Four men could become world champion in Abu Dhabi this weekend. McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton has only an outside chance, but Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Red Bull’s Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel are all real contenders
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel has sealed his place in the F1 history books as the sports youngest world champion after a dominant win in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. Vettel led home the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.
The men who had been ahead in the standings, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Red Bull’s Mark Webber, lost out on the ultimate prize after ill-timed pit stops, finishing seventh and eighth…
A couple of months back many had ruled him out of the title fight. Fernando Alonso maintained he could still do it and after his faultless drive to the top of the table in Korea – his third win in four races – his doubters are now eating their words.
The Spaniard’s brilliance in Yeongam’s testing conditions, combined with a disastrous day for Red Bull, means that with just two rounds to go he heads the standings by 11 points…
Lewis Hamilton slipped in the fastest lap so far this weekend right at the end of Saturday morning’s final practice session.
The 2008 world champion opted for a low-downforce set-up on his McLaren, and beat Fernando Alonso’s late rush for Ferrari with a lap of 1m 22.498s. Sebastian Vettel also improved to 1m 22.545s to trail the Englishman by only 0.047s as he edged out Alonso’s 1m 22.644s…
The title fight couldn’t be better poised as it enters its final European stage after the summer break, with only 20 points – less than you get for a win – separating the top five drivers.
In Hungary Mark Webber moved up to the lead with 161 points after becoming the only driver to win four times this season. He is chased by McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton on 157, Red Bull team mate Sebastian Vettel on 151, McLaren’s Jenson Button on 147, and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso on 141…
After all the rain in Belgium on Friday morning and through lunch, it was dry for the second practice session during the afternoon, which was halted for a few minutes with a quarter of an hour to run because spectators were suspected to be in a dangerous area.
Adrian Sutil set the pace throughout for Force India, only to be upstaged right at the end when Fernando Alonso bettered him by 0.125s in the Ferrari. The Spaniard lapped in 1m 49.032s, compared to the German’s 1m 49.157s.
1st Mark Webber (Red Bull), 1h41m05.571s; 2nd Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), 1h41m23.392s; 3rd Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), 1h41m24.823s.
Q: Mark, a commanding win by the end of 70 laps. But it was probably the 43 you managed in your first stint that really set it up.
Mark Webber: Yeah, that’s right. The start we always knew was going to be a little bit tricky on that side. Fernando got a good start…
Ferrari will appear before the FIA World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) next month following their controversial one-two result at July’s German Grand Prix.
The Italian team were fined US$100,000 by the Hockenheim race stewards for breaching sporting regulations after Felipe Massa, who had been leading the event, moved aside to allow team mate Fernando Alonso past. The stewards also forwarded their report to the WMSC for further consideration.
Mark Webber dominated the final session of practice prior to Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying, finishing the hour 0.484s ahead of Red Bull team mate Sebastian Vettel whose final three efforts to unseat him came up short.
Webber’s lap of 1m 19.574s struck terror into the hearts of rivals, and just to rub their noses in it, Vettel’s lap of 1m 20.058s was itself seven-tenths clear of Fernando Alonso’s 1m 20.724s for Ferrari…
Sebastian Vettel was in a world of his own in qualifying as he thrust his Red Bull to a fastest time of 1m 18.773s, and his second-run lap of 1m 18.832s would have been sufficient to win him the pole too as team mate Mark Webber could not improve on his first effort of 1m 19.184s.
The only man to get anywhere near the Australian was Fernando Alonso with 1m 19.987s for Ferrari, then there was a big gap to Felipe Massa on 1m 20.331s in the other Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton who achieved McLaren’s dream with a top five time, 1m 20.499s.
