F1 Madness

Category: News

  • Magnussen Hoping to be Back For Monza

    Magnussen Hoping to be Back For Monza

    Renault’s Kevin Magnussen feels that he will be okay to race in Monza following his huge crash at Turn 4 at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.

    Magnussen had a snap of over-steer coming out of the high speed Eau-Rouge/Raidilion (Turn 4) complex of corners after riding over the kerbs which sent his car careening for the barriers on the outside of Raidilion. Magnussen hit the barriers side on sending his head rest protection flying off the car. The FIA computers logged a 12.5G impact with the tyre wall.

    The Dane climbed out of the car and limped to the medical car. He was taken to the track medical centre and was then taken to a nearby hospital after it was found he sustained a cut on his ankle.

    Renault team Principal Fred Vassuer gave an update on Magnussen’s condition after the race. He was very relived that Magnussen was fine.

    “He was able to leave the car unaided and was taken to the medical centre as a precaution,” said Vasseur

    “He was responsive throughout but had a cut on his ankle that required some further checks so was taken to hospital in Verviers.”

    A few hours later Magnussen tweeted a picture of himself thanking everyone for their support messages.

    “Thanks for all your messages folks!” read the tweet.

    “On my way home now with a sore ankle but will be ready for Monza”

     

     

    Photo credit: Renault Sport Formula One Team

  • 2016 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    2016 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    2 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

    3 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Mark Webber)

    Ladies and gentlemen, what a weekend here in Belgium! A sell-out crowd. Maybe a driver up here that you might not have wanted but what a weekend! Nico, well done. Crazy start to the race, red flag, big shunt with Kevin Magnussen, run us through it?

    Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, thank you very much. No, it’s been a great weekend, very, very happy with that result of course. I understand that some of you are disappointed. I understand that you wanted Verstappen to up here. Another year, he’s very young. He has many years to go. You’ve been amazing this weekend. So many of you have come, it’s been very impressive to see, great atmosphere. Thank you to my team of course, great car they have given me. A very special day. And of course congrats to Lewis, from last place to third must have been pretty impressive.

    Thanks Nico. Daniel, up here again, Spa, great podium, you couldn’t have expected much more? How was it, saving tyres, going long and splitting the two Mercedes?

    Daniel RICCIARDO: Firstly, thank you for doing that [Webber drank sparkling wine from Ricciardo’s race boot]. I think we just made our country even more proud. It was cool, you know. Obviously it was pretty messed up at the start, a lot of virtual safety cars and then the red flag. We knew we had a bit of damage actually from the first corner but we fixed the front wing and got back out. I mean, it was a bit of a race by myself but obviously I enjoyed the pace and to keep Lewis behind was a good achievement today.

    Well done, buddy. Lewis, wow! So, Lewis that was a record comeback to a podium here in Spa. Twenty-first on the grid to third place, I imagine you couldn’t really believe you could hit the steps today?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Firstly I’ve got to say a big thank you… this crowd is incredible. I know a lot of these people came out for Max, which is amazing and that’s great for the sport, but I just want to say a big thank you to everyone for supporting me today. The team did an amazing job this weekend. I changed three engines. I’m actually ahead of these guys on engines, which is a good thing. Thanks to the team. Just a remarkable day: beautiful weather, great crowd and a great race.

    It was that, sensational, well done, Lewis. Nico, your 20th victory, first time winning here in Spa, you have the momentum now for Monza. How do you feel the car will perform there and you know, nibbling away, a couple point off Lewis this weekend: back end of the season, mate, how are you looking forward to that?

    NR: It’s been great of course to get the win today on this special track, you know, it’s a legendary track, but Lewis starting from the back made it a lot easier this weekend and I’m sure he’s going to be back in Monza and it’s going to be a big battle as always.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Nico, many congratulations on that 20th victory. You haven’t put a foot wrong all weekend: pole position, the win, did you ever feel under any pressure in that race.

    NR: In the race, the start, of course, is always pressure, and then after that Daniel was quite quick in the beginning of the second stint. But in general, yes, I had everything under control because I just had an awesome car out there, and Lewis wasn’t there to battle it out, which made it a less-difficult weekend. But really pleased to get the win, of course.

    Q: Any nervous moments this afternoon?

    NR: Nervous at the start. Yeah, why not? After that, after that, it was OK. Safety Car restarts are always a bit more challenging but it all worked out fine.

    Q: Daniel, it’s your third consecutive podium. Do you think you can catch the guys on your left any time soon?

    DR: Hopefully! As you said, three podiums in a row where… we’re definitely making inroads, it’s the second race that we’ve at least finished in front of one of them – obviously Lewis started towards the back today but I think our pace wasn’t too bad. I think the real start of the race eventually was after the red flag. I was second and Lewis was fifth. I think we held our own quite well. Nico had a little bit more pace but I think generally we’re making inroads, which is really positive. Monza I think will be our most challenging circuit in the second half of the season – but then we’ve got Singapore to look forward to – and Suzuka. So, really pleased, again thanks to the team. Obviously three good weekends, it’s been fun. Yesterday, obviously I was qualified fifth but I knew we would have a good race car today and it proved right – so I’m really pleased.

    Q: Lewis, what a race by you. Last row of the grid to the podium. It’s a new record here at Spa. Talk us through it.

    LH: What an incredible weekend it’s been. It’s obviously been a much different weekend to anything we have ever really experienced. First of all I’m incredibly proud of my guys in the garage and back at the factory for building these engines and changing these engines this week. I think before, even on Thursday there was an engine swap, warming one up, then warming another one up. A change after practice one, a change after practice two, so I had three new engines this weekend. So to come away with the points that we have today, I’m extremely proud of everyone. I honestly didn’t know what was going to happen in the race. I was trying to keep my head down all weekend and focus on the long-run paces. It seemed to work and pay off. Congratulations to the guys next to me, this is great for Mercedes and still great for the championship. I’d have had an even better summer if I went into the summer knowing I’d come out nine points ahead still after three new engines. So I’m very grateful.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Angelique Belokopytov – AutoDigest) Lewis, it seems that press conference has missed you. How do you feel to finish in P3 after coming from the back – and more showing to the ones who have doubts about the fact that you’re back and fighting with Nico for the Championship?

    LH: Yeah. I really can’t believe that we came up so far to be honest. I really had no… I woke up this morning knowing how difficult it would be on these tyres, y’know, lots of blistering. But you can never predict what’s going to happen in the race. The great thing about motor racing is that, since I was eight years old, every Sunday has been different. Your car’s positioned in a different way, your starts a bit different, something happens up front, previous races there were no incidents, today there was. Today was really about trying to approach it with… make sure you had the right approach: not too aggressive; not too easy. I think today, collectively as a team we had just the right balance. This is the best result I could have hoped for.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Daniel, you were following the pace of Nico but at certain moments and especially in the last stint, the gap started becoming bigger. What happened exactly? Was there any difficulty in the car?

    DR: No, to be honest the car was pretty good. You know the only time I wasn’t happy with the car was the first few laps before the red flag. The incident at turn one… some debris hit the front wing and I had some damage so up until the red flag I wasn’t too happy but we changed the wing during the red flag and then the car was good. I think obviously Nico just had a bit more pace than us but in terms of balance I think we were doing all we could. So I think Nico was just controlling it but everything was fine from that point of view. I don’t think we could have done too much more.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Speed Sport/Auto Action) Lewis, yesterday you told us you might not even crack the top ten. How much did the safety car and the red flag help you get up to third?

    LH: Well, that was obviously a part of it but I think I was already up to fifth before the red flag or maybe not, maybe I was sixth or something like that before the incident. Of course, those things I needed in the race to help progress through. As I said, I didn’t know how long these tyres would last. I think our performance today was stronger than I expected and so I think still, at the pace we were going, I think a top ten finish was still possible. But third is something that was definitely helped by the safety cars, VSC.

    Q: Lewis you were fifth at the red flag. At that point, did you think you could even challenge for the victory?

    LH: I didn’t, simply because… naturally I was pushing to try and get there but I was obviously… I’ve been racing a long long time and with these tyres, knowing how difficult it is just to get past one car, so I spent a bit of time behind Hulkenberg, I think, and then there was already such a decent cushion between myself and Daniel. If the tyres were better, for example, I could have pushed and closed the gap and actually had a fight with Daniel but that’s not the case and so I just had to manage them for as long as I could, but I had to stop more than these two guys in order to make that passing manoeuvre.

    Q: (Oana Popoiu – F1Zone.net) Nico, how difficult was it to win this race?

    NR: Well, it wasn’t the toughest race ever, of course, because Lewis wasn’t there. That’s for sure. And the car was great in the race so of course everything still needs to come together and the start is critical and then with the red flag and everything it becomes a bit more complicated and messy. But I got ahead, I got a little bit of pressure from Daniel at the beginning of the second stint because he was on soft tyres but after that I really had good control of everything.

    Q: (Mike Doodson – Auto Action) Lewis, this business of changing engines, three engines in a weekend, is confusing for the press and even more so for the public. It happened to work out for you today  and congratulations but what do you really think as opposed to what your team thinks about the principle of punishing a driver for the shortcomings in your own equipment?

    LH: Well, firstly, I don’t say anything my team wants me to say so everything you hear from me is from me. These are the rules, the shortcomings we’ve experienced, there was just an opportunity for us to grow and we have. This is a team sport and we win and lose together so collectively; if I make a mistake the team’s punished and if the team make a mistake we are all punished together. Bu I think today and this weekend has shown that a great group of good people in the garage worked incredibly hard to change these engines. It’s not an easy process and of course, if the regulations weren’t so technical, we wouldn’t have to make so many changes but that’s how they obviously like it. I’m pretty sure it’s not cheap but I’m only looking at the positives this weekend and to get third, only lose ten points to Nico but a freebie for him today but he also did a great job and as he said, it wasn’t such a difficult race for him but for me it was a good race and I’m just grateful, as I said, to be up here.

    Q: (Barna Zsoldos – Nemzeti Sport) Nico, considering your starting positions, how disappointing is it that you could only make up ten points in the championship fight against Lewis?

    NR: It’s not disappointing, I’m happy with today. I’m happy to have won the race, it’s been a great weekend for me and that’s it. Fair play to Lewis, he did a good job

  • 2016 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    2016 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    2 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)

    3 – Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari)

     

    TV UNILATERAL

    Nico, many congratulations. Was that session as smooth on the inside as it looked from where we were sitting?

    Nico ROSBERG: No, we had a difficult weekend up to now, especially this morning. We were seriously off the pace on one lap, so it really wasn’t so easy coming into qualifying. But we got the job done in the end. We really made quite a few changes on the car coming into qualifying and we found the right way. It all came together and it was feeling good, so I’m very pleased about that one.

    Congratulations. Max, coming on to you, this is you first ever front-row start and you become the youngest every driver to start on the front row of the grid for a grand prix. Just 0.1s behind Nico, do you think pole position was on today?

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, I mean, you can always do a better job. But also I think also Nico could have done a better lap; it’s always when you put everything together. But I think in the end to be so close to them on a track with some long straights, we can be very pleased with that. The whole weekend has been very smooth, even though I had some little issues this morning. From there on the mechanics did a great job and in qualifying the car was working really well, as you could see in sector two. I’m just very pleased to be second here in front of my fans, it’s just a great motivation when you see them next to the track.

    Congratulations to you. Kimi, how is the car performing this morning, it looked like there were some nervous moments in Q2 when you went back out for a second run?

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: No, it was our plan. There wasn’t really anything odd going on. Obviously in the last qualifying I ran wide in the first try and that wasn’t ideal. But the second run was pretty good, but comparing to my Q2 lap I lost a few tenths in the last chicane, so obviously the pole position was there, so it was a bit disappointing because obviously once we are close by there it would have been nice to get it. But tomorrow is the race and I think if we compare it to the previous few races we have to be satisfied with where we are after qualifying.

    Thank you Kimi. Coming back to you Nico: you’re on pole, your main championship rival will be starting from the back tomorrow, just give us your thoughts going into the race?

    NR: Well, happy to be on pole but the only thing is it’s going to be a very challenging race, because the tyres are extremely difficult out there this weekend and strategy and everything, it’s going to be very, very interesting. I think we’re going to see a bit of everything, let alone with Max being on supersoft and Kimi on soft. Is that the case? Yeah, Kimi on soft. There are going to be a whole load of things going on. It’s definitely not going to be an easy one.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Nico, you said a moment ago that you had a few set-up problems yesterday. Can you elaborate on what they were and what you did to resolve them?

    NR: We just weren’t quick, because it’s very, very hot out there and because the Pirelli pressures are very, very high for this weekend and so it was just a bit of a different world out there and we really had to change a lot of things and adapt but great to see how we managed to turn it around and get there eventually, just in time for qualifying, because even just this morning in FP3 we were quite a bit off the pace still.

    Thanks Nico. Max, coming to you, what does it mean to you to break this 55-year record that had belonged to Ricardo Rodriguez, to be the youngest driver to get a front-row start?

    MV: To be honest, not that much. I’m just very happy to be on the front row in Spa in front of all my fans. I mean, it’s great to break a record but I want to break other records.

    Thank you Max. Kimi, just your thoughts, a few more thoughts please going into tomorrow’s race, because you have opted for more supersoft tyres than any of the other front-running teams, do you think that will compromise you?

    KR: No, it shouldn’t. You never know what will happen tomorrow, but ideally we should be just fine. Tomorrow will tell but obviously it’s probably more tricky than anyone expected, because the conditions are not exactly normal Spa conditions. It’s a bit tricky with the tyres, but it’s the same for everybody and I think what we have is enough for what we want to do, so it should be fine.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS.NL) For Max, how frustrating was it this morning knowing that there’s tens of thousands of Dutch people and not be able to drive?

    MV: I think it was even more frustrating for myself knowing that I couldn’t get the laps in. Of course it’s great to drive in front of your fans, to show yourself – but I couldn’t get my references in for qualifying. But luckily it was not a big issue and we solved it in time. From there on it was just a very good qualifying.

    Max, do you think you could have found more pace in qualifying, had you been able to run this morning?

    MV: That’s always very difficult to say. I think it just gives you a better reference straight away. On the other hand, we should be on our limits quite easily and I think after one run in qualifying it was there again. So maybe, maybe not.

    Q: (Oana Popoiou – F1 Zone) A question for Kimi. Ferrari seems to be back to a better shape this weekend, can you tell us what is different from the previous races?

    KR: I have to say, like I said earlier, it’s nice to be so close but obviously we’d rather be on pole position. I thought we had a good chance. I lost some time in the last chicane but… these conditions, it’s very hot, it’s tricky with the tyres for everybody… I don’t know. If we would know, it would be much easier to be at least in this position always. It has changed quite a few times this year, depending on circuits and conditions, so… who knows?

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To Max. You start on supersoft tyres and your team-mate with soft tyres. We knew this weekend the supersoft does not permit too many laps. What is the strategy exactly you are planning?

    MV: To start on the supersoft and then see where we end up after a few laps. We have some different strategies out there but I think at the end of the day, yeah, I have to box a bit earlier – but after this there are a lot of laps to go and we’ll see what happens.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Max, why in the first place did you not try it on soft in Q2? Didn’t you have trust to do it?

    MV: Because I decided, together with the team, that I wanted to run the supersoft. I think that’s the best strategy to go into tomorrow – but we’ll see how it pays off.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, how crucial is the first stint of the race for the result? There seems to be different kinds of compounds for the top drivers.

    KR: Obviously the start and the first laps is very important in every race. I don’t think it will decide what happens for the whole race. It will be quite a tricky race for everybody with the tyres and with the conditions. It’s not going to be very easy but hopefully we make the right choices when it comes and get the best out of it – but for sure it’s not going to be very easy.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Speed Sport / Auto Action) Following up on what Kimi was talking about, for Nico and Kimi, how do you see the start playing out? Very short run down to the beginning but the guy behind you has very sticky tyres.

    NR: I’m feeling good about it. Starting first. Usually you can manage to keep first position all the way up the hill but yeah, of course, need to get a good run through Eau Rouge but it will be OK.

    Kimi?

    KR: I don’t think there is an awful lot of different on the start between the tyres. Theirs is maybe a little bit better with the supersoft but as long as we do a proper start it should be fine.  

    Q: (Mike Doodson – Auto Action) We all know about Eau Rouge and how exciting it is but also that circumstances change each year. Which is the hairiest corner on the circuit for you all this year?

    NR: The hairiest is maybe turn 10, turn 10 is pretty challenging because if you run a little bit further out and you get onto the Astroturf it can flick you off into the tyre barrier so that’s one of the toughest ones.

    MV: I agree.

    KR: Every corner can go wrong but Eau Rouge has been less of a challenge for some years but I think in the race it might become a bit more tricky again. Overall, I think there are a lot of nice places – corners – here.

    Q: (Walter Koster – Saarbrucken Zeitung) Nico, pole number 28, do you regret that your teammate has not fought with you and therefore is this pole less important? I know, pole is pole.

    NR: I’m very happy because it was a battle out there, everybody behind was very very close and I managed to get the lap and get the pole so I’m definitely very pleased with that one. That’s it.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS.NL) Kimi and Max; Kimi, you’re again just behind Max Verstappen. It seems like you spend a lot of time this year looking at his back. Do you know how to overtake?

    KR: Who knows in the first corner but it’s a normal race and we will see what happens? Try and make a good start and go from there.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Kimi, in the first outing in Q3 you had been on the gravel I think in turn 14; did that compromise your last run in terms of taking risks?

    KR: Not really, obviously it would have more easy if I hadn’t run out. The lap was also very good, the first one but really in the last chicane I got a bit of understeer and lost a couple of tenths compared to my Q2 lap. For sure we had a chance to put it on pole and I guess it would have been more easy not going off in the first run and having a decent lap there but that’s how it is.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Nico, it looks like Red Bull and Ferrari are closer on this track. Do you have this impression? Do you think during the 44 laps, considering the tyre question in this Grand Prix, they can even challenge Mercedes more?

    NR: Definitely, it’s a very different situation out there with the temperature and the tyre pressures that we have and they are very close, yeah, and so tomorrow it’s going to be a very very demanding race against both of them. I think the best long run for now is from Red Bull on Friday. I think.

    Q: (Barna Zsoldis – Nemzeti Sport) Nico, starting from pole in Germany and Hungary as well, you lost the first position quite early. Any negative thoughts or feelings because of that?

    NR: It’s even shorter to turn one here so that’s a very good thing.

  • Raikkonen Fastest in 3rd Free Belgian GP Practice

    Raikkonen Fastest in 3rd Free Belgian GP Practice

    Kimi Raikkonen claimed the top spot on the time sheets at the third free practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix at the Circuit Spa-Francorchamps.

    Raikkonen set his best time of 1:47.974 on his second run on the super softs. Up until that point. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo held the top spot also with a run on the super soft tyres.

    Ricciardo took the spot of second fastest 0..215s off the pace with a 1:48.189. Max Verstappen in the other Red Bull did not set a time due to a sensor problem on his gearbox.

    Sebastian Vettel was 3rd fastest with a 1:48.297, 0.323s off Raikkonen’s time. Vettel had a few issues with traffic but his timed lap didn’t seem to come together.

    In a better showing of form compared to Friday’s running Valtter Bottas was 4th fastest setting a 1:48.504.

    After running most of the session with the soft tyre with long run pace, Lewis Hamilton fitted the super soft tyres just before the end of the session and managed a time of 1:48.635 which put him 5th fastest. It was hard to tell whether Hamilton was just not pushing or the W07 was struggling with the high track temperatures. Mercedes’ Paddy Lowe confirmed that Hamilton will do the minimum during qualifying after Hamilton took on a 3rd power unit which effectively drops him another 25-places down the grid which brings his total grid drop total to 55-places.

    Nico Hulkenberg was 6th fastest showing some very good pace for Force India. Sergio Perez in the other Force India was 9th fastest for the session.

    Nico Rosberg could not get his lap together and managed 7th fastest. With the pressure on him this weekend, he needs a strong showing this weekend to close the gap to Hamilton and possibly take the lead in the constructors championship.

    Rounding out the top 10 was Romain Grosjean for Haas.

    With the times very close to each other Qualifying looks like it will become a very close fought battle. The top 9 were covered by 1 second.

    Pos. Driver Team Time Gap Laps
    1 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:47.974 – 11
    2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:48.189 +0.215 18
    3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:48.297 +0.323 12
    4 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:48.504 +0.530 17
    5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:48.635 +0.661 20
    6 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:48.739 +0.765 12
    7 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:48.742 +0.768 19
    8 Felipe Massa Williams 1:48.783 +0.809 21
    9 Sergio Perez Force India 1:48.915 +0.941 12
    10 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:49.272 +1.298 16
    11 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:49.453 +1.479 9
    12 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:49.631 +1.657 16
    13 Jenson Button McLaren 1:49.665 +1.691 10
    14 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:49.716 +1.742 11
    15 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:49.761 +1.787 15
    16 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:50.023 +2.049 9
    17 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:50.078 +2.104 9
    18 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:50.241 +2.267 11
    19 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:50.420 +2.446 13
    20 Esteban Ocon Manor 1:50.693 +2.719 18
    21 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:51.319 +3.345 5
    – Max Verstappen Red Bull – – 2

     

    Photo credit: Scuderia Ferrari Formula One

  • 2016 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference

    2016 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference

    EAM REPRESENTATIVES – Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Claire WILLIAMS (Williams), Monisha KALTENBORN (Sauber), Eric BOULLIER (McLaren), Frédéric VASSEUR (Renault), Robert FERNLEY (Force India)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Eric, if we could start with you please. Let’s start by talking about the updated power unit you’re running in both cars this weekend. Where is it better than the old one and do you have any further reliability worries after what happened to Alonso this morning?

    Eric BOULLIER: As whole it’s very easy to understand. The first is engine power from the ICE and obviously the power recovery you can get from the turbo and the MGU-H. So on that [Honda] did a brilliant job to improve both compounds, let’s say, on both systems. In terms of reliability, no, we don’t have any concerns. It was a small issue, which cost us a full power unit this morning and the session but you could see in practice two both cars ran faultlessly, so I think it’s far?

    Can you put a number on the lap time gain you’ve found with this power unit?

    EB: Yes I can, but I will not share it with you!

    We’ve seen former motorsport director of Volkswagen Jost Capito with McLaren this weekend. When does he start with the team and can you explain to us where he’ll fit into the current management structure?

    EB: Yeah, it’s very easy. He’s going to start very soon; it’s a question of days. He is here this weekend as an observer, that’s why he’s not wearing any team uniform. He’s going to be CEO of McLaren Racing, so chief executive officer.

    Thank you, Eric. Claire if we could move onto you. I’d like to start by talking about drivers. Your technical boss Pat Symonds was quoted recently as saying that Williams is ready to sign a top driver. Now, one of the interpretations of that is that you don’t currently have a top driver, do you agree with him?

    Claire WILLIAMS: I think actually Pat’s comments in that article that came out over shutdown were comments that were made in January, so it’s quite odd that they are now brought out. But Pat, when he was making those comments, was making a reference to one particular driver. It was not in reference to our current two. I think as we have said very clearly we are very happy with the job Felipe and Valtteri have done for us. I know everybody is waiting for our announcement now that lots of other teams have made theirs, but we are not ready to announce our line-up for ‘17 yet but we are working through all our options but I hope we will be able to make that announcement shortly.

    When do you think we will get an announcement from you?

    CW: By the end of the year.

    OK. Moving on to Spa: this is a track where you have traditionally been very strong, although you seemed to have a few issues this afternoon, just 16th and 17th fastest. How confident are you of a good result this weekend?

    CW: I think after our performance in the past few races where we expected the circuits to suit our car, it wasn’t the case for a number of reasons. We’ve obviously been working hard to try to analyse where we are going wrong and it is really frustrating fro the team and we do have a really tough battle with Force India at the moment – we don’t want them to take our fourth in the championship. It’s going to be another tough weekend, as much as this circuit does suit our care, but there are also elements of it that don’t. So I don’t know. After today’s performance, where we’re finishing 16th and 17th, we obviously had some issues, I’m not entirely sure where we are going to finish on Sunday but I certainly hope it’s in the points.

    OK thank you Claire. Bob, Force India is another team that has a very good record here and things clearly going very well for you so far – third and fifth quickest this afternoon. You’re quick here today, do you have Williams in your sights, do you think you can beat them this weekend and what about the Constructors’ Championship?

    Robert FERNLEY: Well, I think we’d like to beat them, but I think you have to look at it that probably Spa and Monza are going to be quite critical races, because as you rightly said earlier, they do tend to favour Williams. So, at the end of Monza we need to look at where the situation is and whether we’ve got ‘game on’ for a hard fight until the end of the season. I think these two races are quite critical because historically and on normal expectations you’d expect Williams to be stronger.

    Let’s talk about drivers as well. Vijay Mallya said at the British Grand Prix that both Nico and Checo are under contract for 2017 but Checo has said that he’d make a decision after the summer break. Has he done that?

    RF: Well first of all both Checo and Nico are both under contract and that’s the normal way you would work as obviously we need continuity in the drivers, we’d very much like to keep the two together, but with Checo come highly sophisticated and complex commercial negotiations and those obviously have got to play their part as well. But that can only come after we’ve secured the two drivers in the first place. That’s the process we’re under now and I would be very surprised if we’re not staying with the two drivers in 2017.

    Fred, coming to you, your driver situation is equally fluid, so when do you expect to make a decision for next year?

    Frédéric VASSEUR: Quite similar to Claire, before the end of the year. We are not under pressure to take a decision. We will take a decision in the next few weeks or months.

    Are drivers for 2017 a priority for you or is it more important to get the technical structure of the team sorted?

    FV: Drivers is the priority for everybody, you can’t race without being concerned by the drivers. [Remainder of answer inaudible]

    What is the likelihood of Esteban Ocon coming back to you for next year as a race driver, because he’s done some FP1 sessions for you this year, he’s now gone to Manor. Is he a possible for next season for you?

    FV: It is possible. Don’t worry we will take a decision soon.

    Q: Monisha, like Renault, Sauber are rebuilding. Now that you’ve had new investment, what is the plan for the rebuilding? Is there a timeline?

    Monisha KALTENBORN: Well, you want to do things as quickly as you can because we still have to achieve a few things this year and there are not than many races left. At the same time, we have such a big change coming up for next year where you also really don’t want to lose time, and get on straight away to that year. We are already in that process but now, with the new ownership we have, the trust we’ve been given, we are of course on a very different basis. Simultaneously and very quickly we have to look at the technical structures, people, drivers, the financial status. All of that has to be done actually in parallel, and is already happening.

    Q: You said you still have things you want to achieve this year. Is one of those scoring points? You’re the only team on the grid that hasn’t done that this year, so we’ve got upgrades on the car this weekend, are we going to see more as you keep pushing to get that point?

    MK: We’ll see a few bits and pieces still coming but nothing really extremely big because we are already on to the new car – but staying where we are is certainly no option. Now, we’ve had a season before where we didn’t score points. It had many reasons but it’s not enough to say that we’ll just manage it somehow again. We have to score at least a point, if not more and make sure that we’re getting back into the usual routine, the way we’re used to working.

    Q: Christian, the team moved ahead of Ferrari at Hockenheim, last time out, on the evidence of today, you’ve stayed ahead. What are the prospects for the coming races. Do you see yourselves as staying ahead of Ferrari? Can you challenge Mercedes?

    CH: They’re two very different things. One, staying ahead of Ferrari, obviously that’s our target and goal. I think the next two races represent our biggest challenges of the nine races remaining. Very power-dominated circuits, here at Spa and Monza in a week’s time. I think Mercedes, we know there’s a significant gap to. We’ve been closer at some races than others. Hopefully there will be opportunities in some of the race venues coming up – circuits spring to mind like Singapore – that we can give them a harder time. And, of course, they’ve got some issues to deal with this weekend with one of their cars. So that represents other opportunities.

    Q: How important is second place in the Constructors’ Championship to you – or is it all about 2017. Is that the only thing that matters?

    CH: It’s worth a few million pounds, obviously, like all these positions do, so it has a significant value to us. So there is a big push to carry the momentum that we’ve built over the last few races, right to the last race in Abu Dhabi. And then, of course, behind the scenes, as with all the teams, there’s a big development programme under way on the 2017 car with a big regulation change coming. So it’s a busy time, certainly in the factory at the moment.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Marc Surer – Sky Germany) A question for Fred Vasseur. Today, I think it was a premier that a car started on the track. Can you explain, first of all how it stopped and secondly how you got it restarted?

    FV: During the session we had a sensor failure and we stopped the car, we decided to stop the car. Then we restarted the car with the MGU-K and the battery. It’s not the first time we did it. I think all the other teams did it in the past.

    Q: (Oana Popoiou – F1 Zone) Question for Mr Fernley. Force India has a good chance this year to finish fourth. Is there a compromise to be made by focussing on the battle this year and developing the next year’s car?

    RF: No. They’re two completely separate programmes. The battle obviously is for us to take to Williams. Williams are in the lead, they’re an extremely competitive and competent team and we’ve just got to battle hard to try to overtake them. As far as the ’17 car is concerned, that’s a factory issue and we’re flat-out in the factory, as I’m sure all the other teams are as well. So they’re two separate programmes entirely.

    Q: (Thomas Lund Hansen – Morgenavissen Jyllands Posten) I have two questions for Mr Vasseur. You’ve said that Renault needs a leader. What characterises a leader and does Kevin Magnussen have these qualifications?

    FV: We have to build up the project on a driver because I think it’s also a catalyst for the project, for the team. He needs to motivate the team. If you have a look at the success stories of the past, Sebastian with Red Bull or Michael Schumacher with Ferrari, all the good story and long success stories was built up also on the drivers. We have to do the same for the next six or seven years. Kevin is doing the job. I won’t come back on the fact that I have to take a decision on the drivers. I will do it quite soon, be sure, he is doing the job. We know that we have to improve too on the structure and it’s not a question just on the drivers be sure. I’m happy with my guys.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) The current engine regulations took over five years to agree and they currently have about four and a bit years left to run before they expire at the end of 2020. We have an interesting spread here in that we have four customer teams, an exclusive partner team and a manufacturer. When do you believe that we should start looking at the new regulations for 2021 onwards and also what would you like to see included and enshrined in those regulations?

    CH: Well, it’s very simple really: cheap, loud, fast engines. I think what we have now… obviously to abandon that fully would be irresponsible, an awful lot of development and R&D has gone into these engines but I think cost is a significant element, particularly for the teams that are paying for the engines. I think that  we’re addressing the chassis side of things already for next year, making the car more aggressive, faster and so on, I think one of the elements that is missing from Formula One at the moment is the sound and I think that’s a key aspect that needs to be addressed in engine regulations moving forward. But probably not moving too far away from the architecture that we currently have. I think to rip it up in its entirety this far into the game would probably be the wrong thing to do.

    EB: I think that if you want to address the cost and obviously the convergence of performance we believe that the regulations should be extended after 2020 with the current ones. As Christian said, part of the show is maybe we miss better sound or better quality sound for the engines so that’s something that needs to be addressed technically but clearly if you have stability in the regulations and some longer term projects, obviously the convergence of performance will happen quicker and the cost will go down.

    CW: I would echo what Christian and Eric have said. Obviously from an independent team’s perspective whereby we are a customer, having those regulations outlined beyond 2020 and stabilised inevitably will help us if we are to go out and look for our own engine partner past 2020 when our Mercedes relationship will come to an end will be really important. I obviously believe that the hybrid element of the current power unit is part of the architecture that we should maintain. I think it’s a very important message that Formula One can send out but yeah, I would echo everything that Christian and Eric have said.

    FV: It’s quite similar to everybody else in that  if you want to have more exciting racing then to close the gap between everybody, we need to get the convergence on the engine also and by the way, we would be able to reduce the cost for the future, but if you drastically change the regulations you will increase the costs because you will have to do research and development and at the other end you will increase the potential gap between everybody. But I think we have to stick to the current ones and for sure we have to adapt some points because it makes sense but not to change the regulations drastically.

    MK: As an independent team that pays for its engines, for us of course the costs are extremely important and one thing is with stability to bring the cost down but equally important is the changes.  Ancillary costs can get very high and this is something which independent teams equally suffer from because in addition to the costs with the engine itself brought in which were much higher than the previous engine, the costs you had around building that engine in the chassis side were extremely high for us so stability is very important. Of course as Christian said, you have to keep in mind that the show has to be a good one and we have seen this time a lot went wrong in introducing the engine. At the same time, you also have to make sure that the interests of the manufacturers are looke at because they have vital interests in introducing certain technologies. So I think looking at all these very different positions, it’s very important to start talks now, because we’ve seen in the past that engines were cancelled overnight, whilst different concepts were introduced, we really need a long time to be able to agree something sensible and not again be in a situation where in six months time you have to decide something.

    BF: I think I would endorse what Christian said. We need to have something that’s very competitively priced, addresses the issues in terms of noise but I think we’re fooling ourselves if we think that as independent teams we have any say in these things. At the end of the day the manufacturers will decide what they’re going to do and we will be given a take-it or leave-it  situation.

    Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) For M. Bouillier, yesterday Fernando Alonso said he is not enjoying this Formula One. I would love to know what are your feelings about that, what it means to have a driver who is not enjoying driving?

    EB: Well, I think we have been working on changing the regulations for next year and as McLaren was concerned we were pushing a little bit harder. It’s true that the regulations today… drivers enjoy qualifying today because we are now breaking records so I think it’s fast enough. Drivers enjoying driving a physical car to drive and clearly Fernando is one of the most experienced drivers on the grid so he remembers the cars in 2005 and 2006 where they were much more lateral Gs than cornering speed and this is what the drivers like. I think next year’s regulations will fix part of or most of the issues actually. They may have today by not enjoying the cars, the tyres get fatter, the cars… now you have to save fuel, save tyres to be competitive during the race and I think by changing the regulations they will enjoy it more. So we have discussed this matter many times, it’s understandable and  I think F1 anyway should have this wow aspect. When a young driver comes in and realises that F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport and even including driving the car is the most difficult car to drive.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS.NL) Christian, it’s been a long time since Red Bull had a one-two in a race. Imagine there’s a possibility on Sunday in the closing stages, Ricciardo leading the race, Verstappen very quick, wants to win his home race. How do you prevent Mercedes-like problems in the closing stages?

    CH: Well, we talk about these things beforehand, you discuss tactics, you try and come up with set rules in certain situations and then the race starts and everything gets forgotten. The guys are racers at the end of the day and if we were in a fortunate enough position to be racing for a victory and you’ve got a driver racing in front of – well, I think half of Holland is coming here this weekend by the looks of things – I can’t imagine that he wouldn’t go for it. I think it would be wrong for us to interfere with a race like that. All we ask of the drivers is give each other enough space to work with. If you’re going to race each other, race fairly and remember you’re carrying the aspirations of the 750-odd people that you represent when you’re driving those cars. It’s not just about the drivers.

  • F1 2016: Belgium Gp Free Practice 2 Report – Verstappen Quickest

    F1 2016: Belgium Gp Free Practice 2 Report – Verstappen Quickest

    Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen set the quickest time in the second free practice session for the Belgian grand prix.

    The second free practice session ran in pristine sunshine during which Dutch driver Verstappen set a quickest time of 1:48:085 ahead of his Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo. Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg set the third fastest time ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and the sister Force India of Sergio Perez.

    Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton ended the session sixth and thirteenth quickest on the timing sheets. Neither Mercedes driver ran the quickest supersoft tyre. The number 7 Ferrari of Raikkonen was seventh quickest without a clear run on the red-walled supersoft tyre while Haas F1’s Romain Grosjean was eighth overall. McLaren’s Jenson Button and Esteban Gutierrez in the Haas rounded out the top ten. The Williams duo endured a tough session as Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa ended 16th and 17th overall.

    The long runs revealed a comparable pace on the yellow-walled soft tyre between the two Red Bull teammates with Vettel a few tenths adrift in the Ferrari. Hamilton, who will start the race from the back of the grid due to penalties, ran a long stint on the medium compound tyres which consistently hovered in the mid 1:55 bracket.

    Final Standings Free Practice 2:

    Pos. Driver Team Best Time Gap Laps
    1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:48.085 – 27
    2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:48.341 +0.256 27
    3 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:48.657 +0.572 30
    4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:49.023 +0.938 27
    5 Sergio Perez Force India 1:49.100 +1.015 27
    6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:49.161 +1.076 33
    7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:49.244 +1.159 30
    8 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:49.419 +1.334 20
    9 Jenson Button McLaren 1:49.419 +1.334 23
    10 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:49.648 +1.563 23
    11 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:49.716 +1.631 31
    12 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:49.772 +1.687 30
    13 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:49.782 +1.697 33
    14 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:49.916 +1.831 25
    15 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:50.083 +1.998 27
    16 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:50.151 +2.066 19
    17 Felipe Massa Williams 1:50.157 +2.072 29
    18 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:50.194 +2.109 25
    19 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:50.375 +2.290 34
    20 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:50.562 +2.477 32
    21 Esteban Ocon Manor 1:50.659 +2.574 25
    22 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:50.719 +2.634 24
  • Hamilton to Drop 55-Places for Belgian GP Race

    Hamilton to Drop 55-Places for Belgian GP Race

    Lewis Hamilton will drop a total of 30-places down the grid after Mercedes replaced his Power Unit before Free Practice 2 for the Belgian Grand Prix.

    Mercedes had given Hamilton a new PU before free practice 1 which put him on his 6th turbo charger and 6th MGU-H. That would’ve dropped him 15 places.

    Just after Free Practice 2 got underway Mercedes confirmed that they have given Hamilton a new PU which meant that he took a 7th turbo and 7th MGU-H. With the addition of the second PU his total grid drop tally comes to 30-places.

    Hamilton took a third new power unit for the weekend just before free practice 3. That makes it his 6th engine, 6th MGU-K, 8th MGU-H, and 8th turbo. That’s a further 25-place grid penalty which brings his total grid place drop to 55. With the new regulations that were put in place for the 2016 season, Hamilton can not go any further than the back of the grid.

    Racing Director at Mercedes, Paddy Lowe said that they will do the minimum amount of running during qualifying as Hamilton starts from the back of the grid anyway.

    These new PU components gives Hamilton a pool of components to use till the end of the season without incurring any further penalties.

  • Alonso Hit With 35-Place Gird Penalty

    Alonso Hit With 35-Place Gird Penalty

    McLaren’s Fernando Alonso will take a 35-place grid drop at the Belgian Grand Prix for replacing his power unit after a water leak kept him out of FP1.

    Honda arrived at Spa with an updated engine after spending 7 tokens on upgrading the turbo and the combustion. Both Alonso and Button were given their 5th PU’s ahead of Free Practice 1.

    After just three installation laps McLaren found a water leak on Alonso’s engine. This kept him out for the rest of the session.

    As a precaution Honda took the decision to replace the entire PU which consists of the engine, turbo, MGU-H, MGU-K, energy store and control electronics. This means that Alonso takes a 6th of each component and gets a collective 35-place grid penalty.

    With new regulations coming into place will mean that Alonso can only move to 22nd on the grid.

  • F1 2016: Belgium Gp Free Practice 1 Report – Rosberg On Top

    F1 2016: Belgium Gp Free Practice 1 Report – Rosberg On Top

    Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg topped the timing sheet at the end of the first free practice session for the 2016 Belgian grand prix.

    The Formula 1 season resumed after its summer break with the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit bathed in glorious sunshine. Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg set the quickest time of the 90 minute session with a time of 1:48:348 ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton who set a time of 1:49:078. Both Mercedes drivers set their quickest time of the session on the red-walled supersoft tyre.

    Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen set the third quickest time at a 1:49:147 but only ran the yellow-walled soft tyre. Sergio Perez was fourth for Force India as the second Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top five.

    Several drivers including Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo ran the Halo head protection system in an installation lap as further development ahead of the introduction of the system. Pirelli further offered teams two prototype set of tyres to test in preparation for 2017. The test tyres were focused on the construction of the tyre as opposed to outright performance.

    Renault’s Jolyon Palmer lost the last twenty minutes of the session with a technical issue. However, McLaren’s Fernando Alonso failed to set a lap time as his car suffered a water leak early in the session. It has been confirmed that Lewis Hamilton will incur a 15 place grid penalty after changing two elements his power unit.

    Final Standings Free Practice 1:

    Pos. Driver Team Best Time Gap Lap
    1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:48.348s – 27
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:49.078s 0.730 25
    3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:49.147s 0.799 24
    4 Sergio Perez Force India 1:49.274s 0.926 23
    5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:49.768s 1.420 19
    6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:49.782s 1.434 24
    7 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:49.865s 1.517 24
    8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:50.088s 1.740 21
    9 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:50.394s 2.046 31
    10 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:50.583s 2.235 21
    11 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:50.899s 2.551 18
    12 Felipe Massa Williams 1:51.122s 2.774 28
    13 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:51.125s 2.777 16
    14 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:51.424s 3.076 17
    15 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:51.768s 3.420 19
    16 Esteban Ocon Manor 1:51.787s 3.439 26
    17 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:52.308s 3.960 19
    18 Jenson Button McLaren 1:52.407s 4.059 18
    19 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:52.837s 4.489 23
    20 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:53.053s 4.705 20
    21 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:53.089s 4.741 20
    – Fernando Alonso McLaren – – 3

     

  • 2016 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    2016 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    DRIVERS: Esteban OCON (Manor), Romain GROSJEAN (Haas), Daniil KVYAT (Toro Rosso), Fernando ALONSO (McLaren), Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing), Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Esteban, if we could start with you: many congratulations on your grand prix debut. Just describe your emotions now: how excited are you and indeed how surprised are you to be racing this weekend?

    Esteban OCON: Yeah, thank you, first of all. No, it’s a great opportunity for me to be driving here in Spa. So thanks to Mercedes, Renault and to Manor for that. It’s great to start in Spa as well. It’s a track I know, so it will help [me] to get up to speed. Let’s see how it goes. I’m looking forward to it and I’m ready.

    You’re only 19 and as you say you’ve raced a lot here at Spa. You’ve also got quite a lot of Formula One now, you’ve done FP1 for Renault for the past three races, so do you feel ready and prepared?

    EO: Yeah, I feel like I’ve had the best preparation I could get. It’s been quite a long time since I’m around in the paddock and also driving Formula One cars, so it’s great to finally make the step and I feel like I am ready to take that one.

    And what are your goals for this weekend and the rest of the season?

    EO: It would be good to score some points. That will be the target. I also need to learn the team, learn the way they work. Also to see how Pascal works and to get up to speed together, learning from him. Of course, he is a great driver and he has been quick all season so I will need to learn from him and get up to speed in qualifying.

    Daniil, if we could come on to you please: it’s been a very hard first half of the season following your return to Toro Rosso, and you’ve even been quoted as saying that you’ve fallen out of love with Formula One. What has the summer break done for your mind set?

    Daniil KVYAT: I think it’s done good things for me. It feels like it’s all OK now for me – just come here, do my job, drive as I know how to drive, nothing special really. That’s it.

    What do you think you can achieve this weekend? You finished fourth at Spa last year and Toro Rosso introduced a lot of upgrades to the STR11 last time out in Germany, so what’s a realistic goal this weekend?

    DK: It’s hard to predict the future, obviously. I don’t know how to do it. So, we’ll get out there, we’ll drive, we’ll use our potential as good as we can, and we’ll see where we are. That’s all I can do.

    Romain, coming to you: great memories from here last year of course, you finished third for Lotus? However, it’s been a bit of a dry old summer for yourself and Haas recently. Your last points finish was in Austria. What kind of reset does the team need in the second half of this season?

    Romain GROSJEAN: Well, I think, yeah, the last few races before the summer break haven’t been as good as we would have loved. We made some steps forward but there are a few things we needs to understand, so we’re going to try different things. I think the whole summer break helped everyone to reset a bit the mind, to think more calmly about what we can do and what we have been doing and hopefully we’ll get back in the car and it feels as good as it was initially in the year and from there we can score much more points. Generally, I still think that as a first year it’s very positive and even though we have had some difficulties recently it’s never far from the points. Eleventh often for Esteban, I had a bit more problems recently but hopefully goes away and we have a good race here.

    How tight is the battle with your immediate rivals in the Constructors’ Championship? Can you catch McLaren, stay ahead of Renault? Where’s the focus?

    RG: I think the focus is to learn and to do our best. I think we are more looking at catching McLaren than protecting from Renault. I think there are quite a long way behind and in terms of performance they are not any better than we are, so McLaren has done some good development recently but it doesn’t mean we cannot go there and try to play with them.

    Max, you have a Belgian mother, you were born just 50km from this race track and lots of fans are coming to see you this weekend, so do you view this as something of a home race?

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, I think so. You know, even though I haven’t driven here a lot, yeah definitely I think this is the closest I can get. I think there are also a lot of fans coming, so I’m definitely looking forward to that.

    Red Bull overtook Ferrari in Germany, last time out, do you feel confident of stretching that advantage in the coming races?

    MV: Well, we definitely will try to do that. I think the last few races have been very positive for us. We got the jump on them and now the most important thing is to stay ahead of course and try to close on Mercedes, even though I think that will be very hard, but we keep pushing, we keep developing and so far it has been very positive for us.

    And do you think you have the necessary horsepower to do the business this weekend?

    MV: We hope so. We’ll see. I think first of all we have to get the car working really well in terms of set-up and then we’ll see what happens.

    Thank you. Fernando, Honda boss Yusuke Hasegawa recently described the team’s progress as incredible. Do you agree with that assessment?

    Fernando ALONSO: Yeah, definitely I do agree. If you look at the team 12 months ago we were in a very different situation. We were starting last here using I think the ninth engine we put in Spa. We’ve been lapped two times here last year and in Germany and Hungary and definitely we make a step of nearly minutes, let’s say, not even seconds in a race total time, so definitely we are in a much better position. We are enjoying and definitely the progress is very optimistic in terms of… I think even for next year as well. We are looking forward to this weekend. We have some updates also on the car. We know that Spa and Monza will be tricky races for us in terms of layout and characteristics of the circuits but definitely we are enjoying our time now, seeing all this progress and hungry for more.

    You say you have upgrades for this race, but going forward where do you want the focus to be now for McLaren? Do you want it to remain on 2016 or would you like to see 100 per cent effort on 2017?

    FA: Well, I think we want to be world champions, so this year is not any more possible.

    Q: Lewis, you’ve had an amazing summer, winner of the last four races, you come to Spa with a 19-point lead in the World Championship. Do you wish the summer break had never come – or did you need to recharge your batteries?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Well, firstly, good afternoon everybody, it’s good to see everyone. Not too many tanned people – I was expecting to see people with better tans! I’m happy the break came. I think myself and the team needed it. Probably like the rest of the paddock. We had a month with four races in it so it’s definitely been a positive thing for everyone, I think everyone feels refreshed coming back in.

    Q: Are you confident of maintaining the momentum from Germany – or could an engine penalty interfere with that here?

    LH: Naturally we already discussed engine penalties before so that will come into play for sure – but I’ll do everything I can to minimise the impact it will have. Yeah. Otherwise, beyond that penalty I’ll eventually take, I think I’ll be able to continue with the momentum. I plan to continue with the momentum that I had before the break.

    Q: Has it been decided if you’ll take the engine penalty here or at another race?

    LH: As far as I’m aware we’ll be taking the engine penalty this weekend, yes. I have no engines left, so…

    Q: Your next win will be your 50th. That’s quite a milestone. What would that mean to you?

    LH: I have to get there first! Still, today, everyday I have to pinch myself really to think that I’ve… what I’ve achieved so far in my career. It’s a dream for all of us to be doing what we love, and to succeed at it… watching grands prix growing up I never thought I’d be sitting here with nearly 50 grand prix wins under my belt. It’s very surreal – but I plan to win more. Hopefully we continue to.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Speedsport & Auto Action) Max, you’re an old hand now at Formula One, an experienced driver in Formula One. What advice would you give to the young man behind you, how to deal with this new world?

    MV: Just jump in the car and go out and drive as fast as you can.

    LH: If he’s old, what are the rest of us?

    FA: At least to me. You are still young!

    Q: (Filip Cleeren – Motorsport.com) Max, there’s obviously talk of Stoffel Vandoorne joining F1 next year. What would it mean for Belgian and Netherlands motorsport, and for yourself to have you two guys fight it out on the track together?

    MV: I think it will be very positive for Belgian motorsport and definitely you will see even more Belgian flags here – they will have to compete with the Dutch flags – so we’ll see what happens. I think if happens it will be great in general for Belgium.

    Q: (Kevin Eason – The Times) Can I ask you, can you win here even from 20 places back – and can I ask you a question that fans ask me: is it fair that a driver has to bear the burden of the penalty for the incompetence of his team?

    LH: In terms of winning, that’s the goal but it’s going to be very, very hard if, obviously everyone’s… if the gap is close between other cars. We’re in the third year of evolution of these cars, so Red Bull have been very quick in some of the races, same with Ferrari particularly and down the whole grid, so it’s going to be harder than it was last year or the year before to climb through the field, for sure – but I’ll do everything I can. It’s really about minimising the damage of taking the penalty. And I think… I mean it is a team sport. We win and we lose together as a team. Whether I make a mistake and the team take the penalty for it, or the team make a mistake, sometimes it’s not actually mistake, it’s just the kind of thing that happens. I don’t look at it as incompetence, I find it a growing experience for us because we’ve learnt a lot from the issues that have happened and hopefully won’t have them again. It’s just unfortunate that I’m the – I guess – the test mice, or whatever you want to call it,  that’s tested all of these issues, because obviously none of the other Mercedes engines has had the problems I’ve had.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Speedsport & Auto Action) Romain, we know you’ve had some balance problems with the chassis and the brakes – was that from the beginning of the season or is it something that’s evolved recently?

    RG: It came more recently, for some reason. Probably track layout, tyre usage, grip of the car. Yeah, we’re probably going to revert on some of the settings we’ve made. Hopefully get something that suits me a little bit better.

    Q: (Barna Zsoldos – Nemzeti Sport) Fernando, you said in an interview that, if the nature of Formula One next year doesn’t change significantly, you stop – even if you win the championship. Is it really that bad? And Lewis, what is your opinion on that: is driving the car nowadays really that bad?

    FA: Well, I think I said, sometimes already that next year I finish my contract with McLaren, the one that I have now, so I will have to make a decision if I continue in Formula One or not. I think in the last couple of years, especially with this turbo engine era, the car is a little bit different to drive. I don’t say that it’s better or worse, everyone will have his opinion. I’ve been lucky enough to drive 2003 cars, 2004, 2005, even until 2009 the cars were, in my opinion, more extreme, more Formula One cars, so now when I see GP2 running three seconds away, or something like that in FP1 it feels a little bit sad. Cars are heavy. No grip. We save fuel, we save tyres, we save everything from lap one, so it’s a little bit against the instinct of the driver and next year is a big question mark. I think with the new regs everything will change a little bit. I think if the cars are fun to drive, are exciting to drive, I will probably stay longer and I will drive for more years in Formula One. If the cars are still giving me the feeling that I have in the last couple of years, probably I will stop. But it’s not related to whether you are competitive or not. If you are out in Q1 or winning a championship. It’s just you are enjoying driving the cars or you are not enjoying. Right now, in my opinion, the cars are not enjoyable. Probably because I drove other cars. If you arrive now to Formula One, these cars are very fast and very fun to drive – but not for me anymore.

    And Lewis, your thoughts on the challenge provided by the cars?

    LH: I agree with everything Fernando said really. There’s two aspects. Fernando’s obviously one of the best drivers we have here and yet he’s had an incredibly challenging last  couple of years with a not competitive car, so it’s understandable if that continues that way then it’s no fun for any of us. We live and breathe to win. Knowing in himself that he could fight for a championship if he was sat next to me for example, in our car. In terms of the rules, the cars are going to be the same next year. It’s a different looking car, the same issues are going to be the same and, what Fernando’s saying, we slow down as soon as we’ve done the start and got that out of the way, generally we’re not pushing 100 per cent like perhaps they used to do. It was a more extreme race back in the day, it was a sprint. For us, all starting in go-karts, that’s what it was from the get-go, from the lights out it was a sprint race to the end. Formula One’s not about that anymore. It’s about preserving your tyres, preserving the battery power, preserving the turbo, preserving all these elements which are not what people tune in to see. So, the governing body is continuing to push the car. Next year’s still going to be even more heavy, probably not have great grip. The car will probably be faster but it will have the same characteristics, probably, as what we have now. I might be wrong but most-likely. We’ll drive the same next year, just with a heavier car, and having to save fuel, save tyres, do the same things. Yeah. Probably said more than I needed to say!

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Lewis, if you do start from the back, you say you will do all you can to limit the damage of taking a penalty. What would be a realistic finish if you do that?

    LH: Honestly, I have no idea. Honestly, if you look… fourth? He says fourth. Honestly, I really don’t know how far I can get up. It depends, the pace of the other cars. We’ll start tomorrow and we’ll find out. If Red Bull are right close with us, that’s two cars less, that’s three down and then the gap follows behind. If the others are much much slower than the possibilities go up. There’s going to be safety cars, all sorts of things. I started last in Belgium, er, in Hungary a couple of years ago when the gaps were much bigger and came fourth, so Sunday’s definitely going to be harder than that and I just hope that I can get into the points. As long as I’m going forward, that’s what matters.

    Q: (Sarah Holt – Channel 4) It’s just a really simple question for everybody: did you have a lovely summer holiday? What have you been doing? Did you have to take homework with you from the team bosses or were you allowed to forget about F1 completely?

    RG: Well, I spent some time with my family in Corsica. I had no phone signal and no internet and that’s no disruption. I just spent the morning on the bike, afternoon with the kid on the beach so fairly straightforward and easy holiday.

    FA: I’ve had some good time off and no homework from the boss.

    EO: Yeah, I had a good summer break as well. I went surfing with some athletes from Quiksilver so they taught me the balance a bit, so that was interesting and yeah, some times with friends and family. It’s what you need during a summer break.

    MV: Yeah, pretty similar to everyone else, I think, spending some time with family and friends which is always very nice, to relax a bit and then spend some days just at home before you come here.

    DK: Yeah, like you said, it’s was a lovely holiday so it was good. I did a bit of karting but mainly I stayed at home. I didn’t follow what was going on in Formula One or anything so it was OK. Very good.

    LH: Well, mine was a little bit different to everyone else’s but I had a good time. I went to a lot of different countries, I travelled a lot the first two weeks and then the last week stayed in one place by a beach. I think I visited six or seven different countries during the break. I didn’t have homework but I did homework during the last week.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Lewis, in this vacation, did you take ten minutes without your mobile?

    LH: The last two weeks I didn’t have… I tried to avoid my phone. Of course, I needed to stay in touch with some friends but generally check in in the morning, put it away and then in the evening… and there were some days I didn’t even check it at all.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Max, you came directly from Formula Three to Formula One, 17 years old, and Ocon, 19 now and he had GP3 experience last year; is that enough for a driver to come to Formula One even if the circumstances show he has the capacity, in your opinion?

    MV: Yeah, I think in the end it doesn’t really matter where you come from as long as you do a good job. Once you’re in Formula One it’s up to yourself to show that you’re ready. I don’t think it has to be in F3 or GP3. Once you go to Formula One you have to show it.

    OE: I agree. Age is just a number in the end, you have to show that you are capable of driving in F1 and to show to the right people. I think that’s the most important thing. When you arrive in F1 then you have to deliver like Max did. That’s the target for me as well, when I come here.

    Q: (Joe Van Burik – De Telegraaf) To all drivers; a new official Formula One racing game has been released. I was wondering which of you plays racing games yourself and how close to the real thing are the simulation racing games these days?

    LH: Why would you think I do?

    MV: I don’t know, maybe you want to keep up to date, I don’t know.

    LH: Ah, no. I don’t play any simulation games, my brother does, but I haven’t played a computer game for a long time. I’m getting old, it’s what happens when you get to my age.

    EO: Yeah, I play in the winter to keep the rhythm a bit, even if it’s not really exactly the same thing, to keep some competition in, I’ve been playing with some other drivers on line but yeah, I’m not in the 2016 so yeah, I didn’t try myself on this one.

    Q: How realistic are they?

    EO: It depends, some are closer than others. F1 2016 it’s not too bad, it’s great. The tracks and the graphics now are much improved. It’s getting closer and closer to reality.

    FA: I am 35 now.

    Q: (Sarah Holt – Channel 4) Just to clarify Lewis, what homework did you do last week?

    LH: It’s secret, top secret stuff. I’d have to kill you if I told you.

    MV: You can tell me.

    LH: I was just making sure that I was up to date with where we’ve been this year and then what I have to do and what I’m doing, moving forwards. After I left in Hockenheim, I was partying eight hours later or whatever it was so just making sure that I was up to date, hopefully before my engineers got back to work as well.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To all drivers, Spa maybe is the circuit where you can most use the kerbs. Is there any previous orientation from the FIA or will you discuss Friday in the briefing?

    DK: I didn’t get it: can we use the kerbs? Yeah we can, of course, we can use them, no problems. Was that the question? Well, we have to discuss on Friday again I think, like always.

    Q: Lewis, has there been a directive from the FIA about track limits?

    LH: As far as I’m aware not yet. But we anticipate there might be because… I don’t think there’s any more than at any other track. There’s just Eau Rouge and then there’s turn 15 maybe? There’s still those kerbs so that might be something they consider but I don’t think it’s going to be a problem.