2011 Formula 1 Season

[Prashant]

Kubica is going to miss 2011 Formula One season due to horrific high-speed rally crash in Italy

This is just really too bad. Kubica was probably the best driver last year. Considering his vastly inferior car, he was consistently competitive.

[jaydeep]

Prashant, very true ... I also felt last year Kubica was very consistent with struggling Renault, he finished on 8th position with 136 pts (64 pts ahead of Schumi) ... Really sad, hopefully he will make full recovery and will comeback on track in season 2012.

[jaydeep]

Lotus Renault GP has announced that Nick Heidfeld has joined the team and taking over driving duties from the injured Robert Kubica for opening phase of the season.

Yesterday Robert Kubica was operated for the complex fracture to his elbow .. As per report the operation lasted 8 hrs in order to stabilise and reconstruct the damaged fragments of the delicate joint structure.

[shibi]

There is a real chance that Bahrain F1 will be cancelled due to the unrest.

[jaydeep]

Yes Shibi, it looks doubtful as GP2 Asia series round have now cancelled.

According to reports, GP2 drivers could hear machine gun fire from their hotels while tanks patrolled the city centre. So far, it is understood that four people have been killed with several hundred injured.

[shibi]

It's official. Bahrain F1 GP has been called off.

[leapstart2010]

The Formula One season kicks off again. We want to hear your thoughts and opinions on the world's most exciting motor sport competition.
Who are your favorites for the Driver's World Championship? What are Force India's chance? Keep those thought and opinions flowing in.
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[jaydeep]

Karun Chandhok landed Reserve Driver role in Team Lotus ... Hopefully he will get opportunities to drive on Friday practice sessions.

So season 2011 will officially start from coming Friday at Melbourne ... Good luck to Narain Karthikeyan and Force India team.

[jaydeep]

Narain Karthikeyan is worrying for HRT pace as from this year "107 percent" rule re-introduced ... So his first task will be qualify for the race.

HRT's pace concerns cloud Karthikeyan's return

Formula One: Modest goals for India's Narain Karthikeyan

[jaydeep]

Both HRT drivers, Narain Karthikeyan and Vitantonio Liuzzi, failed to qualify for Australian GP race under '107% rule' ... In the race both Force India drivers failed to grab points, they finished on 11th and 12th positions.

[suresh]

From the Formula one site: (boldface added by me for emphasis)

Sauber’s Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi have lost their seventh and eighth places in Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix after both were disqualified for technical infringements on their cars.

Following post-race checks, the Melbourne stewards decided that both Sauber C30s were in breach of technical regulations 3.10.1* and 3.10.2**, in relation to their rear wings.

It means Ferrari’s Felipe Massa moves up to seventh, Force India’s Adrian Sutil to eighth, Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi to ninth and Force India’s Paul di Resta to tenth, the Scot thus scoring on his F1 debut

I wonder if the Buemi/Sutil position got exchanged. As per Jaydeep's statement above, Sutil should be ninth. This is also consistent with the yahoo Formula one site's results. In any case, the Force India drivers both pick up points in the first race. One must however feel sad for the rookie Sergio Perez who lost out due to a technicality.

[jaydeep]

Thanks Suresh for posting this piece ... Good to see both Force India drivers acquired points ... Sutil and Paul di Resta were finished on 11th and 12th so they must be promoted to 9th and 10th position ... Also Formula1 result page showing the same.

Race Standing with Points

[jaydeep]

At Malaysian GP, Narain Karthikeyan qualified for the race posting timing below 107% rule but could not finish the race and was forced to retire after the 14th lap.

Force India managed to finish among points for the second successive race with Paul Di Resta completed race on 10th place ahead of teammate Adrian Sutil.

[Sandeep]

Force India has launched an academy yesterday in Bangalore to find the next F1 driver from India. As per the program everyone is allowed to participate in the city wise competition. Mumbai, Goa, Kolhapur, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Amritsar are the 7 cities chosen for the race. 14 will be selected from each city and then they will compete against each other to bag the 10 final spots who will be taken to Silverstone for training. From the ten, three winners will be announced just before the Delhi race.

The academy will then support these three winners for three years depending on their progress before applying for the Formula 1 super license.

Vijay Mallaya is doing a great service to the nation through this academy. His urge to see an Indian driver is commendable. Go Force India

[Prem]

Narain Kartikeyan has been replaced at HRT.
So we have no Indian drivers in F1 for now.
Looks like Narain will race in the indian Grand Prix for obvious reasons!!!

News item

There is a strong chance Toro Rosso reserve driver Daniel Ricciardo could be replacing Hispania’s Narain Karthikeyan for the remainder of the 2011 season. First reported in the Australian press, the 2009 British Formula 3 Champion is set to compete in all remaining races bar India.

Hope Karun gets a seat next year!!!