From GMM
F1 cars' standard electronic units, supplied by a McLaren subsidiary, are causing problems in 2013.
As the electronic control units (ECU) were upgraded ahead of the turbo V6 debut next year, teams struck trouble during recent testing.
McLaren Electronic Systems (MES) reacted to the bugs, but in Melbourne on Saturday, the telemetry links between the cars and FIA race control failed.
It meant drivers had to revert to watching trackside flags rather than cockpit lights, while race director Charlie Whiting was unable to automatically disable the cars' DRS systems, according to Auto Motor und Sport.
Meanwhile, a Melbourne power outage caused chaos among F1's international television broadcasters in the crucial buildup to qualifying -- which ultimately was delayed due to bad weather.
Kyle Busch was almost surprised to break the qualifying record on the way to his first Sprint Cup pole at the .533 mile Bristol Motor Speedway.
“After a couple of years of getting used to wrecking here, it sort of all fell into place,” Busch said. “I've never sat on a pole here at Bristol and qualifying is not everything here. Most of my wins come from about 30th or worse...”
Driving a Toyota; Busch turned a lap in 14.813 seconds eclipsing the record held by Ryan Newman, who had run the first sub-15-second lap in 2003.
Friday's top nine qualifiers beat the 15-second-lap time, with Busch trailed by Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin, Brian Vickers, Paul Menard, Jamie McMurray, Brad Keselowski, Tony Stewart and Martin Truex Jr. Joey Logano rounded out the top ten.
One of the reasons for his pole, Busch opined, “the track is getting a little bit of age on it so it's getting a little bit rougher and that's about all that we felt different from what we've had here in the past years."
Kahne, who drives a Chevrolet, went out after Busch's lap and was aware he had a big job ahead. “I knew Kyle (had put down a great lap and a track record. So I knew I had to go pretty hard,” he said.
“I just felt like I may have given up a little bit in (Turns) 1 and 2, which would have made it really close for the pole. But, we it was still really good between (Turns) 3 and 4. The car was balanced really nice. I wish we could have beat Kyle but he put down a great lap.”
Hamlin, Busch's teammate, said “Yeah, it was good. Our car has really had a lot of speed since we got here. We haven't been able to really mess it up too bad with any adjustments. It's really for us been more about getting our car off the race track, so we're pretty happy with what we've got and where we're headed so far this weekend.”
Vickers, who shares his ride with Mark Martin in the Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota while running full-time in the Nationwide Series, was pleased. “It's good to be back in the Sprint Cup Series,” he said.
“The car was good -- it was really good, better than practice. Rodney (Childers, the crew chief) did a great job all weekend. I was trying to get too much out of the car and we ended up at a (14) .90 or .91 -- I think it probably had a mid to low .80 and trying to get a .70 was just too much.”
From GMM
Australian grand prix boss Andrew Westacott has ruled out organising a Melbourne night race.
Recently, from the paddock of the final winter test in Barcelona, drivers Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo, and team boss Christian Horner, called on the Australian promoters to install floodlights so that the action can be held after dark in future.
Bernie Ecclestone has been pushing for it for years, because the season opener could be beamed live to the bulk European audience at a better hour.
But Westacott is quoted by Speed Week: "How are we going to do that?
"We are in the middle of a city park, not to mention the huge cost to set up the lighting. And it wouldn't just be for the track, but for basically the entire park.
"It's unthinkable," he added.
Audi has locked down the first row of the starting grid at this year's 12 Hours of Sebring.
Marcel Fassler put the No. 1 Audi R8 e-tron quattro on pole, only .009 second clear of Allan McNish in the sister prototype. By doing so, Fassler registered the first hybrid-powered pole of all Sebring's history.
Nick Heidfeld, in the Rebellion Racing No. 13 Lola-Toyota, placed third.
In GT, Risi Competizione earned the pole in its first race since coming back to the ALMS after a one-year hiatus. Gianmaria Bruni clocked the pole-winning lap aboard his No. 62 Ferrari F458 Italia.
Corvette stands third, thanks to Oliver Gavin's performance in the No. 4 C6 ZER1, followed by Aston Martin, represented in the top 3 by Stefan Mucke and the No. 97 Vantage V8.
Ryan Briscoe took his first career Sebring pole in the P2 category, aboard Level 5's No. 551 HPD ARX-03b. He is followed by teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay in the sister car.
CORE autosport's Colin Braun set the pole in LMPC, while Andy Lally accomplished the same feat in GTC.
Qualifying results* - 12 Hours of Sebring (ALMS)
1.Fässler-Tréluyer-Jarvis (Audi R18) - Audi Joest - 1'43"886
2.Kristensen-McNish-Di Grassi (Audi R18) - Audi Joest - 1'43"895
3.Prost-Jani-Heidfeld (Lola B12/60-Toyota) - Rebellion - 1'46"456
4.Graf-Luhr-Dumas (HPD ARX-03c) - Pickett - 1'46"478
5.Beche-Belicchi-Cheng (Lola B12/60-Toyota) - Rebellion - 1'46"689
6.Dyson-Smith-Leitzinger (Lola B12/60-Mazda) - Dyson - 1'48"407
7.Tucker-Franchitti-Briscoe (HPD ARX-03b) - Level5 - 1'51"159
8.Tucker-Hunter-Reay-Pagenaud (HPD ARX-03b) - Level5 - 1'51"271
9.Kimber-Smith-Lux-Zugel (Zytek Z11SN-Nissan) - Greaves - 1'51"366
10.Sharp-Cosmo-Brabham (HPD ARX-03b) - Ext Speed - 1'52"703
(...)
*Unofficial
From GMM
Sebastian Vettel has extended his contract with Red Bull to the end of the 2016 season, according to Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung.
Previously committed to the energy drink-owned squad only to the end of next year, the report said the reigning triple world champion has now inked an extension for 2015 with an 'option' for the following season as well.
The report said team boss Christian Horner admitted the news to a small group of insiders in Melbourne.
Red Bull's Dr Helmut Marko said: "I can't imagine Horner said something like that."
Romain Grosjean set the fastest time in a rain soaked Free Practice 3 session before qualifying, putting his Lotus ahead of the Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa. The current world champion Sebastian Vettel, who topped yesterday's two free practice sessions finished down in 12th.
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| Romain Grosjean, Lotus E21 (Photo: WRi2) |
The ‘monsoon like' conditions continued into qualifying, with first part of the session taking place after a delay of 10 minutes. However, whilst the first round of qualifying did take place, sessions two and three were cancelled after a 40-minute delay and will now be held tomorrow morning before the race.
Q1 was characterized by a lack of grip in the wet conditions. Both Caterham drivers made contact with the walls, as did Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez on the exit of turn 12. The higher end of the grid was not free from casualties either, with Hamilton, Perez and Webber spinning and Massa slamming his car into the wall where Gutierrez had his incident. However, unlike the Mexican rookie, the Brazilian was able to continue.
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| Felipe Massa before meeting with the wall (Photo: WRi2) |
Nico Rosberg continued to highlight the impressive pace of the Mercedes, as he revelled in the cold and wet conditions that were similar to China last year where he scored his first win, and Mercedes' first since returning to the sport as a manufacturer in 2010.
The 27-year old German finished the session at the top of the time sheets with a 1min43.380s on intermediate tyres, almost half a second clear of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and Romain Grosjean in the Lotus. Vettel, who was on a personal best and on course to once again set the fastest time in his Red Bull when the session ended, finished his day in sixth.
Surprisingly, it was Pastor Maldonado who was the highest profile casualty of Q1 who after the session described his Williams as ‘undriveable' and that the team had taken a step backwards over the winter. The Venezuelan finished in 17th, one place in front of Gutierrez. Further down the grid, Marussia impressed again as both cars qualified ahead of the Caterhams with Bianchi 19th, one place ahead of teammate Chilton.
The rest of qualifying will now take place before the race tomorrow at 10:45 local time, or 23:45 GMT.
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| The damp Albert Park Circuit (Photo: WRi2) |
Ralf Schumacher announced he was bringing his racing career to an end, meaning he will not participate in the 2013 DTM championship.
Instead, the 37-year-old German will take on a managerial role at Mercedes' Mucke DTM team, and coach young drivers of the brand's fold.
His spot on Mercedes' drivers roster will be taken by 19-year-old Pascal Wehrlein, a former F3 Euroseries championship contender.
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| Ralf Schumacher (Photo: DTM) |
Over the course of his career as a driver, the younger Schumacher amassed six wins in F1. His best result in the championship was fourth, in 2001 and 2002. Without a drive, he exited F1 at the end of 2007, and started racing in the DTM the next season.
After five years, he bows out of the German touring car series with only a second place and a pole position to his name.
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