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Raikkonen Fastest in 3rd Free Belgian GP Practice

Kimi Raikkonen claimed the top spot on the time sheets at the third free practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix at the Circuit Spa-Francorchamps.

Raikkonen set his best time of 1:47.974 on his second run on the super softs. Up until that point. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo held the top spot also with a run on the super soft tyres.

Ricciardo took the spot of second fastest 0..215s off the pace with a 1:48.189. Max Verstappen in the other Red Bull did not set a time due to a sensor problem on his gearbox.

Sebastian Vettel was 3rd fastest with a 1:48.297, 0.323s off Raikkonen’s time. Vettel had a few issues with traffic but his timed lap didn’t seem to come together.

In a better showing of form compared to Friday’s running Valtter Bottas was 4th fastest setting a 1:48.504.

After running most of the session with the soft tyre with long run pace, Lewis Hamilton fitted the super soft tyres just before the end of the session and managed a time of 1:48.635 which put him 5th fastest. It was hard to tell whether Hamilton was just not pushing or the W07 was struggling with the high track temperatures. Mercedes’ Paddy Lowe confirmed that Hamilton will do the minimum during qualifying after Hamilton took on a 3rd power unit which effectively drops him another 25-places down the grid which brings his total grid drop total to 55-places.

Nico Hulkenberg was 6th fastest showing some very good pace for Force India. Sergio Perez in the other Force India was 9th fastest for the session.

Nico Rosberg could not get his lap together and managed 7th fastest. With the pressure on him this weekend, he needs a strong showing this weekend to close the gap to Hamilton and possibly take the lead in the constructors championship.

Rounding out the top 10 was Romain Grosjean for Haas.

With the times very close to each other Qualifying looks like it will become a very close fought battle. The top 9 were covered by 1 second.

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:47.974	–	11
2	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:48.189	+0.215	18
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:48.297	+0.323	12
4	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:48.504	+0.530	17
5	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:48.635	+0.661	20
6	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:48.739	+0.765	12
7	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:48.742	+0.768	19
8	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:48.783	+0.809	21
9	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:48.915	+0.941	12
10	Romain Grosjean	Haas	1:49.272	+1.298	16
11	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:49.453	+1.479	9
12	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas	1:49.631	+1.657	16
13	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:49.665	+1.691	10
14	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	1:49.716	+1.742	11
15	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor	1:49.761	+1.787	15
16	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	1:50.023	+2.049	9
17	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:50.078	+2.104	9
18	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1:50.241	+2.267	11
19	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:50.420	+2.446	13
20	Esteban Ocon	Manor	1:50.693	+2.719	18
21	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:51.319	+3.345	5
–	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	–	–	2

Photo credit: Scuderia Ferrari Formula One

August 27, 2016

2016 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference

EAM REPRESENTATIVES – Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Claire WILLIAMS (Williams), Monisha KALTENBORN (Sauber), Eric BOULLIER (McLaren), Frédéric VASSEUR (Renault), Robert FERNLEY (Force India)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Eric, if we could start with you please. Let’s start by talking about the updated power unit you’re running in both cars this weekend. Where is it better than the old one and do you have any further reliability worries after what happened to Alonso this morning?

Eric BOULLIER: As whole it’s very easy to understand. The first is engine power from the ICE and obviously the power recovery you can get from the turbo and the MGU-H. So on that [Honda] did a brilliant job to improve both compounds, let’s say, on both systems. In terms of reliability, no, we don’t have any concerns. It was a small issue, which cost us a full power unit this morning and the session but you could see in practice two both cars ran faultlessly, so I think it’s far?

Can you put a number on the lap time gain you’ve found with this power unit?

EB: Yes I can, but I will not share it with you!

We’ve seen former motorsport director of Volkswagen Jost Capito with McLaren this weekend. When does he start with the team and can you explain to us where he’ll fit into the current management structure?

EB: Yeah, it’s very easy. He’s going to start very soon; it’s a question of days. He is here this weekend as an observer, that’s why he’s not wearing any team uniform. He’s going to be CEO of McLaren Racing, so chief executive officer.

Thank you, Eric. Claire if we could move onto you. I’d like to start by talking about drivers. Your technical boss Pat Symonds was quoted recently as saying that Williams is ready to sign a top driver. Now, one of the interpretations of that is that you don’t currently have a top driver, do you agree with him?

Claire WILLIAMS: I think actually Pat’s comments in that article that came out over shutdown were comments that were made in January, so it’s quite odd that they are now brought out. But Pat, when he was making those comments, was making a reference to one particular driver. It was not in reference to our current two. I think as we have said very clearly we are very happy with the job Felipe and Valtteri have done for us. I know everybody is waiting for our announcement now that lots of other teams have made theirs, but we are not ready to announce our line-up for ‘17 yet but we are working through all our options but I hope we will be able to make that announcement shortly.

When do you think we will get an announcement from you?

CW: By the end of the year.

OK. Moving on to Spa: this is a track where you have traditionally been very strong, although you seemed to have a few issues this afternoon, just 16^th and 17^th fastest. How confident are you of a good result this weekend?

CW: I think after our performance in the past few races where we expected the circuits to suit our car, it wasn’t the case for a number of reasons. We’ve obviously been working hard to try to analyse where we are going wrong and it is really frustrating fro the team and we do have a really tough battle with Force India at the moment – we don’t want them to take our fourth in the championship. It’s going to be another tough weekend, as much as this circuit does suit our care, but there are also elements of it that don’t. So I don’t know. After today’s performance, where we’re finishing 16^th and 17^th, we obviously had some issues, I’m not entirely sure where we are going to finish on Sunday but I certainly hope it’s in the points.

OK thank you Claire. Bob, Force India is another team that has a very good record here and things clearly going very well for you so far – third and fifth quickest this afternoon. You’re quick here today, do you have Williams in your sights, do you think you can beat them this weekend and what about the Constructors’ Championship?

Robert FERNLEY: Well, I think we’d like to beat them, but I think you have to look at it that probably Spa and Monza are going to be quite critical races, because as you rightly said earlier, they do tend to favour Williams. So, at the end of Monza we need to look at where the situation is and whether we’ve got ‘game on’ for a hard fight until the end of the season. I think these two races are quite critical because historically and on normal expectations you’d expect Williams to be stronger.

Let’s talk about drivers as well. Vijay Mallya said at the British Grand Prix that both Nico and Checo are under contract for 2017 but Checo has said that he’d make a decision after the summer break. Has he done that?

RF: Well first of all both Checo and Nico are both under contract and that’s the normal way you would work as obviously we need continuity in the drivers, we’d very much like to keep the two together, but with Checo come highly sophisticated and complex commercial negotiations and those obviously have got to play their part as well. But that can only come after we’ve secured the two drivers in the first place. That’s the process we’re under now and I would be very surprised if we’re not staying with the two drivers in 2017.

Fred, coming to you, your driver situation is equally fluid, so when do you expect to make a decision for next year?

Frédéric VASSEUR: Quite similar to Claire, before the end of the year. We are not under pressure to take a decision. We will take a decision in the next few weeks or months.

Are drivers for 2017 a priority for you or is it more important to get the technical structure of the team sorted?

FV: Drivers is the priority for everybody, you can’t race without being concerned by the drivers. [Remainder of answer inaudible]

What is the likelihood of Esteban Ocon coming back to you for next year as a race driver, because he’s done some FP1 sessions for you this year, he’s now gone to Manor. Is he a possible for next season for you?

FV: It is possible. Don’t worry we will take a decision soon.

Q: Monisha, like Renault, Sauber are rebuilding. Now that you’ve had new investment, what is the plan for the rebuilding? Is there a timeline?

Monisha KALTENBORN: Well, you want to do things as quickly as you can because we still have to achieve a few things this year and there are not than many races left. At the same time, we have such a big change coming up for next year where you also really don’t want to lose time, and get on straight away to that year. We are already in that process but now, with the new ownership we have, the trust we’ve been given, we are of course on a very different basis. Simultaneously and very quickly we have to look at the technical structures, people, drivers, the financial status. All of that has to be done actually in parallel, and is already happening.

Q: You said you still have things you want to achieve this year. Is one of those scoring points? You’re the only team on the grid that hasn’t done that this year, so we’ve got upgrades on the car this weekend, are we going to see more as you keep pushing to get that point?

MK: We’ll see a few bits and pieces still coming but nothing really extremely big because we are already on to the new car – but staying where we are is certainly no option. Now, we’ve had a season before where we didn’t score points. It had many reasons but it’s not enough to say that we’ll just manage it somehow again. We have to score at least a point, if not more and make sure that we’re getting back into the usual routine, the way we’re used to working.

Q: Christian, the team moved ahead of Ferrari at Hockenheim, last time out, on the evidence of today, you’ve stayed ahead. What are the prospects for the coming races. Do you see yourselves as staying ahead of Ferrari? Can you challenge Mercedes?

CH: They’re two very different things. One, staying ahead of Ferrari, obviously that’s our target and goal. I think the next two races represent our biggest challenges of the nine races remaining. Very power-dominated circuits, here at Spa and Monza in a week’s time. I think Mercedes, we know there’s a significant gap to. We’ve been closer at some races than others. Hopefully there will be opportunities in some of the race venues coming up – circuits spring to mind like Singapore – that we can give them a harder time. And, of course, they’ve got some issues to deal with this weekend with one of their cars. So that represents other opportunities.

Q: How important is second place in the Constructors’ Championship to you – or is it all about 2017. Is that the only thing that matters?

CH: It’s worth a few million pounds, obviously, like all these positions do, so it has a significant value to us. So there is a big push to carry the momentum that we’ve built over the last few races, right to the last race in Abu Dhabi. And then, of course, behind the scenes, as with all the teams, there’s a big development programme under way on the 2017 car with a big regulation change coming. So it’s a busy time, certainly in the factory at the moment.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Marc Surer – Sky Germany) A question for Fred Vasseur. Today, I think it was a premier that a car started on the track. Can you explain, first of all how it stopped and secondly how you got it restarted?

FV: During the session we had a sensor failure and we stopped the car, we decided to stop the car. Then we restarted the car with the MGU-K and the battery. It’s not the first time we did it. I think all the other teams did it in the past.

Q: (Oana Popoiou – F1 Zone) Question for Mr Fernley. Force India has a good chance this year to finish fourth. Is there a compromise to be made by focussing on the battle this year and developing the next year’s car?

RF: No. They’re two completely separate programmes. The battle obviously is for us to take to Williams. Williams are in the lead, they’re an extremely competitive and competent team and we’ve just got to battle hard to try to overtake them. As far as the ’17 car is concerned, that’s a factory issue and we’re flat-out in the factory, as I’m sure all the other teams are as well. So they’re two separate programmes entirely.

Q: (Thomas Lund Hansen – Morgenavissen Jyllands Posten) I have two questions for Mr Vasseur. You’ve said that Renault needs a leader. What characterises a leader and does Kevin Magnussen have these qualifications?

FV: We have to build up the project on a driver because I think it’s also a catalyst for the project, for the team. He needs to motivate the team. If you have a look at the success stories of the past, Sebastian with Red Bull or Michael Schumacher with Ferrari, all the good story and long success stories was built up also on the drivers. We have to do the same for the next six or seven years. Kevin is doing the job. I won’t come back on the fact that I have to take a decision on the drivers. I will do it quite soon, be sure, he is doing the job. We know that we have to improve too on the structure and it’s not a question just on the drivers be sure. I’m happy with my guys.

Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) The current engine regulations took over five years to agree and they currently have about four and a bit years left to run before they expire at the end of 2020. We have an interesting spread here in that we have four customer teams, an exclusive partner team and a manufacturer. When do you believe that we should start looking at the new regulations for 2021 onwards and also what would you like to see included and enshrined in those regulations?

CH: Well, it’s very simple really: cheap, loud, fast engines. I think what we have now… obviously to abandon that fully would be irresponsible, an awful lot of development and R&D has gone into these engines but I think cost is a significant element, particularly for the teams that are paying for the engines. I think that we’re addressing the chassis side of things already for next year, making the car more aggressive, faster and so on, I think one of the elements that is missing from Formula One at the moment is the sound and I think that’s a key aspect that needs to be addressed in engine regulations moving forward. But probably not moving too far away from the architecture that we currently have. I think to rip it up in its entirety this far into the game would probably be the wrong thing to do.

EB: I think that if you want to address the cost and obviously the convergence of performance we believe that the regulations should be extended after 2020 with the current ones. As Christian said, part of the show is maybe we miss better sound or better quality sound for the engines so that’s something that needs to be addressed technically but clearly if you have stability in the regulations and some longer term projects, obviously the convergence of performance will happen quicker and the cost will go down.

CW: I would echo what Christian and Eric have said. Obviously from an independent team’s perspective whereby we are a customer, having those regulations outlined beyond 2020 and stabilised inevitably will help us if we are to go out and look for our own engine partner past 2020 when our Mercedes relationship will come to an end will be really important. I obviously believe that the hybrid element of the current power unit is part of the architecture that we should maintain. I think it’s a very important message that Formula One can send out but yeah, I would echo everything that Christian and Eric have said.

FV: It’s quite similar to everybody else in that if you want to have more exciting racing then to close the gap between everybody, we need to get the convergence on the engine also and by the way, we would be able to reduce the cost for the future, but if you drastically change the regulations you will increase the costs because you will have to do research and development and at the other end you will increase the potential gap between everybody. But I think we have to stick to the current ones and for sure we have to adapt some points because it makes sense but not to change the regulations drastically.

MK: As an independent team that pays for its engines, for us of course the costs are extremely important and one thing is with stability to bring the cost down but equally important is the changes. Ancillary costs can get very high and this is something which independent teams equally suffer from because in addition to the costs with the engine itself brought in which were much higher than the previous engine, the costs you had around building that engine in the chassis side were extremely high for us so stability is very important. Of course as Christian said, you have to keep in mind that the show has to be a good one and we have seen this time a lot went wrong in introducing the engine. At the same time, you also have to make sure that the interests of the manufacturers are looke at because they have vital interests in introducing certain technologies. So I think looking at all these very different positions, it’s very important to start talks now, because we’ve seen in the past that engines were cancelled overnight, whilst different concepts were introduced, we really need a long time to be able to agree something sensible and not again be in a situation where in six months time you have to decide something.

BF: I think I would endorse what Christian said. We need to have something that’s very competitively priced, addresses the issues in terms of noise but I think we’re fooling ourselves if we think that as independent teams we have any say in these things. At the end of the day the manufacturers will decide what they’re going to do and we will be given a take-it or leave-it situation.

Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) For M. Bouillier, yesterday Fernando Alonso said he is not enjoying this Formula One. I would love to know what are your feelings about that, what it means to have a driver who is not enjoying driving?

EB: Well, I think we have been working on changing the regulations for next year and as McLaren was concerned we were pushing a little bit harder. It’s true that the regulations today… drivers enjoy qualifying today because we are now breaking records so I think it’s fast enough. Drivers enjoying driving a physical car to drive and clearly Fernando is one of the most experienced drivers on the grid so he remembers the cars in 2005 and 2006 where they were much more lateral Gs than cornering speed and this is what the drivers like. I think next year’s regulations will fix part of or most of the issues actually. They may have today by not enjoying the cars, the tyres get fatter, the cars… now you have to save fuel, save tyres to be competitive during the race and I think by changing the regulations they will enjoy it more. So we have discussed this matter many times, it’s understandable and I think F1 anyway should have this wow aspect. When a young driver comes in and realises that F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport and even including driving the car is the most difficult car to drive.

Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS.NL) Christian, it’s been a long time since Red Bull had a one-two in a race. Imagine there’s a possibility on Sunday in the closing stages, Ricciardo leading the race, Verstappen very quick, wants to win his home race. How do you prevent Mercedes-like problems in the closing stages?

CH: Well, we talk about these things beforehand, you discuss tactics, you try and come up with set rules in certain situations and then the race starts and everything gets forgotten. The guys are racers at the end of the day and if we were in a fortunate enough position to be racing for a victory and you’ve got a driver racing in front of – well, I think half of Holland is coming here this weekend by the looks of things – I can’t imagine that he wouldn’t go for it. I think it would be wrong for us to interfere with a race like that. All we ask of the drivers is give each other enough space to work with. If you’re going to race each other, race fairly and remember you’re carrying the aspirations of the 750-odd people that you represent when you’re driving those cars. It’s not just about the drivers.

August 26, 2016

F1 2016: Belgium Gp Free Practice 2 Report – Verstappen Quickest

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen set the quickest time in the second free practice session for the Belgian grand prix.

The second free practice session ran in pristine sunshine during which Dutch driver Verstappen set a quickest time of 1:48:085 ahead of his Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo. Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg set the third fastest time ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and the sister Force India of Sergio Perez.

Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton ended the session sixth and thirteenth quickest on the timing sheets. Neither Mercedes driver ran the quickest supersoft tyre. The number 7 Ferrari of Raikkonen was seventh quickest without a clear run on the red-walled supersoft tyre while Haas F1’s Romain Grosjean was eighth overall. McLaren’s Jenson Button and Esteban Gutierrez in the Haas rounded out the top ten. The Williams duo endured a tough session as Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa ended 16th and 17th overall.

The long runs revealed a comparable pace on the yellow-walled soft tyre between the two Red Bull teammates with Vettel a few tenths adrift in the Ferrari. Hamilton, who will start the race from the back of the grid due to penalties, ran a long stint on the medium compound tyres which consistently hovered in the mid 1:55 bracket.

Final Standings Free Practice 2:

Pos.	Driver	Team	Best Time	Gap	Laps
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:48.085	–	27
2	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:48.341	+0.256	27
3	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:48.657	+0.572	30
4	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:49.023	+0.938	27
5	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:49.100	+1.015	27
6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:49.161	+1.076	33
7	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:49.244	+1.159	30
8	Romain Grosjean	Haas	1:49.419	+1.334	20
9	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:49.419	+1.334	23
10	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas	1:49.648	+1.563	23
11	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor	1:49.716	+1.631	31
12	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:49.772	+1.687	30
13	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:49.782	+1.697	33
14	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	1:49.916	+1.831	25
15	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:50.083	+1.998	27
16	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:50.151	+2.066	19
17	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:50.157	+2.072	29
18	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:50.194	+2.109	25
19	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	1:50.375	+2.290	34
20	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1:50.562	+2.477	32
21	Esteban Ocon	Manor	1:50.659	+2.574	25
22	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:50.719	+2.634	24

August 26, 2016

Hamilton to Drop 55-Places for Belgian GP Race

Lewis Hamilton will drop a total of 30-places down the grid after Mercedes replaced his Power Unit before Free Practice 2 for the Belgian Grand Prix.

Mercedes had given Hamilton a new PU before free practice 1 which put him on his 6th turbo charger and 6th MGU-H. That would’ve dropped him 15 places.

Just after Free Practice 2 got underway Mercedes confirmed that they have given Hamilton a new PU which meant that he took a 7th turbo and 7th MGU-H. With the addition of the second PU his total grid drop tally comes to 30-places.

Hamilton took a third new power unit for the weekend just before free practice 3. That makes it his 6th engine, 6th MGU-K, 8th MGU-H, and 8th turbo. That’s a further 25-place grid penalty which brings his total grid place drop to 55. With the new regulations that were put in place for the 2016 season, Hamilton can not go any further than the back of the grid.

Racing Director at Mercedes, Paddy Lowe said that they will do the minimum amount of running during qualifying as Hamilton starts from the back of the grid anyway.

These new PU components gives Hamilton a pool of components to use till the end of the season without incurring any further penalties.

August 26, 2016
Alonso Hit With 35-Place Gird Penalty

McLaren’s Fernando Alonso will take a 35-place grid drop at the Belgian Grand Prix for replacing his power unit after a water leak kept him out of FP1.

Honda arrived at Spa with an updated engine after spending 7 tokens on upgrading the turbo and the combustion. Both Alonso and Button were given their 5th PU’s ahead of Free Practice 1.

After just three installation laps McLaren found a water leak on Alonso’s engine. This kept him out for the rest of the session.

As a precaution Honda took the decision to replace the entire PU which consists of the engine, turbo, MGU-H, MGU-K, energy store and control electronics. This means that Alonso takes a 6th of each component and gets a collective 35-place grid penalty.

With new regulations coming into place will mean that Alonso can only move to 22nd on the grid.

August 26, 2016

F1 2016: Belgium Gp Free Practice 1 Report – Rosberg On Top

Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg topped the timing sheet at the end of the first free practice session for the 2016 Belgian grand prix.

The Formula 1 season resumed after its summer break with the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit bathed in glorious sunshine. Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg set the quickest time of the 90 minute session with a time of 1:48:348 ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton who set a time of 1:49:078. Both Mercedes drivers set their quickest time of the session on the red-walled supersoft tyre.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen set the third quickest time at a 1:49:147 but only ran the yellow-walled soft tyre. Sergio Perez was fourth for Force India as the second Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top five.

Several drivers including Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo ran the Halo head protection system in an installation lap as further development ahead of the introduction of the system. Pirelli further offered teams two prototype set of tyres to test in preparation for 2017. The test tyres were focused on the construction of the tyre as opposed to outright performance.

Renault’s Jolyon Palmer lost the last twenty minutes of the session with a technical issue. However, McLaren’s Fernando Alonso failed to set a lap time as his car suffered a water leak early in the session. It has been confirmed that Lewis Hamilton will incur a 15 place grid penalty after changing two elements his power unit.

Final Standings Free Practice 1:

Pos.	Driver	Team	Best Time	Gap	Lap
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:48.348s	–	27
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:49.078s	0.730	25
3	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:49.147s	0.799	24
4	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:49.274s	0.926	23
5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:49.768s	1.420	19
6	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:49.782s	1.434	24
7	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:49.865s	1.517	24
8	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:50.088s	1.740	21
9	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:50.394s	2.046	31
10	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas	1:50.583s	2.235	21
11	Romain Grosjean	Haas	1:50.899s	2.551	18
12	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:51.122s	2.774	28
13	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:51.125s	2.777	16
14	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:51.424s	3.076	17
15	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:51.768s	3.420	19
16	Esteban Ocon	Manor	1:51.787s	3.439	26
17	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	1:52.308s	3.960	19
18	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:52.407s	4.059	18
19	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor	1:52.837s	4.489	23
20	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	1:53.053s	4.705	20
21	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1:53.089s	4.741	20
–	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	–	–	3

August 26, 2016

2016 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

DRIVERS: Esteban OCON (Manor), Romain GROSJEAN (Haas), Daniil KVYAT (Toro Rosso), Fernando ALONSO (McLaren), Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing), Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Esteban, if we could start with you: many congratulations on your grand prix debut. Just describe your emotions now: how excited are you and indeed how surprised are you to be racing this weekend?

Esteban OCON: Yeah, thank you, first of all. No, it’s a great opportunity for me to be driving here in Spa. So thanks to Mercedes, Renault and to Manor for that. It’s great to start in Spa as well. It’s a track I know, so it will help [me] to get up to speed. Let’s see how it goes. I’m looking forward to it and I’m ready.

You’re only 19 and as you say you’ve raced a lot here at Spa. You’ve also got quite a lot of Formula One now, you’ve done FP1 for Renault for the past three races, so do you feel ready and prepared?

EO: Yeah, I feel like I’ve had the best preparation I could get. It’s been quite a long time since I’m around in the paddock and also driving Formula One cars, so it’s great to finally make the step and I feel like I am ready to take that one.

And what are your goals for this weekend and the rest of the season?

EO: It would be good to score some points. That will be the target. I also need to learn the team, learn the way they work. Also to see how Pascal works and to get up to speed together, learning from him. Of course, he is a great driver and he has been quick all season so I will need to learn from him and get up to speed in qualifying.

Daniil, if we could come on to you please: it’s been a very hard first half of the season following your return to Toro Rosso, and you’ve even been quoted as saying that you’ve fallen out of love with Formula One. What has the summer break done for your mind set?

Daniil KVYAT: I think it’s done good things for me. It feels like it’s all OK now for me – just come here, do my job, drive as I know how to drive, nothing special really. That’s it.

What do you think you can achieve this weekend? You finished fourth at Spa last year and Toro Rosso introduced a lot of upgrades to the STR11 last time out in Germany, so what’s a realistic goal this weekend?

DK: It’s hard to predict the future, obviously. I don’t know how to do it. So, we’ll get out there, we’ll drive, we’ll use our potential as good as we can, and we’ll see where we are. That’s all I can do.

Romain, coming to you: great memories from here last year of course, you finished third for Lotus? However, it’s been a bit of a dry old summer for yourself and Haas recently. Your last points finish was in Austria. What kind of reset does the team need in the second half of this season?

Romain GROSJEAN: Well, I think, yeah, the last few races before the summer break haven’t been as good as we would have loved. We made some steps forward but there are a few things we needs to understand, so we’re going to try different things. I think the whole summer break helped everyone to reset a bit the mind, to think more calmly about what we can do and what we have been doing and hopefully we’ll get back in the car and it feels as good as it was initially in the year and from there we can score much more points. Generally, I still think that as a first year it’s very positive and even though we have had some difficulties recently it’s never far from the points. Eleventh often for Esteban, I had a bit more problems recently but hopefully goes away and we have a good race here.

How tight is the battle with your immediate rivals in the Constructors’ Championship? Can you catch McLaren, stay ahead of Renault? Where’s the focus?

RG: I think the focus is to learn and to do our best. I think we are more looking at catching McLaren than protecting from Renault. I think there are quite a long way behind and in terms of performance they are not any better than we are, so McLaren has done some good development recently but it doesn’t mean we cannot go there and try to play with them.

Max, you have a Belgian mother, you were born just 50km from this race track and lots of fans are coming to see you this weekend, so do you view this as something of a home race?

Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, I think so. You know, even though I haven’t driven here a lot, yeah definitely I think this is the closest I can get. I think there are also a lot of fans coming, so I’m definitely looking forward to that.

Red Bull overtook Ferrari in Germany, last time out, do you feel confident of stretching that advantage in the coming races?

MV: Well, we definitely will try to do that. I think the last few races have been very positive for us. We got the jump on them and now the most important thing is to stay ahead of course and try to close on Mercedes, even though I think that will be very hard, but we keep pushing, we keep developing and so far it has been very positive for us.

And do you think you have the necessary horsepower to do the business this weekend?

MV: We hope so. We’ll see. I think first of all we have to get the car working really well in terms of set-up and then we’ll see what happens.

Thank you. Fernando, Honda boss Yusuke Hasegawa recently described the team’s progress as incredible. Do you agree with that assessment?

Fernando ALONSO: Yeah, definitely I do agree. If you look at the team 12 months ago we were in a very different situation. We were starting last here using I think the ninth engine we put in Spa. We’ve been lapped two times here last year and in Germany and Hungary and definitely we make a step of nearly minutes, let’s say, not even seconds in a race total time, so definitely we are in a much better position. We are enjoying and definitely the progress is very optimistic in terms of… I think even for next year as well. We are looking forward to this weekend. We have some updates also on the car. We know that Spa and Monza will be tricky races for us in terms of layout and characteristics of the circuits but definitely we are enjoying our time now, seeing all this progress and hungry for more.

You say you have upgrades for this race, but going forward where do you want the focus to be now for McLaren? Do you want it to remain on 2016 or would you like to see 100 per cent effort on 2017?

FA: Well, I think we want to be world champions, so this year is not any more possible.

Q: Lewis, you’ve had an amazing summer, winner of the last four races, you come to Spa with a 19-point lead in the World Championship. Do you wish the summer break had never come – or did you need to recharge your batteries?

Lewis HAMILTON: Well, firstly, good afternoon everybody, it’s good to see everyone. Not too many tanned people – I was expecting to see people with better tans! I’m happy the break came. I think myself and the team needed it. Probably like the rest of the paddock. We had a month with four races in it so it’s definitely been a positive thing for everyone, I think everyone feels refreshed coming back in.

Q: Are you confident of maintaining the momentum from Germany – or could an engine penalty interfere with that here?

LH: Naturally we already discussed engine penalties before so that will come into play for sure – but I’ll do everything I can to minimise the impact it will have. Yeah. Otherwise, beyond that penalty I’ll eventually take, I think I’ll be able to continue with the momentum. I plan to continue with the momentum that I had before the break.

Q: Has it been decided if you’ll take the engine penalty here or at another race?

LH: As far as I’m aware we’ll be taking the engine penalty this weekend, yes. I have no engines left, so…

Q: Your next win will be your 50^th. That’s quite a milestone. What would that mean to you?

LH: I have to get there first! Still, today, everyday I have to pinch myself really to think that I’ve… what I’ve achieved so far in my career. It’s a dream for all of us to be doing what we love, and to succeed at it… watching grands prix growing up I never thought I’d be sitting here with nearly 50 grand prix wins under my belt. It’s very surreal – but I plan to win more. Hopefully we continue to.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Dan Knutson – Speedsport & Auto Action) Max, you’re an old hand now at Formula One, an experienced driver in Formula One. What advice would you give to the young man behind you, how to deal with this new world?

MV: Just jump in the car and go out and drive as fast as you can.

LH: If he’s old, what are the rest of us?

FA: At least to me. You are still young!

Q: (Filip Cleeren – Motorsport.com) Max, there’s obviously talk of Stoffel Vandoorne joining F1 next year. What would it mean for Belgian and Netherlands motorsport, and for yourself to have you two guys fight it out on the track together?

MV: I think it will be very positive for Belgian motorsport and definitely you will see even more Belgian flags here – they will have to compete with the Dutch flags – so we’ll see what happens. I think if happens it will be great in general for Belgium.

Q: (Kevin Eason – The Times) Can I ask you, can you win here even from 20 places back – and can I ask you a question that fans ask me: is it fair that a driver has to bear the burden of the penalty for the incompetence of his team?

LH: In terms of winning, that’s the goal but it’s going to be very, very hard if, obviously everyone’s… if the gap is close between other cars. We’re in the third year of evolution of these cars, so Red Bull have been very quick in some of the races, same with Ferrari particularly and down the whole grid, so it’s going to be harder than it was last year or the year before to climb through the field, for sure – but I’ll do everything I can. It’s really about minimising the damage of taking the penalty. And I think… I mean it is a team sport. We win and we lose together as a team. Whether I make a mistake and the team take the penalty for it, or the team make a mistake, sometimes it’s not actually mistake, it’s just the kind of thing that happens. I don’t look at it as incompetence, I find it a growing experience for us because we’ve learnt a lot from the issues that have happened and hopefully won’t have them again. It’s just unfortunate that I’m the – I guess – the test mice, or whatever you want to call it, that’s tested all of these issues, because obviously none of the other Mercedes engines has had the problems I’ve had.

Q: (Dan Knutson – Speedsport & Auto Action) Romain, we know you’ve had some balance problems with the chassis and the brakes – was that from the beginning of the season or is it something that’s evolved recently?

RG: It came more recently, for some reason. Probably track layout, tyre usage, grip of the car. Yeah, we’re probably going to revert on some of the settings we’ve made. Hopefully get something that suits me a little bit better.

Q: (Barna Zsoldos – Nemzeti Sport) Fernando, you said in an interview that, if the nature of Formula One next year doesn’t change significantly, you stop – even if you win the championship. Is it really that bad? And Lewis, what is your opinion on that: is driving the car nowadays really that bad?

FA: Well, I think I said, sometimes already that next year I finish my contract with McLaren, the one that I have now, so I will have to make a decision if I continue in Formula One or not. I think in the last couple of years, especially with this turbo engine era, the car is a little bit different to drive. I don’t say that it’s better or worse, everyone will have his opinion. I’ve been lucky enough to drive 2003 cars, 2004, 2005, even until 2009 the cars were, in my opinion, more extreme, more Formula One cars, so now when I see GP2 running three seconds away, or something like that in FP1 it feels a little bit sad. Cars are heavy. No grip. We save fuel, we save tyres, we save everything from lap one, so it’s a little bit against the instinct of the driver and next year is a big question mark. I think with the new regs everything will change a little bit. I think if the cars are fun to drive, are exciting to drive, I will probably stay longer and I will drive for more years in Formula One. If the cars are still giving me the feeling that I have in the last couple of years, probably I will stop. But it’s not related to whether you are competitive or not. If you are out in Q1 or winning a championship. It’s just you are enjoying driving the cars or you are not enjoying. Right now, in my opinion, the cars are not enjoyable. Probably because I drove other cars. If you arrive now to Formula One, these cars are very fast and very fun to drive – but not for me anymore.

And Lewis, your thoughts on the challenge provided by the cars?

LH: I agree with everything Fernando said really. There’s two aspects. Fernando’s obviously one of the best drivers we have here and yet he’s had an incredibly challenging last couple of years with a not competitive car, so it’s understandable if that continues that way then it’s no fun for any of us. We live and breathe to win. Knowing in himself that he could fight for a championship if he was sat next to me for example, in our car. In terms of the rules, the cars are going to be the same next year. It’s a different looking car, the same issues are going to be the same and, what Fernando’s saying, we slow down as soon as we’ve done the start and got that out of the way, generally we’re not pushing 100 per cent like perhaps they used to do. It was a more extreme race back in the day, it was a sprint. For us, all starting in go-karts, that’s what it was from the get-go, from the lights out it was a sprint race to the end. Formula One’s not about that anymore. It’s about preserving your tyres, preserving the battery power, preserving the turbo, preserving all these elements which are not what people tune in to see. So, the governing body is continuing to push the car. Next year’s still going to be even more heavy, probably not have great grip. The car will probably be faster but it will have the same characteristics, probably, as what we have now. I might be wrong but most-likely. We’ll drive the same next year, just with a heavier car, and having to save fuel, save tyres, do the same things. Yeah. Probably said more than I needed to say!

Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Lewis, if you do start from the back, you say you will do all you can to limit the damage of taking a penalty. What would be a realistic finish if you do that?

LH: Honestly, I have no idea. Honestly, if you look… fourth? He says fourth. Honestly, I really don’t know how far I can get up. It depends, the pace of the other cars. We’ll start tomorrow and we’ll find out. If Red Bull are right close with us, that’s two cars less, that’s three down and then the gap follows behind. If the others are much much slower than the possibilities go up. There’s going to be safety cars, all sorts of things. I started last in Belgium, er, in Hungary a couple of years ago when the gaps were much bigger and came fourth, so Sunday’s definitely going to be harder than that and I just hope that I can get into the points. As long as I’m going forward, that’s what matters.

Q: (Sarah Holt – Channel 4) It’s just a really simple question for everybody: did you have a lovely summer holiday? What have you been doing? Did you have to take homework with you from the team bosses or were you allowed to forget about F1 completely?

RG: Well, I spent some time with my family in Corsica. I had no phone signal and no internet and that’s no disruption. I just spent the morning on the bike, afternoon with the kid on the beach so fairly straightforward and easy holiday.

FA: I’ve had some good time off and no homework from the boss.

EO: Yeah, I had a good summer break as well. I went surfing with some athletes from Quiksilver so they taught me the balance a bit, so that was interesting and yeah, some times with friends and family. It’s what you need during a summer break.

MV: Yeah, pretty similar to everyone else, I think, spending some time with family and friends which is always very nice, to relax a bit and then spend some days just at home before you come here.

DK: Yeah, like you said, it’s was a lovely holiday so it was good. I did a bit of karting but mainly I stayed at home. I didn’t follow what was going on in Formula One or anything so it was OK. Very good.

LH: Well, mine was a little bit different to everyone else’s but I had a good time. I went to a lot of different countries, I travelled a lot the first two weeks and then the last week stayed in one place by a beach. I think I visited six or seven different countries during the break. I didn’t have homework but I did homework during the last week.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Lewis, in this vacation, did you take ten minutes without your mobile?

LH: The last two weeks I didn’t have… I tried to avoid my phone. Of course, I needed to stay in touch with some friends but generally check in in the morning, put it away and then in the evening… and there were some days I didn’t even check it at all.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Max, you came directly from Formula Three to Formula One, 17 years old, and Ocon, 19 now and he had GP3 experience last year; is that enough for a driver to come to Formula One even if the circumstances show he has the capacity, in your opinion?

MV: Yeah, I think in the end it doesn’t really matter where you come from as long as you do a good job. Once you’re in Formula One it’s up to yourself to show that you’re ready. I don’t think it has to be in F3 or GP3. Once you go to Formula One you have to show it.

OE: I agree. Age is just a number in the end, you have to show that you are capable of driving in F1 and to show to the right people. I think that’s the most important thing. When you arrive in F1 then you have to deliver like Max did. That’s the target for me as well, when I come here.

Q: (Joe Van Burik – De Telegraaf) To all drivers; a new official Formula One racing game has been released. I was wondering which of you plays racing games yourself and how close to the real thing are the simulation racing games these days?

LH: Why would you think I do?

MV: I don’t know, maybe you want to keep up to date, I don’t know.

LH: Ah, no. I don’t play any simulation games, my brother does, but I haven’t played a computer game for a long time. I’m getting old, it’s what happens when you get to my age.

EO: Yeah, I play in the winter to keep the rhythm a bit, even if it’s not really exactly the same thing, to keep some competition in, I’ve been playing with some other drivers on line but yeah, I’m not in the 2016 so yeah, I didn’t try myself on this one.

Q: How realistic are they?

EO: It depends, some are closer than others. F1 2016 it’s not too bad, it’s great. The tracks and the graphics now are much improved. It’s getting closer and closer to reality.

FA: I am 35 now.

Q: (Sarah Holt – Channel 4) Just to clarify Lewis, what homework did you do last week?

LH: It’s secret, top secret stuff. I’d have to kill you if I told you.

MV: You can tell me.

LH: I was just making sure that I was up to date with where we’ve been this year and then what I have to do and what I’m doing, moving forwards. After I left in Hockenheim, I was partying eight hours later or whatever it was so just making sure that I was up to date, hopefully before my engineers got back to work as well.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To all drivers, Spa maybe is the circuit where you can most use the kerbs. Is there any previous orientation from the FIA or will you discuss Friday in the briefing?

DK: I didn’t get it: can we use the kerbs? Yeah we can, of course, we can use them, no problems. Was that the question? Well, we have to discuss on Friday again I think, like always.

Q: Lewis, has there been a directive from the FIA about track limits?

LH: As far as I’m aware not yet. But we anticipate there might be because… I don’t think there’s any more than at any other track. There’s just Eau Rouge and then there’s turn 15 maybe? There’s still those kerbs so that might be something they consider but I don’t think it’s going to be a problem.

August 25, 2016
Hamilton To Incur Engine Penalty at Spa

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton has confirmed that he will take a new engine at this weekends Belgian Grand Prix.

After suffering reliability issues early in the season with his Mercedes engine, Hamilton has now confirmed that he will get a new engine.

Under the new regulations drivers are allowed to use 5 of each of the power unit components a season. Hamilton is currently on his 5th turbo, MGU-H which means that if any of those components are replaced he will incur a grid penalty.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday Hamilton said that he will take the grid penalty this weekend.

“As far as I am aware we will be taking the penalty this weekend,” said Hamilton to reporters.

“Naturally we already discussed engine penalties before, that will come into play for sure but I will do everything I can to minimise the impact I have.

“Otherwise, beyond that penalty that I will eventually take, I think I will be able to continue with the momentum I had before the break.”

August 25, 2016
2016 Belgian Grand Prix Weather Report

There aren’t many tracks that when mentioned bring up the word “legendary”. The Circuit Spa-Francorchamps is one of them. Formula 1 is back for Round 13 of the Formula 1 World Championship and the 2016 installment of the Belgian Grand Prix.

The Spa-Francorchamps circuit, over the years, has undergone many revisions. From it’s original 14.9 km layout it has been revised and shortened to the modern day Spa layout of 7.004 km with the new bus stop chicane.

The current lap record around Spa belongs to Sebastian Vettel who set the time of 1:47.263 in 2009. With cars going fast this season there’s always the possibility that we may see times tumble again.

Going into the summer break Mercedes were in a very strong position with both their drivers topping the drivers championship. Lewis Hamilton winning the German Grand Prix before the break put him 19 points ahead of Nico Rosberg in 2nd place. It’s expected that Mercedes will continue their run of form and will once again stamp their authority this weekend.

The internal battle between the two Mercedes team mates still rages on and the fight for the championship looks like it will go to the end of the season. Hamilton will have to take a grid penalty for an engine change after early season reliability issues means that he’s on his 5th engine for the season. It’s widely tipped that Hamilto will take his 6th engine at the Italian Grand Prix. For Rosberg, that will be his chance to close the gap or move ahead of Hamilton in the championship.

Red Bull went into the summer break ahead of Ferrari in the constructors standings. Their ultimate goal at the end of the season is to finish ahead of Ferrari in the standing and possibly get one of their drivers to finish ahead of one of the Ferrari drivers in the drivers standings.

Ferrari looked like a lost team ahead of the summer break. They’ve had time to look inward and find the problem with their car and to fix those issues. It’s not going to be easy for them coming out of this summer break.

Down in the mid-field, there are two battles worth noting. The battle for 4th between Williams and Force India and the battle for 6th between Toro Rosso and McLaren.

With some financial backing behind them, Sauber have brought some new parts for their car and are hoping for some improved form for the rest of the season. Manor, who are fully aware of this fact, are preparing themselves for a resurgence from the Hinwil based team.

The weather for this weekend is expected to be hot and clear. Temperatures will hover around the high 20s and low 30s. Some thunderstorms are forecast for Sunday.

August 25, 2016
F1 2016: Belgium GP Preview – Spa, Unparalleled Greatness

It is almost as if it’s scripted that Formula 1 returns after it’s summer break to the greatest circuit in the world. Belgium’s majestic Spa-Francorchamps is set in all of its famed glory to host the 13^th round of the 2016 season.

It doesn’t come as a surprise that Spa is often rated as the most popular races by fans. The circuit, 7.004 km in length, boasts several overtaking opportunities, significant elevations changes, and a bevy of challenging corners. It provides an equally stern test to the cars as it demands an efficient aero package through its high-speed corners, and good power out put and delivery for its long straights and climbs.

It’s not just a great circuit on paper either. Since it’s first race in 1950 Spa has delivered victors, moments, and memories that will last forever. From Mika Hakkinen’s stunning pass, for the lead, on Michael Schumacher and backmarker Ricardo Zonta in 2000, to Kimi Raikkonen’s 2004 win from tenth on the grid, to Mark Webber’s spine-tingling 2011 overtake of Fernando Alonso around the outside into Eau Rouge.

In 2016 another chapter is ready to be written into the glorious history of this mythical circuit. Mercedes start the weekend as favourites but it’s not a given that they’ll dominate the 44 laps on Sunday.

The tyres selected by the sharp end of the grid have revealed quite a big disparity between the front running teams. Mercedes has chosen the conservative route on tyre selection, as each of their drivers will have only four sets of the red-walled supersoft tyre. Meanwhile, Ferrari’s Vettel and Raikkonen have opted for seven sets a piece of the supersoft tyre. Ferrari has shown a preference for the supersoft tyre throughout the first half of the season, which could have factored into their decision making. The cooler temperatures and difficulty in heating the tyre to their operating temperatures would have been another consideration for Ferrari.

As fascinating as the tyre strategy could turn out this weekend it may not play out at all. This circuit, situated in the foothills of the Ardennes Mountains, is notorious for its changeable and unpredictable weather. Add to this the vastness of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit and it often results in rain at one end of the track while sunshine dominates the other half.

There is also the question of spotty reliability of Lewis Hamilton’s side of the garage. The unreliability that dogged his early season means that Hamilton, already on his fifth engine element, is close to incurring a grid penalty. A sixth engine would mean a painful ten place grid penalty however it has been confirmed that Hamilton will take the ten place knock at the Italian grand prix.

Ferrari hasn’t had the season that they and most expected them to have. Nevertheless, team principal Maurizio Arrivebene has confirmed that there will be another engine upgrade but has not confirmed whether it will be forthcoming in Belgium or Italy. They do have Raikkonen in their arsenal who has been dubbed The King of Spa. But before the summer break they had clearly fallen behind Red Bull.

This next round of the 2016 F1 season has everything going for it. The best drivers in the world sweeping through Eau Rouge, Pouhon, and Blanchimont on the greatest circuit ever built is surely a match made in Formula 1 heaven.

August 24, 2016