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Spanish Grand Prix Preview Quotes: McLaren F1 Team

Here are the Spanish Grand Prix Preview Quotes for the McLaren F1 Team who are hoping for a productive weekend that will allow them to gather a useful data set for the races ahead.

Jenson Button: “The start of the European season in Spain always feels like a fresh start to the year. Suddenly, you’re back in Europe, the motor homes and transporters are all lined up in the paddock, and it feels like a second home for everyone.

“It’s been difficult for the team to make consistent progress through the first four races, but I think returning to a circuit where we undertook two of the pre-season tests will give us a useful benchmark of our progress so far.

“There’s been a lot of talk about the importance of next weekend’s upgrades; but, as with every upgrade, they’re simply part of the series of continuous improvement that are made across the season. As always, there’ll be elements of it that work, elements that perhaps work in a different way to what we’d anticipated, and elements that don’t work, or perhaps require further work. That’s life in modern Formula 1.

“So I’m pragmatic about what we’ll discover next weekend. Of course, I’m hopeful that it’ll move us a step closer towards the destination.”

Sergio Perez: “I’m looking forward to having my first European race for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.

“The Circuit de Catalunya is a place all grand prix drivers know well because we do a lot of miles there in the winter. It’ll be a good place to test the car as it’s a very demanding circuit aerodynamically. We have a lot of historic data from our testing there, and we’ll get a good read on our performance when we start testing next Friday.

“It’s quite a demanding circuit aerodynamically, too, so it should be a very useful weekend for us in terms of understanding the MP4-28 and the direction forwards that we choose to take.

“I hope that the introduction of two DRS zones at Barcelona will help improve the racing. We saw in both China and Bahrain that Formula 1 cars can race really closely if they are under the right conditions; Barcelona has always been a difficult circuit for overtaking, so I hope the new regulations will improve matters. It would be great for the thousands in the grandstands if there were some spectacular overtaking along the main straight.”

Martin Whitmarsh – Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: “The pace of life in Formula 1 never relents, and it’s incredible to think that our return to Europe next week will see a quarter of the 2013 championship already gone.

“As with last year, form at the start of the season is still somewhat volatile and unpredictable; last year’s Spanish Grand Prix saw an unexpected but worthy winner in Pastor Maldonado, and while it would be difficult to see another left-field runner emerging as a contender for victory, the form book is still hard to read.

“We are pushing ahead to develop MP4-28, and will be hoping for a productive weekend that will allow us to gather a useful data set for the races ahead.”

May 4, 2013
Spanish Grand Prix Preview Quotes: Marussia F1 Team

Spanish Grand Prix Preview Quotes from the Marussia F1 Team who are hoping that Barcelona will confirm the positive development direction they have been following.

Jules Bianchi: “Although my first four races have been quite positive – and a nice adventure for me personally – as a driver in my debut season it is good to be heading into the start of the European season. The tracks are very familiar to me from previous formulas and that just provides a further confidence with interpreting the information we collect and how we roll that back into performance. The Team have spent a lot of time analysing our progress so it will be good to verify our findings with the package so far and of course to explore our new developments for Spain. I’m looking forward to getting busy in the car again.”

Max Chilton: “It will be great to get back down to business in Spain, where there will be a lot to focus our attentions on. We’ve learned a lot in the first four races and quite a lot since, with the technical team having been hard at it in the break. What we bring to the Circuit de Catalunya is the product of four races of evaluation coupled with the next step in our ongoing development path, so it will be interesting to see how we can progress from Bahrain. On a personal level this is a track I enjoy and have raced at plenty of times, and that will also be useful as we work through a busy evaluation programme on Friday in particular. I’m looking forward to it.”

John Booth, Team Principal, Marussia F1 Team: “After a good long break since the Bahrain Grand Prix, we head into Europe feeling refreshed and prepared for the start of the next phase of races. It was a whirlwind start to the season for us in some ways and the past few weeks have allowed the drivers in particular to draw a little more breath. Barcelona is always an interesting race as it provides a very good barometer of car performance up and down the grid and also the benefit of the new upgrades most teams will bring to their cars. We are no exception and having tested here over two weeks pre-season, we’ll be taking the opportunity to use that baseline data to further analyse our progress to date, conducting some back to back work with our Bahrain package prior to fielding our new developments for this race. Bahrain has always been a race that we have struggled at so we are hoping that the Circuit de Catalunya will provide further confirmation of the positive development direction we have been following.”

May 4, 2013
F1 Video: 1994 San Marino Grand Prix Full Race

One of the saddest days in Formula One history: The 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. Ayrton Senna’s final race. This is the full race video.

May 3, 2013
Mercedes would offer Robert Kubica an F1 test

Mercedes has said that it would be willing to give Robert Kubica a Formula One test as soon as the Polish driver is ready to make a return to single-seaters.

Until now, the German Formula One team has declined to comment on reports that Kubica has been testing in Mercedes’ sophisticated F1 simulator at Brackley.

But Kubica himself confirmed the reports, prompting chief executive Toto Wolff to admit that the former BMW and Renault driver is currently “helping” the Mercedes Formula One team.

Wolff told the BBC, “If there’s any chance of getting him back in a DTM touring car or F1 cockpit, we’d love to do it.”

“Any team would love to have a Robert Kubica.”

Wolff did however clarify that Kubica’s main focus is still rallying. “He is somebody I have known for 10 years but it’s absolutely his call how he wants to help us and his main focus is rallying,” he said.

In January, Kubica tested a Mercedes DTM car at Valencia’s Circuit Ricardo Tormo in his first taste of a high-performance track car since injuring his right arm in a near-fatal crash during a rally in 2011. He is currently taking part in the European Rally Championship and WRC2, but Kubica himself said that he believed he could still make a return to Formula One as soon as he regains movement in his wrist.

Wolff said that it is up to Kubica to let him know when he would like to test.

“This is where he wants to be successful and what he wants to do in the future.”

Kubica last took part in a Formula One Grand Prix back in 2010 with the Renault team. He has worked very hard on his recovery since then and many an F1 fan has expressed their hopes of seeing him return.

May 3, 2013
Spanish F1 Grand Prix Preview Quotes: Sauber F1 team

Spanish F1 Grand Prix Preview Quotes from the Sauber F1 team.

Nico Hulkenberg: “I’m looking forward to the Spanish Grand Prix because it kicks off this season’s European races. Barcelona is a nice city where you can get a real feel for the Spanish life style. We know the Circuit de Catalunya well, of course, from the winter tests. However, since winter testing many things have changed and also the climate will be different from the one we had in February, which you have to take into consideration. The circuit is diverse. The first two sectors are fast with fast, long corners, which require good down force and a well-balanced car, whereas the third sector is quite technical. The aero updates we bring to this race will show how well our car is suited to this track.”

Esteban Gutierrez: “The first time I raced in Barcelona was in 2008. I know the track and during the winter tests I was also able to experience driving a Formula One car there. As the first of a series of European races, I think it is going to be an exciting event and I’m looking forward to that. The track is quite demanding, especially the last sector. Tyre management will be crucial here, and, especially during a qualifying lap, you need to nurse your tyres in the first two sectors in order to get a clean third sector. You must make sure the tyres still have good grip when you approach the final corners of the lap, including the chicane. We have to wait and see if the updates will help us to catch up with the guys further up the field.”

Tom McCullough, Head of Track Engineering: “Although Barcelona is a track we know well from winter testing, the higher temperatures do change how the tyres perform, so we have to adapt to that. The first two sectors are biased towards higher speed corners, whereas the third sector is dominated by a technical sequence of lower speed corners, hence the set-up is always a compromise. The option tyre will be the medium compound and for the prime Pirelli are re-introducing the 2012 hard compound for this event. We have some further aero updates, including a modified rear wing, and we will be evaluating these during Friday practice. Qualifying is particularly important here as overtaking can be difficult in the race. Our target for the race is to finish with both cars in the points.”

May 3, 2013
Spanish F1 Grand Prix Preview Quotes: Mercedes F1 team

Here are the Spanish F1 Grand Prix Preview quotes from the Mercedes F1 team:

Nico Rosberg: I’m looking forward to traveling to Spain next weekend. We know that the car went very well at the Circuit de Catalunya in pre-season testing so I am hopeful that we can have a strong weekend. We will have to wait and see how our pace compares however. I’ve been in the factory for a couple of days this week, on the simulator and meeting with the team, and everyone has been working hard to make progress on our race day performance. It will be an interesting weekend and once we see how everyone performs in Barcelona, it should give a good idea of how the rest of the season will look.

Lewis Hamilton: It feels like a long time since Bahrain so we’re all looking forward to getting to Barcelona next weekend and starting to get into the routine of the European season. The short break has been good however, and I’ve had the chance to catch up with family and friends, and also spend some time at the factory with the guys, working on our efforts to improve. We’ve been boosted by the results that we’ve had at the start of the season and to come away from the first four races with two third and two fifth places feels like a real achievement. I’m feeling very comfortable in the car now and we know the areas that we need to improve so a lot of effort is being put in to close that gap to the front-runners. Barcelona should be a good test as we know the circuit so well having completed most of the pre-season test programme there. The weekend should be a good benchmark of the progress we have made since then.

Ross Brawn: In the two weeks since we returned from Bahrain, there has been a lot of hard work taking place in Brackley and Brixworth to prepare for the start of the European season in Barcelona next weekend. We have focused our efforts in two key areas; finalising our upgrade package for Spain and understanding our comparative lack of race pace in Bahrain. We have made progress in the latter area and will evaluate some developments over the upcoming race weekends to help improve the situation. We’re not there yet but we are making progress and of course, performing in the race is what really counts. The Circuit de Catalunya is a circuit that we know well and we have a lot of data from the two pre-season tests to help prepare for the weekend. However in the late spring conditions, we can expect the track to be of a very different nature to what we experienced earlier this year. Overtaking is more difficult there than at some of the early season tracks and, of course, every team will be bringing new developments so the weekend should provide an interesting challenge.

Toto Wolff: The three-week break between the Bahrain and Spanish Grands Prix was welcome, as it gave us extra time to analyse in detail what happened at the last race. We have built a good picture of our varying levels of race performance and why we under-performed overall in Bahrain. In Barcelona, we will test some solutions aimed at improving our tyre management in addition to our planned upgrade package. The circuit itself is well known as a benchmark for aerodynamic performance and we performed strongly there at the end of winter testing. The track conditions and temperatures will be very different on the race weekend, though, so we must dial the car in to those circumstances. Our target is to improve our Sunday afternoon performance to match what we have delivered on Saturday in the past two races. It will certainly be interesting to see what gains everybody has made since the last time we were at the circuit and how the planned upgrade packages work from car to car.

May 3, 2013
F1 Video: Lewis Hamilton shows off his champagne spraying skills on the Graham Norton Show

Graham Norton gets Lewis Hamilton to demonstrate his champagne spraying skills on the Graham Norton Show.

May 3, 2013
F1 Video: The ideal racing line with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg

Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton know the Barcelona track well … but can they agree on the best racing line for turns 4 and 5? Watch the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS F1 Team drivers discuss strategy in their own unique way over lunch at the track. Get street smart with Nico and Lewis in this F1 video!

May 3, 2013
F1 Pit Stop Feature by Williams F1 Team – Part 2 – Wheel Gun

Joseph Haugh, member of the Williams F1 Team pit crew, talking about the role of a wheel gun man in an F1 pit stop. Practising 60 pit stops every race weekend, there’s no time for nerves and no time for errors …

May 2, 2013
McLaren Formula One team Q&A with Sergio Perez

Sergio Perez talks to the McLaren Formula One team about his excitement about the start of the European phase of the F1 season; what he’s getting up to at the moment; what it’s like racing for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes; and why he’s named Checo.

Q. After your strong performance in Bahrain, What are you up to now?

Checo: After the first four flyaways, there’s a bit of a natural break – like it’s time for everyone to reset and start a new season in Europe. It always feels exciting returning to Europe – almost like the start of the season again! – but it’s also good that there’s a three-week break between Bahrain and Barcelona. That’s a good time to relax because there’s been a lot of travel for the last 10 weeks. We spend huge amounts of time in airports, so it is nice to finally get some time to myself – I’ll be training throughout the whole time, but I’ll also be seeing friends and family. Hopefully, I can get to watch some football, too!

I’ll also be back to the MTC to prepare for the Spanish Grand Prix. We’ve got some routine engineering meetings before the race, and it’ll be good to catch up with the team before we go racing again.

Q. Are you looking forward to the European phase of the season?

Checo: Absolutely! It’s something I’m looking forward to because Europe is really the home of Formula 1 – the circuits have a lot of history. Tracks like Monaco, Silverstone, Spa and Monza have been on the calendar since Formula 1 started in 1950 – I think it’s great that we still have those circuits that represent the sport and all its history. We can never lose them.

Q. Are you enjoying racing for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes?

Checo: It has been great getting to know the whole team – the experience has been all I thought it would be, and more. Everyone has treated me so well and I feel like I have settled in great. After a tough start to the season, we are all united to get this team back where it belongs at the front of the grid. Hopefully, we have turned the corner now.

The MTC is such an amazing place to work. Every time I go in, I’m impressed by what I see – walking along the boulevard, I see all the great cars from history, and it reminds me what it means to be a McLaren driver: to follow in the footsteps of greats like Emerson, Ayrton and Alain Prost. It is an honour.

I would just like to take this opportunity to thank all of the team’s loyal fans who give us such great support at all of the races. It really motivates me to do my very best every time I step into the car.

Q. And finally…. why the nickname ‘Checo’?

Checo: It’s not really that complicated or interesting. In Mexico, where I come from, all Sergios are automatically given the nickname ‘Checo’. Sorry, there’s no story behind it!

May 2, 2013