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  • Pirelli Explains Tyre Choices and Regulations

    Pirelli Explains Tyre Choices and Regulations

    After the FIA announced changes to the Formula 1 Sporting and Technical regulations, Pirelli have released details on the tyre rule changes for the 2016 season.

    Pirelli will now supply three different compounds per race giving the teams more choice and flexibility in their race strategies.

    Pre-Race Tyre Nominations and Preparations

    • In consultation with the FIA, Pirelli will decide in advance which three compounds can be used at each race, and communicate this information to the teams.
    • The total number of sets that can be used during practice, qualifying and racing remains the same as it is currently: 13.
    • Pirelli will nominate two mandatory race sets for each car. Furthermore, one set of the softer compound will have to be kept for use in Q3 only.
    • The two mandatory sets chosen by Pirelli can be of two different compounds, from the three that have been nominated for the race weekend. These sets will obviously be identical for each team.
    • The remaining 10 sets can be chosen by each team, from the three compounds nominated for the race weekend.
    • The teams will make their choices within a deadline set by Pirelli. They will communicate their choices to the FIA, which will in turn tell Pirelli how many tyres to produce. The choices for each car will remain secret until 2 weeks before the race. If a team does not meet the deadline, the choice will be made by the FIA.
    • Once the choices for each car have been made, the FIA will continue to assign the tyres randomly via a barcode, as is the case currently.
    • The choices made by each team can vary for each of its cars: so each driverwithin a team can have a different allocation.
    • The tyres will be distinguished by different coloured markings on the sidewalls, as is currently the case.

    During the race

    • Teams will still have to give back tyres according to a certain schedule, but they can decide which tyres to give back at the following times
      • One set after the first 40 minutes of FP1
      • One at the end of FP1
      • Two sets at the end of FP2
      • Two sets at the end of FP3
    • The two mandatory sets nominated by Pirelli cannot be given back during practice and must be available for use in the race. At lease one of these two sets must be used during the race – but teams can decide which one.

    The top 10 at the end of qualifying will still have to give back the set of the softer compound nominated for Q3, and start the race on the tyres with which they set their fastest time in Q2 (the same rule as is the case currently).

    All other drivers will be able to use the set that is saved for Q3 during the race.

     

    Picture by Courtesy Pirelli

  • Mandate To Change F1 Given to Ecclestone and Todt

    Mandate To Change F1 Given to Ecclestone and Todt

    The World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) has approved a mandate to FIA President Jean Todt and Formula 1 Supremo Bernie Ecclestone to make changes to the sport.

    Ecclestone and Todt will put forward their proposal by 31 January 2016 with will tackle issues such as governance and Power Units and cost reductions.

    “The World Motor Sport Council approved, by a near unanimous number (just one vote against), a mandate for the FIA President, Jean Todt and the Representative of the Commercial Rights Holder, Bernie Ecclestone to make recommendations and decisions regarding a number of pressing issues in Formula One such as governance, Power Units and cost reduction,” read the statement by the FIA.

    Changes to the technical regulations were also approved. A new manufacturer entering the sport will be allocated 15 development tokens for their first year in the sport and 32 tokens for the second year.

    The power unit tokens for in season development for current teams will be allocated as follows:

    • 2016: 32 tokens
    • 2017: 25 tokens
    • 2018: 20 tokens
    • 2019: 15 tokens

    Sporting Regulation Changes

    • Formula 1 tyre supplier, Pirelli, will now provide three dry weather compounds per race instead of two.
    • Of the 13 sets of tyre available to the driver over the race weekend, Pirelli will choose two sets for the race(one of which must be used in the race) and one set of the softest compound available that can only be used in Q3. A driver will then be able to choose their remaining 10 sets from the available compounds.
    • If a race is declared a dry race, a drive must use at least two different dry-weather tyre compounds, of which one set must be the set chosen by Pirelli.
    • DRS will now be enabled immediately after the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) period. The VSC has also been extended to be used in Free Practice to minimise stoppages in the session.
    • Power units that were homologated in the previous season may be re-homologated for 2016.
    • The FIA have agreed to supply a fourth customer team with a 2015-specification power unit for 2016. Under the 2015 sporting regulations no manufacturer could supply more that one specification Power Unit. i.e. current year and previous year specification engines were not allowed.

    With the confirmation that Ferrari is supplying a fourth team next year, we can safely assume that the fourth team is Toro Rosso.

     

  • FIA Confirms Biggest Ever F1 Season Calendar for 2016

    FIA Confirms Biggest Ever F1 Season Calendar for 2016

     

    At the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) meeting held on Tuesday the FIA confirmed the Formula 1 Calendar for 2016 making it the biggest F1 calendar in the history of the sport with 21 races.

    The Mexican Grand Prix was scheduled in the provisional calendar to go back-to-back with the Brazilian Grand Prix. It has now been moved to go back-to-back with the US Grand Prix in Austin. The US Grand Prix is subject to an agreement with the promoter and the sporting authority.

    The Azerbaijan Grand Prix is penciled in for 19 June 2016 which is the same day at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The FIA have scheduled the race to avoid any conflict with Le Mans.

    The 2016 Calendar features 6 back to back races.

    Date City Country
    20 March 2016 Melbourne Australia
    3 April 2016 Bahrain Bahrain
    17 April 2016 Shanghai China
    1 May 2016 Sochi Russia
    15 May 2016 Barcelona Spain
    29 May 2016 Monte Carlo Monaco
    12 June 2016 Montreal Canada
    19 June 2016 Baku Azerbaijan*
    3 July 2016 Spielberg Austria
    10 July 2016 Silverstone United Kingdom
    24 July 2016 Budapest Hungary
    31 July 2016 Hockenheim Germany
    28 August 2016 Spa-Francorchamps Belgium
    4 September 2016 Monza Italy
    18 September 2016 Singapore Singapore
    2 October 2016 Sepang Malaysia
    9 October 2016 Suzuka Japan
    23 October 2016 Austin USA**
    30 October 2016 Mexico City Mexico
    13 November 2016 Sao Paolo Brazil
    27 November 2016 Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates
  • F1 2015: Pirelli Abu Dhabi Tyre Test Report

    F1 2015: Pirelli Abu Dhabi Tyre Test Report

    Formula 1 tyre supplier, Pirelli held a 12 hour tyre test at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi to assess the new Ultra Soft Compound tyres and a new tyre construction for the 2016 Formula 1 season.

    A total of 1084 laps were completed and more than 6020 kms covered in the 12 hours seen McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne set the best time of the day. The Belgian set the best time of the day of 1:44.103 with a total of 99 laps for the day.

    A few conditions were imposed for the test however. Teams were not allowed to perform any aerodynamic tests, change any parts or try on any new parts. The test was run as a “blind” test which meant that neither the teams, nor the drivers knew the type of prototype tyre was being tested.

    “The Teams tested several different potential variations of the new ultrasoft compound, from which one will eventually be selected,” read a statement by Pirelli.

    “Prototype tyres were not marked with any colours or other visible markings, while base tyres[super soft and soft compound tyres] carried the usual colours on sidewalls.

    With the session running for almost 12hrs without any lunch break it was the longest single-day Formula 1 test in the history of the sport.

    “We had one shot when it came to testing tyres for next season, and we can be satisfied by what we’ve achieved in this test, even if we have to fully analyze the data,” said Pirelli Motorsport director Paul Hembery.

    “We’ve tested different versions of the new ultrasoft compound for 2016, which was one of the targets for this session.

    “The ultrasoft’s target for 2016 is to introduce a compound softer than the supersoft and mainly designed as agressive choice for street circuits: with better performance than the latest version of the supersoft tyre and faster degradation, in order to allow the Teams to take a more aggressive approach to race strategy.

    “Whether this will produce more pit stops, or any difference in strategies, it’s too early to say for now.

    “We will fully analyse our data and team telemetry once we get back to base.

    “But it seems we are heading in the right direction: the ultrasoft is expected to offer more possibilities for certain races.”

    Driver Team Time Laps
    Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1:44.103 99
    Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:44.456 56
    Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:44.480 50
    Jolyon Palmer Lotus 1:44.568 90
    Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:44.940 56
    Pascal Wehrlein Mercedes 1:45.605 107
    Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:45.805 57
    Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:45.849 54
    Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:45.852 71
    Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:45.940 103
    Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 1:46.309 48
    Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso 1:46.995 56
    Adderly Fong Sauber 1:48.439 57
    Alfonso Celis Jr. Force India 1:48.545 65
    Rio Haryanto Manor 1:49.593 56
    Jordan King Manor 1:49.661 59

  • F1 2015: Season Finale Review – Abu Dhabi, that’s a wrap

    F1 2015: Season Finale Review – Abu Dhabi, that’s a wrap

    As far as thrillers go the Abu Dhabi grand prix isn’t quite going to make the list of most memorable races. Though visually spectacular the Yas Marina circuit has brought the 2015 season to a close in fairly mundane manner but still provided several talking points.

    In only the second time in its seven year history the Abu Dhabi grand prix was won from pole position. First place on the starting grid belonged to Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg which he easily translated into the race lead as the sun began to set over the Yas Marina circuit. On the track it didn’t turn out to be a wheel-to-wheel battle between Rosberg and teammate Hamilton but rather a tactical fight through pit stop strategy.

    In the first round of pitstops Hamilton followed his race leading teammate into the pitlane only a lap later, effectively mirroring his strategy. However, with the constructor’s and driver’s title in the bag the Mercedes team allowed its drivers some leeway in strategy calls and racing up to the chequered flag. Lewis Hamilton took advantage of the rare freedom to extend his second stint on the yellow side-walled soft tyres. At one point Hamilton even considered running a one stop strategy and going to the end on his tyres. This strategy was quickly dismissed as impossible by his race engineer and Hamilton pitted to fit a set of the soft Pirelli tyres.

    Abu Dhabi 2015_StartThis strategy left Hamilton nearly twelve seconds behind race leader Rosberg. Although the three time champion was able to run with the fresher tyres in the closing stint of the race, he was only able to halve the pace to the leading car. The race concluded with Rosberg leading Hamilton home with a comfortable gap of just over eight seconds. This latest one-two finish Rosberg and Hamilton makes it the twelfth of the year for Mercedes.

    Not too far behind the Mercedes pair Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen delivered a strong drive to finish third. The Finn turned a good pace but never enough to challenge for victory.  While some will make a note that he finished the season in fourth place on the driver’s standings Raikkonen couldn’t care less of his ultimate position in the championship unless it’s position number one. Never one to sugar-coat reality Raikkonen, by his own admission, has labelled his season as distinctly “average.”

    After a strategic error in qualifying Sebastian Vettel was forced to start in fifteenth. The German was able to recover to take fourth place for Ferrari. Sergio Perez, who started on the second row of the grid in fourth, brought his Force India home in fifth ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. Nico Hulkenberg was seventh in the other Force India while Felipe Massa struggled to an eighth place finish for the Williams team. In his final race with Lotus before heading off the American Haas team was Romain Grosjean who made the best of his supersoft tyres in the closing stages. Daniil Kvyat secured tenth and the final point on offer for the Red Bull Racing team.

    Nico Rosberg_Abu Dhabi 2015_Podium2It wasn’t a race blighted by too many incidents however Fernando Alonso incurred a drive-through penalty for hitting the Lotus of Pastor Maldonado into turn one as the race got underway. In the pitlane Valtteri Bottas clipped the back of Jenson Button’s McLaren after an unsafe release by the Williams pitcrew. It resulted in a damaged front-wing for Bottas and five second penalty. The Finn eventually finished a lap down in thirteenth.

    Dutchman and rookie driver Max Verstappen showed up to the race as his ever-aggressive self and set about overtaking as many drivers as possible. However, his spirited overtaking proved a bit too much as race stewards penalised him with gaining an advantage after going off the circuit in a pass on Jenson Button. As the penalty was imposed after the race it dropped the teenage sensation to sixteenth place.

    In Brazil Hamilton was the quicker of the two Mercedes in the race but couldn’t find a way to overtake Rosberg. But here in Abu Dhabi Hamilton has been shaded, in terms of pace, for the entire weekend. For Nico Rosberg the season couldn’t have ended any better. Six pole positions and a hat trick of victories is an incredible run of form. It begs the question as to where this prodigious form has been the entire season. Is it as a result of a release of pressure or has Rosberg at long last found something that Hamilton has no answer for?

    (Images courtesy of Mercedes AMG F1 Team & Pirelli Motorsport).

  • FIA Makes Ruling on Wind Tunnel “Ambiguities”

    FIA Makes Ruling on Wind Tunnel “Ambiguities”

    On Saturday at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the FIA received a request from Mercedes regarding clarification on wind tunnel regulations and the limits on wind tunnel work.

    The FIA have ruled on the matter and have told teams that teams are not allowed to collude on aerodynamic testing, more specifically, customer teams with technical partnerships with manufacturer teams.

    This comes after Mercedes pointed out a few ambiguities in the rules and after corresponding with the FIA on the matter, were referred to the race stewards. The stewards on Sunday made a recommendation to the FIA in an 8-page document.

    The controversy started when concerns were raised that Ferrari had benefited from additional wind tunnel testing which was performed with the Haas F1 team, who will be using various Ferrari components in their cars when they make their debut in F1 next year. Haas F1 were not bound by the current regulations which limits wind tunnel testing. Until Sunday’s ruling by the FIA.

    Ferrari and Haas were cleared by the FIA after examining the logs provided to them by Haas F1 and Ferrari. “Having examined the reports (including audit reports team facilities) provided to us, the Stewards confirm that there is no evidence that competitors have not complied with the requirements of Appendices 6 and 8 as they were interpreted prior to today’s date,” said the FIA in their settlement document.

    In the settlement document the FIA state:”The Stewards recommend to the FIA that in future once a potential competitor (as opposed to Official Entry) applies to be a competitor in the FIA Formula One World Championship and this application is accepted, that competitor should be bound by Appendices 6 and 8 (and for that matter any other appropriate sections of the Formula One Sporting and Technical Regulations).”

    It was also noted by the FIA that the ruling will apply going forward and not retrospectively.

    The FIA also issued a list of activities that will be deemed attempts to circumvent the regulations with regards to wind tunnel testing.

    • No employee or consultant of a competitor who is involved in aerodynamic development may pass any information obtained under their own ATR quota to an employee or consultant of another competitor.
    • No employee of a competitor who is involved in aerodynamic development, who leaves that company and takes up a similar position with another competitor, may do so without a suitable (or normal) period of “gardening leave” or “isolation”.
    • No employee of a competitor who is involved in aerodynamic development, and who leaves that company and takes up a similar position with another competitor, may then return to the original competitor without a suitable (or normal) period of “gardening leave” or “isolation”.
    • No employee of a competitor who is involved in aerodynamic development, and who then leaves that company, may pass information obtained under their former employer’s ATR quota to an employee or consultant of another competitor before a suitable (or normal) period of “gardening leave” or “isolation” has elapsed.
    • No employee of an external entity who is involved in F1 aerodynamic development may be employed by a competitor, on a permanent or temporary basis, without a suitable (or normal) period of “gardening leave” or “isolation”.
    • No employee of a competitor who is involved in aerodynamic development may be seconded to, or temporarily employed by, another competitor unless such secondment or employment is a genuine long term arrangement for the sole purpose of providing the other competitor with technical expertise. Any seconded employee must not then return to the original competitor without a suitable (or normal) period of “gardening leave” or “isolation”. Three months would be considered as a genuine long term arrangement.
    • No competitor may acquire aerodynamic surfaces from an external entity (even if such entity claims to have designed them for its own purposes), unless any aerodynamic testing resource used to develop the surfaces is counted within the relevant competitor’s ATR quota.
    • Teams sharing a wind tunnel (or any other aerodynamic testing resource as referred to in Appendix 8, including a CFD cluster) must put appropriate procedures in place to avoid any breach of confidentiality or of the general restrictions of Appendix 6 and Appendix 8. This would include (but not be limited to):

      (i) ensuring staff shared by both parties or employed by one party but involved in the operational part of the aerodynamic testing of the other party (such as operating or maintaining the wind tunnel and/or CFD hardware) give contractual covenants not to pass information or to allow information to pass between the parties.

       

       

      (ii) putting the physical infrastructure in place so the two parties operate their support activities (such as wind tunnel model preparation), other than the operational part of the testing mentioned above, in separate environments.

       

       

      (iii) putting the IT infrastructure in place so the two parties operate on separate networks and store their data on separate (at least virtually) storage hardware.

       

  • Post Race Penalty for Verstappen

    Post Race Penalty for Verstappen

    Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen was handed a post race drive through penalty for ignoring blue flags in Sunday’s race for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

    The rookie impeded Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton towards the end of the race and was handed the drive through penalty which was converted to a 20-second time penalty. That meant Verstappen finished lower down the order in 16th position from 12th.

    His drive through penalty also included one penalty point on his super license. This brings a total of 8 points on his super license. Under the current regulations, if a driver collects 12 penalty points he incurs a one-race ban. The penalty points do expire in May 2016 but until then he will have to behave himself on the track next year.

     

  • 2015 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    2015 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    3 – Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari)

     

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by David Coulthard)

    Q: Nico, that must taste good?

    Nico ROSBERG: Delicious! The best ever!

    Q: It’s been an incredible end to the season. This was, to me, your most dominant win of the season, so tell us a little bit about the race and the hunger you took into this final race of the season.

    NR: No, I mean, yeah, Austin was sort of the low point of the season. It was a tough weekend and since then I’ve just come back a lot stronger and I’m very happy about that. I’m excited about how the end of the season went. Next year can come any moment. It could start tomorrow if it were for me, no problem, I don’t need any holidays! But, no, it’s great to end the season like this, go on holiday like this and thank you so much, you’ve been awesome again this weekend, for all your support and everything, thanks to my team, absolutely stunning car you’ve all given me again today – just unbelievable. Ecstatic.

    Q: You mentioned Austin there. We could see the disappointment as the realisation the championship had slipped away at that race. Can you tell us a little bit, give the fans at home an insight. You’ve got the enemy within the team, you work together to develop this great product but your success is Lewis’ failure and his success is your failure. Can you give us an insight into how you manage that?  Because you guys have known each other since you were kids.

    NR: Yeah, it’s always tough to race Lewis, he’s doing an awesome job and he’s one of the best out there, so an even better feeling to win, definitely against such opposition. It’s a great battle internally all the time. That’s what I race for, such battles, and I look forwards to more next year.

    Q: Does that mean you guys can go and have dinner together now and reflect on what was an amazing season for the team?

    NR: Let’s skip that part – maybe we’ll catch up in the Amber Lounge later on.

    Q: Lewis, an amazing season for you – your World Champion Ladies and Gentleman – it’s been a great season for you, I couldn’t help but notice it doesn’t seem to have finished quite as strong as it started. We heard you mention that there have been some changed to the car and it hasn’t quite suited you but is it as simple as that or is there something else we need to know now the season’s over?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Well, firstly it’s been an amazing – an amazing – year, and happy 44th UAE National Day. So happy to be here and celebrating it with the UAE, they’ve done an amazing job for this show – and what a great crowd we’ve had today. No man, it’s been a good year. I’m happy. I’m happy it’s over, for sure. So now we can really enjoy. I really have to take my hat off to this team who once again did an amazing job in building this car. The pitstops today, the performance through the whole year, they’ve surpassed their own expectations, our expectations, and so we’ve truly shown that Mercedes-Benz is the best team in the world. I’m proud to be a part of it.

    Q: Just to touch on strategy, we heard you again on the radio, asking the team “can I go the distance on these tyres?” We know the team have to deliver the one-two result. Nico earned the pole, he was leading the race – is that just the inner racer in you? Even though you probably know ahead of time that there’s nothing that can be done, that’s why you’re pushing your engineers, pushing the team.

    LH: No, I think in hindsight once Nico pitted I would probably have backed off a little bit and I would have made those tyres go a lot longer. The tyres were still fine at the end so I honestly felt that I could potentially have taken them to the end. But as that didn’t work out, going too long was probably not the right thing to do – but y’know, we gave it a try and did the best job I could with it.

    Q: I’ll just come around to Kimi Räikkönen. Ladies and Gentlemen, statistically this is the most popular man in Formula One. You probably say less than any of the other drivers, so welcome back to the podium. It’s not been a great season for you but that was a World Champion’s drive today – so why has it taken so long in the season to deliver this great performance?

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: I think we started better this season but obviously not been ideal this year. That’s how it goes sometimes. And y’know, the speed has been there but mistakes and problems and stuff like that. So the end result hasn’t been great many times but today, or this weekend, was a bit better. Everything was working well and things were running smoothly, car handling well, so, it was good – but obviously not enough still to beat these two but, y’know we did our best.

    Q: Nico, finally with yourself, the smile says it all. The World Championship is the one thing… this is your 14th victory. You can take pole positions, you can win grands prix – how are you going to attack the winter and come back next year and try and beat this man?

    NR: Well I look forward to it as I’m sure it’s going to be another great season next year. I’m sure the team is going to give us an awesome car again. Of course we’re aware of the threat from the red guys and we don’t them to come too close and we’ll give it everything over the winter. I’ll try to keep it going, the current form, starting next year.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: You knew what Lewis was doing, obviously, in terms of strategy in the final part of the Grand Prix, the offset on the tyres etc, and you responded. Are you pleased with the way you drove today?

    NR: Yeah, for sure, ecstatic with the way it went, because really master-managed… controlled the pace through the race and managed my tyres and used them optimally and pushed all the way through to the end, so had good pace there with tyres that’s for sure and had a lot more laps on them than Lewis’s so very pleased with that, definitely.

    Q: I wonder which of the two of you goes into the winter feeling the happier?

    NR: I’m feeling very happy.

    Q: Lewis, you’re a three time World Champion, it’s been a record-breaking year, which of the two of you goes into the winter feeling the happier?

    LH: I think being World Champion sounds a lot better than winning the race, so that’s good.

    Q: Tell us a little bit about your race because we were let in on quite a lot of radio, partly, as David Coulthard just referred to there, your question whether or not there was an argument for staying out, but also in the final stages there to do with the engine modes and some quite firm instructions from your engineer, what they wanted you to do. Maybe you could just let us into that a little bit and also from a strategy point of view, you pitted after Vettel who went onto supersofts and you put softs on, so maybe you could just explain that?

    LH: Well, I just did what I was told pretty much, most of the time and then yeah, I tried as hard as I could in the first stint, I tried to keep a relatively decent gap to Nico, looking after my tyres and then my right front… or both fronts went off quite early and Nico was able to… in the clean air, was able to look after them. In the second stint I was quicker and getting close and then… I could make the tyres last longer, yeah, of course, but after that it was really down to the team, whether or not we went to the option or the other tyre. I’m not sure which one was better but the prime tyre was quite good. I’m not sure whether or not I could have taken it to the end but some part of me just wishes I’d just given it a go. But no, the engine modes were going up and down throughout the race, not really sure they were like that because they had lots of life left in my engine but I’ll ask when I get back to the debrief.

    Q: Kimi, your third podium of this championship, you finished eleven seconds behind Lewis which is about 0.2s per lap over the Grand Prix distance here. Do you take encouragement from the way that Ferrari’s finished the last couple of races going into the winter and next year?

    KR: I think the whole year, as a team, has been quite good comparing last year and obviously not so good for myself but the speed has been there and it’s just not been able to produce the results and having some issues and mistakes but this weekend has been pretty OK, the car’s been handling well. I think in the race we could have been quite a bit closer but we had some issues at both pit stops so we lost some time and then I slowed down a bit. But I think we had a reasonably good speed, they didn’t really pull away a lot from us. At certain points, I think we were catching them and then they were pulling out but not an awful lot in it. It’s never nice to finish third but I’ll take it after previous races. I guess it always could have been a better finish but OK, I think it was more or less what we expected to get.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Lennart Bernke – Bild) Nico, Lewis, will you get each other a Christmas present?

    NR: Hmm, maybe a Christmas card.

    LH:  I don’t think we’ve ever done either so there’s no reason to change.

    Q: (Rami Akhawi – Car on Web) Nico, about next year, are we going to see you as a World Champion, because already you entered the season with great victories, so is it the same way to start 2016?

    NR: Well, unfortunately 2016 is so far away. At the moment I’m just enjoying now, enjoying the wins. I’m going to party tonight, I’m enjoying the fun, enjoying that I progressed also a lot in the end of the season, too late for the championship of course, but so great now to have it and that’s it. I can’t tell you about next year unfortunately, but I’ll give it everything

    Q: (Fadi Kallassina – Arab Shift) Lewis, what’s your feeling for not getting the first position with the 44 celebration national day?

    LH: I’m really grateful to have been associated with the UAE with the 44th national day. Yeah, I’m still going for that 44th win. I’m quite happy with the amount of wins I’ve had in my career. Of course, I always want more but I have to be grateful for the ones I do have. Hopefully we’ve got another three years with this team so I’m looking forward to next year, to come back fit and healthy and let’s see what we can do next year.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, does it now, afterwards, feel any better to finish the season fourth (in the Drivers’ championship)  instead of being fifth and especially after being 12th last season?

    KR: Not really. You guys have been asking between me and Valtteri for a long time and still it doesn’t make much difference to me. It’s not what you think, a Finnish championship, it’s a World Championship and there are winners it goes from there. If you don’t win, it doesn’t make an awful lot of difference if you’re second, wherever you finish. I’m happy to have had a kind of OK race in the last one but it doesn’t change anything really of how our season went, what to expect for next year. One of the better weekends but we’ll take it and go from here.

  • 2015 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Official Starting Grid

    Pos. Driver Team
    1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
    3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari
    4 Sergio Perez Force India
    5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull
    6 Valtteri Bottas Williams
    7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India
    8 Felipe Massa Williams
    9 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull
    10 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso
    11 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso
    12 Jenson Button McLaren
    13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus
    14 Felipe Nasr Sauber
    15 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari
    16 Fernando Alonso McLaren
    17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber
    18 Romain Grosjean* Manor
    19 Will Stevens* Lotus
    PL Roberto Merhi** Manor

    *Will Stevens – 5-place grid penalty for new Control Electronics

    *Romain Grosjean – 5-place grid penalty for gearbox change

    **Roberto Merhi – Pit Lane Start. Car removed from Parc Ferme and suspension setup change.

  • 2015 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix; Post Qualifying Press Conference

    2015 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix; Post Qualifying Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    3 – Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari)

     

    TV UNILATERAL

    Nico, six poles in a row at the end of the season – how have you done it?

    Nico ROSBERG: Well, before it was close in the other direction and now its close in this direction. I’m quicker in the moment. I’m very pleased about that and enjoying the moment and happy to be in pole again.

    Lewis, coming to you, obviously very string all weekend, strong in Q1, strong in Q2 but then in Q3 it sort of slipped away. Was there a reason for that in particular?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Not really, I’ve generally been struggling with the car a bit all weekend. But we’ve been working really hard to make some changes; we’ve had to take something off the car but no, Nico was just really quick today and he did a great job in Q3.

    OK, coming to you Kimi, close battle obviously with the Force India of Sergio Perez for the third place on the grid. You’ll start alongside him in the grand prix tomorrow. Your final lap, though, was the one that did it. You’ve been quick all weekend but did you feel the pressure from Perez and what was the secret in the end, particularly with your team-mate down in 16th?

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: No real secret. Obviously the car has been handling pretty well all weekend. The laps haven’t been ideal many times. Even the first run, it was OK the lap, but nothing like… I knew there was quite a lot of room to improve so I just tried to make one a bit better lap and it was enough. Obviously still a bit of a way off from what these guys can do but we did our best today.

    Coming back to you Nico, a disappointing race last here in Abu Dhabi. The race tomorrow, though, a chance to end the season with a hat-trick of victories. How important is it to carry that kind of momentum into the winter.

    NR: Primarily I would just like to win the race, because it’s a great feeling to win and it would also give my whole crew and the team a great end to the season and a good reason to party then tomorrow night. That would be awesome, to all have a good time together. So that’s primarily on my mind. Of course, though, whatever we learn this year as well helps going into next year, so it would be great finishing on a high.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Nico, once again strategy starting to come into play during Saturday afternoon, noticeably that you saved new soft tyres for the race tomorrow, going out on supersofts in Q1. We’ve seen that a few times from your team, so fairly clear what you’re thinking about, but how important do you think strategy will be tomorrow in terms of the outcome of the grand prix?

    NR: Strategy is always important. I think we’ve done our homework really well here, practicing well on Friday for the race, so we pretty much know exactly what to expect and the soft tyre will definitely be the better race tyre, so that’s why we saved one of those for the race.

    Lewis, coming to you, obviously you’ve been fairly relaxed about the situation at the end of this season in terms of qualifying and the pendulum as it has swung. Over the balance of the year then it’s 12-7 to you in qualifying in the battle with Nico. Maybe you could just give us your thoughts on the Saturday, how the year has gone for you and your thoughts on that over the course of the season?

    LH: It’s been good. It doesn’t really matter what that number is at the end of the day, what matters is the wins and obviously the championship, but you know, I’m happy because it has obviously been more in my favour. I’ve enjoyed it and in the last six Nico has done a great job. Areas to improve with the car, for me, on my side, but I’m sure we’ll get there.

    Q: And for you Kimi, this is your fourth top three qualifying of the season. Do you feel going into 2016, with all you’ve said this weekend about hopes and aspirations for next year, that qualifying in particular is an area to work on?

    KR: I don’t think it’s going to be as simple as that and if you qualify well you’re going to have a good finish. We have had good speed but many times a problem or mistakes here and there. Obviously it makes qualifying more difficult and hurts your end result easily but today, this weekend, everything’s been running smoothly and obviously it’s a bit better starting grid tomorrow but we have to still make a good race out of it. It doesn’t change what we do this year for next year anything. We start from zero in January and try to do a good year next.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Samomat) Nico, how tempting is it to try to get your seventh successive pole in the beginning of next season as Lewis did this year and to charge yourself for the whole winter.

    NR: With all the respect, that’s not really a target of mine. Of course it’s great to finish the season on a high now and then yeah, I’ll be motivated to start next year in a way that this year has finished. That would be great. Unfortunately it’s not as simple as that but, as always, I’ll push and try and begin strongly next year.

    Q: (Agris Lauzinieks – Kapitals Latvia) The question is what is the secret of your revival this season Nico? I mean two last races. Perhaps Mercedes is experimenting with new parts meant for 2016 and they are more suitable for your driving style. I mean new parts of the car.

    NR: It’s not a revival, I haven’t reinvented anything. It’s just progress and that’s it. Before it was always very, very close but Lewis had that one-tenth edge and at the moment it’s me that has the one-tenth edge. Today a bit more but it was very close lately in the last two races. That’s it. At the moment I’m just quicker.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Honorary) Lewis, you said you’ve been struggling with the car all weekend. What has been the problem and will it be worse in the race?

    LH: Generally it gets a little bit better in the race but it’s been for a while now. Generally just struggling on the edge with the car. It was a lot more comfortable at the beginning of the year for me and as I said, coming into this weekend I tried to make some changes. It disadvantaged myself a little bit maybe with one of the things I took off the car which was of benefit. I tried to get around it but at the end of the day it wasn’t good enough.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Samomat) Kimi, you seem to be quicker with the soft tyre in the practice. Does that mean the race is easier for you compared to qualifying.

    KR: I don’t think it’s going to be any easier. I mean, in qualifying the supersofts were working well and obviously yesterday and this morning wasn’t ideal. Couldn’t get the lap with those. Couldn’t get the lap with those but again in qualifying they were fine. Obviously conditions changed from daytime to this evening but no, both tyres seem to be working pretty well for me and we’ll see what we’re going to do tomorrow – which one we’re going to run and how it’s going to plan out in the first few laps.