F1 Madness

Author: Natalie

  • No points? No biggie – Ferrari

    No points? No biggie – Ferrari

    Despite an operational failure on Fernando Alonso’s car Ferrari are keeping things in perspective.

    Although the Spaniard is thirty points adrift of championship leader Sebastian Vettel after only four races of the 2013 season Ferrari see no reason to drop their chins. “The gap is 30 points now, but if he has zero points next time and we win, it will be five,” explained Domenicali. “With only four races gone, there is plenty of time. Don’t forget, we had a 50 points [advantage] last summer, so it is easy stuff.”

    The Italian squad has started the 2013 in much better shape than the last few season and barring any issues at the Bahrain GP Alonso was the most likely to challenge for victory. Ultimately, Alonso’s eighth place finish may not appear spectacular on paper but three points could be telling towards the end of a very long championship season.

     

  • Sebastian Vettel to Russia: Da!

    Sebastian VettelA quick visit from reigning F1 champion Sebastian Vettel earned Russia’s prospective F1 circuit with a thumbs up for the Red Bull driver.

    A tour around the circuit in an Infiniti road car despite heavy rain left the German with an excellent impression of the circuit.

    “It’s my first time in Russia and I’m already looking forward to coming back next year,” said Vettel. “The facilities here look incredible. I didn’t see much of the circuit, but the drawing looks interesting. Some corners look very quick, especially the 180-degree one. It could be quite challenging for the drivers. Now you need some imagination to see how the circuit will look after construction work will be finished. But this place is incredible – with the city, the sea and mountains around it.”

    At 5.8 km in length the circuit is expected to draw 100 000 spectators to its gates in 2014. “Our target is to bring pleasure and positive emotions for all spectators as well as use our tourist infrastructure during the low-season in the middle of autumn,” said Krasnodar Kray’s vice-governor Nikolay Buturlakin.

  • Lewis Hamilton chilled about Merc

    Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton thinks that the cooler climate in Europe will suit his car. lewis1

    Despite taking pole position in Bahrain Nico Rosberg was unable to mix it with the frontrunners and faded throughout the race to eventually finish ninth. Lewis Hamilton didn’t fare any better and felt able to push only towards the closing stages of the grand prix enabling the Brit to finish fifth. But it was rear tyre wear and sky-high temperatures that hampered Rosberg and Hamilton chances to challenge for the podium. Decreasing tyre degradation has been on top of the Mercedes to-do list for quite a few seasons. It is evident that the team will most certainly have to solve before being able to contend at the sharp-end and Hamilton remains optimistic that they can do just that.

    “We got a lot of information from these first four races to know that going to a cooler Europe will be good for us. It is good to get one of the most difficult races of the year out of the way in terms of heat, but there are a lot of areas that we need to improve on,” said Hamilton.

    Despite the challenges that face the Brackley based team Hamilton insists that after the first four fly-away races of the season he is extremely happy with his current position

    “To get fifth, two thirds and a fifth [in the first four races], though, I could not be happier. When I decided to join the team I knew potentially it could be a lot worse than that.”

     

  • Jenson Button and Sergio Perez clear the air

    Jenson Button and Sergio Perez clear the air

    The air between McLaren teammates Jenson Button and Sergio Perez has reportedly been ‘cleared’ after an aggressive fight between the pair at the Bahrain GP.

    Sergio Perez has taken some time to find his feet at his new team with a less than impressive debut for the McLaren team. But the Mexican’s eyes must have lit up at the prospect of getting one over more established, world champion teammate Jenson Button. A combination of aggressive attempted overtaking manouvres from Perez left team principal Martin Whitmarsh less than comfortable on the pit wall and prompted Button ‘calm him down’ message to the gantry.

    Word clearly didn’t reach Checo as he continued to try and barge his way past Button. In definite show of superiority JB drove his younger teammate off the track. And after all the wheel banging and a bit of lost bodywork the pair seemed to have settled their differences.”Both Jenson and Checo had an opportunity to express their views to us, and then we gave them the team’s position,” said McLaren sporting director Sam Michael.”That position is quite simple: McLaren allows both its drivers to race hard and fair, and in return its drivers must respect that trust and mustn’t let the team down.” “It was a good discussion, and both Jenson and Checo were keen not only to talk the issues through but also to part on good terms,” Michael concluded.

    Even though the drivers have cleared the air after the race it’ll no doubt be filed in the memory for the next time to find each on the track.

  • Bahrain F1 Grand Prix Review: Vettel back to his best in Bahrain

    Bahrain F1 Grand Prix Review: Vettel back to his best in Bahrain

    As great a day as Saturday qualifying can sometimes be it never quite is a predictor of what’s to come in Sunday’s race. There are still some exceptions that make pole the imperative but Formula 1 2013 is whole lot more complex than the position you start in.

    The expectation was for Ferrari, Red Bull and Lotus to duke it out for the first few rows of the grid but they hadn’t counted on Nico Rosberg to upset the status quo. The Mercedes driver stunned the F1 paddock as he swept his way to the second pole position of his career.

    Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso rounded out the top three but it was Force India that caused the further surprise on Saturday with Di Resta and Sutil lining up fifth and sixth behind the Ferrari of Felipe Massa. Lewis Hamilton managed fourth but a gearbox penalty pushed him down to ninth.

    Rosberg led the first two laps of the race but after falling prey to Vettel and Alonso wasn’t ever in contention for either step of the podium. Nevertheless, an extraordinary wheel-to-wheel fight between the top three ensued. Within mere inches of his each, at 200km/h the racing between Alonso, Vettel and Rosberg is as close as three F1 cars will ever get. There is no question why these drivers are considered the best in the world.

    Ultimately, Vettel seized the lead of the race and never looked back. His three stop strategy worked to perfection and it was obvious the German had some pace in hand should it be needed. The reigning champion proved unbeatable and controlled his run to the chequered flag effortlessly.

    Down the road drivers opted for differing strategies and it would eventually be Kimi Raikkonen, on a two stopper, who finished second. Raikkonen, compromised by an eighth place starting position, found himself stuck in traffic in the early part of the race. But even without these issues it seems unlikely that the Lotus driver would have been able to challenge Vettel at the front.

    Clad with a brand new chassis for the Bahrain GP Romain Grosjean delivered his best race of 2013. An alternative strategy starting him on the harder compound tyres, wheel to wheel racing and clean overtaking had the Frenchman on the third step of the podium for only the fourth time in his Formula 1 career. It is rumoured that Lotus are running Grosjean’s contract on a three-race basis and the result in Bahrain will have loosened the leash slightly. The podium was a good step for Grosjean and should be celebrated but his focus should immediately turn to repeating if not bettering this result.

    Force India faded slightly from their starting positions but Paul Di Resta kept the Indian team in the hunt for the podium until the closing stages of the race; but with his two-stop strategy was always going to be tough to hold off Grosjean on a fresh set of tyres.

    Mark Webber and the two McLarens were involved in a duel throughout the race with the two teammates coming to blows on more than one occasion. Sergio Perez found his feet in the Bahrain GP and aggressively hustled teammate Button but the Brit gave as good as he got.

    His eighth place finish may not look remarkable on paper but Fernando Alonso again drove a stunning race to salvage three points. The Spaniard stopped for new tyres on lap 7 but had to dive back into the pits on lap 9 when his DRS wing flap fixed in the open position. It left him way down the field, having to fight back without DRS. It can only be through sheer class and determination that Alonso salvaged anything at all.

    Formula 1 in 2013 is all about strategy, about managing tyre degradation. But the reality is that F1 has always had a strategic element to it. Nevertheless, it hasn’t stopped Red Bull from being Pirelli’s most vocal detractor. They maintain, as frontrunners, that they are being unfairly punished. However, with two wins from four races and both the leads of the drivers’ and constructors’ championship it seems that their argument has been shot to pieces.

  • Mark Webber, Poker Face

    Mark Webber, Poker Face

    After the well publicized and hotly debated Malaysian controversy rumours about Mark Webber’s future in Formula One have been steadily building up a head of steam.

    Several ‘pundits’ have suggested that the Australian may vacate the Red Bull garage at the end of the season. But where would AussieGrit go? Surely,he wouldn’t quit racing cold turkey – Sportscars may be the answer. More specifically, Webber is rumoured to be joining Porche’s LMP1 project as the marquee returns to sportcar racing in 2014. But Mr. Webber remains coy on any suggestions that he has penned a five-year contract.

    “I’ve never made any decisions on my future in March or April,” Webber told reporters. “As you’d expect, with what I’ve done as a driver, there could be other offers and opportunities. But I actually have not even pursued anything at the moment. Nothing here, nothing anywhere else. It’s just too early for anyone. Come early summer things will start to ramp up a bit.”

    Webber went on to say that he has a ‘very good’ relationship with Red Bull team owner Dietrich Mateschitz and the proverbial ball is firmly in his court.

     

  • Barrichello back in action

    Remember this guy? Rubens Barrichello returns to the F1 paddock.
    Remember this guy? Rubens Barrichello returns to the F1 paddock

    A familiar face graced the Formula 1 paddock today as Rubens Barrichello returned to his old stomping ground. This time around the ever-popular Brazilian wasn’t in the cockpit but instead behind the microphone for Brazilian broadcasting giant, Globo TV. Barrichello will share the commentating duties with former F1 driver Luciano Burti and Reginaldo Leme.

    As opposed to several cheeky ex-drivers-turned-pundits Barrichello said that he would err on the side caution. “That’s not my style, never was,” Rubens stated. But don’t expect him to gloss over anything either he says.

    Barrichello’s record-breaking Formula 1 career of 19 seasons came to an end at the conclusion of the 2011 as Williams announced that they would not be extending the Brazilian’s contract.Determined to keep on racing Barrichello opted to compete stateside in the IndyCar Series for 2012 with the KV Racing Technology team. He completed fifteen IRL races but with no drive for 2013 made good on his promise to race ‘at home.’ That translates into a full time driver for Full Time Sports in the 2013 Stock Car Brasil season.

    Commentator, racer, pundit. Whichever role Rubinho takes he is certainly very welcome in the F1 paddock.

     

  • F1 Bahrain 2013: Post-qualifying press conference

    F1 Bahrain 2013: Post-qualifying press conference

    Q: Congratulations Nico, you’re first ever top four start in Bahrain and you did it in style. Were you as surprised as some people that pole was yours today?
    Nico Rosberg:     A little bit, yeah. It wasn’t really clear before who was the quickest car, especially over one lap. I was a bit closer this morning already, so I was a bit more happy than yesterday for sure, so as a team I think we worked really during the night to improve the car because yesterday we were really struggling. So that’s been going well. I’m really, really happy, that’s a fantastic result. That’s great for tomorrow. Of course tomorrow it’s going to be a tough race for sure, with rear tyre degradation especially, so a lot can still happen.

    Q: We’ll talk more about the race in a couple of moments. Sebastian, you’re qualifying today: was that the pace of the Red Bull or was it a lap that could have been better? Are you disappointed with second place?
    Sebastian Vettel:     Definitely not disappointed. I think congratulations to Nico; he put a very strong lap in. I think it was all his today. Initially when I crossed the line I saw that I didn’t go first, so I saw second placed on one of the screens but I didn’t know how much was missing, because the lap was fine. You always a little bit here or there but, yeah, when I got told the gap to P1, to Nico, it was clear that even with the perfect lap he was unbeatable today. But nevertheless, very happy. I think we managed to save some tyres throughout qualifying. As Nico touched on it will be all about tyres and tyre degradation tomorrow, once again. So, we’ll see what happens but for sure it’s good to start from the front.

    Q: Today, Fernando, was all about the dash for pole, though, and it was a lap, your second lap, that contained a couple of errors right at the end and you came back into the pits. Was that trying too hard because Nico’s lap was too fast or were you just not happy with the balance of the car or what?
    Fernando Alonso:     Well, in the car obviously you don’t know Nico’s lap, we don’t have TV in the car yet! So we tried to complete the second lap and it was very, very similar until the last corner and in the last corner the exit I saw it was half a tenth or one tenth slower than the previous lap so we decided to come in just to save one lap on those tyres. You never know if you have to use them again in the race, so very, very happy with third place. Normally in qualifying we’re struggling a lot but today the car was very competitive in qualifying and this puts us in a strong position to start tomorrow’s race with the group of the leaders and fight for the podium with a little bit more margin.

    Q: Nico, both Sebastian and Fernando have hinted at tyre degradation sorting out tomorrow’s race. It’s something that Mercedes have suffered from in the past, so is today your day for celebration and is tomorrow just a day to limit your losses?
    NR:     I really want to kick-start my season. It’s really been a rough ride in the first three races and so today’s really been the first normal qualifying up to now, so I just want to kick-start everything now, my whole season. I’m OK for the race tomorrow, you know. For sure the competition is going to be tough, definitely. Difficult to say if we have enough pace to win the race tomorrow but for sure we’re going to try and I look forward to starting first – definitely.

     

    Questions from the floor

    Q: (Abhishek Takle – Midday). Question to Fernando: you must be pretty confident heading into tomorrow because you’ve shown good long-run pace and a strong start could set you up for the win, don’t you think?

    Fernando Alonso: Well, let’s see. I think the race is very long so we need to wait and see how the pace is tomorrow. It’s true that on Sundays normally we do improve our performance and we seem more competitive on Sunday than on Saturday. Friday also the long runs were more or less OK and not a big drama with the tyres. So, let’s wait and see tomorrow. The conditions keep changing all the time here in Bahrain with the circuit running more and more categories, not only the Formula One, so I think tomorrow will be a good opportunity for us, first of all to win the podium and try to get some consistency and races in the podium and if we can fight for the win, even better.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe). Question to all three drivers: are you surprised by the times of the two Lotus’?

    Nico Rosberg: Where are they? [Ninth and eleventh] In that case, yeah, for sure, because all weekend they’ve been looking very quick.

    Sebastian Vettel: Did they run in Q3 or not? [Räikkönen qualified and ran] Yeah. Same as Nico, it’s a big surprise. I don’t know, that’s why I was asking. I don’t know what’s their plan for tomorrow but yeah, they were quite quick this morning, for sure. It didn’t matter the compound, they were quite quick all weekend so something must have gone wrong.

    Q: Fernando? Fernando Alonso: Yeah, same.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo). Nico, the race simulation you did in free practice, you have indication that you have a good pace for the race or maybe it will be like in the last races where you were very fast in qualifying, not so much in race?

    Nico Rosberg: I think it’s not going to be… we’re not going to be as quick as we were in qualifying compared to everybody else. I think it’s much closer tomorrow on race fuel but you just have to wait. There’s so many factors that influence that, you just have to wait and see. For sure it will be much more difficult, yeah.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport). Nico, when we met yesterday, we were joking a little bit with bad words in Italian about your situation.

    Nico Rosberg: What were we talking about? Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport). We were joking with a bad word… Nico Rosberg: Ah yeah. You said that, yeah? Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport). Yes, I know, my apologies. How did you improve the car? Nico Rosberg: Yesterday we were in a difficult situation. We were not where we wanted to be and not where we were in the last couple of races, so it was all bit question marks and a bit surprising. But as a team, we really did a fantastic job to turn it around and to be absolute quickest today, it’s great. That’s just down to having done really really good work last night and this morning.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport). Sebastian, can you explain to us why you saved all three sets of the harder tyres? Do believe that there will be four pit stops tomorrow?

    Sebastian Vettel: To be honest with you, I don’t know how many stops we have to do. I think you don’t have to be a genius… one stop is impossible for everybody, two stops is impossible for most, I think, and then it’s between three and four stops. I think we decided to do what we did because we think it’s the best way. In qualifying we were not exactly sure how quick we would be. We didn’t want to take any risks, we wanted to make sure that we finish in front and we believed that the soft tyre was faster, or the medium tyre, so we went for that in qualifying.

    Q: (Carlos Miguel – La Gaceta). Fernando, are you afraid of Massa starting on hard tyres in fourth position? And after your 1m 32.8s on hard, could it have been better to qualify on hard tyres?

    Fernando Alonso: Well, I think it’s fantastic that Felipe is fourth. He finished sixth in qualifying but with (the penalties for) Webber and Hamilton he will be fourth, so it’s better to start alongside Felipe than to start alongside Lewis to be honest. I really prefer this combination of results, that I should help the first corner attack and hopefully we can both do a good start and hopefully – with these different strategies that we have – can cover some more scenarios in the race than maybe wouldn’t be in our control if we had the same tyres. It’s true that we felt comfortable on the hard tyre in Q1. He also felt comfortable on the hard tyres in Q1, but he chose them for Q3. I think they are very close together and I think that when you gain something in qualifying you can lose it in the race; when you lose in the race, you gain something in qualifying so it’s a difficult trade-off but I’m extremely happy with our strategy and I’m extremely happy that we’re third and fourth. Tomorrow, we both need to think about being on the podium. It will be really important for the Constructors’ championship as well.

    Photo: BBC.co.uk

     

  • Virtual lap preview – Bahrain, Sakhir circuit

    Virtual lap preview – Bahrain, Sakhir circuit

  • Chinese Formula One GP Review: Phenomenal Fernando rules China

    Chinese Formula One GP Review: Phenomenal Fernando rules China

    Since the start of the Formula One season several teams have been particularly vocal in condemning the 2013 Pirelli tyres. As far as this upset lot were concerned tyres would dominate the Chinese grand prix headlines.

    Instead it was Fernando Alonso that wrote his name into the headlines. A third place in Saturday’s qualifying session behind Raikkonen and polesitter Hamilton underlined the pace of the Ferrari and El Nano never looked back.

    Lewis Hamilton maintained first off the starting grid as Kimi Raikkonen was overwhelmed by Alonso and Massa. As it was, Raikkonen’s start was compromised by a change to the starting sequence made by the team moments before the start. It wasn’t long before both Ferrari drivers were hounding the back of Hamilton’s Mercedes which ended with Hamilton simultaneously overtaken, on either side, on the entry to turn one.

    The tyres were still an issue and the frontrunners got rid of the delicate soft tyres on after only six laps. It left them able to run to the flag using the more robust medium compound. In contrast, those who had opted to start on the medium tyre, Vettel, Button and Hulkenberg, were now running at the front-end. In a strategic move, Button and Vettel selected to not set a flying lap in the third session of qualifying; putting them out of sequence with the frontrunners.

    Nevertheless, no sort of strategy manipulation was ever going to trip-up Fernando Alonso. Electric off the start and clinical when overtaking, it was from this point onwards where Fernando Alonso started to deliver a metronomic drive of the highest calibre. Whilst tyre life and levels of degradation certainly had an impact in the Chinese GP it had no influence on who the victor would be.  Leading from the front Alonso was never under pressure from his pursuers in the shape of Raikkonen and Hamilton. By controlling his tyres and setting a ferocious and unmatchable pace he fashioned an extremely impressive path to his 31st victory.

    Kimi Raikkonen’s pace was slightly hindered by nose and front-wing damage after an incident with somewhat wild Sergio Perez. Bruised and battered Raikkonen still managed to hold off Lewis Hamilton for a fine second place. Eighteen points closes the gap to championship leader Sebastian Vettel to three points. By finishing nineteen of the last twenty races in points scoring positions Raikkonen has proven his near bulletproof consistency – a highly prized commodity in any championship fight.

    Lewis Hamilton lacked the pace required to challenge for victory though Mercedes will be thrilled with his performance. But the final step of the podium very almost wasn’t his as Sebastian Vettel’s alternative strategy nearly paid off. Armed with a new set of soft tyres the Red Bull destroyed the fourteen second gap to Hamilton in a mere four laps.

    Despite Vettel’s late charge and fourth place finish, Red Bull’s indifferent record at the Chinese GP continued.  For Mark Webber it started with a fuel-pressure glitch that dropped him out of qualifying on Saturday. Red Bull’s choice to change the gearbox and ratios on Webber’s car meant the Australian had to start from the pitlane; but would do so with a car better equipped at overtaking. It made no difference however as Webber’s Red Bull sustained damage in clash with Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne. Still not the worst of it, Webber was forced into retirement as his right rear tyre made a break for it and rolled across the track. What would injury be without insult? For his part in the Vergne incident Webber was given a three-place grid penalty for next week’s Bahrain GP.

    Jenson Button finished a solid fifth ahead of Felipe Massa whose pace dropped off after the first round of stops. Daniel Ricciardo delivered a great drive and brought the Toro Rosso home in seventh ahead of Di Resta, Grosjean and Hulkenberg.

    There may have been twenty-two drivers on the Shanghai circuit but Fernando Alonso was in a class of his own.