F1 Madness

Tag: baku city circuit

  • 2017 Azerbaijan GP Free Practice 2: Verstappen Out Ahead then Crashes Out

    2017 Azerbaijan GP Free Practice 2: Verstappen Out Ahead then Crashes Out

    Max Verstappen finished the second free practice session of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on top of the time sheets this afternoon but ended his session by crashing out with just 30-second left in the session.

    The session was one of the most bizarre sessions yet. Nearly all the drivers ran wide off the track at least once with Jolyon Palmer falling victim to the barriers at Turn 8. The Brit took too much out of the entry kerb at Turn 8, which sent the car crashing into the outside barrier. Palmer’s crash brought out the red flags for a brief period.

    The locking up and low grip could be put down to the high tyre pressures mandated by Pirelli but overall, the low grip conditions made it tough for the drivers to get in a clean qualifying simulation lap.

    While Verstappen did set the fastest lap, at one stage it looked as if Ferrari was on course to take that honor. But Verstappen made sure he claimed the fastest time by setting a 1:43.362. The Red Bulls were split by the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas who’s time of 1:43.462 was just 0.100s off Versatppen’s time. Ricciardo’s 3rd fastest time of 1:43.473 was 0.111s off the pace.

    It was business as usual at McLaren-Honda when Fernando Alonso’s newly fitted (and upgraded) Honda engine expired with smoke pouring out of the back of the MCL32.

    At the end of the session with just 30-seconds left in the session Verstappen locked up into Turn 1. The rear of the car stepped out, he tried to catch the slide, but ran out of road and smacked the barrier damaging the front left and front right suspension with the rear taking most of the damage. Despite Verstappen’s crash Red Bull ended the day on top of the time sheets and are looking good going into Saturday qualifying.

     

  • Grid Drops Expected for McLaren Duo

    Grid Drops Expected for McLaren Duo

    Both Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne are expected to take massive grid penalties going into the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend.

    Honda plans to fit an updated MGU-H to both their cars and would mean that both drivers take on new turbochargers. Both drivers will incur a 15-place grid penalty for the new turbo since it’s the 6th new turbo of the season.

    Vandoorne will suffer the brunt of the penalties. Honda say that they will replace his power unit except for the control electronics and energy store after the second practice session. A further PU change is planned which will mean Vandoorne will take another 15-place grid penalty for a 7th MGU-H.

    Alonso will take his 4th, and final allocated engine for the season after his DNF in Canada.

    When asked if the changes will bring about some much needed reliability to the PU Vandoorne could say for certain.

    “Difficult to say, to be honest,” said Vandoorne to journalist at the Thursday Press Conference.

    “I think it’s probably more a question for Honda. I don’t think there’s many new introductions this weekend, so I don’t think it will be too different.”

    While he was unable to say if reliability would improve, Vandoorne knew coming into the weekend that Alonso and himself would incur penalties this weekend.

    “We have some penalties already to start the weekend, which isn’t ideal, but it’s the situation we’re in, so we’ll try our best, focus maybe a bit more on race runs, and hopefully we can play a bit during the race,” Vandoorne added.

  • 2017 Azerbaijan GP: Thursday Press Conference – Part 2

    2017 Azerbaijan GP: Thursday Press Conference – Part 2

    PART TWO: DRIVERS – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes), Esteban OCON (Force India), Romain GROSJEAN (Haas)

    Q: Valtteri, if we can start with you. There’s no doubting the speed of this year’s Mercedes – the four wins are testimony to that – but it has proved tricky to set up. Can you predict how competitive you’re going to be this weekend – particularly as there’s no ultrasoft tyre? Or is it something you’re only going to find out when you take to the track tomorrow?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: No, I can’t predict. As we’ve seen it’s been extremely close in some races, well, most of the races between us and Ferrari, so it is very difficult to predict, especially on a track like this. Some sections, a bit like Monza, some a bit like Monaco. I think it’s going to be close again but, like you said, we sometimes had a bit of difficulty to get the car set up well and get the real confidence with the car and also to get all four tyres to work with each compound. So, impossible to predict.

    Q: Do you think the harder tyre compounds this weekend will help you?

    VB: I don’t think it’s going to help us in any way. The tyres are going to be the same for everyone, it is up to us to get them to work well and that is going to be through the set up.

    Q: Your boss Toto Wolff said this week at the FIA Sport Conference in Geneva that you’re in an uncomfortable position at the moment: still without a drive for 2018. Do you feel uncomfortable in this situation?

    VB: I feel normal – because every single year in Formula One for me I’ve had the same situation. I’ve had no idea at this point what’s going to be next year. So, for me it’s a normal situation.

    Q: Has the team told you when they’ll let you know?

    VB: Yeah. I know some kind of plan, when they’re planning to have things sorted – but that is between us. There’s no rush.

    Q: Esteban, Force India were attracting a lot of headlines after the Canadian Grand Prix, specifically about team orders. Can you just talk us through the closing laps from your point of view.

    Esteban OCON: Yeah. At that moment I had a different strategy than Sergio. I did push on the first stint a bit later, so I changed my tyres later than Sergio and I was a bit quicker. But the team took the decision to let us race, both, which is respectable, and great also to see that they trust us and let us race. So no, we had a good discussion after the race in the debrief. And I also called Sergio during the week when everyone was relaxed, and discussed our points. We’re all good now. All set for a new weekend and there is no tension between us.

    Q: So Sergio is still on your Christmas card list?

    EO: Yes! No problem.

    Q: Vijay Mallya said after the race in Montreal that there would be some new rules of engagement starting in Baku. So, having had those discussions in the debrief, can you tell us what those rules of engagement are?

    EO: You know what the headline… what Force India always does it let both drivers race. Of course, if there is a big difference of speed between the cars then they will for sure try to do something to always benefit the team at the end. But they didn’t really want to do that in Montreal, which I think is very respectable, as I said. Now we will see if we get other opportunities here to do a great result.

    Q: So if there is a role-reversal this weekend and you’re ahead and are asked to let Pérez through, would you do that?

    EO: I always respect team orders if there are.

    Q: Romain, it’s been a really encouraging few races for you. You’ve scored in three consecutive races for the first time in your Haas career – so where can you and the team go from here?

    Romain GROSJEAN: Afternoon. It’s a good question. I think from the first year we’ve shown that we’ve gained consistency and that the team is growing up and capitalising on good calls, good strategy, getting the best of the situation even though maybe the performance in Canada, for example, was not really good – but in the race it was a very aggressive strategy and, with a bit of luck at the end, we managed to score points. Monaco, we were pretty fast where we struggled last year. So I think we’ve moved a long way. Every time I look back and see what we’re doing I’m very proud of the team and kind of myself, because I was in there since day one and everything we’re achieving today is actually work that we’ve all done together. It’s a very special experience to build a team around you.

    Q: Just looking at this weekend specifically, you said in the team’s preview to this weekend that Baku is a mix of Monaco and Monza. Can you just elaborate what you mean by that and give us some insight into the set up challenges that this track presents?

    RG: Well, I think you’ve got the first sector, first part of the track where you’ve got a big, straight line, big braking and low speed corners which is what you’ve got in Monza: so, top speed and braking stability is important. Then from Turn Five onwards you’ve got much trickier sections: bumpy, up and down, tight, up and down again which is more like Monaco type of corners, so yeah, it’s a pretty tough one to set up the car: which compromise do you do? Which parts to you… yeah, get better? We’ve seen last year that some teams reduced a lot of the downforce for quali performance but then in the race after a few laps the tyres were gone. It’s just finding the right, and the sweet spots in between that quali pace and the race pace and where you’re going to set up your car.

    Q: And I guess you’re hoping for no plastic bags this year…?

    RG: That would be lovely! It didn’t help much our race last year.

    Of course, it got stuck in the radiator, didn’t it?

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – AP) Question for Esteban, you said you rang Sergio to discuss things. Can I just ask why you felt the need to do that if you’d already had a debrief beforehand?

    EO: Well, first of all we had a plane to catch just after so we were in a bit of rush to debrief. It’s always good to do it a little bit after, to talk when you know everyone’s relaxed and the weekend’s finished. To have a further talk was quite important I think. And we just discussed our points, discussed freely, just us both, together. I think it was important to do that. As I said, now everything is settled-down and we are ready to attack that race.

    Q: (Simon Lazenby – Sky Sports) Romain, just following up on Tom’s question there with regard to Haas and where you are at the moment. When you first came into the team you said you were happy, they’re building a team around you but right now do you think you’re ahead of the curve, 15 points, eighth in the championship? And at what point does your frustration – if you like – with wanting to become competitive boil over? For example, with the relationship with Ferrari, do you feel you would be first in line should a seat become available? 

    RG: Well, good question. I don’t know. I don’t know the answer. Life is full of surprises and if you ask Valtteri what he was doing on the 15th of December I’m sure he would say yeah, I’m going to go again with Willliams and next thing you know, you’re in a World Champion’s car. So it’s a phone call and the best we can do is to do the best job on track. I’m frustrated sometimes because I love winning and that’s all that matters to me in Formula One and obviously you come from other categories where you’ve won everything and then you come to F1 and you don’t get the chance to win a race because it’s like you were starting the race ten seconds behind the others. It’s done. But it’s great as well to see that we can start from zero – a new team – and we can build and we can surprise a lot of people. Everyone was ‘ah yeah, Haas coming into Formula One and they’ve got four years fulltime in the wind tunnel and they could be great’ and then last year we struggled a bit and then people were like ‘yeah, you know…’ That’s normal for Formula One but actually the whole process was to prepare for 2017 and we’re already on 2018 and trying to get better every year, and that’s finding resources, the effort and do what it takes to get there; it’s pretty important. I think the year started well, the problem of this year is that there are two Mercedes, two Ferraris and two Red Bulls in the first six positions and they’re already locked so the race kind of starts from P7 onwards and then Williams and Force India have been very fast recently so you’ve got one spot, maybe two spots in the top ten to score points so it’s pretty tricky. We lost a fair amount of points in Melbourne as well because of the issue in the power units when we were ahead of the midfield but generally I think we are working hard and I’m hoping that we can join a bit more the fight for bigger points.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Valtteri, last year you reached 370/380kph here, the highest speed in a Formula One race. Do you think that with these new cars with more downforce it will be difficult to reach this speed? 

    VB: I don’t think we’re honestly going to see that kind of speed now that the cars are more draggy, so it would nearly be a miracle if we can hit those kind of speeds with these bigger tyres and bigger wings. That’s my opinion.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Lap times? 

    VB: I think lap times will be quicker, I think it will be quicker. We are quite a lot quicker in the corners and apart from the two kilometre straight it is a lot of corners and that’s where you need the grip and downforce.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Valtteri, with regards to your future, you said there’s no rush. When do you think you will know, when do you want to know by? 

    VB: I don’t know when I will know. The timeline is quite flexible but like I said, there’s no rush really. For sure discussions will be opened soon, because as a driver, at some point, it’s always nice to know what you’re going to do next year but no more to say than that really. It’s still a bit early days for that and for sure I’m keen to have a long term relationship with Mercedes, that is my target, and that’s why every day I work hard and try to make the most out of every single situation and the race weekend.

    Q: Valtteri, are you in discussion with other teams, just in case? 

    VB: No.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) On the same subject, if you were a team principal and you had a new driver who is in a top team for the first time and makes pole position and win races in six rounds of the championship, until now, would you keep the driver? 

    VB: Of course! Yeah.

    Q: Would you re-sign yourself?

    VB: Of course.

    Q: (Ben Edwards – Channel 4) Valtteri and Romain, can you just give a bit more comment from both of you about driving this circuit, the challenge of driving this track and the sort of combination of types of corner, not just from a set-up point of view but from the driving point of view? And turn 15? We saw quite a lot of action in turn 15 last year. Is that still a critical corner here?

    VB: So yeah, it is definitely a challenge here. It is one of those places like Monaco or Singapore that you just can’t afford any mistakes when you’re going so close to the walls, sometimes even slightly touching them, so that’s always a challenge and there’s nice excitement as a driver and it’s one of those places where if you put in a nice qualifying lap for example, it’s really satisfying and you need to take some risks, can’t lose focus at all. I think the high speed section, leading to the main straight, those corners, last year, with new tyres, low fuel, they were just about flat out but this year it will be easier so I think in qualifying for example, it’s not going to be a big challenge to make them flat out but in the race, high fuel, worn tyres, following other cars, it’s still a challenge over there.

    RG: I think turn 15 is a tricky one from the nature of the corner, coming up the crest and then downhill and then it’s kind of a blind corner and the braking zone is not straight. It’s fairly tricky to find the right braking point and you’re in the corner and then you’ve got the off-camber feeling when the car’s on the edge and you go above that and you can lose the rear end. Turn 8, the tiny one, was surprisingly safe last year because I think it’s slower and when you get the line it’s a bit easier but with the wider cars this year you just need to be a bit careful because 20cms around there is a like a good 40 on normal corners.

    Q: A lot of people were predicting incident and accident in last year’s Grand Prix here but that didn’t happen. Eighteen of the 22 cars finished. Are you guys going to take more risks this year? 

    VB: We were kind of lucky, you know, after seeing all the GP2 races, now F2, how many safety cars and virtual safety cars they had whereas we actually had none and there was not much action. I think it is a track that normally with this type of track things will happen so my guess is that we’re going to see a bit more of a mess than maybe before but who knows. We’re always taking risks and always calculating risks, how much you take and there’s no other from last year to this year that you…

    RG: It depends how the race goes. Rosberg last year was far ahead and then Lewis was at the back having various issues and then there were many fights in the field. We’re human beings; after seeing all the GP2 races everyone I guess was like yeah, let’s take it 99 percent and not 101 and that’s why the race went very smoothly.

    Q: (Simon Lazenby – Sky Sports) I know it was a long question, my last one Romain, but sorry to press you on it but can I just clear up with you what your relationship is with Ferrari right now and whether your people are talking to their people about your future? 

    RG: I’ve got an engine, a gearbox, suspensions so… I think it’s early days and we’re not even in July. Who knows what the F1 grid is going to be like next year. Valtteri is of course waiting on Mercedes, then there’s the Kimi case, what is he going to do? Everyone thinks he’s going to be out of Formula One since 2010 and here we are in 2017 and he’s 38 and he’s still here doing a decent job. So I don’t know. If there is an opportunity, if there is a seat, I believe I’m in a good position but it doesn’t necessarily mean anything.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Esteban, just before the Monaco Grand Prix you were speaking, you said you were confident you could get a podium fairly soon. Given the last race, how encouraged are you that this is just around the corner, the podium for you?

    EO: Yeah, this is my target to be scoring a podium before the end of the season, that’s the goal I’ve set myself and that’s what I want to achieve and I’m pretty pleased with my progression since Melbourne. I’ve been feeling more and more comfortable with the car and just improving step by step and now I’m starting to feel really well and I think if we have a great car here why not, we can achieve it. I will definitely push for that so we will have to see where we are after practice but if it’s not here, I will keep pushing 100 percent to get it later.

  • 2017 Azerbaijan GP: Thursday Press Conference – Part 1

    2017 Azerbaijan GP: Thursday Press Conference – Part 1

    PART ONE: DRIVERS – Daniil KVYAT (Toro Rosso), Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari), Stoffel VANDOORNE (McLaren)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Kimi, if we can start with you. We’re back at a street track this weekend. You took pole position in Monaco a couple of races ago — how confident are you of a repeat here?

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Unfortunately it doesn’t give you any guarantees. It’s in the past, and a completely different circuit. Not really any similarities than Monaco, but nevertheless I think we have a good car everywhere. We’ll see how it goes, we can only give our best. Hopefully we’ll be at the front again; we’ll see what happens.

    Q: Pirelli are turning up this weekend with slightly harder tyre compounds than in Monaco. How do you think that’s going to affect the battle between Ferrari and Mercedes?

    KR: I don’t know. It’s been close, more or less every race this year. Obviously, like I said, the circuits are so much different and it’s not a big surprise that the tyres are slightly different here. I don’t know. I’m not really interested in guessing what will happen, but I guess it’s going to be close like it’s been at other races; I’m surprised if it’s only one team is way ahead of another.

    Q: You don’t want to guess what’s going to happen this weekend, but after the technical problems you had in Canada last time out, do you feel you’re due a lucky break here?

    KR: No, not really! It’s not something you can count on it. I’ve had some not so good luck for quite a few times, but it’s an unfortunate thing to happen, something completely new that we never found out and it’s fixed now. Things usually go wrong when it’s the worst time it could happen, but at least we managed to finish the race and at least score some points. Obviously it was far from ideal, but that’s how it goes sometimes.

    Q: Thank you Kimi, good luck this weekend. Stoffel, if we could come on to you now. This is your first time in Baku. Can you give us some insight into how you prepare for a track you’ve never races at? Is it more time on the simulator? Has Fernando given you any tips?

    Stoffel VANDOORNE: Definitely spend some time in the simulator, like I do before every grand prix. A lot of laps in there. At least our simulator is reliable, so I managed to do a fair amount of laps there! And then also last year; I watched a lot of the races that happened here, GP2, Formula One as well. Some stuff on onboard videos. That’s about everything I did.

    Q: Is Fernando generous with his advice?

    SV: So far I’ve not had a chance to chat to him, but I’m sure I will do over the weekend.

    Q: You were quiet outspoken about the car’s performance in Canada — fuel saving, you referred to being ‘a sitting duck’ on the straights. Given the nature of this track layout, what are your expectations coming into this weekend?

    SV: It is a street circuit as well, but like Kimi said it’s very different to a circuit like Monaco — here we reach very very high top speeds, I think similar to Canada. I don’t think we have high hopes, but we’ll try our best from our side. We have some penalties already to start the weekend, which isn’t ideal, but it’s the situation we’re in, so we’ll try our best, focus maybe a bit more on race runs, and hopefully we can play a bit during the race.

    Q: Just to be clear on that, we knew about Fernando’s penalty coming into this weekend. Have you had penalties as well?

    SV: Yeah, I will have a penalty as well. We’re probably competing to start at the back of the grid.

    Q: Good luck this weekend. Daniil, thank you for waiting. Coming on to you, you had a very frustrating race in Canada. Having had time to reflect on what happened, what’s your version of events?

    Daniil KVYAT: It was a frustrating race; it brought us zero points. It all started on the formation lap when we couldn’t get away, so we lost a lot of time. Then, trying to recover positions I was already side by side with the cars I had to overtake … had to take the start from the grid, and we got a penalty for that — two, actually — and then, of course we couldn’t with the pit stop, yeah… It was all a bit of a spiral: when it starts to go bad, it goes bad. We did 55 laps on one set and we were on course for a point, but still???

    Q: Let’s hope you have better luck this weekend. Talking specifically about Baku, you qualified sixth here last year. Are you confident of being a Q3 contender again in 2017?

    DK: I think, once again, last year there are two different stories. Of course we had a good qualy last year, but quite different, you know, circumstances, cars, even though conditions will be similar. Car has been similarly competitive between most of the tracks, so hopefully we’ll be in a similar place to usual. Also here, this is one of the longest straights of the championship; it’s still not our favourite part of the track, but we’ll try to minimise the laptime loss through there and try to be competitive in the other parts of the track and try to really be strong.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: Simon Lazenby (Sky Sports) Question to Stoffel. Stoffel, we’ve heard your management, senior management, teammate be very outspoken about the relationship with Honda just now. Perhaps it was the first time in Canada we heard you reiterating the woes. It’s obviously making your first full season in the sport very difficult. Which direction would you like to see McLaren take with any future engine partner?

    SV: To be honest, it’s not up to me to take such a decision. Yes, it’s been a difficult start to the season; it’s definitely not an ideal situation for everyone. We’d like to be fighting much higher up the grid, but as McLaren we’re trying to put McLaren’s interest at the top, and that’s what’s the most important for us now. We need to fight back, and I’m pretty sure the team is moving in the right direction. Hopefully at some point we will be competitive again, and hopefully that is sooner rather than later.

    Q: (Ben Edwards – Channel 4) Question for Kimi, the situation in the championship between Mercedes and Ferrari is obviously pretty tough; it’s very tight at the moment. Are you in a position where you have to play a support role to Sebastian now in the way that in the past things have happened when you’ve been at Ferrari? Obviously Felipe helped you a bit in 2007, you returned the favour in 2008. Are you in that position now of having to help Sebastian?

    KR: I think we have very clear roles in the team — what we’re allowed, what we’re not allowed, and what the team wants us to do. You know, it goes by those rules and, I don’t know. I don’t know if I have any interest of, to do, to tell what we talk inside the team in here. I think Maurizio has said something and nothing has changed and we know exactly when things will go either way. That’s fine, that’s how it’s always been, at least in the teams where I’ve been. When I don’t have a chance mathematically anymore to fight for the championship, for sure I will help him. I have no issues with that, I never had in the past. I think it’s just a very easy decision for all of us, at least in our team, and obviously the first thing is to try to make sure that we can be on the top with Ferrari. That’s the most important thing. And then obviously if Seb can win, then fine. If I don’t have any chance then that’s how it goes. The first thing is to work for Ferrari, to put them in the best possible position.`

    Q: (Livio Orrichio – GloboSport.com) Kimi, using the same subject. In your view, what is the reason for the difference in points? You have some difficulty with this car? You were unlucky in some races? Because it’s big difference.

    KR: It’s a big difference. When you have bad races, you adapt, and obviously Seb has done very good races so far and has been strong everywhere. I was not starting very well the first races — I was not too bad, but I was not where I want to be. Here and there little problems, we have one DNF, the last race was not ideal. That’s how it goes, unfortunately. When your teammate is on the podium more or less every time, a lot of points quickly. That’s racing.

    Q: (Alex Popov – Match TV) For Daniil. You just posted a very special video of your training – close combat training – on social media. It’s a message to somebody, or it’s just a coincidence?

    DK: No, it’s not a message! Training for sure, I do it in Monaco, it’s my hobby and I have a very good trainer there for that sport and really interests me a lot and very enjoyable. It’s not easy to find time with the Formula One calendar for some other specific training. Usually it’s either running or cycling and everything else gets quite boring – so tried something else for once and really liked it, so like to do it, so simple as that.

    Q: Daniil, for people who haven’t seen the video can you just elaborate what it is you’re doing?

    DK: Come to see my video! No, I just like to train, I got to know a very good boxing trainer in Monaco and because in my gym there is a ring, they can put you in to train. I just ask him to help me a bit to learn it. Very interesting. Very interesting sport, very exhausting for 12 rounds to be there. Very interesting.

    Q: (Simon Lazenby – Sky Sports) Question to Dany – I suppose that could come in very handy if you have any more disagreements with Carlos? Speaking of which, what happened in Canada with a couple of penalties, the retirement for you and then the disagreement over the towing issue in qualifying. Have you got to the bottom of that? How have you resolved it?

    DK: Starting with that double penalty, I think we spoke behind closed doors after it with the correct people. With Charlie Whiting, with Jean Todt. It was all very straightforward, all very simple and everyone said his opinion and everyone understood perfectly and the end of the conversation was very positive and everything has been said on that matter. So everything is clear now. Regarding the other matter which you just mentioned, everything has been told already as well and everything will be tried to keep inside the house. That’s what I hope for, at least, from my side.

    Q: (Ben Edwards – Channel 4) Question for Stoffel. You mentioned you’re going to have to carry some engine penalties this weekend. Are the engine bits that are going to be on the car this weekend going to give you any more performance or reliability from the bits that will be on there?

    SV: Difficult to say, to be honest. I think it’s probably more a question for Honda. I don’t think there’s many new introductions this weekend, so I don’t think it will be too different.

    Q: Just as a follow up to the towing in qualifying that Daniil was asked about, is it something, given the length of the straight here this weekend, that you’re going to work with your team-mates during qualifying to get a tow to improve your lap-time? Kimi, perhaps you could answer that one?

    KR: No, we haven’t had any plans. I mean, we haven’t really done it in any place so I don’t see that’s going to happen. Probably the biggest reason is that it’s very difficult to manage with all the cars you get. The most important thing is to try to get the free lap for yourself. When you try to plan it like that it’s actually quite difficult to make it happen every time and it can easily make more harm than good for both of you. So…

  • 2016 Formula 1 European Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    2016 Formula 1 European Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS
    1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
    2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)
    3 – Sergio PEREZ (Force India)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS
    (Conducted by Eddie Jordan)

    Azerbaijan, Baku: what an amazing city and what an amazing race and we have your winners here today. Nico, tell us, you needed this today didn’t you, your fifth win of the season? Tell us about it.
    Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, Eddie, it’s been an amazing day really, an amazing weekend. Thank you all here in Baku for welcoming us in this way. It’s been spectacular, great track you’ve made, really exciting racing. Of course, for me the weekend went perfectly: qualifying, race, everything to plan, so it was really awesome.

    When we saw you at the beginning of the week, you had some concerns about how you would approach this particular weekend. That’s all forgotten about I expect?
    NR: No concerns; flat out.

    Brilliant result for your today, we’ll come straight back to you. Second place, ladies and gentlemen, please, Sebastian Vettel. Come on Seb, tell us, second place in Canada, second place here, is this a complete Ferrari revival or are you going to have a word with Sergio, your boss and your President at Ferrari. Are you going to look for more horsepower?
    Sebastian VETTEL: Well, first of all, thank you very much. It’s the first time we are here in Azerbaijan. I didn’t really know what to expect, but it’s been a great track, a great pleasure, a great welcome for all of us. I think the circuit is incredible. You need to be ‘well-equipped’, let’s put it this way, around here, so some proper high-speed corners and very, very close. Today has obviously been a great job for us. Already by the end of yesterday the car was coming alive. We were struggling a bit on Friday, but to see where we are now I think is a great recovery. Second place in a row, two times on the podium now in a row after Canada, which is great, scoring some good points – even though this weekend was a bit different to last week. But still I think the pace is there, the car is good, we are coming along, so all in all a great day and thanks to the team.

    The two different make-ups of the circuit – the slow speed and then the high-speed – did you enjoy that difference between the two?
    SV: Yeah, definitely, especially because in the low speed you have to tackle quite a lot of kerb and be very, very aggressive. Very easy to get caught out. I think a lot of people lost a lot of money because they were betting on a safety car and we didn’t have one! I think it also speaks for the quality of the drivers. So it was a clean race. I expected a couple of safety cars, but it didn’t come out. But it’s a great circuit, a great challenge and with the high-speed sections where it’s really narrow it’s a lot of fun.

    Well, it’s delightful to see you on the podium; we all love it. Ladies and gentlemen, the pride of Mexico! You’ve got a lot fans here.
    Sergio PEREZ: Many Mexicans I hope.

    We thought you’d blown it yesterday: you ran into the wall with a lap to go in the qualifying [sic] and to have to need a new gearbox, I said “well, he’s just cost the team a podium”. You’ve proved me wrong!
    SP: Me either. I knew yesterday when I put the car in the wall in P3 that this was a big chance for us to score a massive result [potentially lost]. I was so frustrated with myself. Then going into qualifying, my boys did an amazing job to fix the car, to put everything together. And then I had to do the job, you know. I had to get on with the job. We had a great qualifying but still we were starting P7 today and we had to make our way through. Very good start, very good first lap. Very nice overtaking in Turn Two for Massa and Kvyat and then fighting with Kimi all the way to the end. I knew that he had a five-second penalty, but it was still nice to get him on the last lap.

    Exactly – how sweet was it just to pip him on the last lap?
    SP: Very nice. Although I knew that the podium was secure but when I saw the opportunity, that it was safe enough to do it and no risk at all, I went for it, because it obviously feel a lot nicer to finish the race P3.

    Well, we’re very pleased, amazing drive from seventh to third. We come back to the winner – Nico! Nico we have to talk about the championship. You won the first four races, everyone thought it was in the bag and then you had a couple of little hiccups, so to speak. Are you back with a vengeance?
    NR: To be honest, today I’m just enjoying this win, because that’s what I came here for. I wanted to win Baku and it worked out, so ecstatic, can’t wait to go down and see everybody….

    You could answer my question!
    NR: I’m not answering the question; I’m avoiding it! I’m going to go down and see everybody and big celebrations.

    Q: Nico, great victory for you this afternoon: Pole, win, fastest lap, led every lap. Would you say that’s the most dominant of your five victories in 2016?
    NR: It’s been a great and awesome weekend, really, yeah. Everything went cleanly, y’know, from the beginning to the end. And even in the race, it was a special feeling out there in the car because it felt like I could do whatever I wanted the thing would just stick to the line, stick to the ground, there was no risk of making mistakes or anything. It felt really, really special and I’m very, very happy. It’s been an awesome result, first time here, y’know, I think it’s been a big success. The track is exciting, definitely, and a lot of overtaking also today I hear – I think, I’m not sure but I think so – so all in all good.

    Q: Your team-mate Lewis Hamilton had a few technical dramas it would seem along the way. Anything going wrong with your car or was it perfect all the way through?
    NR: I think I had the same but I’m not sure. It was just a matter of getting out of ti with the right combination of switches.

    Q: Sebastian, great recovery by you and Ferrari this afternoon – but are you a little bit unnerved by the pace of the man on your left [Rosberg]?
    SV: Surely it’s not great news but all weekend they’ve been very, very quick. First session, after four laps they were putting lap times in that took us the probably the whole day to copy – so yeah, I think we didn’t have a good day on Friday, we were lacking pace. The car didn’t feel bad but it was just not quick enough. Then we changed quite a lot for Saturday, changed again quite a lot going into quali, so we did what we could here, reacting to it and came back and in the end finishing second… of course we benefitted a little bit from the problem that Lewis, or the mistake that Lewis did yesterday because both Mercedes were very, very quick throughout the weekend – but that’s how it’s done. So I’m very happy and very proud. We kept our head in and, as a team, worked well. Shame that Kimi couldn’t quite keep the third place but, for sure, he made it very nice for me to secure the second. Obviously at that point with a lot of laps to go we didn’t know how quick Lewis will be and how much him and Checo would be able to catch up so it has priority to make sure that we ran away. Surprised there was no Safety Car but, all-in-all, it’s been a great track and a great weekend.

    Q: Checo, you’ve made it hard for yourself this weekend. How much satisfaction do you get from this third place?
    SP: A lot. I knew that the podium was possible today but it was very hard, very hard work to get it. We really did an incredible first lap to get around the Williams and the Toro Rosso. I think that was one of the keys. The first laps were really difficult with the graining. Just basically not panicking. The easiest thing would have been to stop when the graining occurred, especially  when Kimi and some people behind stopped and we decided to stay longer. It cleaned up. That was one of the keys of my race. Obviously pitting early to go onto the one stop and as soon as I left the pits I was under pressure from Lewis. So I couldn’t introduce nicely my tyres. I had to push straight away. The warm-up with the soft for me was a bit difficult. Those first laps were really tricky to keep Lewis behind. Then I managed to open a gap and then I was attacking Kimi but at the same time looking after the tyres, thinking that there’s going to be a Safety Car at some point. Unbelievable it didn’t happen. I was just looking after my tyres to make sure I made it to the end. I think Kimi was very strong with his pace given the lap-age that he had. I knew that he had a penalty, so I get pretty close to him, and at the end I saw the opportunity that it was safe enough to do it and it was good to take it and finish in P3. It is well-deserved for the team because they have done an amazing job. All my boys to fix the car from yesterday, so very pleased. It’s only the eighth race and we’ve done two podiums already. It’s been an incredible year so far.

    Let’s open this up to the floor…

    Q: (Sebastian Vettel – Scuderia Ferrari) Question to anyone. Who won the Le Mans…?
    Porsche
    SV: How did Toyota manage to lose?
    Last lap
    SV: Retired? Nooooooo…!

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere della Sera) Sebastian, going to the very first part of the race, can you confirm that you were asked to come into the pits but you preferred to stay out?
    SV: Yeah, yeah, basically I was called in. We wanted to react to Daniel who pitted. He was struggling a lot with his tyres; obviously we passed him and then he went into the box. But I had a decent feeling, the pace was quite OK, I thought, and then we decided to stay out so I was asking the team to stay out, the tyres felt OK and I wanted to keep going. I was maybe at that point, seeing that Daniel was struggling and feeling that the tyres were not feeling so comfortable in the first, six, ten laps, a bit worried that the second stint would be very very long. In the end I don’t think there was much in it. Obviously we lost position to Kimi who undercut us but obviously we played well as a team together to make sure that when I came out behind him with the fresher tyres to use the pace and secure second place.

    Q: (Oana Popoiou – F1 Zone) Sergio, do you think you had the pace to fight for a victory today if it wasn’t for the grid penalty?
    SG: No, I don’t think so. I don’t think we could have fought Nico. He was very strong, in another league, but certainly I would have had a really good fight with Sebastian for P2.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globo Esporte.com) Sebastian and Sergio, we saw in Monaco and Canada some teams more close to Mercedes and here Mercedes was one second faster per lap. How do analyse that please?
    SV: Well, I think they had a very strong package here. I think, as I explained, Friday was a bad day for us and we managed to recover, get away from here with a second place. I think it’s the optimum so we can be happy with that but surely not happy with the gap. Why they are quicker? I think looking at the comparison yesterday they were gaining quite a lot down the straights. I think maybe we carried a little bit too much wing. The other bit, we were losing quite a bit in low speed corners. Arguably they are doing something clever to pick up some pace there in low speed, the way they treat the tyres but if there’s something clever to be done, we need to be as clever as them and not be lacking that.
    SP: Yeah, for us I think relatively on this track we certainly got a little bit closer to Mercedes but not a lot. I think everyone else dropped behind and they lost some performance so for us, I think the track suited our car well. Obviously a good power unit and I think good balance around the track. People were probably struggling more than we did but I think that was the main reason why we managed to be so much further up.

    Q: (Jerome Bourret – L’Equipe) For all of you, after we have seen yesterday in qualifying and during the GP2 races, we were all expecting a crazy race. It hasn’t been the case; do you have any explanation for that? Have you been more cautious or was the track less tricky than yesterday?
    NR: I think for sure a little bit the experience helps in that case. We’re all much more experienced and we’re able to avoid the incidents better and we also learned a lot from what was going on in the GP2 for sure, because we were watching and that was mayhem so I think we picked up a few things there as well and that’s it, but very surprising anyways.
    SV: Well, surprised, yes, but then again I think it speaks for the quality. I think we’ve talked a lot about this track being high risk, dangerous. It reminds me. A couple of months ago I had a very nice lunch with Sir Stirling Moss. Obviously in ‘their’ time, you can argue it was very dangerous everywhere they went and he said it was a big deal of the reason why he jumped in the car, because it was dangerous.. Otherwise anybody could do it, so the thrill of it was exactly that challenge. I think we had some corners here where you don’t want to think about  what’s happening if you get it wrong, very little room for mistakes and error but then it definitely makes you more alert, you’re awake and obviously you try to go as hard as you can and push but I don’t think we were taking it easy, any one of us, but equally, obviously, you don’t take any stupid approaches to risk because it could end quite badly.
    Q: Checo, how do you describe the lack of safety car?
    SP: To be honest, I’m very surprised, given how difficult this track is but it also speaks for the quality of the drivers that we have in Formula One. It’s not that we were taking it easy out there, I think we were all pushing and every braking point you really feel it can go wrong at any point. There is no room for mistakes in any place. The very least that can happy to you if you make a mistake is you lose a couple of seconds but I’m really surprised and I think well done to everyone because nobody made a mistake. Very surprised for that.

  • Verstappen labels Bottas’ qualifying behaviour ‘dangerous’

    Verstappen labels Bottas’ qualifying behaviour ‘dangerous’

    Max Verstappen was more than a little frustrated with Valtteri Bottas following the first ever qualifying session at the Baku International Circuit on Saturday.

    Red Flags ruined Verstappen’s best qualifying effort for the session and subsequent efforts were also ruined while he fought with Bottas for track position.

    Here’s what young Verstappen had to say to reporters …

    Q: Max, what was that thing going on between you and Valtteri Bottas in qualifying?

    Max Verstappen: I think it was just not clever from him. I was preparing for my timed lap and I understand that he wanted a tow – but there was not one point for him being able to overtake me – and brake – under normal conditions. The result was he ruined my lap and destroyed his lap as well. If that happens once, okay, forget about it – but if you do the same thing again in Q3, that’s not smart.

    Q: Did you see him after qualifying and have a word with him?

    MV: No! Because I don’t need to be the person to go to him – he should come to me!

    Q: Do you expect him to get a penalty?

    MV: I don’t know about a penalty – but it was dangerous what he was doing. It was dangerous and unnecessary – and not clever!

    Q: For you it had pretty grave consequences. Your lap was destroyed and any hope for a good grid position gone…

    MV: Yes. That was the consequence!

    Q: And the incident before, where you went wide in Turn 1?

    MV: Yes, same story…

    Bottas in Verstappen's way - Baku QualifyingQ: You went wide because of him?

    MV: Because he was locking up and I was afraid that he would hit my side so I thought that it is better to go wide. But I’d lost my set (of tyres) – I had to come in and had only one run in Q2. So that was all not really pleasant!

    Q: That all sounds as if the two of you will never be best buddies…

    MV: Ha, in Formula One you can never be best buddies – no matter what. The moment we speak I am over it and hopefully he learns from it.

    Q: You said you have not spoken with him but aren’t you interested what was going through his head?

    MV: My guess is nothing was going through his head that very moment!

    Q: Without all these incidents what would have been your chances?

    MV: If I check all the data before the red flag I could have challenged for P2. So it is a massive frustration, as we know that the speed is there. I know there are chances for overtaking in the race, but I prefer to start from row one than P9 – that is for sure.

    Q: The first GP2 race in Baku was pretty chaotic with a first corner incident taking out four cars. There was also a lot of slipstreaming. Do you expect that to happen also tomorrow?

    MV: I think so. But let’s hope we don’t lose four cars on the first lap. And never forget GP2 cars all have similar engines – and that will be the biggest difference to the F1 race.

    Q: The Bottas incident aside, how would you sum up your driving on this track? Are you satisfied?

    MV: Yes, actually very happy. I built it up very differently to what I did in Monaco – and it worked super well. I was improving with every session. And finally I arrived in Q3 and would have had a good lap. I am satisfied with myself, the car and the team – we all did a great job to improve the car compared to yesterday, so it is really annoying not to have the result that we would have deserved.

    Q: You ran very little downforce…

    MV: …yes, we’ve been slower than our competitors on the straights! You’ve probably seen that our rear wing is pretty tiny. We probably lose a bit of downforce through the low speed corners – but I think we’ve found a good compromise. But there is no magic stick that gives you more horsepower suddenly on the straights! (laughs)

    Q: You been running now for two days on this new track: what is the hairiest part for you?

    MV: I think it is sector two – corners eight to twelve. It is difficult and tricky to get to the limit. If you lock up going into the corner it is game over. In Q1 and Q2 you are trying to build up – to get it right in Q3.

    Q: When you just said that you’ve learned from Monaco – what does that exactly mean?

    MV: Well, it is basically about understanding the car more. We have a great car so there is no need to go on the limit straight away as you have margins to improve. So in Q1 you don’t need to be at one hundred or ninety-nine per cent – you will also make it into Q2 with ninety-two per cent. And then step it up for Q3.

    Q: Isn’t it also a different psychological approach to a race having a car that is eligible for front rows?

    MV: Yes, it is of course – and you probably need some weekends to grow into that!

    Q: After the red flag and only a bit over two minutes left of qualifying all the cars lined up at the pit lane exit. Your teammate Daniel (Ricciardo) was at the front: wouldn’t it also have helped you being more at the front of that queue?

    MV: Maybe. We can speak in the team about it. But in the end that is not the main reason why my qualifying was not as it should have been.

    Photo Credits:

    Max Verstappen – Red Bull Racing

    Verstappen vs Bottas – FIA screengrab

     

  • Hamilton Shoulders Blame for Poor Qualifying Performance

    Hamilton Shoulders Blame for Poor Qualifying Performance

    Lewis Hamilton has taken the blame for his poor showing in Qualifying for the European Grand Prix at the Baku City Circuit in Azerbaijan.

    Hamilton ended qualifying in 10th after hitting that barrier wall at the tight Turn 12. Hamilton’s qualifying sessions were not as clean and clear cut as one would usually expect from the three time world champion. Mistakes in Q2 almost got him eliminated and with yellow flags coming out at all the wrong times it seemed as though he would not make it to Q3. But Hamilton used the superior pace of the Mercedes to take him to 2nd fastest in Q2 comfortably promoting him to Q3.

    During Q3 it looked like he just was not getting a good rhythm going. He was seen locking up and running wide and taking to escape roads at some corners. Then with just a little over 2 minutes left in Q3 it came to an end for the Briton when he clipped the barrier at Turn 12 which broke the steering arm on his car.

    “It’s a fine line between being on it and not being on it – and I just wasn’t on it today,” he said after qualifying.

    “I had a fantastic rhythm yesterday but none whatsoever today.

    “There’s no specific answer or excuse. I wasn’ t hitting the right apexes or the right braking zones… it was just one of those sessions.

    quali-lewis-hamilton“Sometimes it happens. It was my fault, so I’l l apologise to the team and try to make up for it tomorrow.

    “It’s always difficult to come back from this kind of position so it’ll be damage limitation tomorrow.

    “I highly doubt I can challenge for the win – but I’ll give it my best shot and try to bring home as many points as I can.

    “The car is good here and we’ve got more pace than most of the others. I’ve just got to make my way through any tangles at the first corner and see where I go from there.”

    If Hamilton hopes to stand any chance at a high points finish or even a podium he will have to stay well clear of trouble. Starting from 10th on the grid will be a tough ask if the GP2 race was anything to go by where there was chaos at Turn 1.

    With no previous race data to go on there is still a high possibility of a safety car owing to the nature of the track with it being a street circuit.

    One thing is quite certain. It’s going to be an unpredictable inaugural European Grand Prix in Baku.

     

    Photo credit: Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team

  • 2016 Formula 1 European Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    2016 Formula 1 European Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    DRIVERS
    1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
    2 – Sergio PÉREZ (Force India)
    3 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull)

    TV UNILATERAL

    Nico, that was an emphatic performance by you and Mercedes, just how good was qualifying for you?
    Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, it was great. It was one of the more challenging sessions out there, but everything worked out well. There was a bit of reorganizing because for example in Quali 3 Lewis had an off in front of me, so I had to abort that lap and then I just had one more attempt at the end, but that worked out fine. No, I’m very, very happy. It was great.

    How was the car technically for you, because we saw Hamilton obviously have a few problems in that session?
    NR: Yeah, I’m really pleased with that, because all weekend we’ve been building towards it and in qualifying it was really optimum, so it felt good.

    Congratulations to you. Sergio, if I can come to you: second on the grid, but does that feel like pole position for you?
    Sergio PÉREZ: Yeah, it does. To be honest it does. The effort the whole team has done… especially all my boys today to put my car together, first of all to make the qualifying. Obviously I’m a still a bit angry, no, from the mistake of this morning. But very happy, I think it’s a mix of feelings today. I think the lap that we put together in Q3 was very, very strong. It was a very difficult session for me, because obviously there is not a lot of time. After a crash you obviously lose some confidence. To get it back, to get in the rhythm again was great. Very pleased with that and hopefully tomorrow we can do a lot of progress and aim for a very strong position. I think definitely the team deserved. Obviously, with the penalty I’m starting seventh. I think the team deserves more than and hopefully tomorrow we can put together a strong race.

    Has the pace of the car surpassed your expectations?
    SP: Yes, definitely. I think we were expecting ourselves to be strong around here but not that good. To come away with P2 in this track… it’s so easy to mistake, so easy to clip the wall and just damage your car. Unfortunately it happened to me in the worst possible time in P3 and yeah, so I think we have to look forward to tomorrow and do a strong race.

    Well done. Daniel, if I could come on to you. You set exactly the same time as Sebastian Vettel at the end of Q3 there. Just give us a word on what it was like to get the job done when there was only two minutes of the session remaining?
    Daniel RICCIARDO: It was hectic; it was intense. Yeah, thanks to the guys, the team, for getting me out at the front and giving me that clear track to obviously make sure that I got a lap in. My first run in Q3 was pretty average to say the least. I made a few mistakes. Then obviously I thought I had one more chance but then the red flag came out. I thought that was looking like that was it. They got me out in front and then I put in the lap, so it was good. I knew not everyone would get a lap, so I was just trying to thing “do a good enough lap to at least jump up from seventh”, but in the end it was third. I think Seb… I maybe gave Seb a little bit of a tow, I don’t know how close he was to me, but it was good, very close and I’m really happy to bounce back with top three.

    Well done to you. Nico, if I can just come back to you and get some thoughts ahead of tomorrow’s race. It’s the first grand prix here in Baku, what do you think are going to be the main flashpoints in the grand prix?
    NR: Well, I think they’ve done a great job up to now, with the track especially. We’ve seen one of the most exciting qualifying sessions for a long time. Of course I understand that the gap was pretty big in front but there was a lot going on all over the place, and that’s down to the track. Also, the race I’m sure is going to be very exciting. It’s one of the easiest tracks to overtake, so there’s going to be a lot of changing places I think, probably a lot of safety cars as well, exciting re-starts and everything, so it should be a good show.

    Who do you think are going to be challengers?
    NR: Of course it’s going to be Daniel… [Ricciardo raises his hand behind Rosberg]. What’s so funny about that? Of course it’s going to be Daniel, Sebastian, Kimi and then Lewis. Never forget him. He can always come back from tenths as he’s shown very often this year.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Nico, you didn’t even do a second run in Q3, how much more time was there in your car?
    NR: It wasn’t planned to do a second run. We’d planned one run and just hit it two times: lap two and lap four. Lap two was looking good but Lewis went off in front of me so I had to back out of that one, and then went again on lap four so it worked out well.

    Q: And Checo, was there any more to come from your car?
    SP: Not on that lap, definitely not. I think that lap was quite strong, hitting every single braking point, getting the exits as close as possible to the wall. I struggle to think that lap could have been better but definitely I think there was some track improvement towards the end but obviously with the track position that I had – obviously I had the Williams and the Red Bull ahead, and we were tight on time as well. I had to warm up the tyres but at the same time I had to go very quick to be able to make it. It was just a disaster. We were all racing the last lap, so it wasn’t a proper chance but I think the lap that I did was pretty special.

    Q: Daniel, the other two guys have been there or thereabouts all weekend. We’ve seen the Red Bull performance fluctuate a little during practice. Is the car now where you want it?
    DR: We definitely improved today. We took a step in the right direction. Already this morning we were looking like we were in a better… more in the competition. Yesterday we struggled and it didn’t help with me losing a bit of track time with the crash in P1. So, yeah, qualifying was good, we were able to chip away at it. Q3 wasn’t very clean. The first lap was… yeah, made a few mistakes and didn’t put it together and then yeah, obviously the red flag made the second run… just go out and try to set a time. Obviously I put in a time which was good enough to be here so I’m happy with that. I think we recovered well. Did I think we’d be here yesterday? No. Did I think we’d be starting on the front row? Not really – but thanks to Pérez and a few circumstances I think we’ve put ourselves in a really good position.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Auto Bild Motorsport) A question for Nico. How sad are you that there is only one Mercedes in the front row?
    NR: It’s always divided, you know? On the one side I’m sad for all my team colleagues because they want to have a one-two – and it’s still possible tomorrow but it’s going to be more difficult now, for sure, but you know that Lewis has shown very often that from tenth place he can come back strong, and where he finished easy second in Russia, y’know, so for sure still need to reckon with him.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – globoesporte.com) Daniel, we had the impression you crossed the line of the pit entrance in your last lap. What is the agreement yesterday in the briefing with Charlie Whiting when it happens?
    DR: Yeah, so I think it was originally… well I thought you couldn’t cross anything, and then the notes from last night said if you put all four wheels inside the pit entry line then you have to commit to pitting but otherwise you can straddle… you can split the line, as long as you keep two wheels on the track, let’s say, it wasn’t a problem. I’m pretty sure that’s what I did.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Question to Nico. You always did two warm-up laps to set your fast time. Does that mean if tomorrow there are some restarts after the start we will see again the scenario we saw the last two races with the Mercedes, that you have a warm-up problem?
    NR: Let’s see. It’s not been our strength recently but we’ve worked on it and today everybody needed two laps, not just us. It was the optimum for everybody – so I think it will be OK.

    Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) Sergio, you said in Spanish something like ‘that was the best lap of your life’. And in terms of just the track, we can say this is the track you love most or just because of the circumstances?
    SP: First of all, I think the car has worked really well around here. For some reason we are very competitive, we struggled to understand what is making us so competitive and yeah, I think that my lap has definitely been one of my best laps in such a difficult place to get 100 per cent of the car. It was definitely difficult so yeah, I’m pleased with the result. Obviously the penalty of tomorrow is a bit of a shame but let’s see what we can do tomorrow. I think this is a track where you can overtake and you can have a good race so it will be good to enjoy the race. I think there will be a lot happening, a lot of safety cars, a lot of things happening so looking forward to tomorrow.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) All of you crossed the finish line on the very left side. Is there a reason for that? Why is it better than let’s say on the other side?
    NR: Everybody was following Daniel!
    DR: I think it’s probably… it looks good, it looks aggressive, you know? If you go down the middle of the straight, it doesn’t look so spectacular but if we hug the wall and brush, it looks spectacular.
    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) It’s not less bumpy or something like that?
    DR: The straight is bumpy, sure, and to be honest, I think all of us, all weekend are trying to find where there’s less bumps and I think it’s actually even changed a little bit compared to yesterday.. But yeah, I think the key for Checo and I today was not the way we took the straight, it’s turn 15. I think having the crash there was very character-building and that’s the reason we’re here today.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globo Esporte.com) Daniel, here is a genuine power unit engine and it looks like you’re in very good shape and concerning what you just said, is it because if you go near the wall, it’s the more straight line, it means shorter distance? You’re fighting for thousandths of seconds…
    DR: Yeah, yeah. You want to find… there’s a few jokes in my previous answer but yeah, you want to find the shortest line and then the line of least resistance. Yeah, that’s why I was doing it!
    Oh, the engine? Yeah, it looks like everyone’s a lot closer this weekend. The Mercedes-powered cars seem quite quick from yesterday; Force India and Williams were very competitive. We had to take a little bit of downforce off to try and get closer but yeah, as Canada, we’re seeing improvements so we’re getting there.

    Q: (Oana Popoiou – F1 Zone) Sergio, we are yet to see a clean race for Force India. Is it going to happen tomorrow?
    SP: I hope so, I really hope so. I think the team definitely deserves it. I think Nico had a problem today. I think he should definitely be around here, you know, and hopefully tomorrow we can put together a great race and make a lot of progress and who knows what can happen? It’s going to be a lot going on in this race and hopefully we can do a strong performance tomorrow.

    Q: (Niharika Karnasingh Ghorpade  – Top Gear India Magazine) To all three of you: almost 60 percent of the drivers have had off-track moments at T15, T3 or T4. How do you think you’re going to avoid those in tomorrow’s race, knowing how critical it is?
    NR: It is a very exciting track, it’s a tough track so that’s why we have been seeing so many mistakes everywhere and that’s why tomorrow’s race is going to be – for sure – very very interesting and I think there’s going to be a lot going on.
    SP: Yeah, we’re pushing to the maximum and sometimes more than that. As soon as you go over it you pay for it. It doesn’t matter if it’s T15 or it’s T2 or T3, it doesn’t matter, you really pay for it here. Tomorrow, I think, you’re going to see some crashes, some mistakes. Hopefully not me again but there will obviously be mistakes around this place because it’s so difficult and we are all pushing to the maximum.
    DR: Yeah, I think they’ve really done a really great job with the circuit. It’s very challenging, very easy to make mistakes so I think that’s what’s going to create an exciting race. It makes it difficult for us but that’s why we enjoy racing as well. We love the challenge and some of the real modern circuits, I feel, are too open and you don’t really get that sense of risk and reward and that adrenaline rush that you get through, so here, you get that on several corners and you know if you brake a little bit late you’re going to pay the price.  In saying that, I think it’s still done safely, I think if you crash, the run-off or how the barriers are shaped it’s safe but sure it’s going to ruin your race. I think it’s got a really good balance.

  • Rosberg takes pole as Hamilton crashes out of Baku qualifying

    Rosberg takes pole as Hamilton crashes out of Baku qualifying

    Nico Rosberg claimed the pole position for the European Grand Prix at the Baku City Circuit while team mate Lewis Hamilton binned his Mercedes out of Q3. Hamilton will start tomorrow’s race from 10th place.

    Rosberg will start the inaugural grand prix at Baku from pole after posting a supremely dominant time of 1:42.758 which he set not long before the qualifying session was halted to allow marshalls to recover Hamilton’s car from the track.

    Baku GP Qualifying - Top 3After pretty much writing off his Force India in the final practice session ahead of qualifying, Sergio Perez qualifyied in second place ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.

    Perez left his Force India mechanics with a lot of work to do before the qualifying session underway but managed to bag the second fastest spot for the session. He will, however drop down to seventh place for a gearbox change resulting from the practice crash.

    Daniel Ricciardo grabbed position from Sebastian Vettel in an all out final effort with only 2:05s remaining on the clock when the session restarted. Ricciardo will start the Baku GP from second, and Vettel third. The two drivers’ qualifying times were identical with the front row spot decided by Ricciardo having set the time before Vettel.

    Kimi Raikkonen will line the second Ferrari up in fourth place on the grid tomorrow, ahead of Felipe Massa’s Williams, the Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat and Sergio Perez.

    Baku QualifyingValtteri Bottas, who is taking some flack for holding up both Jenson Button and Max Verstappen, will start from eigth position ahead of Verstappen and Hamilton.

    Romain Grosjean finished 11th fastest for the Haas F1 team after adding a few more escape roads to his excursion map for the weekend.

    Nico Hulkenberg threw away what looked to be an excellent opportunity to qualify well by spinning out of Turn 16. Hulkenberg will start the Baku GP from 12th place.

    Carlos Sainz Jr will start from 13th with Fernando Alonso’s McLaren alongside him in 14th place. Esteban Gutierrez qualified 15th fastest with Felipe Nasr taking up the final Q2 qualifying classification position.

    The Manor team ever so nearly made it through to Q2. Rio Haryanto and Pascal Wehrlein took up 17th and 18th places ahead of Jenson Button who could only manage 19th fastest after running wide at Turn 15. Marcus Ericsson qualified 20th fastest for Sauber with the two Renaults of Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer completing the grid.

    Baku Qualifying Classification:

    qualifying-classification

     

  • Hamilton makes it a practice clean sweep

    Hamilton makes it a practice clean sweep

    Mercedes reigning F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton stole the quickest time at the top of the final practice timesheets, ahead of the first ever qualifying at the Baku City Circuit, for the European Grand Prix.

    Hamilton  made it a clean practice sweep in the final minutes of the practice session with a time of 1:44.352 on the super soft tyres. Rosberg had held on to the top spot for most of the hour long session but missed the mark by 0.258s after Hamilton’s final quick lap.

    Force India made a strong showing with Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez running 3rd and 6th respectively. Perez however was set to improve considerably and was on a really good lap but got caught out by a crosswind and crashed into the wall just after the chequered flag fell on the session.

    Sergio Perez - final practicePerez went very wide out of Turn 15 and banged the right rear of his VJM09 into the wall leaving his Force India mechanics with plenty of work to do to get ready for qualifying.

    Daniel Ricciardo brought his Red Bull home 4th fastest with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel completing the Force India sandwich.

    Max Verstappen finished 7th fastest ahead of Jenson Button, Daniil Kvyat and Kimi Raikkonen to complete the Top 10. Raikkonen had been in the pits for a great deal of the practice session with an engine problem.

    Fernando Alonso was 11th fastest with Carlos Sainz Jr., Romain Grosjean and Felipe Massa lining up behind him.

    Esteban Gutierrez was 15th fastest with the Renault duo of Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer split by Pascal Wehrlein further back. The Saubers and Manors took their familiar positions on the timesheets.

    fp3-drain-cover-2Valterri Bottas was not able to set a time for the practice session after a loose cable duct cover flipped off under his Williams’ downforce and damaged the sidepod of his FW38.

    Bottas was on his way back into the pits after an installation lap when he drove over the loose metal cover and ripped his sidepod. The Williams mechanics worked hard to repair the damage but were not able to send him back out before the end of the session.

    Join us for the inaugural qualifying at the Baku City Circuit at 3pm GMT+2! We’ll be on Twitter @F1_Madness with live commentary and F1 banter throughout.

    Final Practice Session timesheet:

    final practice classification Baku