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  • 2017 Italian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference – Part 2

    2017 Italian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference – Part 2

    PART TWO: DRIVERS – Romain GROSJEAN (Haas), Nico HULKENBERG (Renault), Carlos SAINZ (Scuderia Toro Rosso)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Romain, strong run in Spa, seventh place finish means that Haas have actually now gone past their 2016 points total with another eight races to go, so does that feel like progress or is it just a case of having two drivers that are scoring points?

    Romain GROSJEAN: I think it’s progress. Last year we scored most of our points in the first two races and then we struggled a little bit to get them but this year we’ve been a bit more consistent. We still need to improve that aspect, clearly, because there are a few races where we were fighting at the front like Austria or Belgium but some other races like Budapest where we were really struggling. It’s all part of the learning curve, we have only a year and a half experience but I think we are much stronger in year two than we were in year one.

    Q: Can you clear up for us what’s being going on with the brakes in particular because it seems to have been a bit of a running narrative with your car; either it flies like in Spa or you’re on the radio saying these brakes are doing my head in. Can you explain what the problem is, why it’s taking a while to get on top of it?

    RG: I think the problem is the media. I haven’t complained – yeah, in Spa we had one set where one brake – the front left – we had an issue with that brake and we only had two sets and one wasn’t working so we tried to make it work, couldn’t better. Since… actually after Baku or Canada we’ve had the parts that we want to run and we’ve been swapping with CI and Brembo, depending on the track layout and it’s been fine.

    Q: So what was it, what was the issue?

    RG: Inconsistency, some of it was the running temperature that was… it was the way we were operating the brakes, some of the materials of the brake being inconsistent but in between those two factors we’ve struggled a little bit to find the right balance. It’s better, I would say we’ve reached 100 percent but to be fair, we haven’t complained much about it recently.

    Q: Nico, you’ve had more top six finishes than Renault managed in the previous three years combined and you’ve started seventh or better on the grid four times this year and that made Cyril Abiteboul – in our press conference in Belgium – say that he believes now you clearly have the fourth fastest car in Formula One. What will it take to make the next step?

    Nico HULKENBERG:  It will take more hard work and more of the same of what we’re doing. Obviously we had three races in a row where we were the fourth fastest team so that’s pretty good. The team is working extremely hard. Every weekend we have new bits arriving but it’s all in the detail so you can just feel the package coming together, better and better. That allows me to push harder, build my confidence. Just a nice feeling overall. But yeah, obviously the gap to the top three teams is very large. Also I saw Kimi, how he came flying past me in Spa after his penalty; it’s quite amazing to see the pace they have so it will take a lot of hard work from us and all the other teams to try and close that gap.

    Q: The seat alongside you next season is now pretty much the most attractive one on the driver market. What’s the right experience profile for your teammate if your team is to move forward, as you’ve just talked about?

    NH: You’re asking me that? Why?

    Q: I’m just interested!

    NH: I think it’s not my decision at all so probably a decision for Cyril and the management. I think they just want a good competitive driver package. I’d be happy to race with anyone, alongside anyone. For me, I’m obviously focused on myself and make sure everything is moving in the right direction there with me.

    Q: And Carlos, coming to you, your 23rd birthday tomorrow, I believe, so happy birthday in advance.

    Carlos SAINZ: Thank you very much.

    Q: You’ve scored points in every race you’ve finished this season and you reached 100 career points with Toro Rosso which makes you, in points terms, Toro Rosso’s most successful driver ever. So does it feel like a positive year and do you feel that you’re moving forward in your career?

    CS: Yeah, many nice statistics coming together there. Thanks for the info, I didn’t really know but yeah, I think we’ve had quite a successful year for us. We’ve been pushing hard all year to get into the points and the result of that is whenever we finish, we finish in the  points, so hopefully we can keep that statistic going. I think the team can be extremely proud of that and we will push hard to continue like that.

    Q: And intriguingly, you’re one of four teams, including the two alongside, four teams in midfield from fifth place to eighth place which I believe are separated by just I think it’s 11 points, something like that, so does every race feel like a tense battle for points, and does Toro Rosso have enough in the pipeline to finish on the right side of this battle?

    CS: It is a very interesting situation, a very tight battle that we’ve been doing… going on the whole year, really, in which every single detail makes a difference. At the moment, I think it’s even more interesting because we have Williams at the front which are maybe struggling a bit but then Renault and McLaren coming from behind, pushing very hard with development, so I expect the second half of the season will be really really exciting. We will do our best to keep ourselves in P5, P6, in that area there but I know it’s going to be tough.

    Q: Before we throw it open to the floor, just asking everyone about Ferrari’s seventieth anniversary being celebrated this weekend, just one particularly Ferrari Formula One memory… can be from your childhood or from your racing experience in Formula One. Just pick one in particular. Romain?

    RG: Ferrari is… when you’re a kid, one of my first cars must have been red and that’s the Ferrari spirit. Memories in Formula One, I guess every time they went to Monza I could see all the tifosi going crazy and it’s very very special and I guess being a Ferrari driver is one of the best things in the world.

    NH: Memories obviously going back to when I was still a teenager and I was a kid, looking at Michael when he was scoring many many world titles with Ferrari. These were the years when I was dreaming about Formula One and obviously working towards it and a lot of history written there and a very special brand.

    CS: Yes, probably the same as Nico, watching Michael either win or lose titles when I was starting to follow Formula One, was probably my best and biggest memory at the moment but the thing that really impressed me a lot is when I arrived to Monza in 2015 for my first Formula One race and I saw all the tifosi queueing in the paddock and trying to get an autograph of all the drivers. It’s probably the most special feeling you can have, to see them all queueing, doing half an hour of queues every day just to get a sign and it’s incredible.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Manuel Franco – Diaros As) Carlos, has there been any change about your future because there are rumours of Honda, Toro Rosso, Renault and a question to Nico, do you like Carlos as teammate for next year?

    CS: I’ll go first. Well, one thing I’ve learned this year is to comment in (indistinct) is not the best thing to do in press conferences.

    RG: What are you talking about?

    CS: Apart from that, I think I was very clear after Austria what I want and I want of my future. I have full trust in Red Bull that they’re going to do the right thing for me. It’s all in their hands. I have full trust in them, they’ve always done the right thing for me in my career and I hope it goes like that.

    Q: Nico, you shook your head when he asked the question.

    NH: Yeah, to go back to your question, 23 is too young, sorry!

    Q: (Alex Combralier – Nextgen-Auto) Romain, we know that in Monza it is one of the toughest braking points of the season and particularly at the first turn so do you now have full confidence in your brakes, in Carbon or Brembo?

    RG: I think we are on top of things.

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Nico, it’s been mentioned that the Renault car is now very quick, also in race trim, not only in qualifying. Could you please describe how different the car behaviour feels from the cockpit since the latest big aerodynamic update with the new floor, where it feels quicker especially in quick corners, slow corners, braking things like that?

    NH: Well, everywhere pretty much. The updates that we’ve introduced at Silverstone just made the car a lot more competitive so especially the aerodynamics, I think they work a lot better, allows me to brake later, to carry more speed into the corners, to get on the power earlier so overall it’s just a much better (indistinct) scenario, more grip, allows you to go faster, quite simple.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Carlos and Nico, there’s been a lot of talk in the Dutch press about Max, his problems with the Renault engine and the reliability. Can you tell us what your experience has been in the twelve races?
    CS:     I think the works driver can answer that better.

    NH: Well, what did I have, I think I had the gearbox problem in Monaco. Apart from that, obviously another gearbox penalty in Budapest but engine-wise I think I’ve been pretty OK.

    Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) For all three drivers: which are the new parts or modifications do you have for this race and especially on your cars?

    RG: We’ve got a rear wing for here. There’s a front wing flap going with it, that’s mainly what we’ve got here.

    NH: Yeah, it’s just the low downforce configuration really for Monza, a few small things to try, to test tomorrow on the floor, that’s it.

    CS: Same really: low downforce configuration for the weekend and we will try some bits and bobs for hopefully upcoming races but nothing that we will run.

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Romain, with all this good food here in Italy and you love to cook, what is your favourite Italian dish?

    RG: That’s a good question, how long have you got in front of you? Italian kitchen cooking is amazing. Between the north and the south it is so different that I cannot really pick up one. From the simple pizza that you can find on the motorway to the three Michelin star chefs that I know in Italy, it’s all amazing.

  • 2017 Italian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference – Part 1

    2017 Italian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference – Part 1

    PART ONE: DRIVERS – Esteban OCON (Force India), Sergio PÉREZ (Force India), Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari).

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Sebastian, let’s start with you. There seems to have been a real bounce. If you can fight with Mercedes, especially at Spa, then you can fight them anywhere. Has the success of the updates you brought to Hungary and Spa given you clear belief as far as the Championship is concerned?

    Sebastian VETTEL: No. It wasn’t necessary. I think there was always belief. If you’re going to come into the race and you don’t have the feeling, or belief that you can achieve something for one race or many races in succession then there’s not much point. But, to really answer your question, I guess, the form we showed in Spa was real and the speed was there in particular in the race which weeks ago, on a similar type of track, maybe wasn’t the case. So that’s very positive. Obviously, we had a smoother weekend all around but still, I think we’ve made improvements on all fronts. So, I was very, very happy with the performance last week.

    Q: It’s been a while since a Ferrari driver came to Monza leading the Drivers’ World Championship. With the new commitment that you’ve just made to Ferrari for three more years, do you feel now the full force of tifosi support and is it worth a tenth or two, do you think?

    SV: Well it’s worth something! Obviously, we get out tomorrow and then we see for the first time how many people show up but I guess it ramps up also during the weekend. This morning was fairly quiet but considering –  I walked the track –  but considering it’s only Thursday there were still a lot of people with flags around the track – definitely more than in other places. So, yeah, difficult to quantify but I guess there’s something there. Obviously, it’s a grand prix that the whole team enjoys and it’s very special to be part of. So, need to make sure we enjoy it.

    Q: Sergio, coming to you, your battle with Esteban has been one of the stories, one of the talking points of the season. Things started to get a little tricky in Canada, then obviously in Baku there was a collision, a little bit of contact in Budapest and then obviously, we had Spa last weekend. Why have things escalated and what’s your side the story?

    Sergio PÉREZ: We’ve been racing very closely lately. As you say, we’ve had a couple of incidents in the last races. I think, I had a really good conversation with him, personally, between him and me, and I think it’s time to move forwards. Everyone had his opinion of what happened. The engineers have one opinion, the fans, us… have different opinions on what has been happening. The most important thing is that, from now, we move forwards. The main objective as a team is to finish fourth in the Constructors’ and we cannot afford to lose any more points. I think we’ve lost quite a lot of points in those races you’ve just mentioned, so we will move forwards and I’m very sure that these things will not happen again.

    Q: Esteban, what’s your side of the story. Why did things escalate, and escalate particularly during the race in Belgium?

    Esteban OCON: We’ve been racing really closely, as Sergio was saying, we’re always fighting for the last tenths in qualifying, or in the race so, for sure, it’s really close between us. But yeah, what has happened before has happened. Now we can’t change what happened before. We have to move forwards. As Sergio was saying, we had a talk this morning together, just us two. Yeah, it is time we forget all that, that we work hard for the team. It’s important – that’s what they deserve as well – that we behave as professionals and yeah, we want to keep challenging the others, keep pushing them and we have to keep that fourth place until the end.

    Q: So, you look forward. Sergio, the team has indicated they won’t let this happen again, that instructions will be given. As the more senior driver, how would you like that to be managed?

    SP: I think we are both mature enough. Esteban has been racing for a long time as well and I think we both know how to handle things. Yeah, although there will be some instructions coming out for us, I think we will put everything in place to make sure the interests of the team come first before us.

    Q: And Esteban, is it important for your development that you’ll be allowed to push to the maximum at every event – and how will team instructions affect that?

    EO: No, I mean, it doesn’t matter if I’m a rookie or if I have experience or not. At the end, what matters at the end is the result for us, the result for the team and yeah, if there is a team instruction, I will follow it. There is no other points.

    Q: Sebastian, quick one for you, at your previous team, you experienced a similarly tense battle with your team-mate. Does there come a point in a relationship where a line is crossed that you can’t go back from – and how do you avoid that?

    SV: No, I don’t think… I think you can always talk to each other. On track, let’s be fair, you have occasions where things may not turn out the way both want to. I don’t think any driver ever has really bad intentions over his team mate or any other guy but for sure the duel with your team-mate is a bit more intense. You’re driving the same car, you are therefore naturally fighting for the same position around the track. So, yeah, you want to stay ahead. I think inside the car you want to be the one that is in front. At the time maybe you don’t care much about what else is going on, as they both mentioned. Obviously, the team behind, they don’t really care which driver because they see their cars. It’s a tough line in terms of, y’know, you have to be, in a way, egoistic inside a car. Equally, you want to do the best for the team. But there’s never a line, I think, you cross you can never can come back from. They obviously took the opportunity to talk to each other and y’know, if I look now with Mark, obviously, I guess that’s the one you’re talking about, I have a very good relationship with him and we talked also about stuff that happened years ago with a lot of distance and y’know, now we can laugh about it. We both have our views, I think we both have different views, maybe now on some things that we had back but that’s normal as you go forwards. That’s why I think you can also cross a line again.

    Q: Quick question to all three of you: it is Ferrari’s 70th anniversary, as Sebastian’s hat tells us. A quick specific Ferrari memory, either from your childhood or your racing career, any special Ferrari Formula One memory.

    SP: I think the one that’s comes to my mind was the first test that I did for Ferrari when I was a member of the Ferrari academy. Was a very special day and that will stick with me forever. Ferrari is the team that we all admire, that we all want to do well as a Formula One fan. So that moment was very special.

    EO: Yeah, also, I tested for Ferrari back in 2014, at the end of the year. It was just magical. Testing in Fiorano on that beautiful track, driving a Ferrari, working with Italian engineers, Italian mechanics. I also speak Italian, I’ve lived in Italy, I’ve raced a lot in go-kart in Italy and you know what Ferrari is for motorsport. It’s something massive. I’m also a big fan of Michael and I was watching on TV when I was really young and I will also remember looking at the Ferrari ahead.

    And finally Sebastian, you’ve obviously got a pretty decent scrapbook of your own memories of Ferrari – any before that in particular?

    SV: Yeah, as another big admirer of Michael, most of my memories as a child of watching Formula One are linked to Michael and in that case linked to Ferrari. So, big admiration for him but for the car he was racing, for the team and obviously the dream came true when I was able to join the team – but yeah, lots of memories. Childhood, I remember I was always racing with toy cars and the red car always won. Don’t know why! It’s sort of what I was taught by the world around me, I guess, is that that car should be in the front, or has to be in front. Yeah, and obviously since then when I had the opportunity through Michael to be in the Ferrari garage for the time, I think Nürburgring 2003 for a short time. Just magical to see the guys moving around, everybody dressed in red. These kind of things really matter to you as a child and make a difference. Now, obviously, I’m there whenever I want to be, which is quite nice. So, lots of very, very special memories.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Question to both Force India drivers. Can we know when you talked to each other and what was the talking about. What have you said?

    SP: It was this morning and it was mainly… I went to Esteban’s room and I had a talk with him. We basically said like… I mean… the engineers have their view, it’s pointless going again through each of the incidents because everyone has their point to say, so let’s just move on together. Let’s forget the past and go forwards together. I believe that a new relationship can start from now on and I really hope that from now on we can be working as a team and we can put the interests of the team first, and we both came to that agreement and it was quite simple.

    Esteban?

    EO: He said everything.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) To both Force India drivers. Obviously given the fact you’re so closely matched in the same cars it’s inevitable you’re going to be together, whether it’s this year or next year. Is it not possibly time that one of you considered going elsewhere. You’re both in the frame for a Renault drive – who’s going to sign first?

    SP: I think that’s not the way I look at things. I want to do the best for the current team that I am with and I want to do the best results. I think we both know that we have done wrong in the past for this team so my main target, I’m not thinking to run away. I believe that working with Esteban is still possible. It can still be a successful partnership and I’m not thinking to move elsewhere.

    EO: I think I’m not thinking of that at the moment. There is a big challenge ahead. We have a car and a great team behind us, which we can score points at every race doing a great job, so at the moment I’m focussing to the drive with Force India and not to next year – but I fully trust my management side and I’m sure I will have an opportunity to drive F1 next year.

    Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports) Sorry guys, another question for Esteban and Sergio, who mentioned the points that Force India have lost this year. Esteban you say you need to behave as professionals. Do you both feel that you haven’t behaved as professionals on the track at times this year. Is that a fair comment to make?

    EO: I think we both crossed the line, that’s for sure. We touched so of course something was wrong in there. I’m not going to argue because it’s all behind now and we want to move forwards but for sure we crossed the line and we can’t do that in the future for the purpose of the team and even for us.

    SP: Same.

    Q: (Marco Privitera – LiveGP.it) A question for Seb. We have seen a big fight in Spa with Lewis in the final part of the race. If you would be here in Monza in the same situation, would you attack him in a stronger way in order to make a special gift to Ferrari’s tifosi, or would you rather think about your championship hopes?

    SV: I think you are racing to win the race. I think that has priority. Obviously you need to be aware of what you are doing but it wasn’t like I was saving myself. I tried everything I had at the time. I stick with him the whole race, so I was battling, I think the whole race with him. Maybe not wheel-to-wheel but it was really close and intense from a driving point of view. So I enjoyed that a lot but obviously he had the upper hand in the end. So there can be only one of the top step of the podium. I think there are some things that I learned from Spa, that we learned as a team but I learned as a driver. Things that I would do a bit different. But at the time it felt like the right thing to do, with hindsight it was a bit more clever. Here I think it’s a different track. Generally it’s possible to overtake. We’ll see where we are in the race. I think going into this weekend we need to be fair and say that the track layout suits Mercedes but the performance that we showed last week gives us hope. So, we tried to do the best. Obviously, yeah, there should be quite a good atmosphere and a lot of support so for sure we try to give all the love and passion that we’ve received so far this year, we try to also give something back from our side.

    Q: (Peter Hardy – BMF1) Sorry Sebastian, this is for the two guys. From a psychological point of view, how is it to be called into an interview like this where you know that you will be asked a lot of questions about the incidents that have happened?

    EO: It’s part of the job, you know. You know that when you are a Formula One driver that you will be facing a lot of media, it’s not only the driving side, it’s also looking at this that you have to handle yourself and face what the journalists are going to say. At the end, it’s, as I said, part of the job.

    Sergio?

    SP: Yeah, I think Esteban is doing well.

    Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) Seb, if you had the possibility to choose, what would be important to you: to win one championship with Ferrari or two with another team?

    SV: Well, I’m not with another team, so I think I prioritise to win here. Obviously I have been very, very fortunate in the past to have the success I have had. It’s like a drug, you want to do it again, you want to get that feeling again, you want to stand on top of the podium and yeah, I think if you manage to achieve your target at the end of the year – talking about the championship – then it makes it very, very special. It’s something that has been a while and I want to do it again. For sure, it always feels a bit different if you are with a different team. How it feels with Ferrari, I don’t know, that’s what I’m trying to find out.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Sportbild) A question to Seb. Coming back to Spa, it was the first situation after Baku where you were behind him with the safety car. Do you think he learned from Baku and his behaviour was better? What do you think about what he did?

    SV: What, specifically? The re-start?

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Sportbild) Braking, not braking?

    SV: I don’t know how it felt… I was the first one following, I don’t know how it felt further down

    EO: Quite scary.

    SV: I tried to react. There have been a couple of re-starts, everybody has his style and you need to obviously try and do your best. I wasn’t thinking about Baku too much to be honest. I was thinking of trying… basically the same things as in Baku, trying to stay as close as possible and have a good re-start. I had a chance and I wanted to make sure I stay with him and use it. All went well, so nothing to think about, but I can understand if further back it was feeling a bit stop and go.

    Q: (Adrian Rodriguez Huber – Agencia EFE) A question for Checo. I want to know your memories about 2012. I don’t know if that was the greatest moment, or at least one of the greatest, for you in Formula One?

    SP: Yeah, it was a very special day that race, beating both Ferraris in Monza and making it to the podium; getting so close to the win actually. It was definitely one of my best races; had incredible pace. So yeah, definitely great memories of that day.

    Q: (Lennart Bloemhof – De Volksrant) A question for Sebastian. In Spa you said Ferrari has something that other teams don’t have. Can you tell me what that is and do you think F1 is more important for Ferrari or is it the other way round?

    SV: How can I describe? I guess, don’t get me wrong, maybe you have, but I guess you don’t have a Ferrari? No. Have you ever sat in a Ferrari? No. Then I strongly recommend that you do. Just to sit in a Ferrari… there are a lot of great sports cars around the planet, I don’t know all of them, at least that’s the way I feel and that for me is something unique and it’s similar and it probably describes or answers your questions, or tries to at least. It’s the feeling when you step into a Ferrari, when you sit in a Ferrari, I don’t know, you can step into another car but you don’t get the same feeling. When the engine then starts and you have the chance to drive yourself then I think everybody who likes cars and has a passion for racing falls in love with the cars straight away. Maybe you should ask whoever you are writing for to give you the opportunity to sign off a day in a Ferrari. That would be the best way to answer the question.

    Q: (Ibriam Ignacio Artimuno – Momento GP) A question for Sebastian. How does it feel to return to a circuit where you won for the first time?

    SV: Yeah, it’s a special place. It’s many years ago, a long time ago, but still a very strong emotion. There are people inside the team now that I have been working with back then. Obviously we had a Ferrari engine in the car with Toro Rosso in those days. The whole weekend was magical. Saturday to have the pole, and to win the race on Sunday the way we did. Pretty amazing memories and when I walked the track this morning there are some pictures coming back. In fact, I’m working with the same race engineer now as I did back then, with Ricardo. It’s a memory we shared together and yeah, it makes this place definitely one of the most special places for me.

    Q: (Alex Combralier – Nextgen-Auto) A question for Sebastian. At Mercedes we could see team orders between Hamilton and Bottas this week. Do you think that team orders are now necessary in your team and do you think that Räikkönen would agree with that?

    SV: No, and I think the second part of your questions is also no. I am a bit surprised by the way things are put. I think Kimi and myself, I can’t speak for other people, but Kimi and myself I think we have been racing each other all year. I read or I heard after the Hungarian Grand Prix that he was protecting me. I think if you speak to him he can make it pretty clear. He was, how can I say, I don’t think he was leaving anything behind. I think if he had the opportunity properly to pass me he would have tried and that’s fair enough. I think it would have been the same the other way round. I think we are racing for the team, we’re both trying to our best, if it happens that you race for the same spot then you might meet yourself on track, as these guys have proven. You’re both fighting for yourself but you’re also fighting for the team, so it’s something you need to keep in the back of your mind. I don’t know what other teams are doing, but for us, I think we both go flat out and see what happens. Normally you can always talk about a lot of things, scenarios and so on, but it always turns out to be a bit different from that.

    Q: (Benjamin Vinel – Motorsport.com) A question for Esteban and Sergio. Do you think with the standings currently, with Force India extremely likely to finish fourth, quite far away from Red Bull but quite far ahead of other teams, that the team could afford to let you race until the end of the year?

    SP: Well, what we cannot afford, us, is to lose more points. Things change really quickly in Formula One. We see other teams are closing up in terms of pace. We definitely need to score in strong races, such as Spa and Monza, they are probably the two strongest races for us, so we definitely have to make sure that we score as many points as we possibly can. That’s just for the good of the team you know. Everyone works so hard at the track, at the factory, we really need to take the maximum out of both cars every single weekend. It’s not only about finishing fourth; it’s about how we do it and that’s why we definitely have to make sure we do it properly.

    EO: Yeah, I agree with Sergio. We have to get the bosses’ trust back and maybe after some races they will let us race again.

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Sebastian, your car has been pretty reliable this year in general, apart from that hiccup in Hungary with the steering. Have the team discovered what the problem was, was it a mechanical problem, or just an impact? Did you have to take any countermeasures to make sure it doesn’t happen again? 

    SV: In Hungary? Yeah, we found the issue; it was an issue with the track rod. It was mechanical, we fixed it and it was fine ever after the race. Yeah, I think in terms of reliability, it’s true, things have been going really well. You’re trying to push the limits as hard as possible, but certainly we are not yet where we want to be. We can always improve. There is a lot of work and effort going on but certainly in Hungary it was a bit uncertain, also in the car, how the race would finish, if I would finish at all. I saved the car as much as I could, which turned out to be the right thing before it could have led to a DNF.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Sebastian, the way that Mercedes have played the oil burn regulation: do you believe they have stolen a march over Ferrari, that maybe Ferrari missed a trick after Spa?

    SV: No, not really. I don’t know whether that was always the plan for them, or whether they reacted to that and pulled it forward. I think for us we are pretty much on target. Obviously we know the change that is happening from here, on what is it? We don’t have a new engine for this weekend. I think it would be quite silly to miss for that, if that was your purposes, just for one week, so I think we are on plan, but as I said, I don’t know whether that was their sole intention or whether they had other issues.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) A question for Sebastian: the new cars they will be quicker than last year and it is a power circuit but the difference will be in the corners I think. Can you give a description of what it will be like?

    SV: Well, here I guess it will be fairly small, the difference, because on paper it’s probably the track that suits the old cars best, meaning that with long straights and more drag this year and because of more downforce naturally the cars will be a bit slower down the straights. They will still be quick because the engines are a bit better and so on, but yeah, I don’t know, the lap time will I guess be similar. I don’t expect it to be faster, like we went in Spa, not by that amount. But I don’t know, generally it’s lower downforce here, so the car is very light, but there are some epic corners on this track – the two Lesmos, especially the first one, it’s one of my favourites, Ascari, Parabolica, so with more grip normally they feel nicer, so they should be quite enjoyable this year.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Can you explain to us the difficulty of towing during qualifying and are you planning to use that on Saturday?

    SP: Yeah, it’s a great challenge to get it right. You have to kind of wait around five to six seconds, but it depends a lot what the car in front does. With Kimi, last time, I was close to him, it worked well but he aborted the lap in sector two so I got too close to him and then you lose a lot of downforce. If you can do it without it, it’s just better.

    SV: It’s always very difficult to time and you need to be lucky to get the most out of it. It’s one of those things…  you can’t plan what other people are doing. You can’t plan ahead and you can only look after yourself. For sure you can position yourself so that it should be helping you or not helping but whether it works out or not is very difficult to time, unless you do something that you agree on before with your teammate or others. Let’s put it this way: the likelihood of getting it wrong is far higher than getting it right.

    EO: Yeah, you always want a tow, basically, in a straight line but then the guy to move over before the corner so it’s pretty difficult to get. You are maybe lucky once in every three or four years to get that but as Seb just said, if you can get it without, it’s always the best solution.

  • 2017 Italian Grand Prix: Ferrari Set for Monza Fightback

    2017 Italian Grand Prix: Ferrari Set for Monza Fightback

    The Formula One circus returns to the Temple of Speed – Monza for Round 13 of the Formula 1 World Championship.

    The Italian Grand Prix also marks the end of the European season and the teams will embark on a series of fly-away races after Monza till the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

    The circuit is one of the oldest tracks on the F1 calendar and has featured on the F1 roster almost every season. There have been a number of modifications made to the Monza circuit and Formula 1 cars have raced on all of them. The one in use for Formula 1 is the 9th variation of the circuit. The 5.793km long, 11 corner circuit with famous turns such as Curva Grande, Curva di Lesmo, Variente Ascari and Parabolica.

    The engines have to work harder than any other track of the season.. Engines are at full throttle for 79% of the lap around Monza and it is the ultimate test for a manufacturer.. Top end speed and low drag are important with good traction out of the slow chicanes. A power deficit is easily exposed at teams with such a deficit make up for the lack in power by running extremely low-downforce setups.

    Understeer is usually a problem around the lap with the very skinny wings the cars are set up with. The top speed last year was held by Lewis Hamilton. According to Mercedes’ data, he clocked a speed of 359.0km/h with the help of DRS and a tow down the pit straight. This years cars are wider and have more drag so we may not see blistering speeds. It is expected, however, that Variente Ascari (Turns 8, 9, and 10) will be taken at full throttle.

    The championship battle is heating up and as we head off to the fly away races things will get intense. The gap between Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton has been yo-yo’ing throughout the season. After his victory in Spa last week, Hamilton has brought the gap down to 7 points. A victory in Italy could see Hamilton leading the championship for the first time this season.

    Mercedes are expected to be dominant at Monza. The power of the Mercedes engine gives them the advantage they need over the rest of the field. Ferrari are expected to bring an updated power unit to Monza which should bring them closer to Mercedes. There is still no confirmation of such a move.

    Further back in the field, Red Bull expect to take engine penalties for Max Verstappen after he retired from the Belgian Grand Prix with a dead cylinder no.4 in his Renault Power Unit. With the Renault engine down on power compared to Mercedes and Ferrari, Verststappen looks like he’s going to have a tough weekend.

    The Force India team had their hands full with their drivers coming together out on track once again. Force India Team Principal, Vijay Mallya has made it clear that the team will enforce team orders. While no one likes to see team orders, their drivers were given enough opportunity to show each other some respect on track but this did not happen.

    Pirelli have stuck with the same compounds they have brought to Monza last year. The red marked super soft, the yellow marked soft and the white marked medium tyre. The durability of the of 2017 compounds may mean that it will be a one stop race this year. There are many overtaking opportunities around Monza so if teams wish to mix up their strategies a bit they do have that option.

    While Mercedes may have won in Spa it was not the commanding victory Mercedes have usually pulled out. The fact that Ferrari were able to keep up with the Silver Arrows during the race despite their engine power update was definitely an eye opener for Mercedes bosses. Their speed will definitely make them hard to beat come qualifying. But the points are awarded after the race.

  • Force India Drivers Take Their Battle to Social Media

    Force India Drivers Take Their Battle to Social Media

    The Force India drivers once again came to blows on track at the Belgian Grand Prix.

    The tension between the drivers has been bubbling under the surface since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix when Ocon squeezed Perez into the barrier.

    This time in at the Belgian Grand Prix, however, it was Perez that squeezed Ocon into twice into the barrier. The first incident happened at the start of the race. There was no damage to either car and Perez accepted responsibility for the incident. The second collision damaged Ocon’s front wing which resulted in a puncture on Perez’s rear right. Both drivers were able to make it back to the pits. Ocon eventually finished the race in 9th while Perez finished 17th. What was a good afternoon for the team with the prospect of a double points finish turned into disaster.

    The fallout from the collision between team mates spilled on to social media where Ocon posted a video claiming that Perez tried to kill him.

    “Tried to kill me” may be a touch dramatic.

    Perez replied with a video of his own but said nothing about the second incident.

    Quiero ofrecerle una disculpa a mi equipo por el primer incidente que tuvimos hoy. Seleccioné un mapa motor equivocado para el inicio de carrera y eso provocó que no tuviera la potencia suficiente en la recta. Prueba de ello es que mi luz roja trasera iba parpadeando. Iba muy concentrado en proteger la posición con Hulkenberg que no vi a Esteban y lo toqué. Totalmente mi culpa, ofrezco una disculpa por eso. En el segundo incidente creo que no había el espacio suficiente para que Esteban realizara el rebase ahí. Al ser yo el auto líder, la línea era mía. Él solo tenía su alerón, la línea me pertenecía. Estaba el muro y estaba mi auto, no había espacio para dos coches. Tenía toda la recta para pasarme, pero bueno… Lo que si me decepciona mucho son sus publicaciones en donde dice que traté de matarlo. Yo podría haber dicho muchas cosas en el pasado, pero no lo hice. Creo que somos profesionales, estamos en la máxima categoría de nuestro deporte y esos comentarios no me parecen apropiados. Lo bueno es que el próximo fin de semana volvemos a tener carrera. Voy a regresar más fuerte que nunca y voy a manejar mejor que nunca para mi equipo en las próximas 8 carreras. Gracias a todos por su apoyo! #nevergiveup #class👍👌

    A post shared by Checo Pérez (@schecoperez) on

    Speaking from the pit wall live after the incident, Chief Operating Officer of Force India Otmar Szafnauer said that they will now enforce team orders and they will not allow their drivers to race anymore.

    “In the future they’ll never have that opportunity [to race] again,” explained Force India COO Otmar Szafnauer. “We let them race up till now and if they can’t do that in a manner that is good for the team, then they won’t be racing anymore.

    “They shouldn’t be coming together. We’ve given them the latitude to race and I’ve always said that, but we told them if a Baku-type incident happens again we’ll be calling races from the pit wall in the future.

    “Once it gets to the point of safety margins and crashing into each other then we’ve got to take it into our hands.”

    Speaking after the race Ocon appreciated the risky move and understood why Pere made contact with him. “We are three wide [with Nico Hulkenberg], so I accept that, even if he squeezes me into the wall and that’s very dangerous and not professional,” he said.

    He did not take lightly to the second incident however. Saying that it was just too much. “The second one is just too much. You know, what’s the point in doing that? He just squeezed me into the wall at 300km/h, risking my life, risking his life for no reason and costing the team a lot of points. He’s supposed to be a professional driver and he didn’t show it today,” the young Frenchman added.

    Perez accepted the responsibility for the first incident at the start of the race but did not think that the second incident is his fault. He said Ocon was optimistic attempting a pass on the outside.

    “The second incident I think Esteban was really optimistic, because there was no room for two cars. He had the whole straight to do the manoeuvre. It was just too much on the limit. It’s a shame that we touched because it ruined our race,” said the Mexican.

    Team Orders

    Team Principal Vijay Mallya says he’s become more concerned about the incidents between the two drivers and has no choice to implement team order.

    “I have been very happy with our overall performance during the 2017 season with both drivers scoring points for the team and racing freely,” said Mallya.

    “However, as much as I support competitive racing, the repeated incidents between both our cars are now becoming very concerning.

    “Under these circumstances I have no choice but to implement a policy of team orders in the interest of safety and to protect the team’s position in the constructors’ championship.”

  • F1 2017: Belgium Gp Review – Hamilton Wins Intense Battle

    F1 2017: Belgium Gp Review – Hamilton Wins Intense Battle

    In terms of the spectacle of wheel-to-wheel racing the 2017 Belgian grand prix wasn’t the most electrifying race of the season.

    However, what it may have lacked as far as a pure racing show it certainly made up with the intensity of the battle between the two championship protagonists Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.

    While Hamilton maintained track position throughout the race the Mercedes driver was never more than two seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Vettel. In his 200th grand prix Hamilton managed to keep Vettel at bay but it was far from a stroll for Mercedes who admitted post-race that it they were pushing flat out from light out to chequered flag. Vettel’s inability to overtake Hamilton proved that track position remains all-important. It’s once again abundantly clear that despite the fact that the 2017 cars are far quicker and more visually exciting it hasn’t improved the ability to overtake.

    A late safety car was deployed for debris on the track for an indefensible crash between Force India teammates Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon. The testy relationship between Force India’s drivers came to blows as Perez dangerously squeezed teammate Ocon into the old pitwall, making contact. The race stewards are likely to impose a hefty penalty for Perez’s inexcusably dangerous driving.

    0008Despite Vettel getting to within half a tenth of taking the lead Hamilton maintained control. It wasn’t the case for his Merc teammate Valtteri Bottas who was swamped, on either side, into turn four by Daniel Ricciardo on the left and Kimi Raikkonen on the right. It left Ricciardo in third and Raikkonen, recovering from a ten second stop/go penalty for not slowing under yellow flags, in fourth and a well-spanked Bottas in fifth.

    For Max Verstappen his woeful run in 2017 continued with yet another reliability issue. This time a cylinder failure in the engine put an end to his afternoon at his de facto home race. While Verstappen’s frustrations were amplified Nico Hulkenberg took sixth place for Renault ahead of Romain Grosjean in seventh, Massa in eighth, Ocon in ninth and Carlos Sainz in tenth for Toro Rosso.

    Fully aware that radio communications are often broadcast to the world McLaren’s Fernando Alonso didn’t hold back his contempt during the race. His comments ranged from “embarrassing, really embarrassing” to “I really don’t care too much about the gaps. This is just a test” when told about the gap to other drivers in his vicinity. Later on he summarily told the team that he wanted no more radio communication.

    While his frustration is certainly warranted it was perhaps not the classiest way to go about voicing it. There are more than 600 McLaren employees working flat-out to get these two cars onto the track in the best condition possible and it would likely have been terribly demoralizing for them to hear Alonso’s comments.

    Fernando Alonso_Canada 2015 ReactionThe simple truth is that there is no doubt whatsoever that Fernando Alonso is supremely talented and still well capable of winning world titles.

    But ponder this: Ferrari could have easily re-signed him for 2018, but chose instead to stick with their current line-up. There is a reason for this and the temperament he displayed in Belgian Gp has everything to do with it.

    Hamilton’s intensely fought win has seen him halve Vettel’s gap to seven points ahead of Ferrari’s home race this weekend at Monza.

    All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport

  • Quick Thinking and Tactics Kept Hamilton Ahead at Spa

    Quick Thinking and Tactics Kept Hamilton Ahead at Spa

    Lewis Hamilton took a commanding win at the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday beating Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel to the chequered flag. But it was not the easy victory Mercedes and Hamilton usually experience over a weekend. It took some clever tactical driving from Hamilton after the safety car restart to keep the charging Ferrari of Vettel behind.

    The safety car was deployed after contact between the Force India pair of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon left debris on the track on the run to Eau Rouge. This was essentially a free pit stop which seen the leaders dive into the pits for fresh rubber. The two Mercedes drivers switched over to the soft tyres, while Ferrari switched to the ultra soft tyres – a set they had saved from qualifying.

    It would be an eleven lap sprint race to the end with Hamilton expected to furiously defend against the charging Ferrari.

    Hamilton got a good drive on the restart catching Vettel out, but the the grip from the ultra soft tyres enabled Vettel to get close to Hamilton at the exit of La Source. On the run to Eau Rouge Vettel was right on Hamilton’s rear wing, so close in fact, Vettel said that he was too close and he had to lift going up the hill to Raidillion. This slowed his momentum somewhat for a brief period but he got back on the power and was in Hamilton’s slip stream going down the Kemmel straight.

    The power of the Mercedes engine was too much for the Ferrari. Vettel was 2-3km/h down on Hamilton when he was side-by-side with the Mercedes coming into Turn 5. Hamilton defended the inside line and shut the door or Vettel.

    Over the course of the next few laps, Hamilton was able to open up the gap to Vettel where it remained constant over a second. Vettel got close a few times but was not close enough to effect a pass.

    After the race Hamilton revealed that he lifted off the power just before Eau Rouge in order for Vettel to close up to him. This is what broke Vettel’s momentum somewhat and allowed Hamilton to stay ahead on the Kemmel straight.

    “Obviously into Turn 1 I struggled with the front tyres – and he was too close on the exit of Turn 1 and he had to lift, which was actually great,” Hamilton told reporters.

    “Going down the straight I let off the power a little as well, just to keep him right up my tail, because if he was further away he would have had the chance to gain momentum and then slipstream past.

    “That’s what he really wanted and I didn’t give him that, so when we got to the top of the hill he was there and as soon as he pulled out he was facing the full force of the air just as I was and he had no hope – so I was really happy with that move!”

    After the race in the cool down room Vettel exclaimed to Hamilton that he was too close into Eau Rouge to which Hamilton responded: “I lifted”

    “My restart in the initial part was too good. I was too close, so yeah, for sure if I had to do it again maybe I would try something different but at the time I… we know that they have very good straight line speed in their quali mode and at the start of the race I obviously felt how strong they were up the hill on the start, so I did not want to be too far either,” Vettel said in the press conference after the race.

    “Lewis also lifted a bit down to Eau Rouge, which I think he could afford because he knows he has a very good top end at the top of it.

    Hamilton eventually took the chequered flag with Vettel 2.358s behind.

    We don’t have long to wait, the Italian Grand Prix is back-to-back with Spa and it’s another track that will suit Mercedes.

     

    Photo credit: Mercedes AMG Petronas Fromula One Team

  • 2017 Belgian Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    2017 Belgian Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    3 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

     

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Mark Webber)

    Lewis, I’ve seen some top performances from you over the years mate, but the last 24 hours, with qualifying, equalling Michael’s 68th record pole position and the execution of today’s grand prix was absolutely clinical. Run us through it.

    Lewis HAMILTON: Thank you, man. I heard it’s your birthday, so happy birthday. I don’t know if the crowd can hear us, but the crowd has been amazing this weekend, so big thank you to everyone for all the support. It’s been a strong weekend for myself and the team. The team did an amazing job and I’m really grateful for all the hard work. The support has made all the difference, seeing all the British flags amongst the kind of Irish orange has been amazing. Sebastian put a great fight on, but this is what I said I was coming to do, so I did it.

    Sebastian, it looked like a really, really…

    Sebastian VETTEL: It’s Mark’s birthday today, so happy birthday!

    Thank you very much. It’s not about me today, believe it or not, it’s about you guys. That looked like a tough fight. Obviously you two were really duking it out lap after lap after lap. Obviously maybe not the most spectacular race, wheel-to-wheel, but as a racer I could see what you two were laying down.

    SV: Yeah, it was good fun. It was really intense, because as you said, every lap I was waiting for Lewis to make a mistake, and he didn’t. He was probably waiting for me to make a mistake; I didn’t. Re-start? Maybe that’s why maybe I’m not entirely happy. I was fearing that I’m not close enough but I was too close. So on top of the hill I had to go out and then it’s a drag race, I’m on the outside and nowhere really to go, but it was good fun. I think we had a very good pace. If you compare this track to Silverstone I think it was a lot better here, so yeah, we’ve done good steps forward and looking forward to next week obviously, our home race, so yeah, it’s been a good race overall.

    Well done, big points, mate, big points. Danny Ric – well done!

    Daniel RICCIARDO: G’day mate.

    Well, the safety car came at a nice time. You were sitting in there and then there’s new fresh tyres ready to go and you made the most of it. A beautiful re-start at the top of the hill against Valtteri and then you got it home. You held Kimi off, which was sensational, so a huge result for the team though, right?

    DR: Yeah, it was. You know, Max dropped out early. Firstly, thanks… I know it’s pretty much full of Dutchies here, so thanks for hanging around, appreciate it, we all do. Then Kimi had a penalty so we got into fourth. We had pretty good pace mid-race and then we got the safety car. I knew we’d been given a bit of an opportunity with that and it was good to capitalise on that with Valtteri on the re-start.

    Lewis, you got the driver of the day, which we would expect, but yesterday we spoke to you quickly and you spoke about coming here in 1996 with your father, the first time you really saw Formula One at this level, so run us through your emotions this weekend, how much it means to you, your 200th race, and those special memories coming here 21 years ago.

    LH: Is it 21? Oh, jeez. Well, I like this Mexican wave everyone is doing. There are many kids here and probably adults that dream of doing what we’re doing here today and I came here in 1996 with my dad and it was our dream. We were nobodies and it was our dream to be here one day. Hopefully this just shows to those of you who are watching that dreams do come true and you just have to keep striving for excellence, believe in yourself and never give up.

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Lewis, awful lot of pressure to soak up in the final part of the grand prix after being very much in control early on. Sebastian had a new set of ultrasofts for eventualities; you didn’t. You must have been pretty nervous in the build-up to that re-start. Tell us how you defended it, how you kept him at arm’s length and how you feel about coming through that?

    LH: Well I felt it was a bit like NASCAR, where they keep pulling out the safety cars for no reason. The wing was cleared, after we’d slowed down they could have done a VSC but I guess they wanted to see a race, so that’s for sure the reason they did that, because there was hardly any debris, if at all, they cleaned it so well. Anyways, before that it was obviously close. The Ferrari has generally had the upper hand, particularly on race pace, throughout the weekend and very, very, very strong today and obviously I was towing him around everywhere so they were getting a good tow out of the straights. And on the re-start the safety car was driving so slow, it was I guess to let the other people catch up, but keeping tyre temperature, being that I was on the harder tyre, was very, very difficult. Yeah, it came to the re-start, Sebastian was obviously very, very close. The front tyres weren’t switched on initially and he got a good tow. I think he was little bit close down the run out of Turn 1, so I think he probably had to lift off or otherwise he would have come by potentially before Eau Rouge, which was a good thing for me because having to lift he loses a bit of performance. But he did a great race, he was very, very consistent throughout. It was fun to be racing against, firstly another team, and Sebastian really at his best and with the car at the best, being so close. We were just battling within half a tenth every single lap and that’s what racing is all about. As I said, I think they were able to keep up and follow quite closely for a long, long time, so I think ultimately they had the better pace today but fortunately I was able to do just enough to stay ahead.

    Q: Sebastian, sport is all about taking chances when they pop up. Obviously you had a new set of ultrasofts, you saw Lewis going on to the softs, you must have thought ‘here we go, this is my chance’. Take us through that restart, it was very close, how did you come down the hill, how did you get through Eau Rouge? How do you feel also, just in general about being this close on a track which, after Silverstone, on paper should really have suited Mercedes far more than it suited you?

    SV: That’s a lot of questions. Obviously, I knew that we had a tyre advantage with the ultrasoft versus the soft, for the first couple of laps in particular. The restarts. So you could also see, exiting Turn One, was all over Lewis. It was not that hard to follow so close and maybe that was the problem. My restart in the initial part was too good. I was too close, so yeah, for sure if I had to do it again maybe I would try something different but at the time I… we know that they have very good straight line speed in their quali mode and at the start of the race I obviously felt how strong they were up the hill on the start, so I did not want to be too far either. Finding that optimum is difficult. Lewis also lifted a bit down to Eau Rouge, which I think he could afford because he knows he has a very good top end at the top of it. But yeah, I think overall it was a very good race. It was good fun. Obviously not that exciting probably to watch because we were very close but nothing happened but good fun in the car because I was waiting for him to maybe have an error he was probably waiting for me to have an error or an off but it didn’t happen so the quality was very high I thought, and very consistent lap times despite the tyres, I think, dropping lap by lap. But yeah, never really had a chance. Maybe half a chance, quarter of a chance but yeah, I think the positive thing is that we had very good race pace. It was very difficult to follow in the middle sector but we stayed close and then we benefit in the first and last sector. Overall the car was very good. We didn’t change too much compared to Silverstone which shows, on the one hand that Silverstone was just a bad weekend but we improved also the car so… especially in race pace, very strong. I mean we were, on average, a second off, or nearly a second off in Silverstone, so it’s a big step. I’m very, very happy. I think we are on the right track and I don’t think we have a circuit we should fear, going from now.

    Q: Speaking of chances Daniel. Any sniff of a chance you get, you take it and end-up on the podium. You did it again today, particularly with that wonderful pass at the restart. It looked a risky tyre selection going into the weekend but having that new set of ultras paid off. You must be really delighted with the way this weekend has gone for you.

    DR: It certainly ended well. It’s always a funny one here. We come in not so optimistic and even qualifying… I think even the year I won I don’t think I qualified too well but we seem to find some extra pace on Sunday and we put ourselves in a position or we take advantage of something and capitalise, so yeah, I’m really happy, y’know? Another podium’s always good. The start, the first few laps with the ultrasoft actually, we were struggling quite a bit. We could see blistering and problems we always have at this circuit, with this nature of circuit, the high speed but struggling to really move or make much progress in the first stint. But then we put the supersoft on and we found a good rhythm. I think we were able to keep a similar lap-time to the leaders. Although they were on the soft, I felt, y’know, respectively we were finding a good rhythm and pace and then we got the Safety Car. For sure Lewis didn’t like it too much – and fair enough – but for me obviously it opened up an opportunity on the restart with Valtteri and capitalised on that. He was on the soft, I was on the ultra and I knew if we were going to have a podium, it was happening on the restart. Once his tyres got up to temperature it would have been hard to do something, so, yeah, pretty happy. Good momentum now for the second half of the season.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Lewis, what a way to start the second half of the season off. Looks like you were in control there, you felt a little pressure from Seb, did you feel you had the whole race in control and, y’know, with this historical pole position that you did yesterday, does this set you up for momentum going into Monza on his home track for Ferrari?

    LH: I think… obviously it’s an amazing feeling to come back into the season and start off on the right foot, being that the Ferraris obviously finished on the right foot going into the break but they’ve really put in a fantastic fight today. The speed and pace they had was very strong. There was not a point at which I would say that I could be comfortable. I think for both of us it was pushing every single lap, which is more like a sprint race, which was fun. That’s really how racing should be: no room for error; no room for any mistakes – because if I’d had the smallest mistake, he would have picked up on it. And there were clearly strengths and weaknesses from both sides: strengths on our car and strengths on their car. We were constantly exchanging times. But this is definitely a good start going into the next race. Clearly we have not a bad car on the straights. I think, again, I imagine it’s going to be very, very close in the next race. I would think more heavily towards places like Singapore, where it’s high downforce circuits, where I think Ferrari seemed to have really picked up some pace. Places obviously like the last race. Otherwise I’ve got a say a big thank you to my team. It’s been a long period of time with Mercedes-Benz, and obviously with this team as well, so I wouldn’t have been able to have won any of these grands prix without them, so very, very grateful for all the hard work that they put in, and yeah, it just feels… everyone worked so hard so then when you match them and put in the same effort together and achieve what you set out to achieve, it’s such a great feeling.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – globoesporte.com) Lewis, Friday you were very fast on the soft tyres and today, after the pitstop, it looks like you suffer a little. Sebastian was very close to you, could even use the DRS. And also, you had 14 laps to the end when you did the second pitstop and you used again the soft tyre, not the ultrasoft. Were you satisfied with the decision?

    LH: It was a very, very late decision. It was made literally just before the last corner, so I wasn’t expecting it. I was expecting to collect the Safety Car – which is why I allowed Sebastian to get close, because I didn’t… it’s not like the VSC where you have to keep to the delta, there’s no point because I’d be catching the Safety Car. Obviously that didn’t work out that way and came into the pitlane with Sebastian right up my tail, so very, very fortunate the team did a great pitstop and able to get back out ahead. After that, yeah, the pace I think I was struggling because the tyre temperatures were so low. I just couldn’t keep… from the slow pace, the safety car was going extremely slow and I knew it would be… firstly he’s on the better tyre and yeah, knowing that I thought the start was going to be very difficult. And it clearly was. I got into Turn One struggling with the front end of the car. But fortunately got a relatively decent exit but I mean he was on the gas before I was. I could hear him. So he was in a much more comfortable position but fortunately, once he pulled out of my slipstream we were both going against the same wind and fortunately I think maybe we have a little bit less downforce and that worked in that scenario.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speedsport) Daniel, tell us more about that restart? You came out, there’s three cars abreast going up that hill and you come out in third place.

    DR: Obviously I was focused on Valtteri but I was aware Kimi was… I was getting a good tow from Valtteri but we know the Ferrari has a bit more straightline speed than us so I was using Valtteri’s pace but also knew that Kimi was probably going to get a double tow. All I could do… I saw Valtteri cover the inside so I went to the outside but then I was thinking ‘I don’t know if he’s seen Kimi, maybe Kimi’s going to get to the inside’ so did Kimi go to the inside in the end? Yeah. I don’t know but all I could do was focus on Valtteri and to be honest, in the braking zone it was still blind. I knew I was maybe in front but you get to a point you can’t really see so I gave enough room in case he was still there, and you just kind of hold on and hope for no one to come in the side of you and then by the time you get to turning left for turn six I knew I had done it and I saw Kimi in the mirror. Yeah, I figured it probably felt nice on TV; it felt good. It puts me back up here so I’m happy.

    Q: (Bas Holtkamp – Race Express) First of all, congrats for your third place on behalf of all the disappointed Dutchies. Max has had a lot of material problems this year, while you seem to have a lot of luck or are you just more gentle on your car? Is that maybe the reason why?

    DR: Yeah, I certainly… I do a lot of things with my driving style which is very nice to the car. I actually talk to it a lot during the race. I massage it. I wouldn’t call it foreplay but it’s something like that and Max is young, he’s aggressive, he goes straight in! I know you’re shaking your head but I feel like you knew the answer would be something silly like that. In all seriousness, I don’t have an answer for it. I’ve honestly… I have asked before. I’ve even asked all the guys in the team, the mechanical and also from the power unit side and I’ve said is there something you see Max is doing which I should maybe avoid and they said no, there’s nothing he’s doing. He’s not over-revving it or anything silly. It’s unfortunate. I commented on the podium that… I think it was Austria as well he had a big big following there and all the fans still stayed, the whole weekend. Obviously they all want him to do well but I think they’re racing enthusiasts so really nice that they stay around for the rest of the race and support us all. Yeah, I know he gets bigger cheers from them but I still feel like they are a good crowd, there’s no aggression, it’s all love.

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriera della Sera) Sebastian, you had a good chance with the start but what about the scenario with the safety car? Have you imagined what could have happened?

    SV: Well, we had the safety car so no, I didn’t imagine much. I was following Lewis, I think we had more or less the same pace. Obviously it was difficult to follow super close and get in range and really try and create something so – I don’t know, the gap to the car behind with Valtteri was around five/six seconds, growing, especially at the end of the stints where I think Lewis and myself had better pace than the rest. I don’t know, it was fairly healthy, there were 14 laps to go, something like that, 15 laps to go so probably would have finished the race like that. It wouldn’t have made a difference, at least to us but for sure with the safety car then, yeah, I smelled a chance. Unfortunately it didn’t turn out to be a great chance and as I said, not entirely happy with the way I executed but that’s how it went. Nevertheless, as I said before… it’s normal, as I said before, as a racer you always look at what you could have done better but you also need to appreciate the fact that it was a very very good weekend for us, all the way. Both cars very quick, competitive and closer than I think one could expect before the race.

    Q: (Mike Doodson – GP Plus) Lewis, there were moments during the race where you were clearly a bit nervous over the radio, things like the speed of the safety car and the other nervousness seemed to come from the fact that you had to go on the yellow tyre at the end. Was that because there was only a supply of yellow tyres? Do you know why you didn’t get the same ultrasofts that Seb was able to use?

    LH: In Q2, Ferrari only ran once, we ran twice, so we used the spare ultrasoft whereas they saved it. I doubted if they were planning on doing a two stop as a two stop was slower but just by sheer luck there was a safety car which again, I commented, which I don’t think was necessary but anyways it worked out OK, so yes, we had to put on a fresh tyre. If we had put on a used ultrasoft we would probably have been in more trouble so I think it was the right decision at the end of the day, but potentially in the future, maybe we will take precautions to make sure we also have a new tyre available just in case. But otherwise… I think everyone was in the same boat with the safety car being slow but yeah, I guess for me, being on that harder tyre, it was already hard for Sebastian on the ultrasofts to keep temperature in the tyres but being on the harder tyre again, it makes it even harder. But anyways, it was what it was and I did the best I could with it and fortunately was able to defend, just about.

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Daniel, you always seem to be there man, right, when it’s right about time to get what you need to get done and take care of business. You describe your driving style; would you approach it like a fighter approaches way being patient, waiting for those openings?

    DR: I always want to… when I was younger, a lot of the time I would leave a weekend, leave a race on a Sunday and have questions or doubts in mind head, like if tried that or I should have done this or… There wasn’t often enough where I felt like I was leaving everything on the table or taking advantage of a situation. I wanted to make a point, particularly when I got the opportunity with Red Bull Racing and coming into a top team, you know, I don’t want that feeling, I don’t want to fly home on a Sunday with the race replaying in my head and thinking ah, if only I tried this move and then the race would have been different. It’s something I felt I always had in me but in particular the last few years, I’ve been able to show it and get it out of myself. Yes, the simple term is leaving with no regrets and then just trying to capitalise on the moment and I think for that you need to be present in the moment. I enjoy… I love what I do. Fridays, practice. Yeah. Saturday qualifying, it’s pretty good, but Sunday is most certainly what I love and I think it’s easier to capitalise when you’re having a good time.

     

    Photo credit: Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team

  • 2017 Belgian Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    2017 Belgian Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

     

    GRID INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Will Buxton)

    Q: Lewis, Ross Brawn just wants to have a couple of words with you to congratulate you on this achievement.

    Ross BRAWN: I’m here to deliver a very special message from Corinna Schumacher and the Schumacher family, who want to congratulate you on equalling Michael’s record and as they said, Michael always said records are there to be beaten, so they want to send their very special thanks. Congratulations, Lewis, well done.

    Q: So, Lewis, that was some lap. It was mighty. Tell all the fans, tell everyone at home, how good does it feel to hook one up like that around here?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Well, first of all, I want to give a big shout out to all the fans here, they’re always amazing here every year we come here. There are a lot of Brits, a lot of people from the Netherlands, from all over, so thank you so much for coming out. I can’t believe it. First of all, a big thank you to my tea, Ross [Brawn] was a big part of me being here at this team, so the success we have had he is much a part of that as well. But the team have done an amazing job. Valtteri did a great job to be up here ahead of the Ferraris, an amazing feeling. This is one of my favourite circuits, so to come here and put a lap together like that, it’s a dream. I’ve got the best job in the world, so I’m just grateful to be here.

    Q: And to equal Michael Schumacher’s record on the track where he made his debut, the track where he took his first grand prix victory is something special too.

    LH: It is and to hear the message that Ross just gave, I just have to say a big thank you and pray for Michael and his family all the time. I’ve had the privilege of racing with him, from karting days in Kerpen to on the track and always admired him, and still do today, so I’m just honoured to be up there with him now in the poles, but he will still be one of the greatest of all time.

    Q: Congratulations. Seb, that was some lap at the end to get on the front row, you needed that didn’t you?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, it was the right time. I had a very good feeling in Q1, the get go was really go but then I lost that feeling a little bit, I had a bit light front end, especially then through sector two with the medium-, high-speed corners. I was lacking a little bit of response. But the last lap the car was a little bit more alive, immediately I could feel it turning into Turn 1. And then I have to also admit that I was a bit lucky with Kimi, he had to abort his lap but he gave me a very, very nice tow, which I think made it a bit more comfortable with Valtteri. Obviously it’s very important. Good position today, great job from the team, very happy, so looking forward to the race.

    Q: We know these guys are worries about your long-run pace. Are you confident in it?

    SV: They should be! So far it has been looking pretty good, so I hope we can keep it up. The car, on one lap, I thought all weekend it was a bit trickier to get it together. Consecutive laps with high fuel I felt really good, so let’s see what we can do with the strategy tomorrow as well, but for sure Mercedes will be quick. But, we don’t have to hide. We are on the front row for a reason. We have the speed and we should have it in the race.

    Q: Congratulations. Valtteri, are you annoyed that he just pipped you at the end there? As he said, he got a tow from Kimi coming up the back and without that it might have been an all-Mercedes front row.

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, of course it would have been nice to be one-two tomorrow, but it’s not a bad starting place. I was aiming for pole today, but to be honest Lewis has been doing and absolutely perfect job all weekend and for some reason I’ve been struggling and I just haven’t been able to get close enough, so we’ll need to investigate why. That’s something we’ll need to understand but already my thoughts are for tomorrow.

    Q: Everyone is focusing on those two guys for the title, bit you are in the hunt for the title as much as both of them. How much do you want the win tomorrow to prove to everybody, as much as to them, that you’re here, you’re fighting and it’s as much yours as it is theirs?

    VB: Getting my first couple of wins this year you just want more, so of course that is going to be the mission for me tomorrow and main thing as a team is that we get a strong result. But I’ll do everything I can and I don’t mind if they are being looked at more than me, I’ll just keep doing my job and trying to get better and better.

    Q: Can’t wait for tomorrow. Lewis, you’ve got the championship leader on the front row with you, you’ve got your team-mate inches behind you and he’s very much in the hunt for this title as well, really the second half of the season couldn’t be starting any better for Formula One could it?

    LH: Well, we had a great holiday and we’ve come back feeling fresh and this is the perfect way to start the weekend. The second half is going to be tough for all of us, the team, the people back at the factory, but we’re geared up for the second half, so I hope that we can bring it.

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Lewis, many congratulations, a day I’m sure you’ve been looking forward to for some time. The magic number – 68 – you’ve equalled the all-time record of Michael Schumacher. And what a place to do it – a track that is so synonymous with Schumacher, and with a record fastest ever lap of track. Your feelings?

    LH: Yeah, it’s a special day, definitely. To be honest, I knew it was on the horizon and I knew at some stage I’d be getting that 68th pole but I really hadn’t thought about it very much. I didn’t apply pressure, I was like “it could come soon, it could take a long time”, but now being there, it’s an unusual place to be. I remember coming here in 1996, my first grand prix, and watching Michael come by out of Turn 1 and the engine just shook my rib cage – it was incredible. And that was when my love for the sport took another step. And to think that God knows how long later I’m now equal to him on poles, it’s very surreal and very much a humbling experience, particularly knowing that Michael is such a legend. It’s an incredible feat that he achieved and I feel very proud to be up there with him.

    Q: It’s a special day generally in numbers – 4.2 seconds faster this year’s pole compared to last years. The average generally this year has been around 2-2.5s, can you break it down for us why this weekend is so far much faster around this track with these cars?

    LH: It’s a medium-high downforce circuit so it’s to do this engine being more powerful than it was last year, for all of us. We’ve got a lot more downforce, so the speed that we are going through the corners, it’s so much faster than it was last year. It’s a longer circuit, there’s more time at full throttle, so DRS counts for more than it perhaps has done at other places. A combination of those I would assume. Yeah, it feels amazing around this track. It always does, but to have a car as we have here and the set-up I was able to work with my engineers, to achieve the balance was great, and to really be able to lean on the car around this circuit, I’ve never had such a feeling. Pouhon, Turn 10, was nearly flat, which is insane, I’ve definitely never experienced that in my time whilst in Formula One. We’re just like Ricky Bobby – we want to go faster, and it is a great feeling when you do.

    Q: Congratulations, very special day. Sebastian, it was important for Mercedes today that they get two cars on the front row and it was very important for you that they didn’t. It took you a while to get there, so under the circumstances would you class that a very special lap on your behalf?

    SV: Not just on my behalf. I think I had a little bit of help from a friend. Kimi had to abort his lap and he was very generous in giving me a tow in the last sector and that got me about two tenths so that helped and it made it a bit more comfortable with Valtteri looking at the result. Q1 I was really happy, the car was amazing. Q2 the main job was to get through, and then Q3 first lap I was missing a little bit the feel for the front. The second run in Q3 was better in that regard. So I was very happy with the last lap and as I said obviously with a little bit of a help it was quite nice. It was then tricky getting into the last corner, because knowing that you arrive so much faster with the tow and braking is never easy, it’s easy to miss it for the last corner. But I managed to get it right and to get it across the line so that was useful. The pace has been good this weekend. I think less for one lap, more so for long runs, so let’s see what we can do tomorrow.

    Q: Your long-run pace yesterday looked very promising compared to the Mercedes so does that give you some hope for tomorrow. There is a strange start to this race as well, because you don’t necessarily always want to be the first car down the straight in the opening stages as there is an opportunity for P2 to get ahead?

    SV: Yeah that’s right. Well, we’ll see when we get to that. I think the start is still very important and you try to do your best there and try to take it from there. I think the long run pace looked good yesterday, also this morning. Obviously we didn’t do a lot of laps overall this weekend, it’s a long lap, so the amount of laps you get is not that much compared to other tracks. But, as I said, the car was really good, especially for the race, so now we hope to confirm that. Tomorrow will be a tough day though, I mean start, first laps, as you said big straights, tows and in general strategy around here so we will see what happens.

    Q: Coming to you Valtteri, you had second place, again it took you a while to get to that point, and then obviously Sebastian took it away from you. He’s explained that the tow had a part to play in it – but did you feel you were on your A-game today?

    VB: Yeah, first of all congrats to Lewis for the pole and for the 69th [68th] it’s a mega-achievement. I’ve only got two so some way to go. This whole weekend for some reason I’ve been not really close enough to be able to challenge for that pole. For sure Lewis has been really on it but I’m slightly confused why I’ve not been able to get quite close enough. Still need to find some answers for me. The balance of the car has been feeling really good. Been just really lacking overall grip and that way, losing a lot of time in the high-speed corners in Sector Two. So, yeah, was always going to be a bit tricky to challenge for the pole, unfortunately. Would have been nice to at least be second but Sebastian got ahead. But still, second row and I’m sure as a team we can do good tomorrow.

    Q: As we were just saying, the Ferrari, the long run pace on the ultrasoft yesterday and again the long run pace this morning looked pretty handy, but what was striking about you guys is that your soft tyre pace is pretty strong. Presumably, strategy-wise, you’re counting on that tomorrow to get in front of Sebastian before the chequered flag.

    VB: Yeah, it is going to be a long race and here we know always anything can happen and you never know with the weather as well. It’s going to be a day full of opportunities for me as well, starting third. Probably going to see different behaviour with the different cars, with the different tyre compounds. So, should be interesting.

    Q: (Angelique Belokopytov – Autodigest) First of all, congratulations Lewis for this special day, special record too, so question to all three of you, could you please share with us a special memorable moment shared with Michael please?

    SV: It’s not fair to pick one moment. I think the fact we’re both from the same country makes it easier to in a way get closer to him. I know him for a very, very long time, the age of six or seven I met him for the very first time, he was handing over the trophies to the kids at the go-kart track in Kerpen, his home track, not far away from here. Yeah, it was massive. We were more than a hundred kids and he took the time to shake all our hands, hand over the trophies, so as a child I think that was indescribable. Obviously he was my hero. I had his posters everywhere in my room and he was pretty much the only guy I followed when I was young. So, yeah, big inspiration and we then I think we had a lot of good moments, a lot of fun moments. As a child it’s different, you’re star-struck in a way. It’s my hero, what do I say? I don’t know. And then later on I got to know him and yeah, we really got a long. He’s a great guy, good fun and I think the admiration for his skills is the same as day one. We shared a lot of good moments at the Race of Champions together and even if you can argue about the format and so on, still you have to drive different cars, adapt and the way he drives a go-kart is… I don’t know… it’s just so different to everybody else I’ve ever seen. So, I don’t know how I look from the outside but I guess I don’t look that, so yeah, many moments. Sober and not sober. It’s hard to pick one.

    Lewis?

    LH: I think I already mentioned earlier on my find and probably favourite memory of seeing Michael come by but just like Sebastian, I grew up watching him and I would play him, I would always be… particularly when he was in a Ferrari, when I was racing in computer games I was Michael a lot, the majority of the time. Having the privilege, I raced with him in Kerpen many, many years ago and yeah, just trying to think of the best moment. I’ve always had good, fond memories of him. Another really good one was Abu Dhabi, just before he left. I plucked up the courage to go ask if he would swap helmets with me. He was welcoming and did, so yeah, that’s definitely one of the coolest things in my house.

    Valtteri?

    VB: I remember watching on TV all the battles he used to have in the 1990s with Häkkinen. That was really good to watch and remember how excited I was every Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon, waking up and knowing it’s going to be another proper battle on track. And I also remember, it’s not even so far ago, 2012, when I did Friday practice for Williams and, for the first time I was the same time on track with Michael. For me, that was quite special.

    Q: (Mike Doodson – Honorary) Sebastian, you mentioned Kimi’s generous gesture to you. We didn’t see it on TV and I was wondering if it happened spontaneously or if you had to position yourself on the track or did that just happen by good chance?

    SV: As far as I understand, he had a mistake on his last flying lap, his last attempt, so it wasn’t planned; he wanted obviously to finish that lap but when he, I guess when he did the mistake and just because of where we were positions, he obviously cruised back to the pits. I guess the team didn’t even tell him anything. I think he just saw a red car in the mirror and thought ‘I’ll hand him a tow,” which was quite nice. It was obviously quite useful for me – but it wasn’t planned. I saw some other teams playing around with tows previously in qualifying – but usually it’s one of those things you can’t really plan so we tend to stay away from it. To answer your question, I think it was very spontaneous.

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) First off, congratulations Lewis. You went into Beast Mode in Q3, you talked about that moment with Michael. How does it feel that now, you creating this moment and building this legacy of yours, that you’re inspiring that next generation, who will sit here say the same thing, that they were inspired by what you did here today?

    LH: Well, thank you. I think it’s a good question. I’ve not really sat and thought too much about it because obviously I’m here right now – but it is the case, y’know. Many, many years from now they’ll be some kid, some grown-up sitting here… maybe it’s not many, many years from now – Sebastian’s not far behind on the poles, could catch-up, but yeah, I think it’s amazing, it’s a real privilege for all of us to be up here, knowing that even currently that there are kids, even adults that are looking up to us for inspiration in their daily lives but also setting goals. For me, I always try to put out positive energy. I think success comes a lot with a real positive frame of mind. It’s very easy for all of us to be negative on occasions – but the most important thing is to wake-up in the morning and try to find that positive energy, wherever you get it from, and apply that to whatever it is that you’re trying to work or achieve. I think we’re all born as stars with the opportunity to do something special. It’s all about finding and using  that positive energy.

    Q: (Livio Orrichio – globoesporte.com) Lewis, in your last set of tyres, you didn’t get the best in the T1, the first part of the track, but you did a wonderful T2. Did you change the car in the final part of the qualifying, the Q3?

    LH: You mean the last lap? No. Well, you can’t change the car, the only thing I could do is wing but that doesn’t affect the first sector. I was up as far as I’m aware. My dashboard, it said I was up 0.8 of a tenth, or something like that, nearly a tenth in sector one, so I’m not really sure what you’re relating to. Maybe it was down but my delta said it was up. But I didn’t change anything. I did pretty much the same sector – but the second sector particularly and a little bit in the last sector was really where I made the gains. That middle sector, Turn Ten, it’s nearly flat, as I mentioned. That was pretty awesome.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, how crucial is it tomorrow to beat at least one of these guys behind… I mean in front of you, for your championship hopes?

    VB: Hopefully at least one behind, so I’m not last. Yeah, for sure we’re all fighting for the title. Obviously it is nine races to do so there are a massive amount of points still available. So this is only one race but every race counts. For sure try to gain any positions possible. For us as a team, we know that it is a strong circuit for us. So we really need to capitalise. We want, as a team, to be one-two. That’s going to be the mission.

    Q: (Bas Holtkamp – Raceexpress.com) Question to Lewis. Now you’ve achieved this goal for the most pole positions ever – almost, you’ve equalled Michael – what is your next goal. Do you have a magic number in mind? Like, are you going for the 80 or 100 or whatever?

    LH:  No, I haven’t… I generally take my days one days at a time so I haven’t planned for anything further than for what I already have – but I plan on being here for some time so I will work towards whatever number it could possibly be. When I came across the line on that slow-down lap, it was a real moment to reflect on my team, who did such a great job, who have worked so hard through the year to enable me, to give me the car of my dreams. That’s the car that we all… that’s the car that us three up here have dreamed of racing. There’s so many people back at the factory, and people watching TV just don’t even have the even the faintest idea. There’s so much work that goes on back home, there’s so many people. Every day I go to the factory I find a new little workshop that’s underneath the stairs, and I’ve been walking past that for five years and didn’t even know it was there – and five people come out of that little space and they’d have been there for 20 years. So, yeah, I’ve been really fortunate to work with some really great people and I’m just really just a small link in the chain but I’m proud of my link in the chain and I plan to continue to propel this car and this team forward. I believe that we can get many more – so that’s the goal. Sky’s the limit really.

    Q:(Flavio Vanetti – Corriera della Sera) Sebastian, we know that you signed a long term contract and I would like to know if in some way it’s the same trust that Michael had towards the team?  And secondly, if you had any moment in which you had doubts about Ferrari and maybe you thought to quit the team?

    SV: I don’t know what trust Michael had. I never actually spoke with him about that. Yeah, unfortunately, as you all know I didn’t have the opportunity. I think he would have been one of the first people to ask back in 2014 and probably have to consult also you know, now in terms of… I don’t know, through the course of this year for the future, whatever. I love this team, I love the people who are working for this brand. Obviously Lewis touched on the effort that is going into building a Formula One car. I think for most of the teams it’s probably the same but still I believe Ferrari has something unique, something that other teams don’t have. People talk about a legend, to me it appears that this legend is still alive because of the people who work for it, day in, day out. I’m sure you have been to Maranello, probably most of you haven’t but if you walk down the streets in Maranello, the presence of Ferrari is huge but if you see the people working at Ferrari and meet them, then it’s even bigger, what they carry inside them, the passion for the brand and that’s I think and I’m convinced, allowing every single one of them to go an extra step compared to other people, other teams. That’s my conviction and extremely grateful to be part of that family. In a way, it was a no-brainer to continue. We haven’t yet achieved what we what we wanted to achieve but things are looking pretty good and obviously we have a long road ahead of us.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Lewis, if you take pole position at Monza, you’ll break Michael’s record. Would that be the ultimate tribute to him, the ultimate place to do it in front of all the Ferrari fans to pay tribute to his greatness?

    LH: I’m not really sure whether that, how… my next step, how that applies to anyone else. If I dedicate it to him, yeah, could be the best tribute being that he had so much success at Ferrari and in Italy. Yeah, I’ve not really thought of it to be honest. Don’t have an answer for you there.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday, Motorsport Week.com) Sebastian, speculation before you signed was that you were going to possibly sign a one year deal with Ferrari. Now they’ve come out and announced that you’ve signed at least three years. Do you see yourself ending your career at Maranello?

    SV: Well, I don’t know, since we learned last year that these things can happen fairly quickly and spontaneously you never know. But yeah, obviously now I don’t need to think and spend time about thinking about the future so that’s clear and then I think we cross that bridge when we get to it. It’s a long time, a lot of things can happen so we will see. Also then you can never say never. You retire and then, I don’t I know, might get bored, come back. We may see Nico back in a couple of years, who knows? Michael obviously decided to come back at some point because he loved racing but that’s all far far away so not really a topic.

    Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Sebastian, yesterday you said that there would be no news on your contract for two weeks. I just wanted to know what changed in 24 hours for you?

    SV: Nothing personal, I don’t like the Sun. I saw a clip yesterday of a funny interview with Jurgen Klopp and he doesn’t like the Sun either so maybe I will jump on the bandwagon. Maybe I give you a last answer. Yeah, I didn’t think that it’s probably the right time so I didn’t rush or push but things were coming along together fairly quickly in the end and we decided to go for it and make the call. So yeah, I know it wasn’t the best in terms of one day and then the other but that’s how it was.

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Perhaps you will like the BBC, Sebastian. Did you actually sign it this weekend? How did you decide to sign for three years? And did you have any talks with or thoughts about joining Mercedes?

    SV: Well, I mean I have been around in the paddock for a while so I know people and it’s natural that you talk but it’s never been more than chatting, mostly about other stuff, to be honest but yeah, I’ve been talking for a while with Ferrari. As I said, my intention was to stay. We haven’t succeeded so the mission is still ongoing. I want to win in red. We talked about inspiration earlier about Michael, he was mostly dressed in red. He won most of his races in red and his championships. I don’t want to step in his footsteps. I think the whole generation of the Ferrari team today wants to leave their own footsteps but certainly there’s a huge inspiration so something for me is now the biggest challenge, the biggest dream that I have and what I want to achieve. I think, to answer your question at the beginning, since I like the BBC, is yes, I actually signed it this weekend.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Do you think tomorrow will be a Ferrari-Mercedes battle again or do you fear Red Bull might interfere?

    LH: Yeah, he just said where are they? I don’t… where did they qualify?

    SV: Five and six.

    LH: I’ve not seen their pace, so as far as I’m aware they’ve been a bit down on power, they’ve tried different… lower and higher range of wings. I think they’ve been a little bit off the pace as far as I’m aware but you never know. Whatever conditions we’re faced with tomorrow, I think the pace of us at the moment, both Ferrari and Mercedes, is pretty strong so…

    SV: Well, it wouldn’t be the first time that we see significant increase in race pace for Red Bull so obviously in qualifying, also round here, it might not be their strongest track but tomorrow, come race, lot of laps, looking after the tyres, I think they’ve proven in the past that they’re very strong so you should never under-estimate and forget about them.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Valtteri, is it frustrating seeing everybody else signing new contracts?

    VB: No. Good for them.

    LH: Who’s everybody else, anyways? This one dude here.

    Q: Kimi, Vandoorne.

    LH: Not everyone else.

    VB: No, I’m just really focusing on my own things. I know where we are with everything. I don’t need to worry if other people are doing contracts. I’m only interested in what I’m going to do and what the team is going to do and that’s what matters. Like I said, there’s no rush really because for this season I joined in January, so there’s still plenty of time.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To both Mercedes drivers: no problems with tyre temperatures considering the ultrasoft tyres on the flying laps and also long runs, and Sebastian, Lauda said today that he stopped talking to you two months ago. What went wrong that the conversations didn’t go ahead?

    LH: Can he answer first? I’m interested to hear his…

    SV: Nothing. Nothing went wrong. I think I’m very happy. I think Niki is generally a happy guy so… nothing went wrong.

    LH: For us, we didn’t have any problems with the tyres. I haven’t struggled with tyre temps so far this weekend and I think it wasn’t a problem throughout qualifying as well. It was very easy to get temperatures. The tyres have been giving quite a lot of grip. I think it feels like, particularly for qualifying, that the one step softer was a good direction but it will be interesting to see how it works out tomorrow.

    VB: Yeah, definitely, I think right choices from Pirelli for this weekend, to go with the softest compounds. Even with the ultrasofts no big problems, little bit of overheating during the lap but it’s not massive, it’s pretty normal so it was good.

     

    Photo by courtesy Pirelli

  • Ferrari confirm Sebastian Vettel until the end of 2020

    Ferrari confirm Sebastian Vettel until the end of 2020

    Ferrari has announced that Sebastian Vettel will remain with the team until the end of the 2020 F1 season.

    The news rules out a switch to Mercedes in the near future and this was also confirmed by Niki Lauda during the third practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix where Niki said, “He has no reason to move, they are competitive, he is winning. We stopped talks with him months ago.

    The statement issued by Ferrari confirms that Vettel has extended his technical and racing agreement with the team.

    It’s very likely that Ferrari, Mercedes, and Red Bull will retain the same driver line-ups for the 2018 F1 season. At the moment, we’re only waiting on an announcement from Mercedes around Valtteri Bottas’ future.

  • Williams Fined for Tyre Mix Up in Belgium Free Practice

    Williams Fined for Tyre Mix Up in Belgium Free Practice

    The Williams Formula One team were fined €10 000 for using the incorrect tyres on Lance Strolls car during Free Practice 1.

    The team was summoned to the stewards after free practice 2 to explain an alleged breach of Article 24.4 g) i) of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations.

    The regulation is that a driver must hand back a set of tyres from their allocation after the first 40 minutes of free practice 1. There are exceptions to the time limit in case there is a red flag.

    Felipe Massa’s crash in FP1 brought out the red flags which meant that drivers could use the set for an additional 9 minutes before handing back a set.

    The stewards found that Williams had fitted the set that was meant to be given back on to Stroll’s car two more times after the cut off time and were fined €10 000.

    “During P1 car number 18, driver Lance Stroll, used the set of tyres which the team has nominated prior to the start of P1 for only been used during the first 40 minutes (respectively 9 minutes added to these due to the red flag),” said the FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer in his technical report.

    “The set in question got re-used at 11:09hrs for 6 laps and again at 11:21hrs for 4 laps. As this is not in compliance with Article 24.4 g i) (3rd paragraph), I am referring this matter to the stewards for their consideration.”

    This is not the first time Williams had a mix up with the tyres in Spa-Francorchamps. During the Belgian Grand Prix race in 2015, in a pit stop, Williams fitted three soft compound tyres and one medium compound tyre to Bottas’ car. Williams was handed a suspended fine for that incident.

    “The Stewards heard from a team representative and the competitor admitted the infringement,” said the stewards in a statement.

    “Having considered the facts the Stewards accept that the infringement was inadvertent.

    “The stewards have taken due note of the repeated offenses concerning tyres by the team and a smilar infringement for which a suspended fine was imposed.”