy with how testing went in the desert heat and also with Fabio, who will now go back and work with his GP2 team for next year.
    Circuit
    Yas Marina Circuit / 5.554 km
    Driver
    Fabio Leimer (22, Switzerland)
    Weather
    Sunny and dry, air 26-32°C, track 28-46°C
    Chassis / engine
    Sauber C30-Ferrari (Chassis 01 / Ferrari 056)
    Mileage today
    74 laps in total / 417 km
    Fastest lap
    1:42.331 min (in the afternoon)
    Giampaolo Dall’Ara
    (Head of Track Engineering)
    “We covered a good mileage today and completed the programme with Fabio as planned. We had no major problems except the radio communication didn’t always work as it should have, which sometimes made it a bit difficult for Fabio. The morning session was about him getting familiar with the car and doing some aero testing. Later we did some set-up and evaluation work. Fabio had four sets of soft and one set of super soft tyres available. He handled the programme well, gave good feedback and left a good impression with the team. We wish him a great 2012 GP2 season!”
    Fabio Leimer:
    “To me it was good day. I was able to improve from the morning to the afternoon, and I learnt a lot for my future. I wasn’t only impressed by the power of the car, as actually I didn’t expect it to be so nice to drive. It is so stable and smooth when riding the kerbs compared to a GP2 car. I was a bit worried about my neck before the test, but this wasn’t an issue. What I could feel in the end was that the concentration needed during the entire day was quite intense. Obviously I had to learn a lot about procedures and switches. All in all, I’m happy with what the team and I have done today – it was a great day, full of new experiences.”

  • Max Chilton begins Young Driver testing for the Force!

    Abu Dhabi Young Driver Test, Day 1: Max Chilton gets behind the wheel
    Abu Dhabi: 15 Nov 2011: (Courtesy: Sahara Force India) Sahara Force India was back in action on Tuesday to kick off the first of three days of young driver testing at the Yas Marina circuit. On driving duty was 20-year-old Briton, Max Chilton, who completed a total of 81 laps in the VJM04, setting a best time of 1:43.016, the sixth fastest of the day.
    The focus of the day was acclimatisation work for Max who was driving the car for the first time on a Grand Prix circuit. The 2012 Pirelli development tyres were also used for a number of runs, while the team focussed on general data collection having added additional sensors to the car.
    Tomorrow, Johnny Cecotto Jr will get his first experience of a Formula One car before Max takes over for the final day of running on Thursday.
    Max Chilton: “I had been looking forward to this moment all my life and it definitely exceeded my expectations. The performance of the car is just amazing, especially the downforce and traction, which are mind-blowing. The design of these cars is incredible and it’s left me wanting much more. It’s scary how quick you can go through the high-speed corners, but the car is really well balanced and it feels very calm. The morning session flew by really quickly while I was getting used to the car and the systems, but in the afternoon things settled down and we managed to do some good testing. Working with such a big crew was also a new experience for me and it makes life so easy because there’s a person for every job and you can change things really quickly. I want to say thanks to the guys for a great day and I can’t wait to jump back in the car on Thursday.”
    Oliver Knighton, Race Support and Strategy Engineer
    “A positive first day of testing and I’m very pleased with the way Max integrated himself with the team. There were no mistakes, he was very consistent and he quickly got the hang of the control systems. The morning was spent acclimatising Max to the car and we also ran several test sensors to gather some more data with a view to Brazil next week and for 2012. In the afternoon we ran through a 2012 tyre programme, which has given us some interesting information for the rest of the week. We had a KERS issue in the afternoon, which took the edge off Max’s final lap time, but it was still a very good day.”

  • Force India gets six points to stay sixth

    Round 18 of 2011 Formula 1 World Championship at Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, 13 Nov 2011:

    (By Special Correspondent)

    P8 Adrian Sutil, VJM04/04
    Tyre strategy: Used soft, new soft, new medium
     P9 Paul Di Resta, VJM04/02
    Tyre strategy: New medium, new soft

    It was a great race for Sahara Force India with Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta finishing eighth and ninth respectively even as Lewis Hamilton of McLaren provided an early birthday present to his mom with a brilliant win at the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit on Sunday. Hamilton got his third win of the season and seventh podium in the Formula One World Championship, this season as 2011 drivers’ champion and favourite Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull retired early with a puncture  as “he caught the exit kerb wrong with low tyre pressure that cut his right rear tyre”.

    As far as the teams and drivers are concerned, the only Indian presence on the race day for the 18th round of the 19-round F1 season was the Sahara Force India team. With both the Indian drivers Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok not on the starting grid, it was left to Force India to fight for honours and with a great startegy both the cars finished in points gaining valuable points to keep themselves in the sixth place in the constructors’ championship.

    Adrian Sutil, who started on 8th place was on soft tyres, which are a second faster per lap than the Dry tyres of Paul d’ Resta. As he did not start the Qualifier 3 on Saturday, Paul had the option to use either of the tyres and the team went with a single-stop strategy to come out successfully.

    In the 9th lap, even as Sutil was pushing Michael Schumaker, Paul di Resta was pressurised by Sebestian Buemi, who took eighth place but Di Resta regained the lost ground quickly in the next DRS zone and soon in the 14th lap Buemi once again used the first DRS zone to pass Paul, who however made it a short-lived joy for the Toro Rosso in the second DRS zone, but in the very next lap Paul made a mistake in Turn 11 but that did not prove costly as Buemi retired soon due to a loss of fluid from the hydraulic system. Paul di Resta went on till 28th lap for his first pit stop and his sustained run despite traction problems saw his finish in the 9th place for two valuable points with his single pit-stop strategy on medium dry tryes.

    Adrian Sutil, could not challenge Schumacher any further after the initial jaunt and was content in retaining his position after two pits to go steady for a well-deserved four points. Adrian: “Today’s result is great for the team and just what we needed. Initially we were planning to do a one-stop race, but the team took the decision to switch to a two-stop strategy because the soft tyre did not last as long as we thought it would. So it was a good call by the team to make the change. I spent a lot of the race fighting with Schumacher and managed to get ahead of him for the middle stint. But I probably went one lap too long in the middle stint and he got ahead of me when we were both on the medium tyre at the end of the race. I was close behind him, but we had similar pace and I couldn’t get back ahead. Still, we came here to pick up points with both cars, and that’s what we’ve done. It puts us in a very strong position for the final race.”

    With only the Brazil Grand Prix left in the season, Sahara Force India – Mercedes are well on course for the sixth position in the Constructors Championship with 57 points 15 points ahead of Sauber Ferrari on 42 who just managed to pip STR Ferrari by a point after Abu Dhabi. Adrian Sutil (10/11th) has 34 points, the same as fellow German Nick Hiedfeld while the young British driver Paul Di Resta has 23 points in the 14th place.

    Paul: “I think as a team we can be pleased to have come away with a double points finish having run different strategies with both cars. With hindsight my one-stop race was not the optimum strategy, but we felt it was worth a try. As it turned out the performance of the medium was not great to begin with so the first 30 laps were quite hard work. I had a good fight with Buemi in the early laps and I think we were quite lucky that he retired, which made my race a bit easier. When I switched to the softs the speed of the car was very strong. To do a one-stop race and come away with two points is as much as we could really hope for. It’s what we need for our fight in the championship and hopefully we can arrive in Brazil and carry on where we left off.”
     
    Dr. Vijay Mallya, Team Principal and Managing Director
    “We came here determined to deliver a strong result and we’ve come away with six important points to consolidate our sixth place in the constructors’ championship. Both drivers drove faultless races, splitting the strategies and covering all the options. So I’m very pleased with our performance as a team, which puts us in a much stronger position with 15 points advantage over our nearest competitor. I feel confident that we can go to Brazil to finish the job and confirm our sixth place in the championship.”

  • Force India qualify in P9 and P10 and hope to get into points

    Force India car Sat Abu Dhabi qualifiersAbu Dhabi: (Force India Release) 12 Nov 2011: Sahara Force India delivered on the promise shown in practice as Adrian Sutil and Paul Di Resta qualified in ninth and tenth places respectively for tomorrow’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. For the record, Sebastian Vettel once again proved a tough nut to crack and took the pole position and also equalled a record for pole positions.
     P9  Adrian Sutil (VJM04/04)
    Q1: 1:40.595
    Q2: 1:40.205
    Q3: 1:40.768
     Adrian: “I’m happy with ninth place today and it was a good session for me. In Q3 we waited a bit longer than planned because we wanted to wait and see what Mercedes did. In the end they decided to go out so I also went out and I did a timed lap. The lap was a little bit compromised because I didn’t get the tyres fully up to temperature, so maybe I could have been a bit higher up. Still, I don’t think we can complain too much because P9 is a fair reflection of our pace at the moment.”
     P10 Paul Di Resta (VJM04/02)
    Q1: 1:41.604
    Q2: 1:40.414
    Q3: No time
     Paul: “Getting two cars in the top ten was the objective today and that’s what we achieved. We made some good progress this morning perfecting the set-up and I was happy with the car in qualifying. Q1 and Q2 went well and we got the job done by getting in the top ten. Our approach to Q3 was to give us the optimum strategy for tomorrow. For the race we are definitely hoping for points because our focus is to maintain our sixth place in the championship. I’m really looking forward to this race because the place looks spectacular at night. It’s also nice to drive in twilight conditions when it’s a bit cooler.”
     Dr. Vijay Mallya, Team Principal and Managing Director
    “I’m very pleased with our performance today and with both Sahara Force India cars starting from the fifth row of the grid we are in good shape for tomorrow. It will be an interesting race because we have seen that the tyre degradation here is not that severe, which means we need to think long and hard about how we will use the strategy. With just two races to go we are not underestimating how important it is to score points here to strengthen our grasp on sixth place in the constructors’ championship. I believe we have the speed to do so, but as I’ve said before you never know until it’s in the bag.” 
    Meanwhile, The Sauber F1 Team drivers, Sergio Pérez and Kamui Kobayashi, have qualified 11th and 16th  respectively for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the penultimate round of the 2011 FIA Formula One World Championship. Both drivers did their fastest lap times in Q2 on a set of soft tyres they had used before in Q1. When they put on fresh soft tyres in Q2, both drivers struggled to get them to work and therefore neither of them was able to improve, added a Sauber Press Release.