Latest

F1 2015: Texas GP Preview – F1 Heads Down South

The old saying goes that everything is bigger and better in Texas and it’s hard to argue with it. The Circuit of the Americas, introduced in 2012, is already a favourite on the F1 calendar and in 2015 has the potential to crown a champion.

The Circuit of the Americas, designed by Herman Tilke, gets a resounding stamp of approval from all the drivers on the grid and is easily the best of the newer tracks on the F1 calendar. “The track has some special parts, especially the first sector and the uphill turn one. You can take a few different lines through the corner and you can brake really late for it, which makes it a good place to overtake,” says Force India driver Sergio Perez.

In fact the entire first sector is a combination of elegant flowing high-speed corners of which turns three through eight are reminiscent of Silverstone’s Maggots-Becketts complex. A long back strait and relatively slow final section of corners make up the rest on the 5.5 km circuit.

However it seems, at best, doubtful that we’ll get to see F1 cars at full-tilt around this circuit as the weather predicts for rain on Friday and Saturday. The forecast on race day could see a break in the clouds. Should there be an opportunity for dry running Pirelli have made the medium (white-walled) and soft (yellow-walled) compound available this weekend.

There will be considerable attention on all cars running the Renault power unit this weekend. The French manufacturer is bringing its biggest, and highly anticipated, upgrade, to the race weekend amid intense speculation about its future in the sport.

Several weeks ago Renault signed a letter of intent to purchase the Lotus F1 team but hasn’t made a move on the financially beleaguered team since then, at least not publicly. Not only that, but an improved performance from the power unit may also serve as the perfect platform for Red Bull make its way back to running Renault power in 2016.

As it stands, Red Bull has no engine to put in the back of their 2016 car. At this stage the 2016 Red is likely deep into its development cycle which will make pulling out of the sport very costly. Yes, the divorce between Red Bull and Renault resulted in both parties airing dirty laundry and some rather testy statements about incompetence were thrown about. But a categorical no from Mercedes and a more than reluctant Ferrari has put the Austrian team in quite a mess. Besides, there won’t be any hard feelings between Red Bull and Renault after all just look at the splendidly semi-restored relationship between Fernando Alonso and Ron Dennis.

There is also another matter that will take centre stage in Texas as Lewis Hamilton bids to become a three time Formula 1 world champion. The challenge from teammate Nico Rosberg has been severely diminished due to a couple of reliability issues for the German. As if Rosberg’s retirements haven’t been nasty enough the cruel irony is that he will probably help Lewis Hamilton claim his third driver’s title this weekend.

Mercedes shouldn’t be troubled in Texas which will leave its two drivers to battle it out. If Rosberg finishes second to his teammate and keeps Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel at bay Hamilton will be crowned champion.

Now we know that stranger things have happened in Formula 1. Just think about Hamilton’s first championship triumph in most dramatic fashion at the 2008 Brazilian grand prix. By no means should any possibility ever be ruled out in Formula 1.

Championship Permutations

Hamilton is champion if…

Hamilton 1^st Vettel 3^rd or lower

Hamilton 2^nd Vettel 6^th or lower Rosberg 3^rd or lower

Hamilton 3^rd Vettel 7^th or lower Rosberg 4^th or lower

Hamilton 4^th Vettel 9^th or lower Rosberg 5^th or lower

Hamilton 5^th Vettel 10^th or lower Rosberg 6^th or lower

October 22, 2015
Weather Report For the 2015 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix

Austin, Texas is usually known for its warm weather when the Formula 1 Circus comes into town.

This year things will be slightly different with rain forecast for the entire weekend.

Although it will be warm, with a high humidity, rain is expected to fall for the entire day on Friday. Both practice sessions have rain forecast which could mean very limited running from the teams in order to save tyres.

Saturday’s conditions will be very similar Friday. Rain is forecast for the morning’s practice session with some respite for Qualifying. Temperatures will remain in the mid 20’s for the day.

Isolated thundershowers are forecast for Sunday with conditions remaining warm with temperatures in the low 20s.

Despite the rainy weather, Pirelli, together with the full wet and intermediate tyres, are bringing the yellow soft and white medium compound tyre to the Circuit of the Americas.

Because of the wide range of corners at the Circuit of the Americas, Pirelli feels that the soft and medium compound tyres provide the best possible combination for the circuit. Although with the rain that is forecast throughout the weekend we could see very limited running of the dry compounds until race day.

We have a live forecast that will provide you with information about the current conditions in Austin, Texas

October 21, 2015

Broadcast Times for the 2015 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix

Round 16 of the Formula 1 World Championship takes place across the Atlantic in the great state of Texas, USA at the Circuit of Americas in Austin.

This purpose built, 5.515km, counter clockwise circuit features some of the most thrilling corners on the F1 Calendar. The track is situated on the outskirts of the city of Austin, Texas. The circuit has a very good mix of fast, medium and slow speed corners that challenge the driver throughout the lap.

Turn 1 is a left handed hair pin that features a 41m elevation change. The braking zone is uphill which tempts the drivers to go as late as possible on the brakes. If they get it right they’re perfectly setup for the series of esses that follow all the way to Turn 9. Time can be gained or lost very early on in the lap so its very important to get the braking into T1 right.

Turns 17 and 18 are taken as one long, triple apex right handed turn. Drivers are at full throttle throughout the corner with the exit being slightly off camber which makes it a bit tricky.

Car setup tends to focus on mechanical front end grip with medium down force for the high speed sections.

Mercdes’s Lewis Hamilton is on the edge of clinching his 3rd world championship title at the Circuit of the Americas. Hamilton is currently sitting on 302 points in the championship with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel 66 points behind in 2nd place with 326 points with Hamilton’s team mate Nico Rosberg 3rs on 229 points, 73 points adrift of the Briton.

To win the championship Hamilton will need to outscore Vettel by 9 points and Rosberg by two points. Simply put. If Hamilton wins, Vettel will have to finish in 2nd to take the championship challenge to the next race. Anything lower than 2nd for Vettel, Hamilton will be crowned World Champion.

To stay in contention, Rosberg needs a DNF from Hamilton. A victory from Hamilton will take Rosberg, mathematically, out of the equation.

With the race in America, TV viewers in Europe and Africa will enjoy a quiet evening of F1.

Broadcast times are GMT+2

Free Practice 1	Friday	17:00 (10:00 Local)
Free Practice 2	Friday	21:00 (14:00 Local)
Free Practice 3	Saturday	17:00 (10:00 Local)
Qualifying	Sunday*	16:00 (09:00 Local)
Race	Sunday	21:00 (14:00 Local)

*Change made to reflect the postponement of Qualifying from Saturday to Sunday morning

October 21, 2015

In Season Engine Development for 2016, Teams and FIA Agree

The FIA and Formula 1 engine manufacturers have agreed to in season engine development for 2016.

The current rules state that the engines need to be homologated before the end of February next year and that no further engine development can take place throughout the season which is basically what happened in 2014.

At a meeting in Geneva by the bosses of Ferrari, Renault, Mercedes and Honda, together with members of the FIA including FIA President Jean Todt an agreement was reached not to tighten the regulation for 2016.

This decision will be welcomed by Renault who have been playing catch-up with their engine development from 2014. Honda will also welcome the decision considering the tough first season they’ve been experiencing so far this season.

The rule to allow only 1st tier engines to customer teams was also dropped and it was agreed that manufacturers will be able to provide 2nd tier engines to customers.

These proposals, however, still need to be agreed upon at the F1 Commission and would require unanimous support, which is expected to happen. It will then be taken to the World Motorsport Council in December and it is expected that it will also pass without any issues.

Red Bull are in curious position with this new proposal. They have been pushing for 1st tier engines from Mercedes and Ferrari this new proposal rules it out for them. Having said that, a 2015 Mercedes engine is still better than anything on the grid at the moment but would they go for it or will the still push for 1st tier engines?

Toro Rosso on the other hand will have to take the 2015 Ferrari engine but should get the 2016 engine further on into the 2016 season ableit a 2nd tier one.

October 16, 2015
New FIA Regulations Say 2016 Customer Engines Must Be Current Year Spec

Newly released regulations by the FIA on Wednesday state that customer teams must be supplied with current year engines from 2016.

Article 23.5 of the new sporting regulations state: “Only power units which are identical to the power unit that has been homologated by the FIA in accordance with Appendix 4 of these regulations may be used at an Event during the 2016- 2020 Championship seasons.”

This simply means that customer teams must be supplied with the same specification engines as the manufacturer team.

The rule is unclear, however, about using different engine mappings to gain an advantage.

This rule change, which was published on 30 September 2015, comes at a time when Red Bull are struggling to find an engine supplier. The Milton Keynes based team were tipped to be supplied by Ferrari with 2015 power units. Red Bull are reportedly unhappy with the condition and are pushing for a current year engine deal.

Ferrari’s excuse is that they simply do not have the time to complete their production run to supply Red Bull with a 2016 engine.

Red Bull, however, may not be out of the woods just yet. Reports suggest that teams may decide to change the rule to allow second tier engines which will be discussed at the F1 Commission meeting in the coming weeks. Article 2.1 of the new sporting regulations makes provision for this.

Article 1.2 of the sporting regulations states: “These sporting regulations were published on 30 September 2015 and may only be changed after this date with the unanimous agreement of all competitors entered in the 2016 Championship, save for changes made by the FIA for safety reasons which may come into effect without notice or delay.”

If the teams all agree on a rule change the decision will have to be ratified at the World Motorsport Council meeting in December.

There are suggestions that Toro Rosso is closing in on a deal to use 2015 Ferrari power units next season. Which ever way the rule change goes, it looks like Toro Rosso will be on the grid in 2015. Red Bull on the other hand will no doubt oppose the rule change and will push for the current year engine spec.

October 14, 2015
Tyre Choices for Rest of the Season Announced by Pirelli

Formula 1 tyre supplier Pirelli have revealed their tyre nominations till the end of the season for the United States, Mexican, Brazilian and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix.

For the upcoming back-to-back races in Texas and Mexico City Pirelli have nominated the white medium and yellow soft compound tyres. This is the same tyre choice they had for Austin in 2014.

For the race in Mexico City, Pirelli say that their simulation data indicated that the medium and soft compound tyre will be the best choice for the new venue.

With the high temperatures expected again in Brazil this year, Pirelli will bring the white medium compound and yellow soft compound tyres to the Jose Carlos Pace circuit. The tyre choice is the same as it was in 2014.

For Abu Dhabi, like last year, we will see the yellow soft, and red super soft compound at the Yas Marina Circuit. This is a circuit that Pirelli and the teams know very well from testing.

October 13, 2015
2015 Russian Grand Prix: Sunday Press Conference

DRIVERS
1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)
3 – Sergio PEREZ (Force India)

PODIUM INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by Eddie Jordan)

Well, I don’t need to remind you, ladies and gentlemen, that today he scored his 42nd win in grand prix racing. And we’ll talk to Sebastian, because they equal each other, 42 apiece. But we’ll come back to that in a second. Lewis, Nico, at the start of the race, we were so keen to see a big dogfight for this race…

Lewis HAMILTON: Me too, me too.

I just wanted to ask you: surely you missed him being there, because we were starved of a really exciting race at the very front? We got a great race at the back, but up at the front we want to see you two guys at it.

LH: Absolutely. I was excited because we were quite close together at the beginning and I was thinking, “OK, we’ve got a race here”. For sure it’s a shame for the team to have lost one of the cars and to not have a race. When I knew Sebastian behind I was thinking to myself “I wish he was right with me so we could be having a race, it would be great for the fans”. Nonetheless, I don’t take what we have for granted. The team have done an amazing job. It’s a special moment for me to surpass Ayrton and carry on to this weekend. I’m very, very proud to be here in Russia, we’ve had a great time, thank you so much everyone. Beautiful, beautiful country. If you’re watching and you’ve never been out here, you should definitely come.

He sounds like an ambassador; I think we’ll have to appoint him. Ladies and gentlemen we’ll be coming back to him in one second. Lewis, well done. Sebastian, it seems like only a couple of weeks ago we were talking to each other. Four podiums in a row; you’re on a bit of a roll.

Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah. I didn’t count but that’s good news. It was a very good race. The car was fantastic and just kept better. At some point I was hoping there was a slight chance to catch Lewis but he had so much pace in hand, I think he wasn’t really pushing at the end. Yeah, great result. Obviously, it would have been nice to have both cars up on the podium, which I think was possible today. It was maybe close, but very happy with how the race went.

Can we go back to Singapore for a second, where you last won. This is more an indication that we’re going to see a big, big fight from Ferrari next year. Is that the way you see it?

SV: I hope so! That’s our target. Obviously we want to be a bit better in the race and make sure we give some really, really good challenge to the Mercedes. Currently they are still a bit ahead, but I think we are doing a very good job. We are focusing on ourselves and gaining step by step, getting a bit closer, so I think we are in a good direction and hopefully next year we can be closer.

Sebastian Vettel, ladies and gentlemen. And hey, what can we do – out of the ashes of Jordan we’ve got Force India and look who we’ve got up here! Checo, what a remarkable race. I thought it was all gone with a lap to go and there you were picking up the pieces and now you’re up here on the podium. I’m absolutely delighted for you, because it’s a long time since Bahrain [2014] when you were last on the podium. How does it feel?

Sergio PEREZ: It just feels great to be back with these boys. I have been enjoying so much my trip with all of them and yeah, as you say, one lap before the end it seemed that everything went away from us. At that point I was just really unhappy with myself, because many things come to your mind. But in the end, until my last lap I was like “OK, I gave it all”. There was no more I could. I had done plenty of laps with my tyres, so I had massive degradation on my front tyres especially, so in the last lap, when it came, it was just amazing. It’s very nice to give this second podium to my team.

We want to talk a little bit about Mexico, because we are going to your home country in a number of weeks. Excitement out there?

SP: Oh yes, massively. It will be a great place. The fans are great here in Russia, so thanks for all of that. But at the same time, Mexico is going to be my most special weekend of all, no matter what result I get, and I am sure the whole paddock of Formula One will be shocked with the support we get there.

Lewis, tell me the problems you had with your tyres trying to keep heat them?

LH: There wasn’t too much of a problem.

We could hear what you were saying, come on!

LH: No, honestly, there wasn’t really a massive problem – the safety car was a little bit slow. I don’t really have too much more to say, just thank you to everyone. I couldn’t have done it without this amazing team, as I always say. As I said on the radio, I’m incredibly proud to be part of this team and coming into those last couple of laps I was just thinking “what a dream this is for me”.

Q: Lewis, a very special day for you on a number of levels. Clearly the start was critical again with Nico. Some close racing. Obviously he dropped out today. It’s only my ‘back of the envelope’ maths – and I’m sure someone else will confirm it – but I believe if you score nine points more than Sebastian in Austin and three more than Nico [nine more than Vettel, two more than Rosberg] you’re the world champion again. But first of all, your thoughts on the start, and racing with Nico and then the wider picture of where this leaves you now.

LH: The start was good. I had a very good start actually and the key was to try to get behind Nico and slipstream him. I decided to go on the outside, he had the inside taken, so I tried to go down the outside but as I pulled out of the slipstream I wasn’t pulling past him particularly quick enough and we got into the braking zone, there was no point in taking any risks and Nico held his ground. After that, looked like we were having a race. I was thinking ‘this is great, we’re going to put on a good show’ but, I don’t know, it looked like he made a mistake into Turn One and went a bit wide and I overtook him. Then, after that it looked… or maybe already before that, he’d already started to have some problems, so was very unfortunate for the team obviously because the team have worked so hard to have both cars finish this weekend, it was a good opportunity for us to get the Constructors’ Championship but we’ll keep pushing. For me, I just… those last five laps, just really taking it in, just looking at the car, just… – obviously driving the laps – really just absorbing… thinking at some stage… I don’t know how many times I’ll be in that position again, so really cherishing the moment and feeling really blessed. I love driving this car and love where we are at the moment. So, truly grateful.

SV: Did you start waving five laps to go?

LH: I didn’t! You used to do that!

SV: No, Mansell was the one who started waving on the last lap – you topped him doing it five laps from the end.

LH: No, I didn’t!

Q: You obviously know the feeling Sebastian, you’ve had it many times at the front. Today was a little bit harder work though, as far as you’re concerned. You seemed to lose a bit of time behind your team-mate early on. Would you have liked your team to get him to let you through? And then a little later on you were pretty close, it’s fair to say – when you watch the replays on your video I think you’ll be surprised just how close it was with Kimi – some thoughts on that please.

SV: I think we both enjoyed… obviously I came out in front so enjoyed a little bit more than him but I think it would have been the wrong thing to do, to do on the radio and just take away the fight and the excitement from us. So, obviously, was already close at the first part in the opening laps. I tried it around the outside and it didn’t work into Turn One. Then I tried to pace myself a bit, then we had another Safety Car and then I knew the restart could be a good option and this time I tried it around the inside but it was very, very close. I’m looking forward to seeing the footage but it felt very, very close. Yeah, he was fair, just giving me enough room to survive, so it was a good battle. After that, yeah, it was obviously crucial, chasing down the Williams was the main priority with Valtteri out in front. We could do so, then even stay out a little bit longer than him. He was a bit in traffic, we still had some juice in the tyres left so that was crucial for us – I didn’t know how crucial it was after the stop to overtake Sergio. I thought that, yeah, we’ll quickly do through him but at that time I didn’t see how important it was. So maybe I surprised him a bit going into Turn 13. It’s quite tricky around the outside but I managed to pass him – which turned out to be very important as other people got stuck. So, very happy, did the moves when it mattered and yeah, had a great race. The car was fantastic to drive. Just got better at the end so really happy. Still a bit behind the Mercedes but I think it was closer today than it was yesterday so I’m very happy.

Q: Sergio, welcome back, obviously you made that critical pit stop in the second safety car, it was right in that lovely window that I’m sure you were hoping for. You were very decisive in making that move but of course you had to do forty laps on a set of soft tyres. Of course you’ve been here before, you’ve done this before and it’s led to podiums before but is this one of the best days of your career given that we’re going to your home Grand Prix in just a few weeks time?

SP: Definitely I’m going through a great moment in my career. From where we are it’s difficult to realise but people who look at my performance, they can see that I’m at my best moment in my career and that’s something that makes me confident. I was confident going into the race, obviously not expecting a podium at all, but the race started quite well. Obviously Nico went out quite early, safety car came out. Then we had a second safety car and we decided to box. We were one of the few cars to box and I thought well… The restart going behind Felipe and Nasr, I was just stuck there and couldn’t get them so I decided to save my tyres together with the team, to look after them at the end of the race and it worked really well and I think we lost a podium one lap before the end but it was just very difficult to hold them back, to hold Valtteri and Raikkonen back. At the stage that my tyres were, I couldn’t brake very hard, very late because I was at risk of flat-spotting my tyres and retiring from the race, so there was a certain level of risk that I was able to take and I thought OK, if it’s not a podium, let’s really come back with the points and then in the last lap they had contact and it was very good to come back and give a second podium to the team, which I think we’re going into a great momentum. It’s great news that I’m staying with the team so we have a lot of momentum going through us and hopefully we can maintain it for the end of the year.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, there was a problem with Nico’s car which is the third DNF in four races. Are you worried about this lack of reliability. And you seem to have had a problem with DRS towards the end of the race. Can you explain to us your feeling in the car?

LH: I don’t really know what was wrong with the car. I don’t think it was DRS but there was something happening to the rear end which was the reason that the pace started to decrease. Reliability, of course, is something that we’ve focused on a huge amount over the last year and a half and for whatever reason, the team… we are struggling or having a little bit more problems with it and Nico’s been incredibly unfortunate to suffer the worst. I honestly don’t know what happened to his car so I can’t really comment on it but I know that we’ll be working as hard as we can to rectify it and hope that in these next races we don’t have a problem, but of course it is a concern for us.
SV: I know you’re wait… you just told me that you’re waiting for the girls to come over to you in the Radisson Hotel, room number 708 but I think they’ve been standing all day so I think they can sit down. Feel free to sit down.
LH: What are you talking about?
SV: Sit down. How do you say sit down in Russian?

Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Lewis, are you coming to the next races with the spirit that we see you have today or the spirit we saw you with on Thursday when you arrived here?

LH: I can’t hear a single word you’re saying right now. There’s this super super distraction in here. What did you say?

Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) I’m sorry to disturb you with my question but I’m saying are you coming to the next event with the spirit that we are seeing you with now or the tension that we saw in you in the last few days here? And Sebastian, we saw Kimi saying that he would work for you concerning the championship. It’s not what we saw today.

LH: I think I’ve had this spirit really for most of the year. I think so. I’ve been incredibly grateful to be where I am. I think today’s just a happy moment for me. Yesterday, of course, when you qualify second and your target is to excel and over-deliver and when you under-deliver, of course it’s not a happy moment, but today I came here with a positive attitude which I have at every race and I think even in the last race – not all the races, I’ve been incredibly grateful for the car holding together. In the last few laps I was just rubbing the cockpit. You know what it’s like, you know, and you’re like please just hold it together…
SV: I wasn’t rubbing anything in the last couple of laps.
LH: OK, well, I don’t know where his head is going but yes, as I said I’m just grateful and I plan to hopefully come with the same energy to the next race.
SV: Well, I don’t think on lap ten you think about those things. I think we’re free to race. I think the spirit you have as a racing driver so I know that… There was nobody out front. Lewis, for example has an issue and Nico – it’s a different story but Lewis at that point was controlling the race already, showing that he’s very quick so I don’t think it makes much sense at that point to swap much and talk about these things. As I said, it was lap ten so it was very early – or somewhere around lap ten, 15 in the race or very early.

Q: (Angelique Belokopytov – AutoDigest) Checo, just a remark for Sebastian: sit down in Russian is sadites, so you can train for the next time. So Checo, generally people are saying about Finns that they are cold; today we see that fight warm so what do you think that if there was a Mexican on the grid today, how would be your fight with him, warmer? I am expecting a good answer from you despite the beautiful view you had in front.

SP: I think first of all we’re very lucky to be here with such beautiful girls.

LH: Best press conference ever.

SP: The least boring one, at least. Just thank you and enjoy it. Matteo, just enjoy it. Thanks, it has been a great weekend and obviously the fans here are great. I think what you hear that Russians are very cold, we haven’t experienced that.

Q: That’s not what the lady was asking. What she was saying is that the two Finns…

SP: I’m not focussed, sorry.

Q: … the two Finns had a very hot battle, they took each other out, basically, as you saw. If you had another Mexican on the grid with you…

SP: I’m sure you didn’t understand the question as well.

Q: If you had another Mexican, would it be even more spicy than the battle between Raikkonen and Bottas was?
SP: It’s the last lap, you’re fighting for a podium, doesn’t matter if it’s Mexican or Finnish, whatever, you’re fighting for the podium and you’re giving it all, you know? So yeah, it didn’t work out really well for them but for me it worked well.

October 11, 2015
F1 2015: Russian GP Review – Russia Redeemed

It isn’t often in Formula 1 that you get what you ask for. Ahead of the second ever Russian grand prix the request was for a race with a bit more zest and the Sochi Autodrom delivered.

Where it concerned the winner of the race it wasn’t high on the entertainment stakes. Lewis Hamilton ambled to career victory number 42 in his Mercedes without so much as a whiff of a challenge.

It appeared at the start of the race as if the double world champ would have some work to do as Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg maintained his pole position off the starting line. But it wasn’t to be for Rosberg as he was forced into retirement with a broken throttle pedal. It the lead up to the race the call for Rosberg to step up and take the fight to Hamilton and he responded with an authoritative qualifying performance.

Alas, now and then the unpredictability of F1 rears its head and inserts a searing reminder of how cruel the sport can be. If Rosberg’s admittedly fragile championship dream was hanging by a thread before it has now been completely obliterated. The German driver trails Hamilton by 73 points with a maximum of 100 still available.

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel was never within striking distance of Hamilton but showed a solid enough turn of pace for a comfortable second place. The four-time champion pulled off two crucial moves on Raikkonen and Perez for his second place finish.

The race had two safety car deployments the first of which came on lap one for a collision between the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg and the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson. The safety car was deployed a second time as Romain Grosjean crashed his Lotus heavily into the barrier on the outside of turn three.

While Grosjean’s race was over it prompted a roll of the strategy dice for Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Force India’s Sergio Perez. The two drivers would attempt a run to the flag, some 40 laps away, on one set of the yellow-walled soft compound tyre. For Ricciardo it came to naught as he had to retire his Red Bull with a suspected suspension issue.

However, Perez was clinging onto third for dear life. But as Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, with fresher tyres, closed him down at a rate of knots it appeared that the Mexican would be consigned to the very least a fifth place finish. Unexpectedly, Raikkonen’s attempt to overtake countryman Bottas proved a bit too feisty and the two collided into turn 4. The clash put Bottas out of the race and left Raikkonen with a damaged car. Ever the opportunist, Perez swept past to take a deserved third place finish.

Willliams’ Felipe Massa recovered from fifteenth on the grid to finish fourth; Raikkonen crossed the line in fifth but was later slapped with a 30 second penalty for the Bottas collision which drops him down to eighth. Local hero Daniil Kvyat finished fifth in his Red Bull ahead of Sauber’s Felipe Nasr, Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado, McLaren’s Jenson Button and Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen, in tenth. The sister McLaren of Fernando Alonso would’ve finished in tenth but the Spaniard was given a five second penalty for not respecting track limits.

Subsequently, Raikkonen’s thirty second penalty has resulted in Mercedes being crowned the 2015 constructors champions. In F1 you’re only as good as your last race and while the 2014 Russian grand prix was a straight up bore fest it’s 2015 edition delivered a race sizzling enough so that we can declare Russia redeemed.

(Podium image courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport).

October 11, 2015
F1 2015: Pirelli To Stay In F1

It has been confirmed that Pirelli will remain as the official tyre supplier to Formula 1 until the end of the 2019 season.

Pirelli returned to Formula 1 at the start of the 2011 season and during their tenure in Formula 1 has endured several controversial periods. The Italian manufacturer was facing competition from French company Michelin but has reportedly signed a deal with F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone.

Pirelli’s current contract would have run out at the end of the season. As the sport looks towards yet another re-invention in 2017 it will be interesting to see what Pirelli can bring to the table to increase the spectacle.

October 11, 2015
2015 Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix: Saturday Press Conference

DRIVERS
1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Willams)

TV UNILATERAL

Nico, you were fastest in Q1 and Q3, fastest after the first run in Q3, on pole by a decent margin. Are you pleased with that?

Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, for sure, I’m very happy. It’s been a difficult weekend actually, because of the little running that we got; we didn’t get much practice. Qualifying worked out really well; found a good balance on my car, thanks to my engineers as well. We had to guess a bit where is it going to be and it all worked out well. I felt comfortable, so got some really good laps in and I’m very happy with that.

Very well done. Lewis, obviously you were trailing your team-mate after the first part of Q3 and then you didn’t go for the extra lap at the end. Why not? And I saw you looking around the Ferrari afterwards, did you learn anything from it?

Lewis HAMILTON: No. I did go for my second lap; I just didn’t finish it. I made a mistake at Turn 13 I think it is. Yeah, a difficult weekend I think for everyone. Nico did a great job on his lap. I wasn’t quite perfectly happy with the balance that I had. But overall really happy. I think it’s great for the team and yeah, as you say last year this is not such a bad race for P2.

OK, thank you for that. Valtteri, you matched your result of last year, do you feel you have the measure of Ferrari this weekend?

Valtteri BOTTAS: Well, it seems like it, at least today. We were quite competitive. It’s good to be third; it’s a good place to start here. Obviously it has been a tricky weekend for everyone but I really think we managed to use Practice 3, well, part of it, what we had, pretty well. I managed to get some good laps in qualifying, consistently, and I pleased with the laps and what we did as a team.

Well done. Coming back to you Nico, obviously you’re going for the Constructors’ Championship tomorrow, trying to clinch it here for the second year in a row, but have you personally got a plan for worked out for Turn One. Lewis referenced it I his answer, after what happened here last year.

NR: No, not yet. I haven’t thought about that yet. At the moment just enjoying being on pole and I’ll dig into that this evening or tomorrow morning to work out a plan for that. Of course the Constructors’ Championship is a really important target for us this weekend – it would be amazing to clinch it for the second time so early on in the season – so we’re out to do that, but at the same time, of course, I’m out here to try to reduce the gap to Lewis in terms of points.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Nico, you mentioned in your first answer about the lack of running this weekend, the really unusual situation. We had it in Japan but even worse here because of the curtailed Free Practice 3 after Carlos Sainz’s accident. So what have you been able to find out in terms of long runs with this much softer tyres than last year here in Russia and how much guesswork is going to be involved in strategy and race performance tomorrow?

NR: Well, we tried to prepare as best we could. So this morning we did do some high fuel running, everybody did. So we do have an idea of how it’s going to be tomorrow, so it’s not completely just guessing. No, we’re quite comfortable that we know what to expect and strategy-wise we think we have got a good strategy, so it should be fine.

Lewis, I wonder if you could give us your view on what happened this morning – the accident of Sainz and going under the barriers? Your thoughts on that speaking on behalf of the drivers?

LH: To be honest I don’t know anything about it, so I couldn’t really comment. I’m just glad he’s OK.

Q: OK, well I’ll throw a question maybe you can answer. You obviously mentioned the fact you are quite happy to start in second place, based on what happened here last year. So, obviously today didn’t work out for you in the single laps but fro the little that you’ve been able to learn from the high-fuel running, do you think you’ll be able to challenge for the win tomorrow.

LH: I wasn’t saying I was happy, I mean I have no choice of being second right now, obviously Nico did a better job in qualifying but I feel there’s still all to play for, as you’ve seen in many other races where I’ve started second. I think it’s exciting. It makes the race ever more exciting and, as I’ve said, Turn One, it’s a long, long way down to Turn One. Probably one of the longest ones of the whole year so it should create opportunities. But there are other opportunities throughout the race as well.

Q: Coming to you Valtteri, obviously both these gentlemen managed to get through Q1 without using a set of Supersoft tyres, just showing the performance that they have. A lot of your competitors struggled, it seemed, to get temperature into the tyres today as the temperatures actually came down during the course of the qualifying session. Is that something you struggled with – and can you articulate what it was like to use these tyres here today?

VB: Yeah. We already saw last year it’s quite tricky to get tyres to work in the first timed lap, and that’s why you could saw many people doing many laps and longer running in qualifying than normal. What we did in the practice and in Q1 also, we just tried to learn more about the tyres so we’re sure we’re making the right decision what we’re going to do in Q3 in terms of tyre temperatures, pressures and how many laps we do. So I think everyone struggled with it today – but we got it right. We got the max out of the car and the tyres.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi, La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question for all of you about the accident of this morning, car that went through the barrier. Would like to know if you’re worried about it: the dynamic of the accident. The car was inside of the barrier.

We’ve already asked Lewis that question so we’ll start with Nico.

NR: I haven’t seen it so difficult to comment. Of course we always need to push to improve things. Apparently it’s not good, not ideal, so let’s see if we can make progress on that.

Valterri?

VB: I haven’t seen it either, so can’t really say that much. Like Nico, we always need to keep pushing on the safety.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globoesporte.com) Nico, in the last race you were very conservative at the start and maybe that was one of the reasons you lost the victory. How do you plan your start tomorrow?

NR: On the one side I don’t agree with your opinion – but that’s OK. On the second, just work on it tonight and tomorrow. Work on the start, get everything right there, look at last year’s start, learn from that. That’s it.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) To both of the Mercedes drivers: you were very aggressive – Hamilton was very aggressive – here last year and you were very aggressive also in Japan. I would like to continue on this matter, to know that if, as you have this goal tomorrow [the Constructors’ Championship] does it change you approach for the first corner?

LH: You said I was aggressive here last year? Here? I don’t remember being aggressive. But whatever I did last year it worked so I plan to stay the same really.

Q: I think the point of the question is that you have had a few starts where you have been quite close, not least the last one in Japan and as you’ve got the Constructors’ possibly tomorrow, is it going to change your thinking going into the first corner. For both of you.
NR: No. Nothing changes anything. It’s one way and that’s it.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globoesporte.com) In Q1, only Lewis and Nico were on soft tyres, all the others were on supersoft tyres. Is this some kind of reference that we can expect in the race?

NR: Looks like we were especially quick on the soft which is always a good thing of course in the race, because everybody has to use them once so that can only help us.

Q: You’re expecting this to be a one-stop race tomorrow then?

NR: I don’t know about the strategy yet. That’s look into that this evening.
LH: Yeah, very strange coming into the weekend – people were making assumptions that we would have a repeat of Singapore. Obviously I had no idea what it’s going to be like and to think that now we have it the other way round it’s very, very strange. I don’t have answer for it but the car felt good otherwise on the tyres today. I don’t know how it will be for the race. I think from our short long run, the seven laps that we might have got, we have to take information from that, but it didn’t feel bad.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri you were a very consistent third in every session; was this your strongest qualifying hour of the season?

VB: Well, I think compared to the number of laps I’ve got and everyone has yesterday and today it was not bad from my side. I felt very good. I could have been feeling very good in the car all weekend and managed to do multiple laps in a very consistent way without any mistakes. Yeah, I can be happy for the session but it’s difficult to say if it’s the best or one of the best.

October 10, 2015