INDIA in F1

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  • Gaurav Gill beats teammate to take Hokkaido win: APRC

    Hokkaido, 17 Sept 2017: India’s Gaurav Gill has won the 2017 Rally of Hokkaido in his MRF Team Skoda and moved into the lead of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship points, ahead of the final round in India, late November.

    There was high drama on the first morning when four of Gill’s main rivals retired on Stage 3, including his MRF team-mate Ole Christian Veiby from Norway.

    Gill though completed both days with no problems and prior to celebrating on the finish podium said ” Its been a perfect weekend, getting maximum points. Most importantly I’m back in the championship and the last round is in India, my home country. Japan as always is difficult with such high speeds and rough roads, however we had the perfect tyre choice and the perfect car from our team MRF Skoda. Would have been good to have OC in the fight but unfortunately he went off yesterday – we had a great weekend, overall very satisfying.

    Arriving in Hokkaido Veiby led the championship points but his off road excursion on Day 1 means the title will now be decided in India, “Saturday was a big disappointment we had some problems with a damper, after that we went a little bit off and we got stuck. Today was really good and I think we got some good points. The championship is still on and its going to be a very exciting rally in India”, said Veiby at final service.

    Behind, it was Mpart’s Robert Blomberg (co-driver Lars Andersson) in the Mitsubishi Mirage taking his first podium of the seasom, finishing 11m41.4s aloof Gill.

    The Swedish driver inherited second after Cusco Racing’s Yuyi Sumiyama (co-driver co-driver Takahiro Yasui) in the Skoda R5 was forced to retire in SS12 due to mechanical issues.

    Third in the APRC class went to Fuyuhiko Takahashi (co-driver Mitsuo Nakamura) in the Subaru Impreza. He was fourth overall in Rally Hokkaido, which was run alongside the Japanese Rally Championship.

    Returning after Leg 1 retirements were MRF Skoda’s Ole Christian Veiby (co-driver Stig Skjarmoen) in his Skoda R5 and Mpart Sport’s Sanjay Takale (co-driver Noriko Takeshita) in his Mitsubishi Mirage in Leg 2.

    The duo had a huge gap to bridge down with the leaders. In the end, Takale finished fourth, while Veiby was fifth in the APRC class – the latter also managing to eke out two stage wins (SS13 & SS15). They were 15th and 16th overall respectively.

    The title fight goes into the final rally of the 2017 season, with the Rally of India to be held during the November 24-26 weekend​

  • Vettel takes pole ahead of Red Bulls

    Sebastian Vettel took pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix, beating Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo by over three tenths of a second. Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen was fourth as championship leader Lewis Hamilton finished fifth ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

    The early pace in Q1 was set by Red Bull Racing, with Max Verstappen blasting past the opening P1 time of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel by half a second. Daniel Ricciardo was following the Dutchman, however, and his time of 1:42.063 gave him top spot.

    Verstappen was not to be denied, however, and after being edged out of second place by Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, the Dutch driver posted a lap of 1:42.010 to take back first place. In the late stages Fernando Alonso put in an excellent lap of 1:42.086 to take third place ahead of Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz and the second McLaren of Stoffel Vandoorne. Hamilton took sixth place, while the Ferraris of Raikkonen and Vettel went through in 11th and 12th places respectively.

    There was trouble, though, for Felipe Massa. The Williams driver got out of shape on the entry to Turn20 and hit the wall hard with the right rear three-quarter. The immediate result was a puncture and he limped back to the pits. He managed to get back out on track in the final stages of the session, but though his lap was a decent 1:44.014 it was not good enough to save him and he slotted into 16th place, which eventually turned into 17th as the final times came through.

    It meant he was eliminated along with 16th-placed Kevin Magnussen of Haas, 18th-placed Williams team-mate Lance Stroll, who also clipped the wall on his final run and the Saubers of Pascal Wehrlein and Marcus Ericsson.

    The first runs in Q2 also saw Verstappen in control, with the Red Bull driver knocking Vettel off top spot with a lap of 1:40.379. Team-mate Ricciardo’s opening flier yielded a solid time of 1:40.776 to put the Australian driver third ahead of Räikkönen, Hamilton, Vandoorne, Bottas, Hulkenberg, Sainz and Palmer.

    In the drop zone as the final runs began were 11th-placed Alonso, followed by Force India’s Sergio Perez, Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, the second Force India of Esteban Ocon and Haas’ Romain Grosjean.

    And Alonso was the only one to make a significant enough improvement to escape the drop. The Spaniard crossed the line in 1:41.442, which initially was good enough for eighth. As more lap times flowed in he dropped one place but the time was good enough for him to edge into the final session.

    Out though went Renault’s Jolyon Palmer. The Briton was unable to improve and he finished in P11 ahead of Perez, Kvyat, Ocon and Grosjean.

    At the top of the order, Verstappen found a marginal improvement to secure his hold on P1, the Dutch driver posting a time of 1:40.332 on his second run. Ricciardo improved too, to 1:40.385, to seal a Red Bull 1-2 in Q2 just over a tenth ahead of Räikkönen and with Vettel fourth. Hamilton was fifth ahead of the impressive Vandoorne, while Hulkenberg was seventh ahead of Bottas, Alonso and Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz.

    With Red Bull dominating, it might have been expected to see Verstappen to the fore again in the first runs in Q3. And the Red Bull man obliged with a P1 time of 1:39.814, with Ricciardo five hundredths of a second behind. Vettel, though, was pushing hard and the Ferrari driver stole past to take provisional pole by 0.145s.

    Those three were the only drivers inside the 1m40s mark Räikkönen fourth on 1:40.069, a tenth clear of Hamilton and seven tenths ahead of fifth-placed Bottas.

    And in the final runs, Vettel was inspired. The German found fractions of time right across the lap to cross the line in 1:39.491. Verstappen couldn’t compete and had to settle for second place with his first run time of 1:39.814. With Ricciardo heading into sector three and up on his team-mate it looked like Vettel’s time might be tested but the Australian lost time in sector three and finished third, the last man inside 1m40s, with a lap of 1:39.840, just 0.026s behind his team-mate.

    eom/FIA press release

  • Max Verstappen tops final practice session: Singapore Grand Prix

    Max Verstappen went quickest in final practice for the Singapore Grand Prix, with the Red Bull Racing driver edging Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel by just seven hundredths of a second. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was third as Friday’s fastest man, Daniel Ricciardo, failed to complete a qualifying-style run after clipping the wall late in the session.

    Vettel made the early running, working his way to a time of 1:43.237 on ultrasoft tyres in the first 15 minutes of the session. Lewis Hamilton briefly held second place with a lap just under a adrift of the German but he was soon bumped to third by Kimi Räikkönen in the second Ferrari, with the Finn lapping in a time of1:44.176, 0.939 behind his team-mate.

    However, 25 minutes into the session, the quickest men in second practice – Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen – took to the track and the pair made an immediate impression. Ricciardo’s first timed lap vaulted him to P2, 0.310 behind Vettel and then Verstappen jumped to top spot with a lap of 1:42.249. Ricciardo then improved to 1:42.517 to take second place, seven tenths of a second ahead of Vettel.

    Just after the halfway point the red flags came out when Marcus Ericsson hit the wall late in his lap. The Swede lost control of the rear of his Sauber and spun backwards into the barriers, smashing the rear wing of his car and shipping substantial rear end damage. He was able to limp back to the pits, however, where his team began repairs.

    When the session resumed Vettel was the first to show, with the Ferrari drivers posting a time of 1:41.919 to better Verstappen’s first half benchmark by 0.330s. He then lowered it marginally to 1:41.901. Hamilton split the Red Bull’s with a lap of 1:42.425, though neither Red Bull had yet returned to the action following the red flag.

    That changed with 10 minutes left on the clock when both Verstappen and Ricciardo emerged for their quali simulations. Verstappen was qwuickly into his stride, re-taking first place with a lap of 1:41.829.

    Ricciardo though hit trouble, clipping the wall as he worked through the second sector. There was no substantial damage but he abandoned his lap and headed back to the garage.

    Within moments, his tea-mate was doing the same. Verstappen slowed dramatically and reported that his car was changing gear by itself. He too was told to return to the pits.

    Verstappen then finished on top ahead of Vettel and Hamilton. Fourth place in the session went to McLaren’s Fernando Alonso who put in an impressive lap of 1:42.383. Team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne was fifth, just five hundredths of a second behind the Spaniard.

    Sixth place went to Ricciardo, though the Australian failed to put in a qualifying simulation. Behind him, Nico Hulkenberg was seventh for Renault ahead of Bottas, with Räikkönen ninth ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez.

    eom/FIA release

  • Deepak Paul Chinnappa takes ITC pole: MMSC Indian National Racing Championship

    Deepak Paul Chinnappa takes ITC pole: MMSC Indian National Racing Championship

    Deepak Paul Chinnappa (Bengaluru), who took pole position in Indian Touring Cars class in Chennai on 15 Sept 2017. Image by Anand Philar

    Chennai, 15 Sept. 2017: Bengaluru drivers Deepak Paul Chinnappa of Race Concepts and schoolboy Yash Aradhya grabbed pole positions in their respective categories while Hyderabad’s Anindith Reddy was overall quickest in the MRF F1600 practice session in the fifth and final round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Racing Championship at the MMRT track here on Friday.

    Championship contenders Anindith Reddy and Sandeep Kumar (Chennai) set the early pace in the two practice sessions. Anindith was overall quickest, albeit by a mere three-hundredth of a second with a best of one minute, 40.130 seconds to Sandeep Kumar’s 01:40.164, but the real battle lies over the weekend when three races are scheduled after Saturday’s qualifying session.

    Behind the leaders was local challenger Chetan Korada who showed improvement with every lap, clocking a best of 01:40.815 and then going even quicker in the second session when he did a 01:40.350.

    The qualifying session in the premier Indian Touring Cars class reflected the closeness of contest among the front-runners. Chinnappa who leads the championship by just seven points, was the quickest in both the practice sessions, and followed it up with a blistering lap of 01:53.068 in the qualifying ahead of the Red Rooster Performance pair of defending champion Arjun Narendran (01:53.132), second in the championship, and Ashish Ramaswamy (01:53.140).

    Yash Aradhya (Momentum Motorsport), second on the leaderboard, topped the charts in both the Formula LGB 1300 categories (National and Rookie Cup) categories in the qualifying, well clear of team-mate Pune’s Aanjan Patodia (DTS) and championship leader Arya Singh (DTS Racing).

    Also finishing on pole in their respective categories were: Mihkhail Merchant of Team Game Over (Indian Junior Touring Cars), Bala Vijay of Performance Racing (Super Stock) and Raghul Rangasamy of Performance Racing (Esteem Cup) while Mumbai’s Saurav Bandyopadhyay qualified first in the Volkswagen Ameo Cup.

    The results (qualifying):

    Indian Touring Cars: 1. Deepak Paul Chinnappa (Race Concepts) (01min, 53.068secs); 2. Arjun Narendran (Red Rooster Performance) (01:53.132); 3. Ashish Ramaswamy (Red Rooster Performance) (01:53.140).

    Formula LGB 1300 (National): 1. Yash Aradhya (Momentum MotorSport) (01: 50.749); 2. Aanjan Patodia (Momentum Motorsport) (01: 51.052); 3. Rupesh Siva Kumar (DTS Racing) (01: 51.376). Rookie Cup: 1. Yash Aradhya; 2. Aanjan Patodia; 3. Arya Singh (DTS Racing) (01: 51.520).

    Indian Junior Touring Cars: 1. Mikhail Merchant (Team Game Over) (02: 06.289); 2. Kamlesh Parmar (Team N1) (02:06.421); 3. Diljith (DTS Racing) (02: 08.963).

    Super Stock: 1. Barla Vijay B (Performance Racing) (02:00.394); 2. RP Rajarajan (Performance Racing) (02: 00.745); 3. Varun V Anekar (Race Concepts Motorsports) (02: 01.397).

    Esteem Cup: 1. Raghul Rangasamy (Performance Racing) (01:59.041); 2. Narendran Sankaran (RAD Racing) (01:59.246); 3. Anantha Pithawalla (Team N1) (02: 00.374).

    Volkswagen Ameo Cup: 1. Saurav Bandyopadhyay (Mumbai) (01:54.193); 2. Anning Sun (Shanghai) (01:54.249); 3. A Sandeep Kumar (Chennai) (01:54.716).

    eom/press release

  • Wipro enters F1, becomes tech partner for McLaren

    Bangalore, 14 Sept 2017:  McLaren Technology Group and Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO), a leading global information technology, consulting, and business process services company, today announced that Wipro has become the official technology provider to McLaren Technology Group to help drive digitalisation across its businesses. The McLaren group confirmed the news from Woking, United Kingdom, the team’s base.

    Wipro will assist McLaren with achieving its recently defined IT strategy, focusing on providing next-generation differentiated IT services to its business divisions with an emphasis on agility and improved reliability.

    As part of this multi-year partnership, Wipro will leverage the Wipro HOLMES artificial intelligence platform and its next-generation managed services framework to offer flexibility and boost the productivity of McLaren’s fast-growing automotive and high-tech businesses.

    Craig Charlton, Chief Information Officer, McLaren Technology Group said: “We are passionate about delivering high performance digital solutions underpinned by robust SLAs across McLaren. Wipro, with its deep domain expertise and vast application services portfolio, will help us achieve excellence as well as drive innovation in Artificial Intelligence.”

    N S Bala, President – Manufacturing & Technology, Wipro Limited added: “Digitalisation is a great opportunity for renowned brands like McLaren to reimagine and redesign their products and services from their customer’s perspective. We are delighted to partner with McLaren Technology Group to bring this strategic initiative to life, enabling organisation-wide disruptive innovation.”

    About Wipro Limited 

    Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO) is a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company. It harnesses the power of cognitive computing, hyper-automation, robotics, cloud, analytics and emerging technologies to help its clients adapt to the digital world and make them successful. A company recognised globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services, strong commitment to sustainability and good corporate citizenship, it has over 160,000 dedicated employees serving clients across six continents. Together, Wipro discovers ideas and connects the dots to build a better and a bold new future.

  • Deepak, Narendran to battle it out in ITC class; Anindith leads MRF F1600

    Deepak, Narendran to battle it out in ITC class; Anindith leads MRF F1600

    Chennai, 14 Sept 2017:  Hyderabad’s Anindith Reddy, with six wins in 10 outings, heads the  points table in the MRF F1600 Championship with a comfortable 44.5 points lead over Sandeep Kumar from Bengaluru going into the triple-header in the fifth and final round of the MMSC fmsci Indian National Racing Championship 2017 sponsored by MRF, beginning here on Friday.

    The MRF F1600 which offers the champion a ticket to the Mazda Road To Indy shootout later this year. Besides the Volkswagen Ameo Cup, the third and final round of the MMSC fmsci Indian National Drag Racing Championship will also be run on Saturday (practice) and Sunday (final).

    In the premier Indian Touring Cars class, everything points to a straight shootout between championship leader Deepak Paul Chinnappa (Race Concepts) from Bengaluru who is ahead of a late-charging defending champion Arjun Narendran (Red Rooster Performance) by just seven points.

    While Chinnappa enjoyed a brilliant start to the season with four wins on the trot, Narendran, shuttling between England where he is pursuing higher studies and India for the races, shrugged off a poor start to post three victories in a row to put his campaign back on track. With a maximum of 50 points at stake in this weekend’s double-header, neither can afford to drop points.

    The situation is similar in the other three saloon cars categories, the Indian Junior Touring Cars, Super Stock and Esteem Cup, all of which run on a combined grid, and have three races this weekend.

    Eight points separate Hisham EKP (DTS Racing) and Kamlesh Parmar (Team N1) in the IJTC, Varun Anekar (Race Concepts) enjoys a 57-point lead over RP Rajaran (Performance Racing) while Anant Pithawalla (Team N1) has a 16-point advantage over Narendran Sankaran (Red Rooster Performance) whose team-mate Sudanand Rajan is a further 16-point adrift in third place.

    Kolkata’s Arya Singh (DTS Racing) appears well-poised in both Open and Rookie categories of the Formula LGB 1300 class leading Bengaluru’s Yash Aradhya (Momentum Motorsport) by 31 and 28 points, respectively.

    On changes to the championship next season, Chairman of the Meet Vicky Chandhok said: “We decided on combined grids from the next season to make the races more competitive. The spectators would get to see more overtaking on the track.

    “The ITC and Volkswagen Ameo Cup cars are almost on par on pace, and that should make for some exciting racing and overtaking when run concurrently. The MRF 1600 and the Formula LGB 1300 will also run on combined grid. We may also combine more classes to give spectators more of what they want plus give drivers new challenges.

    “The MMRT has a FIA International license which permits the track to have up to 42 starters and we intend to use that from next year. It’s time for big changes to make it a more exciting spectacle.”

    Race Director Manoj Dalal said: “We have 18 new high-definition cameras which will enable us in Race Control to monitor the races even more closely from our screens and take immediate calls on any photo finish, many of which we’ve seen in the recent past or on-track incidents.”

    eom/AP Media Comm./MMSC press release

  • Jehan Daruvala finishes 5th in Race 3; Trails 2nd in Rookie standings with six races to go

    Jehan Daruvala finishes 5th in Race 3; Trails 2nd in Rookie standings with six races to go

    Jehan Daruvala signing autographs at Nurburgring on Sunday. Image courtesy James Gasperotti
    Action image of Jehan Daruvala on Sunday. Image by James Gasperotti

    Bangalore, 14 Sept 2017:  Touted as the best racer to have a chance to be the next Indian in an F1 car, Sahara Force India Academy Racer, Jehan Daruvala continued his maiden F3 season with another podium miss but he managed to get strong points in Round 8 of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship at Nurburgring in Germany on Sunday, 10th September.

    Meanwhile, at the 3.629 kilometres long Nürburgring sprint circuit, Lando Norris (Carlin) extended his lead in the Championship drivers’ standings. The Brit scored his ninth victory of the season and now has an advantage of 73 points from Maximilian Günther (Prema Powerteam), who is second in the drivers’ standings. Next to McLaren protégé Norris, British driver Jake Hughes (Hitech Grand Prix) and Estonian Ralf Aron (Hitech Grand Prix) stood on the podium for the prize-giving ceremony.

    The third FIA Formula 3 European Championship race at the Nürburgring had a turbulent start. Callum Ilott (Prema Powerteam) took the lead from Norris and Hughes while Guanyu Zhou (Prema Powerteam) and Ferdinand Habsburg (Carlin) collided in the first corner. For both drivers involved in the accident, the race was over and the safety car was deployed. Also on the opening lap, there was contact between Joey Mawson (Van Amersfoort Racing) and Tadasuke Makino (Hitech Grand Prix), after which both drivers had to turn into the pits for quick repair works on their cars.

    According to a press release received here on Tuesday, the Indian teenager and former second runner up in the World Karting Championship started tenth in Race 3 and climbed up the order to finish fifth.

    The famed Nürburgring racetrack, notoriously known as ‘Green Hell’ once upon a time, was the host for Round 8. Jehan put up a strong performance to finish in the points in all three races of the weekend around the 5.148 km long GP Strecke layout. A full grid of 22 drivers battled for top honours in unpredictable conditions as intermittent rain and sunshine made all sessions extremely tricky in terms of tyre choice and setup.  

    The 18-year old from Mumbai showed immense skill and maturity to stay out of trouble throughout and his consistency ensured that he finished in the points in all three races with a best finish of 5th in an incident-filled race three.

    FIA Formula 3 is the toughest junior racing category in the world, having produced some of the best racing talents ever known including Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen, Ayrton Senna & Michael Schumacher.

    Jehan qualified 10th for the final race of the weekend and had a good start as the lights went out. The Mumbai teenager did well to keep out of trouble as drivers clashed and clattered around him. Going into the steep downhill turn one, he stuck to the inside while Ferdinand Habsburg and Guanyu Zhou came together and retired instantly. With chaos reigning all around him, Jehan kept his head down, picking off his opponents one at a time. Shortly thereafter, the safety car was deployed and by then Jehan was already in a strong sixth place.

    As the field circulated behind the safety car for a few laps, attempting to keep their tyres and brakes warm for the restart, it was clear that the bunched-up field would result in more overtaking opportunities as drivers prepared to go racing once again. Jehan ensured that he placed his car perfectly behind Japanese racer Marino Sato in fifth place; and managed to overtake almost as soon as the race went green.

    The top five group including Jehan proceeded to break away from the rest of the pack and Jehan was embroiled in a close dual with Callum Illot, but the British racer defended strongly. As the race progressed, a yawing 10-second gap separated Jehan from the sixth place finisher by the time he crossed the chequered flag. McLaren Junior – Lando Norris won the race ahead of Jake Hughes.

    “It was a pretty tough weekend in terms of conditions which were never consistent but we were able to stay in the points and finish in the top five in the last race so I think it was good work all around”, said Jehan.

    The Indian driver is now sixth in drivers’ overall standings and second in rookie standings with two rounds to go and while there is a considerable gap to fifth placed Briton Jake Hughes in the overall tally, Jehan is focused on finishing his rookie Formula 3 season in the top five. “With only Spielberg and Hockenheim remaining, I want to finish in the top five in the championship. There are still six races to go and so I am really looking forward to concluding the season on a strong note”, he added.

    Jehan will now race at the Redbull Ring at Spielberg in Austria on the 23rd & 24th of September.

    eom/press release from Rayo Racing

  • Bottas to stay at Silver Arrows in 2018

    The Finnish driver will continue to race for the Silver Arrows in 2018

    • Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport has agreed a new contract with Valtteri Bottas for the next season
    • Toto Wolff: “His performances and his upward trajectory made it a no-brainer to continue for 2018.”
    • Valtteri Bottas: “I am honoured and proud to continue to work with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport in 2018. However, there’s always room for improvement and I still have not shown my full potential.”

    Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport is pleased to announce that it has agreed a new deal with Valtteri Bottas for the 2018 Formula 1 season.

    Valtteri joined the team in early 2017 and has started 13 races for the Silver Arrows so far. Having scored 197 points, the Finn currently holds third place in the drivers’ championship. Since joining Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, the 28-year old driver has claimed his first Formula 1 wins (Russia, Austria) as well as his first F1 pole positions (Bahrain, Austria). This season alone, Valtteri has so far secured nine podiums – equalling the number of podiums he scored in his Formula 1 career before this season.

    Toto Wolff
    “We gave Valtteri a big challenge this year: joining the team at the eleventh hour, stepping up to the forefront of F1 and pairing with the sport’s best driver as his team-mate. With that in mind, his results have been probably even more impressive.

    “There have been ups and downs – more ups, fewer downs – and some great highlights like his two race wins in Russian and Austria. Overall, the balance of his performances and his upward trajectory made it a no-brainer for us to continue with him into 2018.

    “For our team, the bonus factors are the respect and sportsmanship that have grown between our two drivers. The chemistry and dynamic between Valtteri and Lewis work and are what we need to take the fight to our competitors.”

    Valtteri Bottas
    “I am honoured and proud to continue to work with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport in 2018 and to remain part of the Mercedes family. Together, we continue to grow stronger day by day, and by keeping up our hard work I believe the sky is the limit,” said Valtteri.

    “Since joining the team in January, I’ve enjoyed every day working with them. The welcome and the support from every team member and all the fans has been invaluable. As a driver, I’ve been able to learn and grow massively, and we have already enjoyed some really good moments this season that I will never forget. I’ve been very impressed by the mentality, commitment and the team spirit this team holds. Partnering Lewis has also been really good, and I’m enjoying the respect we have and the will to push this team forward together.

    “When the team hired me for the 2017 season, they took a leap of faith by putting their trust in my skills. This new contract for 2018 shows that I’ve earned that trust. I’m happy to have celebrated my first race wins in a Silver Arrow. However, there’s always room for improvement and I still have not shown my full potential. I will continue to work hard on and off the track, to further improve my driving, get even better results and show that putting their trust in me was the right decision. I want to thank all the board members, the people at the factories in Brackley and Brixworth as well as the race team and all the fans for their support and trust. It means a lot to me.”

    eom/Mercedes AMG Petronas press release

  • Mercedes AMG Petronas partners with Rubric to efficiently manage race data

    Bangalore, 13 Sept. 2017: Vishal Krishna is a good friend and former colleague at the New Indian Express. Of late, we lost touch but I have been reading his stories after I encountered his story tweets and read this one when, the subject of our present story, BIPUL SINHA visited India last in July. This Business Editor’s piece will give you a fair background of the start-up that inked the deal with the top F1 team today.

    “When four technocrats come together to start up, a technologically profound and disruptive company like Rubrik happens,” Vishal wrote. “Bipul Sinha, Arvind Jain, Soham Mazumdar and Arvind Nithrakashyap joined hands to put together a technology that can pull data of an organisation from public and private clouds in an instant, making a CTO’s life a lot easier,” he wrote in yourstory.com.

    You can read the story here:  https://yourstory.com/2017/07/startup-rubrik-data-storage-emc-hitachi/

    Ok coming to the news, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, the top F1 team, on Wednesday confirmed a new team partnership with Rubrik, specialists in Cloud Data Management. Ribric, one of the fastest growing enterprise software companies in the Silicon Valley will work with the team to accelerate the protection of race data. Mercedes will use Rubrik’s data backup and recovery technology at their headquarters to improve data management, a press release said here today.

    Mercedes are currently leading the Constructor’s World Championship in Formula 1 with lead driver Lewis Hamilton gunning for the F1 Driver’s Championship. Valtteri Bottas is the other driver who has become a strong teammate for Hamilton in his first year at the marque outfit.

    With data volumes, backup and recovery requirements becoming ever more demanding in Formula One, the team is investing in class-leading technology in order to stay ahead. Specifically, the team will be using a multi-node Rubrik cluster at their Brackley headquarters to protect the team’s critical race data.

    The team will also use Rubrik’s REST API (Application Programming Interface) to integrate with their current tools to analyse their data utilisation. With this information, the team expects to become even more efficient in how it manages and utilises the vast volumes of race data.  Recognized by Forbes on the Cloud 100 and as a Next Billion Dollar Startup, Rubric is expected to efficiently manage the race data to yield high-performance results.

    “We are delighted to welcome Rubrik to Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport,” commented Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport. “In the fast-moving world of information technology, it’s essential to be right at the forefront, particularly for us in the area of data management, and we look forward to working with Rubrik to maximise our potential in this area.”

    “Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport is at the forefront of adopting new technologies within the racing world,” said Bipul Sinha, co-founder and CEO, Rubrik. “Rubrik’s cloud data management platform will enable the team to access and manage critical race information, providing them with a new competitive edge. We are excited to partner with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport to turbocharge their innovative approach to data management and contribute to their continued success.”

    eom/david/with inputs from Mercedes release

  • Force India gets ready for Singapore Grand Prix

    Sahara Force India is currently in the fourth place in the constructor’s championship as they finish the European races and come to Asia with this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday.

    Team principal and co-owner Vijay Mallya says: “It feels pretty good for our team to be sitting in fourth place in the championship as we get ready for the Singapore Grand Prix. The strong showing in Monza brought us our tenth double points finish of the season, which is a tremendous effort by the entire team.

    “With seven races to go, the season is rushing by quickly and we just need to keep doing what we’ve been doing all year long. It’s about being consistent, picking up the points and taking our opportunities.

    “We haven’t eased off. Development of the VJM10 continues and will bring benefits for the 2018 car too. We are still bringing new parts to the track and both cars will have developments this weekend.”

    Senior driver Sergio Perez says: “Singapore is definitely one of the toughest races in the season. It’s so hot and humid; a real test for the driver, but I am well prepared for racing in the heat. Sometimes you feel really uncomfortable in the car and you just want the race to be over as soon as possible. It’s hard to breathe, you are sweating a lot and the sweat goes in your eyes! But it’s still a special night and one of the best races of the year.

    “I have been in the points every time I have raced in Singapore and I hope I can extend my record. It’s hard to single out a specific corner in Marina Bay because I really like them all. I love street circuits in general and this is a special lap. There’s no room for error – the wall is always next to you; one mistake and you’re out.

    “Our objective is obviously to score points in Singapore and in all the races to follow. The season may be nearing an end, but there are still some very important races ahead of us and we want to make sure we do our best to stay fourth in the championship.”

    Driver Esteban Ocon says: “There’s something special about Singapore. You race under the lights and the atmosphere is unique: it feels really glamorous and all the fans and guests are partying through the night during the race. On the other hand, it’s very hard physically. It’s hot and very humid, and you lose a lot of fluids when driving. It’s one of those places where everything needs to be perfect in the car, because you’ll struggle a lot if you’re not in the right position or there is something wrong with the seat. You try to prepare as best as you can for days like these; you train in hot places and try to maximise the performance of your body.

    “The weird schedule doesn’t affect me. I like that we stick to European times: we wake up late, the days are shorter and you’re able to sleep a lot. It’s my favourite weekend schedule – I am someone who sleeps a lot and in Singapore I can get my 12 hours per night!

    “The lap has some really interesting sections. For a street circuit, it’s very fast, but my favourite part is the twisty part in the middle of the lap, where you’re so close to the wall all the time. There are a lot of beautiful buildings next to the track and when they are all lit up at night the place looks very beautiful.”

    Sahara Force India’s Chief Race Engineer, Tom McCullough, shares his insight about the race under the lights in Singapore.

    “Singapore is the original Formula One night race and is as different a track from Monza as it can be. It’s an anticlockwise track and it has the highest number of corners in the calendar – 23 on the official map. The corners are quite evenly balanced between left and right and most of them are tight, low-speed turns. Qualifying will be very important as there aren’t many overtaking opportunities: despite this, races are often very entertaining and the Safety Car is a common sight. It’s a tough weekend for both the drivers and the team members: it’s hot and humid, even at night, meaning hydration is very important. The drivers, in particular, need to be in perfect shape: Singapore is the longest race of the year and one in which they will need to be confident in the car and precise, as the walls are unforgiving and there’s no room for mistakes.”

    eom/with inputs from Sahara Force India release