Author: Natalie

F1 2016: Spanish GP Qualifying Report – Hamilton On Top

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has secured pole position for Sunday’s Spanish grand prix.

The one hour qualifying session got underway under bright Spanish skies and in front of an excited crowd. The biggest casualty in the first part of qualifying was Williams driver Felipe Massa who will start 18th on the grid.

It was good news for McLaren as Fernando Alonso was able to advance to the top ten shoot-out for the first time since Honda has returned to the sport.

The first minutes of the top ten shoot-out belonged to newly promoted Red Bull driver Max Verstappen as he ended the first round of laps in second position overall. However, it was never his to maintain as the two Mercedes duked it out for pole position. Lewis Hamilton got the better of teammate Nico Rosberg with a quali lap of 1:22:000, 0.280s faster than the German.

Daniel Ricciardo, in the other Red Bull, left himself one shot at a final quail run and delivered. The Aussie will line up third with his teenaged teammate, Verstappen, in fourth.

Despite showing well in the morning’s third practice session Ferrari failed to deliver. Kimi Raikkonen managed the fifth quickest time ahead of teammate Sebastian Vettel in 6th. Team principal Maurizio Arrivabene was quoted as saying, about the pace, “we have to check.”

Williams’ Valtteri Bottas (7th), Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz (8th), Force India’s Sergio Perez (9th), and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso (10th) round out the top ten.

May 14, 2016
F1 2016: Spanish GP Free Practice 1 Report – Vettel Quickest

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time in the first free practice session ahead of the Spanish grand prix.

The first free practice session got off to a rather quiet start at the Spanish Circuit de Catalunya. The reason for the lack of urgency is likely because teams and drivers are well acquainted with the circuit that it often used a test venue.

As the drivers set about their business the Force India of Sergio Perez was pulled back into the pits with a smoking rear end. Esteban Ocon, subbing for Jolyon Palmer, was unable to set a flying lap in the Renault. The French driver only completed six laps before being confined to the pits with a reliability issue.

Midway through the session Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen set a time of 1:24:089 which is already quicker than the 2015 pole position time. All eyes were on the Red Bull garage as Max Vestappen headed into his first session with the senior team. Verstappen ended the session sixth fastest with a time of 1:25:585. Meanwhile Daniil Kyvat, back in the Toro Rosso, finished twelfth on the timing sheets with a 1:26:583.

Sebastian Vettel’s quickest time of 1:23:951 was set on the yellow walled soft tyre ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen on a 1:24:089. Neither Mercedes driver opted to use the soft tyre and persisted with the white-walled medium tyre throughout the session.

Final Free Practice 1 Standings:

May 13, 2016
F1 2016: Spanish GP Preview – All eyes on Spain

Traditionally the first European race of the F1 season sees a raft of updates made to the cars. It’s no different in 2016 as teams look to take a crucial step forward at Spain’s Circuit de Catalunya.

Red Bull Racing dropped the bombshell a few days after the Russian grand prix that Dannil Kvyat and Max Verstappen would swop seats. Ostensibly, the move appears to have been made following Kvyat’s attempt at playing bumper cars with Sebastian Vettel in Russia but there’s a fair bit more at play than that.

For one, Russian driver Kvyat hasn’t been that impressive in the Red Bull alongside Daniel Ricciardo. Then, there’s that incident with the Ferrari in Russia. However, neither of these two things are enough to warrant a demotion to the junior team. Drivers go through indifferent patches and make mistakes but they aren’t dropped at the first sign of strife, usually. Romain Grosjean’s troublesome season at Lotus and Pastor Maldonado’s F1 career is testament to the fact that teams usually stick it out. But not in Kvyat’s case.

The incident in Russia is nothing more than an excuse to promote Verstappen from Toro Rosso into the senior team. While the teenaged Dutch driver may be singing Red Bull’s praises and swearing that he’s never looked elsewhere for a drive we know better. Despite being in only his second F1 season it’s obvious that Verstappen has enormous potential. This makes him a hot commodity for other teams and there’s no better way to keep him close than to move him to the senior team. Well played Red Bull.

What a difference twelve months can make. In 2015 Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg arrived at the Spanish grand prix under pressure to perform. This time around he arrives at the fifth round of the season with four race wins under the belt and a dominant lead over teammate Lewis Hamilton in the standings. Now the questions shifts from can Nico do it to can he keep doing it? The German is convinced that Hamilton will hit back soon and he’s likely right. However, it’s also a great mental space Rosberg to operate in – take it one race and one lap at a time and don’t take it for granted.

Besides a bit of brooding on the Russian Gp podium Hamilton has appeared decidedly chilled, even apathetic, to his dreadful run so far in 2016. But don’t be fooled by his supposedly indifferent approach. The reigning champ more than has the skill to hit back hard and just needs to find the sweet-spot for it to be unleashed.

From the Ferrari garage the hope is that the performance deficit in the last race was specific to the circuit. It could’ve been given that the Russian circuit is power dominant. But though they may be closer in Spain it will extremely tough to beat the Silver Arrows around Catalunya.

McLaren, already vastly improved in 2016, is planning to introduce a significant upgrade to their car this weekend. They hope that a new floor, wings, and various bits of other bodywork will be enough to propel them into the top ten in qualifying and a solid points score with both cars.

The Haas F1 Team will run the upgraded Ferrari engine, introduced in Russia, in Spain. The Renault team will run an updated version of their front and rear wings in the hopes of upping their game in a tight mid-field battle.

Seven drivers on the current grid have won the Spanish grand prix and thanks to its status as a test venue everyone knows their way around these parts. But as familiar as they are with the Circuit de Catalunya it doesn’t do anything to lessen the challenge.

May 11, 2016
BREAKING NEWS: Red Bull Announce New Driver

The Red Bull Racing team has announced that Max Verstappen will partner Daniel Ricciardo in its F1 team.

From the Spanish grand prix onwards teenager Verstappen will replace Russian driver Daniil Kyvat in the senior Red Bull team. Kyvat, meanwhile will return to the Toro Rosso team alongside Spain’s Carlos Sainz Jr.

Christian Horner, team principal says: “Max has proven to be an outstanding young talent. His performance at Toro Rosso has been impressive so far and we are pleased to give him the opportunity to driver for Red Bull Racing.”

“We are in the unique position to have all four drivers across Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso under long term contracts with Red Bull, so we have the flexibility to move them between the two teams.”

“Dany will be able to continue his development at Toro Rosso, in a team that he is familiar with, giving him the chance to regain his form and show his potential.”

The move comes after a disastrous Russian grand prix in which Kyvat twice rammed into the back of Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel.

May 5, 2016
F1 2016: Russian Gp Tyre Strategy

The 2016 Russian grand prix didn’t play to varying tyre strategies as much as the first three races of the 2016 season.

The Sochi Autodrom brings with it a unique set of conditions for the Pirelli tyres. As the circuit is mainly un-used for the remainder of the year it’s track surface is particularly kind to Pirelli rubber. The Italian tyre manufacturer arrived in Russia with the white-walled medium, yellow-walled soft, and red-walled supersoft tyres.

Owing to the lack of degradation most drivers were able to complete the 53 laps with a one-stop strategy. At the head of affairs Ferrari extended Kimi Raikkonen’s first stint over on the supersoft tyres over Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. The aim was to prize open a slight advantage over the two with whom Raikkonen had been keeping close company. Though the Ferrari driver was able to jump Bottas with this call Hamilton stayed ahead of Raikkonen thanks to a burst of three quick laps on new soft tyres.

Red Bull Racing’s afternoon was compromised when Dannil Kyvat twice crashed into the back of the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel. It resulted in damage and a forced pitstop for both Kyvat and Daniel Ricciardo. The Red Bull pitwall opted to fit the white-walled medium tyre and go to the chequered flag without another visit to the pitlane. While the medium compound survived for 52 laps on Kyvat’s Red Bull the pace deficit to the soft, and supersoft, tyre meant he could make little to no headway.

Haas F1’s Esteban Gutierrez also opted for to run the medium compound for 99% of the race without success and eventually finished eighteenth. Teammate Romain Grosjean opted for the favoured supersoft > soft strategy and ultimately finished eighth.

In hindsight, given the lack of degradation the spectacle would have been better served had Pirelli opted to bring the purple-walled ultrasoft compound to the Russian grand prix.

May 2, 2016
F1 2016: Russian GP Review – Rosberg Wraps Up Win Number Four

If you were a neutral there wasn’t much to enthuse about in the Russian grand prix. But these days’ neutrals are few and far between. And even a true neutral would have to be impressed with the spellbinding way in which Nico Rosberg has won the Russian grand prix.

While Nico Rosberg led serenely away from pole position and Kimi Raikkonen snatched second from Valtteri Bottas the carnage behind started to unfold. Sebastian Vettel, recovering from a five-place grid penalty, was attempting to pass Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull for fifth when Daniil Kvyat rammed into the back of him. As if to compound matters Kvyat rammed into the back of Vettel a second time in turn three. The Ferrari speared off into a wall prompting a colourful tirade over the German’s radio.

Kvyat’s catastrophic exuberance resulted in damage for both Red Bulls and the Force India of Sergio Perez and prompted the deployment of the safety car. Through the shower of carbon fibre and expletives Lewis Hamilton emerged in fifth. The Brit was forced to start tenth after another power unit issue in Saturday qualifying.

At the restart Bottas was able to get the better of Raikkonen and snatched second as Hamilton made his way past the second Williams for fourth. He took advantage of Raikkonen’s poor exit off turn three and quickly made it third place on the track. Bottas held off Hamilton until the first round of stops but was unable to resist as Hamilton took second place with a move up the inside of turn two.

By now Rosberg, untroubled in the lead, had built a near fourteen-second gap. Once in clear air Hamilton reduced the gap to 7.5 seconds before being warned of a water pressure issue. In the end Rosberg’s domination ended in a fourth consecutive victory by 25 seconds over Hamilton. Roughly six seconds down the road Raikkonen completed the top three and rather sedately scored Ferrari’s 700^th podium.

Bottas finished a distant fourth ahead of Williams teammate Felipe Massa in sixth. Fernando Alonso scored his first points of the season with a fine sixth place ahead of Renault’s Kevin Magnussen in seventh. Romain Grosjean salvaged an eighth place finish for Haas ahead of Sergio Perez in ninth. Jenson Button made it a double points score for McLaren by taking the final point in tenth.

It’s difficult to say that the Russian grand prix revealed everyone’s true form. Yes, Mercedes are still clearly the leaders of the pack but in modern Formula 1 several factors conspire to control the pace of a driver. For Kimi Raikkonen it was the necessity to save fuel that stopped him from pushing the Ferrari to its full potential. For Hamilton yet another power unit issue halted his assault on victory. “There wasn’t a doubt in my mind” Hamilton responded when asked if he could’ve won the race.

As it were Hamilton, in the unfamiliar bridesmaid role, sulkily made his way through the podium ceremony without bothering to spray the champagne. While Hamilton’s mood was understandable given his issues so far in 2016 it was unbecoming of F1’s “best ambassador” as he has dubbed himself.

The 1^st of May commemorated the death of the great Ayrton Senna 22 years ago. A driver who when truly tested delivered the very best of himself and his abilities. A driver who typified what a champion ought to be.

The character of a true champion isn’t revealed as he basks in the glory of win after win. True champion character is revealed in how a driver responds in the difficult moments. For two years Nico Rosberg deferred to Hamilton but now he has responded with the sort of tenacity that, if maintained, could carry him all the way to championship glory.

(All images courtesy of Pirelli)

May 2, 2016
F1 2016: Russian GP Free Practice 1 Report – Rosberg On Top

Nico Rosberg set the fastest time for Mercedes in the first free practice session for the 2016 Russian grand prix.

All eyes focused on Red Bull Racing as it trialed the aeroscreen for the first time. The aeroscreen is Red Bull’s offering for head protection to be introduced in 2017. The aeroscreen was run for only one installation lap as team principal admitted that it has a “huge impact” on the car’s cooling.

The two Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton set the early pace in the session. With Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Williams’ Valtteri Bottas rounding out the top four early on. Williams teammate Felipe Massa was unable to set a time due to a gearbox issue. The Brazilian did make his way out for an install lap in the second half of the session. Mass eventually ended the session with the fifth quickest time.

Nico Rosberg set the quickest time overall, a 1:38:127 followed by teammate Lewis Hamilton on a 1:38:849. Both drivers used the red-walled supersoft tyre to set their fastest times.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel set the third quickest time, a 1:39:175 ahead of the sister Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen who set a 1:39:332. The Ferrari’s quickest times were set on the yellow-walled soft tyre.

Mexican driver Alfonso Celis took control of Nico Huldenberg’s Force India for the practice session. Elsewhere Sergey Sirotkin ran the first free practice session for Renault in place on Kevin Magnussen.

Final Standings for Free Practice 1:

April 29, 2016
F1 2016: Russian GP Preview – Russian Showdown

When you think of motorsport Russia isn’t the first place that comes to mind. In fact, it’s probably not even in your top five. However, this weekend the Formula 1 paddock puts Russia front and center as it heads to the Sochi Autodrom for the fourth round of the 2016 season.

The Sochi circuit hosted its first grand prix race in 2014 and is the first purpose-built Formula 1 site in Russia. The 5.8 kilometer track was built under the watchful eye of F1’s favoured designer Herman Tilke and has a capacity of 55 000. The most striking feature of the circuit is its integration to the Olympic Park that hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics.

The circuit, second in length only to Spa and Silverstone, requires compromise in terms of car setup. The start and end of the lap demands good traction and braking performance while the middle sector requires a more technical approach to master the flow of the corners.

“It’s a very modern track with a few corners that look quite similar by they are never as easy as they might look, because you have to try and driver the car in the limit each time you turn,” says Russian driver Daniil Kvyat.

In the two races it’s put on the Sochi Autodrom has shown little tyre wear. So little in fact that in 2014 Nico Rosberg was able to complete a stint of 52 laps on one set of tyres. But the introduction of a third compound choice in 2016 means that we’re unlikely to see a repeat of what happened here two years ago.

The Red Bull and Haas F1 Team have opted for an aggressive tyre strategy by selecting ten sets of supersofts, two sets of softs, and one set of the medium compound tyre. It’s an expected choice for these two teams who have been able to make the supersoft tyre last longer than their closest rivals. The Red Bull drivers, Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat, may not have a straight forward shot at the podium but will be ready to pounce should either of the Merc or Ferrari drivers have an issue during the Russian GP on Sunday.

There is a marked difference between Mercedes and Ferrari’s Russian GP tyre choices too. While all four drivers have only one set of mediums on the shelf Hamilton and Rosberg have opted for eight sets of supersofts, and four sets of the yellow-walled soft tyres. In contrast, Raikkonen and Vettel have chosen six sets each of the soft and supersoft compound.

The thinking behind Ferrari’s tyre choice could be to do one less stop than Mercedes in the race by running the more durable soft tyre for a longer stint. As the supersoft is generally the quicker tyre to run on much will depend on how big a time deficit there is between it and the more durable soft tyre.

The run down to the first corner is a long one, which dramatically tightens into turn one. Ferrari will be extra vigilant after Sebastian Vettel got into the side of Kimi Raikkonen in China. In every round so far Ferrari has faced some issues whether through their own making or uncontrollable reliability problems. If the Italian team is to mount a serious challenge for the top step of the Russian GP podium, which it seems likely they can, the first order of business will be to have a clean race.

The last time we visited Russia, Mercedes were on the brink on clinching a constructor’s title and Lewis Hamilton had been outperforming teammate Nico Rosberg by a considerable margin. In 2016, the story so far reads much differently. Now it’s up to Lewis Hamilton to show what being a three time world champion really means.

April 28, 2016
F1 2016: Chinese Gp Tyre Strategy

The 2016 Chinese grand prix delivered a plethora of tyre strategies as the drivers made their way through the 56 laps.

The compounds on offer for the race were the red-walled supersoft, yellow-walled soft, and the white-walled medium. It was evident from the long runs in Free Practice that the supersoft tyre would be the least desirable race tyre. Instead the soft tyre was the obvious choice to run the majority of the laps on.

Eventual pole-sitter Nico Rosberg set his fastest Q2 time on the soft tyre and ensured that he would start on the more durable tyre. However, this advantage was diminished with the safety-car deployment on lap four. It allowed drivers starting on the supersoft tyre a free pitstop to swop the fragile tyre for the more fancied soft compound.

Mercedes ensured that Lewis Hamilton wouldn’t have to race the supersoft tyre by fitting the supersoft under the safety car and calling him straight back in to fit the soft tyre. Several drivers tried an elongated middle stint on the medium tyre but only Kimi Raikkonen was able to show a truly competitive pace on the white-walled compound. The Finn completed twenty-three laps on the medium compound and held off Lewis Hamilton who was on a set of softs.

Sebastian Vettel made the supersoft tyre work for him with a thirteen lap stint on the tyre. It allowed the Ferrari driver to scythe through the field and eventually recover to second place after twice sustaining front-wing damage.

Nico Rosberg stayed as far away from the supersofts as he could and ran a soft>soft>medium two stop race. Lewis Hamilton completed the most pitstops of the day with five visits to the pitlane.

April 18, 2016
F1 2016: Chinese GP – Rosberg Makes Hay In China

For years we’ve been frustratingly calling for Nico Rosberg to up his game. With a third win out of three in 2016 he’s done it.

The German driver effortlessly converted pole position into victory as the chaos unfolded behind his Mercedes. However, it was second-placed starter Daniel Ricciardo who snatched the lead of the race off the line in his Red Bull. Behind this pair the two Ferrari’s of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel, starting third and fourth, looked set to challenge for the race win until Vettel barged into the side of Raikkonen to avoid the sister Red Bull of Dannil Kvyat on his inside.

Although Vettel recovered to second place in the end it was a sloppy race for the four time champion. The clash with teammate Raikkonen caused damage to his front-wing which was required replacing. But it would be damaged again as he tried to find his way passed the Williams of Valtteri Bottas.

Visibility in F1 car is limited but into such a tight corner Vettel should’ve been aware of Raikkonen on his outside given that he started close to him on the grid. Though the German did his best to shift blame to Dannil Kvyat the Russian driver was well within his rights to place his car alongside Vettel’s Ferrari into turn one. Kvyat eventually finished third and despite a confrontation with Vettel after the race wasn’t unhappy at all to secure only the second podium of his career.

Raikkonen’s front-wing damage and punctured tyre meant into turn one meant he had to crawl around the entire lap to make it back to the pitlane. It dropped him right to the back of the field and onto an alternative strategy which had him running on the white-walled medium tyre in the middle stint of the race. The Finn had shown great pace throughout the weekend was able to resist an attack from Hamilton on quicker tyres. It left the soft, yellow-walled, tyre for the final stint of the race and with it Raikkonen was able to make up enough positions to ultimately finish fifth.

Even Lewis Hamilton was involved in the mess of the opening lap. After starting last following an overnight power unit change the Brit also lost his front-wing and sustained damage to his barge board into turn one.

In the lead of the race Daniel Ricciardo’s hopes evaporated as he picked up a left-rear puncture on lap three. Ricciardo was able to recover to fourth. If it wasn’t clear before why both Mercedes and Ferrari refused to provide the Red Bull team with an engine from their shed it is surely clear now. The 2016 Red Bull car is a great chassis, with two great drivers and all they’re missing is a great engine.

Debris from Ricciardo’s blown tyre prompted the deployment of the safety car and drivers took the opportunity to fit the more durable soft and medium tyres. Behind Raikkonen in fifth Williams’ Felipe Massa was able to hold onto sixth while Hamilton had to settle for seventh. Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen finished eighth ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz in ninth and the second Williams of Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top ten. Despite numerous incidents throughout the race all twenty-two cars saw the chequered flag at the end of the race.

Since the start of the 2016 season things haven’t been going Lewis Hamilton’s way. Less than ideal starts off the line, unreliability, and damage early in the last two races have severely tested the champion. He’s response has been to remain remarkably cool about it all. However, three victories and a thirty-six point lead in the driver’s championship for a perfect Nico Rosberg is getting to be a bit tight. It’s a good thing Lewis Hamilton likes a fight because he has a big one on his hands now.

(Featured image courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport)

April 18, 2016