MOTORSPORT: Red letter day for Red Bull trio

Official hush still on fuel ahead of V8 Supercar enduro
Still no official word – at 1:00pm eastern time today -- on fuel for the Sandown 500, Rally Australia close too now with the prospect of a new world champion at Coffs Harbour on Sunday afternoon, and Red Bull is charging towards more Formula One championship glory.

V8 Supercar watchers are awaiting official news on whether Nissan Motorsport and Erebus Motorsport with its AMG Mercedes-Benzes have been granted any concession to give them better fuel economy for the upcoming endurance races.

We reported here on Friday that we believed a decision had been made not to allow the Altimas and E 63s to run on E70 fuel – 70 per cent ethanol, 30 per cent unleaded petrol – as three did on the Saturday at Winton a fortnight ago, with two Nissans finishing first and second.

However, there is intrigue that no official announcement has been forthcoming with first practice for the Sandown 500 now just four days away.

Meanwhile, Frenchman Sebastien Ogier could claim his first world rally crown in Rally Australia in Volkswagen’s first year of campaigning its Polo R.

More on that in the next couple of days, but in the meantime Sebastian Vettel has tightened his grip on a fourth straight F1 world title – at just 26 years of age – with his sixth victory in 12 races this year at the Italian Grand Prix.

Australia’s Mark Webber achieved his best result at Monza, third, in his final GP in Europe before his switch to sports car racing with Porsche next year.

And Daniel Ricciardo, the 24-year-old West Australian who will replace Webber at Red Bull Racing next season, equaled his best F1 finish with seventh place in his Toro Rosso.

Vettel is now 53 points clear of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso with seven races – and a maximum of 175 points – remaining, the next in Singapore on September 22.

Red Bull is more than 100 points clear in the constructors’ championship, with 352 points to the 248 of Ferrari, which leapfrogged Mercedes at Monza courtesy of Alonso finishing second and Felipe Massa fourth.

German Nico Hulkenberg qualified his Sauber car third and finished fifth, little more than 10 seconds behind Vettel as he firmed as a likely replacement for Brazilian Massa at Ferrari next year.

Vettel’s victory was the 32nd of his F1 career, equaling Alonso’s tally in little more than half the number of races, although Alonso has rarely had the best car in the field -- unlike Vettel.

It was the fifth anniversary of Vettel’s miraculous maiden victory in the wet at Monza in a Toro Rosso, the team that for so long was Minardi, and it was his second win for Red Bull at the world-renowned high-speed circuit.

Red Bull Racing had not been expected to have an advantage at Belgium’s Spa a fortnight ago or at Monza, but Vettel won at both tracks.

Red Bull’s Renault-powered RB9s were the pacesetters in qualifying and it was only Alonso’s brilliant overtake of Webber early in the race -- in which the Aussie lost part of his front wing, after Massa had dutifully let the Spaniard by -- that prevented a quinella by the top team, which had to warn its drivers to protect their gearboxes in the closing laps.

“We had some issues that we had to manage during the race and the pit stops in particular were great and enabled Mark to get ahead of Massa,” RBR team principal Christian Horner said.

Webber said it was “very special” to be on the podium at Monza and the notoriously pro-Ferrari crowd that thronged on to the start-finish straight after the race gave him a rousing reception, albeit far less than that for Alonso.

“It’s not the circuit where I’ve had the best results, so it’s a bit of a personal best for me in qualifying (second on the grid, alongside Vettel) and the race,” Webber said.

“I felt better on the soft tyres today. I had a good battle with Fernando. Fair play to him on that, and then afterwards I settled in to getting my head down and getting on with the race.

“We got Felipe on the stop, which was great. I was happy with my in-lap, the pit stop was great and then my out-lap was strong, so we cleared him reasonably comfortably.

“We had to nurse the gearbox a bit at the end, but overall it was a good result.

“Seb is very strong around here and it was great to get such a good result today.”

Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost rated Ricciardo’s performance “excellent”.

His seventh place equaled his previous best at the Chinese GP early in the season and the six points he earned hoisted him ahead of French teammate Jean-Eric Vergne, who retired at Monza with transmission trouble.

“Daniel did a great job of maintaining his position while looking after his tyres,” Tost said.

“His afternoon was complicated by the fact he was hardly ever in a position to use DRS (drag reduction system), except when coming up behind backmarkers, while the cars behind him were able to use it and close right up to him.”

On Ricciardo’s tail at the finish was Frenchman Romain Grosjean in a Lotus, then three world champions – Lewis Hamilton in a Mercedes, Jenson Button in a McLaren and Kimi Raikkonen in a Lotus.

It was the second straight race in which Raikkonen has not collected a point after his phenomenal finishing record in the top 10 since his return to F1 last year from rallying.

It was a horror weekend for Hamilton. His hopes of a fifth straight pole position were scuttled when he damaged the floor of his Merc on a kerb and he admitted he drove “like an idiot” in qualifying.

In the race he had a slow puncture in his first front right tyre, which forced him on to a two-stop strategy rather the one of his rivals.

Hamilton has slipped 81 points behind Vettel, but still lies third, in the title fight while Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg finished sixth at Monza and remains sixth in the championship.

Meanwhile, Ricciardo is set to drive a two-year-old Red Bull in Barcelona this week during a test of next year’s Pirelli tyres. Pirelli is not allowed to use this year’s cars in such testing.

In other F1 news, Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) president Jean Todt, 67, has confirmed that he will contest the upcoming election for the post against Englishman David Ward, 57.

Formula One World Championship driver standings after 12 rounds - 1. Sebastian Vettel (Germany, Red Bull-Renault) 222 points; 2. Fernando Alonso (Spain, Ferrari) 169; 3. Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain, Mercedes) 141; 4. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland, Lotus-Renault) 134; 5. Mark Webber (Australia, Red Bull-Renault) 130; 6. Nico Rosberg (Germany, Mercedes) 104; 7. Felipe Massa (Brazil, Ferrari) 79; 8. Romain Grosjean (France, Lotus-Renault) 57; 9. Jenson Button (GB, McLaren-Mercedes) 48; 10. Paul Di Resta (GBm Force India-Mercedes) 36; 11. Adrian Sutil (Germany, Force India-Mercedes) 25; 12. Sergio Perez (Mexico, McLaren-Mercedes) 18; 13. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia, Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 18; 14. Nico Hulkenberg (Germany, Sauber-Ferrari) 17; 15. Jean-Eric Vergne (France, Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 13; 16. Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela, Williams-Renault) 1.

F1 constructor standings - 1. Red Bull-Renault 352 points; 2. Ferrari 248; 3. Mercedes 245; 4. Lotus-Renault 191; 5. McLaren-Mercedes 66; 6. Force India-Mercedes 61; 7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 31; 8. Sauber-Ferrari 17; 9. Williams-Renault 1.

Chevrolet driver Ryan Newman was leading the weekend’s race at Richmond, Virginia, and on course to secure one of the two wildcard spots among the dozen until Clint Bowyer suspiciously spun his Toyota, prompting a caution and allowing his teammate Martin Truex Junior to finish seventh and claim the wildcard.

Others to miss out on the Chase included reigning champion Brad Keselowski, who led the most laps at Richmond, and four-times champion Jeff Gordon, by just one point.

Youngster Joey Logano, Keselowski’s teammate since Roger Penske switched to running Fords in NASCAR this season after taking his first Cup title last year with Dodge, is among the dozen.

So too is Carl Edwards, who won the Richmond race in his Ford, ahead of four Chevrolets – including third-placed Newman.

But Australia’s Marcos Ambrose was a long way from making the Chase, dropping a place in the standings to 21st after finishing three laps down in 27th at Richmond in his Ford.

Each of the 12 drivers in the Chase starts with 2000 points plus three points for each win so far this season, meaning Matt Kenseth – in his first season in a Toyota – is the number one seed on 2015 after five wins, ahead of five-times champion Jimmie Johnson (Chevrolet) and Kyle Busch (Toyota) on 2012.
    
NASCAR Sprint Cup points after 26 rounds (Top 12 drivers set for Chase for the Championship) - 1. Matt Kenseth (Toyota) 2015 points; 2. Jimmie Johnson (Chevrolet) 2012; 3. Kyle Busch (Toyota) 2012; 4. Kevin Harvick (Chevrolet) 2006; 5. Carl Edwards (Ford) 2006; 6. Joey Logano (Ford) 2003; 7. Greg Biffle (Ford) 2003; 8. Clint Bowyer (Toyota) 2000; 9. Dale Earnhardt Junior (Chevrolet) 2000; 10. Kurt Busch (Chevrolet) 2000; 11. Kasey Kahne (Chevrolet) 2000; 12. Martin Truex Junior (Toyota) 2000. Australia’s Marcos Ambrose (Ford) is 21st on 638 points.

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