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Tag: chinese grand prix

  • 2018 Chinese Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    2018 Chinese Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    DRIVERS – Pierre GASLY (Toro Rosso), Marcus ERICSSON (Sauber), Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Pierre, if we could start with you please. Let’s start by reflecting on your sensational result in Bahrain last weekend. How do you reflect on what happened there, and what kind of reaction have you had around the world?

    Pierre GASLY: I must say it’s been amazing. First, just personally, y’know? It’s a big investment for a long time, since I’m a kid. It’s a lot of work, a lot of preparation and, of course, it’s my best result in Formula One – but just to see that all the work I’m doing at the moment is paying off and actually we are going in the right direction, so of course, I’m really happy about it. And secondly, for the team, it’s only our second race with Honda and already we can see that we are actually going in the right direction, communication-wise everything is going well and the car is competitive. So, this was really amazing, and also the support I got afterwards, after the weekend, I’m just super-impressed. A lot of articles, a lot of TVs, and media writing as well. It was something impressive but really nice, a lot of support from the people as well. So, it’s been great.

     

    Q: You say the car is competitive. Do you think the performance will translate to a track like this one?

    PG: I’ll tell you tomorrow! I really hope so. I think definitely we understood much more about our car potential, car setup, about the tyres but still we need confirmation, as you say, and I think this weekend will be a good opportunity to see if… definitely to judge our baseline and see if the potential is the same on other tracks. Definitely we need to be quite careful. Bahrain has been so good for us and I don’t know if it’s going to be similar on other tracks. So yeah, hopefully it’s going to be the same but we’ll find out tomorrow.

     

    Q: And are you coming into this weekend feeling very confident?

    PG: Yeah, definitely, we feel more confident than we were, for example, in Melbourne or for Bahrain. This is going to be my first time in Shanghai, so it’s also going to be a new track for me. We’ll probably take a bit more time to adapt myself but definitely we are a bit more confident but still we need to be careful – because we have no guarantees about the performance – we know it’s really tight in the midfield. In Bahrain, the car was just fantastic in terms of balance, in terms of grip – but we know that if we don’t get everything right, suddenly if you lose two or three tenths you can be at the back of the midfield and it changes your weekend completely. So, we need to be quite careful and just make sure we do the right things.

     

    Q: Marcus, you’re another man celebrating a tremendous race in Bahrain. How do you look back on last weekend’s events?

    Marcus ERICSSON: Yes, like you say it was a great race for us, great to be in the points and also a great reward to everyone in the team. It’s been a lot of things happening over the winter. We’re coming from two very difficult years, where we’ve been always at the back as a team, and then this year we’re coming into the year with Alfa Romeo coming on as a main sponsor, and partner to the team and it’s like a new chapter for Sauber. It’s been a lot of work put in to make a step forwards and to move up the grid. And to be already at the second race of the year in the points, it’s, I think, a great result, a great team result and a great boost for everyone. So yeah, it was very nice. And also for myself personally, I was super happy to be back in the points. It’s been a long time. So, yeah, overall it was very positive.

     

    Q: Tell us a little more about that. It’s been 50 races since you were last in the points. How much of a relief was it?

    ME: Of course, it was big relief. I think I’ve had four times P11 since then. So, I was close a lot of times, and had some great races but it’s very difficult when you’re in the worst car on the grid. Some races I had a perfect race – and finished P14 or something like that. It’s frustrating, but, yeah, of course we’re all here to try to score points. So to be back in the points last weekend was a great relief.

     

    Q: You say last year’s car was the worst on the grid. How good is this one?

    ME: I think we have a very solid baseline to work from. Like Pierre said, the midfield is very, very close and I feel that we are very much in that midfield – but probably in the lower part of that midfield at the moment. But also like Toro Rosso showed last weekend, if you make a step you can really move quickly up or down in that midfield group. So, first of all I’m just very happy that we part of that group on pure speed. Now we need to work even harder to try to improve that position – but I know everyone does, both here on track and also in the factory and we have a lot of things planned for the season. We need to keep working hard, keep pushing hard and then we should be able to fight every weekend.

     

    I’m sure you’ll keep doing that Marcus. Thank you very much. Max, coming to you now. As much as the other guys had a good weekend in Bahrain, it was a very frustrating one for you and Red Bull Racing; I think it was the team’s first double retirement since Korea in 2010. Can we start by talking about the car? You were very bullish about it in winter testing but now that we’re a couple of races in, just how competitive is it?

    Max VERSTAPPEN: The car is very quick, I think especially in the race. I think we know in qualifying we are losing out a bit, just on pure performance, on top speed. But as soon as that all calms down a bit in the race, yeah, I was very confident, for example, before we went into the race to still move up a lot of positions, because I think the car was definitely capable of just driving back to the podium. So yeah, I’m just looking forward to get started again here, because we have a good package, and there are a lot of good things coming. So, yeah, ready to go.

     

    You made a very good start on Sunday and then there was the incident with Lewis Hamilton. Just one week on how do you reflect on what happened with Hamilton? Have you seen it on TV?

    MV: I was in the car. So I felt it, I saw it! That’s racing. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. You can say whatever you like about the incident. I think I had a fair shot at it. It was nothing crazy, nothing risky. But yeah, unfortunately this time it didn’t work out. Looking back, for example, in Mexico last year it did work out. This time we gave each maybe not enough space, but that’s racing as well at the end of the day. Like I said, sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad.

     

    Have you spoken to Lewis since the incident?

    MV: No.

     

    So looking ahead to this weekend, how important is it for you to get into the points and might we see a more conservative approach this weekend?

    MV: It’s always important to score points and that’s always the target, but we are here to finish on the podium or win races – that’s why we’re here. That’s what I will try to do again this weekend. So, for me, there won’t be a change.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

     

    Q: (Phil Duncan – Press Association ) Max, did you hear what Lewis had to say after the race? Do you think you will have a chat with him this weekend? And do you think that you will address your driving style going forward?

    MV: No. I might have a talk with him. It depends if it’s really necessary. But why should I change something. I don’t think I did anything wrong in terms of my approach. I was just trying to overtake a car. I think it was a fair chance. I went for it. For example, last year in Mexico it could have gone wrong as well – maybe for me, maybe for another car. As you could see in Mexico it did. It’s racing; it’s very simple. I don’t understand why everybody is so on top of the topic. Those things happen in racing, you know.

     

    Q: (Jaap de Groot – De Telegraaf) Max, reflecting on what happened last week in Bahrain and thinking back to last year here. You also started at P16 and finished third. Remember the first lap? That was fantastic. Is that also for an inspiration? You talk about Mexico but over here you even did a better than that, taking over your opponents.

    MV: Yeah, it was. That race was starting on wet tyres, so it’s always easier to get past people if you have a good feeling and a good car. So yeah, always in the dry it’s a bit more tricky. Sometimes you have those first laps where everything works out perfect.

     

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Pierre, your result in Bahrain was Honda’s best since it came back into Formula 1. It’s obviously made a clear step in reliability – the changes it introduced after Australia. Performance-wise, what are you expecting this weekend? The energy recovery system has always been its limiting factor and there is a long back straight here and a long start-finish straight as well.

    PG: We expect to be quite competitive, after what we learned from Bahrain. But as I say, we don’t know if we’re going to be on top of the midfield, if we are going to be in the middle, we just know that to have a similar performance as Bahrain we really need to be on top of everything and just make everything perfectly. The track layout, for sure, is not one of our favourites, or is not going to be as easy, with the long back straight. But still you need to have a really strong car in the middle part of the track, so I think we can still expect to be competitive. But to have a clear picture, we have done only two races. We were pretty slow in Melbourne. We were very competitive in Bahrain, even faster than what we expected, so it’s still difficult for us to know for us exactly where is the performance of the car. I think we are going to be in the fight for the midfield, but hopefully on top of it.

     

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Gasly, we heard after the race in Bahrain that you said that we are in the fight now and it seems that it was a reply to what Fernando said the week before. So I would like to know your comment on that.

    PG: It was simple, it was just a little joke, that’s it. I think we need to give credit back to Honda. In the end, they have had a tough three years with McLaren and to finish P4 in the second race with them was just amazing, so it was a way to give them credit, because they are working really hard and yeah, I think they need credit for the hard work they are doing. But don’t get me wrong, I must say I had pretty tough messages after that, after the race, by some Spanish people who are actually quite crazy. I have huge respect for Fernando so I’m just making it clear. Don’t get me wrong. Fernando for sure is one of the best drivers of all time in Formula One, and one of the drivers I looked up to when I was young, one of my idols actually. No, I have huge respect for him, so it was nothing related, just a high comment for Honda because I think they deserved the credit.

     

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Ericsson, you talked before about a new chapter with Alfa Romeo. I would like to know exactly how the situation is now, if you can compare it to last year? So what does it feel to be the first driver to collect points with the Alfa brand on the car?

    ME: Like I said, for the team, it’s like a new chapter this year. A lot of things have been changing over the winter, especially, obviously, with Alfa Romeo coming on board, a lot of new people coming in to the team. A lot of things changing, completely different resources. It’s been a big change and you can feel it inside the team. You can feel the motivation is very high, people are believing again. It’s a big motivation to move up the grid, whereas it’s been more about the team surviving the last few years, so it’s not so much been pushing for performance, it’s been more pushing for trying to survive every week, every race. Having that mindset, it’s then difficult to get the results whereas now we go into the season to push, to make results and to move up the grid. It’s just a completely different mindset. For me, that’s been very nice to see. So far it’s been very good, but we still have a long way to go and we need to keep working hard but it’s been very positive.

    On the second part, to score points, being the first one in this new chapter with Alfa, I think it’s something that makes me proud. First of all I’m proud to represent Alfa Romeo in Formula One again, I think it’s a very legendary brand. It’s very special to represent them in Formula One again and of course to score points with them.

     

    Q: How much of a step forward is this year’s Ferrari power unit compared to the year-old one you were using in 2017?

    ME: It’s very big, not only in power but in everything: driveability, energy management and all those things. It’s a very very big step. It’s nice not to have that handicap like we had last year because it was a very big disadvantage last year.

     

    Q: (Jonathan McEvoy – Daily Mail) Max, if the way you were driving you believe was fine, why do you think Lewis was moved to have a go at you?

    MV: Why? Because it’s quite easy and simple to blame the younger driver. That’s the only way I can see it. Like I said, these things happen. There’s no reason for me to change anything.

     

    Q: (Rik Spekenbrink – AD Sportwereld) Max, if you would make a list of your favourite tracks, where would Shanghai be in that list?

    MV: Somewhere!

     

    Q: (Rik Spekenbrink – AD Sportwereld) Top five or lower?

    MV: Yeah, it’s good actually, yeah, especially for racing, I think it’s a good track, so it’s definitely on that list.

     

    Q: (Jaap de Groot – De Telegraaf) Max, in Bahrain, several things went wrong with you and the car of Ricciardo. Did the team already analyse the whole matter and could you give me some information on that?

    MV: Yeah, from my side, we put a new wheel on the car, a new floor, because that was destroyed. No, I think it was mainly more from Daniel’s car of course and in the race I think we had the problem quite similar to me last year in Canada and I think in testing this year as well. So it’s definitely something to look into but what can you do about it? It’s something that Renault needs to sort out. They are of course working really hard on that. They will again try their very best to provide us with the best possible equipment here. I’m actually not too worried about it and at the end of the day, if it happens it happens. You can’t prevent it.

     

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Very quick question to Max: did you have to change the gearbox for this race or not?

    MV: Why? I retired anyway so I can do those kind of things.

  • Formula 1 2018: Roll on China

    A short turn around and we are already at Round 3 of the Formula One World Championship in Shanghai, China.

    This year marks the 15th iteration of the Chinese Grand Prix on Formula 1 Calendars. The race has been a staple on the F1 calendar since 2004.

    The 5.451 km circuit, with its 7 left and 9 right turns in the F1 configuration has a good mix of fast-medium speed corners with a bit of slow corners thrown in for good measure with its party piece being the 1.175km back straight. There are some good overtaking opportunities on the back straight with or without DRS. The long, reducing radius, Turn 1 which leads into T2 is another good spot for overtaking as drivers can take different lines to get the drive to setup a pass into the Turn 6 hairpin.

    Mercedes on the back foot?

    Mercedes head into the Chinese Grand Prix as somewhat favorites. The Shanghai Circuit has been a happy hunting ground for them in the hybrid era with a Silver Arrows winning the Chinese Grand Prix each year since 2014. History certainly favors them. On the other hand, no driver has failed to win the Drivers Championship after winning the first two races since 1982. Both Mercedes drivers will want to get their first victory of the season out of the way, Hamilton more so as he’s the current defending world champion.

    So where does that put Ferrari? The circuit being a front limited circuit, could make things a little tough for them, but they’ve shown since the start of the season that they can get over their issues rather quickly. A new floor update is scheduled for this weekend which could put them in the running once again. The cooler temperatures in Shanghai may play into the hands of Mercedes, but that’s never stopped the Ferrari’s before from getting close.

    Kimi Raikkonen has been in good form lately with the 2018 Ferrari more to his liking and with his early retirement in Bahrain will be aching to get going again an hopefully another victory. Whether Ferrari let that happen with be another conversation on its own.

    As for Red Bull, they’re coming into the weekend with something to prove. A double DNF in Bahrain and a 4th and 5th place finish in Australia doesn’t reflect their true potential. While they cannot match Ferrari on one-lap pace and by extension Mercedes, they know fully well that their race pace is quite good and they are able to keep up. Bahrain was shaping up to be a 2 way battle up front but their double DNF put an end to that quite early in the race.

    Best of the rest

    At the moment no midfield manufacturer can claim that title outright. In Bahrain it was Toro Rosso based on Pierre Gasly’s 4th place finish in the race. It’s an extraordinary start to the season for the Faenza outfit and their engine partner Honda. This in stark contrast to how Honda started with McLaren. Toro Rosso look like they’ve got their processes in place with Honda and they seem to be working well together, and Honda is delivering.

    It’s close between Haas and Renault at the moment. The only thing counting against Haas at the moment is their consistency and their ability to maintain the development curve. McLaren are not too far either and their race performance shows that they could possibly sneak ahead of the works team and Haas later in the season.

    Sauber who have taken some points in Bahrain will want to build on that points finish and no doubt will try to get higher up the order.

    China 2018_Selected SetsPirelli Skips a Step

    In Bahrain it can be said that Pirelli got their compound nominations spot on. There were many strategy variations and options which made for very interesting racing and gamesmanship between the teams. For China they’re bringing the white marked medium compound, yellow marked soft compound and the purple marked ultra-soft compound, skipping the super soft. Part of the reason why they can skip a compound for china is that the asphalt is smoother than in Bahrain. The rough asphalt would’ve shredded the ultra softs.

    “The new wider range of 2018 P Zero compounds have allowed us to come up with some nominations this year where there is a gap in the tyres selected,” explains Mario Isola, Pirelli’s Head of Car Racing.

    “There’s quite a big gap from medium to the softer compounds, which are quite close together (with the exception of the hypersoft). So, by missing out the supersoft in China, we end up with three choices that are quite evenly spaced out, which in turn opens up several different possibilities for strategy.

    “These strategy calculations have, of course, already begun, with teams selecting different quantities of the ultrasoft heading into the race, and we could also see some different approaches to qualifying as well.

    “With China being an unpredictable race anyway, thanks to a number of different overtaking opportunities and notoriously variable weather, this tyre nomination introduces another parameter, which should hopefully contribute to an even better spectacle.”

     

  • 2017 Chinese Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    2017 Chinese Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    3 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull)

     

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Martin Brundle)

    Congratulations, Lewis, you led from start to finish, but it was pretty tricky at the beginning, the conditions looked part slick, part intermediate…

    Lewis HAMILTON: It was incredible. Firstly, a big thank you to all the people here in Shanghai for coming out. Thank you. We’ve got such a great crowd here. Today was very, very tough for us all. It was difficult to know. I went out in inters initially, on the laps to the grid, and then I tried the slick and it was impossible, and then we all started on inters and it was very, very hard, because there was a lot of dry patches everywhere, mostly dry except for a couple of corners that were wet. So trying to keep the car on the track and look after the tyres at the same time was very tough. A great job done by Sebastian and this young dude here [Max Verstappen], who’s always like…

    [Max] has actually been voted driver of the day today, so he’s beat you on that vote today.

    LH: Oh, great, great! It’s OK, I don’t mind being on the top step! Lastly, I just want to say a big thank you to this team. I’m just so tremendously proud of everyone on my own personal team, in terms of my own like staff and that, but also my team who work so hard back at the factory to make this possible. And this race is so real; it’s so exciting for me personally. I don’t know how it is for everyone else but I hope they’re enjoying it.

    But he suddenly appeared just eight seconds behind you and closing you down at the end. You had to get back on the gas.

    LH: Yeah, exactly. We were matching times. I think if there wasn’t safety cars and stuff it would have been a lot closer.

    Talking of that, congratulations Sebastian, a bit unlucky really, you pitted under the virtual safety car and there was a safety car straight after.

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, my start was OK but then I realized that the intermediates had quite a lot of degradation. It was very dry in some parts of the track so I knew they would not last. I was happy to take the risk. Obviously virtual safety car you save a bit of time in the pit stop. And then the safety car came just when I was about to start to feel that the dry tyre was a lot quicker, so I couldn’t use the momentum, the advantage and I lost a lot of positions. But then I had a very exciting race; I really enjoyed it. I was stuck a little bit in the train for a whole but then I finally made the move and then, yeah, I tried to chase Lewis down as much as possible but I had the feeling that every time I put a lap in he was able to respond, so I think we were a good match, it could have been a different race but a good recovery and as I said, wheel-to-wheel racing… I touched wheels with Daniel as well….

    You took the paint off the side of his tyre!

    SV: It was good fun at least.

    Take us through those moves, because I think any racing driver in the history or Formula One would like those moves on his CV, because they were committed weren’t they? Down into Turn 6 you were really going for it there.

    SV: Yeah, obviously my target was to catch Lewis and I was stuck in the train and I was getting a bit angry or annoyed and I wanted to get by and I had the feeling that I could go a lot faster in these conditions, so when I was behind Daniel I saw him blocking down the inside because I had a good run out of Turn 4. I said ‘OK, you have to try it around the outside, brake really late and hard’. Fortunately he didn’t lock up. I had him in the mirror, checking, otherwise I have to open immediately before he would make contact. Then on the exit I was a bit compromised, a bit in the dirt, getting a bit of wheel spin, but then I got a bit my elbows out. Yeah, he really squeezed me, but it was good fun and I had the inside for the next corner.

    Some cracking overtaking today. Moving on to Max. Wow, driver of the day as I said, the fans have voted for you. You had some pretty spectacular first few laps coming through the pack, tell us about it.

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, it was very challenging. I think on lap one I passed nine cars. So, not to bad…

    It was like a video game for you!

    MV: More or less! It felt a bit like that. Of course very happy with that and then afterwards I think a very good race. I didn’t have a lot of track time with the car balance from yesterday because I didn’t do qualifying, so I was just basically nursing the car to the finish. And then, of course, very happy to be on the podium, I didn’t expect that at all, especially starting 16th.

    We sensed a bit of tension at the end. Daniel was catching you. You couldn’t lap the Haas in front of you and you were getting a little bit anxious on the radio.

    MV: I just wanted clear air, because I was already struggling a lot with the fronts and that doesn’t help, but in the end I still finished on the podium, so very happy.

    Great drive, congratulations, you gave us a lot of thrills there. Back to you, Lewis, you are equal on points now [with Vettel] after two races. This is going to be a real championship isn’t it?

    LH: I think it’s going to be one of the closest ones, if not the closest I’ve personally ever experienced and I’m looking forward to this fight, not only with Sebastian but the other guys as well who are still going be in amongst it. I think it’s great that we have… we were just saying that we were both pushing. Those last 20 laps or so really exchanging times. I kept having to be fed what times he was doing so I could try to match and he was closing the gap a little bit, but I managed to stay ahead.

    You know what makes me really happy is you’re all up here really smiling. You’re enjoying these cars aren’t you, you’re enjoying the championship this year.

    LH: We are because it’s that close a battle, and the cars look better and they are nicer to drive. It’s not the easiest to get past but this guy seems to find it possible, particularly when it’s wet, so we’ll have to watch the video and see what he’s been doing.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Lewis, that was the third grand slam of your career: pole, win, fastest lap, led every lap. You’ve had a few minutes to reflect on it now: how good was that?

    LH: It’s been a fantastic weekend and very, very grateful for all the efforts that the team have put in to enable us to be where we are and where I am today. It’s very overwhelming when you have a weekend like this, because I’m just a link in the chain and, when you really think about it, there’s thousands of people involved, hundreds and hundreds of people involved in me being up here and us being where we are. So, congratulations to all of them. I hope they’re all celebrating back home. I hope they’re feeling the spirit, I hope they’re feeling the fight… because it’s on. With the race… qualifying was great, to be able to pull that good lap out, it put me in a great position. Start was fantastic: I’m so happy with the way starts are going to I need to keep that up! And then in the race, really just keeping my composure. Some really tricky conditions out there, particularly on the Intermediate. Then, after that, once we’d done the pitstop with the Safety Car, the speed was very low and being very cold, our temperatures in our tyres, they’re like… they’re just not working, they’re so cold. So it was very, very easy to make mistakes and I’m just grateful I didn’t. And then at the end, the last 20-odd laps we were just pounding around as fasts as we can, exchanging lap times and I think that’s what racing is all about. Perhaps in the future there will be times when we won’t have a Safety Car and their won’t be that six seconds gap, it’ll be right on the tail either way. Excited for that.

    Q: Who had the faster car today? Mercedes or Ferrari?

    SV: Well, you won, so…

    LH: Yeah, the only summary we can come up with is that. It is, as I said, very, very close and there were times when Sebastian put laps in and it was hard to even match the time. The last ten or 12 laps he was doing a 35.6 and I was doing a 35.8 and it was very hard to get to where he was. Then there was other times in the race when I was quicker.

    Q: Sebastian, perhaps I can put that question to you as well. Who do you think had the faster car today?

    SV: I’m maybe not clever enough but I try to not confuse myself. So I just go with the fact that who wins the race deserves to win. Every race we do I think the race winner deserves to win. So, yeah, Lewis did the best job. Obviously we were a bit unfortunate maybe with the Safety Car maybe early on – but even if it wasn’t there you never know how it could have impacted on the race. Was it enough? We thought… I thought yes – but then it’s a long race from there and it could have been a different outcome. But yeah, it was really good fun. Like Lewis said, I had a bit more to do in the race than he had. I saw he was controlling the pace, probably, in the beginning. Once I got past Kimi and Daniel I obviously tried to hunt him down but knowing that it would be difficult with that gap. And in the last couple of laps I asked the team to give me an average of what we needed to catch up etcetera, just to know what I have to do. When they came up with the conclusion that it’s a bit more than half a second a lap… yeah… I kept pushing because you never know, maybe Lewis is doing a mistake, or has an issue with the car so I wanted to keep the pressure on – but yeah, I enjoyed the fact we were racing, even though not side-by-side or right behind each other but five, six, eight seconds apart. To hear that he was pushing as well I think is good news. So in terms of pace it was probably a match. Sometimes he was a bit faster, sometimes I was a bit faster. Overall it was good fun.

    Q: Could you have challenged Lewis had you not lost so much time behind your team-mate?

    SV: Ah, would, could, should. I think Lewis was quick. Full stop. I think they did a good race, he did a good race, so to get into these kind of conversations, or discussions, usually there is no point.  Today we finished second, very happy with that, we take it, good points. More than that, and much more valuable than that, it was an entertaining and fun race for me. I had some overtaking. It was difficult to get close to the car, like last race you felt the effect but here I think it’s a better track to overtake and yeah, it’s the way it should be in my opinion: you need to make it stick so it shouldn’t come for free. You shouldn’t just open the flap and sail past. It was good fun. I can’t complain.

    Q: Max, you’ve scored Red Bull Racing’s 100th podium today – but when you ripped open your curtains this morning, did you really think third place was on from 16th on the grid?

    MV: No, of course not. I was targeting… if we could score some nice points that would be positive but then the first lap was very challenging. I think I passed nine cars. So that’s not too bad. From there on I think we made the right call with the change of tyres to slicks. It’s a bit of a gamble but it worked out. I was a bit cautious to not go too early and it paid off. Then I was in a good position afterwards. I managed to get past Daniel in Turn Six and then I was building a gap.  But then straight away I felt the balance of the car was a bit limited to the front so I was destroying the left front and I couldn’t get the car to turn and that’s what basically happened when Sebastian was behind me, just under braking, very difficult, locked up and went wide. Then had quite a bit flat-spot. Tried to continue for one lap but then I decided to box. I knew the last stint would be very hard with which lap I stopped, but I managed to stay in third and that’s, of course, very positive, especially after starting 16th. It was a great and entertaining race, I think.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Fu Yu – China Radio International) Question to Max. Congratulations on a podium finish. You conquered much of the field ahead of you and surged up early on in the race. When did you realise a podium finish was in sight and what did you do after that? I mean, did you keep on pushing and hope for a better place or were you more conservative and trying to hold on to your third place?

    MV: To be honest, with ten laps to go I looked on the board and saw I was third. Before that I didn’t know where I was. I had to keep pushing because I had my team-mate behind who was trying to get past. And then I had a Haas in front of me. He didn’t move out of the way and he was always one and a half seconds in front so it was very tricky for me to get the front tyres to work, y’know, with the understeer? So yeah, I had to push quite hard at the end – but that’s how it should be.

    Q: (Keren Wang – Top Driver) Max, do tell us more about the first lap when you said you passed around nine cars on the first lap. How did you find the grip so quickly on the first lap?

    MV: To be honest, I had a good start, but I got a bit blocked because the two cars in front of me went into the middle so I had to back off, but still I gained one or two positions and then, yeah, basically just trying to find a gap so trying to go round the outside in turn one, I got another car, then inside turn two, another car, outside turn three, because there was space, trying to find grip because when you’re behind a car you lose a lot of downforce so just trying to find some free space and basically everything happened… also turn six, turn seven, eight, always trying to go around the outside or inside and it worked. Yeah, nine cars is quite a lot on one lap but of course very happy that it worked.

    Q: (Ma Yue – Shanghai Daily) Just wanted to ask you all, do you think the weather was an advantage or disadvantage for you?

    LH: I think the weather often makes it more exciting. These are some of the most exciting circumstances when you have a track that starts wet and it goes through a drying phase. It just adds so much more fun and more of a lottery into the equation, so then your smart decisions, driving and how you utilise the tyres. Driving in the dry is a great thing or just in the wet is also very tough but this one is quite spicy with both in it.

    SV: Nothing to add.

    MV: Well, for me, definitely for me today it worked out because I started 16th, so in the wet it’s easier to overtake. I think it was a perfect race for me because then afterwards you go on the slick tyres, you have passed most of the field already and you are basically back in the position where you should be.

    Q: What do you think you could have achieved, Max, had it been dry?

    MV: Well, not third, for sure. Maybe sixth? Good conditions for me.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, what do you expect from the Bahrain race, another great battle against Lewis as in Melbourne and maybe better than today?

    SV: I don’t know what to expect. Obviously in a week we will know. I think if we can challenge Mercedes again, that’s very good news. They are very very strong. They have had a very very strong run the last couple of years. This year as well, so a good package. If we can be close it’s good. I think we need to look after ourselves. I think there’s stuff that we can do better, must do better, can improve so I’m happy to get a surprise, but expectation I don’t really have.

    Q: Before we move on to Max, Lewis, what are you expecting from Bahrain?

    LH: Being that it’s often a warmer race, Ferrari is very good in hotter conditions. These were quite good conditions for me today with our car. When it steps up in temperature… so far in the first race it’s been shown as not the greatest for us just yet, so we’re just learning on the tyres. Hopefully it will be better… it will definitely be better than it was in the Melbourne. I think they will be very very quick in the next race but there’s a lot of straights there as well and we’ve obviously got, I think, still the strongest power unit on the grid, so I think that will come into play, for sure.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Max, was that the best race of your career?

    MV: I always find it difficult to compare but it was definitely one of the best, yeah, of course very happy with it. Looking back to last year, I think a victory is always very special so it’s one of my best for the moment and Brazil was also very nice but this is definitely in my top five, I think.

    Q: (Oscar Garshagen – NRC) There were in the last weeks some issues with your car, Max. Does this third place mean that those issues are behind you right now?

    MV: Difficult to say. On true pace, both Ferrari and Mercedes should be ahead with both of their drivers so we still need to work very hard to catch up. I think at the moment we’re a bit in a lonely competition because in front of us they are too quick and behind us they are too slow but like I’ve already said before, we are working really hard and trying to close the gap but it’s not that easy. But we’ll keep pushing hard.

    Q: (Arjan Schouter – AD) Lewis, I was just wondering how you see this young Dutch guy next to you? He’s delivering all those overtaking shows; what do you think of it?

    LH: I quite like him up here next to us; makes me look younger when I’m up here. It’s good to have a younger person around and yeah, Max has obviously done a fantastic job since he’s been in the sport and I think he’s been a real breath of fresh air for everyone so obviously he’s got a great following and he’s definitely been in some great situations in some races and really maximised above and beyond in those, which is why he gets driver of the day. It’s a lot harder to do that when you’re in the lead of a race, obviously, because you can’t really do much overtaking.

    MV: If you want to swap it’s alright.

    LH: No… Honestly, I hope that Red Bull can improve through the season because I think a third element in the fight I think would be even more exciting.

  • 2017 Chinese Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    2017 Chinese Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    DRIVERS – 1. Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), 2. Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari), 3. Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

    TV UNILATERAL

    Lewis, many congratulations on what looked like a great lap at the end of Q3 there. Talk us through the lap and your session.

    Lewis HAMILTON: Thank you. Yeah, it’s been an interesting weekend so far, obviously without testing yesterday. Today was a real challenge for all of us in the sense that we had to compile a lot of yesterday’s testing into this morning and hope we’d hit the nail on the head with the balance of the car. But the Ferraris have looked so fast, through practice this morning and then through each qualifying session. We knew it was going to be close, and it was going to mean we would have to pull out all the stops and really have a very, very perfect lap, you know, a solid lap. I managed to just chip away at it from session to session. No major issues. But the last lap was my best lap, which is always the plan – sometimes it’s in another session. The lap started off not as good as perhaps the Q1 first lap but then the rest of the lap got better and better – I think it may have been tyre temperatures or something, who knows. It felt strong and then obviously coming into the last corner knowing I was up a couple of tenths… it’s always nervous going into Turn 14 because you want to break late and gain some but you don’t want to throw away everything you’ve gained. And through the last corner and coming across the line, and then just waiting after that to see what everyone else had done. These guys behind were still finishing off their laps. So, very, very happy, super grateful for the huge efforts that the team have put in to keep us in the fight. It’s more exciting than ever for me, because we’re really fighting these guys, you know. It’s amazing, and I think that’s what racing’s all about. It really pushes you to raise the bar every time you go out, which I love. Lastly, just a big thank you to all the fans. We’ve got a lot of British flags here in China, which is amazing.

    And Lewis what does it mean to you to take the 75th pole in the history of Mercedes?

    LH: Well, I’ve been with Mercedes for a long, long time, since I started when I was 13 actually. Since I’ve been in Formula One, all my wins, all my poles have been with Mercedes, so very grateful and thankful to be in the family, and to be a part of this amazing journey that the whole team is on, that this whole brand is on. I’d like to go along and keep stamping something in the history books so someday I can look back on it.

    Q: Sebastian, a great session from you and Ferrari as well. How important was it for you to get on the front row today?

    Sebastian VETTEL: We’ll see tomorrow how important it was. It was a nice session; I enjoyed it a lot. I think if we could have been a bit quicker at the end I would have enjoyed it a bit more. I think I was very happy with the lap I had. Last corner maybe I lost a little bit – maybe I ‘chickened’ onto the brakes a bit too soon. Obviously it was very close with Valtteri, good job we got just enough margin to make it to the front row.

    Q: Do you think you have a better race car than qualifying car at the moment?

    SV: I think our car is strong no matter what. It obviously depends what these guys are doing. Certainly we’ve seen also in the previous years that in quali they seem to be able to really get on top of what they have. I think we can still improve. Let’s see what the race looks like tomorrow. The conditions will be quite different. Maybe we should put fuel in the car and race now. I don’t know what happens tomorrow.

    Q: Valtteri, have you worked out where you lost that one thousandth of a second to Sebastian?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: I think on one lap around here there are quite a few places. One thousandth, like you mentioned, it like this maybe? It’s not so much. It is a real shame he managed to get between us. I think last time it was two thousandths and now it’s one thousandth, so…

    SV: I think it was two hundredths, I don’t know.

    VB: It’s getting closer! So yeah it’s a shame but the race is tomorrow. We are starting as a team first and third. It’s a good place to start. The weather can be anything really tomorrow. Lewis was strong today, Ferrari was strong and we were always expecting a close fight today on track. I think it will be the same case tomorrow. Thanks to the team again. We did a good job in the short amount of time in the practice today to get the car set up well and it was enjoyable to drive, but let’s see what tomorrow brings.

    Q: Thank you Valtteri. Coming back to you Lewis, well, it looks like you’ve got a real fight on your hands tomorrow. How much are you relishing this battle with Ferrari?

    LH: Particularly for tomorrow, it’s going to be an unusual day. I heard it’s going to be wet potentially, to start off the race. I’ve not driven the wet tyre this season, so that’s going to be fun, to experience the bigger car, wider tyres for the first time. I mean I did an out lap yesterday on the extreme, but it was a very slow lap, so I’ve not actually experienced it. So tomorrow will be a new lesson for me to learn if it is wet and it will be interesting to see… I think the Ferraris have a very, very strong car, particularly a step-up more so in the race pace and how they treat their tyres, particularly when it’s warm, so it will be interesting to see what the weather brings us tomorrow. But I think we have worked hard to understand our car a little bit better and I think whatever the case it’s going to be close between us and that bodes well for one of the most exciting days to come for a long time.

    Q: Lewis, how much do you feel that you are on the back foot after the lack of running yesterday? How much has it set everybody’s programmes back?

    LH: I don’t know. I think the thing is we’ve all been here for so long and the more you drive the more you learn to minimise the loss of a day like yesterday. So, y’know, as a team we’ve learnt so much over the years, and as a driver as well. You learn, even while you’re not driving, you’re thinking about the steps that you need to take. So we try go into a day like today as if there hasn’t been a loss. But as I said, this morning we had to do long run, short run, and a qualifying run in one short session, as opposed to doing it in three sessions – but I think we got as much as we could done and if we had had yesterday, I don’t think we’d have been much further up the road, if any at all, to be honest. Don’t know how these guys feel but we’ve got great engineers who analyse and analyse and analyse and did a fantastic job and, I’m assuming, for Sebastian.

    Q: The weather forecast looks indifferent for tomorrow at best… it could rain. You’ve touched on it already that you haven’t used the new full wet tyre from Pirelli. Does that make you nervous?

    LH: No, I’m excited about it, to be honest, because it’s a new experience. I’m sure it’s not a huge, huge difference to what we’ve had in the past. Perhaps a little bit. I’m kind of excited about. It makes it more… it’s great to have some excitement. To be faced with a new challenge. You just have to be the most proactive, most reactive tomorrow. If it is wet. If it is raining I just hope that the clouds stay high so that the helicopter can stay take off so that we can actually do a race. We’ve got an amazing turnout here so we want to make sure we can put on a good race for them.

    Q: Sebastian, it’s 380m from the grid to Turn One tomorrow. How significant is that going to be – or do you think you are going to be able to overtake tomorrow?

    SV: For me it’s 388m, I guess. Hopefully I can make up those eight metres. Which side are we starting on. Where’s pole? [on the outside] OK, so if I make up 8m then it looks pretty good. I don’t know. There’s a lot of things that can turn out in many ways tomorrow. That’s one option that I mentioned but we don’t know what the conditions are going to be like. We’ll see. I think it should be an exciting race nevertheless. Obviously very limited running yesterday, hardly any for me. I think I did two laps but nobody really did a lot of laps, so we’ll see. The car is good, the car is fine, so I’m confident, no matter the conditions that the car is working, and then we try to do the fastest race.

    Q: Lewis has already said that racing against someone like yourself is what racing is all about. Just how much are you relishing the battle with him?

    SV: Well, it’s been a while so yeah, I think we’re on a good way. Obviously it’s a lot of fun when you fight for poles and wins. Certainly enjoyed Australia a lot, despite the outcome on Sunday which obviously was fantastic – but in general, to be able to fight at the front for the podium, and really fight for it is a great feeling. Same here. You go into the weekend and… we didn’t really have much expectation because it’s a completely different track but on the hand we did know that our car is working well. So, just need to keep it up. Need to try to improve it whenever we can. So overall, I can only give it back, and hopefully there’s a lot more for the rest of the season. But this is only race two. A lot of things can happen but we need to obviously give everything we have to stay there.

    Q: Valtteri, as Sebastian says, this is only race two, it’s your second race with Mercedes. How comfortable are you feeling in the team? Are you settling in? Are there still a few things you need to learn?

    VB: Definitely. Approaching this weekend, compared to Melbourne, the first one of the year, it was a different feeling. Being true, that one full race weekend with the team, doing the qualifying session and the race, with a podium finish, it was a nice start, so definitely feeling more and more comfortable. I think still, as I’ve been mentioning, there is a big learning curve for me with everything and I feel more better and better still, every single day with the team and every single lap with the car. So, yeah…

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Maybe a question to all of you. Different circuit, same result as in Melbourne. The advantage a little bit smaller than in Melbourne. Where does Ferrari stand against Mercedes? What do you think Lewis, Sebastian and Valtteri?

    LH: I’m not really sure how to explain that. Close. The times show it as close as it’s been. It’s within a tenth, I think, the distance between us.

    SV: Being pragmatic, I think if you take the average of what we’ve had so far, then you can say that in qualifying we’re still lacking a bit and in the race I think we are a good match. I think Lewis was struggling a bit in Australia with his tyres. We weren’t as much. I don’t know what happens tomorrow. It will be a lot cooler. Certainly after tomorrow you can draw another average – but what matters most is that after 20 races you draw the average and we come out on top. That would be great! But it’s a long way, as I said. So, for now we’re very happy being able to challenge Mercedes and hopefully we can do that more and more.

    Q: And Valtteri? What did you expect the gap between yourselves and Mercedes to do here in China?

    SV: A thousandth!

    VB: Yeah! I was hoping for one thousandth at least. We were always expecting it would be really, really close. Everything between the two teams is between one or two tenths, depending on conditions for the sessions, race or qualifying. That’s why it’s going to be interesting tomorrow.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Seb, the distance between you and Lewis, Ferrari and Mercedes in general, seems to be even closer than last year and the past years in general. This difference in qualifying, compared to last year and previous seasons; do you think it can be a trend throughout the season?

    SV: Well, I think we’ve made a big step as a team so I think it’s really thanks to the team that simply supplied me with a better car. I think in general I like this formula  a lot where you can push on the limit. Probably the last couple of years it was creeping away from all of us, step by step, and with this year’s cars it’s back to how it was a long time ago and back to how it should be. I don’t know if it’s a combination of things; as a driver you jump into the car and you always try to do your best but as I said, big thank you to the team to supply me with a great car this year, right from the first outing and I have  high hopes that we can still improve it from where we are. I know the team is still growing together, there is still a lot of progress that we can make but the way I feel and the way the team feels and the way the team shows it to me directly and indirectly, there’s no rush. We are here to do our job and we know that we can be strong. I think we’ve laid a good foundation and now it’s up to us to build onto it. Now it’s April, we still have a lot of time. The most important thing, I think, is that we enjoy it.

    Q: (Keren Wang – Top Driver) Lewis, we’ve seen a bit of happy tail from your car today on your flying laps. Could you tell us a little bit about your car set-up; is it compromised for a wet race tomorrow or is it somewhere between wet or dry, either condition?

    LH: What was the first part? Happy tail, ah oversteer. It’s actually a little bit understeery I would say.

    SV: Where was the happy tail? One corner to another?

    LH: It was pretty good. It’s like a see-saw, you know? You can decide to have it more understeery or oversteery. This is a track where you need to have a very good front end. I think generally in Formula One it’s not too often where we have to set the car up for a wet race, particularly when you don’t know if it’s definitely going to be wet so you set it up for what you’re faced with that day and tomorrow you can make changes to the wing; tomorrow, for example, if it is wet, that’s the only real difference you need to make. It’s not like go-karting where you loosen everything off, you slacken the car off. You don’t really need to do that necessarily for… If we know it’s a completely wet weekend and maybe we can do some small things but it’s quite similar. We’ve got to make sure we’ve put ourselves at the front.

    Q: (Jens Nagler – Bild) To all three of you: what do you think will be the key tomorrow: the start, the strategy or perhaps even some overtaking which would be exciting?

    LH: I think probably in that order: start, strategy and then, depending on what the conditions are on the track… if it’s wet of course there are opportunities to overtake, if it’s dry it’s very hard to follow as has been the rule now, particularly when there’s thousandths between us. You lose a lot of thousandths behind each other with the loss of downforce. Yeah, I think it would be great if we get some… a wet race would be exciting.

    SV: I think… mostly conditions. If it’s dry we know what to do, everybody knows what to do. It’s fairly easy knowing what to expect. If there’s an element of wet then it can mix things up so we will see. I think we wake up tomorrow, look outside and see what to do. We have enough wet tyres so it should be fine if it’s wet.

    VB: Seeing the forecast, I think really making the most of the conditions throughout the race, being on it with the strategy. I think that’s going to be one of the key points.

    Q: (Fu Yu – China International Radio) Valtteri, you’re only a thousandth of a second slower than Sebastian on the front row. Do you think you could have done a little bit better and how confident do you feel about making up that gap tomorrow?

    VB: Always if you could do the lap again, especially when it’s one thousandth, you can find it somewhere, especially with the short amount of running throughout practice. We only really had practice three. Yes, definitely, I could have done better but I think every driver on this grid, having got a second qualifying, would improve and then it becomes more and more tricky to improve.

    Q: (Fu Yu – China International Radio) How confident do you feel about making up that thousandth of a second tomorrow?

    VB: When we’re on the grid tomorrow then it doesn’t matter. I always tend to get all the points from the qualifying that I need to improve and what we need to improve as a team. We move on for tomorrow and tomorrow I’m not going to think about the one thousandth; it’s a new day and a completely new opportunity and we are going to do everything we can to be one and two and for me still chasing my career-best result.

    Q: (Marius Salvini – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, pole position number 65 is even closer. What do you think about it, is it something of a magic number for you?

    LH: It really is, I think. Every pole has been – it might be hard for you to believe – but every pole position has been so unique in its own way. There’s always been a different journey to gain that pole, there are different things that have happened on that lap. It’s still today – and I’m sure it will never change – it’s still so real that I have that amount of poles and to think you can have a pole in Formula One…. because the dream was to get to Formula One. And now, it’s perhaps even more exciting, I’m nearing Ayrton, he had a lot of pole positions with less races. We know what he did back then was just phenomenal, the same with Michael but just grateful to be up there up amongst them. I definitely feel that what I love even more now is that I feel like more than at any other time, I feel like I’m really having to earn those pole positions being that it’s so close, so again, on top of that the feeling is even better

  • Lewis Hamilton steals Chinese GP pole from Sebastian Vettel

    Lewis Hamilton steals Chinese GP pole from Sebastian Vettel

    Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton stole the Chinese Grand Prix pole from Sebastian Vettel in spectacular fashion putting in a stonking lap of 1:31.678 – a new Shanghai International Circuit lap record. Hamilton beat Michael Schumacher’s previous record – one which has been in place since the first Chinese Grand Prix in 2004, a testament to the sheer speed of the new generation of F1 cars. This is Hamilton’s 6th consecutive pole and the 63rd of his career – moving ever closer to Ayrton Senna’s record.

    Chinese GP HamiltonIt was a very tight battle for the leading drivers with Sebastian Vettel edging Valterri Bottas out for second place by 0.001s or 5.9cm as Toto Wolff calculated. That small margin was a little unexpected – Ferrari had looked a lot stronger in the third practice session but Hamilton beat Vettel by almost two-tenths of a second. Similarly, despite excellent earlier form, Kimi Raikkonen only managed fourth place, 0.462s off Hamilton’s pace.

    Daniel Ricciardo finished fifth fastest for Red Bull Racing with Massa coming in behind him for Williams. The Brazilian will start ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, Sergio Perez, and Daniil Kvyat. Lance Stroll rounded out the top 10, 0.713s off his Williams team mate’s time.

    Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz Jr missed out on a Q3 spot by only 0.060s after complaining about the rear of his car getting away from him while exiting corners. Haas driver Kevin Magnussen finished 0.014s behind Sainz to claim 12th place ahead of McLaren’s Fernando Alonso who radioed in to say he was “pushing like an animal”.

    Giovinazzi, Chinese GPEricsson will start his Sauber from 14th place on the grid with team mate Antonio Giovinazzi behind him. Giovinazzi brought the first qualifying session to an early end when he lost control of his Sauber and crashed into the barriers as he exited the final corner. The Sauber team have quite a job ahead of them – the Sauber is severely damaged and will require some rebuilding overnight.

    Stoffel Vandoorne will start from 16th place ahead of Romain Grosjean and Joylon Palmer who were behind Giovinazzi on track and were not able to improve their laps to make it into Q2. Both drivers are under investigation for speeding under the double waved yellows.

    Max Verstappen qualified 19th for Red Bull following a loss of power caused by an engine software issue. Esteban Ocon takes up the final grid position for what is set to be a very intriguing Chinese Grand Prix.

     

     

     

     

  • Chinese GP Practice 3 – Advantage Ferrari

    Chinese GP Practice 3 – Advantage Ferrari

    Sebastian Vettel marginally edged out team mate Kimi Raikkonen in a Ferrari 1-2 at the final practice session ahead of the 2017 Chinese Grand Prix.

    Under improved weather conditions, Vettel beat his team mate to the top spot by 0.053s with a 1:33.336 – the two finished a good few tenths clear of the Mercedes drivers. Bottas finished 0.371s behind Vettel, running without his T-wing after it broke off early on in the session.

    Hamilton finished fourth after locking up into the hairpin on his fastest lap 0.543s off Vettel’s time.

    Felipe Massa put in fifth place for Williams with the Red Bull duo of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo taking sixth and seventh spots on the time sheets. Lance Stroll took eigth position with Renault’s Jolyon Palmer and Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz Jr rounding out the top 10.

    Danill Kvyat was the only driver not to set his fastest time on the supersofts, and finished in 15th place, 2.468s off the pace.

    We’re expecting the weather to hold off for qualifying, but rain could very well still come into play with the unpredictable conditions at the Shangai International Circuit. Who will come out on top? It most certainly is going to be an intriguing battle!

  • 2017 Chinese Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference

    2017 Chinese Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference

    TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Cyril ABITEBOUL (Renault), Monisha KALTENBORN (Sauber), Robert FERNLEY (Force India), Franz TOST (Toro Rosso), Guenther STEINER (Haas)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Cyril, clearly you’ve made a lot of progress with your power unit over the winter,but it hasn’t all been plain sailing. Can you give us an insight into where it still needs a little bit of work and when you expect to have some solutions in place?

    Cyril ABITEBOUL: Well, I think it’s fair to say we had a pretty good 2016 season from a power unit perspective, but we’ve made a bit of a brave decision to actually re-start from scratch again, because frankly in Formula One if you don’t move forward you just die. So we had no choice but to accept to take some risks by, again, starting with a whole new architecture, which we had to do from a performance perspective and we saw that a bit of short-term pain for a longer-term gain. So we are in that period of a bit of pain because we have some weakness related to the, I would say, the health of that power unit, but which on the positive sign is really delivering good promise and good results from a performance perspective. So there is much more to come but that will only come when the reliability is here and that will come in the very soon future.

    Can you be a bit more specific about when that’s going to come. When can we expect you to be firing on all cylinders effectively?

    CA: We don’t want to go too much into the specifics, because when you start to give planning, everyone is now expecting and in particular we have very demanding customers and they are right to be demanding customers, but we want to continue to control our destiny and our programme. What I can say is that we are making sure reliability is under control and is as transparent as possible for the customer teams. We will have some fixes in the next few races and there will be some performance upgrades with the introduction. But the problem is that with the new regulations, with fewer power units used during the season, obviously you need to sync up the performance, reliability upgrades and the introduction of new power units.

    There was a recent meeting in Paris to discuss the future engine regulations in Formula One. What can you tell us about that meeting? How productive was it?

    CA: It was a good meeting. It was a productive meeting, very functional, chaired by the FIA in Place de la Concorde, but with the attendance of current engine manufacturers, plus a number of people interested in becoming engine manufacturers in the future, plus also to get an answer of Ross – Ross Brawn. So it was good, a good meeting which has allowed us to share the diagnosis of the current engine regulation, what we think it was good, what we think is less good and what could be done in order to improve, and the associated process and timing. So I don’t think it’s my duty to communicate upon the result of that meeting. But in general, I believe, and that’s good, that it is a positive sign for where Formula One is going which is in my opinion is a bit more constructive and forward looking than it has been recently.

    Monisha, that was some debut by Antonio Giovinazzi in Melbourne. How impressed were you?

    Monisha KALTENBORN: Well, we were all very impressed, considering how quickly it happened. When we came to Melbourne with Pascal, there was no indication at all that we’d end up in this situation, because Pascal, being a very ambitious driver, really wanted to driver but when he realized he does have a responsibility to the team and if he is not 100 per cent fit he really needs to say that. We more or less overnight had to make this call and then to see Antonio, who drove the first test for us in Barcelona for, but that’s of course not in any way comparable with the car, what it is now, he still came in there, did a great session, did a good race, no major issues or dramas, so we’re very impressed by him.

    What can you tell us about Pascal’s condition and when will he be back?

    MK: Well, from a medical perspective he was declared fine to race, already at the tests. The rest is a question of his fitness to the extent that he wants to be able to deliver 100 per cent during the entire race. We’ve heard also now in between from doctors and all that, it is very challenging for the drivers. We heard that from the drivers themselves. He’s working flat out on his fitness. It is very difficult to say, because the body is not that logical or analytical in its development, on what day it’s going to be there but his target and our target is to have him as soon as possible in the car, ideally at the next race, but if not, it will the next one. But clear is that he is our second driver and that’s not going to change.

    We’ve just heard from Cyril about the engine meeting that took place in Paris last week. As a privateer team, in what direction would you like to see the engine regulations go?

    MK: Well, for a private team it’s extremely important for the costs to come down again. We had reached with the earlier engines a point where we were talking about $8m engines and it was meant to be coming down further and now we just went the totally opposite way. So we want them to come down to an affordable level. But more importantly there should be a certain parity amongst the powertrains. We wouldn’t want that the engine should be the main denominator or differentiator in performance. So what’s very important is the parity and the costs.

    Q: Bob, coming on to you, the team was fourth last year, first of the privateers teams, if you like. Can you give us some insight into how difficult it has been to prepare for these new rules in 2017.

    Robert FERNLEY: Well it’s not actually been hugely different than normal. We obviously look at the following year’s car very early on anyway. We had a very clear development programme for the ’16 car which the technical team delivered perfectly and, obviously, resulted with the fourth place – but we were also well ahead for the ’17 car. So I think, obviously there is a significant cost involved, simply because there is no carryover in the new regulations but like everything it’s an interesting challenge. We’re starting with a clean sheet of paper and you’d like to think that your technical team can build a car that can do exactly the same again.

    Q: You’ve already raced this year’s car once. There’s quite a large gap from you to the front, how to you assess the pecking order at the minute?

    RF: I don’t think there’s any question or doubt about that. You’ve got the three top teams that are spending significantly more than the rest of the field and I think that’s the difference.

    Q: Is fourth in the Constructors’ Championship a realistic goal for you guys this year?

    RF: Absolutely. Absolutely. I think we’ll be fighting, it will be very tough because there’s some very good competition around but that’s probably going to be one of the most exciting positions that’s going to be fought over for the whole season.

    Q: Guenther. Melbourne. Positives and negatives for the team. How do you reflect on that race.

    Guenther STEINER: The positives, for sure you try to think on the positives but then the negatives always come up. I think qualifying with Romain qualifying sixth on good speed, no luck or nothing, that was good. Kevin wasn’t so good because he struggled in all the practice sessions with one problem or another and he just wasn’t delivered but after qualifying we were pretty happy and pretty positive and then in the race we had the failure, the water leak and the turbo failure consequentially, and you go home empty-handed. You go away knowing that the car is there. We just need now always to get always the potential fulfilled and the potential out of the car in each race track. So, I think in the end it’s positive, even with a little bit of a sour taste.

    Q: It’s a very tight midfield this year. Do you think the team has the development capacity to keep at the front of it?

    GS: I don’t know. I don’t know what the other people are planning to do. It’s always trying to shoot a moving target here. So, I think I know what we are going to do. We are going to introduce developments. We have a good plan in place but I don’t know if the others have a better plan or if their updates are better. That I don’t know. Looking back in the past, I think our quantity and what we want to do is equal to the other midfield teams. For sure it’s nothing compared with the big three but let’s hope the quality we bring to the race track in development and updates is to be in the race with them.

    Q: Franz, great start for the team in Melbourne. How much of a surprise was it to get both cars in the points given your lack of reliability during winter testing.

    Franz TOST: Winter testing we were suffering a little bit in the first test with reliability issues but fortunately we could sort out most of the topics for the second test already. Therefore I was not so surprised by our performance – but of course it was good to have two cars in Q3 and then at the finish with both cars in the points. This is always a good start.

    Q: You’ve got the most experienced driver line-up in the team’s history, you’ve got a stable technical team. What do you think you can achieve this year?

    FT: The target is the fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship – but as my friends here around, they have nearly the same target and we will see. I think that we have a very competitive package, we have a very good car, we have to experienced drivers and the team is also making progress, we have also some development steps during the year and it will became a hard fight between Renault, Force India, Haas and ourselves.

    Q: Do you think you can challenge Red Bull Racing?

    FT: No. Red Bull Racing is not our target. Red Bull Racing is in another league. I am happy if we challenge successfully the teams which I just before mentioned.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Jia Hui Huang – Guangdong Television & Radio sports channel) To all of you. Someone says listening to F1 drivers is wrong, it’s bad for F1 racing. As we’ve seen in the first race the drivers are happy because they can push harder – but the fans are not. They are not satisfied. It’s boring. No overtaking. Standard one stop. What do you think. F1 should listen to who?

    GS: I don’t fully agree with the comments, that the new cars are boring and everything negative. I’d rather see the glass half-full than half-empty. I think the race in Melbourne was by no means boring, in my opinion. We had a different winner than last year. I think that the fight between Ferrari and Mercedes and Red Bull will be very close. We have got an interesting midfield, there will be fights, the overtaking was not very good but I would not jump to a conclusion yet that this will be the whole year. Like this, it looks like it’s difficult but other elements will come in to overtake, so I wouldn’t say that all the fans are negative about it. There’s a lot of enthusiastic people out there that think the new cars are good – so I’m pretty… I don’t see it like this.

    Franz, do you have anything to add?

    FT: I agree with Guenther. For me, the race in Melbourne was quite an interesting race because it was a close race. There were many cars within a few tenths of a second and the overtaking manoeuvres in Melboure are always difficult, it was always in the past the case. We must wait now the first three races to get a clearer picture – but the cars are looking much better, much more aggressive and I think the direction was OK. The rest we will see during the season.

    Cyril, anything to add?

    CA: No, nothing much to add. I believe it’s a little bit too early to judge. We need to give a chance to the product. It’s an interesting formula in many aspects. I think strategy will play a different role, qualifying will play a different role. You will have in this new formula to execute everything perfectly well, so I think it puts the onus on the teams here at track to make sure you get also to the right setup, so everything is perfectly executed. It’s a different challenge, an interested challenge, certainly it is to live from inside. Obviously we also need to care about the fan out there, so answering your question about who we should listen to. We should also listen to the fans – but that’s one of the things I believe Liberty and FOM in its new format, which is also to look at surveys, trying to understand what the fan really wants. Not think for the fan but listen to the fan for themselves.

    Bob?

    RF: From our side, sitting on the pitwall, we had two drivers that did two incredible overtaking manoeuvres. Certainly it got my attention on both occasions. I think they were exceptional manoeuvres and, from a strategy point of view it’s actually quite interesting because it’s bought a new dynamic into it. We now have both the undercut and the overcut process and I think it’s going to be one of those things that’s going to prove very interesting as we move into the year.

    Monisha, anything to add?

    MK: Well, it’s all been said. You have to wait and see. It’s just the first race, it’s a very unique race and that’s always been the case. When these rules were bought in, we all knew what the negative sides would be and that the positives side was mainly to have more attractive cars, and I do think most of the fans actually like that. So we’ve achieved one target. And the other issues are to do overall with the competition. We should just take it from here and try to find other things, other rules that we can also target more at the other issues you raise. It’s an ongoing process but I think it’s kicked off very positively.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) To the four independents or privateer teams and then a separate follow-up to Cyril. Could you see yourselves, given that there’s no clear guarantee of engine parity going forward regardless of regulation changes, could you see yourselves clear to retaining the current engine formula provided the price is dropped? And then to Cyril, given that the manufacturers have spent most of the money already on this particular engine formula, does it really make sense to consider dumping it just when it’s on the cusp of being reliable and highly competitive?

    MK: Well, as a private team, we understand that from the engine manufacturer’s perspective you have to represent certain technologies and that doesn’t go against our businesses or our business models as such. Where it’s gone terribly wrong is on the costs. We certainly want a movement that is irrespective of the technology which is being used. The other aspect we  – like all other teams, irrespective of if you’re private or not – have to consider is what it’s done to the show and that’s where a lot of criticism is coming from –  all the discussions around the sound – and so  as a private team, these are more important issues to us and we have to find a balance overall that what is necessary for manufacturers to stay in there, what do they want to showcase in here… but it has to be making the competition a good one, so that we all actually have certain chances in there; it has to be affordable and the fans should like it, because at the end of the day we’re doing this for the fans.

    GS: I think, on the cost, sometimes what we were thinking is that the engine which is developed now it’s never finished being developed but it’s at a good level, so I think the cost should come down or you freeze the engine. Sometimes, keeping something you know – and like it was done with the V8s, to freeze the engine spec –  that would make it cheaper, if we go for the cheap and a very high technology. So now, jumping to a potentially cheap version of some kind of engine, but starting development from new, could be more expensive than keeping this engine with the high technology just to freeze  or to reduce investment, so that’s another idea which needs to be discussed, between the engine manufacturers, but I’m sure they will come up with some ideas and that will be one of the things I guess somebody will come up with, if we keep this. The technology in this engine is amazing for everybody involved in engines, this is an amazing technology, so now we go backwards and maybe invest more money to develop something which is actually not as sophisticated as this. So I think it needs to be evaluated as well, if maybe from a certain point on. All their engines are the same, we freeze the engine like we did with the V8s, that would be a possibility. But again, in the engine group, we as independents have not got a lot of influence so we can just voice our opinion outside of the group and say maybe that’s an option. So I hope they weigh up that option as well because I don’t know, just to go to a potentially cheaper engine, if that’s the right way, and reduce the technology. As Monisha said, there may be an issue with the noise but it will never be perfect whatever we do so there is some give and take and maybe we could live with that.

    RF: I think there is a little bit of work which could perhaps be done to address some of the issues, particularly the noise and simplify the base technology, but I think I agree with everybody else. I think that the principle of the current engine shouldn’t just be abandoned, a lot of work has gone into it but I think it could be simplified a little bit. I think a lot of the things that we’re doing perhaps go beyond what even the most sophisticated of fans is understanding, so we could come back a little bit, get the cost right, obviously get the power and the noise right and move forward but you don’t have to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

    FT: I nearly agree with what’s been said so far. For me the pillar for the new engine is the parity – there must be a chance that there is parity between the different manufacturers because without it they can’t contribute anything to the show and they do something. It cannot be that some cars are far ahead. We will see now what’s going on during the rest of the season. The second pillar is the costs. The current engine is simply far too expensive. From the technology side, it’s a fantastic engine, it’s extraordinary technology but it’s therefore also very very expensive. And the third point is the noise;  we need to bring in some music and these are the criterias and I think, regarding the parity and the costs, this is now in the hands of the people who make the regulations and if the development is restricted from the beginning onwards with very strong regulations then I think we will achieve the goals with the parity and the costs and the sound, it should be able to find a solution that the fans are happy with, the music of this new engine.

    Q: So let’s get the view of a manufacturer now? Cyril?

    CA: I feel a bit under the spotlight. I think one thing is that we cannot be stubborn, or we cannot be deaf to what obviously we’ve been constantly hearing since we introduced those new engine regulations. I think fundamentally there were very good things introduced with that new engine formula. With the previous V8s, we believe that clearly Formula One had lost contact with the direction that automotive was taking so something had to be done. Maybe we’ve been a step too far, we’ve been a bit moving from something that was a bit too old-fashioned to something that is maybe too modern, too complex, too sophisticated, too expensive. We need to be a bit careful about solutions that seem to be easy like freezing current engines because if we freeze the current engine we will freeze something that is extremely expensive and costs will not go down. Development costs for manufacturers may go down but supply costs to the teams will not go down simply because the bill for material of the engine is extremely expensive because of its sophistication. So I think that again that it seems there is a common view about the diagnosis of the current regulations and what we would need in order to build from there, without starting again from scratch, over and over again, but I think the devil will be in the detail and it’s not going to be that easy to find a solution that satisfies everyone and achieves everything, so I think it will be about prioritising and that’s where I hope that the new process in partnership between the FIA and FOM with Ross Brawn – who has a fantastic understanding of all the complexity involved – will provide a good leadership for the discussion. I think everyone agrees that there should be some element of electrification. We don’t necessarily see some road relevance or contribution to the show to an element like MGU-H, so that this orientation for the future, I think the whole debate would be on the architecture of the internal combustion engine which will be an interesting debate and some things that I guess will keep us busy for the next few months.

    Q: What would you like to see, how many cylinders?

    CA: There is what I like and there is what we need. I don’t think that Formula One can afford to turn its back on some things that are relevant to the manufacturer, given the current business model of Formula One. Formula One could completely change to a different business model and go for something that is really different  and not road-relevant but that would be a brave manoeuvre. As far as I’m concerned, I started with the sound of the V10 and that’s something that I will never forget obviously, but that’s just me. The new generation, the generation that we need to attract – because it’s not just about the current fans of Formula One, we also need to think about the fans that we do not have – those fans have never heard the sound of a V10 and maybe for those fans, getting back to a V10 or V8, is not so relevant. So it’s a complex debate and an interesting debate and I hope it’s going to be done in a constructive and also documented manner and again that’s where I believe all the surveys that are going on, all that will also go on in the course of this year will be instructive for the direction that we need to take.

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

    2017 Chinese Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference – Part 2

    PART TWO: DRIVERS – Antonio GIOVINAZZI (SAUBER), Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (FERRARI), Carlos SAINZ (TORO ROSSO)

    Q: Kimi, let’s start with you… you finished fourth in Melbourne despite a few handling problems during the race. How confident are you of challenging at the front this weekend?

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Well, I think we learned a lot, we understand quite a bit and kind of everything came a bit late. And obviously then you don’t get a very good result. I mean comparing to the last few years it was far from a disaster. Yes, we had some difficulties and we know afterwards that we could have been much faster but still, as a team, we did a pretty solid job and yeah, we got some points – but new place, new circuit, so we’ll see.

    Q: Sebastian said a moment ago that he thinks Mercedes are still favourites coming into this weekend. Is that how you see it – or will the rain mix things up?

    KR: I don’t know who it will be. We haven’t driven a single lap with the new cars here, so who knows. I think we have had a pretty good package, and feeling with the car whichever place we’ve been but it’s pointless to start guessing who’s going to be in front, who’s not. We will see over the weekend and Sunday we’ll hopefully be a little bit smarter.

    Q: You haven’t driven the new cars here but you have driven yours in the wet when the track was artificially watered in the Barcelona test. How was it then?

    KR: It wasn’t like proper wet. It’s always hard to make the same conditions if it’s raining outside like it is now or just dumping water on the circuit, so it’s a bit tricky to get the best idea. Plus we have different tyres here for the wet. It’s a bit unknown but the same for everybody. Usually if the car is good on try it’s not too bad in the wet either. We have to wait and see but I think in any condition we should be OK.

    Q: Antonio, congratulations on a tremendous first grand prix in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago. How do you reflect on it now?

    Antonio GIOVINAZZI: Thank you. It was a special weekend. It was my first F1 grand prix. Dream came true. Since I was a kid the dream was to arrive in F1 and to drive there was a fantastic experience, fantastic weekend. It was a quite late call on Saturday morning but I really enjoyed everything I did from FP3 to quali to race. So, I will never forget – and to be here already, to start from FP1 will be more easy. And also to have the experience from Melbourne will make everything a lot more easy. It will be a different race weekend though. The weather also looks difficult. So, it will be maybe wet and also to have some experience in the wet conditions will be good. What I can do is to do my best and hope the result can be good like Melbourne.

    Q: What’s your deal with the Sauber team, how many races are you going to do for them?

    AG: I’m the third driver of Ferrari. Now we just think race-by-race. I had the call here on Tuesday and I’m here to race for Sauber but already from next week I will be back in red with the Scuderia Ferrari – but then we will see in the future.

    Q: So no news on Bahrain yet?

    AG: Not yet.

    Q: Physically, how tough was the Australian Grand Prix for you?

    AG: Of course I keep training in the winter so I arrive there quite prepared. To be honest at the end of the race was not easy but I expected it to be more difficult. Here I think it will be a little bit tough because the track has a lot longer corners so for the neck it will be not easy – but I was training last week and hope to also be OK here.

    Q: Carlos, a good result for Toro Rosso in Melbourne; both cars in the points, yourself eighth. How confident are you of maintaining that form going forward?

    Carlos SAINZ: Yeah, I think it was a really good weekend for the team after a very tough winter. I think we were the team to only just do more laps than McLaren so it was also an extremely tough winter in Barcelona for us and to turn up to the first race and put both cars in the points, and in Q3, was a success, definitely, so it just shows that the car has a lot of potential and that we can only get better from here. Shanghai will be a bit tougher because it has a bit of a longer straight than Melbourne but I think we can be happy with the first race and we can start from there.

    Q: Can you give us your thoughts on the current Renault engine and how it compares to the two-year old Ferrari that the team used last year?

    CS: Well, for me it feels great because last year was very painful and all the second half of the season we were something like 15-16-17kph down on the straight compared to our direct competitors. Suddenly, to start the first race and to see yourself 7-8kph back, even six or five in some cases was really good news and something grateful to experience but definitely, as you can see, we are still one step behind the leaders in that regard, or the best engines in that regard, so I have the trust that Renault are working hard on that upgrade package coming to Canada and that can give us the extra 3,4,5 kph that can put us back in a normal, standard top speed deficit.

    Q: Kimi, coming back to you, a lot has been made of the physicality of this new breed of Formula One car; how does it compare to the cars that you drove in the mid-noughties, 2005, 2004? Are they more physical than back then?

    KR: It’s very hard to compare. It’s a long time ago, I suppose. It depends a lot on the different circuits, conditions and everything and how the tyres will last and obviously these last better and you can push more. I think the key point is that as we do more running, more racing, we get used to it and it’s not a big deal but at the start of the year, when you do the first test, it’s a bit of a surprise but that’s how it usually is after the winter. At least in Melbourne it didn’t feel any different but it’s amazing how quickly you get used to all the things and it feels absolutely normal. I’m sure somewhere it will be more harder than last year but that’s how it is.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) To Antonio Giovinazzi: do you think if you score a point this weekend it would change your career?

    AG: It’s a good question. Of course it would change but it will be important for me, for my mind. Of course the result we also had in Melbourne, P12, was a good result and yeah, to improve the result from Melbourne is to take… to score a point will be difficult but I will try my best and score a point.

    Q: (Keren Wang – Top Driver) Antonio, how would you describe your driving style?

    AG: My driving style? I don’t know. I’m quite calm, I think, normal driving style. My strong part, I think, in GP2 was – in the race – to save the tyres. In Melbourne, I didn’t have much experience so maybe I was too slow in the beginning of the race but of course here I will improve, to already have FP1 and FP2 will be good to see how is the degradation, to have a feeling with the car so I hope I can do a better job in the race here.

    Q: (Michael Lamonato – Class Act Media) To all three of you: there’s a lot being made about the difficulty of overtaking this season. There was maybe only a handful of passing manoeuvres in Australia. Do you think the new regulations will make attempting an overtake maybe a bit more of a braver thing; will you have to put more on the line now to pass a car and will that contribute to the spectacle of racing?

    KR: Every circuit is different, obviously. Melbourne has always been difficult to overtake and of course when you maybe have the fastest car and the slowest car you get round it very easily but I think in China here, usually overtaking is easier so I think we have to wait and see how it is here and then see if it’s harder or less easy than we expected but I think when you have two fast cars against each other, it doesn’t matter if it’s last year or this year, it’s always going to be hard to get past. The other factor is that there is less tyre drop-off so obviously after the pit stops there is a much smaller difference between the speed of the cars because of that so there are all those things which in the end make a difference.

    CS: I think it’s definitely a bit more difficult compared to last year but I think it’s a price that is worth paying for, having these cars which are a lot faster and these tyres that are allowing you to push a lot more. At least, myself I have been doing a lot more on the race but also if you would put one-stop races last year, I don’t think you would have seen many overtakings so I think it’s more dependent on pit stops than on the cars of this year.

    Q: Antonio, how much harder is it to overtake in Formula One compared to GP2?

    AG: To be honest it’s quite different, you know. In GP2 we all have similar cars, only one strategy, only one pit stop so I think GP2 was a good category for overtaking but to be honest I think here in Shanghai with the longer straight it will be easier than in Melbourne but to be honest, I didn’t have much experience compared to last year so what I say is not much to take into account so GP2 was good, F1 I don’t have much experience of so after this race I can tell you better.

    Q: (Veljko Jukic – Auto Focus) Kimi, when we look at a race today, how of your concentration is spent on taking care of tyres, on fuel consumption and on pure racing?

    KR: Obviously it depends a lot on the conditions and the circuit that we’re on. Some circuits you have to do some fuel saving, some not at all. Obviously it is a big part of those races and it’s the same with the tyres, some circuits are much better for tyres that they don’t degrade so much. You can’t really say that every place is the same. Each place is a special place and it’s different to the previous race and the next race so some days you can go full out for the whole race, some you have to take care of things or maybe if you have an issue then obviously that creates another story. So to really go full out is not an awful lot during the year, it is not often for the whole race. It’s a nice feeling for all of us, I think, when we can really go full speed all the time and not really worry about tyres or fuel, just try and race against it.

    Q: (Veljko Jukic – Auto Focus) Do you have to take care of fuel consumption?

    KR: Sometimes, it depends on the circuit, obviously. I think it’s the same for all the cars. Between the engines and the cars there’s small differences but I’m sure the places that we have to fuel save the others will also, it’s the same for them.

    Q: (Andreas Haupt – Auto Motor und Sport) Antonio, did you set yourself any specific goals, targets for this weekend? For example, beating Marcus or is it just about relaxing for you?

    AG: Just as you say, maybe relaxing and enjoying of course and getting more experience. After one race is not enough to set a target so I need to just drive and take experience and do my best and then we will see the results on Sunday.

    Q: (Marc Surer – Sky Germany) Kimi, in Barcelona you seemed to do easily the fastest time. It didn’t work out in Melbourne in the race. Are this year’s cars more difficult to set up?

    KR: In the race I did fastest lap. It was only one lap and I was a bit light but… No, I don’t think it’s any more difficult to set up this year than any other year but I don’t also think it’s ever going to be easy to find the best set-up. Sometimes you might end up when you go on a new circuit that just happens to be right and you just fine-tune it a little bit but for many different small reasons we never really got it right and it just makes a big difference, at least on circuits like Melbourne, the corners that there are. If it’s not right you’re going to give an awful lot of lap time. That was really the end story. Obviously with big enough understeer you have a little bit more unknown stories from testing still, you never have time to do everything plus you do testing in one place so you kind of end up being in a similar area with the car all testing long, so going to a new place you have to be much more and obviously they are much more experienced now and I think it should be fine now.

    Q: (Michael Lamonato – Class Act Media) Antonio, it’s rare for a reserve driver to get a racing opportunity. How are you approaching this race compared to the last race in the sense that… are you treating it like a CV for a race drive next year or is it really just about you filling in the race seat and getting the job done for Sauber?

    AG: Yeah, I’m the third driver of Ferrari. Now I’m back here in China. Of course I have more time to prepare for the race so already from FP1 compared to Melbourne and yeah, I just need to take experience, do a lot of laps and of course about next year, this year is still too early to speak. I’m really glad to drive here so I need to say thanks to Scuderia Ferrari and Sauber for this opportunity and I need to just drive and gain experience.

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

    2017 Chinese Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference – Part 1

    PART ONE: DRIVERS – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari), Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing), Nico HULKENBERG (Renault)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Sebastian, if we could start with you. Many congratulations on that win in Melbourne. You’re now leading the championship for the first time since 2013. Just describe what that win meant to you and the reception you got when you went back to Maranello?

    Sebastian VETTEL: I think of the entire team, I think it was a great weekend, including myself obviously. With the new generation of cars, generally first race of the season with a new car, always a lot of work that goes into the whole project and it’s the best way to kick off the season. The day was very special; the fans in Melbourne, the reception there was incredible. Also for everyone back in Italy, in Maranello, obviously it was great to get a little bit of reward after such a long winter, a lot of hard work, as I said, that went into the new car. When I came back to the factory people were generally very happy and motivated to push even harder, which obviously is what we need. It’s just the first race, so it doesn’t mean much, but for sure, as I said, it’s the best way to start off.

    Q: For you personally, after what was a very difficult 2016, how much of a relief is it to have a competitive car underneath you?

    SV: It wasn’t that bad last year! It wasn’t the best year we’ve had but still I think we had a decent amount of podiums. We had a lot of races where things were not going our way, but that’s how it goes sometimes. Maybe my memory is wrong, but I remember it maybe better than what people make out of it now. For sure it wasn’t the season we wanted to have and after one race it’s easy to say that this year is better than last year, but it’s only one race. As I said, it’s only the start of the season. For sure a lot of things have changed since last year. The team has evolved. I think we generally are in a much better position; people are more comfortable throughout the whole team. The work that is going in is a lot more targeted and overall we’re more confident with the way we work now and hopefully we keep up that trend to show it also on the track.

    Q: Well, can you keep up that trend this weekend? It’s a very different race track here in Shanghai than in Melbourne?

    SV: It’s a completely different it’s true. Then, the weather is completely different, just looking outside now. It’s always a grand prix full of surprises, the Chinese Grand Prix, since the day I can remember; in 2007 I think I had my first race here. I started 17th or 18th in the Toro Rosso and I finished fourth. We had the rain helping us at that time. You never know what happens around here. It’s a demanding track with the cars, the tyres in particular, but also the drivers with the conditions, so impossible to predict anything.

    Q: Of course you had the rain helping you, too, with that win in 2009 for Red Bull Racing. Thank you Sebastian. Let’s move on to Max. Let’s cast our minds back to Melbourne as well. You finished fifth, what is the mood in the camp after that result?

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Pretty similar to be honest. For sure we have to improve, but that’s how it is at the moment. We are definitely working hard to get new parts to the car as soon and try to just get the pace up a bit and be closer to the top two teams, because behind us is at the moment quite a big gap, as you could see. I think I could have done two pit stops in Melbourne and still have had the same position. We’ll see, on a normal race track here in Shanghai.

    Q: Do you expect to be closer this weekend to Ferrari and Mercedes?

    MV: I don’t know. We’ll find out.

    Q: Well, what about the gap to those two teams – how long do you think it will take to close it?

    MV: It’s a bit difficult to say really. It’s quite a big gap, but I’m quite confident that we can definitely close it in the upcoming races to within a second and then we’ll see when we get the bigger upgrades also from the engine side.

    Q: Just talk us through the positives and the negatives of this car. What are you pleased with and where do you think there needs to be more work?

    MV: Do you have an hour? No, I think we can… yeah, we can just improve the general balance. I mean, I think in qualifying everything felt pretty good but it’s just we need more load. A bit more grip, we need more power. And it’s a bit of both – you try to make an efficient car on the straights to make up for the loss of power there. Now we just have to focus on, first, getting the car in the right window and then hopefully we get the right upgrades from the engine side as well.

    Q: Nico, can you give us your thoughts on your Melbourne weekend? You finished just outside the points, were you pleased with how things went?

    Nico HULKENBERG: Not massively happy, but I think as a first weekend it was quite OK I would say. We’re not too far from the midfield. My race was quite compromised by being stuck behind the McLaren. I think otherwise it could have been quite a bit better and further up the road. So that’s the good news – that we’re not too far, the midfield pack is quite close together there. It definitely comes down to the developments each team will bring now each weekend. I think we have a solid base that we can work pretty well with and hopefully score a couple of points in the next few grands prix.

    Q: You’re racing for a works team for the first time in Formula One. What are the biggest differences you’ve noticed between Renault and you’re previous team, Force India?

    NH: It’s just a much bigger operation, more people back at base, more people involved, it feels like more power. But yeah, with a manufacturer team you have a lot more expectations as well and at some point you have to deliver. But fair enough. I think everybody in the team feels very keen and up for that challenge and just looking forward to the next couple of months and making that work.

    Q: You’re the senior driver in the team. What is your role outside of the car? Are you expected to have an influence over the general direction of staff movements, things like that?

    NH: I don’t think staff movements so much. But if they ask my opinion I’m happy to give my opinion! I think the two drivers are the guys that drive the cars and need to explain and identify the problems and the issues with the cars and give directions to the engineers and the people back at the factory to develop as fast and efficiently as possible. I think that’s where the role comes down to and, yeah, obviously perform on the track.

    Q: Before we open it up to the floor, a question to all three of your, but let’s start with Sebastian. A lot was made about he physicality of this new generation of cars, how did you find the opening race of the season in Melbourne, physically?

    SV: Tougher than last year.

    Can you elaborate any more on that?

    SV: Well, we’re going faster but if you look compared to 10 years ago, you mustn’t forget that we have a lot more fuel in the car. We are on the tyres for longer, providing they last, and in general the cars are heavier. If you talk about load and high-speed corners they are the fastest cars we’ve ever had. I think for more or less all of us the step from last year has been quite big. Melbourne historically hasn’t been the most physical track, so I’m sure there will be tracks that will be more physical, but it’s been tougher than last year.

    Thank you. Max, do you have anything to add on the physicality of the cars?

    MV: Sebastian is travelling a second a lap faster every lap, so for sure it’s a bit more physical. But it was actually alright. I trained quite a bit more in the off-season period. For me it felt pretty similar to last year but I’m still getting older and stronger just by myself. It was alright. I didn’t have a drinks bottle as well, so it was all good.

    Nico?

    NH: I think the first couple of grands prix aren’t the most physical, but ask us again after Singapore. I’m sure you’ll see a few drivers pretty knackered after that?

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Frédéric Ferret – L’Equipe) A question to all three drivers. Do you remember the first point you scored in Formula One and was it important for your career?

    SV: Yeah, I remember, I was physically pretty knackered! I was completely destroyed after the race. So I remember, the first race I did in the United States, which obviously came by surprise, with Robert Kubica’s accident the week before and then the fact that he couldn’t drive. For me it was obviously the step into Formula One, because with that one race I was able to show whatever, what was necessary to get another chance, with Toro Rosso for the remainder of the year so it was very crucial.

    Max?

    MV: Yeah it’s not that long ago is it? It was alright. I think it was quite a good race…

    Just remind everyone where that was?

    MV: Malaysia it was, 2015. There were quite a lot of issues at the end of the race, I remember, with the parts, but we managed to bring it home. So yeah, happy to finish in the points and it was just a good race and probably good for the future as well.

    And Nico?

    NH: Yeah, I think it was also Malaysia for me, second or third grand prix, in 2010. It’s just nice. It’s something you want to tick, to quickly get off your chest, you’ve done it and points are always good for your team.

    Q: (Keren Wang – Top Driver) Max, you did a stunning wet race last year in Brazil, and considering the weather, it’s supposed to be raining on Sunday, so do you think you will be able to do that again?

    MV: To be honest, I don’t know. I think last year our package also in the dry was a bit better, a bit more competitive. Also, you need the grip from the car in the wet to do a good job. We’ll find out. It’s always nice to drive in the wet.

    Q: (Luiny Kong – Motorsport.com) A question to Nico. It’s highly possible for it to rain on Sunday, so do you think it’s a chance for you to gain a better position?

    NH: Yeah, it can be, but it can also go against yourself. You obviously have to stay on the track first. It can be quite tricky with some rivers here in the wet. You have to be cautious, but generally I’m a fan of wet running. It offers more opportunity, you can make a bigger difference as a driver, and it’s more fun, it’s more challenging, so I wouldn’t mind it.

    Q: (Kate Walker – New York Times): Earlier this year Jacques Villeneuve that said F1 had ‘lost its way’ when it first started talking to fans and asking what they wanted, but we’ve seen with Liberty the new owners are very keen on fan engagement and we’re seeing an increase in the number of fan surveys. To what extent do you think F1 needs to listen to the fans?

    SV: It’s a difficult one. I’m maybe very old-school on many things, and I think that some things we shouldn’t change. The way people look at it now after one race, after a couple of races, they would like to see a change, but I think it’s wrong to change too much. I think it’s important to keep a certain framework consistent throughout time, so I think every now and then it’s important to listen to people, but I think with surveys it’s always difficult to get a very clear picture. I think too much change, equally, is wrong. Just to give an example, when there was talk about the race format, I think it would be quite bad to get rid of one race, one grand prix – I think it would take away the highlight of the weekend by putting two races, for example, or to make the race shorter because they say it’s too boring and lasts too long. I think that’s the grand prix: that’s how it’s always been. It’s been even longer in the past, if you look a long way back, and it should remain a challenge. Making it shorter, more exciting, whatever, I think it’s not a grand prix any more. So to give you an answer, I’m a bit sceptical to have change for the sake of change.

    Nico, how about you and Formula One’s relationship with the fans.

    NH: I think it’s definitely good and important to listen to what they have to say, and how they see the sport from the outside – I think it’s definitely good to have that. I think not everything that fans may wish for is realistic and possible, but I think it’s important to find the right balance there. We all want to race hard, it must be a good show and be entertaining, so I think the balance must be right.

    Max, anything to add?

    MV: To be honest, I think it’s always good to get different opinions. It’s a good thing to also listen to fans, of course. I think one thing I miss a bit is of course the engine noise – I think when you were a little kid and you were standing next to the track it was something… even when they were not going 350km/h but going 310 or 320 it was still something magical when they passed, a Formula One car. And now we’re going really quick, but on the straights sometimes it doesn’t look as quick as a few years ago, when we still had the engine noise. That makes a big impression to the fans as well, and I think that there also needs to be a bit more action in terms of overtaking. As soon as you get that back into it, it doesn’t matter how fast the cars are around the lap. The engine noise takes over a lot more than having a car which is three seconds faster compared to last year.

    Q: (Jens Nagler – Bild) Question to Sebastian. Can you tell us something about the special relationship between a Formula One driver and his car? Is there a special relationship – or is it just a human and a machine?

    SV: I name my car but it’s not like I stroke her in the morning when I come in and do the same again in the evenings. I think it’s a bit of fun to give it a bit more of a relationship than just calling it ‘the car’. For sure you need to trust the car the moment you step in – for many reasons, not just to go fast. But… yeah… it’s not like I call the factory and ask how the car is doing. I’m also happy to share it with other men, so I’m not taking it that seriously.

    What is the name of this year’s car? And why is it called that?

    SV: The name is Gina. We sit down, we have a nice dinner, it’s more about the dinner than the name. But then we just decide a name. It’s a lot of fun. Gina was the outcome this year.

    Q: (Inaudible) We know you have tested the most laps last year in the Pirelli tyre test and last race your tyre management is brilliant. So, is that experience giving you better understanding for the tyres or give you more advantages compared to other drivers?

    SV: I’m not sure. I think maybe the right answer is ‘no’. But the reason why I’m generally happy to do it is because I love driving. So, when there’s an opportunity to test, even though testing can sometimes be a bit dull and boring but still, you’re driving the car and that’s much better than sitting on the bike for a couple of hours or whatever training to be fit enough to drive the car. I think that generally track time is limited so every opportunity you get. That’s personal – but I can’t understand why you would reject it and as I said, I’m happy to drive the car and I think there’s always something you learn, so for sure the days I did last year with Pirelli to help them get feedback for the tyres etc., for sure they also helped me.

    Q: Nico, your team and you didn’t do any 2017 tyre testing last year with Pirelli. Do you feel at a disadvantage compared to Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull who did?

    NH: I’m not sure, to be honest. Because obviously it was these mule cars which were not fully representative  and the tyres were also not, I believe, the exact spec that we have now. But, you know, there’s always something that you can learn, and pickup, that you can use for your advantage. But that’s in the past. It’s history.

    Q: (Daniele Sparisci – Corriere della Sera) Question to Sebastian. You score your fourth victory with Ferrari. Was it something different to the first three in 2015? And here, in China, do you expect a strong reaction from Mercedes?

    SV: I think Mercedes still has to be the favourite, obviously. We had a very, very strong first race. At least the way we look at it inside the team is to look at it race-by-race. I know, we know that we have a good package which puts us in a strong place but there’s a lot of things that…

    MV: And don’t stop too early, otherwise I’ll be driving there…

    SV: Yeah, exactly! We know there’s a lot of things that we need to do to keep up with them and keep the position that we are in now, to fight for good races. Melbourne, it was the first race of the year, with the year last year that was difficult – wasn’t a disaster from my point of view – but was difficult for all the team, I think it was nice, and that’s what everyone felt. A lot of hours going in and I think a lot of people inside the team, they invested so much time so, for sure here and there in Australia the people were maybe not as fresh as they could be because they invested so much time and spent so many nights working on the car, preparing the car, as well as in the factory. So I think it was a nice feeling to get something back. For sure the victory is always the medicine for everyone. It was good, we’ve done that, and now we move on.

    Q: (Arjan Schoutten – AD Sportwereld) Question for Max about Melbourne. You mentioned the lack of overtaking. Was that a good indicator or will this be a whole, new story here in Shanghai?

    MV: I think in general in Melbourne it’s always a bit hard to overtake. It’s just the track, the nature of it. I think last year actually in China there was a lot of action so I expect that it’s a bit better to overtake here. I think it won’t be the same like last year because the cars are going faster through the corners and we have less tyre degradation. It will be a bit more difficult but I wouldn’t say it would be like Melbourne.

    Q: (Felix Görner – RTL) Max, did you get the beer from Sebastian?

    MV: No, but it’s alright.

    SV: You’re not old enough to drink!

    MV: I’m not satisfied with water

  • 2016 Formula 1 Pirelli Chinese Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    2016 Formula 1 Pirelli Chinese Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS
    1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
    2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)
    3 – Daniil KVYAT (Red Bull)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS
    (Conducted by Kai Ebel)

    Congratulations, Nico, amazing gap, fantastic race, but just tell me why could Daniel Ricciardo pass you at the start?
    Nico ROSBERG: Ni hao, hello China. Yeah, the start was not quite good enough, Daniel got a good one. But then I had a really quick car today, so I was feeling great, I attacked him straight away and I managed to pull a great gap after that.

    Lots of action, most of them behind you, so have you been aware of what happened in your back?
    NR: No, I didn’t see anything, I had no idea. I just knew the gap and I just know that I just had to try to extend it as much as possible and I’m happy that worked out?

    I see those guys are still arguing, so coming over to you Seb. Seb, right after the start you crashed into your team-mate. Very spectacular and then you said, well, Daniil was coming out like a madman. Do you still think so?
    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, well, obviously it’s difficult to judge how it looked from his point of view, but my start wasn’t so great, so I was a bit on the back foot into turn one and then I think Kimi locked up, went a bit wide, I wanted to go on the inside to overtake him. I think Daniil was trying to do the same thing with me, but then Kimi came back and I had to sort of be in the middle. He was coming with a lot of speed into that gap. I was very surprised, so I had to steer some sort of left. At the same time Kimi was coming across and there was no way, so we made contact, which is a shame because you don’t want the same cars, same colour touching each other. In the end we were lucky – I could continue, he could continue, but surely not the best result for the team, so sorry for that. But after, it was a very entertaining race, a lot of cars that I had to overtake; it was good fun. I think the car was great this afternoon, so a big thanks to all the team, and all the Chinese fans. I think they have been fantastic once again, great support for all of us, you feel really, really special when you come here with so much attention, so Xièxie, thank you.

    Just a short word from Seb! So Dany I guess you have the right to give an answer to what happened at the start, your rocket start?
    Daniil KVYAT: Well, yeah, I mean, vice versa to Seb I had a really good start. You see the gap, you go for it on the inside, you see one car, usually it’s hard to see both cars… yeah, it was a risky move of course, I agree with Seb, but these kind of moves can bring you a podium, so I’m on the podium, he’s on the podium, it’s fine. I will keep on risking like this and everyone should expect that!

    At least you can shake your hand again together, that’s good news? So Seb, in Formula One everyone is talking about aerodynamics, then you lost almost your full front wing, but why didn’t you change when you pitted later on, why didn’t change the front wing again then?
    SV: We did.

    No, no, but you later carried on with a front wing which was damaged?
    SV: As far as I remember, obviously the safety car came, I wanted to see how bad it is. I can see now the front wing is damaged…

    I told you.
    SV: Maybe I damaged it later on again.

    With Bottas, exactly.
    SV: OK, so I didn’t even see that, which didn’t help. But I had, when I made contact with Kimi I felt that the car wasn’t 100% and then we changed the nose in the first stop and then I damaged it obviously again, which I didn’t see! Yeah, but it was still OK, the pace looked alright, so overall a great recovery.

    OK, right, now you know Seb. So coming back to the winner again. Nico, I know after Mexico you had a fantastic party on a plane, so they almost kicked you out of the plane for partying, so what kind of party you will have tonight on the flight back home to Germany.
    NR: We’re going to party now in the garage. That’s going to great fun, because everybody in the team deserves it so much and then straight back home to my family, can’t wait to see them.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Nico, that’s your second career win in China, 17 career wins, sixth win in a row, third win this season. How long can it continue?
    NR: I’m happy with today, of course, it was a great weekend for me here in China. It’s a special place for me, first pole, first win here. It’s great and it really was a pleasure to drive today out there. Seldom had such a great feeling out there. And everything worked out well, the strategy and everything. The tyres held up pretty well, so I’m really pleased.

    Q: You were on the radio complimenting the team on the balance you had. You were 37s ahead at the end of the race, it looked like it was a controlled race after the start. You had a little bit of an issue there.
    NR: Yeah, the start, it wasn’t too bad, my start, but Daniel got an even better one – but then I was a lot quicker and especially him on a supersoft when his tyres started to degrade and I could just fly past him. I didn’t expect it to be that easy. [Vettel interjects] Oh, he had something at the beginning? And then after that I was just pushing to try to get the best gap possible and I’m glad that it worked out so well.

    Q: Sebastian, obviously you had your issues at the start of the race which you talked about on the podium – but after that it was a terrific recovery to come back through the pack. Maybe talk us through how difficult it was given that you had shipped some damage.
    SV: Well I was obviously disappointed that I made contact in lap one. Lucky that the car was still intact. I was reporting to the team, initially I thought I had to box straight away but it was actually OK. The steering wheel was a little bit off-centre, so had a bit of damage all through the race. It was actually more difficult in left-handers than right-handers. Fortunately there’s more right-handers here. If it was the other way around could have been a bit more difficult but yeah, I think the Safety Car helped. Then we had a different strategy to most people with the supersoft tyre which helped me to clear the traffic and make good progress – which was fun. A lot of cars. I didn’t count but it felt like a lot! They just kept coming – but we managed to clear them, which was obviously essential. Then with Daniil in the end, the last car to pass was a bit more tricky. He was quite good at the end of the stint with his soft tyres but then we knew that he would pit to a medium tyre and we still had a new set of softs. So we tried to be as close as possible, which worked. I was gaining a bit on the way into the pits, then on the outlap able to jump him, which was obviously important to get P2. So yeah, incredible recovery, which at that point, when you make contact in Turn One, you know things cross your mind, thatit might just all be lost from here and the race just has just started – but very, very happy with the recovery. Good that we had both cars as well in the finish. Obviously terribly sorry for Kimi but there wasn’t anything I could have done differently. I was a bit in the sandwich of Kimi on the left and Daniil on the right. Bit unfortunately but afterwards was good fun. I think the car was good today and P2 was probably the maximum. So, very glad it worked out and the strategy for tonight, I think I had to work a little bit harder than Nico, so I think he has to drink the double amount compared to me and maybe I get him at the bar.

    Q: Dany, coming to you, your first podium since Hungary last year, it comes just before your home race, how encouraging is it for you to set the pace you set today?
    DK: Well, first of all it feels excellent to finish on the podium. After Hungary it felt like a quite long time. So yeah, you always want to see the result and today it confirmed itself. Yeah, the start went well, corner one, corner two was a bit risky obviously. In the end we can talk about it forever but it paid off and I’m on the podium so it feels good. The race itself was quite controlled. Obviously I think our main competitor through the whole race was Sebastian. I think he made an excellent recovery. We probably missed out a little bit not having a soft tyre in the end for the last stint and on the medium we couldn’t really resist for too long to him. And yeah, he overtook us. But all in all, it was a very encouraging weekend. We are consistently third-fastest team on the track and I think with a bit of development in the future we can give a fight to these guys even a bit more. It’s all looking quite promising for the future.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Bernard Bernke – Bild) Seb, you overtook two cars on the way to the pits, that looked like a close one. Could you tell us what exactly happened there?
    SV: I’m allowed to overtake so I don’t know what happened to Force India, I don’t know who it was. It was very slow and the Toro Rosso decided to queue so I decided to go halfway over the grass and jump both of them. Obviously we had to change the nose so we lost the positions again but we’re free to race in the pit entry. It looks like I was the only one to remember, which was good.

    Q: (Keren Wang – Top Driver) Seb, obviously you didn’t realise the damage on the front wing after contact with Bottas, but did it even have a little effect on the balance of the car?
    SV: I think it did. It’s not ideal when bits are missing but it wasn’t huge, to be honest, plus the fact that the car was sort of damaged from lap one, it was a little bit difficult to distinguish but I think the fact that it was alright, also for looking alright in terms of the numbers, the team decided to keep the nose and keep going. I was very aggressive, I think I damaged it into turn three. I thought I was just OK but obviously I was surprised when Kai mentioned on the podium that my front wing was damaged. I looked down and I was a bit surprised myself. I think, in the end, with the contact I had in turn one or two I was very lucky to be able to continue anyway. It was a big hit with Kimi and as I said, the steering wheel was a little bit off-centre for the whole race. I got used to it but surely not ideal.

    Q: (Vincent Willtet – Host) I was wondering, what can you learn from this race, going forward and what do you plan on improving for the next races?
    DK: Like I said before, overall it was quite an encouraging race. I thought we were close in our pace to Ferrari; through the race we were challenging them but we had to fit medium which is the stiffer compound compared to soft. When we both were on the soft, I think our pace was very similar and obviously Mercedes is still a bit of a step ahead but with the developments in the future races, probably around Canada, I think we can make a bit of a step forward. In some circumstances, I think we can be quite a big challenge to them and today, after the contact at turn one my car was also quite damaged. I don’t know at the moment how much, I still haven’t spoken to the team but there was a side pod damaged and I could see some pieces flying away. I still have to discover how much it was but all in all today the race was promising and we are on the right way.
    NR: What we take away is that we are still the quickest car out there at the moment but I think Ferrari really haven’t shown what they can do yet. They have had so many issues in the first three races so we need to keep on it and keep pushing because I think they are much closer than they have shown but we will push and I’m looking forward to the next races and I think we’re going to go well there as well.
    Q: Is that what you take away from these first three races?
    SV: Yeah, definitely. I think obviously I only had two races and the two races I had were OK. Obviously there was a chance to win in Australia, we didn’t take it, fair enough but obviously today, with a bit of luck, a strong recovery for both cars after what happened on the first lap, so overall not the smoothest road to Russia. Hopefully we had a more solid weekend there. Last year the car felt pretty good, I think we made a step forward with the whole car and power unit so quite confident for Russia, a couple of bits coming so it should be a bit stronger and hopefully we will have a smooth weekend.

    Q: (Oleg Karpov – motorsport.com)  Dany, are you confident you could have managed to keep Seb behind if you had had another set of softs?
    DK: Obviously when we were both on soft tyres it all felt quite controlled. We obviously had very similar pace, I thought, but I was controlling him and obviously it was quite close but then once we pitted for mediums and Seb had softs, obviously, I could straight away feel him on my gearbox and he managed to pass me quite easily on the straight with DRS and then it was hard to keep up, even though we thought maybe we had a chance at the end with a bit better degradation but we didn’t so probably having another (set of) softs would have helped us but all those are ifs and buts – however he’s P2 and I’m P3.

    Q: (Oleg Karpov – motorsport.com) Seb, were you cautious before the last pit stop, were you not giving your maximum given that you knew that he would have to go for medium tyres?
    SV: We sort of guessed that he had a set of mediums on hand and not a set of softs. I was probably expecting him to jump into the pits a bit earlier to avoid us going for the undercut. In the end we came in on the same lap so maybe I was a little bit too close too early. A couple of laps before the stop I was actually within DRS range and then lost a little bit of contact. Obviously it’s never easy when you are following about a second( behind) so at that point lost the fronts a little bit and he was opening the gap up a little bit more and just before the stop then I was able to close in again a little bit but obviously we came in at the same time and it was a race in the pit lane and a race for the different crews which was quite fun and then I knew that I had the advantage on tyre warm-up and performance, especially on the first lap so I went for it as hard as I could and it paid off. I knew that afterwards it gets a little bit more tricky to just follow him, even though the tyres were quicker. Once I was ahead I just tried to control the gap until the end.

    Q: (Alwin Chew – China Daily) Many people have said in recent years that there’s a lack of a buzz for the Chinese Grand Prix. Can I just find out from the drivers what did you think of the crowd turn-out today, the general atmosphere and how do you find the Chinese fans?
    NR: The grandstand was full today so that’s great to see and every driver has their section, you know, which is a good fun and I can also tell you that the lobby of the hotel is completely packed every evening and every morning, so I think the enthusiasm here for our sport is really great and I’m happy to see how all of you Chinese fans are so excited that we’re here to race and to watch us race here.
    SV: Fairly simple: I would say best fans in the world, great to see full grandstands. I think it’s a massive honour to stand on the pit straight or the main straight when we’re about to start the race, looking left and seeing so many people being excited, so many German flags for myself, for Nico, for the other German drivers and generally the enthusiasm is great. It’s fantastic to see that people enjoy what we are doing so much. It makes us feel very very special. It’s a great pleasure to come every year. I think I’ve been coming for eleven years now and I think it’s just getting better so a big big thank you. I think it’s a massive privilege and it’s the days that you remember one day when you retire. I hope that I won’t retire too soon but I think stuff like that when you come back and people screaming and just smiling at you I think is really what you take beyond apart from the silverware which  is nice but it’s really the emotions and the enthusiasm that people transfer onto you, the positiveness, the smiles, so a big big thank you to the fans and already looking forward to coming back next year.
    DK: Well obviously I back up what these guys said. China has always been very passionate fans. As a track it offers good opportunities for racing. The weather can sometimes be unpredictable which makes it a bit more unpredictable and yeah, these kind of things make racing exciting. Today we saw those combinations on the first laps of the corners… there are so many trajectories to be taken which can offer great racing. The fans are always there supporting you which feels really great.

    Q: (Haoran Zhou – Top Driver) Nico, is this the best start you’ve ever had in any of your Grand Prix seasons and do you think you are at the peak of your career at the moment?
    NR: Well, it’s too early to make any summaries, you know? It’s three races now and they’ve gone really well for me but it’s the longest season in F1 history with 21 races so that’s 18 to go or whatever it is. It would not make sense to make any premature conclusions if the start was good or bad, let’s wait and see. Of course I’m happy with the way it’s gone and I’m feeling good and the car’s there but I don’t want to say more than that. Let’s see. Of course Lewis is not many points behind, I don’t know, something like 30 points, that’s not much, that’s a race and a bit and he’s as focused and motivated as ever. He will never give up and he’s the benchmark, he’s been the benchmark for the last years so the battle is going to be a big battle as always.