Marquez breaks Pedrosa for record debut win

MotoGP News

Date: 21/April/2013

Marc Marquez became a MotoGP winner at only his second attempt, after breaking the challenge of team-mate Dani Pedrosa during the inaugural race at Austin, Texas.

The 20-year-old had been tipped for victory ever since dominating a private test at the new Circuit of the Americas in March, and had continued his form in practice and qualifying.

Pedrosa put up a stubborn resistance, leading until just after the halfway stage, but - as in Qatar - couldn’t keep the Moto2 champion at bay. Marquez thus became MotoGP’s youngest ever winner and also moved to the top of the world championship.

“Already third place in Qatar was a dream, and now victory in my second race is even better!” smiled Marquez. “The race was quite hard, especially for physical conditions, with many changes of direction.

“I just tried to push - I had some problems with the front that I didn’t have in practice, but even so I was able to push and stay consistent. Not so fast, but fast enough.

“I’m very happy and I want to say thanks to my team because without them this would not have been possible.”

Pedrosa, who had remained in contention until a small mistake on lap 19 of 21, said Marquez was the “Superstar of the season.”

World champion ad Qatar winner Lorenzo, who completed the all-Spanish podium, added: “Congratulations to Marc for his record and because he was the best today.”

Marquez qualified sixth, finished third and set the fastest lap of the race during his MotoGP debut at the previous Qatar round.

Lorenzo won his third MotoGP race (2008) and Pedrosa his fourth (2006).

Vettel ‘flawless’ in Bahrain

F1 News

Date: 21/April/2013

Sebastian Vettel became F1 2013’s first double winner with a ‘flawless’ drive in Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

The reigning triple Champion worked his way past Fernando Alonso and pole starter Nico Rosberg during some entertaining opening laps, then disappeared into the distance.

The Red Bull star retained the lead during his final pit stop and won by 9.1s from Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen. Alonso’s chances were doomed by a DRS failure on his Ferrari, while Mercedes driver Rosberg suffered excessive tyre wear.

Vettel, whose previous victory was marred by the team orders controversy in Malaysia, said:

“A flawless, seamless race from start to finish. The pace was phenomenal. The car was very quick and it got better and better towards the end. Really, a beautiful race where you could push every single lap.”

The result means that Raikkonen is now the only driver still within one race win (25 points) of Vettel.

The young German assessed his rivals as follows: “Lotus is very quick, they manage the tyres pretty well in the race. The Ferrari is an all-round car as in they’re always quick and they’ve been very competitive in the race. Mercedes is very quick over a lap, but probably a little bit too aggressive with the tyres.

“A little bit surprised by McLaren so far, but I think they will come back at some stage this year, probably already in Barcelona. But I think we need to look after ourselves, make sure we score points and everything else is difficult to predict.”

Red Bull have been among the strongest critics of the high tyre wear seen at some events this year and were rumoured to have pushed for the switch to the medium and harder options for Bahrain.

Vettel insisted that his complaints had not been due to Red Bull suffering more than some of their rivals.

“I did talk about the tyres, but I always said that as long as there are other people doing a better job then we have no right to complain, we need to catch up,” he said.

“Comparing Formula One to a couple of years ago, you probably have to ask Kimi, but it’s surely different, the fact that you can’t push as hard as you like every lap, you have to work with the tyres and sit at a certain pace.

“So I think that’s what we - at least the drivers that I have talked to - think is very different and to some extent less enjoyable than in the past.”

But F1 veteran and former World Champion Raikkonen appeared to disagree.

Raikkonen and Lotus are renowned for getting the most out of the new generation Pirelli rubber, perfectly illustrated by the Finn’s eighth-to-second place drive - courtesy of just two pit stops - on Sunday.

“I don’t think Pirelli could please everybody, whatever they do. There’s always somebody who will complain,” said Raikkonen. “And I don’t think it’s their job to try to always change things if somebody’s complaining or doesn’t like it.

“Even in the past, if we would have put the same amount of fuel in the cars, we couldn’t have run at full speed all the time, because the tyres would have gone off so I don’t really think it’s all that different now.”

Raikkonen’s team-mate Romain Grosjean completed the podium in third.

Marquez bags pole record, race ‘what really counts’

MotoGP News

Date: 20/April/2013

Rookie Marc Marquez heads into Sunday’s inaugural Grand Prix of the Americas ready to re-write the record books by turning his first pole into a debut MotoGP victory.

The 20-year-old Spaniard became the youngest rider to take a premier-class pole position on Saturday, shrugging off a practice fall to continue the dominance he has shown at the new Texan circuit ever since a private test in March.

Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa was the only rider within one-second of Marquez and the pair look set to dispute victory in the race. Should Marquez prevail, he will break another record set by Freddie Spencer in the early 1980s, as the youngest ever race winner.

Marquez, who beat Pedrosa to claim third place on his MotoGP debut last time in Qatar, said:

"We are happy because we took our first pole position which is important and exciting! We knew we could fight for pole, but you never know what will happen in the session. Both Dani and Jorge are fast over a single lap, and we managed to overcome them.

“The important stuff starts tomorrow, because we have a long, physical race with many of changes of direction to deal with. We need to be ready, because tomorrow is what really counts and I will do the best that I can!"

Qatar winner and reigning double World Champion Jorge Lorenzo admits his best chance of victory is to exploit any unexpected problems for the Honda riders.

“If something strange happens we can fight for the win, but in normal conditions third is a really good position for tomorrow,” Lorenzo said. “We hope that the race is going to be better than qualifying and we can be closer to Marc and Dani.”

Rosberg seeks to ‘kick-start’ season from Bahrain pole

F1 News

Date: 20/April/2013

Nico Rosberg hopes to put a miserable start to the 2013 season behind him after claiming a surprise pole position for Sunday’s Bahrain F1 Grand Prix.

Rosberg has retired from two of the opening three races and finished a controversial fourth in the other, after being instructed to stay behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

With Hamilton starting first at the previous Shanghai event, Rosberg handed Mercedes back-to-back poles by holding off Red Bull’s reigning triple Champion Sebastian Vettel by 0.254s. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso starts third.

“I really want to kick-start my season,” said Rosberg, who has finished on the podium just once since his debut victory at Shanghai last year. “It’s really been a rough ride in the first three races.

“For sure the competition is going to be tough. Difficult to say if we have enough pace to win the race tomorrow, but for sure we’re going to try and I look forward to starting first.”

As ever, tyre strategy will be crucial to Sunday’s outcome.

“To be honest with you, I don’t know how many stops we have to do,” claimed Vettel. “One stop is impossible for everybody, two stops is impossible for most and then it’s between three and four stops.”

Hamilton qualified fourth fastest, but picked up a five-place grid penalty after a tyre problem in practice caused gearbox damage, moving Felipe Massa alongside team-mate Alonso.

Unlike Alonso, Massa will be starting on the harder tyre.

“Hopefully we can both do a good start and hopefully - with these different strategies - we can cover some more scenarios in the race, than would be in our control if we had the same tyres,” said Alonso.

“I’m extremely happy with our strategy and I’m extremely happy that we’re third and fourth. Tomorrow, we both need to think about being on the podium. It will be really important for the constructors’ championship as well.”

Red Bull’s Mark Webber drops from fifth to seventh on the grid due to a penalty for a collision in China. The Australian will start alongside a disappointed Kimi Raikkonen, currently second in the Championship and fastest for Lotus during Friday practice.

Lorenzo, Rossi worried by Honda practice pace

MotoGP News

Date: 20/April/2013

Honda riders, led by MotoGP rookie Marc Marquez, filled the top three places during Friday practice for the inaugural Circuit of the Americas MotoGP.

Yamaha team-mates and title leaders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi were best of the rest, but concerned by the size of the gap that opened up as track conditions improved.

Lorenzo had been just 0.25s behind Marquez in the morning, but that ballooned to 1.6s during the afternoon. That in turn allowed Marquez’s Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa and even LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl to shuffle ahead of Lorenzo.

“In the morning I was surprised to be so close to Marc, but this afternoon when the track improved they improved much more than us,” said Lorenzo, winner of round one in Qatar. “

“We have a lot of problems on the entry to corners. I don’t have confidence. It looks like the Hondas can turn much more easily. They can open the throttle and pick the bike up sooner. We have to stay a lot longer on lean angle with no grip on the rear.

“But I’m positive. Anything is possible and if we can improve the bike we can get much closer tomorrow.”

Marquez and Honda also held the advantage during a private test attended by a handful of top riders in March. However Rossi, fifth and 1.8s from Marquez on Friday, admitted they had hoped to be closer.

"Unfortunately today the Hondas are very fast. Big difference,” said the Italian, runner-up to Lorenzo on his Yamaha race return in Qatar. “We thought and we hoped to be closer.

“Especially Marquez is very fast but also Pedrosa and Bradl are faster than us so we have to work to try and recover the disadvantage. We suffer too much with a lack of grip. It looks like it will be more difficult for us here than in Qatar."