Issue 6 - 2013

mate Lewis Hamilton. Nico’s first lap time was a
1:33:684 still on inters. With 4 minutes to go it was
Sebastian Vettel on the top with a good time of
1:32:604. With just 3 minutes to go, we see Kimi
Raikkonen being wheeled into the garage, possible
damage as shortly before, he had drove over a jack.
However he was back out shortly after, as no damage
was seen. Drivers had also swapped to super soft
tyres, to which Jenson Button goes quickest with a
1:32:485. With seconds to go the lead kept changing,
Paul Di Resta went fourth, but in competition with
Lotus, Ferrari and Red Bull it just didn’t stick. Lewis
Hamilton then went quickest, but then came the two
Red Bulls, Sebastian first who went quicker, then on
the last corner Mark Webber went wide (which
potentially lost him pole position), but he came to
finish on front row just behind his team mate.
The Race:
As the lights went out it was Vettel who had a good
start, whereas Mark Webber lost 5 places, and
Hamilton moved up to second. However both Ferrari’s
overtook him at turn 2 and 3. Kimi Raikkonen then
overtook Hamilton at the end of the first lap. On lap 4
Jenson Button was the first to pit (as expected, on
Martin’s grid walk he said they weren’t pretty). Massa
and Alonso both started to gain on Vettel’s lead.
Perez also had a good start going from 15 th to 9 th in
the space of 4 laps. On lap 7 Vettel pitted to get the
harder tyre, the following lap Massa did the same who
was followed in by Di Resta. With Raikkonen hot on
Alonso’s tail, Alonso decided to pit, however
Raikkonen follows him in. At this stage (lap 13) Lewis
Hamilton was leading the race, with Nico Rosberg
and Adrian Sutil not far behind, but they were all yet
to pit. On lap 14 Hamilton pits for the harder tyre and
comes out in front of Sergio Perez. The following lap
his team mate Rosberg pitted and he came out in
front of Jenson Button. At the end of lap 14, it was
Adrian Sutil leading the grand prix, having not pitted.
However Vettel was close behind and the two
Ferrari’s were even closer to Vettel. On lap 17 Perez
pits, and Hamilton starts to catch the front five drivers.
Webber then pits on lap 19, one lap later Grosjean
does the same. On lap 21 Alonso pits and Vettel has
a slide on the exit of a corner, with his tyres wearing
fast. On lap 22 Sutil and Vettel pit, but come out
behind Alonso! Webber sets the fastest lap of the
race, shortly after he over takes Perez for 10 th place.
On lap 25 it was Kimi Raikkonen leading the race,
followed by both Mercedes, with Alonso, Vettel and
Massa shortly behind. Maldonado goes to fast into a
corner, and skids straight off the track and beaches it
in the gravel, he then has to retire, with yellow flags in
that section. A few laps later Alonso starts to catch 3 rd
place man Nico Rosberg, however we then see
Rosberg pull his car over and stop. It was later
announced that it was a possible electronic failure
that caused him to retire. On lap 30, Alonso starts to
catch Hamilton by just under a second a lap, to which
two laps later he does manage to overtake him. On
lap 35 Raikkonen pits, but comes out behind Felipe
Massa, in the mist of all the pit stops, Alonso sets the
fastest lap of the race. On lap 37 Massa pits, and on
lap 38 Vettel pits, they both come out behind Lewis
Hamilton. As well on lap 38 Jenson Button pits, to
which Romain Grosjean follows. Lap 39 Felipe Massa
does the fastest lap of the race, and Webber pits. The
lap after, Fernando Alonso pits. On lap 40 both Vettel
and Massa manage to overtake Hamilton. Daniel
Ricciardo also ends his race by retiring in the pit lane.
On lap 42 Di Resta is under pressure from Mark
Webber, and manages to fend him off at the chicane.
On lap 43 Hamilton pits and Raikkonen overtakes
Sutil for the lead. On lap 46 after catching him very
quickly, Alonso also overtakes the Force India to take
second place. On lap 47 Sutil pits for the super soft
tyres (as he had only run the harder compound tyre).
On lap 49 Hamilton started to catch Sutil and Chilton
overtook Van der Garde for 17 th place. On lap 51
Jean-Eric Vergne set the fastest lap of the race. On
lap 51 both Hamilton and Webber over take Sutil, and
Paul Di Resta begins to catch his team mate. Alonso
then sets the fastest lap of the race, and starts to
quickly catch Kimi Raikonnen, however whilst trying
to overtake the Caterham of Charles Pic his back end
flicks out, and he loses some time. To make it worse
for Alonso, Raikkonen then does the fastest lap of the
race. With the finish line in sight, it’s Kimi Raikkonen
who wins the first grand prix of the season, with
Alonso in 2 nd and Vettel in 3 rd .
The finishing grid:
1. Raikkonen
2. Alonso
3. Vettel
4. Massa
5. Hamilton
6. Webber
7. Sutil
8. Di Resta
9. Button
10. Grosjean
11. Perez
12. Vergne
13. Gutierrez
14. Bottas
15. Bianchi
16. Pic
17. Chilton
18. Van der Garde
DNF - Ricciardo
DNF - Rosberg
DNF - Maldonado
DNS - Hulkenberg