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F1 2016: Bahrain GP Preview – Bahrain Battle Between Merc & Ferrari

Formula 1 has long been known as a sport that is both complicated and the technical supreme of motorized sport. This and the allure of speed and victory and glamour is what draw millions of fans to it. But recently the sport, which celebrates more than six decades of existence, has been anything but glorious.

Of late all of what makes Formula 1 great has been overwhelmed and buried under the awkward mess of the new qualifying format. The elimination style qualifying format was universally slammed by all who tuned into the farcical hour that would determine the starting grid.

The qualifying change was an idea cooked up by Jean Todt’s FIA, F1’s governing body. It put the choice of the ill-conceived elimination-style quali or a reversed starting grid before the teams. Rather than choose the preposterous idea of a reversed grid they opted for the lesser of two evils and so elimination-style quali came to pass. Subsequent to scorching criticism a reversion to the previous quali session was called for. However, F1’s strategy group has decided to give the new format another chance in Bahrain. It’s difficult to imagine that the new format will suddenly transform unenthusiastic opinion it’s currently viewed with.

The qualifying debacle has, unfortunately, dominated headlines for the last two weeks. It’s nearly made us forget that as the opening round of the 2016 season the Oz Gp was a compelling race. The choice of three tyre compounds in the race worked well and produced several different strategies up and down the field which is an exciting precursor for the rest of the season. And although Mercedes were eventual victors with a 1-2 finish they were pushed to the limit of what they could produce.

As Formula 1 tracks go the Albert Park circuit is unique. Its street-style layout is not a definitive barometer for car performance and it’s difficult to overtake on. As the second round of the season Bahrain’s Sakhir International circuit presents a bigger test on performance and more chances for overtaking. “The last corner flows quite well and if you can get close for DRS you can get a good run [to overtake] into Turn 1,” said Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo. “If you don’t get it into Turn 1, then there’s Turn 4 or the middle sectors where it’s easy to make mistakes. There’s probably four places you can pass on the track which is pretty good.”

As you might expect tyre strategy will play its role in determining what the final result on Sunday will be. The medium, soft, and supersoft Pirelli tyres are the choices available to drivers. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen has opted for three sets of medium tyres each while Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg has taken only one set of the medium compound. It indicates that Ferrari hasn’t ruled out an alternative strategy of a long stint on the medium tyre should conditions be suitable. In 2013 Kimi Raikkonen pulled off a two stop strategy to finish second for Lotus.

The Finn has a record of seven podiums at the Desert track and despite being inches away from winning the grand prix in 2015 has never stood on the top step of the podium here. As the Sakhir International circuit is clearly a venue where Raikkonen excels the 2007 champion may not be a bad bet for the spoils this weekend.

The Bahrain grand prix exploded into life on account of its transformation into a night race. In 2014 it produced an exhilarating wheel-to-wheel battle between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. In this race it was Hamilton who emerged a memorable victor. In 2016, it could produce a battle between Mercedes and Ferrari that you do not want to miss.

March 31, 2016

Broadcast Times for the 2016 Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix

With the season opener behind us, teams fly across the Indian Ocean to Bahrain for the Bahrain Grand Prix and round 2 of the Formula 1 World Championship.

The Bahrain International Circuit is situated south of the Island State’s capital. Built on an old camel farm, the Grand Prix circuit layout features 15 corners with 4 straights. Drivers are at full throttle for two-thirds of a lap around the circuit.

Coming off his victory in Melbourne Nico Rosberg will want to carry that momentum forward. Lewis Hamilton, showed excellent form throughout the Melbourne weekend and was faster than Rosberg throughout the sessions before the race. Mercedes will have watched the footage of Ferrari’s starts at the Australian Grand Prix very closely and will be working on a solution for Bahrain.

Ferrari seem to be in the hunt Melbourne and Bahrain will be another gauge of how close they are to Mercedes. Their qualifying pace seems to be lacking but race pace is very close to Mercedes.

Red Bull looks like a team reinvigorated and are talking up their chances lately. With a solid showing from Ricciardo in Melbourne and with a substantial engine upgrade in the works for Canada they’re looking to finish behind Ferrari to keep up their advantage over other teams like Force India, Williams and Toro Rosso.

Newcomers Haas F1 made a dream debut in Australia. Were they just lucky with a few things or are they the fastest of the bottom runners. We’ll have a clear indication of this in a few more races.

	CDT	GMT	GMT+2	Local
Free Practice 1	06:00	11:00	13:00	14:00
Free Practice 2	10:00	15:00	17:00	18:00
Free Practice 3	07:00	12:00	14:00	15:00
Qualifying	10:00	15:00	17:00	18:00
Race	10:00	15:00	17:00	18:00

March 31, 2016

Watch: Brembo Brake Facts – Bahrain Grand Prix

Grand Prix of Bahrain – Hardest Braking Point

The hardest braking point on the Bahrain International Circuit lies ahead of turn 1. The F1 driver has to brake hard, slowing down by 271 km/h over 156 metres. 2,233 kW of energy are released in the process. The driver is subjected to 5.3 g, yet at the same time has to push with 155 kg down on the brake.

March 28, 2016
Another Tweak to F1 Qualifying on the Cards

After the failure that was the new F1 qualifying format, an immediate call was made by fans and drivers to revert back to the old style qualifying before the new regulations. Credit to the F1 management and the FIA. They actually listened.

But it might not be that simple. Nothing ever is in F1. There may just be a u-turn on the u-turn and a hybrid solution may be implemented for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The plan, after the Australian Grand Prix fiasco was to revert to the old style qualifying while evaluating the new system to be implemented for the 2017 season. This move was opposed by Pirelli and by Force India and that means that things may stay the same unless unanimous support is expressed for any change.

When the new qualifying change was proposed, it was suggested that an elimination style Q1 and Q2 take place with the traditional Q3. That idea was shot down and the original idea of three elimination rounds would go ahead. It seems that we may have the hybrid solution of an elimination style Q1 and Q2 with the traditional Q3.

The F1 Commission and the FIA are set to meet on Thursday to agree and vote on a solution.

March 23, 2016
GPDA Calls for Change to F1 Management

The Grand Prix Drivers Association (GPDA) has today released a statement on Wednesday calling for the change to the management of Formula 1.

Speaking on behalf of the drivers, Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel and GPDA Chairman Alex Wurz released a statement saying that that the some rule changes have been “disruptive” and “do not address the bigger issues out sport is facing”. The statement goes on to say that a change in F1 management should be considered to move the sport forward.

The complete GPDA statement:

Dear Formula 1 stakeholders, followers and fans,

The Grand prix drivers would like to state Our following position:

We drivers love our sport! Since childhood, we dreamed Of racing the fastest race cars from the top teams on the coolest tracks against the best drivers in the world. We seek competition and love F1 almost unconditionally, which makes us most probably the people with the purest interest for Formula 1 , beside our fans.

Formula 1 is currently challenged by a difficult global economic environment, a swift change in fan and consumer behavior, and a decisive shift in the TV and media landscape. This makes it fundamental that the sport’s leaders make smart and well considered adjustments.

We feel that some recent rule changes – on both the sporting and technical side, and including some business directions – are disruptive, do not address the bigger issues our sport is facing and in some cases could jeopardise its future success. We know that among the leaders of the sport – be it the owners, their representatives, the governing body, the teams or other stakeholders – every individual acts with the very best intentions.

Therefore, the drivers have come to the conclusion that the decision-making process in the sport is obsolete and ill-structured and prevents progress being made. Indeed, it can sometimes lead to just the opposite, a gridlock. This reflects negatively on our sport, prevents it being fit for the next generation of fans and compromises further global growth.
We would like to request and urge the owners and all stakeholders of Formula 1 to consider restructuring its own govemance. The future directions and decisions of Fl, be they short or long term, sporting, technical or business Orientated should be based on a clear master plan. Such plan should reflect the principles and core values of Formula 1.

We need to ensure that Fl remains a sport, a closely-fought competition between the best drivers in extraordinary machines on the coolest race tracks. Fl should be home only to the best teams, drivers and circuits, with partners and suppliers fit for such an elite championship. Formula 1 has undoubtedly established itself as the pinnacle of motorsport and as such one of the most viewed and popular sports around the world. We drivers stand united, offer our help and support for Fl to keep it as such, and further to make it fit and exciting for many years and generations to come.

It is important to state that this open letter is intended in the best interests of all and should not be seen as blind and disrespectful attack. Thank you for your attention and granting us the liberty to put our thoughts into words.

Best regards,

Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel, Alex Wurz, on behalf of the Grand Prix Drivers

@GPDA_ #RacingUnited for Our safety, our sport, our fans

@GPDA RACING UNITED

March 23, 2016
Pirelli Reveals Bahrain Grand Prix Tyre Sets For Drivers

Pirelli have revealed the chosen tyre sets each driver has made for the up coming Bahrain Grand Prix.

March 22, 2016
F1 2016: Australian GP Review – Rosberg Wins Frenetic Season-opener

After Saturday’s new qualifying format was unilaterally panned as farcical and anti-climatic F1 needed to bounce back quickly. It did so with an action packed Australian grand prix.

Naturally, before the start of any race several scenarios run through your mind, all them which include some situation that will spice up the race from the get go. The catalyst was an extra formation lap after Dannil Kvyat’s Red Bull was stranded at the back of the grid.

The exhilaration is delivered by the two Ferrari’s of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen who blast past Nico Rosberg and Pole sitter Lewis Hamilton and first and second place. Behind the two Ferraris Rosberg fights to maintain his position and squeezes Hamilton to the edge of the circuit which causes the Brit to fall down to seventh place.

Immediately Vettel is able to open a two second gap over teammate Raikkonen who in turn keeps the Mercedes of Rosberg at bay. It’s a dream start for the Italian team who is more than able to match the race pace of Mercedes.

On lap sixteen the race changes. The race is red flagged for a crash between Haas F1 driver Esteban Gutierrez and Fernando Alonso’s McLaren. The Spaniard’s McLaren clipped the left-rear of the Haas, flipped through the air and came to rest, on its side, against a barrier. The damage to Alonso’s car looked horrific but he exited the car and walked away without injury. There is no question that had this accident happened in any other era of the sport it would’ve had a far different outcome. Once more, this proves that the advancement of safety in F1 should never be taken for granted nor rejected because it may not be visually appealing.

This red flag is where the race changed for Ferrari. As the cars stood in the pitlane teams were able to make changes including which tyre compound to restart the race on. Ferrari opted for the red-walled supersoft tyre while Mercedes fitted the medium compound. It was evident that the Silver Arrow’s aim was to get to the end of the race without another stop.

For Raikkonen it didn’t make much difference as he was forced into retirement a few laps after the re-start. With fire and smoke pouring out the Ferrari it looked ominously like the engine had let go however the team later confirmed that it was a turbo failure.

Ferrari still had Vettel in the lead of the race but the tyre choice meant that the former champion had to pit again. It was a strategic error by Ferrari and it cost them a definite shot at winning the race. The possible reasoning for why Ferrari didn’t go with the medium tyre could be because of a lack of confidence that they could get the tyre up to working temperature in the cooler conditions. Vettel nearly recovered to second place but a slight error at the end sealed his fate in third behind Hamilton and Rosberg, respectively.

Sebastian Vettel said after the race that he feels that Ferrari can challenge for the title this year and given that he’s not the type to say things just for the sake of talking, it’s a great omen for the rest of the season.

Nico Rosberg may have taken the big prize but the Haas F1 Team owns the performance of the day. A sixth place finish for Romain Grosjean on the team’s debut is what Formula 1 dreams are made of. Coming into Formula 1 has always been a monumental task and this team is doing it with a staff of only about 170 people. It’s as great debut as we’ve seen in at least three decades.

If you were to look only at the result of this race another Mercedes 1-2 would make you think it’s pretty much the same story, different season. But they really had to work for it. An overheating right-front brake caliper and critical tyre wear on Rosberg’s car is indicative of just how hard they had to push. Twenty races remain in this F1 season and we may just have ourselves a real championship.

(All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport)

March 21, 2016
Hamilton secures pole as F1’s new qualifying fails to deliver

Lewis Hamilton secured pole position for the Australian Grand Prix in the debut of Formula One’s new elimination style qualifying format which has been widely criticised and can be described as nothing short of farcical.

Hamilton finished 0.360s clear of his Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg, but the session was decided and all drivers out of their cars with over three minutes left on the clock. There was not a single car on the track for the final 5 minutes of the session and drivers were walking down the pit lane to get weighed in while there was still time left in the session.

There was no frantic final shootout, no final flurry of lap times, nobody rushing for the line to secure their positions on the grid. Just driver after driver accepting their fate and leaving the final minutes of qualifying to the two Mercedes drivers to decide which of them would start ahead of the other.

The live elimination format also failed to deliver on the mixed up grid that F1’s decision makers had hoped for and pretty much castrated Q3 of the first qualifying session of the 2016 Formula One season.

Ferrari, who should’ve been shooting it out at the front with the Mercs opted to complete just one run in what seemed to be a bid to save tyres for the race. The gap between Hamilton on pole and Sebastian Vettel who finished third on the grid stood at 0.838s with Kimi Raikkonen finishing fourth place – 1.196s off Hamilton’s time.

Photo: Scuderia Ferrari

Vettel said he couldn’t see why everyone was surprised. “We all said what is going to happen. It happened,” he said.

“We were told to wait and see. Now we saw and I don’t think it was very exciting.

“It was a bit crazy in the beginning with all the cars pushing and trying to do a lap before they get kicked out so managing traffic is busy but for no reason because the time is there in the session to do it.

“For the people in the grandstands, I don’t feel it is right way to go as there are no cars to watch. They want to see Lewis, Nico, Kimi whoever pushing to limit at the end of the session when the track is supposed to be at its best.

“I don’t think we need the criticism now, we had the criticism already but surely it is wrong way to go. That is what we said.”

Max Verstappen secured his best qualifying result finishing fifth on the grid for Toro Rosso after a single Q3 attempt, ahead of Felipe Massa, Carlos Sainz Jr. and Daniel Ricciardo.

The new rules resulted in the bottom three in Q3 limited to just one lap before the clock caught up with them and they were knocked out. The top eight will all start the race on the super-soft tyres they used to set their fastest time in Q2.

The majority of the action in qualifying came from the opening stages of each session with the flurry of confusion and excitement in Q1 setting everyone up extreme anticlimactic disappointment. What should have been a thrilling introduction to the 2016 Formula One season – especially after the exciting build-up in FP3 – ended up an absolute disaster, or as Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff called it, “rubbish”.

Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg were 9th and 10th respectively and opted to return to the pits rather than attempt another lap and get themselves through to Q3. Valterri Bottas’ minor error at the final corner without enough time to finish another lap (instead of only being required to make it over the line to start another one) saw him finish in 11th place.

Photo: McLaren-Honda

McLaren had impressed in FP3 and there were great expectations that we would see at least one of the two Woking machines in Q3, but seemed to have been caught out by the new format with Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button also being caught out by the 90 second clock and finishing 12th and 13th on the grid.

Renault made it through to Q2 albeit significantly off the pace. Joylon Palmer and Kevin Magnussen could only manage 14th and 15th respectively.

The absolute confusion of the Q1 session saw Daniil Kvyat being knocked out while he was in the pits and missing the cut for Q2 along with the Sauber, Haas and Manor drivers.

The FIA are clearly going to have to rethink the introduction of this format. The majority of the drivers have come out saying that the new qualifying format does not work and team principals are not impressed either.

It’s important to reminder that these are the folks who voted this new qualifying format in but it would seem they’re ready to eat the humble pie and call for change.

Photo: Red Bull / Getty

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner believes the sport needs to apologise to Formula 1 fans and called for the new qualifing format to be scrapped immediately.

“It didn’t really work for me,” Horner said. “We have not really put on a show.

“To have Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen in fast cars not taking part with five minutes to go is wrong.

“We need to learn from it and address it quickly. I think it needs to be done for Bahrain, personally.”

Niki Lauda also came out saying that the new qualifying format was “terrible” and added that Bernie Ecclestone and Jean Todt make decisions without discussions with anyone else and then only present them to the teams to vote.

Photo: Mercedes AMG Petronas

Toto Wolff didn’t hold back either, “I’m the first person to say that we shouldn’t talk the sport down but when the evidence is there before your eyes, you cannot shut them and deny reality,” he said.

“The new format is pretty rubbish – much too complicated to follow and a damp squib at the end with nobody running. These were the downsides that we expected to see – and they outweigh the upsides, that much is clear now.

“We wanted to listen to the promoters who were calling for a change – but my personal opinion is that we have found the wrong solution and we need to think carefully about what we do next.”

Opinions have been flying around Twitter since the disastrous end to the qualifying session as well.

Twitter user @GrandPrixDiary drew a very good analogy which summed up the second half of qualifying quite well:

F1 qualy is like a boxing match, where the fighters don’t come out for the last round because they didn’t have time to put their gloves on.

— Grand Prix Diary (@GrandPrixDiary) March 19, 2016

Adam Cooper raised the issue around Q2 drivers in 9th and 10th not fighting to get through to Q3:

Bizarre that many drivers were stranded with no tyres while Force India had them but aborted to guarantee 9th/10th and free start choice

— Adam Cooper (@adamcooperF1) March 19, 2016

Joe Saward also summed things up pretty well:

The strategists said nothing would happen in the last few minutes. They were right. Who invented this daft Q structure?

— Joe Saward (@joesaward) March 19, 2016

At the time of writing, our @F1_Madness poll has a very telling story to tell. Over 75% of voters feel that the new qualifying format is “utter rubbish”.

Even F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone is unimpressed with qualifying, saying that, “It was pretty crap. But this is what we’ve got, until we can change it.” Let’s hope that happens soon.

March 19, 2016
2016 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix: Saturday Press Conference

DRIVERS
1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
2 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

TV UNILATERAL
Lewis, your 50th career pole, only Senna and Schumacher have gone beyond that mark, on top of it all weekend it would seem, through practice and qualifying, you must be delighted?
Lewis HAMILTON: Absolutely. First, I really have to… I’m not going to take my hat off, but really take my hat off to this team. What they’ve done to raise the bar once more in our third year to be fighting the rest, it’s just… truly for me, it inspires me, it motivates me and I really enjoyed driving the car today in qualifying. We got the set-up just right. There were some sexy laps. They felt so good. Just flowing and no real mistakes and that’s really all you can hope for as a driver is to always improved and that’s what we did today. Really happy.

Nico, turning to you, the heat was on you, certainly towards the end. A couple of mistakes in Turn One, both on your first run in Q1 and also in Q3, just not your day today?
Nico ROSBERG: No, the last lap was good, just Lewis did a better job, that’s it. But mainly it’s impressive to see how the team in the third year running now, it seems, of course it’s very early days, so let’s be careful but for sure this weekend we seem to be the quickest out there by a good margin. It’s amazing to see that. Because the risk is always when you’re dominating that you start to become complacent and that’s a big risk always, everybody has experienced that, but it seems that we’re able to push through and so that’s really awesome. Of course, not happy with second place but still a lot of opportunities for tomorrow starting from second.

So Sebastian, we now have a bit of a picture: it looked close in free practice three, you split the Mercedes after the first run in Q3 but ultimately the margin is still pretty large to Lewis. You used up your tyres earlier on than they did as well, so is your feeling sitting here now one of disappointment?
Sebastian VETTEL: Not really. I think I said many times that we have done a step forwards, which I think we have. I think especially tomorrow we should be quite a bit closer. We expected them to be strong in qualifying, which they were. I think we had a bit of a rougher start to find a bit the rhythm, certainly I had, and it was just getting better throughout qualifying. Very happy with the lap I had in the end, so we called it there and saved the set of tyres for tomorrow. Surely we’re not on the front row but we still have high hopes for the race and it’s going to be a long year, we know this car has a lot of potential, so I think as a starting out third and fourth, locking out the second row, is a good achievement. The team’s been pushing very hard and as I said we have a long year ahead of us.

Back to you again Lewis. Obviously the race tomorrow, you’re looking for your third Australian Grand Prix victory. Do you do so with a bit of calmness this evening as you prepare?
LH: I’m generally, quite often, mostly calm, but there is a lot of work to do tonight. Obviously with these radio changes and less communication there’s a lot more studying that goes on for all of us in terms of remembering the sequence, things like we can’t be told if the strategy is changing throughout the race, so you kind of have to anticipate what happens. If they give us a different tyre we kind of have to guess it – could be a two, three, whatever stops we’re doing. I’m excited. I think it’s a new thing; we’re all in the same boat. I hope that it adds to the spectacle tomorrow, I highly doubt it, but we shall see.

Q: Lewis, your fifth pole in Australia, you talked a moment ago about having done some sexy laps. What is the key to a really good lap here in qualifying and did the format with the elimination and particularly all the traffic there at the beginning, did any of that put any more pressure on you today?
LH: Not really, it was very much the same as usual. You have to go out and get your clear laps. Maybe there was a little bit more pressure on us as a team, and the way we operated but generally we just did the normal in terms of getting the laps. What I mean by sexy laps, they were just, when you finished… the car felt good, moved, it was like a beautiful rhythm. Felt like James Brown at the end of the lap.

Q: Nico, coming to you, obviously we’ve got a bunch of new rule changes this year, Lewis just referred to the radio change in his previous answer. The third one of course is the option of more tyres going into the race. Now, clearly that’s a strategic thing, you’re the guy who needs an extra something to work with. Do you see it giving you an opportunity to do something on strategy tomorrow?
NR: For sure, because there are going to be more unknowns in the race tomorrow, definitely. If Lewis gets a start, after that, if they have to change his strategy because of traffic behind or something, that he’s going to drop out into, he won’t know about it. So, that’s for sure, there’s scenarios where you can lose out quite a lot. And, of course, starting second, I like that. It increases the chances, y’know?

Q: Essentially the same question to you Sebastian. You mentioned earlier on about your tactic in terms of the tyres. You’ve got more variability, there is less information coming to you from the team, are you sitting there thinking you have a chance to get among these guys tomorrow?
SV: I do. Not because of the changes in rules but in general I think in the race you can always creating something. Tomorrow we try obviously to push very hard and create something. Everybody knows roughly what to do. It’s not the first race that we’re going to do. Bottom line is that the regulations haven’t changed so the cars are similar to drive compared to last year. Hope that we can put definitely more pressure than today on both of them in the race tomorrow.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Ralf Bach – Auto Bild motorsport) Question to Matteo, how does it feel to drive a Mercedes car?
Matteo BONCIANI: Next question

Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Telegraph) To all three of you: so we had the new qualifying system today and for most of Q3, what we saw on the TV was guys sat in the car and then getting out without going and doing a lap. Nico and Lewis, the two of you went out and did some laps and then with three minutes left, came in the garage and nothing more happened and the chequered flag waved with no one out there. Christian Horner’s already said that he thinks F1 should apologise to the fans for the show it’s put on. Toto, your boss, said it’s rubbish. It’s difficult when you’re in it but I wondered what you thought of it, whether F1 should apologise and whether we should go back to the old system as soon as we can?
LH: Well, we’ve not seen it so we don’t really know how it worked for the others. We said at the beginning that it wasn’t the right way but it’s like you can’t knock it before you try it. We tried it and all the engineers were right. It doesn’t make no difference to me at the end of the day. I did what I had to do.
SV: I had time to get changed…
NR: It’s good that F1 tries but it’s the wrong way so we should go back to the other system, for the fans.
Q: For the whole three sessions or just the final part?
NR: For the last one especially, I’m not really able to judge for the previous two, but especially for Q3.
SV: Well, I think it’s very easy. I don’t see why everybody’s surprised now. We all said what’s going to happen, it happened so obviously we were told to wait and see but now we saw and I don’t think it was very exciting. It was a bit crazy in the beginning with all the cars pushing and trying to do a lap before they get potentially kicked out so managing traffic… it’s quite busy but for no reason because the time is there in the session to do it and in the end, also for the people in the grandstands, I don’t feel it’s the right way to go. There are no cars to watch. In the end they want to see Lewis, Nico, Kimi, whoever, pushing it to the limit at the end of the session when the track’s supposed to be at its best etc. I don’t know we need the criticism now, we had the criticism already but it’s surely the wrong way to go, that’s what we said.
LH: The good thing is that they tried something new and ultimately that is a good step, that we’re actually trying something new but it’s trial and error so maybe not just go back to the old way…
SV: There’s a certain responsibility as well. We can’t just try things that many of us criticise, us included.
LH: But why can’t you…
SV: You can’t just turn around and say it was the wrong thing, we need to be sensible and try to do the right changes.
LH: But that’s what they tried to do even though everyone told them it was the wrong one.
SV: Yes.
LH: Let’s leave it there.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Sebastian, did you sit in the pits at the end because you didn’t have any more supersoft tyres or because you said you wanted to save a set of tyres? But when we went through the sessions I think you have already consumed three before.
SV: Yeah, it’s true, we had to go out again in Q2 so I think the fact that we called it off in Q3 was due to the fact that I had a good lap on the first try and we wanted then to save a set of tyres for tomorrow. Obviously, we would have liked to do it with only one run in Q2 but it wasn’t strong enough so I had to go out again, so that’s a fact, it was not due to the new format but I think in general, as I said earlier, it’s just wrong when the clock’s ticking and nobody’s on track.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Nico, did it ever cross your mind that the chain of six pole positions was broken today and does it means anything to you?
NR: No, I hadn’t thought of that but yes, a pity but that’s not on my mind when I’m going out and qualifying for the first race of the season, for sure not.

March 19, 2016
Hamilton makes it a clean sweep in dry Australian GP final practice

Lewis Hamilton made it a clean sweep by going fastest once again in the final practice session ahead of the Australian GP. The British driver edged out his Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg, finishing 0.176s ahead of the German to top the final practice session time sheets with a stonking time of 1:25.624s.

While the Mercedes team are still ahead of the field, it is refreshing to see the dominant gap shrinking – Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel completed the final practice session only two tenths behind the Mercs and the entire field of 22 drivers are seperated by only 3.648.

The scene is definitely set for a brilliant qualifying session which will take place in a brand new knock-out format. Vettel’s final practice time was set before the two Mercedes drivers who set their times on a rapidly improving track which suggests their could be plenty of action toward the end of qualifying later this today.

There was no sign of rain throughout the entire final practice session and conditions continued to improve throughout the entire 60 minute run.

Toro Rosso proved to be very impressive with Carlos Sainz Jr – who is running a 2015-spec Ferrari engine – splitting the two Ferraris to go fourth fastest, two tenths clear of Kimi Raikkonen. Max Verstappen brought his Toro Rosso home 6th fastest ahead of Valterri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo.

Felipe Massa finished ninth fastest and Force India’s Sergio Perez rounded out the top 10.

The two McLaren drivers showed that the team seems to have made some encouraging progress with Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button setting the 11th and 12th quickest times respectively. Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat was 13th, ahead of the leading Sauber of Marcus Ericsson and Renault’s Kevin Magnussen.

Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg finished 16th fastest with Renault’s Jolyon Palmer behind him.

Some action in the pitlane saw F1 rookie driver Rio Haryanto and Romain Grosjean colliding early in the final practice session when they were both released at the same time.

Haryanto was able to get out shortly after with a new front wing bolted to his car, but Haas chose to change the floor as well as the front wing on Grosjean’s car before getting him back out.

Haryanto finished the session 22nd and last on the time sheets, but only two tenths adrift of team mate Pascal Wehrlein.

Grosjean completed the fewest laps of anybody with 11 and ended the session 19th – a 0.008s shave slower than team mate Esteban Gutierrez.

The new format qualifying format will make its debut just a little later this morning. Will Mercedes continue to dominate? Or could the rest of the field be in it to grab it from them? Join us on Twitter @F1_Madness for live interaction, commentary and chat throughout the session.

Final Practice FP3 Classification:

Lewis Hamilton Photo Credit – Mercedes AMG Petronas

March 19, 2016