Friday Practice 1

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of the session with a last-lap flyer – something later deemed to be illegal by the stewards due to it being under double waved yellows, after a crash for Jaime Alguersuari and engine woes forcing Pastor Maldonado to a standstill in the final minutes of the session.

Sandwiched between Lewis Hamilton and teammate Jenson Button were the two Red Bulls, with Sebastian Vettel ahead of Mark Webber.

Ferrari’s Fernando managed just four laps before he pulled up off track, having lost power from his engine. That left Felipe Massa the only prancing horse on track, running the team’s new, rather flexible front wing.

Indian Karun Chandhok became the first ever driver to set a lap in anger in India, fittingly so as it was on home turf for Team Lotus’ reserve.

Free Practice 2

In Free Practice 2, it was Felipe Massa who set the fastest time of the session, with the new Ferrari front wing seemingly having a positive impact on the performance of the car.

Sebastian Vettel found himself in 2nd between the two Ferraris, with Mark Webber in a McLaren sandwich, with Lewis Hamilton 4th and Jenson Button 6th.

The only real drama from the session was provided by Virgin’s Jerome d’Ambrosio, who caused red flags to emerge when he crashed after clipping a kerb, sending him backwards into a wall.

Vitaly Petrov, Renault, Monza, 2011 - Photo © Renault/LAT

Renault’s Vitaly Petrov has been given a reprimand and a five-place grid drop for the Indian Grand Prix, after he ploughed into the back of Michael Schumacher at today’s Korean Grand Prix.

“I tried to defend my position from Fernando but I was in the braking zone on the dirty side of the track which meant I locked my wheels and hit Michael,” the Russian explained. “I was focused on my battle with Fernando as there was potential for me to be ahead of him. We both braked too late as he missed the corner too. Up until that point I was happy with our strategy and how the race was going. I apologise to Michael, it was not his fault, it was absolutely my fault – once my wheels were locked there was nothing I could do about it. But that’s racing and tomorrow is another day.”

The collision, which caused the only safety car of the race, resulted in the retirement of both cars from the Grand Prix. Despite this, Schumacher simply feels that “that’s racing”:

“Another unfortunate end to a race which could have been encouraging today. It’s a big pity as the car was again very good in race trim and I had already gained some positions. It would have been interesting to see what was possible, and I think we could certainly have taken some points. As for the incident, I didn’t see Vitaly coming; I was just suddenly spun into a direction I had not intended to go, and then I saw my rear wing hanging off. It was unfortunate but these things happen when you fight hard – that’s racing.”

Constructors’ Championship

Sebastian Vettel has today won the Korean Grand Prix from Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber, leading almost from start to finish after jumping the polesitter on the first lap. This result means that Red Bull are now constructors’ champions.

Vettel takes the lead

Despite not starting from pole position, it didn’t take Sebastian Vettel very long before he had clear air in front of him. It was a decent start from polesitter Lewis Hamilton, but unfortunately for him it wasn’t good enough, as the Red Bull cruised past the McLaren on the straight.

It was bad news for another McLaren as well – Jenson Button ran wide and was passed by Felipe Massa, Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso, and started lap 2 down in 6th place, having lost three places from where he started.

Ferrari have been accused of bias towards Fernando Alonso in the past, but there was certainly none shown in the opening stages, as he was held up behind Felipe Massa, who wasn’t giving an inch to his teammate, with Jenson Button also behind held up behind the Brazilian.

First pit phase

Due to being held up behind the Ferrari duo, Jenson Button was one of the earliest drivers to come in for their stops, as he pitted on lap 14. Nico Rosberg came in at the same time, and rather intriguingly made a quicker stop than McLaren, leading to the duo being side-by-side down the pit lane.

Rosberg got his nose in front, but made a mistake and locked up on his way out of the pit lane, allowing Button back through. The early stop proved to be a smart move from McLaren, as following the stops of the two Ferraris, he was in front.

After the first pit stop phase a safety car was deployed following a collision, which involved Vitaly Petrov ploughing into the back of a completely innocent Michael Schumacher, and one which will be investigated after the Grand Prix.

Fight for 2nd

After the second round of pit stops the real battle was for 2nd place, with Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso all fighting for the spot as runner-up.

Alonso was one of the last drivers to make their second stop, and in doing this he was able to get by his teammate Felipe Massa, following a great long stint on the harder compound tyre.

At one point in the closing laps Webber dived past Hamilton, only for the Briton to come back past immediately, utilising the DRS and KERS up the long straight.

That was how it finished, with Vettel leading from Hamilton, Webber, Button, Alonso and Massa. Jaime Alguersuari did an outstanding job to take 7th, passing Nico Rosberg on the final lap. Sebastien Buemi capped a great day for Toro Rosso in 9th, with Paul di Resta rounding out the points-paying positions.

Result

Lewis Hamilton today broke Red Bull’s incredible 100% pole position record for this season, and will start ahead of world champion Sebastian Vettel. Jenson Button qualified 3rd, as the race for the constructors’ title becomes even harder to predict.

Q1

Rubens Barrichello was the big victim of Q1, along with the usual suspects from Lotus, Virgin and Hispania. He was knocked out by his teammate Pastor Maldonado after the chequered flag fell, and will start tomorrow’s race from back in 18th on the grid. Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in the first part of qualifying.

Behind him will be the two Lotus drivers with Heikki Kovalainen in front of Jarno Trulli. The Virgin duo of Timo Glock and Jerome d’Ambrosio line up in that order behind, with Tonio Liuzzi in front of Daniel Ricciardo at the back. Ricciardo failed to set a lap time due to technical issues but should be able to start the race.

Q2

Michael Schumacher was the shock exit in Q2, and could only manage 12th place on the grid in a Toro Rosso sandwich, with Jaime Alguersuari in front and Sebastien Buemi behind.

Schumacher and Alguersuari were the victims of a late Force India rally, with both Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta saving themselves at the death.

Kamui Kobayashi will start alongside the Swiss on row seven, with Bruno Senna 15th in front of fellow South Americans Pastor Maldonado and Sergio Perez.

Q3

Lewis Hamilton scored his 19th career pole position, as he broke Red Bull’s 100% pole record for this season, and forced them to wait a little while longer for the record of 16 poles in a single season.

Vettel could only manage 2nd behind Hamilton, and the last time he failed to start from the front – at the German Grand Prix – it was Lewis Hamilton who was stood on the top step of the podium.

Jenson Button will start from 3rd, with Mark Webber alongside him on row two. Felipe Massa out-qualified Fernando Alonso again to start in front of the Spaniard, with Nico Rosberg and Vitaly Petrov forming row four.

Force India duo Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil will start from 9th and 10th respectively.

Jenson Button, McLaren, Suzuka, 2011 - Photo © McLaren

Sebastian Vettel has today been crowned world champion, despite only finishing 3rd in today’s Japanese Grand Prix. Jenson Button spoiled the Red Bull party, winning the Grand Prix, with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso 2nd.

It was a lively start between the two remaining championship contenders Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel. Button got away much quicker than Vettel, but the German ruthlessly squeezed him off the track, leading to Lewis Hamilton jumping his teammate for 2nd and protests from the McLaren team.

The incident between the two was investigated, but no further action was taken but the stewards panel, including former F1 driver Alan Jones.

Lewis Hamilton was the first driver into the pits on lap 9, but not down to his choice – a puncture meant he quickly diverted into the pits, backing up everyone bar Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button in the process.

A lap later, Vettel came in for a new set of soft tyres, and so did Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber on the following lap.

Felipe Massa took the lead of the race until he made his stop for soft tyres on lap 12, leaving Vettel leading from Button, Alonso, Hamilton and Massa.

Vettel was once again the first to come in for the second stops, again for another set of the softer tyre. Some smart work from Red Bull saw Mark Webber come in on the same lap, but they timed it so well that he didn’t lose any time whatsoever.

However, incredibly, Jenson Button pitted on the next lap for the option tyre, and thanks to gaining time in the pit lane exited ahead of Vettel.

After the second pit stop phase was completed, Jenson Button led from Vettel, Alonso, Webber, Massa and Hamilton, who was being held up behind Michael Schumacher until the German came in for his second stop a few laps later.

A safety car was deployed on lap 24, due to contact between Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa leaving debris on the track, with the incident being investigated. No further action was taken, with the race resuming on lap 28.

Button was flying shortly after, setting new fastest laps with the clean air in front of his McLaren.

Interestingly, on lap 34 Sebastian Vettel pitted first of the front-runners again, for a set of the harder compound tyres. He was followed by teammate Mark Webber a lap later.

Jenson Button pitted from the lead 3 laps later, exiting comfortably in front of Sebastian Vettel. Some slick pit stop work from Ferrari in the pit lane saw Fernando Alonso jump Vettel when he exited, demoting the German down to 3rd place after the third pit stop phase.

Michael Schumacher led the Grand Prix until lap 41 when he made his third stop of the race – the first time he has led a Formula 1 race since this very Grand Prix five years ago.

Fernando Alonso began to rapidly chase down Jenson Button, and was within DRS range with just 3 laps remaining. However, it wasn’t enough, with the Briton winning the Grand Prix, ahead of Alonso and Vettel, with the latter securing his second consecutive championship title.

Mark Webber finished 4th, with Lewis Hamilton 5th. Michael Schumacher finished above his target in 6th place, holding off Felipe Massa to the line. Sergio Perez was sadly the only Sauber in the points, his teammate Kamui Kobayashi could only manage 13th on home soil.

Vitaly Petrov and Nico Rosberg were 9th and 10th, rounding off the points-paying positions.

Full results to follow…

Sebastian Vettel took pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix, but it wasn’t by much, with McLaren’s Jenson Button just nine-thousandths-of-a-second behind, and Lewis Hamilton 3rd.

Q1

Nico Rosberg was the big casualty of Q1, with the German set to start tomorrow’s race with only Vitantonio Liuzzi behind him – a hydraulics problem on his Mercedes was the cause of his woes. He was eliminated with the usual crowd, with Lotus leading the way at the back of the grid.

Heikki Kovalainen will start just ahead of his teammate Jarno Trulli in 18th and 19th respectively, Belgian Jerome d’Ambrosio out-qualified his teammate Timo Glock for 20th, with Rosberg splitting the two Hispanias; Ricciardo ahead of Liuzzi.

Q2

An unwell Sergio Perez didn’t have the best of days, finishing last in Q2 thanks to a hydraulic problem. Fortunately for his teammate and the only driver racing on home soil today – Kamui Kobayashi – he didn’t suffer the same misfortune, and a last-gasp effort saw him creep into the pole-position shootout.

The two Force Indias of Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta will make up row six tomorrow, Williams drivers Rubens Barrichello, and Pastor Maldonado row seven, Toro Rosso duo Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari row eight, and Sergio Perez 17th.

Q3

There was much tyre-saving and little track action until two minutes of the session remaining, with Sebastian Vettel taking pole position from McLaren’s Jenson Button by  just nine-thousandths-of-a-second.

Sadly Lewis Hamilton, who had a real chance of taking pole position this weekend, was held up by Michael Schumacher at the final corner of his out-lap, and missed the time cut, meaning he has to settle for 3rd place for tomorrow’s race.

Felipe Massa did well to out-qualify teammate Fernando Alonso for only the third time this season, with the two Ferraris 4th and 5th. Mark Webber could only manage 6th.

Michael Schumacher, Bruno Senna, Vitaly Petrov and Kamui Kobayashi all didn’t complete a Q3 lap, and will start from 7th-10th respectively.

Sebastian Vettel has today won the Singapore Grand Prix in typical dominant fashion, leading from start to finish and edging ever closer to his second consecutive world championship title. He now requires just one point in the remaining five races to become champion. Jenson Button took 2nd having pushed Vettel all the way to the line, with Mark Webber 3rd.

Vettel got away cleanly along with teammate Mark Webber, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Australian being jumped by Jenson Button off the line for 2nd place, and Fernando Alonso for 3rd place. Lewis Hamilton was the biggest loser amongst the championship contenders, falling down to 8th place behind Michael Schumacher on lap 1.

However, it didn’t take long for Hamilton to get back past the German, unlike last time around when the Briton’s race was ruined by the seven-time champion. This time around, the McLaren took the Mercedes once DRS had been activated with a smart overtaking manoeuvre.

Shortly after Hamilton took aim at the other Mercedes of Nico Rosberg, and succesfully passed him for P6 down the inside on the run down to turn 7, utilising the DRS once more, while Sebastian Vettel managed to pull away from Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber and Felipe Massa at a remarkable rate.

The first frontrunner to pit was Fernando Alonso on lap 10, who dived into the pits for a set of the harder compound tyres just after being passed by Mark Webber in a superb move. A lap later Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton dived into the pits for soft and super-soft tyres respectively, and exited in that order. However just after exiting the pit lane there was contact between the two, thanks to some clumsy work by Hamilton in clipping Massa’s rear tyre.

Both were forced to dive into the pits, Massa due to a puncture and Hamilton due to a broken front wing, ruining any chance of a successful race for the duo. Mark Webber pitted on lap 13, and thanks to some smart work in the pit lane from Ferrari, when Webber exited he was behind the Spaniard Fernando Alonso.

After Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button made their stops from 1st and 2nd on lap 15, Lewis Hamilton’s day went from bad to worse as it was announced he had been handed a drive-through penalty for causing a collision in the incident involving Felipe Massa.

Paul di Resta was running in 3rd place for a while after all of the championship contenders had made their stops as he started the race on the harder compound of tyres. However once he pitted on lap 20, he fell down to 8th place and Vettel, Button and Alonso led the race while Lewis Hamilton toiled down in 15th position.

Di Resta holding up Fernando Alonso greatly benefited Mark Webber and allowed him to close the gap to the Spaniard dramatically. Alonso was the first contender to make their second stop, he went onto the harder compound tyre on lap 26, exiting behind Webber’s Red Bull.

There was drama on the half-way mark when Michael Schumacher made contact with the back of Sergio Perez‘s Sauber and went flying into the barrier, leading to the first safety car of the race being deployed. Many drivers used this to their advantage and came into the pits, with Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button and Mark Webber all making their second stops. Lewis Hamilton came into the pits for the fourth time under the safety car for a set of super-softs, in the hope a quick stint would help lift him into the higher points-paying positions.

Once the debris had been cleared, Sebastian Vettel led the field away in front of Jenson Button, with Fernando Alonso ahead of Mark Webber after pitting earlier on – the second time Ferrari had used the undercut to their advantage this race.

However, the advantage didn’t last long – the safety car came in on lap 34 and on the same lap Mark Webber took advantage of the chaos of the re-start to jump ahead of Alonso at the tricky turn 10 for 3rd place.

Meanwhile back down the field Lewis Hamilton continued his charge, catching and passing each car in front of him like a computer game. Adrian Sutil, Nico Rosberg and Paul di Resta were all past by the charging 2008 world champion who had worked his way up to an impressive 5th with 20 laps remaining.

On lap 48, Mark Webber made his third and final stop, and just a lap later Jenson Button came in from P2, with Lewis Hamilton also pitting from 5th. On lap 50 Sebastian Vettel came in from the lead, with Fernando Alonso from 3rd. At the end of this pit stop madness Vettel led from Button, Webber 3rd, Alonso 4th and Hamilton 5th.

Button was slowly but surely closing in on the leader in the closing laps, making the super-soft tyres super fast on his McLaren. However, he wasn’t closing down at a quick enough rate, and the chequered flag interrupted his charge. Vettel won, with Button 2nd and Webber 3rd.

Fernando Alonso took 4th, with Lewis Hamilton an astonishing 5th having pitted five times throughout the race. Paul di Resta was 6th, Nico Rosberg 7th, Adrian Sutil 8th, Felipe Massa 9th and Sergio Perez rounded off the points-paying positions in 10th.

Full results to follow…

Sebastian Vettel has won the 2011 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, after a sensational drive from pole position. Jenson Button finished 2nd, with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso 3rd.

It was madness on the first lap, both at the front and the back of the race. Hamilton, Alonso and pole-sitter Vettel were three abreast, with Alonso diving into the lead ahead of Vettel and Hamilton, much to the delight of the Ferrari fans.

Meanwhile at the back of the grid a spin from Tonio Liuzzi resulted in carnage and teammate Daniel Ricciardo, Nico Rosberg, Vitaly Petrov, Jerome d’Ambrosio and himself out of the race.

The safety car was deployed despite it being a rare occurrence at Monza, and there was more drama on the restart, when a sleepy Lewis Hamilton was slow on the accelerator leaving Michael Schumacher free to take third place from the Briton.

Meanwhile at the front Sebastian Vettel managed to barge his way to the front of the race once more after a terrific move on Fernando Alonso at the second chicane.

On the same lap, contact between Felipe Massa and Mark Webber left the latter out of the race with no front wing attached to his Red Bull.

Lewis Hamilton was quickly becoming frustrated at being stuck behind Michael Schumacher, who had impressive straight-line speed on his Mercedes. On lap 13 it seemed like Hamilton had finally completed the move when he dived in front into the first chicane, but he didn’t cut the German off and complete the move, and the seven-time champion just swept back around to pick up the place.

Red Bull and Ferrari were laughing their way to the podium in front of the battling duo, when McLaren had not only one driver being held up but two drivers, with Jenson Button queuing up behind his teammate.

On lap 17 Schumacher chopped back across the charging Hamilton, meaning the 2008 champion had half of his car on the grass and had to lift off the throttle, leaving his teammate Button to take the place.

Hamilton re-took 4th place not long after with Schumacher pitting on the same lap. Jenson Button came in a lap later.

On lap 19 Lewis Hamilton also came into the pits for a fresh set of soft tyres like the aforementioned pair, but much to his frustration he exited just behind Schumacher, as he drifted further and further behind the race lead.

He continued to duck and dive all over the track to try to find a way past Schumacher but to no avail. Hamilton was complaining about the German making too many defensive moves, and McLaren lodged a complaint to the race stewards.

Fernando Alonso pitted a lap ahead of Sebastian Vettel, with Felipe Massa also going onto a new set of soft tyres for Ferrari, exiting the pits behind Lewis Hamilton in 6th place.

As the race approached half distance, Schumacher continued to hold off Hamilton until lap 28, when Hamilton finally passed him into Ascari and completed the move. Meanwhile up ahead, Jenson Button was quickly gaining on 2nd place Fernando Alonso, while Sebastian Vettel managed to take huge chunks of time out of the rest of the field.

Jenson Button was the first of the front-runners to make their second stop onto the harder tyre, with Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton pitting a lap later, and Vettel two laps later.

It became quickly clear that the Ferrari doesn’t like the harder Pirelli compound as suspected, as despite exiting the pit lane just ahead of Button, Alonso was passed by the 2009 world champion on the next lap for 2nd place.

This gave Lewis Hamilton some hope of catching his former teammate Alonso before the chequered flag, but unfortunately for him he tantalizingly ran out of time, and could only manage 4th place come the chequered flag. He wound up behind Alonso, race winner Sebastian Vettel and 2nd place Jenson Button.

Michael Schumacher drove a good race to 5th, ahead of an anonymous Felipe Massa. It was a disappointing race for Ferrari after a promising start in front of the famous tifosi.

Jaime Alguersuari put himself forward for the driver of the day title, driving from 18th on the grid to 7th, ahead of Paul di Resta, Bruno Senna and Toro Rosso teammate Sebastien Buemi.

Pastor Maldonado finished directly ahead of teammate Rubens Barrichello in 11th and 12th as Williams failed to score any points again. Heikki Kovalainen was 13th in front of teammate Jarno Trulli, with Timo Glock rounding off the 15 finishers.