It’s a shame that Hamilton lost his position on the last lap of the race. Nice to see Rubens winning another race and Brawn getting a 1-2. Also nice to see that Ferrari are picking every point possible.

Force India did well for a car without KERS and had Sutil managed to have a better stop, chances are he might have found himself ahead of Raikonnen, but that’s something that comes with experience.

Fisi, who started for Ferrari this race, finished just outside the points, at least he did not come last.

6:20 A.M. PST: Raikonnen finishes 3rd and Sutil finishes 4th for Force India. More points for the team and an awesome race.

6:19 A.M. PST: Final lap begins. Hamilton is going to get on the Podium for … nevemind, hamilton spins

6:17 A.M. PST: Sutil is close to the Ferrari of Kimi Raikonnen, but its going to take a lot to pass him.

6:12 A.M. PST: Sutil lost some pace and is now back on the Ferrari’s tail.

6:05 A.M. PST: Either Sutil is driving very well or Kimi is dreaming and not driving.

6:03 A.M. PST: Sutil is 4/10 behind Raikonnen. Can he take him? But Raikonnen has KERS.

6:02 A.M. PST: Sutil, currently in 5th is 1 second behind Kimi.

6:00 A.M. PST: Sutil hit his mechanic, not that cool, but looks like all is well. The mechanics are in the back taking a smoke break. Ha ha ha.

5:58 A.M. PST: Both of them decide to pit at the same time. Nice.

5:57 A.M. PST: Raikonnen and Sutil have the exact identical pace on lap 35.

5:56 A.M. PST: Sutil skips a chicane, if he repeats that 2 more times, he is going to get a drive thru penalty.

5:55 A.M. PST: Hamilton comes in. Raikonnen will take the lead. He joins behind both the Brawns. This could mean that Kimi could be on the podium

5:50 A.M. PST: confirmation that Liuzzi had a gearbox related issue.

5:50 A.M. PST: I do not see Sutil on the podium for this race. As I see it Barichello, Button and Hamilton will finish the race in that order, unless someone makes a mistake.

5:49 A.M. PST: Sutil is currently 3rd with a 6.5 second gap from Hamilton. Raikonnen is ahead on track by 1.5 seconds.

5:48 A.M. PST: Hamilton leads Rubens by 5 seconds. Rubens is on a one stop and Hamilton is on a 2 stopper.

5:47 A.M. PST: Rubens is in, Hamilton takes the lead.

5:45 A.M. PST: Button is pitting. Can Sutil get ahead of him on track?

5:43 A.M. PST: Sutil is currently 5th, 20.5 seconds gap to the race leader Rubens. Podium, maybe, winning the race is out of the bag, unless something untoward happens.

5:40 A.M. PST: Is this going to affect how Sutil drives the rest of the race? Commentators think the chicane jumping might be affecting the transmission. I agree with them, these cars are built with a very minimal room for error.

5:39 A.M. PST: Ouch, he lost drive, looks like something related to the Transmission. Dammit, he could have gotten to the points.

5:38 A.M. PST: Waiting for a replay of Liuzzi, not sure whats wrong.

5:38 A.M. PST: Lap 20, Liuzzi stopped. WTF.

5:34 A.M. PST: Rubens now leads Button by 2.4 and Lewis by 11.4 seconds. If he get’s a 15 second advantage, the race might be his. Looks like their strategy is working. It’s awesome to see the Brawns back at the front.

5:33 A.M. PST: Looks like Ferrari short fueled Kimi, because they are afraid of Force India. This is awesome. Either way, I win.

5:32 A.M. PST: Kimi is into the pits. Ferrari do a 7.3 second pit stop. He joins at p5, right behind Liuzzi. Force India is doing pretty well.

5:30 A.M. PST: Now Heiki in the factory Mercedes is chasing Sutil in the customer Mercedes. Looks like Kingfisher is getting a lot of TV time, Mallya is a smart business man. I know I had a post about it when he decided to buy the team.

5:29 A.M. PST: Sutil Pits. 7.3 seconds, nice pit, joins in 8th place.

5:28 A.M. PST: And Hamilton is being chased down by Tonio Liuzzi. Less than a second between them.

5:27 A.M. PST: Hamilton’s pit stop puts Sutil up to second. But everyone has to pit…

5:25 A.M. PST: Lap 14, Sutil is still holding the gap. Hamilton has pulled a 3.5 second lead, now pitting.

5:23 A.M. PST: The gap is now up to 8/10th of a second between Sutil and Kimi.

5:21 A.M. PST: Sutil is gaining on Kimi, the gap has come down to 7/10th of a second.

5:20 A.M. PST: Chandok and Mallya on screen again and they cit to the rear wing of Sutil and the Kingfisher logo.

5:15 A.M. PST: Sutil does fastest first sector of 27.7.

5:09 A.M. PST: Sutil is holding 3rd and maintaining distance from Rubens who is in 4th. This was expected, given that he did not have KERS

5:07 A.M. PST: Fisi is upto 11th, pretty cool. Vettel is working pretty hard.

5:05 A.M. PST: Liuzzi takes McLaren (Heiki) Nice.

5:02 A.M. PST: Karun Chandok is standing next to Vijay Mallya… Nice.

4:35 A.M. PST: Found the Jani – BMW link

4:30 A.M. PST: It’s also a shame that both BMW’s did not manage the get out of Q3. In related news, I hear rumors that Neel Jani’s backers (his dad?) wants to bid for the BMW team.

4:25 A.M. PST: Peter Windsor is back doing the interviews? I thought they took him out once he went public with his USF1 plans. Hmmm… (listening to the post qualy interview)

And Adrian needs to talk more (and all F1 drivers / engineers etc. need to stop saying “for sure”) the man is going to do a lot more interviews.

4:20 A.M. PST: And Karun has not really opened up so far, but he is on twitter and I hope he drops more than just subtle hints.

4:10 A.M. PST: The past few days, there has been a lot of talk about Karun Chandok not being hired to replace Fisi. Honestly, I think Karun has a great future, but it still is a little early. Besides Bernie keeps talking about Karun, partly because the more you hear his name, the more expectation there is, but also because Bernie makes money from F1. And having an Indian driver for an Indian team will be a great pitch and will attract way more support to get the Indian GP and more viewers.

4:00 A.M. PST: Fuel Levels – Given the fuel levels, Kimi needs to get past Lewis and Sutil to have an advantage. Getting around Sutil should not be an issue, Force India’s do not have KERS, but its going to be difficult to get around Hamilton.

The Brawn’s are running a pretty heavy load, expect to see them in the points, unless someone does something stupid.

Given Force India’s recent pace, I expect both cars to finish in the points. Having said that the lack of KERS might impede them from getting onto the podium, well that and Adrian Sutil’s luck.

3:51 A.M. PST: With more than an hour left before the Pre-race starts rain looks like a possibility.

Force India snagged its first points last race with Fisi managing to secure the second position. Since the entire world was talking about the success of the team, I did not feel that it was necessary to blog about it.

What I failed to realize is the fact that this remarkable achievement has re-energized a lot of fans who’ve been dormant for the past few seasons.

To that end, I will be live blogging the race at Monza, starting at the ungodly hour of 4:30 AM. Yes, I live in the city by the bay.

Come join us, leave comments and follow us on twitter.

Predictions, analysis and more to come at 4:30 AM PST.

Roman veteran, Giancarlo Fisichela , driving for Force India Formula 1 managed to snag the teams first pole position, this afternoon at the Belgian grand prix.

Force India, which is not considered a front running team managed this feat without rain, crazy accidents or any untoward incident. Normally that would be the only way you would see a back marker team pulling such an upset.

To their credit, Fisi’s car was not lightly fueled. With the fuel adjusted levels (an indicator or how much fuel they have, resulting in how it affects time, faster cars have less fuel – have to pit first – lost positions during the race), Fisi still says 4th. The team has also been working on upgrades and has managed to challenge the mid field rivals pretty often this season. Even with that in their bag, today is a pretty incredible day for the team.

Force India’s other driver Adrian Sutil managed to slot himself in the 11th position for tomorrow’s race.

Do not expect a live updates from us, I’m stuck in Texas at a wedding and thanks to some creatives names and an internet connection at the Sheraton, I managed to get this up in the 5 minutes I have.

Personally, I expect Force India to finish in the points, in face, I’d not be surprised if both their drives managed to get themselves a piece of the pie. This might also add momentum to the rumors that Fisi might replace ailing Luca Badoer at Ferrari for the rest of the season. Luca is sitting in for Felipe Massa and has come last in both the qualifying sessions he started.

Mallya is no stranger to controversy, neither is Narain. But the media has successfully orchastrated a death match between the two.

So here is what went down.

A few days ago, when asked about “An Indian driver driving for an Indian team” statement that Mallaya had made early in his F1 career, Mallya decided to conclude that neither Narain Karthikeyan nor Karun Chandok fit the bill.

In my F1 context, [Karthikeyan] doesn’t fit in,[Chandhok] is like my son, but I have not broken the professional rules of Force India F1 and announced in respect of Karun only because of my personal relationship.

In 2009, we are going to launch a comprehensive programme of driver identification and where we see youngsters with talent, Force India is going to pay all the way through to international karting, single-seater racing, GP2 and on to Formula One. I don’t think [Indian Motorsport Federation] FMSCI should concentrate on creating an F1 driver. FMSCI should concentrate on broad basing motorsports in this country. [Making an] F1 driver is my job as Force India F1.

While Karun happens to be Mallya’s friend, we do not expect him to make a statement, but Narain decided to. And in the process spilled a few beans and I’m sure connected a few punches.

I spent a frustrating time with Jordan, where I had a car that just could not perform. I have no desire to be with another pedestrian team that’s low on performance and loud on talk, I never even approached Mallya. The vibes from the camp have been extremely negative and I want to make it clear that I am not interested in driving for Force India.

Spyker offered me a drive in August 2007. I declined as the team was going nowhere, Except in F1, where machine matters more than man, I have won races in every championship that I have participated in.

Asked for his response to Karthikeyan’s comments, Mallya said: “Everyone is welcome to their views.”

And to help prove that Mallya is still a rookie, a few F1 experts sounded off on the issue (HT has the entire article).

Emerson Fittipaldi was on Narain’s side, saying

I disagree with the statement. A non-grand prix driver cannot give an opinion as to a driver’s abilities. When Narain drove in F1, he did not have a competitive chassis or technical package. He’s capable of winning GPs in a good car.

And big Berie was supporting Karun

The time is getting closer for F1 to be in India, which is something I am really enthusiastic about, and hopefully Karun will be part of it. His place is in F1.

And Narain’s former team mate Tiago Monteiro, who has in the past not had the kindest words for Narain, chimed in, albeit in a different tone

F1 is all about the car you are given. Give Narain a race-winning car and he will win races I can guarantee you

Bruno Senna supported Karun and Peter Windsor, the Ex Williams Manager did not have the kindest words for Mallya.

It’s amusing when people who have made a lot of money come to F1 and make such ridiculous statements. It makes one wonder how they ever made that money! There is absolutely no question that Karun has the ability to do well. He is at least as good as Adrian Sutil (present Force India driver).

And the icing on the cake for Narain, James Roberts from F1 Racing magazine

Narain was abnormally brave in his ability to stay committed in high-speed corners in that Jordan car. Over one lap he may actually be even quicker than (Giancarlo) Fisichella (present Force India number one driver). Karun is a great talent. I am surprised at what Mallya has said.

So will all the pundits, including bloggers like me taking the side of Narain and Karun, I can tell you that as it stands the Score is Narain / Karun 1 – Mallya 0.

What do you guys think?

And I can’t wait for Mallya to make a statement regarding this.

There is news (at this time, I would consider this pure speculation) that Mallya is one one the interested parties, along with a host of other big names, including Pro Drives Richard as possible buyers of the Honda F1 team.

For those who care to remember, Pro Drive wanted to start 2008 buying their chassis from Mercedes, but because of the Customer Car row, they decided to pull out.

Mallya might already be over committed with Force India, but now that he has almost given up control and “sold” the team to McLaren Mercedes, he might, along with Dave Richards make a bid for Honda F1. Let’s see how this plays out.