Nico Rosberg takes victory at Grand Prix

By LOREN HAZELWOOD

Nico Rosberg crossing the line in Melbourne. Credit: AFP

After a strong pre-season testing, Formula One favourite Mercedes proved too strong at the weekend’s Grand Prix with driver Nico Rosberg taking the victory at Melbourne’s Albert Park street circuit.

Rosberg managed to win the first Grand Prix of the season by over 23 seconds, with Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo crossing the line in second place. However, he was later disqualified due to the fuel flow reading after the race.

Because of Ricciardo’s disqualification, McLaren’s rookie driver Kevin Magnussen stole the show, finishing second on the podium for his first ever Formula One race.

Mercedes was the strong favourite to win right from the start with driver Lewis Hamilton putting the car on pole position during qualifying.

The start of the race saw everything unfold, with Rosberg getting the jump and leading into the first corner.

Ricciardo was right behind in second place, making the country proud as he put the new Red Bull on the front row.

Turn one also saw the first crash for the season with Williams driver Felipe Massa being forced off the circuit after Kamui Kobayashi’s car had a rear brake-by-wire failure, causing Kobayashi’s Caterham to crash into the side of Massa.

With Rosberg and Ricciardo leading the pack, Hamilton started to fall backwards with the Mercedes V6 Turbo-charged engine having a failing cylinder, forcing him to retire early.

Reliability issues also saw current world champion Sebastian Vettel having to retire with the car down on power, while the two Lotus cars raced by Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado both stopped on the circuit with few laps to spare.

The battle of the race was further down the field with William’s driver Valtteri Bottas making a great comeback and managing to finish in fifth position after brushing the wall and damaging his rear right tyre.

McLaren’s new car was looking strong, with driver Jenson Button also finishing on the podium due to Ricciardo’s after-race penalty.

Meanwhile Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso finished in fourth place.

German Rosberg currently leads the Formula One Drivers’ Championship, with Round Two of the FIA Formula One Championship being held at Malaysia from 28-30 March.

Vettel takes pole for Korean Grand Prix

Fiasco Sports, Formula 1

Reigning Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel has claimed pole position for the 2013 Korean Grand Prix.

Sebastian Vettel takes his sixth pole for the season. Photo: Getty Images/The Daily Telegraph

Sebastian Vettel has taken his sixth consecutive pole position for the 2013 Formula 1 Championship, setting a great first lap in Q3 with a time of 1:37.202.

The German was quick throughout all the qualifying sessions, feeling threatened by the Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, who was quickest in practice yesterday, qualifying second.

Australian Redbull racer Mark Webber qualified in third, but will unfortunately will take a 10-spot penalty for tomorrow’s race due to an incident from the Singapore Grand Prix.

Lotus driver Romain Grosjean took fourth spot on the grid, while his teammate Kimi Raikkonen qualified tenth.

Next in line on the grid are the Ferrari team, with Fernando Alonso qualifying sixth and Felipe Massa starting from seventh.

The Sauber-Ferrari had a strong run in qualifying, with Nico Hulkenberg taking eighth and Esteban Gutierrez placing ninth.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo just missed out on the top ten, starting from 13th for tomorrow’s race.

Despite no one having ever won the Korean Grand Prix from pole before, Vettel is confident he can back up his win from last year and extend his championship lead.

Full qualifying results

Pos	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:38.683	1:37.569	1:37.202
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:38.574	1:37.824	1:37.420
3	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:39.138	1:37.840	1:37.464
4	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1:39.065	1:38.076	1:37.531
5	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:38.418	1:38.031	1:37.679
6	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:38.520	1:37.978	1:38.038
7	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:38.884	1:38.295	1:38.223
8	Nico Hulkenberg	Sauber-Ferrari	1:38.427	1:37.913	1:38.237
9	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	1:38.725	1:38.327	1:38.405
10	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	1:38.341	1:38.181	1:38.822
11	Sergio Perez	McLaren-Mercedes	1:39.049	1:38.362
12	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:38.882	1:38.365
13	Daniel Ricciardo	STR-Ferrari	1:38.525	1:38.417
14	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1:38.988	1:38.431
15	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	1:39.185	1:38.718
16	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Ferrari	1:39.075	1:38.781
17	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Renault	1:39.470
18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	1:39.987
19	Charles Pic	Caterham-Renault	1:40.864
20	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham-Renault	1:40.871
21	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Cosworth	1:41.169

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The Formula 1 Line-up Of Beards

Formula 1, Spultured

In recent years, I have noticed a new trend appearing across the Formula 1 field and it isn’t helmet design. Apparently now it’s all about the facial hair you’re sporting under the lid. Let’s take a look at some of the heavy hitters when it comes to those fuzzy face warmers.

The Lewis Hamilton
Having recently made a switch into the Mercedes team, Hamilton is pictured here running in the clean-cut look. This is where the beard highlights the outside of the face, while having a shorter haircut. Also known to be very aerodynamic.

The Button Blonde Babe
Having one World Championship up his belt, the McLaren driver has made this blonde-babe look very popular among his rival, Sebastian Vettel. Jenson Button’s facial hair is blonde in colour, highlighting his messy hair-look. Also works well with helmet hair.

The Nico DiCaprio
After recently cutting his long blonde locks, Nico Rosberg has gone for the rougher, edgier look. Having similar looks to Leonardo DiCaprio, Rosberg’s beard is neat but brings out his Hollywood style. This look works well with winning races.

The Webber-Wolf
The retiring Australian has let his beard go wild this year, representing a similar style to Hugh Jackman in Wolverine. Mark Webber is pictured here with his cat, with his beard dark in colour and wildly un-shaven, matching his hair. This look works well with Multi-21.

The Iceman
Kimi Raikkonen, aka. The Iceman, runs a clean look with no facial fuzz, as he has to keep his reputation up as The Iceman. Also known to not show emotion.

The Peach Fuzz
Romain Grosjean was famous for his turn one crashes last year, but the facial hair he is sporting looks like he hasn’t shaved since he started his F1 career. The Lotus driver’s facial hair highlights his youth, running the bare minimum on the face. This look works well with going into turn one on three wheels.

The Fernando Alonso
This cheeky Ferrari driver has been in the game for a while and knows how to grow a mean mow. Fernando Alonso is pictured here with a faint moustache and beard, while keeping his chunky brows neat. Also known to look good with the colour red.

While some of the younger and developing drivers in the field are trying to grow more facial hair, let’s just hope the 2014 list doesn’t include any ‘The Nigel Mansell’.

Vettel Claims Pole for Canadian Grand Prix

Fiasco Sports, Formula 1

Published on: http://www.fiascosports.com

Sebastian Vettel racing to pole. Photo: Luca Bruno

Redbull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel has taken advantage of the wet circuit conditions at the Montreal circuit, taking his third-straight pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton was second quickest to the German, but the surprise for the session was William’s driver Veltteri Bottas who blitzed through the wet conditions to qualify third.

Monaco-winner Nico Rosberg continued to show his pace placing fourth, with Australian Mark Webber rounding out the top five.

Fernando Alonso struggled once again with the car, only managing sixth fastest, with Jean Eric-Vergne, Adrian Sutil, Kimi Raikkonen and Australian Daniel Ricciardo to start in the top ten.

Ferrari driver Felipe Massa unfortunately finished Q2 in the wall, with the qualifying session then red-flagged with minutes to go.

The two McLarens continued their lack of pace, with Jenson Button and Sergio Perez both missing out on Q3.

Despite qualifying in 19^th, Romain Grosjean will surrender his position and start in last place, due to a 10-grid spot penalty from causing an incident at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Pos Driver Team Time Gap

1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m25.425s

2. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m25.512s + 0.087s

3. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m25.897s + 0.472s

4. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m26.008s + 0.583s

5. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m26.208s + 0.783s

6. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m26.504s + 1.079s

7. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m26.543s + 1.118s

8. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m27.348s + 1.923s

9. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m27.432s + 2.007s

10. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m27.946s + 2.521s

11. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m29.435s + 1.786s

12. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m29.761s + 2.112s

13. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m29.917s + 2.268s

14. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m30.068s + 2.419s

15. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m30.315s + 2.666s

16. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m30.354s + 2.705s

17. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m24.908s + 2.590

18. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m25.626s + 3.308

19. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m25.716s + 3.398

20. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m26.508s + 4.190

21. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.062s + 4.744

22. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m27.110s + 4.792

Media by Loren Hazelwood

Motor sport media, marketing and content specialist

Romain Grosjean

Nico Rosberg takes victory at Grand Prix

Vettel takes pole for Korean Grand Prix

The Formula 1 Line-up Of Beards

Vettel Claims Pole for Canadian Grand Prix