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Roman de Beer strong in the midfield at the Hockenheimring

Article by Reynard Gelderblom

South African single seater sensation Roman de Beer competed in the fourth round of the 2014 GP3 Series at the Hockenheimring in Germany over the weekend of 18-20 July, 2014. The fourth round took place as a support category to the 2014 Santander German Formula 1 Grand Prix and consisted of two races – the first on Saturday afternoon and the second on Sunday morning.

Nineteen-year old Roman De Beer, driving for Trident, impressed during practice by setting the ninth fastest time – beating both his team mates Mitchell Gilbert and Victor Carbone in the process. In qualifying De Beer built on his earlier pace by qualifying twelfth – 0.691 seconds off the pace of pole sitter Marvin Kirchhofer (ART Grand Prix). Gilbert qualified sixth and Carbone twenty-sixth.

The races saw De Beer having to make the best of the available grip and his fast-degrading Pirelli tyres. In the sprint race both De Beer and Gilbert lost out as a result of this with De Beer finishing twenty-first and Gilbert fourteenth, with Carbone finishing twenty-third. De Beer finished the race 41.959 seconds behind the winner Kirchhofer.

The feature race saw De Beer cross the line in seventeenth position – 29.522 seconds behind race-winner Jann Mardenborough (Arden International). On route to finishing the 18-lap race, De Beer also held off Santiago Urrutia (Koiranen GP) and also finished the race as the highest placed Trident entry with Carbone finishing twentieth and Gilbert retiring after 12 laps.

After the fourth round, Roman De Beer is ranked fourteenth in the championship with 8 points behind his name – his highest finish this season being a fourth place at the Red Bull ring in Austria during the sprint race.

The fifth round of the GP3 series will take place at Hungaroring in Budapest on the weekend of 25-27 July, 2014 – in support of the Pirelli Hungarian Formula 1 Grand Prix.

The GP3 Series was initiated as a feeder category for the GP2 Series, although former competitors such as Jean-Eric Vergne, Valtteri Bottas and Daniil Kvyat have made a transition straight to F1 from GP3 in recent years.

Photo credits: GP3 Series

July 25, 2014
Weather Forecast for the Formula 1 Pirelli Magyar Nagydij 2014 (Hungarian Grand Prix)

The 11th round of the Formula 1 World Championship takes us to the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary.

The race is usually associated with scorching hot temperatures and where the cooling of the car becomes very important. This coming race weekend for the Hungarian Grand Prix is no different. Temperatures are going to be high, but there may be a few spots of rain for the race. We all know how notoriously unreliable these track forecasts are. But it does bring about the excitement before the race and it keeps teams on their toes.

The track is very twisty and slow. There are some medium to high speed corners, but due to the predominantly slow nature of the circuit, there are not many overtaking opportunities. With that being said, its not impossible to overtake while racing.

Cars will have the maximum downforce setting and will need lots of grip from the tyres out of the slow corners and during the medium speed corners. Pirelli, have brought the yellow soft compound and the white medium compound for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The soft tyre will be the prefered tyre for the hot conditions as the high working range of the tyre can cope with the high temperatures.

For Friday’s practice sessions the weather will be hot with just a few clouds around. The temperature for Friday is forecast at 30 degrees celsius. Saturday’s weather will be similar to Friday but with a forecast temperature of 31 degrees celsius. Sunday, however, there are a few spots of rain forecast for the morning and afternoon. The temperature for the day will still be quite warm with 28 degrees celsius forecast.

July 24, 2014
Broadcast Times for the Formula 1 Pirelli Magyar Nagydij 2014 (Hungarian Grand Prix)

The grand prix before Formula 1 takes a break always draws plenty of excitement. The Hungarian Grand Prix always manages to throw in a twist in the tail for the Formula 1 season. It’s not the most exciting of races as the nature of the track makes overtaking quite a challenge. Most of the overtakes are done during the pit stops and if a driver happens to get stuck in traffic, it ends up ruining a good finishing position.

The Hungaroring circuit has many medium speed corners with a few very slow corners thrown in for good measure. There are a few overtaking spots that can make things exciting. The run to turn 1 will be the most popular. But the other opportunities are T2, T3, and if your brave enough T4. There may also be a chance into T12.

Mercedes are going into the race as favorites. The track should suit the Silver Arrows in a high downforce setup. Nico Rosberg will want to extend his championship lead and will try to make it two victories in a row. Lewis Hamilton on the other hand, feels that he has only one objective for this race, and that is to beat his team mate.

The Williams drivers will want to put in a strong performance and are hoping that they can claim a victory. Felipe Massa, after crashing out at the German Grand Prix, will be looking to finish on the podium after watching the previous two races from the pits. After seeing just how strong the Williams cars are in race trim, he will no doubt want to show what he can do. Valtteri Bottas on the other hand wants the victory. He was happy about beating a Mercedes at Hockenheim and he will want to finish ahead of the pack.

Red Bull and Ferrari seem to be there about, with Red Bull pulling ahead of the Maranello based team. Ferrari did say that the Hungary circuit will suit the F14T. Only time will tell if they got that one right. Red Bull have shown that they have a very good car which was only hamstrung by the fact that its very slow on the straights. The tight and twisty nature of the Hungaroring circuit will play into the hands of the RB10.

It’s going to be exciting who will get the victory and the much needed boost before the summer break.

Below are the broadcast times for the 2014 Formula 1 Pirelli Hungarian Grand Prix

Free Practice 1: Friday 10:00

Free Practice 2: Friday 14:00

Free Practice 3: Saturday 11:00

Qualifying: 14:00

Race: Sunday 14:00

All times are GMT+2.

You can catch our live updates during FP3, Qualifying and the Race with updates throughout FP1 and FP2.

July 24, 2014
Mexican Grand Prix Returns to the Formula 1 Calendar in 2015

After nearly 23 years, the Mexican Grand Prix will return to the Formula 1 Calendar in 2015.

The 4.4km Mexico City Circuit will play host to the Mexican Grand Prix. Work is still being done at the circuit but organisers say it will be ready for 2015. The race will take place in October or November, either before or after the American Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.

Speaking at a press conference, F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone was delighted at the fact that Formula 1 was returning to Mexico.

“I feel it is the right for F1 for and Mexico and I’m sure it will be to the benefit of both for many years,” he said. “I look forward to welcoming you all to this global event next year.”

Tavo Hellmund, the same man that played a key role in bringing F1 to Austin was instrumental in the deal that is bringing F1 to Mexico again.

“Ever since Bernie and I began working on a race at Austin, it’s been a dream of mine to help Formula One return to Mexico,” said Hellmund. “This announcement has therefore been years in the making, but we’ve gradually been able to assemble all the right pieces. I’m absolutely delighted.”

July 23, 2014
Video: Hungary Memories: Schumacher’s famous 3rd Stint in Hungary 1998

The famous third stint of Michael Schumacher in Hungary 1998. Watch the legendary Michael Schumacher drive his fantastic 3rd stint at the Hungarian Grand Prix in 1998 to win the race after switching to a three-stop strategy masterminded by Ross Brawn. (German Commentary)

July 23, 2014
F1 2014: Hungarian GP Preview – Tricky Hungarian Test Awaits

Less than seven days later the Formula 1 paddock descends on the city of Budapest for the Hungarian GP. Technical in nature the 4.381 km circuit will require high downforce, efficient cooling and most importantly a good qualifying performance.

The Hungaroring is often referred to as Monaco without the barriers because of its tricky layout which for the most part has only one racing line. Consequently, there won’t be much opportunity for overtaking nor will all mistakes go unpunished. The Hungaroring retains some of the old-school Formula 1 characteristics which means that gravel traps and barriers loom in close proximity. Contrastingly, there are several tarmac run-off areas which offer some reprieve for error-stricken drivers.

Given the lack of proper overtaking opportunities strategy will be particularly important. The extremely high track temperatures seen at Hockenheim has given the teams vital information as to how to Pirelli rubber will react when exposed to similar conditions in Hungary. The tyres we are bringing to Hungary are a step harder, to deal with the increased demands, so we would expect the usual two pit stops,” predicted Pirelli’s Paul Hembery.

The circuit’s layout is dominated by medium to high-speed corners with little time spent at full throttle. However, the average speed of the lap remains fairly high. “The Hungaroring is a great track,” says McLaren’s Jenson Button. “Everybody thinks of it as a slow circuit, but, out the back, it’s got some pretty decent corners – Turn Four requires some serious commitment, and it’s made harder because it has a blind apex. Equally, the sequence of S-bends that make up Turns Eight to 11 are really satisfying to drive.”

Lewis Hamilton has been dogged by issues in qualifying for the last several races as he trails fourteen points behind teammate and championship leader Nico Rosberg. However, Hamilton is prepared to come out fighting once more and resolutely said that enjoys having to fight for victories and the title.

The 2008 champion may have more to fight against this weekend than just his teammate. The Williams team has been on the cusp several times of mounting a serious battle for victory and if they can continue their stunning momentum Hungary may be their best chance yet.

Williams’ chance to win the Hungarian GP will come on Saturday. The Hungaroring, much like Monte Carlo, is notoriously difficult to overtake on. Despite the fact that race pace is always priority for Bottas, Massa and their engineers they may devote a bit more time and effort than usual to enhancing their one lap pace. But locking out the front row or securing pole position won’t be all that is required. The team will have to take an aggressive approach on strategy as they still lack on overall race pace when compared to the Silver Arrows.

By this stage of the season the duel between the Mercedes drivers is as intense as at any other point.

However, their attention may be required elsewhere this weekend. Can Williams steal the all mighty Mercedes’ thunder?

July 23, 2014
F1 2014: German GP – Relentless Rosberg Scores Home Victory

Life happens to be pretty good if you’re name is Nico Rosberg. Not only has he extended his Mercedes contract but he’s gotten married in-between races, secured a comfortable pole position on Saturday and wrapped up a dominant home grand prix victory to boot.

The battle for supremacy between the Mercedes teammates was dealt a severe blow as Hamilton was exiled to 20^th place on the grid following a brake disc failure in qualifying and a subsequent gearbox change.

Nico Rosberg was completely in control of the 67 lap German GP as he led fellow front-row starter, Valtteri Bottas, to the chequered flag for his first victory on home soil. The Finn delivered yet another stunning drive to hold off a recovering Lewis Hamilton for his third consecutive podium. Even though Williams’ biggest target is to finish ahead of Ferrari in the constructor’s championship their ability to keep one Mercedes at bay is, on merit, is a tremendous result.

McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen’s inexperience was telling as he collided with the Williams of Felipe Massa into turn one. Massa’s car was flipped onto its roll-bar before coming to rest on the tarmac run-off area of turn one. The Brazilian was uninjured but suffered his second retirement in three races.

In fairness, Magnussen should have yielded the corner to Massa as he was out of the Williams driver’s sight. The incident was mopped after a short safety car period and the race re-started with Rosberg in the lead.

Lewis Hamilton unleashed a determined drive from the back of the field but it wasn’t without a few risky moments. There was slight contact with Kimi Raikkonen at the hairpin as he passed both the Ferrari driver and Daniel Ricciardo. Later on a rather dicey attempt at overtaking Jenson Button into the same hairpin resulted in a damaged front-wing endplate. A three-stop strategy meant that Hamilton ran the last two stints of the race on the quicker supersoft tyre. However, despite his clear pace advantage he was unable to overtake Bottas for second place. Hamilton’s rather glum face after the race showed his disappointment with the third step of the podium. Some may take exception to Hamilton’s body language but it tells of a driver for whom winning is the only acceptable result.

A spin by Sauber’s Adrian Sutil on the main straight gave rise to a contentious moment in the race. The stricken Sauber was parked horizontally on the straight which would ordinarily prompt an appearance from the safety car. Surprisingly, the race director chose to forego the safety car and opted for marshals to recover the car under double-waved yellow flags. Any situation in which marshals are required to venture onto the circuit is a safety risk which makes this decision controversial.

Behind the podium finishers the rest of the field put on an exhilarating show of wheel-to-wheel racing at its finest. Sebastian Vettel got the better of Fernando Alonso in a fabulous fight for fourth before Daniel Ricciardo continued a thrilling battle with the Spaniard. Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg finished seventh ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button. Kevin Magnussen recovered to ninth after his collision with Felipe Massa while Sergio Perez rounded out the top ten positions.

While all twenty-two Formula 1 drivers have by and large respected the rules and each other there have been too many instances in the past where the fear of a penalty curbed their eagerness to take the fight to each other. As a result the exhilarating fights throughout the field at Silverstone and in Germany are a direct result of the steward’s announcement that they would take a more lenient stance on dishing out penalties.

Daniil Kvyat’s race came to a fiery end as the rear-end of his Toro Rosso was engulfed by flames. Lotus Romain Grosjean’s difficult season continued as the Frenchman was forced into retirement with a suspected power unit issue.

If Lewis Hamilton was unsure about the prowess of his teammate before it is definitely not in doubt any longer. An unrelenting Nico Rosberg has extended his championship lead to fourteen points and what is particularly threatening is that he appears to have done it with disturbing ease.

July 22, 2014
Video: Felipe Massa rolls in scary Turn 1 crash at Hockenheim

Brazilian Formula One driver, Felipe Massa, crashed and rolled in spectacular fashion just seconds after the start of the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim on Sunday.

Massa’s German GP lasted only a matter of seconds after he was clipped and rolled by Kevin Magnussen at the first corner on the first lap of the race.

F1 Rookie Magnussen had taken the inside line into the corner in an attempt to pass Massa, only to find the Brazilian attempting to sweep through the corner ahead of him. This did not work out for either driver and ended with Massa’s Williams in the gravel and out of the race.

Thankfully, Massa walked away from the incident unharmed but another DNF to his name despite the much-improved performace of his Williams car, will not have him feeling anything but bitterly disaapointed. .

The stewards investigated the incident but ruled that it was a racing incident and no further action was taken against Massa or Magnussen.

July 21, 2014
2014 Formula 1 Santander German Grand Prix: Sunday Press Conference

DRIVERS

1st Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

2nd Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams)

3rd Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

PODIUM INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by Kai Ebel)

Nico, how sweet is the taste of the home victory champagne?

Nico ROSBERG: It’s fantastic. It’s an amazing feeling for me to win here at home. A very, special day for me. Thank you for all your support here this weekend.

Valtteri, three time on the podium now but how hot was the breath of this guy [Hamilton] on your neck?

Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, I feel really happy again being third time in a row on the podium. These guys were too quick today but really happy that we at least managed to keep one of them behind. It was not easy, it required all the info from the engineers, what to do with the engine modes, and from my side pushing hard but I really want to say thanks to all the say thanks to all the fans. I also see many Finnish flags here so, thanks Finland.

Lewis, lots of fans in for you here. King of overtaking, 17 places, fastest lap, damaged front wing, so how much racing fun was that for you as a racer?

Lewis HAMILTON: I had great fun. It was great to see how many fans we had here today, thank you so much for the support. I did as good as I could today. It was very hard to get through the pack safely. I had a little bit of a collision with Jenson. I honestly thought he was opening the door to let me past, he’s been a bit like that in the past race for example, so my bad on judgment there. It’s very hard to overtake at the end, they were so fast on the straights but I’m very happy I got some points today.

Thanks Lewis. Coming back to you Nico. Lots of points for you but not much time to celebrate as the next race is coming up next week already.

NR: Yeah, well definitely we’ll be celebrating a little bit tonight, I hope you [the fans] will as well, it would be great to continue the soccer world championship spirit today a little bit. I look forward to the next race in Hungary. With the car that we have at the moment… I’m very, very thankful to Mercedes for the car that they’ve built us, it’s really a pleasure at the moment. Hungary will be good.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: So Nico, your fourth win this year, I think your first on home soil – and which of the great things that have happened to you this week has given you the best feeling?

NR: That’s getting married. That’s definitely the case. That was the best feeling. But of course everything has been special. Really fortunate, just had a great… many positive things happening in the two weeks, or week and a half. Been really enjoyable, and also this weekend with pole and the win. Just awesome. Very, very special day today.

Q: Valtteri, something of a defensive master class at the end, defending from Lewis in the final laps. Tell us a little bit about what was going through your mind, the way you positioned the car in those final laps, particularly given the state of the tyres after a very long stint.

VB: Yes, big enough the last stint. I was already close with Lewis but he stopped and at that point there was still twenty or so laps to go. I knew it was going to be really close in the end. With a new set of tyres, 20 laps to go, he can make up the pit loss, and he did and he was riding my tail the last few laps. For me it was just really, really important to always get a good exit for the DRS straights, so out of Turn One and out of Turns Two-Three, to get as good an exit as possible and brake always as late as possible for the hairpin at the end. Also from the team, we were communicating and I got all the support from the engineers to get the right engine modes for defending – so thanks for that.

Q: Lewis, from 20^th on the grid to third at the end and so much to deal with, so many changes as well, you were on a change of strategy at the end there where you were going to do two very attacking stints on the super-soft of 13 laps. They obviously changed that after the Sutil spin, brought you in a bit earlier, so you had to do a bit longer final stint. I wonder though how much the damage of the front wing in the Jenson Button incident hurt your chances of doing more than third today.

LH: I couldn’t tell you. The car was a little bit different but nonetheless to still get some points today, I’m grateful and very happy with the car today that Mercedes provided us with and congratulations to Nico. It’s fantastic for him on his home soil and also for Mercedes-Benz. So I’m glad I could add some points today.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Leonid Novozhilov – F1 Life) Valtteri, is second place today the maximum for you, is second place the maximum for your team or can you do more?

VB: We always aim for more but for now we need to be happy with these points. Of course we were unlucky with Felipe again, we didn’t get both cars in a good position but I think today was the maximum result. We did everything perfectly and managed to keep Lewis behind in the end which got us an extra few points but in the future, we are definitely aiming for more and this is not the maximum.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, your target for this year was a podium; now you’ve got a hat-trick of them. How surprised are you with this success, because it’s not so usual for Finnish drivers to get three podiums in a row?

VB: OK…

NR: I got three in a row.

VB: Yeah, of course I feel really lucky also to be part of this. Last year we could not have expected to be three times in a row on the podium but we now… This is the package we have and it’s all down to hard work and we need to always keep aiming for more, like I said before. Of course, it feels really good to be (on the podium) for a third time in a row but I think we’re aiming for more than that now. We know Budapest might be a bit difficult for us but hopefully we get some updates.

Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, do you see the glass of your race more half full or half empty?

LH: Well, I don’t really know how to answer that really. I came from last, so to get on the podium is quite an achievement, so perhaps half full.

Q: (Barna Zsoldos – Nemzeti Sport) Lewis, you’ve got an incredible record in Hungary – seven races, four wins. What is your secret there and what are your feelings in general about next week’s race?

LH: I don’t really have any secrets there, just been very… If I’ve ever had any… Just been fortunate in that race, great support there as usual with the fans and a circuit I really enjoy. It’s a circuit where you can really attack, it works for an attacking driver like myself so perhaps it suits my driving style a little bit more than some others, maybe.

Q: (Udo Doering – Darmstaedter Echo) Nico, are you a little bit surprised to win so clearly and when you saw the car of Sutil standing on the track, did you fear another safety car?

NR: Yeah, definitely I’m a bit surprised because in qualifying the Williams were quite close so didn’t really expect to have such a big advantage in the race. And yes, I definitely got a bit worried when I saw Sutil’s car out there because I was sure there was going to be a safety car and that would have obviously made it a lot more difficult

July 20, 2014
Hamilton Takes 5-Place Grid Drop Ahead of German Grand Prix

The Mercedes Formula 1 Team confirmed early on Sunday morning that they have changed Lewis Hamilton’s gearbox ahead of today’s German Grand Prix

This comes after Hamilton crashed in qualifying at the Sachs hairpin after front brake disk failure on his car. The team was not sure of the extent of the damage to Hamilton’s car and no doubt made the discovery this morning.

The gearbox change will result in Hamilton dropping 5 places on the grid to start in P20. There is still no word from Mercedes as to whether Hamilton will start from the pitlane as they’ve decided to change Hamilton’s brake discs as well. It looks very likely that he will start from the pitlane.

July 20, 2014