**The clocks go back 27 October** please log in to view this image Start please log in to view this image Rinse please log in to view this image Repeat please log in to view this image Practice sessions, qualifying and the race are live on BBC & Sky Sports F1. Past Winners: Vettel (2) Last year: Pole - Vettel Winner - Vettel Fastest lap - Button Friday 05.25 BBC2 - Practice 1 09.25 BBC2 - Practice 2 Saturday 06.25 BBC2 - Practice 3 08.30 BBC1 - Qualifying 13.00 BBC1 - Qualifying Highlights Sunday 08.30 BBC1 - Race 14.00 BBC1 - Race Highlights PREDICTION LEAGUE: x9 tomcat606 x8 miggins x7 RoadRunner x5 maxwhiplash (Hippo Bulkenberg) Paco Montoya TomTom94 v2.4 (beta) zer0 x4 diresta is faster than u BrightLampShade El_Bando jonnybaws julius Caesar The Iceman westcoastboogaloo x3 di fredsta <[O__o]> thistle21 DHCanary x2 Forza Bianchi allsaintschris justjazz stephen licorish StoneRosesRam x1 leucadendron54 AbsolutelyGlorious sportydan drudeboy happyal jackjeffries schneiderlin is the goal king marklarmergerbilfarmer pit lane charlie smithers Ajay Fernando I'm Batman smhbcfc Believe In Lewis Kyle (Hans Gruber)
I've gone for the long shot that is Vettel. He's out of form, in a poor car, and at a track he clearly dislikes. That said I think he has a chance of winning this weekend
My protest vote is Kimi - AGAIN! I just think that he needs a strong end to the season to put the pressure on Alonso for next year and I would love Lotus to snatch 2nd in the WCC from under Ferrari & Merc's noses! The crash kid and the oldey who cant be arsed beating the likes of Alonso & Lewis in two mega teams would be an interesting end to an otherwise dull season.
out of anybody to challenge Red Bull it would be Lotus. but with development pretty much seized this year for 2014. can they close the gap?
Kimi is out of sorts at the moment particularly in Qualifying, if anyone is going to challenge Vettel it would be Grosjean again unless Kimi sorts out his Qualifying issues.
I've gone for Romain Grosjean, because he will win this weekend. Or next race. Or whenever Vettel decides to stop being selfish. On a serious note, Vettel has to lose eventually, maybe this will be the weekend the streak ends.
Vettel will want to sign this season off as the most dominant season by a driver ever. No way will he let anybody else win not even his team mate.
James Allen on F1: Indian Grand Prix: Another tense strategy battle like Suzuka? Track characteristics Buddh International – 5.125 kilometres. Race distance – 60 laps = 307.249 kilometres. 16 corners in total. Average speed 210 km/h. A new circuit hosting a Grand Prix for the second time Aerodynamic setup – High downforce. Top speed 323km/h (with DRS open) 310km/h without Full throttle – 70% of the lap time. Total fuel needed for race distance – 161.6 kilos (high). Fuel consumption – 2.65 kg per lap (ave) Brake wear – average. Total time needed for a pit stop: 21 seconds Fuel effect (cost in lap time per 10kg of fuel carried): 0.35 seconds (ave/high) Likely tyre performance and other considerations Pirelli tyre choice for India: Soft (yellow markings) and medium (white markings). Last year Pirelli was too conservative with its tyre choice; hard and soft. The proof is that the four fastest laps in the race were all set on the final lap, so there was plenty left in the tyres at the end. As a result everyone made only one stop around lap 30. To counter this and with the interesting strategy battle of Suzuka fresh in the mind, Pirelli is bringing the soft and medium tyre this weekend. This will mean two stops instead of one and some teams might be able to race two stints on the soft, which will be faster than the medium. Lotus and Force India may well try this. A glance at the tyre selections for the season to date shows that the medium has become the default tyre for F1, used in 14 of the 15 races to date. The only race where it was not used was Monaco. The circuit provides a similar level of tyre challenge to Silverstone, with 80% of the tyre energy of Suzuka. The high temperatures should suit the soft tyre, which has problems sometimes with graining if the weather is cool. Last year there were no problems with wear or degradation, The surface of the track is not like many other venues and is not particularly abrasive. It is rarely used, so it is usually quite dusty at the start of the weekend and stays fairly dusty. That said, the track does improve quite a bit over the weekend, so tyre data from Friday practice will not necessarily translate to performance on Sunday. The front-left tyre is usually a limiting factor in the race, due to the layout of the corners, while wheels spinning under acceleration out of the many low speed corners will also take quite a bit out of the rear tyres.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Formula_One_season I was doing some research for no apparent reason, and I noted who, according to wikipedia, came 4th in that years WDC, I must say, I was surprised, I didn't even know he was a racing driver.
CIRCUIT DATA BUDDH INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT Length of lap: 5.125km Lap record: 1:27.249 (Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing, 2011) Start/finish line offset: 0.251km Total number of race laps: 60 Total race distance: 307.249km Pitlane speed limits: 80km/h throughout the weekend. CHANGES TO THE CIRCUIT SINCE 2012 ► Other than routine maintenance there have been no changes of significance. DRS ZONES ► There are two DRS zones at the Buddh International Circuit. The detection point of the first is 16m before Turn Three and its activation point is 350m after Turn Three. The second zone’s detection point is 10m after Turn 15, with the activation point 36m after Turn 16. The main DRS zone is 80m longer this year. In 2012 it was 80m longer than 2011 as well. I checked it wasn't a typo copying last years info but since 2011 the second DRS has been the following distance after turn 3 2011: 510m 2012: 430m 2011: 350m
