This is great news! After all the tragedy of the last two weeks this really lifts my spirits. I hope he can find his form & get back on track soon.
Lap of India circuit [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT55HWs5_zE]F1 Indian Grand Prix 2011 - Onboard Lap with Mark Webber (Preview) - YouTube[/ame]
Yep, Indian driving is quite different from elsewhere and it's one of the few places I've worked where I didn't want to drive myself. I don't think many Merkan or Yurpeen drivers would survive there - you drive quite literally inches away from pedestrians but it is up to the drivers not to hit them. Gaps are used down to the level where, as a cyclist brushes past you in stationary traffic, he folds in your wing mirror to get past and then folds it back out again afterwards! The horn use is unreal - even a Mexican would say so. Mercedes got into a joint venture with knocked-down cars being locally assembled and suddenly they found a horn button that would last forever in Germany had a life expectancy in India of a couple of months. I think the local etiquette is that if a driver isn't hooting, it's considered your civic responsibility to check his vital signs....
Korea is like that, but not as bad as everything else you've described. Still though, there are some Korean cab drivers who could probably give Vettel a run for his money. I was in several that raced trains to the crossing with me in the back (this is how I learned Zen), and saw them do u-turns across 6 lanes of busy traffic without slowing down in order to grab a fare. It doesn't sound like India would have the space to pull that kind of thing though.
Why this man's lap times matter most... meet Formula One's medical driver (dailymail.co.uk) Read more: Indian Grand Prix 2011: Meet Formula One Medical Driver Alan van der Merwe | Mail Online
There haven't been any farmers playing cricket on the track (yet) but they did have to stop one of the practice sessions because a dog got out onto the track. :crazy:
The nicest shot from the BBC coverage of the first free practice (sorry, it says it's only available within the UK), apart from the dog, was Fernando Alonso stopping his Ferrari when it made a funny noise. He ended up waiting for the end of the session sitting on a support to a huge trackside TV screen - but stood up to watch the in-car camera replay of his own car coming to a halt!
Do you suppose that's paint coming up or improperly cured concrete flaking? I figure it's the former but given the last minute construction, etc, anything is possible...
Wow! New track, old track, red track, blue track, it just doesn't matter...the juggernaut rolls on.....Vettel on pole by almost a half second, same as it ever was! With the Hamster penalized to 5th place, that puts teammate Mock Webba next to him for yet another Red Bull front line. Hope Webba gets a betta start than his usual, if he can legitimately get in front of Sebass on the start, Seb can protect his butt and they can go 1-2, getting Mock closer to 2nd place in the driver's championship. But I bet that doesn't happen......
Never mind how Webber will finish, given his start record this year it's reasonable to wonder how many positions he'll lose before the first corner. Also, my guess is if Vettel helps at all -- not sure I think he will -- it won't be by trying to let Webber lead into turn 1 so he can then hold up the rest of the field while Webber runs away.