F1 - The British Grand Prix - 10.07.11

Alonso takes commanding British GP win

Fernando Alonso ended Ferrari's victory drought by charging to his team's first victory of the year in the British Grand Prix.

Championship leader Sebastian Vettel and poleman Mark Webber had to settle for the remaining podium spots in the two Red Bulls, with Vettel just holding on in a huge late battle between the pair.

None of the British drivers made it onto the podium - Lewis Hamilton faded to fourth for McLaren after a superb early charge, and Jenson Button retired following a pit error.

The race had got underway in half-wet/half-dry conditions, with the area around the original start/finish area sodden but the new grid relatively dry by comparison.

Vettel got the jump on poleman Webber off the line, and charged into a comfortable early lead, while the Australian kept Alonso at bay in third.

Hamilton provided most of the initial action, making very rapid progress from his disappointing 10th on the grid to attack Felipe Massa's Ferrari for fourth within a handful of laps.

Michael Schumacher triggered the move to slicks tyres somewhat accidentally when he slithered into Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber on lap 10 and had to pit for a new front wing on his Mercedes, taking on dry rubber at the same time.

The German's immediate burst of pace convinced everyone else to come in, with Webber, Alonso and Hamilton choosing lap 12 while Vettel and Massa stayed out till lap 13.

Earlier proved slightly the better option, as by the time everyone was back up to speed on slicks, Vettel's lead over Webber was down to 3.3s, and rapidly getting smaller, although once the two Red Bulls were within 1.5s Vettel managed to raise his pace and keep his team-mate under control.

Alonso initially struggled to get temperature into his slicks and not only fell away from the Red Bulls, but lost third to a charging Hamilton into Copse.

But once the Ferrari and Pirellis were working in harmony again, Alonso started flying. He used DRS to sweep past Hamilton into Brooklands on lap 23, and both then started hunting down the Red Bulls.

They got close enough that when both Vettel and Webber had slow second pitstops on laps 26 and 27, they fell to third and fourth behind new leader Alonso and Hamilton.

Now in clear air, Alonso began to look unstoppable - storming away from Hamilton at a second per lap as the McLaren had to start focusing on holding off the Red Bulls.

He succeeded until the final pitstops, when Vettel stopped a lap sooner and jumped ahead. But even with the McLaren out of his way, Vettel could not catch the now dominant Alonso, who was long gone and heading for his first win since Korea last year.

With his team instructing him to save fuel, Hamilton backed off and lost third to Webber, who then caught Vettel and mounted a huge late effort to overtake his team-mate until ordered to 'maintain the gap' on the final lap.

The slowing Hamilton had Massa all over him going into the closing moments, but retained fourth in a wild, wheel-banging battle through the last corners of the race.

Button ran fifth until the final stops, when he was sent out with his right front wheel not properly attached and hard to park and retire in the pit exit.

Nico Rosberg made a two-stop strategy work to take sixth for Mercedes, just ahead of Sergio Perez's Sauber. Nick Heidfeld salvaged eighth from Renault's tough weekend, with Schumacher recovering well to take ninth, followed by Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari, Adrian Sutil's Force India and Vitaly Petrov in the other Renault.

Paul di Resta's brilliant qualifying effort was wasted when a pitstop miscommunication badly delayed the Force India. He later needed a new front wing after clashing with Sebastien Buemi in an incident that forced the Toro Rosso to retire due to damage from a resultant puncture.

The British GP
52 laps;
Weather: Wet, then dry.

Classified:

Pos Driver Team Time
1. Alonso Ferrari 1h28:41.194
2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 16.511
3. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 16.947
4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 28.986
5. Massa Ferrari + 29.010
6. Rosberg Mercedes + 1:00.665
7. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1:05.590
8. Heidfeld Renault + 1:15.542
9. Schumacher Mercedes + 1:17.912
10. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:19.108
11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1:19.712
12. Petrov Renault + 1:20.600
13. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
14. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
15. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
16. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps
17. D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps
18. Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
19. Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth + 3 laps

Fastest lap: Alonso, 1:34.908

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Team Gap
Button McLaren-Mercedes 11
Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 26
Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 28
Trulli Lotus-Renault 41
Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 49

World Championship standings, round 9:

Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 204 1. Red Bull-Renault 328
2. Webber 124 2. McLaren-Mercedes 218
3. Alonso 112 3. Ferrari 164
4. Hamilton 109 4. Mercedes 68
5. Button 109 5. Renault 65
6. Massa 52 6. Sauber-Ferrari 33
7. Rosberg 40 7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 17
8. Heidfeld 34 8. Force India-Mercedes 12
9. Petrov 31 9. Williams-Cosworth 4
10. Schumacher 28
11. Kobayashi 25
12. Sutil 10
13. Alguersuari 9
14. Buemi 8
15. Perez 8
16. Barrichello 4
17. Di Resta 2

By Matt Beer
http://www.autosport.com

F1 - The European Grand Prix - 26.06.11

Vettel eases to European GP victory

Sebastian Vettel resumed his domination of the 2011 Formula 1 season after his Montreal blip, by winning the European Grand Prix in Valencia with ease.

The world champion broke his rivals' challenge with an early charge that saw him establish a three-second lead within a few laps and then nurse a similar advantage for the rest of the afternoon, before a push for fastest lap in the final stint took his winning margin up to 10.8 seconds.

Fernando Alonso finished a very encouraging second for Ferrari in front of his home crowd. Both Ferraris had jumped Lewis Hamilton's McLaren at the start, with the flying Felipe Massa dodging between Hamilton and Alonso, then trying to get down the inside of Mark Webber for second. But as he had to back out of the move, Alonso went around the outside of his team-mate and took third.

Alonso then stayed close behind Webber and managed to grab second place with an outbraking move on lap 21. The Spaniard could not shake the Australian off, and when the Red Bull made its second stop one lap sooner, Webber was able to vault back ahead of Alonso.

But the battle was not over, as at the final tyre changes Alonso regained the advantage by running three laps further on used softs while Webber was on his new medium tyres. The Ferrari rejoined just in front, and any hope Webber had of coming back at Alonso ended when the Red Bull team ordered him to back off and take care of a gearbox finish. He held on for third.

Running longer at most pitstops did not help Massa, who fell back to fifth in the end behind Hamilton, closing on the McLaren late on without ever threatening.

Montreal winner Jenson Button had a very low-key afternoon. He was passed by Nico Rosberg at the start and by the time he had dived back ahead of the Mercedes with a bold move at Turn 2 on lap six, the rest of the leaders were out of reach. A later KERS fault ensured Button would finish a lonely sixth.

Rosberg took seventh, having battled for a while with the impressive Jaime Alguersuari, as the Toro Rosso driver converted his miserable 18th on the grid to an eighth place finish by making a two-stop strategy work on a day when nearly everyone else had to pit three times. Alguersuari fended off Adrian Sutil to the finish, as the Force India escaped from an early battle with Nick Heidfeld's 10th-placed Renault.

Sauber's Sergio Perez pulled off a unique one-stop strategy but narrowly failed to convert it to points, chasing Heidfeld home in 11th.

Michael Schumacher's hopes of points ended when he made contact with Vitaly Petrov's Renault as he joined from the pit exit after his first tyre change. That meant an extra stop for a new front wing, leaving the Mercedes 17th. Petrov was only 15th, having never really recovered from a bad start.

The European Grand Prix
Valencia, Spain;
57 laps; 310.080km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos Driver Team Time
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h39:36.169
2. Alonso Ferrari + 10.891
3. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 27.255
4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 46.190
5. Massa Ferrari + 51.705
6. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 1:00.000
7. Rosberg Mercedes + 1:38.000
8. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
9. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
10. Heidfeld Renault + 1 lap
11. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
12. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
13. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
14. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
15. Petrov Renault + 1 lap
16. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
17. Schumacher Mercedes + 1 lap
18. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
19. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault + 2 laps
20. Trulli Lotus-Renault + 2 laps
21. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps
22. D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps
23. Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth + 3 laps
24. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 3 laps

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:41.852

World Championship standings, round 8:

Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 186 1. Red Bull-Renault 295
2. Webber 109 2. McLaren-Mercedes 206
3. Button 109 3. Ferrari 129
4. Hamilton 97 4. Renault 61
5. Alonso 87 5. Mercedes 58
6. Massa 42 6. Sauber-Ferrari 27
7. Rosberg 32 7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 16
8. Petrov 31 8. Force India-Mercedes 12
9. Heidfeld 30 9. Williams-Cosworth 4
10. Schumacher 26
11. Kobayashi 25
12. Sutil 10
13. Alguersuari 8
14. Buemi 8
15. Barrichello 4
16. Perez 2
17. Di Resta 2

By Matt Beer
http://www.autosport.com

Acropolis Rally - 6 - 19 Jun 11

Ogier clinches Acropolis victory

Sebastien Ogier won a final-day battle with Citroen team-mate Sebastien Loeb to take an Acropolis Rally victory which underlined that he is still a threat for this year's title.

The younger of Citroen's two Frenchmen had made a low-key start to the event, running in the lower part of the top five as independent Citroen driver Petter Solberg stormed into a huge lead on Friday.

But when Solberg struggled with running first on the road on Saturday, it was Ogier who hunted down and caught the 2003 champion fastest, gaining nearly a minute on Solberg in just three stages.

Ogier took the lead on Saturday afternoon, before backing off to hand it to Loeb so that the champion had to run first on the road today.

At first it looked like this strategy might have been misguided, as Loeb managed to match Ogier's pace on this morning's opening loop. But over the final three stages Loeb found his road position more costly, and Ogier was able to pull away and clinch the win by 10 seconds.

"It was a very good rally for me," said Ogier, who also picked up the bonus points for being quickest on the power stage. "A difficult start on Friday but finally I managed to find a good rhythm, especially yesterday when we pushed very hard. It's perfect to get this."

Loeb's second place was his 100th podium in the World Rally Championship. He felt Ogier's triumph had been achieved more through road position than outright speed.

"It's been a great battle. But for sure we were not in the same conditions," said Loeb. "It's frustrating not to win because I think we were the fastest in the rally, but we cleaned the road on two days and we were second on the road one day, so there was always a disadvantage."

Solberg faded to fourth in the end, as Mikko Hirvonen came through to third for Ford, closing to within 3s of Loeb by the finish.

Hirvonen's team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala was second behind Solberg until transmission and then turbo problems on Friday and Saturday cost him a massive 13 minutes. Seven stage wins as he recovered to ninth proved what Latvala might have achieved.

The Stobart Fords of Henning Solberg and Matthew Wilson completed the top six. Their team-mates Evgeny Novikov and Mads Ostberg had to spend most of the weekend running under superally after breaking suspension in Friday incidents. Kimi Raikkonen (Ice 1 Citroen) had a fairly serene run to seventh on his return to the series.

Juho Hanninen now leads both the Intercontinental Rally Challenge and the S2000 World Rally Championship standings, after taking his first win of 2011 in the latter in Greece. The Skoda driver was trailing Ott Tanak until the Estonian crashed on Saturday morning, leaving Hanninen to dominate the class and finish eighth overall.

Leading finishers after SS18:

Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Sebastien Ogier Citroen 4h04m44.3s
2. Sebastien Loeb Citroen + 10.5s
3. Mikko Hirvonen Ford + 13.5s
4. Petter Solberg Solberg Citroen + 38.8s
5. Henning Solberg Stobart Ford + 5m24.7s
6. Matthew Wilson Stobart Ford + 6m54.7s
7. Kimi Raikkonen Ice 1 Citroen + 8m29.4s
8. Juho Hanninen Red Bull Skoda + 11m34.7s
9. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 13m08.8s
10. Dennis Kuipers FERM Ford + 15m10.1s

By Matt Beer
http://www.autosport.com

F1 - The Canadian Grand Prix - 12.06.11

Button wins chaotic Canadian GP

Jenson Button, McLaren, Montreal 2011Jenson Button won a chaotic Canadian Grand Prix that finished over four hours after it started, and which included a red flag and five safety car periods, despite a penalty and two accidents.

The Briton, however, is under investigation for clashes with Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.

Button's victory came only after Sebastian Vettel lost the lead on the final lap due to a driving error with just a handful of corners left.

The world champion had dominated the race from the start but came under pressure from a flying Button in the end.

Mark Webber was third for Red Bull, with Michael Schumacher in fourth position and Renault's Vitaly Petrov completing the top five.

Felipe Massa was the only Ferrari driver to finish, in sixth place, after beating Kamui Kobayashi to the spot right on the finish line.

Jaime Alguersuari, Rubens Barrichello and Sebastien Buemi completed the points-paying positions.

The event started under the safety car, as the race director deemed the track was too wet for a standing start. The move meant all drivers had to start will full wet tyres. The DRS was disabled while the track was wet.

The safety car dived into the pits after five laps, and Vettel managed to keep the lead despite an attack from Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

Vettel's team-mate Webber was not so lucky, however, and spun after making contact with the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton, the Australian dropping down to 14th position. Hamilton lost a few places too, and then dropped behind Button after going wide at the hairpin when fighting with Schumacher.

The Briton tried to regain the position on lap seven, only to make contact with Button as he tried to pass on the main straight. Hamilton had been quicker coming out of the final corner and tried to pass his team-mate on the left, only for Button to close the door.

Their cars made contact and Hamilton hit the wall, retiring from the race a few corners later and forcing the deployment of the safety car after parking his damaged car after Turn 5. Button pitted for repairs and rejoined in 12th place.

The race was relaunched again on lap 12, with Vettel still leading from Alonso and Massa. Right after that, race control announced a drive-through penalty for Button for having sped under the safety car. The Briton, who had opted for intermediate tyres in his first stop, dropped down to 14th.

Up front, Vettel stretched his lead quite comfortably, but Alonso decided to pit for intermediates on lap 18, seeing that Button was the fastest man on track.

Alonso rejoined in eighth, right in front of Vitaly Petrov and Button himself, but the rain became a downpour moments later and the safety car was deployed for the third time, with Alonso deciding to pit again for full wets.

Leader Vettel and team-mate Webber pitted for full wets during the safety car period, the Australian also getting a new steering wheel as he was having problems shifting down gears. Several drivers followed suit into the pits, leaving Vettel in the lead again, ahead of Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi, who had not stopped, and Massa.

Still under the safety car, Vettel told his team on the radio that it was impossible to drive and that the race should be stopped. On lap 25, Vettel's wish was granted, and the race was red-flagged.

Nearly two hours after it was stopped, the race was restarted behind the safety car and with mandatory full wet weather tyres.

Heikki Kovalainen became the second retirement even before the safety car was back in, the Finn suffering a driveshaft failure on lap 30.

After nine laps on track, the safety car drove into pits and the race was launched with Vettel on top, followed by Kobayashi, who managed to keep Massa at bay at the first corner.

The majority of the field pitted as soon as it was allowed to fit intermediates tyre, although Vettel stayed out for a couple of laps, before the safety car was deployed again when Button made contact with Alonso when trying to pass at Turn 3.

The Briton touched the Ferrari's right rear wheel and sent the Spaniard into a spin, his car getting stuck on the kerbs. Button had to pit to change his punctured tyre.

At the time of the fourth safety car of the day, Vettel led from Kobayashi, Massa, Heidfeld, Paul di Resta and Webber, with Button dropping down to the bottom of the field.

The race resumed on lap 41, with Vettel opening a clear gap right away as Kobayashi held a train of cars behind him.

There was a lot action behind the German, with several position changes which included a clash between Heidfeld and di Resta, the Scot having to pit for a new front wing. Heidfeld's team-mate Petrov was given a drive-through penalty moments later for having overtaken while the safety car was still on track.

Despite the track being still wet, the race director enabled the use of the DRS on lap 45.

By lap 50 - with 20 to go - Vettel was leading Kobayashi by over six seconds and Massa by seven, with Schumacher having charged to fourth.

On lap 51, Webber became the first of the lead drivers to change to slick tyres, as Schumacher passed both Massa and Kobayashi and set his sights on Vettel, both still on intermediates.

However, the Red Bull driver was still the quickest man on track, extending his lead over Schumacher to 11 seconds by lap 52. Schumacher pitted for slicks a lap later, with Massa following suit.

Vettel changed his tyres a lap later, as team-mate Webber showed slicks were the way to go, lapping three seconds faster than the German. The world champion rejoined the race in the lead, while Massa was forced to come into the pits after damaging his front wing when losing control of his car while lapping an HRT.

With 13 laps to go, the safety car was deployed for the fifth time when Heidfeld crashed out following contact with Kobayashi. The Renault driver had damaged his front wing in the clash, and then it got under his car at speed, sending him off the track, and leading to the safety car being deployed while the wing debris was cleared.

With nine laps to go, the race was relaunched once more with Vettel on top, followed by Schumacher, Webber, Button and Kobayashi. Vettel continued his flawless run, opening a gap quickly as Webber and Button pushed a slower Schumacher hard.

Webber passed Schumacher with six laps to go, but had to let German through as he had jumped the final chicane. On the following lap he made the same mistake again, this time losing third place to Button. The Briton took second with five laps left, passing Schumacher comfortably and launching his attack on Vettel.

Webber finally captured third place from Schumacher with three laps left as Button closed in on Vettel. The world champion, however, resisted the pressure until the final lap, when he lost control of his car and let Button through with just a few corners left.

Pos Driver Team Time
1. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 4h04:39.537
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 2.709
3. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault + 13.828
4. Michael Schumacher Mercedes + 14.219
5. Vitaly Petrov Renault + 20.395
6. Felipe Massa Ferrari + 33.225
7. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 33.270
8. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 35.964
9. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 45.117
10. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 47.056
11. Nico Rosberg Mercedes + 50.454
12. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1m03.607s
13. Tonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth + 1 Lap
14. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth + 1 Lap
15. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 1 Lap
16. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault + 1 Lap
17. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 1 Lap
18. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 3 Laps

Retirements:

Driver Team Laps
Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 61
Nick Heidfeld Renault 55
Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 49
Fernando Alonso Ferrari 36
Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 28
Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 7
Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 0

World Championship standings, round 7:

Drivers: Constructors:
1. Sebastian Vettel 161 1. Red Bull-Renault 255
2. Jenson Button 101 2. McLaren-Mercedes 186
3. Mark Webber 94 3. Ferrari 101
4. Lewis Hamilton 85 4. Renault 60
5. Fernando Alonso 69 5. Mercedes 52
6. Felipe Massa 32 6. Sauber-Ferrari 27
7. Vitaly Petrov 31 7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 12
8. Nick Heidfeld 29 8. Force India-Mercedes 10
9. Michael Schumacher 26 9. Williams-Cosworth 4
10. Nico Rosberg 26
11. Kamui Kobayashi 25
12. Adrian Sutil 8
13. Sebastien Buemi 8
14. Jaime Alguersuari 4
15. Rubens Barrichello 4
16. Sergio Perez 2
17. Paul Di Resta 2

By Pablo Elizalde
http://www.autosport.com

F1 - The Monace Grand Prix - 29.05.11

Vettel wins interrupted Monaco GP
Sebastian Vettel further increased his World Championship advantage by claiming a gutsy victory in a chaotic Monaco Grand Prix that was restarted with only six laps to go following a red flag for a crash involving Vitaly Petrov at the Swimming Pool.

The Red Bull driver had opted against pitting during a mid-race safety car period, and ran a 56-lap stint on super soft rubber against all expectations, gaining track position over previous leader Jenson Button.

That left him ahead when the race was red-flagged, at which point he, second placed Fernando Alonso and Button, who had dropped to third after pitting just before a mid-race safety car, were all allowed to fit new tyres.

His eventual winning margin was 1.1 seconds ahead of Alonso, who was a similar distance clear of Button.

The race boiled down to a six-lap sprint following a red flag for a crash involving Petrov, Jaime Alguersuari and Lewis Hamilton, that was triggered by Pastor Maldonado passing Adrian Sutil for sixth place at Tabac.

The one-stopping Sutil, who had ran fourth for a long time but was dropping back on old tyres, smacked the wall exiting the corner and punctured his right-rear tyre. While trying to avoid the slowing Force India, Petrov ran into the back of Alguersuari's Toro Rosso, which in turn hit the rear of Hamilton's McLaren.

Alguersuari and Petrov hit the wall hard, forcing the race to be stopped with six laps to go and necessitating Petrov's extrication from the car by medical staff.

Prior to the red flag, the street circuit was staging the best race of the year. Having lost the lead to Button thanks to a sluggish opening pitstop on lap 16, Vettel opted against pitting when Felipe Massa's mid-race crash brought out the safety car.

Button, who had already stopped twice by this point, was clearly the faster driver on his fresher rubber, but had also lost track position to Alonso during the safety car period.

Button made a third stop on lap 48 after becoming stuck behind Vettel, but reduced an 18-second deficit to less than a second with eight laps to go. His problem, however, was that Alonso's Ferrari was in between them.

Button's hopes of victory rested with Vettel's and Alonso's tyres going off before his, as both switched their strategies and opted against making further stops. The stoppage and subsequent tyre changes put paid to that, however.

Mark Webber finished fourth, having dropped as low as 14th early on due to a 15-second stop as Red Bull pitted him on the same lap as Vettel. His two-stop strategy left him with fresher rubber than many of the cars around him during the second half of the race, allowing him to pass Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber, Sutil, Petrov and Maldonado within the final 15 laps.

Kobayashi ceded fourth to Webber after missing the chicane with two laps to go, but still collected the best result of his career. Maldonado kept up his status as a Monaco expert and looked like finishing sixth, but he crashed out of the race at Ste. Devote with five laps to go after contact with Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton's rear wing was damaged in the Petrov/Alguersuari accident, and took seventh after the McLaren mechanics fixed the right support during the stoppage.

The Briton's race was a frustrating one. Passed by Michael Schumacher's slow-starting Mercedes at the Loews hairpin on the opening lap, he lost a significant amount of time when the German's rear tyres dropped off at an alarming rate within the first 10 laps.

Even after passing the seven-time world champion at Ste. Devote, his pace was compromised as he became bogged down in a seven-car battle for fourth place behind Sutil.

He, Webber and Felipe Massa all came together at Loews on lap 34 - an incident that Hamilton was deemed to have caused and received a drive-through penalty for - but by that time Massa was out, the Ferrari driver having hit the wall in the tunnel as Hamilton passed seconds later.

Hamilton eventually finished sixth, ahead of the lapped Sutil, Nick Heidfeld's Renault, Rubens Barrichello (Williams) and Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso).

Paul di Resta finished 12th after receiving a drive-through penalty for the same reason as Hamilton . colliding with another car at Loews, but the Force India driver also damaged his car in the incident with Alguersuari and was force to pit for a new nose.

Schumacher did not make the finish, his Mercedes grinding to a halt just ahead of Alonso as the safety car came out for the Massa crash. Timo Glock was the only other retiree, the Virgin driver's right-rear suspension failing just before half distance.

The Monaco Grand Prix
Monte Carlo, Monaco, Monaco;
78 laps; 260.520km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos Driver Team Time
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 2h09:38.373
2. Alonso Ferrari + 1.138
3. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 2.378
4. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 23.100
5. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 26.900
6. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 27.200
7. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
8. Heidfeld Renault + 1 lap
9. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
10. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
11. Rosberg Mercedes + 1 lap
12. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 2 laps
13. Trulli Lotus-Renault + 2 laps
14. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault + 2 laps
15. D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps
16. Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth + 3 laps
17. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 3 laps
18. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth + 5 laps

Fastest lap: Webber, 1:16.234

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Team On lap
Petrov Renault 68
Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 68
Massa Ferrari 33
Schumacher Mercedes 33
Glock Virgin-Cosworth 31
Perez Sauber-Ferrari DNS


World Championship standings, round 6:

Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 143 1. Red Bull-Renault 222
2. Hamilton 85 2. McLaren-Mercedes 161
3. Webber 79 3. Ferrari 93
4. Button 76 4. Renault 50
5. Alonso 69 5. Mercedes 40
6. Heidfeld 29 6. Sauber-Ferrari 21
7. Rosberg 26 7. Force India-Mercedes 10
8. Massa 24 8. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 7
9. Petrov 21 9. Williams-Cosworth 2
10. Kobayashi 19
11. Schumacher 14
12. Sutil 8
13. Buemi 7
14. Perez 2
15. Barrichello 2
16. Di Resta 2

By Jamie O'Leary
http://www.autosport.com

Rally Argentina - 26 - 29 May 11

Loeb snatches sixth Argentina win

Sebastien Loeb came back from a Friday penalty to snatch an unlikely sixth Rally Argentina victory from his Citroen team-mate Sebastien Ogier.

As Ogier limped through the final stages with a damaged car having rolled while carrying a comfortable lead this morning, Loeb and Ford's Mikko Hirvonen were able to close in, finally demoting Ogier from first to third on the very last stage.

Loeb's third win of 2011 meant he has not been beaten in Argentina since 2004, and was achieved despite picking up a one-minute penalty on Friday.

"For sure I didn't believe that I could be fighting for the victory at the end of the rally, but I'm really happy with how it's gone today and yesterday," said Loeb.

Ogier had looked assured of victory going into the final day, as he enjoyed a 47s advantage over Hirvonen and Loeb once nearest rival Petter Solberg (Solberg Citroen) had been delayed by power steering failure and long-time leader Jari-Matti Latvala broke part of his Ford's suspension.

But in the final miles of the long Ascochinga stage this morning, Ogier turned in to a corner too early and rolled his Citroen.

Although he was able to continue in his battered car, the incident cost him half his lead - and left him without power steering for the rest of the rally.

With only a regroup rather than a full service today, Ogier had to nurse his car through the three short stages to the finish, steadily losing more and more time to his fast-closing team-mate and Hirvonen.

As they headed into the deciding Cabalango power stage, Ogier was only 3s ahead of Loeb and 5s ahead of Hirvonen, and that was insufficient and he fell behind both to finish in third.

"I tried to do what I could, but it was just impossible to drive the car now," said Ogier. "It was stupid for sure."

The result completed a remarkable comeback for Loeb, who had been 1m30s off the lead on Saturday after he was penalised for accidentally entering a time control early during Friday's midday service. His recovery drive owed a lot to the searing pace he set through the second half of the rally, but also to the issues that delayed Ogier, Latvala and Solberg.

Hirvonen never quite had the pace to fight for victory, yet still came away with second, just 2.4s behind Loeb.

"It's been a strange weekend," said the Finn. "We've been really struggling with the speed. Now we're here on the podium so it's good in the end, but it's been difficult. We need to win more rallies."

Solberg was comfortably ahead of Loeb and Hirvonen prior to his power steering issue yet had to settle for fourth. He took some consolation from picking up the bonus points for winning the televised power stage.

Mads Ostberg had a quiet run to a distant fifth for Stobart Ford, ahead of local hero Federico Villagra (Munchi's Ford). Ostberg's team-mate Matthew Wilson had been close to the Norwegian until first a puncture delayed him then a watersplash upset his Ford's engine this morning, leaving him eighth.

Latvala had to settle for seventh in a rally he had dominated for nearly two days, until breaking a compression strut on his Ford in a Saturday afternoon incident that left him baffled.

Hayden Paddon took another Production class win in ninth overall, emerging from day one with a massive lead after issues for his early rivals Patrik Flodin and Michal Kosciuszko.

Leading finishers:

Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 4h03m56.9s
2. Mikko Hirvonen Ford + 2.4s
3. Sebastien Ogier Citroen + 7.3s
4. Petter Solberg Solberg Citroen + 32.6s
5. Mads Ostberg Stobart Ford + 5m16.8s
6. Federico Villagra Munchi's Ford + 6m48.5s
7. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 11m34.5s
8. Matthew Wilson Stobart Ford + 13m32.7s
9. Hayden Paddon Symtech Subaru + 25m43.8s
10. Patrik Flodin Uspenskiy Subaru + 33m34.1s

By Matt Beer
http://www.autosport.com

F1 - The Spanish Grand Prix - 22.05.11

Vettel fends off Hamilton for Spain win

Sebastian Vettel resisted huge pressure from Lewis Hamilton to take his fourth victory of the year in the Spanish Grand Prix.

Jenson Button bucked the four-stop trend and made a three-stop strategy work to take third, while polesitter Mark Webber ended up back in fourth and Fernando Alonso slumped to a lapped fifth after gloriously leading the first two stints of the race.

Webber's pole advantage only lasted a few yards as Vettel was immediately all over him off the line. As the two Red Bulls battled, the fast-starting Alonso (Ferrari) picked up sliced down the inside of both of them and sent the crowd ecstatic by taking the lead of his home grand prix.

That was where he would stay for the first two stints of the race, as though Vettel, Webber and Hamilton were right behind him, with the DRS not proving as dramatically effective in Spain as it had in Turkey, and with Ferrari enjoying good performance out of the final corner and on the straight, Alonso was able to keep his pursuers at bay.

Vettel tried to jump ahead by pitting one lap sooner for his first tyre change - but he emerged into traffic. Despite diving past Button (who had fallen to 10th with a slow start), Massa and Rosberg in the space of one dynamic out-lap, Vettel still found himself back behind Alonso when the Ferrari rejoined.

But at the second stops on laps 17 and 18, Red Bull's tactics worked out perfectly, and an extra lap on new tyres was sufficient to give Vettel a clear lead.

While Webber pitted at the same time as Alonso and stayed behind the Ferrari, McLaren tried something different and kept Hamilton out until lap 22, which jumped him past Alonso and Webber from fourth to second.

Vettel and Hamilton then pulled away in unison, as Alonso dropped ever further behind and kept Webber tucked up behind him. Both were then passed by Button in quick succession mid-race as the McLaren's three-stop strategy meant it was on soft tyres while Alonso and Webber were grappling with the hards.

Webber finally got past Alonso at the final stops, when the Red Bull stayed out a full eight laps longer and had no trouble getting ahead of the fading Ferrari, which began to lap 3s off the pace late on as it struggled badly with the hard tyres and was eventually lapped.

While Webber proved unable to catch Button for third, Hamilton got ever closer to Vettel in the closing laps, with the Red Bull radio traffic suggesting that again the car's KERS was only working intermittently.

There were some very tense and close moments, but there would be no repeats of China's late position change, as Vettel hung on to win by just 0.6s.

Among the lapped multitudes, Mercedes team-mates Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg had a tough race-long battle for sixth, with the elder German staying ahead.

Nick Heidfeld was all over the back of them at the end, making excellent use of a clever strategy and abundant fresh tyres to fly through from the back of the grid in the Renault.

The two Saubers completed the scorers, Sergio Perez taking his first Formula 1 points in ninth and Kamui Kobayashi doing well to recover from a first-lap puncture to take 10th.

Felipe Massa struggled all afternoon, and after a mid-race spin and a slide towards the foot of the top 10, he finally dumped his Ferrari in the gravel with six laps to go.

Paul di Resta got as high as fifth with a very strong opening stint on hard tyres, but did not have the pace later on to turn that into points, ending up 12th, behind Vitaly Petrov - another man to lose speed and places as the race progressed after leading the Mercedes at first.

Lotus showed its best race pace yet and had both cars in the top 10 for a while thanks to long first stints on soft tyres, but later faded, with Jarno Trulli only 18th and Heikki Kovalainen crashing out at Turn 4.

There would be no joy for Williams - Pastor Maldonado lacked race pace and slumped to 15th and Rubens Barrichello's charge from the back never materialised, not helped by a slow first pitstop he finished only 17th.

The Spanish Grand Prix
Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain;
66 laps; 307.104km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos Driver Team Time
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h39:03.301
2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 0.630
3. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 35.697
4. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 47.966
5. Alonso Ferrari + 1 lap
6. Schumacher Mercedes + 1 lap
7. Rosberg Mercedes + 1 lap
8. Heidfeld Renault + 1 lap
9. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
10. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
11. Petrov Renault + 1 lap
12. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
13. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
14. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
15. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
16. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 2 laps
17. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 2 laps
18. Trulli Lotus-Renault + 2 laps
19. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 3 laps
20. D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth + 3 laps
21. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 4 laps

Fastest lap: Alonso, 1:26.727

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Team On lap
Massa Ferrari 60
Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 49
Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 29


World Championship standings, round 5:

Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 118 1. Red Bull-Renault 185
2. Hamilton 77 2. McLaren-Mercedes 138
3. Webber 67 3. Ferrari 75
4. Button 61 4. Renault 46
5. Alonso 51 5. Mercedes 40
6. Rosberg 26 6. Sauber-Ferrari 11
7. Heidfeld 25 7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 6
8. Massa 24 8. Force India-Mercedes 4
9. Petrov 21
10. Schumacher 14
11. Kobayashi 9
12. Buemi 6
13. Sutil 2
14. Di Resta 2
15. Perez 2

By Matt Beer
http://www.autosport.com

F1 - The Turkey Grand Prix - 08.05.11

Vettel takes commanding win in Turkey

Sebastian Vettel left the excitement in his wake as he took an untroubled third victory from four races in the Turkish Grand Prix.

Mark Webber eventually won a tough battle with Fernando Alonso to complete a Red Bull one-two, though Alonso at least got Ferrari back on the podium after its tough start to 2011.

The McLarens and Nico Rosberg were left to battle for the remaining top six places, producing some spectacular racing as Lewis Hamilton came through to fourth ahead of Rosberg and Jenson Button.

Vettel got a clean break immediately as Webber was jumped by Rosberg's Mercedes off the line. Hamilton tried to get around the outside of the Red Bull too at Turn 3, but ran wide and fell to sixth behind Alonso and Button.

It only took Webber five laps to cruise past Rosberg on the back straight using his DRS, but by that time Vettel was 4.4 seconds ahead and had enough pace to edge slightly further away even after that.

Alonso was past Rosberg as well two laps later, as the Mercedes found itself falling victim to a string of DRS passes in the opening stint. Webber could not shake the Ferrari off, and just after half-distance, Alonso used the trick wing to shoot down the outside of the Red Bull into the final complex to claim second.

He then pulled away for a while, but after their fourth and last stops, Webber was able to take a new set of hard tyres into the closing laps whereas Alonso's rubber was more tired. With seven laps to go, Webber repeated Alonso's earlier DRS move on the Ferrari to reclaim second, and though the Spaniard tried his utmost to re-pass on the outside both at Turn 1 and Turn 3, Red Bull's first one-two of the year was secure - though so was Ferrari's first podium of 2011.

Vettel was able to run much further on his tyres than his nearest rivals and looked like he might manage the distance on three stops rather than more popular four. But in the end he played it safe and mirrored his peers' strategy, maintaining an 8s cushion over Webber until they backed off on the final lap.

The most spectacular racing involved the McLarens, Mercedes, Felipe Massa and the Renaults. Button was the highest placed three-stopper, a strategy that allowed him to briefly lead and run fourth going into the final laps.

But Hamilton - recovering well after a delay at his second pitstop - and Rosberg were able to hunt down and pass Button using their fresher tyres late on, taking them to fourth and fifth as the 2009 champion had to settle for sixth.

Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi drove a superb race to come through from 16th on the grid to seventh on the same strategy as Button, but he too found it impossible to hold off the four-stoppers at the end, and fell to ninth behind the Renaults of Nick Heidfeld and Vitaly Petrov.

Kamui Kobayashi made a three-stop plan work well to surge from 23rd on the grid to 10th, while Massa failed to score for Ferrari. He lost crucial ground when he ran very wide at Turn 8 after his third stop and fell deep into a crowd of yet-to-stop midfielders, and then was further delayed with a right rear wheel issue at his last stop.

The Ferrari got back up to 11th with a tough late move on Michael Schumacher, who had earlier broken his front wing when he turned in on Petrov as the Renault passed him into the final complex.

Classified:

Pos Driver Team Time
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h30:17.558
2. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 8.807
3. Alonso Ferrari + 10.075
4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 40.232
5. Rosberg Mercedes + 47.539
6. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 59.431
7. Heidfeld Renault + 1:00.857
8. Petrov Renault + 1:08.168
9. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:09.300
10. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1:18.000
11. Massa Ferrari + 1:19.800
12. Schumacher Mercedes + 1:25.400
13. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
14. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
15. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
16. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
17. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
18. Trulli Lotus-Renault + 1 lap
19. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault + 2 laps
20. D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps
21. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 3 laps
22. Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth + 5 laps

Fastest lap: Webber, 1:29.703

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Team On lap
Di Resta Force India-Mercedes 45
Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1


World Championship standings, round 4:

Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 93 1. Red Bull-Renault 148
2. Hamilton 59 2. McLaren-Mercedes 105
3. Webber 55 3. Ferrari 65
4. Button 46 4. Renault 42
5. Alonso 41 5. Mercedes 26
6. Massa 24 6. Sauber-Ferrari 8
7. Petrov 21 7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 6
8. Heidfeld 21 8. Force India-Mercedes 4
9. Rosberg 20
10. Kobayashi 8
11. Buemi 6
12. Schumacher 6
13. Sutil 2
14. Di Resta 2

By Matt Beer
http://www.autosport.com

Rally Italy - 05 - 08 May 11

Loeb clinches Sardinia victory

Sebastien Loeb made his World Rally Championship points lead slightly more comfortable by taking his second win of 2011 in the Rally d'Italia.

Despite spending the entire weekend running first on often dusty roads, Loeb (Citroen) led the event from Friday lunchtime onwards.

The result was a tribute both to Loeb's performance in maintaining good pace even when stage conditions were much worse for him than those following, and an indication of the number of problems his potential challengers had.

Mikko Hirvonen led for a while early on and was in a close battle with Loeb on Friday when a puncture cost him just under a minute. The Ford driver mounted a determined fightback to finish just 11.2 seconds behind Loeb in second place, and also grabbed the three bonus points for winning the power stage.

Petter Solberg also had a shot at victory, but after winning the rally's opening stage, a turbo issue cost him 40s on SS2. The Solberg Citroen driver also recovered well, though he could not deny Hirvonen second in the end.

After his back to back wins in Portugal and Jordan, Citroen's Sebastien Ogier seemed out of sorts in Italy. He was still in the fight for second until breaking his suspension on the penultimate stage, leaving him fourth.

Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford) showed he had the pace to challenge for victory by winning nine of the rally's 18 stages. But it was to no avail as he was running under superally following a crash on Friday morning.

Mini made a very encouraging debut, with Dani Sordo having an almost trouble-free run to sixth, and Kris Meeke holding fourth after two stages before a throttle problem sent him off the road.

Stobart Ford's Mads Ostberg, PG Andersson and Evgeny Novikov had all battled for top three positions at times during day one, but in the end the team's only top-10 finisher was Ostberg in fifth. Andersson lost 16 minutes fixing a broken steering arm and Novikov crashed and had to return under superally.

Markko Martin's protege Ott Tanak defeated Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion Juho Hanninen to not only win the S2000 class, but take a brilliant seventh overall, ahead of plenty of WRC midfielders.

Tanak's fellow Estonian Egon Kaur remains unbeaten in the new WRC Academy, recovering from a Friday accident to win a highly eventful contest in the feeder class.

Final results after SS18:

Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 3h45m40.9s
2. Mikko Hirvonen Ford + 11.2s
3. Petter Solberg Solberg Citroen + 23.8s
4. Sebastien Ogier Citroen + 1m31.5s
5. Mads Ostberg Stobart Ford + 2m42.6s
6. Dani Sordo Mini + 3m27.6s
7. Ott Tanak MM Ford + 7m10.9s
8. Juho Hanninen Red Bull Skoda + 7m37.6s
9. Matthew Wilson Stobart Ford + 8m00.4s
10. Nasser Al-Attiyah Barwa Ford + 12m33.8s

Other WRC finishers:

11. Armindo Araujo Italia Mini + 13m09.7s
13. Evgeny Novikov Stobart Ford + 14m12.2s
15. PG Andersson Stobart Ford + 18m46.0s
17. Federico Villagra Munchi's Ford + 28m19.6s
18. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 33m46.9s
29. Daniel Oliveira Brazil Mini + 1h13m23.1s

WRC retirements:

Dennis Kuipers FERM Ford SS17
Kris Meeke Mini SS14
Peter van Merksteijn Van Merksteijn Citroen SS11
Henning Solberg Stobart Ford SS8
Peter van Merksteijn Sr Van Merksteijn Citroen SS8

Power stage results:

Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Mikko Hirvonen Ford 6m15.2s
2. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 1.4s
3. Sebastien Loeb Citroen + 2.8s
4. Sebastien Ogier Citroen + 3.1s
5. Petter Solberg Solberg Citroen + 6.8s



By Matt Beer
http://www.autosport.com

F1 - The Chinese Grand Prix - 17.04.11

Hamilton wins thrilling Chinese GP

Lewis Hamilton ended Sebastian Vettel's run of wins with an incredible charge to victory in the Chinese Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver's three-stop strategy proved a better bet than Vettel's two stops, allowing Hamilton to hunt down and pass the tyre-hampered Red Bull in the final laps.

Mark Webber drove an outstanding race to come from 18th on the grid to third in the second Red Bull, ahead of McLaren's Jenson Button and Mercedes' Nico Rosberg - both of whom led for long spells in an utterly absorbing race.

Vettel's afternoon began to get complicated with a poor start that allowed both McLarens to get past him into Turn 1 and gave him a few headaches resisting Rosberg through the opening corners.

The top three then ran in a queue covered by 2s through the first stint, with Rosberg a few seconds behind, fending off the Ferraris, which were led by Felipe Massa.

Mercedes then pulled a masterstroke by bringing Rosberg in on lap 12. The German emerged in clear air and made the most of his fresh tyres, but was also helped by a chaotic few laps for the top three.

As Hamilton's tyre performance faded, Vettel surged past him using the DRS wing on the back straight. Button and Vettel then immediately pitted nose to tail, but bizarrely Button pulled into the Red Bull pit stall rather than McLaren's, and was frantically waved on to the correct pit, slightly slowing both stops, although Red Bull reacted fast and still got Vettel out ahead.

With Hamilton losing pace dramatically on his in-lap and being caught and passed by Massa, Rosberg's new-tyre pace and uncomplicated out-laps really paid dividends. As the second stint started, Rosberg led Vettel by 5s, with Button, Massa and Hamilton giving chase.

But while Rosberg and the McLarens were committed to three-stop strategies, Vettel and Massa had decided to go for just two. The latter looked like the best plan once everyone had made their second stops just after half-distance, for though that put Vettel and Massa fourth and fifth behind Rosberg and the McLarens, they were matching the leaders' pace and not allowing the top three to pull out a sufficient margin to stay ahead when they made their additional stops.

Hamilton was now on a charge though, slicing down the inside of Button to take second on lap 35, and then quickly catching Rosberg after their third stops and diving past him into Turn 6.

He then hunted down the two-stopping Massa and passed the Ferrari with ease on the pits straight with 12 laps to go.

Next in his sights was Vettel and by lap 50 Hamilton was right with the Red Bull and attacking with the DRS wing on the back straight, though the championship leader doggedly hugged the inside line at the hairpin every time the McLaren drew alongside.

Hamilton had to try something different, and on lap 52 he got much better traction out of Turn 6 and swept through on the inside into the fast Turn 7, before quickly scampering away to take a breakthrough victory in a race that proved Formula 1's 2011 rules package is achieving everything the rule-makers could have hoped for. It was also an incredible result considering a problem with the McLaren's fuel system almost forced him to start from the pitlane - the car only just making it out of the garage in time.

Rosberg fell behind Button when he ran wide trying to pass Massa. With his tyres just too old to resist the three-stoppers, Massa was swiftly overtaken by Button, Rosberg and even Webber - who also became a factor in the podium battle in the enthralling final stages.

The Australian had made little impression in his first stint on hard tyres, but like Sepang a week ago, stopping three times gave him plenty of opportunity to gain ground in clear air - and saving the much quicker softs for the final stint when everyone else was on hards gave him a huge pace advantage, as he proved by grabbing fourth from Rosberg with a Turn 6 dive three laps from the end. Lapping 2s quicker than anyone else, Webber then caught Button at the end of the penultimate lap and grabbed a sensational podium finish.

Massa had to settle for sixth, but could take satisfaction from outpacing team-mate Fernando Alonso, who both lacked Massa's speed and lost ground emerging into traffic after pitstops. He just beat Michael Schumacher to seventh, the Mercedes having got clear of the midfield by making a very early first of three stops.

Renault's podium run ended with Vitaly Petrov only able to take ninth place ahead of Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber. Paul di Resta was looking good for more points until fading in the final few laps, leaving him 11th ahead of Nick Heidfeld's Renault, with which he clashed in the closing moments. Adrian Sutil's race in the second Force India was spoiled by contact with Sergio Perez, for which the Sauber driver was penalised.

Toro Rosso's great qualifying effort turned to nothing, with both drivers soon falling down the order - Sebastien Buemi finishing only 14th behind Rubens Barrichello's Williams, and Jaime Alguersuari retiring when a wheel fell off after his pitstop. Behind Sutil, Heikki Kovalainen gave Lotus plenty to cheer by beating Perez and Pastor Maldonado's Williams to 16th.

The Chinese Grand Prix
Shanghai International Circuit, China;
56 laps; 305.066km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos Driver Team Time
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1h36:58.226
2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 5.198
3. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 7.555
4. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 10.000
5. Rosberg Mercedes + 13.448
6. Massa Ferrari + 15.840
7. Alonso Ferrari + 30.622
8. Schumacher Mercedes + 31.206
9. Petrov Renault + 57.404
10. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1:03.273
11. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1:08.757
12. Heidfeld Renault + 1:12.739
13. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1:30.189
14. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:30.671
15. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
16. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault + 1 lap
17. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
18. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
19. Trulli Lotus-Renault + 1 lap
20. D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps
21. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps
22. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
23. Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps

Fastest lap: Webber, 1:38.993

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Team On lap
Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 12


World Championship standings, round 3:

Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 68 1. Red Bull-Renault 105
2. Hamilton 47 2. McLaren-Mercedes 85
3. Button 38 3. Ferrari 50
4. Webber 37 4. Renault 32
5. Alonso 26 5. Mercedes 16
6. Massa 24 6. Sauber-Ferrari 7
7. Petrov 17 7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 4
8. Heidfeld 15 8. Force India-Mercedes 4
9. Rosberg 10
10. Kobayashi 7
11. Schumacher 6
12. Buemi 4
13. Di Resta 2
14. Sutil 2

By Matt Beer
http://www.autosport.com

Rally Jordan - 14 - 16 Apr 11

Ogier wins in Jordan by just 0.2s

Sebastien Ogier defeated Jari-Matti Latvala to win the Jordan Rally by just 0.2 seconds in the World Rally Championship's closest ever finish.

Citroen and Ford's rising stars went into the deciding Baptism Site power stage just half a second apart, with Latvala having taken the lead with one stage to go.

But Ogier set the fastest time through the finale stage and managed to edge back ahead of his rival to claim his second consecutive victory - and become the WRC's first double winner of 2011.

"Incredible, incredible day," said Ogier. "I had to push like hell today because Jari-Matti was so fast."

Ogier had taken the lead early on Friday - when the rally got underway a day later than planned due to the litany of logistical problems that forced the cancellation of all of Thursday's stages.

While his main rivals backed off at the end of yesterday's second loop to avoid any chance of running first on the road today, Ogier kept his foot down and charged into a 31s lead.

As he maintained a cushion over the chasing pack this morning it looked like his tactic would pay off. But then Latvala found more speed on the final loop, and charged past Ogier to take the lead on the penultimate stage - only for the Frenchman to fight back and take an astounding win.

Ogier's SS20 time was also sufficient to win the power stage, giving him three extra bonus points.

His Citroen team-mate Sebastien Loeb was fighting for the win until handling issues on the final few stages convinced him to settle for third place. Petter Solberg was also in the hunt for a podium at least in the Solberg Citroen, but crashed out this morning.

A nightmare Friday of running first on the road and later struggling with power steering issues consigned Mikko Hirvonen to a lonely fourth in the other Ford, though he was buoyed by the pace he showed on a trouble-free final day.

A puncture from a brush with a rock on penultimate stage Mahes cost Kimi Raikkonen a likely fifth place, allowing Stobart Ford's Matthew Wilson to get ahead of the Ice 1 Citroen. Raikkonen still felt that this had been one of his strongest World Rally Championship outings yet.

Wilson was the only Stobart driver in the top 10, as his team-mates Henning Solberg and Mads Ostberg had to use superally after an impact with a rock and a gearbox failure respectively.

In the S2000 class, Nasser Al-Attiyah dominated until an engine problem this morning, which allowed Bernardo Sousa to take the category win and 10th overall despite suspension issues in the closing stages.

Leading finishers after SS20:

Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Sebastien Ogier Citroen 2h48m28.2s
2. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 0.2s
3. Sebastien Loeb Citroen + 27.7s
4. Mikko Hirvonen Ford + 2m44.7s
5. Matthew Wilson Stobart Ford + 5m44.9s
6. Kimi Raikkonen Ice 1 Citroen + 6m14.9s
7. Federico Villagra Munchi's Ford + 9m18.7s
8. Khalid Al Qassimi Abu Dhabi Ford + 9m43.7s
9. Dennis Kuipers Ferm Ford + 14m27.5s
10. Bernardo Sousa Quinta Ford + 15m05.5s

Other WRC finishers:

13. Mads Ostberg Stobart Ford + 17m35.7s
14. Henning Solberg Stobart Ford + 22m01.7s

WRC retirements:

Petter Solberg Solberg Citroen SS17
Peter van Merksteijn Van Merksteijn Citroen SS15


By Matt Beer
http://www.autosport.com

F1 - The Malaysian Grand Prix - 10.04.11

Vettel eases to Malaysian GP victory

Sebastian Vettel remains unbeaten in the 2011 Formula 1 season after taking another Malaysian Grand Prix victory, despite running without KERS on his Red Bull for much of the race.

The world champion was not able to dominate, but had enough speed to stay clear of his rivals in a very competitive race at a dry Sepang.

Jenson Button took second for McLaren, with his team-mate Lewis Hamilton only seventh after tyre troubles.

Nick Heidfeld gave Renault its second podium in as many races as he held off Mark Webber for third after a complicated afternoon for the second Red Bull. The Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were fifth and sixth after the latter damaged his front wing clipping Hamilton's car.

Vettel seemed to be handed an easy afternoon at the start, for while he clearly held the lead through a busy first corner, the Renaults of Heidfeld and Vitaly Petrov surged down the outside to move from sixth and eighth on the grid to second and fifth, either side of Hamilton and Button's McLarens, and ahead of Massa and Alonso's Ferraris.

It was worse still for Webber - his KERS already seemingly not working, the Australian plunged to ninth and was passed by a combative Kamui Kobayashi further around the lap.

Heidfeld did not lose too much time to Vettel, though, the Renault staying within seven seconds of the leading Red Bull through the first stint. When Heidfeld then lost ground in the first stops, that released the McLarens and the rapidly-recovering Alonso to start gaining on Vettel.

While Hamilton got Vettel's lead down to under four seconds, Alonso passed Button for third into the first corner early in the second stint and started closing in as well.

Vettel then looked even more vulnerable after the second of the leaders' three pitstops when his team informed him that he could no longer use his KERS. But his pursuers' hopes of taking advantage of this were quickly dashed - even without the energy boosting system Vettel managed to pull clear during this stint, stretching his lead over Hamilton back up to eight seconds.

It was Button who started making progress in the second half of the race, taking third back from Alonso in the second pitstops, and setting some strong times thereafter, then getting second from Hamilton at the next pit sequence when a left-front issue slowed the latter slightly.

As Button then started inching up towards Vettel, Hamilton struggled badly for pace in the final hard-tyre stint. Alonso was soon all over the back of him, but with his DRS not working, the Ferrari had to be creative to try and pass. On lap 45 Alonso got too close through Turn 3, clipping the rear of the McLaren and damaging his front wing, forcing an extra stop.

Hamilton was then caught by first Heidfeld, who slipped past into Turn 1 using the DRS with four laps to go, then the recovering Webber - who despite being on a four-stop strategy and still without KERS, managed to get back up with the leaders. He grabbed fourth when Hamilton slid off the road briefly, and the McLaren gave up and pitted for a fourth time immediately afterwards.

Vettel kept Button at arm's length and came home to win by 3.2s, with Heidfeld resisting everything Webber threw at him over the final laps to claim third.

Alonso charged back onto Massa's tail but had to settle for sixth behind his team-mate, with Hamilton only seventh after his additional stop.

Petrov was set for seventh until a wild moment on lap 53, when he ran wide and tried to rejoin flat-out over the grass, until to hit a deep and send his Renault high into the air, breaking its steering.

Kobayashi managed to make a two-stop strategy work to take eighth, after several spectacular battles with Michael Schumacher, who was ninth on a tough afternoon for Mercedes. His team-mate Nico Rosberg fell into the midfield on lap one and never recovered, finishing 12th behind the two Force Indias, as Paul di Resta grabbed another point with a mature drive in his second grand prix.

Further back, Lotus got closer to the established midfield pace than ever before as Heikki Kovalainen finished 15th behind the Toro Rossos. Both Williams retired, as did Melbourne hero Sergio Perez after the Sauber sustained damage from running over debris.

The Malaysian Grand Prix
Sepang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;
56 laps; 310.408km;
Weather: Dry.

Classified:

Pos Driver Team Time
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h37:39.832
2. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 3.261
3. Heidfeld Renault + 25.075
4. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 26.384
5. Massa Ferrari + 36.958
6. Alonso Ferrari + 37.248
7. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 49.957
8. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1:07.239
9. Schumacher Mercedes + 1:24.896
10. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1:31.563
11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1:45.000
12. Rosberg Mercedes + 1 lap
13. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
14. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
15. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault + 1 lap
16. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps
17. Petrov Renault + 4 laps

Fastest lap: Webber, 1:40.571

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Team On lap
Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 47
D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 43
Trulli Lotus-Renault 32
Perez Sauber-Ferrari 24
Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 23
Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 15
Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 9


World Championship standings, round 2:

Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 50 1. Red Bull-Renault 72
2. Button 26 2. McLaren-Mercedes 50
3. Hamilton 24 3. Ferrari 32
4. Webber 22 4. Renault 30
5. Alonso 20 5. Sauber-Ferrari 14
6. Petrov 15 6. Mercedes 2
7. Heidfeld 15 7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1
8. Massa 12 8. Force India-Mercedes 1
9. Kobayashi 8
10. Perez 6
11. Schumacher 2
12. Buemi 1
13. Di Resta 1

By Matt Beer
http://www.autosport.com


Alonso, Hamilton hit with penalties

By Pablo Elizalde Sunday, April 10th 2011, 12:09 GMT

Alonso, Hamilton hit with penaltiesLewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were handed 20-second penalties following the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang.

The McLaren driver, who endured a difficult race and finished in seventh position, was handed the penalty for making more than one move to defend his position when fighting with Alonso.

Ferrari driver Alonso was given the penalty after he made contact with Hamilton during their fight, the Spaniard damaging his front wing and having to pit to replace it.

Both were given post-race drive-troughs, meaning 20 seconds added to their final times.

The penalty has dropped Hamilton to eighth, with Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi taking seventh.

Alonso keeps sixth place.

Rally Portugal - 24 - 27 Mar 2011

Ogier clinches Portugal victory

Sebastien Ogier made up for his Mexico crash by winning the Rally of Portugal for a second consecutive year.

The Frenchman led team-mate Sebastien Loeb in a Citroen one-two, with a variety of problems consigning the Fords of Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen to third and fourth.

There had been nothing to choose between the top four in the first half of the rally, until Hirvonen suffered a puncture on Saturday morning and Loeb lost time running in his dust after the Ford rejoined. A driveshaft breakage then slowed Latvala later in the day, while Hirvonen was hit with suspension and driveshaft problems.

But even before his rivals stumbled, Ogier had looked a likely winner. After a slow start, he moved into the lead halfway through Friday and then relinquished it and dropped to fourth to give himself a better road position for Saturday.

The plan succeeded and Ogier was able to charge back and reclaim the lead from Latvala prior to the Ford's problem. Citroen could then cruise through the final day to collect its one-two.

"I'm very happy with a perfect weekend," said Ogier. "I want to dedicate this victory to all the team because they prepared a perfect car and they trusted me even after the mistake in Mexico. This is the best way to come back."

Loeb now shares the championship lead with Hirvonen thanks to the three bonus points the Frenchman gained for being quickest on the rally-ending 'power stage'.

"I'm very happy with that. When I saw the rain this morning I didn't think I'd be fast in this one, but the conditions were not so bad, so I thought 'okay, I have to try'," said Loeb.

Latvala clinched third, while Hirvonen coped with another suspension issue in the final few miles to hold fourth.

Matthew Wilson popped up to fourth a few times as Hirvonen had his various glitches, but the works car retook the place for good on the penultimate stage, leaving Wilson to settle for a still-pleasing fifth.

A depressing four punctures in a single leg on Friday ended Petter Solberg's time among the leaders. He ran trouble-free thereafter and flew back up to sixth, blasting ahead of Kimi Raikkonen (Ice 1 Citroen) and Federico Villagra (Munchi's Ford) during the final short loop.

"I'm very, very sad about the first day, it's unbelievable," said Solberg. "But I never give up."

Henning Solberg would probably have been out of his brother's reach and held on to sixth until a turbo problem on the last two stages caused him to plunge to ninth.

Dennis Kuipers completed the top 10 in the Ferm Ford. Stobart Ford's Mads Ostberg spent most of the weekend running under superally after a crash on Thursday's superspecial and then a gearbox failure first thing on Friday, while Ken Block did not even start due to a ferocious crash on the shakedown stage on Wednesday.

The S2000 version of the new Mini made an excellent debut, holding seventh with Armindo Araujo until a puncture and engine issue on Saturday afternoon.

Hayden Paddon had such a margin over the Production field that even a suspension breakage this morning had no impact on his dominance, while Egon Kaur won the first ever WRC Academy round after Craig Breen and Alastair Fisher both crashed while leading.

Leading finishers:

Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Sebastien Ogier Citroen 4h10m53.4s
2. Sebastien Loeb Citroen + 31.8s
3. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 3m22.1s
4. Mikko Hirvonen Ford + 6m16.3s
5. Matthew Wilson Stobart Ford + 7m48.5s
6. Petter Solberg Solberg Citroen + 10m17.4s
7. Kimi Raikkonen Ice 1 Citroen + 10m54.1s
8. Federico Villagra Munchi's Ford + 11m38.8s
9. Henning Solberg Stobart Ford + 14m16.4s
10. Dennis Kuipers Ferm Ford + 17m54.6s

Other WRC finishers:

14. Khalid Al Qassimi Abu Dhabi Ford + 27m10.1s
22. Peter van Merksteijn Van Merksteijn Citroen + 39m39.6s
31. Mads Ostberg Stobart Ford + 59m29.4s

WRC retirements:

Bernardo Sousa Quinta Ford SS7
Ken Block Monster Ford DNS

Power stage leading results:

Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 22m35.9s
2. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 1.7s
3. Sebastien Ogier Citroen + 4.1s
4. Petter Solberg Solberg Citroen + 15.5s
5. Mikko Hirvonen Ford + 22.0s

By Matt Beer
http://www.autosport.com

F1 - The Australian Grand Prix - 27.03.11

Vettel takes commanding Australia win

Sebastian Vettel opened his title defence with a comfortable victory in an Australian Grand Prix that proved intriguing, but not did deliver the level of incident predicted with the new DRS overtaking system and Pirelli tyres.

Lewis Hamilton coped with a broken floor on his McLaren to take second, but the star of the race was Renault's Vitaly Petrov, who made the most of an excellent start and a fine race drive thereafter to take his maiden podium in third.

While the top three made it to the finish on two stops, three-stop plans consigned Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) and Mark Webber (Red Bull) to fourth and fifth - though this was better than Alonso might have expected after falling to ninth at the first corner. Jenson Button was only sixth for McLaren after being penalised for an incident with Ferrari's Felipe Massa.

Vettel tore away from the field in the opening stages, leading by three seconds after just two laps, with Hamilton and Webber holding second and third.

Petrov had made an excellent start to blast through to fourth, with Button and Alonso going wide at Turn 1 as they went three-abreast with the Renault, allowing Massa to slip ahead of Button and leaving Alonso right down in ninth by the time he got off the kerbs and grass.

Alonso made very swift progress past Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) and Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) and was soon catching Massa and Button - whose battle for fifth place was frantic. With his DRS making little difference, Button tried all kinds of creative lines to get ahead the Ferrari, with no success until lap 10, when he went around the outside into the fast right-left Turn 11/12 at the end of the back straight, but had to take to the escape road and cut the second part of the corner to complete it.

That would lead to a drive-through penalty, while Alonso immediately pounced and passed Massa into Turn 13 as the Brazilian regained momentum after his near-miss with Button.

Before he took his penalty, Button had a brief battle with Vettel, who had made a relatively early pitstop on lap 14 and emerged behind the Briton. Hamilton had whittled the Red Bull's lead down to 1.5s by then, but staying out two laps later before his first tyre stop cost the McLaren time to the leader rather than being an advantage - as even after having to battle past Button around the outside of Turn 4, Vettel was 6.5s clear of Hamilton once both were back up to speed.

That gap rapidly grew to 12s over the next stint - and the reason became clear when sparks started shooting out from under the McLaren, the front part of its floor having become detached and started rubbing on the ground. Aside from a trip over the Turn 1 grass, Hamilton did a remarkable job to keep his car both on the road and near the lead pace - though his chances of pressuring Vettel were over and the German cruised to an ultimately comfortable victory.

Webber could not keep up with the top two and by half-distance was 26s adrift and only just ahead of Petrov and Alonso. Both the Red Bull and Ferrari chose to make three pitstops, while Petrov - like Vettel and Hamilton - changed tyres just twice.

Alonso got ahead of Webber at the third stops, helped by the Red Bull running wide at Turn 3 on its out-lap. With Webber on the softer tyres for the final stint, he was able to attack Alonso at first, before the Ferrari pulled out some breathing space. Both charged up behind Petrov in the final laps, but the Russian had just enough in hand to hold on and take a brilliant third. Fifth-placed Webber parked his Red Bull on the grass immediately after crossing the line.

Button fell to 12th following his penalty but recovered to sixth, finally making it past Massa again with 12 laps to go. The Ferrari then made a late tyre stop, leaving Massa ninth behind the two Saubers.

Sergio Perez was a remarkable seventh on his debut, having managed to get through the distance with just a single tyre change on lap 23. That left him not far adrift of Button, and clear of Sauber team-mate Kobayashi.

Sebastien Buemi took the last point for Toro Rosso, with the Force Indias of Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta running in the points for a while before falling back to 11th and 12th.

Rubens Barrichello provided plenty of entertainment in the first half of the race, as he recovered from a first-lap trip over the Turn 3 gravel and scorched through the field with a series of overtaking moves. But a wild long-distance dive down the inside of Nico Rosberg's Mercedes at Turn 3 on lap 23 was just too bold, and left Barrichello spinning, needing a new front wing and earning a drive-through penalty. Rosberg had to retire in a cloud of smoke, his cooling system seemingly damaged in the impact, while Barrichello eventually parked his car too.

His team-mate Michael Schumacher sustained a puncture when hit by Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari on the first lap, and eventually retired due to the after-effects after 19 laps trailing around at the back. Alguersuari needed a new front wing and finished 13th.

Petrov's Renault team-mate Nick Heidfeld made little progress from his poor grid position and was only 14th ahead of final finishers Jarno Trulli (Lotus) and Jerome D'Ambrosio (Virgin). Timo Glock's Virgin, Heikki Kovalainen's Lotus and Pastor Maldonado's Williams all retired with mechanical issues.

The Australian Grand Prix
Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia;
58 laps; 307.574km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos Driver Team Time
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h29:30.259
2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 22.297
3. Petrov Renault + 30.560
4. Alonso Ferrari + 31.772
5. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 38.171
6. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 54.300
7. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1:05.800
8. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1:16.800
9. Massa Ferrari + 1:25.100
10. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
12. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
13. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
14. Heidfeld Renault + 1 lap
15. Trulli Lotus-Renault + 2 laps
16. D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth + 3 laps

Fastest lap: Massa, 1:28.947

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Team On lap
Glock Virgin-Cosworth 50
Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 49
Rosberg Mercedes 22
Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 19
Schumacher Mercedes 19
Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 10
Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1
Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1


World Championship standings, round 1:

Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 25 1. Red Bull-Renault 35
2. Hamilton 18 2. McLaren-Mercedes 26
3. Petrov 15 3. Renault 15
4. Alonso 12 4. Ferrari 14
5. Webber 10 5. Sauber-Ferrari 10
6. Button 8 6. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1
7. Perez 6
8. Kobayashi 4
9. Massa 2
10. Buemi 1

By Matt Beer
http://www.autosport.com

Rally Mexico - 03 - 06 Mar 2011

Loeb clinches another Mexico victory

Sebastien Loeb took the fifth Rally Mexico win of his career in ultimately dominant fashion once his rally-long rival Sebastien Ogier crashed out on the final leg.

The event was dominated by the two works Citroens, with Ogier leading most of day one apart from a brief period when Loeb nosed ahead.

Loeb then took charge on Saturday as Ogier lost a little - though not much - time running first on the road. But it turned around again when Loeb picked up a 50-second penalty for being late into SS15 having had to fix a gearshift issue before the stage start.

This put Ogier back in front, although he could perhaps consider himself lucky to escape any penalty for accidentally driving into service before the rescheduled regroup on Friday lunchtime - an incident examined in two stewards' meeting.

Loeb was soon closing in once more, helped by Ogier suffering a temporary loss of power, and the champion emerged with a commanding lead when Ogier went off on Sunday's first stage and damaged his Citroen too badly to continue.

That left Loeb to cruise to the finish and get his 2011 title bid started with the 63rd win of his World Rally Championship career.

"That was a very hard weekend, a terrible fight with Ogier until today," said Loeb. "He was really, really pushing hard.

"I think we've done nearly a perfect weekend, some small troubles but not many for a new car. I'm satisfied with the performance - the DS3 is very fast."

Ford ended a tough event with a double podium for Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala. Hirvonen dropped back while running first on the road on Friday - and was very perturbed when he carried on losing time even when he had a better road position for leg two. But he retained the championship lead and also grabbed the bonus points for winning the rally-ending power stage. Latvala was delayed by two punctures.

The combination of rough stages, high altitudes and hot temperatures meant a high attrition rate for the still-new 2011 WRC machines. Petter Solberg recovered to fourth despite losing seven minutes with an electrical glitch on his Solberg Citroen on Friday, Stobart Ford's Mads Ostberg rebounded from a puncture to drive carefully to fifth and his team-mate Henning Solberg took sixth despite miscellaneous glitches.

The other two Stobart entries retired when well-placed: Matthew Wilson losing a possible career-best finish to electrical failure when fourth, and Evgeny Novikov's engine overheating due to radiator damage while fifth on his return to the championship.

Dennis Kuipers rolled the Ferm Ford out of seventh on leg two, and Ken Block managed to retire the Monster Ford no fewer than three times, thanks to two electrical failures, and a minor accident. Remarkably he was still on course for 10th until yet another electrical glitch on the penultimate stage dropped him to 13th.

The attrition rate was such that Federico Villagra came back to take a point in the Munchi's Ford despite picking up a day's worth of superally penalties when he took a wheel off the car on Friday's first stage, struggling with brake problems on his return and then breaking a driveshaft on the final stage.

Kimi Raikkonen was not present this time - Mexico being one of the events he is skipping in his reduced 2011 programme.

Nasser Al-Attiyah hung on to take S2000 class victory in seventh overall ahead of the fast-closing Martin Prokop. Ott Tanak had been Al-Attiyah's main rival until crashing on Saturday, while Juho Hanninen never regained the ground lost when he spun and broke reverse gear on Friday's opener. He escaped a penultimate-stage roll to finish third in class, ninth overall.

Leading finishers:

Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 3h53m17.0s
2. Mikko Hirvonen Ford + 1m38.4s
3. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 2m23.9s
4. Petter Solberg Solberg Citroen + 7m18.4s
5. Mads Ostberg Stobart Ford + 8m43.5s
6. Henning Solberg Stobart Ford + 9m50.0s
7. Nasser Al-Attiyah Barwa Ford + 13m21.5s
8. Martin Prokop Czech Ford + 13m35.0s
9. Juho Hanninen Red Bull Skoda + 14m48.7s
10. Federico Villagra Munchi's Ford + 48m17.2s

By Matt Beer
http://www.autosport.com