F1 Madness

Tag: carlos sainz

  • 2015 Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    2015 Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    DRIVERS:

    Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

    Fernando ALONSO (McLaren)

    Carlos SAINZ (Toro Rosso)

    Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    Nico HULKENBERG (Force India)

    Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Nico, if we can start with you. First of all, congratulations on winning Le Mans, a great achievement, especially at your first attempt. How was it?

    Nico HULKENBERG: Yeah, it was quite amazing obviously. A very intense and long week. I flew from Montreal to Paris and then straight to Le Mans. But yeah, to come there, first attempt, and to win it with my team and my team-mates has just been incredible. You know, very emotional moments and a great experience that I don’t want to miss obviously, so very proud about what we’ve achieved there.

    In Canada we saw a performance lift for Force India, scoring points again and also for yourself. There’s a B-spec car coming relatively soon. So how optimistic are you, looking at the future?

    NH: Yeah, quite, to be honest. I think, like you say, recently we’ve made good progress, we had a car in the points four of the last five grands prix, so we see signs that it is getting better. In Silverstone we’ll get some new parts and major upgrades, so I really look forward to those. I’m quite we can have a really strong second half of the season, which hopefully then will make up for the first bit, which wasn’t quite to plan.

    Thank you very much, Nico. Daniel, coming to you, Canada was a very difficult weekend and you left not knowing what the problem was really. There has been talk about chassis, replacing [it]… Have there been any solutions implemented and did you identify the problems in Canada?

    Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah, we understood quite a lot post-Canada. I think a lot of it as well was… I probably came in there quite in a way emotional from what happened there a year earlier and probably just hoping for too much. So that already probably set the target too high from the start and it sort of spiralled into a poor weekend, for obviously some other reasons as well. We come here now with let’s say a fresh approach on it all. I have a new chassis. I think we’ve got any variables that were maybe there in Canada and ready to have a good weekend. We know the track doesn’t realty suit everything for our performance right now but hopefully have a good weekend here in front of the home fans.

    There’s also been talk about you replacing engines and taking penalties here at a track that is probably not the best for you guys. Would this be the most sensible option this weekend?

    DR: It’s likely. We’re definitely looking into it. I think we’ll have a decision probably by this evening as to what we’ll do this weekend. It’s likely we’ll take a penalty here. If it’s not here it’s in the next few. We have to see as well what chance we have coming up in Silverstone and Budapest. Wouldn’t be a surprise if we see it here but probably a few hours away from a decision.

    Thank you very much Daniel. Moving on to you Nico Rosberg. Monaco last year seemed to be a turning point in your championship challenge and this season seems to be shaping up the same way. Is that your impression?

    Nico ROSBERG: I don’t know. I don’t think so much about the past or things like that. For me it’s now. Lately, yeah, it’s been going OK. Of course, Canada not such – I lost out there. But I’m feeling good, feeling good. It’s great to be here; I won here last year, so arriving here very optimistically, we have a great car, so it should be a great weekend.

    Speaking about the car, Lewis recently said he’s feeling much happier with the 2015 car than he was with the 2014 car. What’s your impression?

    NR: Pretty much the same. It’s very similar, you know, because not much has changed in the regulations, so it’s just ongoing development, so it’s very similar.

    Thank you very much Nico. Moving on to Carlos now. Carlos this is a home race for the Red Bull family but probably not the best suited to the Toro Rosso’s strengths, but neither was Canada and there you finished very close to the points, you finished ahead of the one of the Red Bulls. How do you see this weekend panning out for you?

    Carlos SAINZ: Yeah, it should be another quite difficult weekend. Probably not as difficult as Canada because Canada was really not playing to our strengths because there were not really any high-speed corners, it was all either slow speed or a long straight. Here we have a couple of really quick corners that we know that our car is quite strong over there. We are also bringing a couple of upgrades that should also make us a bit quicker, and from there on expect another tough weekend, but maybe not as tough as Canada.

    We’re almost half way through the season and how do you rate it so far, because it’s been a pretty good start?

    CS: Yeah, I must say I am very happy with how things have gone in the first seven races. I think it has been a great achievement by all the team, especially with all the small problems we are having. The car is very, very competitive; it’s a great car to drive. Also the team is helping me a lot in all the areas to improve. I keep learning; every single time I go out in the car I enjoy, I learn. I’m very happy with it. Also there were a lot of new tracks for me, something like four or five new tracks, so it’s been a good first part of the season for sure.

    Thanks very much. Moving on to you Seb: a pretty promising performance in Canada, despite the penalties on the grid. Given the package you have at the moment, and also considering a good grid start, a positive start, how do you see this weekend panning out and do you see yourself challenging for victory here?

    Sebastian VETTEL: I think ideally we always try to fight for the win. I know that we have a strong package this year, a strong car, so if everything goes normal then we should be a little bit further up again, especially on Saturday this weekend. In general, looking forward to the weekend. It’s a great place, a great venue. I think all of us really enjoy coming here. But we also have to be realistic [in] challenging the Mercedes. We know that first of all we need to have a flawless weekend, a perfect weekend and maybe hoping for them to have a little bit of a struggle. But in normal circumstances it is quite difficult to beat them as they are still the favourites going in and there is still quite a big gap.

    Canada, again despite the penalties, seemed to be a pretty enjoyable race for you, with all the overtaking moves, the fights on track. How good was it to have to battle through the field?

    SV: For sure it was more entertaining than the races before. It’s normal when you come from the back. Obviously first of all you go through cars that are slower than you. In general, obviously it was busier and at the end once I had my position I think I could extract a little bit more the pace of the car. But overall it was quite exciting and it was a good recovery, valuable points. We avoided all the risk in the opening lap which is always a bit messy if you are in the back of the field, but fortunately it all worked out and as I said we could get good points.

    Thank you very much. And last but not least, hola Fernando there at the back. You were involved in one of these very exciting fights on track [in Canada]. For you personally, as a racing driver, was this one of the highlights of the season so far – these battles, not giving up, fighting as much as you could?

    Fernando ALONSO: Probably that’s a little bit too much, you know to be one of the highlights. I think it was nice to battle a little bit but it was for half a lap, what I could do, so I prefer to do a little bit longer than that. I am enjoying the starts, the first laps. In Barcelona I think I was P8 in corner three. In Canada I also was ninth or eighth in corner six and then slowly you are losing positions on the straight with our lack of speed, so that’s a little bit a not ideal situation but at least the starts and the first lap I’m enjoying it.

    We’re coming to a track that they say is a little bit similar to Canada, maybe a little bit less extreme than Canada and Canada was a very difficult weekend for McLaren-Honda and for yourself as well. Do you think that this weekend could be a lot different, in terms of that you are bringing upgrades and still working on the car and identifying the problems as well?

    FA: Well, it will be another weekend where it’s going to be tough, where the results will not look good especially because there are probably some penalties to pay, so I think it’s going to be a test weekend for us, very important, there are some updates on the car, so hopefully we go out of this weekend with some answers and there is the test next week as well. Important days ahead for us. I’m quite optimistic with the things that are coming to the car and for the near future but as I said in terms of result it will not change too much this weekend or probably it will be even worse.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) A question for all the drivers. We have been hearing a lot about lift and coast since Canada and Mercedes issues a press release in the last couple of days trying to explain what lift and coast was and they stated that from a driving point of view it was not easy to do lift and coast because you have to find a different braking point because of the different speed that you were arriving at the corner. Could you please, as a driver, shed some light on how difficult it is to lift and coast and to find your braking point and also a question specifically to Nico Hulkenberg: Nico, how much lift and coast you have to do at Le Mans?

    NH: I think to do lift and coast in Formula One is quite easy – you just left off and coast down. The difficulty is to do it efficiently and to lose as little lap time as possible. Like you say, when you do it your braking point varies, so it’s quite difficult for us to judge, you know, where the actual braking point has moved. To get close to that target, I think that’s the art, that’s what makes it difficult. In WEC we also have quite a bit of lift and coast. They have different fuel regulations, they’re even tighter than here in Formula One, so fuel management is quote crucial there.

    Fernando as one of the most experienced drivers can you please explain a little about lift and coast?

    FA: Well, as Nico said, there’s not much secret – you lift, you coast to the corner, you brake. We are professional drivers, so we should know where is the point of braking, depends on the speed we arrive. There are other implications on fuel saving – the state of charge, the battery you may have at that point of the race, how much deployment you have on the straights in terms of the K deployment, so yeah, we drive maybe eight or ten different cars in a weekend. We drive low fuel, high fuel, maximum deployment, no deployment, fuel saving, new tyres, old tyres, so there are a variable of four or five seconds in the car during different stages of the free practice, qualifying or the race, so that’s the biggest difficulty, but we are professional drivers, we are ready to do that.

    Seb?

    SV: Nothing to add.

    Nico?

    NR: Well, lift and coast is the most efficient way to save fuel, they did it even in the 80s. I remember my dad racing with Alain Prost at McLaren and they had to save fuel because everybody was running out of fuel at the end of the race, so nothing has changed there. Just that it’s become more professional now and more accurate and more detailed. That doesn’t mean… still even if we’re doing that, we’re driving at the absolute limit of the car – it’s just a different kind of driving style, y’know? And even that driving style is very challenging, and you’re still pushing like crazy, you’re just driving a different way. That’s it.

    And Carlos, as one of the new guys, Can you explain what your experience is with it?

    CS: Yeah, for me something quite new. I have not been used to that… never in my life. And personally, it’s not a thing I really like, especially because I have to do it from very early in the race, probably after the first lap you have already the engineers telling you to lift and coast. I remember Australia was very big, Canada was again very big. You have to adapt and you have to be quick – but probably the amount that I was doing in the last… these two races was probably a bit too much for my opinion. But it’s something that I have to do, something that I have to learn and I will adapt.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Question to you Nico. You’re the only driver here Nico – in fact the only driver in Formula One – who’s been able to drive with two completely different tyre brands over consecutive weekends, different in terms of philosophy, construction etcetera. Can you, from a driver perspective, give us the difference between the Pirellis you use here and the Michelins you use in Le Mans please?

    NH: Yeah, it’s obviously a different tyre but it’s also a completely different car – so it’s a bit like comparing apples and pears. I think here we have more tyre degradation, which makes racing exciting and stuff, and in Le Mans the tyres obviously have to last a lot longer. The race is 24 hours and not just 300km, so it’s a completely different game – but otherwise it’s difficult to just take the tyre, isolate it from the rest of the car and the differences and compare that.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Sport Bild) Question for five guys – apart from Nico Hülkenberg – and one after especially for Fernando. Could you imagine in future to take part as well in Le Mans? And for you Fernando, how do you rate the victory of Nico – because I have learned you have been very close to a Porsche deal as well for this year.

    FA: Yes, I considered to race in Le Mans. In the future – and when in the future I don’t know – I just said it was very close this year, so maybe next year. I don’t know.

    Daniel?

    DR: Yeah, it would be fun. I watched quite a lot of it actually, about 18 hours. I’m a fan! Yeah, it was cool. Racing is what we do, it’s fun, it’s nice to have a weekend off but when I was watching it I was obviously thinking it would be nice to be racing as well, on this weekend off. So, if we could manage to do more, like they did in the old days as well, there was drivers jumping from categories. Fortunately Nico’s made us all look good and I think he’s made it all seem possible for us now. So, maybe we’ll get the praise from our teams to venture into these things for the future.

    Nico, have you considered racing at Le Mans?

    NR: No, not really. At the moment I’m pretty focussed on this year so I haven’t thought about that.

    And you Seb?

    SV: A little bit along the lines of Daniel. I think it’s great to watch, especially as everyone has the impression that, a 24 Hour race, people tend to take it easy because the race is so long and so many things can happen, but it was great to see the guys were actually flat out from the first lap. For all of the race, basically. So, I think as racing drivers that’s what we’re after, to push every single lap and for a long time, obviously that means more fun. So, might be something in the future to think about. Obviously massive respect for what Nico did.

    Carlos, it might be a long way on the horizon but would you consider it?

    CS: Or not, who knows! If an offer comes, why not take it. For sure, its professionally one of the most prestigious races in the world and, to participate in that, after participating in F1, it would be something mega. Of course, I’m more than open. Anything that has four wheels and a steering wheel and an engine I would like to drive – so whatever.

    Q: (Istvan Janos Simon – Auto Magazine) Daniel, last year you came here on the back of a great win in Montreal with high spirits to Austria, to Spielberg, to the home of the Red Bull Racing team. Now, after a year it’s a completely different atmosphere within the team I guess. Could you talk to me about this morale of the team? How do you prepare? What is different compared to last year at the same time – for you and for the team?

    DR: I think that now it’s… yeah, we’re in a different position this year. Obviously a massive high. I think sitting at this press conference last year… I think it’s just reassess and re-evaluate our, or my, let’s say, expectations for what we’re capable of at the moment. And yeah, obviously I experienced some of the lows in Canada and then after that weekend I looked back on it all and said ‘OK, we have to, unfortunately for now, lower the bar and just try to not really look at the big picture of getting a podium or getting inside the top five, it’s just making sure we can just maximise our weekend for now and try and bring the team forwards as quick as possible. I know there’s lots of updates coming, some have worked more than others – but obviously we’re still pushing, we’re still trying. Like all things, they do take time, I think. You hope it turns around quicker but that’s the nature of the sport sometimes. Just learn to be a bit more patient I guess, and just make sure at least that I’m maximising my weekend. Obviously Canada wasn’t a good weekend, so just try and get back, let’s say, on the front foot this weekend and whatever position it puts us in, we’ll accept it and just try and keep the head down and more forwards.

    Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas Magazine) Fernando, you said this weekend maybe going to be worse in terms of your performances. The car performances. Did you expect it takes so long to get the right performance – or let’s say, a good one. And how do you keep the optimism in this case?

    FA: Obviously the position we found ourselves in winter testing was not ideal. Probably we expect a little bit more – but it is the way it is. I think the performance has been always improving race after race. I think here it will be the case as well. The thing of this weekend is just the final result. We don’t know if it’s going to be good enough to make us happy – because probably with the penalties we will start a little bit already at the back and pay some extra penalties. So that will be not ideal. In terms of performance, we expect a lot from the car in the next month or two months. So we will see how we end up before summer and how we end up at the end of the year. That will give us some hopes for next year, let’s say. It’s the way it is. Why I remain optimistic? Because I see a lot of things inside the team, I see the group of people we have, I see the programme that we have in terms of chassis and in terms of engine. I see the resources, I see the talent of the team, so it’s a question of time when we will be competitive. Hopefully we will make it very short, that period of learning that we are having at the moment – but I’m optimistic.

    Q: (Barna Zsoldos –  Nemzeti Sport) Daniel, Carlos and Sebastian; from next year, we will have a new super licence system which is based on earning points. For the GP2 title, you will get 50 points, for a European Formula Three title you will get 40 points and for a Formula Renault 3.5 title you get only 30 points. Do you also feel that success in Formula Renault 3.5 is worth less than the other two categories?

    DR: I never raced in GP2 and I know when I was doing World series it was the old spec car so it wasn’t even as fast as they are now and I thought that was already a very good stepping stone. I thought that car taught me a lot to – let’s say – prepare me well for Formula One and now I believe it’s… I see it’s quite a lot closer. Yeah, I would say it should be closer than that, we should get a bit more points than… did you say Formula Three is getting more points? OK. Judging on the speed of the car, obviously, and let’s say the lap time and whatever, I think the field is good in World series so I would expect it to have at least the same amount of points as Formula Three.

    SV: Well, I think all three of us gained our experience in Formula Renault 3.5 or World series. Obviously I also drove the old car but I thought it was a great car, a great championship, you’re the main event so everything happens around you, so you get a lot of time on the track which obviously is very important. I think it should be appreciated more, probably if you express it in points but equally I don’t see the reason why young drivers have to score points. I think it’s clear when someone is ready, someone has the talent to make the step. It doesn’t matter where he comes from, from Formula Three, from Formula Renault or GP2 so I guess it’s just another thing implemented to help confusing.

    CS: Judging by my experience last year and my experience this year, I just can only say that 3.5 prepared me very well for Formula One. It’s a very quick car, especially the last spec, very very quick, has a lot of downforce and I felt that when I stepped up to Formula One I was ready so probably more points would have been – in my opinion – I would give it more points, for sure.

    Q: (Gerhard Kuntschik – Salzburger Nachrichten) This is a question for all the drivers in manufacturers’ teams: are you dealing with the history of your manufacturers and are you interested in vintage cars and would you like to try some of these in the near future?

    NR: Yeah, very interested in the history. I like to watch the videos and read the books and everything. I’m really into vintage cars also, a big fan. Actually yesterday I drove a 300SL roadster from Stuttgart all the way to Schaffhausen in Switzerland which was awesome. It was such an incredible experience to drive those old cars and how advanced they already were back in those days so I always like driving them, yeah.

    SV: Yeah, almost a dream came true in this regard this year(to join Ferrari), great to see the history. I think it’s a very very special brand in racing in particular. So there’s a lot of cars from the history, especially old racing cars and it’s nice to see that they try to keep most of them intact and ready to go, so if there’s some time, hopefully I’m allowed to do a couple of laps around Fiorano in some of the old cars.

    FA: Yeah, obviously I’ve been lucky, feel privileged to drive for McLaren-Honda, for Ferrari, for Renault to some extent. Definitely when you see all those cars and some of them are the cars which you watched on television when you were a kid so definitely it’s nice to see the history behind a team or behind a manufacturer and also to drive those cars is always a little gift when you have that opportunity and we enjoy every minute.

    Q: (Joe van Burik – NU.NL) Daniel and Fernando: you have both voiced your frustration regarding the performance of your cars, most notably in Canada. Does this encourage you to look around for other opportunities?

    DR: Yeah, I expressed some frustration in Canada and I think – as I said – it was a bit of a spiral effect from year one, from probably the best day of my life to obviously a tough weekend. Yeah, I let some frustration out but as I said, I got back after the race, back home to Europe and – let’s say – assessed the weekend. Unfortunately, sometimes, you have to be a bit patient and for sure I’m set now with Red Bull and I would love to try and get back on the top step with them. Yeah, just got to be patient and just try and work out with them as a team and hopefully let out some frustration on track if I need to in a good positive way. But yeah, for now obviously my target is to get back on top with them and then we will see. The future is long but short term that’s where I look.

    FA: Same.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Seb, you said that the gap to Mercedes is still very high at the moment. Are you confident that you, Ferrari,  can reduce it in the second part of the season, considering that you are introducing upgrades in the second part of the season, as are Mercedes, or will it be more difficult?

    SV: Well, first of all I think you have to see that it is natural that from track to track it might vary a bit but I think we’ve already done an incredible job. If you look at winter testing and where we are now, I think we consider ourselves to be quite a bit closer. Yeah, obviously it’s not that easy to make the gap smaller and smaller because Mercedes is a strong team and obviously they are improving as well. They introduced a new spec of engine in Canada so they’re also making progress but our target for sure, is to make bigger progress to finally close the gap, so for sure, we are hoping that in the second part of the season, we are starting to get closer – closer than we are now.

    Q: (Peter Vamosi – Vas Nepe Kiadoi) To all the German drivers but mainly for Sebastian as ambassador for the ADAC: who do you think could be the next German driver in Formula One? It seems that right now the juniors are not represented in Formula Three or Renault 3.5. Mick Schumacher is one who seems to be coming to Formula One. Can there also be other names?

    SV: Well, obviously you’ve mentioned the Formula 4 championship. Obviously that’s not the closest to Formula One so short term I think it’s always tricky. Obviously there’s a couple of German guys around  and I think it’s completely normal to have sometimes more, sometimes less drivers from your country represented in Formula One. I remember a couple of years ago I think when I joined, when Nico joined there was a period when we had six German drivers on the grid so obviously we were quite lucky because we had young drivers and experienced drivers. Now, at that time, I  remember there were no French drivers and the French press was desperate because there weren’t any French drivers on the grid. They asked the questions: what is the secret, why are there so many German drivers? So I think it’s natural that it goes up and down. If you look at the grid now, there’s a couple of French drivers for quite a couple of years now. I think that’s normal and then you need to give everyone time. I think if you talk about guys that are now 15, 16 years old, obviously it could turn around quick. You can, obviously, drive a Formula One car at the age of 17 but if you look at it in a normal way, it takes quite a couple of years from there where you need to develop yourself. I think it’s wrong, now, to give you a name because it’s wrong to put pressure on any of these young drivers but I think there’s a couple around. It’s true that maybe it’s less if you look at the number compared to ten years ago but as I said, I think it’s completely natural if you then look further down the road to go-karting. Still in Germany, there’s one of the strongest championship in the whole of Europe with the German kart championship for juniors and for seniors. Seniors are considered guys from 15 years to probably 18 years old so I’m not worried. There’s a lot of attention for the guys, great championships to start from. As I mentioned, go-karting and then Formula 4 as a platform and then on to Formula Three Euroseries, so there’s plenty of stuff to do.

    NH: Not much more to add.

    NR: Well, Pascal Wehrlein, our test driver for example, he’s surely the best candidate short term.

    Q: (Zsolt Godina – Fana Media) Nico Hulkenberg, could you please tell us about your new package?

    NH: It’s a couple of new parts. As you can imagine; it’s going to be quite a lot: front wing, floor, side pods so you’ll see it, it’s going to be quite different, I would expect.

    Q: (Manuel Franco – Diario AS) Sebastian, Daniel and Fernando: what is your opinion about Carlos Sainz’s start of his first season in Formula One?

    FA: Probably I’m on one side but yeah, I think it’s been perfect so far. It has been surprising everybody, not so much me because I have known him for many years and he’s showing his talent now in F1 with sometimes competitive cars, sometimes not but he’s always putting in some top performances together with a strong teammate as well, so that’s very positive in the first year, no mistakes. He will be the future of our country so I definitely hope the best for him.

    DR: Yeah, not much to add really, he’s obviously doing very well. I won’t give him too much of a big head because he’s sitting pretty close to us. In a way, obviously, it’s a bit of a compliment to the Red Bull programme. I think they’ve got a bit of a gift for selecting some drivers that have turned out to be pretty successful and Carlos and again also his teammate Max, they’ve obviously started off very well in their rookie year. Dany my teammate now, obviously just having his rookie year last year, showing good signs. Carlos is definitely on the right path. Obviously it runs in the blood with his family as well.

    SV: I think he’s had a great start. I think he has all the ingredients, he’s quick and he’s willing to learn. I remember when he was probably in a not so nice role as one of the support drivers for us at Red Bull Racing, the last couple of years. Until last year, he was pushing very hard and he’s willing to learn and he’s willing to make progress and I think that’s very important if you want to make it.

  • F1 2015: Canadian GP Review – Mercedes Dominate In Montreal

    F1 2015: Canadian GP Review – Mercedes Dominate In Montreal

    Most would hold the opinion that the Canadian grand prix was far from the riveting showpiece it typically delivers. In terms of on track action they would be right but there were a number of significant goings-on for various teams.

    It wouldn’t have been considered outlandish to expect McLaren to be threatening the outskirts of the top ten by race seven of the 2015 championship. The reality however is far from this lofty expectation. Neither Jenson Button nor Fernando Alonso saw the chequered flag at the end of the Canadian grand prix and whilst they were running it wasn’t pretty.

    An ERS (energy recovery system) failure on Jenson Button’s number 22 McLaren meant that the Brit had to sit out qualifying which was the preface to yet another retirement this time due to an exhaust issue. The sister McLaren of Fernando Alonso ran until lap 44 until he too was forced into his third consecutive retirement. The Spaniard’s race was rather painful as the double world champion appeared as nothing more than a mobile chicane with cars sauntering past him with embarrassing ease.

    Fernando Alonso_Canada 2015The McLaren drivers have been measured in their comments to the press since the start of the season but the frustrations are starting to show. First it was Jenson Button who described the McLaren as a scary car to drive which he then promptly walked back with a bit of PR spin. And then there is Fernando Alonso who remains adamant that he does not regret his departure from Ferrari.

    The driver’s statements to the press are more often than not just PR drabble regimented by the team.  But occasionally we are privy to the radio comms between car and pitwall and here the unadorned feelings often come to light in very colourful ways.

    Fernando Alonso irritation was evident as he told his team over the radio that he was being made to look like “an amateur” during the race. Similarly, when he was asked to save fuel after a meagre twenty-four laps Alonso responded with “I don’t want, I don’t want.”   As much as the blame has been placed at Honda’s doorstep McLaren’s racing director Eric Boullier accepted that improvement is needed “everywhere.”

    This year’s Canandian grand prix was far less dramatic for Mercedes than twelve months ago when brake failure devastated Lewis Hamilton’s race and severely impeded Nico Rosberg’s progress.  But even though Hamilton and Rosberg appeared to be untroubled as they secured a dominant one-two victory several issues needed managing throughout the race. At various stages both Hamilton and Rosberg were instructed to manage sky rocketing brake temperatures and the inevitable phase of fuel saving to get to the end of the grand prix.

    GP CANADA F1/2015Just when it looks as if Ferrari has taken a step towards closing the chasm to Mercedes it’s found to be off base. The long run pace in the second free practice session suggested that the Ferrari was looking in great shape to take the fight to Ferrari. Besides the reality that Ferrari is still off the Merc pace, circumstances combined to make it a difficult weekend.

    Sebastian Vettel’s ERS issue in qualifying and subsequent 5 place penalty for overtaking under red flag relegated him to the back of the grid. Yet, the German was able to make his way through to a solid fifth place by the end of the race. Kimi Raikkonen’s Saturday afternoon had a far better outcome with a season’s best third place on the grid.

    The race itself wasn’t going too badly for the Finn who was keeping both Mercedes in sight. Alas, a couple of laps after switching onto the yellow side-walled soft tyre a spin at the exit of the turn ten hairpin comprised his afternoon’s work. The spin was eerily similar to one Raikkonen suffered in last year’s Canadian grand prix which was prompted by a difference in the torque map.  The Ferrari driver, who had now slipped to fourth, confirmed on the radio that the spin was “the same as last year.” A second pitstop for the supersoft tyre didn’t lose the number seven Ferrari any positions but left it nearly twenty seconds adrift of the third placed Williams of Valtteri Bottas. Despite Raikkonen’s best efforts his fellow Finn still held a five second gap by the time the chequered flag was unfurled.

    Williams driver Felipe Massa too suffered issues in qualifying which dropped him to the back of the starting grid. The Brazilian was able to recover to sixth overall which included an inch perfect overtake on Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson. Pastor Maldonado, Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg, Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat and the second Lotus of Romain Grosjean rounded out the top ten.

    Canada 2015_StartLast year’s Canadian Gp winner Daniel Ricciardo described his race as horrible beyond his wildest dreams. And this less than pretty statement was followed with a threat from Renault, via Christian Horner, that they may quit the sport in 2016. Notably Carlos Sainz junior out-performed his highly fancied teammate Max Verstappen.

    Contrary to Canadian grand prix history the 2015 edition was a meek outing with little to amp up the excitement factor. There were several overtaking manoeuvres but no close dices for position. Lotus’ Romain Grosjean was slapped with a five second penalty for clipping the edge off Will Stevens’ Manor.

    Often we get caught up in the chaotic world of Formula 1 to the point where the bigger picture is sometimes overlooked. Yes, Lewis Hamilton is in the most magnificent car built for at least the last decade; but what has been truly impressive is make-up of Hamilton and how he has evolved. The Monaco grand prix debacle was undoubtedly a tough moment but the driver he is now and the temperament he has now allows not for a showy comeback but rather a deafening response which declares that he can surmount whatever obstacle is placed in his way.

  • F1 2015: GP Preview – Classic Canada

    F1 2015: GP Preview – Classic Canada

    Change is said to be inevitable and Formula 1 has embraced this fate with more regularity than most. Thankfully, it hasn’t abandoned some of thegreat circuit that lends its much needed character to the world championship.

    As the seventh round of the 2015 season the Canadian grand prix is collectively treasured by drivers, teams and fans. The circuit Gilles Villeneuve is an oldie but a goodie and renowned for its tendency to dish up thrilling racing.

    Its decades old history is spectacular and has rarely faltered to live up to its magnificent highs. The last several races around here have all had their own dramatic and enthralling stories. Last year the grinning Aussie Daniel Ricciardo snapped up his first grand prix victory after Mercedes ran into trouble.  In especially dramatic fashion Jenson Button snatched victory from Sebastian Vettel on the last lap in 2011 after an appalling race at which stage the Brit was dead last.

    It was here too that Lewis Hamilton took his first race win in 2007 as a bright-eyed McLaren driver. Altogether Hamilton has quite the romance with North American races having in Canada and the United States on several occasions. The incident that kept the reigning champion from winning the Monaco grand prix would have been tough to take on the day but there is little doubt that Hamilton will arrive in Montreal with that controversial issue well out of his mind.

    Canadian GPThe physical make-up of the circuit Gilles Villeneuve calls for an aggressive approach. “I remember coming back into the pits and saying ‘what a circuit,’ I was amazed at how good it was – and I’d only done an install. It’s just a ridiculous amount of fun. You can jump across the kerbs and really get the car bouncing around,” shares Daniel Ricciardo. “It’s like getting back to go-kart days, you really feel like you own it – and I love that. You can get aggressive with it, and aim to just brush the wall.”

    The close proximity of the barriers often draws comparisons with Monaco which makes the likelihood of a safety car appearance fairly high. There is a distinct lack of overtaking opportunities which means that a good performance in qualifying can often translate to a good showing in Sunday’s race.

    In technical terms the track’s long straight classifies it as a power dominant circuit. A greater focus is placed on brake wear with several big stops around the circuit. This was the area in 2014 that found out Mercedes as both cars suffered brake failure with only Rosberg seeing the chequered flag on that occasion. The circuit is mostly unused during the rest of the year which will make for a slow start to the weekend. Here too the weather conditions can be variable making the job of getting temperature into the tyres a tough one.

    Canadian Grand PrixMercedes closest rivals are likely to Ferrari as it has been for the most part this year. The reality however is that though Ferrari are labelled as Mercedes’ rivals they still remain some way off their dominating pace.

    The steps that are being taken forward by Ferrari have grown slightly shorter over the last few months. The victory in Malaysia seems a long time ago and the Italian team has not been able to make a real impression on Mercedes of late. The upgradepackage brought to the Spanish grand prix wasn’t shown up to its potential in Monaco and may add a bit of performance.

    A ten point gap is all that is between Mercedes teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. But will it be left to a battle between the two Silver Arrows or will the Canadian grand prix once again deliver its notoriously dramatic races?

  • F1 2015: Monaco GP Review – Mercedes Bungle Monaco

    F1 2015: Monaco GP Review – Mercedes Bungle Monaco

    To be perplexed is to be completely baffled or mystified as to what has happened. Suffice it to say that Mercedes ensured that entire Formula 1 fraternity was left entirely stunned.

    Lewis Hamilton secured his first ever pole position around the famous streets and easily led his teammate from the starting grid as the red lights extinguished. The race settled quickly and the seventy-eight laps of the Monaco grand prix appeared to be nothing more than a formality as yet another victory beckoned for Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.

    The Brit had a more than comfortable lead ahead of Nico Rosberg and was cruising towards the chequered flag. As the grand prix drew towards its conclusion Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen clipped the back of Romain Grosjean’s Lotus and ploughed headfirst into the turn one barrier. The Toro Rosso teenager was given a five place grid penalty at the next round for causing a collision. It first brought out the safety-car and prompted a serious malfunction of logic on the Mercedes pitwall.

    Hamilton was called into the pitlane for a new set of supersoft tyres and emerged back on track behind Rosberg and Vettel. The fresher tyres on Hamilton’s car were negated by the notoriously narrow Monaco circuit as the championship leader went from assured victory to third.

    Max Verstappen crashes into Rimain Grosjean at the F1 Monaco Grand PrixThe reasoning behind the stop remains remarkably vague. As neither Rosberg nor Vettel, in third, pitted for new tyres there was nothing to cover from Hamilton’s perspective who held a nearly 21 second lead.  It was a peculiar call that saw a rightly morose Hamilton on the makeshift podium. An immediate debrief within the team revealed a miscalculation of the gap between Hamilton, Rosberg and Vettel.

    Call it a stroke of luck but there is much to be said for being in the right place as Nico Rosberg and his side of the Mercedes garage found out. A third consecutive Monaco victory takes Rosberg into elite company and only ten points off the championship lead.

    Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel shadowed Rosberg for most of the afternoon and reaped the benefits of Mercedes mistake by securing second overall whilst holding off Hamilton. Red Bull enjoyed its best outing of the season with a fourth and fifth place finish for Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo. Kimi Raikkonen paid for a lacklustre qualifying performance and an inability to overtake with sixth place on the day.

    It was a good weekend all-round for Sergio Perez who finished seventh overall in what is effectively a 2014 Force India. After six races McLaren opened their points account with Jenson Button’s eighth place finish. It’s a welcome reward for the team as Fernando Alonso was once again sidelined, this time with a gearbox issue. Sauber’s Felipe Nasr and Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz rounded out the top ten.

    A major talking point of the weekend was the supersoft and soft compound tyres that Pirelli rolled out for the Monaco grand prix. A pronounced lack of grip and an inability to get enough heat into the tyres was a problem up and down the pitlane.

    Of late there have been rumblings that additional tyre suppliers may be brought into the equation. Pirelli, along with the likes of Michelin, will have to bid in 2017 to be the official tyreRosberg_Hamilton_Monaco 2015 Podium supplier of Formula 1. Several drivers confirmed that the supersoft tyre could easily do half of the Monaco grand prix and the soft, yellow-walled compound, the entire race distance. While Pirelli are following instructions as to the make-up of the compounds it certainly is not conducive to entertaining racing Formula 1 so badly seeks.

    Flashback two years ago when Pirelli’s supersoft tyre faced different criticism for all but falling apart after a handful of laps. In 2013, the tyres had to be coddled and cajoled, sometimes to the extreme, but even that produced a better show than the damp squib of a one-stop race with nearly indestructible tyres.

    Ultimately, a race that was rather dull was infused with a dramatic plot twist that no one saw coming. While Lewis Hamilton is allowed his interlude of woe-is-me that is all it’s likely to be. The 2015 version of Hamilton is, mentally, much stronger than at any other stage of his career and by the time Canada rolls around will have consigned the incident to the history books.

     

  • 2015 Formula 1 Pirelli Spanish Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    2015 Formula 1 Pirelli Spanish Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    DRIVERS:

    Felipe NASR (Sauber)

    Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    Daniil KVYAT (Red Bull Racing)

    Carlos SAINZ (Toro Rosso)

    Fernando ALONSO (McLaren)

    Roberto MERHI (Manor)

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Fernando, shall we start with you? Last time out you only missed Q3 in Bahrain by a few tenths of a second and finished only a few seconds away from a points finish. Is that the end of that chapter of McLaren-Honda and does the more competitive chapter begin here this weekend in Spain?

    Fernando ALONSO: Well, let’s hope so. I think in Bahrain we had a nice step and that brought us closer to the Q3 cut-off and also to the points and we need another small step to reach that goal. Obviously it’s not what we want, we want to be on the podium and win races, but one step at a time and hopefully here in Barcelona we can see this step, as you said. But we need to see what the others are bringing here to this race. Obviously it’s the first European grand prix, which normally everyone brings some good updates, as we do as well, but it’s just a matter of which one made the step a little bit bigger.

    There was some glowing praise for you in the past week from McLaren boss Ron Dennis, how has that relationship evolved since your return to the team?

    FA: It’s been great. I have been always very luck to have the support of all my teams and all of my bosses, especially when I am in the team. When I say no to them they change their opinion a bit but that’s how the sport runs and I understand but what is important is to be happy with your job, to know and to make sure that your discipline and your professionalism is at the highest level when you are working for a team and that the people who pay you at the end of the month are happy.

    Daniil, coming to you. It’s been a tough start to your Red Bull Racing career, the car has let you down several times. Is that what’s prevented you from getting the most from yourself or is there more to it than that?

    Daniil KVYAT: It hasn’t been an easy one so far, like you said there have been a few weekends that were quite tricky, for many reasons. We just need to get it right and then we start looking deep into the things and hopefully it will happen very soon.

    So what goals have you and the team set yourselves for recovery going forward?

    DK: No real goals to be honest. We just try to take the best out of the package that we have, we try to extract everything and then we see where we are. No particular goals or anything like that.

    Thank you for that. Coming to you Felipe, four races in, a fifth place among four top-12 finishes for you and 14 points on the board. How satisfied are you with the opening phase of your debut season?

    Felipe NASR: I’m quite happy with it. It’s been a good first four races. We have been maximizing our opportunities in these early stages of this championship, but I expect things to become more difficult as we move on. We know our limitations; we know what we can do. So far I think the team gave me enough preparation and I think I was ready to take those chances early on.

    As you say, Sauber have obviously capitalized on their early-season form and reliability. What lies ahead then do you think in this next phase of the season, up to the summer break, in terms of development and being able to fight, to continue to fight, for points finishes?

    FN: Well, Barcelona is always a good picture to see where everybody is sitting and it’s not going to be any different I would say in the way that we are also bringing a few updates on the car but we don’t know how big is this step compared to our main competitors and we just have to capitalise on these opportunities we have when they show up. It’s never easy to be in those points, so any points really matter for us. Let’s see. We were quite good in testing here in Barcelona, so it’s one for me to look forward to.

    Roberto, coming to you: How do you sum up the first four race weekends with Manor this season and what are your feeling on a home race as a Formula One race?

    Roberto MERHI: Yeah, obviously the first race we could not race in Melbourne. Then we did Malaysia, which was my first grand prix and was a great experience, it was good for us, for the team. It was really important to finish the race there. Obviously after that we did Shanghai and Bahrain and I think Shanghai was quite OK, in Bahrain I was struggling a little bit. All the tracks I raced were new for me, I never drove on those tracks and now coming here to Barcelona, it’s the first track I know in the world championship and I am quite confident to do a good result and to have a strong pace in this race and I am quite happy to race here at my ‘house’. I think it’s going to be a good race and also the first normal track I would say in the calendar because Barcelona is a normal track with a good combination of corners, with a very slow last sector. Then we can know better about the car and also push more the limit here.

    The pace of this car is clear, relative to the rest of the field. Can you tell us about the next steps, development parts and the scheduled arrival of the 2015 car, do you know when that’s going to be?

    RM: The team right now is pushing hard right now to put the new car on track as soon as possible but it takes a little bit of time. As you know we started two weeks before Melbourne and I mean it was everything done in a hurry but I think they are doing already a very good job to be racing and to be finishing the races and everything but yeah it looks like around August we will have the new car. We hope to have it around there but they are trying to work as hard as they can to put the car on track as soon as they can.

    Thank you very much. Carlos, highest placed Spanish driver in the championship heading into your home grand prix. Can you talk a little bit about your feelings racing a Formula One car on home soil?

    Carlos SAINZ: Well, it will always be a very special weekend for me and a very special race to remember. I remember being here 10 years ago for my first grand prix when I came to watch, getting into these huge hospitalities, meeting some important people, meeting my idol here on my left, Fernando, for the first time, when he was in Renault. That was a big shock for me and an amazing experience and probably thanks to that it’s where I take the decision that I really wanted to be a Formula One driver one day and I really wanted to make this dream come true and 10 years later here I am achieving this dream and having my first chance in my home grand prix.

    Are you proud to have inspired that Fernando?

    FA: Yeah, obviously I feel proud of seeing Carlos here. Obviously the talent that he has has no questions in all the categories and now in Formula One. Everyone is surprised by I’m not. He’s the future of our country and I’m happy to sit together here.

    Second question to you Carlos: Barcelona has not over the past 10 years been a great circuit for Toro Rosso – never had a top 10 qualifying and only two 10th-placed finishes. Do you see anything in the development parts that you’ve brought here this weekend that encourages you to believe you can buck that trend this weekend?

    CS: Well, I didn’t know that, that’s something new. We know it’s a track that should suit our car fairly well considering that there is a bit less straight, more fast, flowing corners, fourth-gear corners, where you need the downforce. We know we have the downforce, we just need to make it work. We need to make the car balance correctly. Probably in Bahrain we didn’t get it right, so well. Here we are bringing our upgrades as every other tea. But yeah, the season will develop and big teams like McLaren and Red Bull they will start cutting back and going to the places they are supposed to be and it will become difficult. As Felipe said, for us it’s now about using every chance we have and I am confident that here in Barcelona we can have on with this track layout.

    Thank you. Coming to you Nico. Your 30th career podium last time out in Bahrain. Did you take encouragement from the way that race panned out which you can build on now?

    Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, for sure it felt like a good race. I felt comfortable in the car, you know, and of course it’s enjoyable to attack like that and pass the red cars so for sure it’s given me a boost coming here to Barcelona.

    Well, we’re entering the period of the season now, up to the summer break, where you did you best work last year arguably – five poles and three wins – how can you harness the spirit of that early summer 2014 and get yourself back ahead of your team-mate this time?

    NR: It’s just a matter of maximizing the weekends. It’s not really come together until now. Parts have gone well but other parts not so well and I just need to put it all together and of course I’ll start to try and do that from here onwards.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Ian Parkes – Autosport) Fernando, you’re here back at the track where you had your testing accident in February. Any concerns at all about what might unfold this weekend with the car, with the track? We also read stories during the recent mini-break that you are planning to visit the hospital staff who looked after you when you suffered your concussion. Can you just elaborate on that a little bit as well please?

    FA: No concerns. That was an accident that happened three months ago and unfortunately it was a little bit longer to recover. The impact was a little bit unlucky and it put me one month out of the car. But yeah, coming back here with full confidence and full motivation to do well. To perform and to deliver a good result in front of the home crowd. Yeah, the week that I was in the hospital I had one of the best staff I could imagine in the hospital. They were so kind to me and I plan to have dinner with them, probably on Sunday. I stay here on Monday for one event with a sponsor, so Sunday night after all the stress and the race pass; more in a quiet place probably on Sunday I will have dinner with all of them.

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Nico, a question to you. Of course you have had a fighting race in Bahrain but you still finished behind Lewis. I think if you analyse the times I think we can come to the conclusion that maybe it’s not only Lewis who became faster since last year but also you became a bit slower compared to yourself. Do you agree? Do you think just Lewis got so much faster or you have some problems maybe? Is it a psychological thing or have you analysed and come to a definite conclusion as to what the problem might be?

    FA: Thank you very much for you kind question! I don’t think it’s something to generalize [about] or anything as such. Of course the results speak for themselves. It’s pretty clear. That’s it. For me it’s Barcelona. It’s a race on it’s own and I come here after a personal feeling boost from Bahrain. I just want to optimise this weekend and that’s it. Not thinking much more than that.

    Q: (Simon Arron – Motor Sport magazine) Question to Fernando and Nico, Bernie Ecclestone has recently mentioned that it’s possible, beyond 2015, Monza could be removed from the calendar. You guys have both stood on the podium there, can you tell me what Monza means to you and how you’d feel if it was removed from the schedule.

    NR: Well, Monza is one of the legendary tracks. Of course it is important to the F1 calendar, just as the German Grand Prix is important. I, of course, definitely wish that we continue to race there. If front of the tifosi also, the atmosphere is always awesome so it’s important to F1, that race.

    FA: Yeah, same opinion. I think it’s one of the best races of the year. The podium is amazing there with all the fans on the main straight. It’s the home of Ferrari – it’s very important for Formula One. But, as Nico said, also the German Grand Prix is very important and its not any more this year, so, who knows.

    Q: (Sebastian Scott – racedepartment.com) Question for all the drivers. Pirelli have said this week they’re going to be aiming to use the softer compounds throughout the next races. Do you feel that will aid some drivers more than others – and also aid some teams more than others? And how to you feel about that?

    FA: Nothing really to comment. It’s their decision. I’m not a huge fan of changing philosophy in the middle of the championship, of which tyres or which compounds you need to bring to the races. You should stay with the original idea and the philosophy. But, y’know, as I said, it’s like that. Probably for our car, if I’m honest, maybe it’s better the soft compounds. So maybe it can be a benefit for our performance – but I don’t say that. I say that they should stay with whatever was the original plan because they could change the result of the championship.

    Carlos?

    CS: As far as I know, obviously Monaco and these kind of races we’re always going to be with the soft and supersoft, so no big changes. I don’t have experience in those tracks with soft and supersoft so I don’t know if it’s the ideal compound or not – but yeah, I’m happy. We tried the supersofts here in the winter, I really enjoyed the grip it had, so the quicker the better, always.

    Nico, your thoughts.

    NR: Nothing to add.

    Felipe?

    NR: No, nothing.

    Daniil?

    DK: No problems

    Roberto?

    RM: No.

    Q: (Haoran Zhou –  LETV) Question to Nico. You did a 22.7s in winter testing which opened everyone’s eyes and your team-mate did a 23.0s on scrubbed tyres – more than a second in front of everyone. Are you expecting something of the same here? That you have a clear advantage or you think things have changed?

    NR: No, we expect it to be similar now to the last couple of races. We still hope to be in front in qualifying and in the race it’s going to be very close. I think it’s going to continue. Of course here everybody has bought some updates, so that might shuffle things around a little bit – but the general trend is probably going to stay very similar.

    Q: (Vladimir Rogovets – Sb Belarus) My question is to Fernando Alonso. Red Bull needed four years to win its first championship. Mercedes the same. In the opinion of Eric Boullier, one or two weeks ago, McLaren-Honda also needs four years. My question: Fernando, are you OK to wait four years to be the champion with McLaren-Honda.

    FA: Well, you know, if I could sign now that in four years I will win, yes – but it is not guarantee. This is Formula One, it’s a very complex sport and I will do my best every weekend to help the team to achieve some good results. If we can fight for a championship, we can become a champion in one year, two years, three years, or four years, you never know. It’s not really a plan that you put in your head: ‘OK, I will wait X time to become champion’. I’m trying to enjoy every weekend. Even now, y’know, the first races that I did, how the team is growing up, how all the young people, all the Japanese, they are determined, they are motivated to this challenge. And now I arrive at my home grand prix, so even if I am not able to fight for the win, I enjoy every single minute with the fans, with the performance updates that we bring here, so every race is a challenge and I’m enjoying this process. If I can fight for a world championship or not, only time will tell us – but I’m a very happy person so it’s no problem to wait.

    Q: (Angelique Belokoptov-Auto Digest) Question for all drivers: imagine that this afternoon I have to describe each of you to my readers. Can you describe yourself in three words. Three adjectives that can show them who you are. Start with Fernando please?

    FA: Thank you! I cannot answer. This is your job. If you came here and we tell you who we are, it’s very easy but I think if I have to describe me as a driver, you can put whatever adjective because it’s a different opinion for different people and we will never agree as sportsman to tell exactly three words and agree every one. This is quite complex. In terms of who I am really, who is Fernando outside the paddock… this is a secret…

    Carlos?

    CS: Yes, it’s the same. I prefer other people to judge me and my personality, my driving style, my approach, than to really describe myself. I think it could sound a bit… not correct to describe yourself. I prefer the others to do that… Me as a driver, I know who I want to be and how I want to do it but to describe yourself as good, talented or whatever, it can sound… not correct. A bit arrogant. So I prefer you guys to analyse me and come to your own conclusions.

    Nico?

    NR: I really tried hard to think of sometimes – but I can’t some up with anything. So no. Sorry.

    Daniil?

    DK: I obviously hear this question quite often… sorry, it’s better that… it’s a boring question really. I don’t know what to to say. Like the other guys said, it’s better to let other people think. Every person thinks different things.

    FN: What can I say really? We’re all different to each other. Everyone has a particular think different as a driver or as a person. It’s up to you guys to judge it.

    Roberto, anything to add?

    RM: I am quite new here. I think I need time to say something.

    Q: (Bob Constanduros – Bob Constanduros & Associates) Fernando, for the benefit of the photographers, can you tell us why you’ve kept your shades on? I believe you’ve tweeted a picture?

    FA: It’s a sponsor campaign! No… even if they will be happy… no, I have a stye – a little inflammation of my eye. They recommend not to be too much on the artificial light. I try to protect a little bit the eye today and tomorrow to be ready for Saturday and Sunday.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS)  Question for Carlos and Fernando. Carlos, I saw a picture of you as a child shaking the hand of Fernando years ago. Now this weekend you can beat him on the track. If that happens, how would that feel. Also to Fernando.

    FA: It would feel terrible!

    CS: It would feel great!

    CS: I don’t know if I will fight him on track or not. I just know I fought him in Bahrain. You don’t realise it’s Fernando, you just see a McLaren and try to beat him. Out of the track it’s different. He’s the man. He’s Fernando, and we have a good relationship. Inside the track everyone is a competitor. If we race in a go-kart race, for charity or something, you try to win and to beat everyone. Here its the same. It will feel a bit strange in the paddock and everything but for the rest, I’m very happy to be here, I’m enjoying a lot this beginning of the season and my first grand prix, my first race in Europe, sharing all these good moments. It will be interesting.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboSport.com) To Nico, sorry to come back to the subject, you said ‘maximise the weekend’. Sometimes it works well and sometimes not so well. What is not working so well that can justify these results? And to Alonso, if, when a driver wins a championship, he can be even more efficient the next season?

    NR: It’s just a weekend itself coming together. Optimising it. For now it’s not really come together yet. That’s it. Just put all the pieces together. There’s not specific areas or anything like that. It’s just general.

    Fernando?

    FA: I don’t know. It depends on the personality and the character or everyone. It could help you to take some weight out of the shoulders and to take some pressure out after winning a championship, the following year you are more relaxed and perhaps you could perform better – or could be the opposite: you relax a little bit, you lose a little bit of that extra motivation and you are a little bit slower. It depends for everyone.

    Q: (Valenti Fradera – L’Esportiu) Roberto, is your seat guaaranteed for the rest of the season or is it confirmed race by race?

    RM: No, at the moment I am driving for Manor F1 team and until they say the opposite, I will be the driver. Normally it is my seat.

    Q: (Daniel Johnson – Telegraph) Fernando, how important is this weekend for you and the team to show good signs of progress? And secondly, lots of more casual viewers of Formula One will find it hard to understand why you as a two-time champion are having to fight to get into Q2 and fight to get into the points. Does that ever leave you feeling disillusioned?

    FA: Well, I think this weekend is important as it was in China and in Bahrain, not so much for the results or the points or the qualifying position; it’s more an update on the performance that has to be consistent and has to deliver what we expect from the car. That is what happened in China and in Bahrain, that everything we brought to the car delivered as expected. So coming to this weekend, our hope is that everything we bring here keeps going into the car in a healthy way and performing better and then the final result depends on many other factors: luck, the performance of our competitors right now and that’s a little bit a second priority right now.

    Yeah, from the outside it’s normal to be out of Q1, Q2, it’s a little bit disappointing for everyone but more for us inside the team because the expectations are always very high with the McLaren-Honda partnership coming back together. It’s normal that everyone expects much more than what we are doing now but we are in the fifth race, so the championship is long. We still have high hopes that things will change quickly and we will start performing a little better. On my side, as I explained in the first question, I’m enjoying the challenge a lot. We started at the very bottom and we are climbing the mountain and we are doing it a little bit faster than everyone expected, so this is thanks to all the work that the team is doing and I feel very proud to be here.

    Q: (Manuel Franco – AS) Roberto and Carlos: do you think that Fernando will be World Champion again?

    RM: Obviously Fernando is driving for McLaren at the moment and they are not really competitive compared to Mercedes or Ferrari or most of the teams. It depends a little bit on him and also it depends a lot on the car he is driving. If McLaren gives him a good car in the future, he can win perfectly another World Championship but if he doesn’t have a car good enough to be competitive, you cannot do anything against that. He needs to be in a good team at the right time to be competitive.

    CS: Same. Nothing much to add. I really think that Fernando… you give him the weapons, he will always do the job, even when you don’t give them to him, he always performs, like he’s showing again this year. So yeah, I’m fully confident that if McLaren can put everything together, they will be a good partnership, for sure fight for the championship. If you win it or not, that depends on the year but he will fight, for sure.

    Q: (Manuel Franco – AS) Fernando, do you think it would be possible that Roberto or Carlos could be World Champion in the future?

    FA: Very similar answer to be honest. It depends on which car and what moment of your career you are but they have an advantage, they are young and they have more time to succeed and more time to play around, so hopefully we can see them fighting for the championship, why not?

    Q: (Nikolai Sarozas – Espolita) Fernando, I believe you had a chance to drive the legendary McLaren-Honda MP4/4 recently. Can you tell us about the feelings in the cockpit, how was it to drive with a simple steering wheel, manual gearshift and so on? Were you able to feel the power and the grip of that car? How was it? Was it quicker than the current one?

    FA: It was an amazing experience. Obviously it’s not quicker, to answer straight away, because those cars, in their actual configuration of the circuit, they could run up to ten seconds slower than the real cars that we have now, so definitely the car felt slower but yeah, it was an amazing experience. I grew up watching that car winning championships and races with Ayrton and Alain Prost so to sit there and to experience some laps – I think I did eight laps, each of them felt amazing, difficult to forget that day. It was difficult with no power steering, with a manual gearshift, with three pedals so there was some action there to get used to in the first couple of laps, a lot of torque in the engine. I remember when I went out of the garage and at the exit of the pit lane, I went probably a little on the throttle: there was no power, no power so I went to full throttle and suddenly came all the torque and I nearly spun. It was a risky moment and it was the installation lap so it was a day to remember.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Sport Bild) Fernando, two questions to you. First one is that it’s very difficult to rate a McLaren car itself, so do you think you could win with a McLaren car with a Mercedes engine at the moment. The second question is are you surprised by the steps that Ferrari made, especially on the engine side over the winter, and can you explain why?

    FA: Yeah, I think the car has the potential to perform at the top level. We had everything together, obviously, we have a very complex package with the power unit and the philosophy of the car with the new entries recently with Peter Prodromou and other staff on the team that have changed a little bit the mentality and philosophy of the design and the car. So I think it’s the time that we are right now putting all the pieces together and have a good package, hopefully in the future, even if we have to sacrifice some months now. I really think that we have the potential to fight with the top teams in future.

    And then about the Ferrari: not so surprised to be honest. We had a tough year in 2014 but even with that we were third and fourth in the championship until five races to go. Now, I think they are second and fourth so they made that step forward. In performance, it looks more because I think also Williams and Red Bull are a little bit under-performing right now but it’s interesting and good for the championship to have not only Mercedes domination. Hopefully they can keep improving even more.

    Q: (Mike Doodson – Auto Action) Some drivers have already used up three or four engines this year and they face some pretty daunting penalties if they have to take fresh engines which they obviously will have to. My question is do you think it is a good or fair rule to penalise sportsmen for the failings of their equipment? And I guess we will probably have to ask this question to Daniil first.

    DK: Well yeah, it’s a fair point. The situation is not easy, for sure, for us. We used quite a few already but it is what it is. So no complaints, we will see what’s going to happen with the fifth engine or not but once again, it’s something out of our control and we just stick to what we have and we just try to take the best out of the rules that we have for ourselves. So we just keep on working.

    FA: Not really. It’s a good question, maybe a little bit unfair, maybe not. It’s the same for everybody. You know the rules before starting the championship so we just need to do a better job than our competitors. It’s the same with testing. We are not allowed to test. So it’s the only sport… it’s like if you play tennis and you cannot test the racquet before Wimbledon. Everything is like this. You just need to approach the thing in the best way possible and to prepare yourself better than the competitors.

    NR: Just to add something: maybe yes, I think our sport is always linked between car and driver and if the car breaks down, I also suffer because I can’t finish the race, and it’s the same all the time. Of course, I’m happy to have a Mercedes Benz engine in the back because we’re still on our first engine and it’s looking good, so that’s great.

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Fernando, coming back to that old McLaren from the eighties: obviously the public still doesn’t really like these new turbo engines and the perception is that those old cars are much harder to drive on the limit than these ones. Do you agree, after driving it, was it really harder to get on the limit with that, so what can you say to those critics who say that ‘come on, these cars nowadays are not really hard to drive on the limit’?

    FA: Well, obviously I was not on the limit because that was quite risky to do the filming day for our sponsor and maybe crash so I was at fifty percent, just enjoying the laps. I don’t think that it was more difficult than our (current) car. I think that when you drive a machine to the limit it’s difficult. To all the people at home that maybe see that the cars are too easy now, I think it’s a combination of things, a combination of very high quality television which I think all the cameras now look perfect, even the on-board cameras you see are like a train, they show no vibration, nothing, so everything has improved. You see an onboard camera 20 years ago and it looks like crazy, it’s exactly the same now but the technology is much better now. But yeah, to all those people I invite them to come to a go-kart race with us and they will be scared when we drive a go-kart at the limit, even a go-kart that seems a simplest thing in the world but every motor sport machine that you drive at the limit is extremely complex.

  • F1 2015: Malaysia GP Review – Vettel Takes Poignant Ferrari Win

    F1 2015: Malaysia GP Review – Vettel Takes Poignant Ferrari Win

    Ferrari has won the Malaysian grand prix and no this is not a very long typo and neither is it something that the Mercedes F1 team ever saw coming.

    Sebastian Vettel has fulfilled a long held dream by becoming a race winner with the famed Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 team. For the majority of last year Vettel readily admits that he was well below par in the 2014 Red Bull. But the now Ferrari driver definitely showed up on Sunday. The former champ’s worked a two-stop strategy to perfection to win the Malaysian grand prix from Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

    From the first laps that were turned in the first Friday practice session Ferrari’s SF15-T showed an extremely good pace that was comparable to the mighty Mercedes. But surely, it was just a bit of showiness by Ferrari and they were running light on fuel. Surely it was too incredulous to even suggest that any team could match the beast of a Mercedes. Yes, Ferrari had made strides but a full blown resurgence was a long-off goal that they hope to reach in the future. But one of the reasons why we love this, and many other sports, is for the spectacular and the astonishing comeback.

    Ferrari’s comeback from the doldrums has been nothing short of majestic. Yes it is only one race victory but consider that they have come  all the way from the proper mess of 2014 to a fair and square victory in Malaysia then it’s exceptionally clear that it has been a monumentally impressive effort from all involved.

    While Seb Vettel delivered an astonishing drive to claim victory the eye-catching pace wasn’t restricted to only his Ferrari. Kimi Raikkonen suffered a left-rear puncture early in the piece, dropped down to eighteenth, finished comfortably in fourth place but still rued what he termed a “poor” weekend. “Obviously for the team it’s a pretty good result. It could have been better but I think we did the maximum with what we had today,” said Raikkonen.

    Valtteri Bottas_Malaysia 2015 GridThe Williams pairing of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa were surprisingly absent from proceedings. The team that ended last season closest to Mercedes were involved a couple of dices in the lower half of the top ten initially but made no impression on Mercedes or Ferrari. A distant fifth and sixth place all they have to show for an otherwise disappointing afternoon.

    Amid the Ferrari euphoria 17-year-old Max Verstappen crossed the line in seventh to become the youngest ever points scorer in the 65 year history of the sport. The Dutchmen didn’t luck into his impressive position either he pulled off a few scintillating overtakes and finished ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz in eighth. The 2015 season is only two races old but it is rather difficult not to be excited by Verstappen’s unmistakable talent.

    A poor day for Red Bull Racing resulted in ninth and tenth for Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo. The 20-year-old Russian can hold his head high after surviving a clash with Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and beating highly-rated teammate Ricciardo. McLaren showed progress but still failed to reach the chequered flag with either Jenson Button or Fernando Alonso. The Manor F1 team is a worthy mention who after crippling software issues in Australia managed to get Spanish rookie Roberto Merhi to the end of the race.

    podiumWhat makes Ferrari’s victory so much more impressive is that it was achieved, on track, through sheer pace. There was no mistake from Hamilton or Rosberg, or a technical issue with the Mercedes. Some will point to a strategic error by Mercedes but that didn’t have as much of an impact as many want to believe. The simple, but astounding, fact is that Mercedes were out-paced. Kudos to Toto Wolff for admitting that Mercedes were justly beaten.

    The extraordinarily high track temperature was in Ferrari’s favour whose tyre conservation is a thing of beauty. But the SF15-T is a quick car and this highly emotional victory will do their morale a world of good. More than that, this win by Ferrari marks a good day for Formula 1. Mercedes’ dominance has been staggeringly impressive but not exactly helpful in the entertainment stakes. Now there is a possibility of a real fight for victories if not the big championship prize at the end of it.

    As the German and Italian anthems once again rung out for a victorious Ferrari driver there will have been more than a few teary eyes. The moment was filled with nostalgic memories of the greatly revered Michael Schumacher with whom the combination of these two anthems was so synonymous. Vettel reflected on his early days of peeking over the Maranello fence to watch the great man put the scarlet Ferrari through its paces. Now Sebastian Vettel has emulated his childhood idol with a terrific victory that he will remember for the rest of his life. Grandé Seb!

    Ferrari images courtesy of @ScuderiaFerrari

  • 2015 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    2015 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    DRIVERS:

    Carlos SAINZ (Toro Rosso)

    Felipe NASR (Sauber)

    Daniil KVYAT (Red Bull Racing)

    Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    Kimi RAIKKONEN (Ferrari)

    Fernando ALONSO (McLaren)

    PRESS CONFERENCE:

    Fernando, if I can start with you. This has been a happy hunting ground throughout your career – you got your first pole here, you won with three different manufacturers – so a good place to come back from what was a difficult episode. What can you tell us about what you’ve been through in the past few weeks?

    Fernando ALONSO: Happy to be here in another Formula One season. I start one race later than I should be but, yeah, unfortunately I had the accident in Barcelona and following the recommendations by the doctors I missed the first race. But, yeah, happy to be here, as I said. Malaysia has always been a very nice circuit for me in my Formula One career. My first pole position was here in 2003, my first podium and then as you said three wins with three different teams give me the possibility always to enjoy this circuit and I know it’s going to be very tough this year to repeat such a result but, yeah, happy to be back in the cockpit and ready to enjoy the weekend.

    You’ve only done around 500km of testing with this car so far. How do you see the journey ahead and the challenge now to hit the targets the team has set?

    FA: Well, I think we need to be with the feet on the ground knowing that we are not in a position that we wanted and not in a position that we will be hopefully very soon. It will be like a test session for me, the first races. As you said I did in this car more or less the same number of laps that another guy do in one day, so obviously I’m not probably confident with the car in this moment and I will need to learn many things, not only on the driving style but also on the approach McLaren has to the weekends. So, many things to learn for me; very challenging moment of my career and ready to take it.

    Okay, thank you. Kimi, coming to you, obviously you had some problems in Australia towards the end of the race but the pace all weekend was good and you were close to your team-mate Vettel throughout, so it looks like it’s going to be a good in-house battle between the two of you. How do you see it?

    Kimi RAIKKONEN: Obviously we are in a much better position than we were say even at the end of last year so in that way it’s a nice place to be but obviously we still have to improve quite a bit. We want to be in front and we still don’t have the speed exactly, at least in qualifying, to be there. In the race I think we are a bit stronger compared to Mercedes. But I think it will be a fun year, obviously not an ideal start of the year and we got some damage from the start and had those issues in the pit stops but you know it can happen sometimes but at least we had pretty good speed. I’m sure we’re going to have strong races and good battles but like I said we still have some work to do to be absolutely where we want to be but we have done a good job so far.

    Can you tell us what it is about the chassis and the way it handles in particular that makes it a better race car for you personally?

    KR: I think it’s the whole package. It’s not just the engine we improved. Yes, we improved that a lot but we improved the chassis itself a lot as well. It’s the whole package, you cannot just point to one area that has been improved from last year, it’s the whole thing. I think how everybody works and it’s one team and things are going in the right direction and people are pushing and doing a good job. Like I said, it’s still early days. We still have to work hard and improve things but where we started, so far we have done a good job.

    Carlos, coming to you, a great debut obviously in Melbourne for you. It could have gone even better without the long pit stop. I guess you dream of your grand prix debut and then when it goes well, like it did, is it a feeling or elation or relief, or both?

    Carlos SAINZ: A bit of everything to be honest. It was a good debut, which I’m very happy with. It obviously gives you a boost of confidence and also a big boost of motivation to keep up the good work and keep improving because I’m sure I still have a lot, a lot, a lot to improve.

    Did all the attention that was on your team-mate Max Verstappen help to take the pressure off you a bit and allow you to perform better?

    CS: This may be a bit what it looked like from the outside, but obviously from the inside I perfectly know the amount of pressure I put on myself and the amount of pressure STR and Red Bull are putting on us and for sure I can tell you we have exactly the same amount of pressure to perform. So not really, to be honest, I think we were pretty equal in that sense and it was just a good weekend.

    Felipe, another rookie and another very good result in Australia with fifth place, which is the debut result ever for a Brazilian in Formula One. What does that result… it must be very emotional to even hear that… what does that performance mean to you and the team?

    Felipe NASR: It was very unique I have to say, coming from a very troubled weekend. My very first ever weekend in Formula One was not ideal the way it started, with all this trouble, going to court and everything else; missing first free practice, a track that I didn’t know. So it was a very good outcome to come up fifth in my first ever race and I think for the team as well it was something they really needed. It’s important. It shows the team was ready, myself was ready to put the things on the side and being able to deliver in the race. It was something very special.

    During the race you were able to keep Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull behind you and you were even able to drive away from him. So how do you feel about this car and how excited are you about what’s possible this year?

    FN: I was a bit surprised to see that happening. I knew the car had the potential to do it but to hold back Red Bull was unexpected. It could only show that the car has… the engine has done a good improvement over the winter, over last year. I think we need to take the profit from these early races to maximise our potential and getting the opportunities right. I think there are still teams struggling out there to finish races and we need to use that as an advantage for us.

    Coming to you Daniil, obviously a challenging first weekend to say the least for you and Red Bull, you qualified behind the Toro Rossos and didn’t even manage to take the start. What progress have you made with Renault since Melbourne in particular on the driveability of this power unit?

    Daniil KVYAT: I think we will only find the answer tomorrow to be honest. I hope we did. The whole team now is working really hard to overcome the difficulties we are facing right now but myself and the whole team we are used to working realty hard and that’s what we are going to do and we are going to try our best to put ourselves in a strong position once again.

    Last year, of course, you were in the points on your first visit to this Sepang circuit. What features of this track do you enjoy?

    DK: Well, generally, it’s quite a challenging circuit I think for all of us. It’s famous for the heat, for the warm, hot conditions. Generally this track has been good to me, I have been here a few times. I enjoy driving it here. It has a few fast, high-speed sections that you usually enjoy quite a lot as a driver. I’m looking forward to this weekend and hopefully we will keep moving forward.

    Nico, Melbourne looked like Mercedes had doubled the advantage in terms of relative fastest laps across the weekend over your nearest rivals compared to the start of 2014, but do you expect a smaller gap on this type of circuit?

    Nico ROSBERG: I don’t think it’s right to say that. Of course qualifying pace was very strong, yes, but more important is the race pace, especially from Kimi we saw an extremely strong stint, so not really fair to say that I would say. I think Ferrari especially have definitely closed the gap and are closer than our nearest rival was last year.

    Specifically this type of circuit, do you expect the gap to be smaller?

    NR: It’s very difficult to say. It’s early days, we need to wait and see how it goes here.

    You said after the race in Melbourne that you could follow Lewis but it was hard to mount an attack, so presumably qualifying is crucial to get the advantage this weekend to make sure you start the race on the front foot?

    NR: Qualifying is definitely important in this internal battle especially since we have the same cars but it’s not everything, because we have seen in the past, even in races, playing around the tyre order or things like that it’s still possible to overtake and this weekend here, there might be a bit more leeway in the strategy to try to launch a better attack.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Fendando Alonso_Malaysia 2015 PCQ: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Fernando, how long after the accident did you start to get memories of the accident back, what did you learn about it when you went to the factory last week and do you now believe that there was no problem with the car?

    FA: Everything was more or less as a normal concussion. So, I had this concussion, went to the hospital. I went to the hospital in good conditions. There is a time that I don’t remember from two o’clock to six o’clock or something like that, but everything again was normal due to the medication that they give you to go into the helicopter and to do some tests in the hospital.

    Everything was normal. I didn’t wake up in ’95, I didn’t wake up speaking in Italian or all these things that probably they were out there. I remember the accident and I remember everything that following day.

    Obviously with the team we have been very close working on that and with the FIA, they were very helpful all the times, and we were in close contact, all three parts constantly and yeah, there is not in the data anything clear that we can spot and we can say it was that, the reason. But definitely we had a steering problem in the middle of turn three. It locked into the right and I approached the wall I braked in the last moment, I downshift from fifth to third, and yeah, unfortunately on the data we are still missing some parts. Also the acquisition of date on that particular part of the car is not at the top so there are some new sensors here at this race and there are some changes we do on the steering rack and other parts and yeah that was the main thing. The last week at the factory was more a work on the simulator and trying to explain to me these new sensors and these new parts that will go on this race.

    Q: (Jaime Rodríguez – El Mundo) Fernando, after this episode, have you got more respect or more fear to your job?

    FA: No, not really. You know, at the end of the day we know motorsport is dangerous. We know that sometimes you have a big accident, spectacular and the car is completely destroyed and nothing happens, and sometimes you crash in a low speed corner or something, and it depends on the angle, depends on how you hit, or which part of the body you hit, you have more or less injuries. It is the same in the normal day life: sometimes you live an extreme life and nothing happens and sometimes you walk on the street and have a big issue. So, no more respect than before, it’s just, y’know, a very normal thing. I felt ready to go to Australia as well but I understand also the recommendation from the doctor that it was maybe too early and, yeah, we wait for one more race. That, obviously, creates even more feeling, no? But happy to be here, happy to help the team. Obviously we’re struggling a little bit at the moment and the winter has been quite difficult and the same at the first race. It was hard for me to watch on TV with the team not performing so well. So yeah, we are here to help and to give McLaren and Honda the experience that we can have, Jenson and me, and trying to recover from this form as soon as possible.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Fernando, you said “the steering just locked”. The steering is for a racing driver, let’s say, a very delicate thing in the car, like the brakes if it fails. If you still don’t know why there was a problem with the steering is that a thing that is worrying you despite the new sensors you have on the car?

    FA: Not really. I think, as I said before, together with FIA and with the team, we were constantly doing some checks, investigations, some possibilities, and as I said, there are some areas in the car that, instrumentation-wise are probably not at the level to see this problem. It’s like a problem that may occur, in this phrase, 20 years ago, Formula One did not have the technology to spot that problem. I’m sure that we are missing something on the data acquisition that we will spot in ten years’ time or whatever when the technology is available. So, that’s one reason and, yeah, I have zero doubt or zero concern.

    Q: (Daniel Johnson – Daily Telegraph) Question for Fernando. Given that you remember the accident, as far as you are concerned, it wasn’t a driver error or, as the team put it, a gust of wind blew you off course in any way?

    FA: No, no, definitely not. I don’t know if you see the video but even a hurricane will not move the car at that speed. Also, if you have any problem or any medical issue, normally you will lose the power and you will go straight to the outside, never to the inside. In a Formula One car you still need to apply some effort on the steering wheel. So, that’s one thing. Honestly, y’know, obviously with an accident, with the repercussion of the accident, the news, being in Spain, a lot of attention on that day and probably the first answers or the first press conference that the team have, my manager, whatever, all the stuff around in these early days, it was just some guess. The wind, maybe other possibilities. That creates a little bit of confusion obviously – but you cannot say nothing for three or four days until I remember everything because these three or four days then will become even worse. So I think they say the theory of the wind, etc., but obviously it was not a help.

    Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports) Apologies to the other five members of the panel but it’s another question for Fernando. With everything that’s happened over the winter and to yourself personally and to the team as well, one of the big things that’s been debated by the fans and I’m sure many journalists in this room is whether you’ve made the right decision, returning to McLaren. What would your reaction to that debate be?

    FA: I’m one of the happiest persons in the world. Yes, I am. I have a challenge in front of me. A tough challenge clearly. I think it’s difficult but it’s going to taste better when we do it. I grew up watching TV with McLaren-Honda domination and Ayrton Senna in the cockpit. I understand that we are now too far back and we will be heavily criticized and it will be fair to receive that criticism because we are not at the level we will be – but it’s nothing we can do now, just work, it’s a long-term project and all my career I experience some beautiful moments – even the last five years – with Ferrari we didn’t win the championship but it was a fantastic experience. But five was enough – I didn’t want to be seven years second or third so I prefer to risk and challenge for victory. Even if you need to take some risk for the first year.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Sport Bild) A question to Fernando. Coming back to the accident, can you remember one thing, if you lost consciousness before the first impact or not, and when, why?

    FA: No, I remember everything obviously. I don’t want to go through every detail because it’s going to be long but I remembered everything. It was Sunday morning, all the setup changes, the lap times, I think Vettel was in front of me before Turn Three but cut the chicane to let me go, exiting the pitlane. After the hit I was kissing the wall for a while and then I switch off the radio first, because it was on, and then I switch off the master switch for the batteries to switch off the ERS system just because I saw the marshals coming and, if not, they cannot touch the car. So, yeah, I was perfectly conscious at the time. I lost consciousness in the ambulance or in the clinic at the circuit but the doctors said this is normal because of the medication that they put you, just for the helicopter transportation and the checks that they do in the hospital: the MRI and the evaluation needs this protocol, needs this medication so this is normal that maybe you don’t remember.

    Is is normal the marshals didn’t touch the car?

    FA: This I don’t know.

    Q: (Manuel Franco – Diario AS) Two questions, the first for Fernando, the second for Fernando and Carlos. Fernando, what had you learned from the accident? About people, about you, about life? Second question. In this race will be three Spanish drivers: you and Roberto Merhi. With England and Germany it’s the country with most drivers in the race. What do you think?

    FA: What I learned is that I have so much support from so many people. It’s been amazing how many messages from people I’ve received. So many warm wishes from all the sport and government and everyone. Everyone was so interested. And in the Formula One paddock as well because even from the flight on Tuesday that I arrived here until today has been a very nice experience to see really, truly, wishes of health for me. That was something that I learned, probably, after the accident. You don’t realize until you have a problem, or you miss one or two races that, y’know, so many people are behind you and are supporting you. And then, about the race, yes, it’s nice to have three Spanish drivers. Hopefully we can see for many years. We had three previously with Marc Gené and Pedro [de la Rosa] and now hopefully we can have many more years because Carlos and Roberto, they are very young and they have good possibility and a good future and I wish they can stay very long.

    Carlos, your view on that?

    CS: For me it’s obviously great. I’ve always had a good relationship with Fernando and I now have a very good relationship with Roberto. I think the more Spanish the better and, yeah, that’s it.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Speed Sport) Accidents can happen to experienced drivers, so Nico, and Kimi, do you every worry about having accidents? Has there been a time in your F1 career where you maybe thought ‘I don’t want to go out?’

    NR: Yeah, of course sometimes I think about it and there is a certain element of fear when I’m driving sometimes but that, I think is natural, and holds me back sometimes to go too far beyond the limit. But it doesn’t make me slower in any way.

    Kimi?

    KR: I’ve had quite a few accidents in the past and last year one not so nice one. But it’s part of the game. If you make a mistake, you pay a price. It’s up to you. If you’re not prepared to take the risk or if you’re scared, I’m sure there’s plenty of guys that are willing to jump in a car and race. So, no, I think you… obviously it’s part of the thing but I think you have better chances to get hurt in normal traffic than on the race circuits.

    Q: (Byron Young – The Mirror) Fernando, the team was saying even up to a couple of days ago that there was nothing wrong with the car, and yet you’re saying the steering locked. How do those two statements work together?

    FA: Yeah, as I said before, I think it’s clear that there was a problem in the car but it hasn’t been found on the data at the moment.  It’s one of the things that I did also in the factory last week, not only the simulator but going – with all the engineers and all the data available –  going through the moments and there are some spots here and there but there is not a clear answer. So I understand completely and support the team until they find a clear answer that it was this or that, it’s impossible to say or to lie that it was this or that. They need to go much further. If they will find something any time, I don’t know because if after one month we didn’t find anything on the data, it is maybe because whatever part was the problem, it was not available on the data, so maybe it will never be.

    Q: (Byron Young – The Mirror) But they have gone further and say there is no problem.

    FA: Well, I don’t think that they say this any more.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, can you expect this circuit to give your car the same chance to have a good position , as you had at Melbourne? 

    KR: Well, I hope it’s better than Melbourne for me. Like I said, we had the speed and I think things are running smoothly, we just have to avoid mistakes. We had some bad luck at the start but the car’s been quick at every circuit we’ve been to so far so I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t be here. I think it could be even better than it was at the last race. It’s a proper circuit and I think it will be good, fitting well at this circuit so we’ll just wait and see.

    Q: (Anne Giuntini – L’Equipe) Fernando, do we now have a precise idea of the violence of the impact that gave you such big concussion?

    FA: No, I don’t exactly know the details.

    Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) I’m a bit confused by this: there’s no problem, there’s nothing on the data, you’ve lost consciousness, someone said you didn’t lose consciousness, your team also said there was a gust of wind. It’s all just very confusing but one thing for me, if there’s no data and the team haven’t found anything, could the problem happen again?

    FA: Well, as I said, I think some of the confusion comes from the very early quotes and very early explanations because the attention was very high at that moment. The stress was very high, I was in intensive care, there was some urgency to say something because there was a lot of attention so that was probably part of the confusion. On the data, as I said before, I think there was some lack of instrumentation maybe on the car, to miss the exact problem and there are some actions taken for this race which are probably not necessary but there is extra care with some parts on the car that were unique to me, that I requested because of  my driving style when I joined McLaren  and here we will go back to the normal steering rack and things that they’ve been using with Jenson and Kevin for the last couple of years. Of course, there are some actions for this race and as I said, there is zero problem, zero worries on my side. Everything is OK.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Fernando, could you tell us exactly what happened this morning during the test?

    FA: Today, we’ve been through the normal processes as we have during the last month. As I said before, everything that I did or that happened in the last month were completely normal, the concussion, the rehabilitation, the checks, the extra checks, the recommendation to wait two or three weeks before any dangerous activity again, so everything went normal and this morning, again, it was a normal procedure after  a head injury to do an impact test with the FIA and some reaction tests and some examinations with the Malaysian Grand Prix doctors. Everything went as smoothly as possible and I have the green light, so that was a very positive moment.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) You’ve partially answered this before,  Fernando,  but seeing Ferrari is so strong, do you think that maybe you might have waited a little bit longer before leaving and  achieved some results?

    FA: Obviously, as I said, with the performance that we have right now, it’s easy to criticise our team and my decision, whatever, but as I said, I’m first of all so so happy that this is the most important thing. When you’re happy with yourself or you’re a healthy man inside, that is the first victory and that is what I am now, because I’m following my dream now. And secondly, I could  wait and achieve some nice results as you’ve said probably yes, but after 14 years of Formula One and two championships, a podium or fourth place or fifth place is no longer a nice result.

    Q: (Carlos Miguel –La Gaceta) Fernando, I would like to know your feelings after 14 years, watching a race on TV?

    FA: I don’t think I pick the best race to watch, probably. One, it was very early in the morning, so that didn’t help the enthusiasm for the race, and secondly, the number of cars on the grid and after the first couple of laps was obviously not ideal. Yeah, it was a strange feeling, no doubt that I missed being there, I missed driving. It was strange but luckily I’m here.

    Q: (Carlos Miguel –La Gaceta) Carlos, is it a big motivation for you to beat the new Ayrton Senna as you did in the first race?

    CS: For me the first motivation is always to extract the maximum potential from myself, focus myself and with self-confidence and knowing that you can extract the full potential from yourself then you should believe that you are in front of your teammate. I believe Max is a great talent, I believe he’s going to perform really well this year and he will be a very tough competitor but my main focus, as I said, is not to beat him but first of all extract the maximum potential from myself and that will put me  in a good position for sure.

    Q: (Byron Young – The Mirror) Fernando,  I’m a bit confused: how can you not be worried? From what you’re saying to us, the steering was locked, heading towards the inside wall. You’re fighting with the steering wheel so that’s a car problem, and you’re getting back in the car this weekend and you don’t know what caused that problem. How can you not be worried?

    FA: I fully trust the team. They’ve been looking at every single component of the car for a month, they’ve been simulating the efforts, they’ve been doing so many tests, they’ve been changing every single part that they had some doubts about so I think we have the safest car right now, because of all the studies that they’ve done. And after one month, I’m probably the most medically checked driver in history so we should be fine, both of us.

  • Everything you need to know about the Young Driver’s Test

    Everything you need to know about the Young Driver’s Test

    Formula 1’s annual Young Driver’s Test starts tomorrow on the Silverstone race track.

    However, this year’s three day test session has a bit of a twist to it. As a result of the tyre troubles at Silverstone grand prix the test has been transformed into an emergency tyre test for the Italian manufacturer to regain its footing in the sport.

    Teams won’t have free reign to do as the please throughout the three days though. Formula 1’s governing body, the FIA, has clearly stipulated what can and cannot be done.

    1. The FIA will send its own observer to the test session to ensure that no current race driver complete any development work for their respective teams.
    2. The current race drivers may complete one full day of work on the emergency tyre testing program.
    3. The ‘young driver’ will be permitted to carry out development work on their team cars.

    Mercedes will sit out the three day test session as the Brackley based team serves a ban imposed on them for conducting a tyre test after the Spanish grand prix.  Lewis Hamilton has voiced his concern on the dangers of Mercedes not being allowed to test the new tyres before their introduction at the Hungarian grand prix.

    “I don’t know if people fully appreciate how big a negative it is for us not to do the test.We are going to go to Hungary when other people have gone and tested (the new tyres with) different ride-heights, different pressures, got their car ready for a long run so they arrive ready.We don’t have any of that information so when we get there we’re going to go into it blind.We shouldn’t be in this position in sport, but that’s the way it is,” said Hamilton.

    But it seems the Brit’s fears will be assuaged as Pirelli motorsport director, Paul Hemberey, announced that Mercedes will recieve data on findings about the new tyres.

    The Young Driver’s Test was institued with the aim of showcasing up-and-coming talents that could, potentially, be the future of Formula 1.Several current drivers will be present at the test but in amongst will be some eager drivers keen to make their mark.

    Team

    Wednesday 17th

    Thursday 18th

    Friday 19th

    Red Bull

    Antonio Felix da Costa

    Daniel Ricciardo

    Antonio Felix da Costa

    Daniel Ricciardo

    Carlos Sainz Jnr

    Sebastian Vettel

    Ferrari

    Davide Rigon

    Davide Rigon

    Felipe Massa

    Davide Rigon

    McLaren

    Kevin Magnussen

    Oliver Turvey

    Gary Paffett

    Lotus

    Nicolas Prost

    Davide Valsecchi

    Nicolas Prost

    Mercedes

    Banned

    Sauber

    Robin Frijns

    Robin Frijns

    Nico Hulkenberg

    Kimiya Sato

    Force India

    James Calado

    Paul di Resta

    Adrian Sutil

    Williams

    Daniel Juncadella

    Pastor Maldonado

    Susie Wolff

    Toro Rosso

    Johnny Cecotto Jnr

    Carlos Sainz Jnr

    Jean-Eric Vergne

    Daniil Kvyat

    Caterham

    Alexander Rossi

    Will Stevens

    Charles Pic

    Giedo van der Garde

    Marussia

    Tio Ellinas

    Max Chilton

    Rodolfo Gonzalez

    Rodolfo Gonzalez

    Jules Bianchi