New Delhi, October 25
Sebastian Vettel scorched the track to give a glimpse of the sparks to fly over the next two days when he emerged the fastest in both the practice sessions of the Indian Formula 1 Grand Prix at the Buddh International Circuit here today. The Red Bull star, who is closing in on the championship crown for a hattrick, clocked 1:27.619 in the first practice session in the morning. He returned to improve the lap time in the afternoon, posting 1:26.221, to emerge as the only consistent performer. His second lap time was better than the lap record of 1:27.249 he had set while winning the inaugural Indian Grand Prix.

Vettel was so controlled and composed behind the wheel that he allowed little lee-way for the other drivers to upstage him. The lower order position went for a toss in the second session, as Jenson Button of McLaren was pushed to the seventh spot from the second by Vettel’s Red Bull colleague Mark Webber. Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, who is trailing Vettel in the championship title race by six points, maintained the third position in both the races while Lewis Hamilton of McLaren, fourth in the first practice session, was pushed to the sixth slot in the second. Webber, who had posted 1:28.175 in the first session, made a dramatic recovery when he returned to the track as he gave Vettel a close chase to time 1:26.339. Alonso also improved his timing in his second outing, to be in the reckoning for the title race, though Vettel’s was a master performance in speed and power. Seven-time champion Michael Schumacher of Mercedes, who has announced his plans to quit FI racing, slipped from 8th to 13th as only the ones with the best machines and tyres, and youthful energy, could keep ahead.

The deafening roar which reverberated the BIC circuit was sweet music for a large number of fans who turned up for the practice sessions, indicating that the Indian GP may be deepening its roots in the country. Today’s sessions were primarily meant for the drivers to get a feel and grip of the track, and the high-speed turns proved truly breathtaking.

With a clean sweep of the last three races at Singapore, Japan and Korea, Vettel is on a high and seems to be keeping his momentum to play an encore at the BIC. But Alonso is still a force to reckon with, and with 100 points still on the table, he will not be taking the back seat. But Vettel has an enviable reputation to maintain at the BIC, as when he won the title here last year, he had created an FI Grand Slam, which included pole position, fastest lap and victory after leading every lap of the race. He repeated the feat in Japan this month When Vettel won last year, India was the first country to have its inaugural GP won by the reigning world champion since Michael Schumacher achieved the feat at the Bahrain circuit in 2004. And India was also Vettel’s ninth and final victory of the last season. With so much at stake, it was expected that he led the field in practice, which he did today.

The BIC has a unique status too, as the first 13 races of this season were held at clock-wise circuits while of the last seven races, only the BIC is fully clock-wise! The BIC needs to witness some exciting action for the organisers to get a renewal of their five-year initial contract for the FI, and Vettel has got off to a roaring start — literally — to make the first day’s action thrilling. Many drivers went off the track, but got into control quickly to continue. Turns 9, 15, 11 and 3 proved tricky. Overall, the drivers got a good grip of the track to maintain their momentum till the finish, indicating that the qualifying and final races will provide thrills galore.

There was something to cheer for the home fans too as Force India improved their positions in the second session. Nico Hulkenberg, who was 14th, jumped to the 8th slot in the final session, while Paul di Resta improved from 12th to 11th. Narain Karthikeyan of HFT went down by a place in the second session, when he ended up 23rd.

Greater Noida, October 26
Red Bull dominated the practice sessions by putting both the cars at the top in FP 2 but Sebastian Vettel, who had the fastest time, reckons that the qualifying result may be different.

After the final practice session tomorrow morning, the drivers will fight for the positions on the grid for Sunday's race. “Fridays are always difficult with so many things changing. The track improvement was quite big today, it was dusty to start and improved lap by lap, so I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow the order is different, but we've had worse Fridays, so I am happy. We need to keep working and improve a little bit overnight," Vettel the defending champion said.

His team-mate Mark Webber, whose late charge saw him shoot up to second position, said they have good information for the race. “That went pretty well. I had a lock-up in Turn 1, which I could have done without, but it isn't the end of the world.

We got on with the important stuff, which is understanding the soft tyre on short and long runs. We'll have a look where we can improve the car, you can always improve." the Australian said.

Alonso said, “In the second one, when we switched from the Hard to Soft, the balance of the car was no longer the best.” — PTI

Greater Noida, October 26
Formula One CEO Bernie Ecclestone has distanced himself from the storm kicked up by Ferrari's decision to have the Italian navy's flag on its cars during the Indian Grand Prix, saying the national association should look into such "political matters".

Ferrari has decided to carry the Itlain navy's flag on its cars during practice for the race to show solidarity with the country's two navy marines who are facing trial here for shooting two Indian fishermen in the Indian Ocean. Asked to react on the matter, Ecclestone said the sport has nothing to do with any "political" issue.

Ecclestone said as the supremo of the sport, he would leave such political matters on national associations, in India's case, the Federation of Motor Sports Club of India.

"What we'd do, we'd look at the national sporting authority (FMSCI) here to have a look at that...we are not political," Ecclestone said at the Buddh International Circuit here today when asked about Ferrari's decision.

Ecclestone's statement came close on the heels of the Italian outfit's disclosure on its website that they would be paying tribute to the navy as "one of the outstanding entities of our country". Ferrari's statement added that the gesture was "also in the hope that the Indian and Italian authorities will soon find a solution to the situation currently involving two sailors from the Italian Navy".

Meanwhile, Ecclestone seemed mighty impressed with the improved facilities of the BIC, which made its debut as a Formula One venue only last year. "Superb, big, big improvement in everything, fantastic," was Ecclestone's reaction when asked about the BIC. — PTI

Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg happy with result

In his maiden sojourn at the Buddh International Circuit here, Sahara Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg said he was shaping up well for the qualifying session. Hulkenberg, who ended eighth at the second practice session, said he had achieved what he had wanted to do today. "It was my first experience of the circuit and I have to say they have done a really nice job. There's a good flow to the lap and the second sector is very technical and challenging," he said. “The programme was quite straightforward because we managed to do everything we wanted. I completed a decent long run on the soft tyres this afternoon," said the German. His teammate Paul Di Resta finished 11th. Meanwhile, HRT's Narain Karthikeyan (left) car suffered a hydraulic failure during the second session, restricting him to just 20 laps. — PTI

Greater Noida, October 26
McLaren Mercedes might not have the best of the free practice sessions today, but its drivers — Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button — have already set their sights on tomorrow and said a good qualifying race will be key to the team's success in Sunday's race.

Both Button (1:27.182) and Hamilton (1:27.131) improved their FP1 timing in the afternoon but still the two McLaren Mercedes cars could only set the sixth and seventh fastest timings of the day. Defending champion Sebastian Vettel emerged as the fastest driver in both the practice sessions with teammate Mark Webber finishing a close second, as Red Bull put up an impressive show in the free practice sessions. Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was third quickest.

However, Hamilton sounded optimistic and said with little bit of improvement, the two McLaren Mercedes cars can match the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari at the second edition of the Indian Grand Prix. "It was not a positive day on my side, I wasn't quick enough. It is looking quite good for Lotus and Red Bull. Our race pace is not that bad, but could have been better," Hamilton said.

"Red Bull was just too quick. Red Bull is very hard to beat. Ferrari, Red Bull and Lotus are very quick in long runs but I think we are right there with them. The qualifying will be key. So it is going to be a very close race," said the Briton, who is presently fourth in the driver's standing. Button agreed with his teammate and summed up his practice sessions today as "tricky".

"It was tricky for me because we had a gear shift problem. I have really enjoyed here but it's been tricky today. Hopefully we can improve in the days to come," Button said.

"We both (me and Hamilton) struggled. I just felt we didn't have a lot of grip but I think we are still lot closer. “The qualifying is always important. Qualifying is probably the more difficult race. So we want to qualify well here," he signed off. — PTI

New Delhi, October 26
Rising off-spinner R Ashwin today replaced out-of-form senior tweaker Harbhajan Singh in the top bracket of BCCI's list of central retainership contracts, while struggling pacer Ishant Sharma was also demoted from Grade A to B.

Harbhajan and Ishant have spent the better part of this year out of the team struggling for form in whatever chances they have been handed. The 26-year-old Ashwin, on the other hand, has played eight Tests since making his debut in November last year, grabbing 49 wickets. In the recent home series against New Zealand, he had taken 18 wickets in two Tests.

In the ODIs, he has scalped 56 wickets in 40 matches. The Chennai-bowler has 12 wickets from his 15 Twenty20 International appearances.

The elite Grade A features nine players this year, three down from the last season, according to a press release issued by the BCCI.

With the retired duo of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman out of the equation Ashwin was only new name in the top bracket, the players in which are paid an annual retainership of Rs one crore.

The likes of veteran Sachin Tendulkar, under-fire skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the struggling opening pair of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir and fading pace spearhead Zaheer Khan retained their Grade A contracts. The in-form Virat Kohli, middle-order batsman Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh completed the top category, all three retaining their contracts.

In Grade B, the BCCI has offered contracts to eight players, three more than last season with batsman Rohit Sharma being the only one to have retained his contract. Pacer Irfan Pathan, who is on a comeback trail after quite some while in the wilderness, has been given a contract along with young players such as Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara and Umesh Yadav, all of whom have been elevated from Grade C.

The players in Grade B are entitled an annual retainership of Rs 50 lakh. In the Grade C list, a demoted Ravindra Jadeja has replaced off-colour pacer S Sreesanth. All-rounder Yousuf Pathan, pacers L Balaji and Ashok Dinda have come in replacing the likes of Jaydev Unadkat.

In all, the BCCI has offered contracts to 37 players, which is the same as last year. — PTI 

Mumbai, October 26
Senior cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan were today included in the Mumbai squad to play against Railways in the Ranji Trophy league opener at the Wankhede Stadium here from November 2-5.

Both Tendulkar and Zaheer are gearing themselves up for the home Test series against England with the opening match scheduled at Ahmedabad from November 15. The team will be captained by Ajit Agarkar, a media release from Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) Joint Secretary, Nitin Dalal, said today.

Tendulkar will be playing for his home association after a gap of two seasons, having last represented Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy final against Uttar Pradesh at Hyderabad in January 2009. Zaheer, meanwhile, played a couple of away games for Mumbai on his comeback trial to cricket after an injury lay-off last season .

New Delhi, October 26
The tender document for the title sponsorship rights of the cash-rich Indian Premier League for the next five years will be available from tomorrow, the BCCI said today.

"The IPL Title Sponsorship tender document will be available from Saturday, 27 October 2012, at the BCCI, Cricket Centre, Mumbai (10:00 am to 6:00 pm)," the BCCI said in a release.

"The cost of the same is Rs 2 lakhs. The Title Sponsorship Rights will be awarded for a period of five years, from 2013 to 2017," it added. The country's largest realty firm, DLF had ended its five-year long association with the IPL as the title sponsor in August. The sixth edition of the IPL will be held in April next year. Earlier, the Sun TV network won the Hyderabad franchise, bidding Rs 85.05 crores per year (around $15.9m) for a five-year deal. The winning bid (about $79.5m for five years) is higher than the $107m for 10 years. — PTI