Tag: daniel ricciardo

Grid Drops for Both McLaren Drivers

The McLaren F1 team face a difficult Austrian Grand Prix after confirming that both their drivers will incur grid penalties.

It was announced on Friday that Fernando Alonso will incur a 20-place grid drop for replacing an engine, a turbo charger and a MGU-H.

During a rain hit Free Practice 3 on Saturday , Alonso came to a stop on the pit straight. It later emerged that he suffered from a gearbox problem and that his gearbox needed to be replaced. This means that Alonso will incur a further 5-place grid penalty for the gearbox change which makes it a 25-place grid drop in total.

On Saturday morning McLaren confirmed a complete power unit change for Jenson Button. This would mean a 25 place grid drop for the Briton.

With McLaren not qualifying very high on the grid there is a high probability that neither of their drivers will be able to completely serve their grip drop penalties. This will mean that the stewards, at their discretion, convey a time penalty. The time penalties are applied based on the number of places a driver will drop after qualifying.

If a driver drops 4 places or less, he will incur a 10 second stop-and-go penalty. A 1-5 place drop or less will get the driver a 5 second stop-and-go or a 5 second post race time penalty. For a driver that drops between 6-10 places it will be a 10 second stop-and-go or a 10 second time penalty after the race. A drop of less than 11-20 places is a drive through or 20 second penalty after the race. The big one is if a driver drops less than 20 places. He will then incur a 10 second stop-and-go or a 30 second time penalty after the race.

This is a bit confusing but for example, if Button or Alonso qualify in P18, after their grip drop penalty is applied, Alonso would still need to drop 18 more places which means he will incur a drive through penalty during the race or a 20 second stop and go. It is likely that both drivers will get drive through penalties for the race.

Else where on the grid, both Red Bull’s of Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat will drop 10 places due to engine changes.

June 20, 2015
2015 Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

DRIVERS:

Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

Fernando ALONSO (McLaren)

Carlos SAINZ (Toro Rosso)

Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

Nico HULKENBERG (Force India)

Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

PRESS CONFERENCE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

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

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

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

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

Seb?

SV: Nothing to add.

Nico?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Daniel?

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

Nico, have you considered racing at Le Mans?

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

And you Seb?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FA: Same.

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

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

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

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

NH: Not much more to add.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

June 18, 2015
F1 2015: Canadian GP Review – Mercedes Dominate In Montreal

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

June 9, 2015
2014 Formula One Canadian Grand Prix Race Edit

Relive the thrills and action of the 2014 Formula One Canadian Grand Prix with the official race edit of last season’s race. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo claimed his first F1 victory after an action packed race at the Canadian Grand Prix in 2014. Both Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton suffered technical problems, and Felipe Massa and Sergio Perez were involved in a heavy crash with only one lap to go, while Jenson Button’s late surge earned him a brilliant fourth for McLaren.

June 5, 2015
F1 2015: Monaco GP Review – Mercedes Bungle Monaco

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

May 25, 2015
Raikkonen believes Ricciardo should “obviously” have been penalised

Never one to mince his words, Kimi Raikkonen has said that he believes Daniel Ricciardo should have been penalised for his move to take fifth position nearer the end of the 2015 F1 Monaco Grand Prix.

Ricciardo, on fresh tyres, attacked Raikkonen after a safety car period and passed the Finn on the inside at Mirabeau. Ricciardo made contact with the Ferrari and pushed Raikkonen wide to take the position off the Finn – a move which Raikkonen feels the Australian F1 driver should have penalised for.

“It’s not very clear what you are allowed to do because sometimes you get a penalty for gaining advantage and other times you don’t,” he said. “There is usually a penalty for this kind of thing but this time there was not. In my mind it was pretty obvious, but the stewards think different.”

And that’s about as much as you’ll hear from the Iceman about that.

Speaking about his pace and Ferrari’s current position, Raikkonen said that the key to better results would be to qualify higher up the grid.

“Obviously we have to go away and think as something wasn’t right in qualifying yesterday. Get the car working as best as we can and gain some places. Hopefully for the rest of the year we can do that and make the race a whole lot easier. On Sundays we seem to have the speed but starting in bad positions doesn’t help.”

May 25, 2015
Hamilton doubles up on the dominance in Monaco practice

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton served up a double dose of dominance in today’s free practice sessions ahead of qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix.

Hamilton set the pace early on in the first practice session at Monaco with an impressive run, finishing the session 0.149 seconds quicker than – and outshone only by – Toro Rosso rookie Max Verstappen, the clear star of the FP1 show.

Verstappen, who is not even old enough to rent a car – let alone drive one unsupervised on public roads, put in a magnificent performance. Young Max, son of former Formula One driver Jos Verstappen, had never raced around the tight, twisty and very unforgiving street circuit before and team principal Franz Tost was mightily impressed.

“He went out in the morning and from run to run he improved his lap time without making any mistake. No locking, nothing. His car control and his feedback during the run was really extraordinary,” he said.

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner was just as impressed. “I thought it was super. For a guy that can’t rent a hire car yet, it’s enormously impressive, at 17 years of age.

“I think the two Toro Rosso drivers actually have done a wonderful job this year,” he added. “I think it’s one of the positive stories in Formula One at the moment, those two young rookies that Red Bull have given a chance.

“They’re here on merit and it shows that the junior programme is most definitely working.”

Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo placed his Red Bull in third position ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Spanish F1 driver Carlos Sainz Jr in the second Toro Rosso.

Pastor Maldonado ended the session in sixth place for Lotus, ahead of Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.

Nico Rosberg and Williams’s Felipe Massa rounded out the top 10, just ahead of the McLarens of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button.

The track was slippery, starting off a little wet from overnight rain and several drivers had incidents in which their cars sustained damage and everyone struggled with grip due to not being able to generate enough heat in their tyres.

Hamilton seemed dominant throughout though and continued FP2 right where he left off after FP1. The Mercedes driver seemed to be on his own planet as the rain stopped play for much of the second practice session. He finished 0.74 seconds faster than team mate Nico Rosberg.

Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were third and fourth in their Ferraris, ahead of Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat.

After only about 20 minutes of dry running, Roberto Merhi lost control under braking while heading into the harbour chicane and crashing into the barriers bringing out the red flag. Before the session could be restarted, the rain flushed out any ideas of running and soaked the circuit.

A few drivers did decide to head back out at the very end of the session, including a few drivers trying out Pirelli’s extreme wet tyres.

Nico Rosberg finished the session down in ninth place but Verstappen continued to impress, despite only just missing out on the sixth place on the timesheets being beaten to the position by his team mate Carlos Sainz Jr this time around.

McLaren seemed to be doing just a tad better, too – with Fernando Alonso, who is optimistic about being able to challenge for points this weekend, finishing in 7th place. Team mate Jenson Button finished 15th for the session.

There will be no practice sessions tomorrow. Please join us on Twitter @F1_Madness on Saturday morning for live coverage and chat during the third practice session, as well as qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix!

Photo Credit: Mercedes AMG F1

May 21, 2015
F1 2015: Bahrain Grand Prix – Hamilton Brilliant in Bahrain

It’s no secret that several past Bahrain Grand Prix had been a bore fest. However, since the introduction of a night race two years ago the desert circuit has come alive.

Lewis Hamilton’s dominant start to the 2015 season continued with yet another faultless victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Pole position by four tenths of a second over Sebastian Vettel was the precursor for an even more authoritative performance in Sunday’s race. Seemingly always in control, Hamilton’s latest victory is his third of the season.

Ferrari would have wished that the Bahrain Grand Prix was a few laps longer than the allotted 57. An alternative strategy had Kimi Raikkonen within three seconds of race leader Hamilton as the chequered flag beckoned. But the second step of the podium was the best result possible for a team who has once again underlined their staggering progress.

For most, the final stint of the on the softer option tyre would’ve been the headline grabber. After all, the Finn closed down a nineteen second gap and took second place from Nico Rosberg. But it was the middle stint of the Bahrain Grand Prix that defined Raikkonen’s race. While Hamilton, Rosberg and Vettel opted for the option tyre at the first stop, Raikkonen fitted the harder medium compound tyre. Logic dictates that top three should’ve been lapping at a quicker pace than Raikkonen given the off-set of tyre performance. Yet, Raikkonen delivered a stunning stint on par and occasionally quicker than those ahead of him.

Lewis Hamilton’s Bahrain Grand Prix drive was faultless and far superior to his teammate who is considered somewhat of a Bahrain-specialist whilst Kimi Raikkonen’s incredible pace on the softer tyre nearly netted him a victory.

It’s difficult to choose a driver of the day between the top two finishers but it bodes well for the rest of the season.

Sebastian Vettel endured an off-colour afternoon as several errors cost him a shot at the podium.

An off track excursion while trying to maintain his position ahead of Rosberg caused the German some front-wing damage and any chance at a podium finish.

A late-race fight with Williams’ Valtteri Bottas added some flavour to an otherwise disappointing race but the German was not able to take fourth place from the Finn.

Timing was everything as Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo crossed the line for sixth under an enormous plume of smoke as the Renault engine let go mere meters from the finish line.

The spectacular, and smoky, end of Ricciardo’s engine doesn’t bode well for the remainder of the season as the Aussie has now used his allotted four engine units.

Lotus Romain Grosjean put a fine drive for seventh ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez in eighth.

Daniil Kvyat recovered from a difficult weekend to finish ninth while Felipe Massa’s race was compromised by a clash with none other than Pastor Maldonado. The Brazilian suffered floor damage which hampered the performance of his Williams and ultimately finished tenth.

Fernando Alonso dragged the McLaren-Honda into eleventh place but it was dreadful weekend for teammate Jenson Button who suffered issues throughout. The calamity came to a head as the 2009 champion was unable to start his 100^th race for McLaren with a suspected electronic issue.

Mercedes motorsport chief Toto Wolff confirmed after the race that Hamilton and Rosberg struggled with brake issues towards the closing stages. While Rosberg blamed the brake issue for losing second place Hamilton dismissed it as “not really a problem.” Rosberg did show some fight with the two Ferrari’s but didn’t threaten Hamilton at any stage of the weekend. The difference in mentality between Rosberg and Hamilton is noteworthy.

The Spanish Grand Prix around the circuit de Catalunya is three weeks away. It is at this the point of the season that the first big upgrade packages are introduced. It could be a significant moment in the 2015 season which turns the championship fight into more than just a Mercedes show.

Photo credits:

Lewis Hamilton, Bahrain Grand Prix first place trophy: Mercedes AMG F1

Kimi Raikkonen, Bahrain Grand Prix second place trophy: Scuderia Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton, Bahrain Grand Prix winner on the podium: Mercedes AMG F1

Sebastian Vettel off the Bahrain Grand Prix track: Screenshot from SkySports F1

Daniel Ricciardo crossing Bahrain Grand Prix finish line: Screenshot from SkySports F1

April 20, 2015
2015 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

DRIVERS:

Sergio PEREZ (Force India)

Max VERSTAPPEN (Toro Rosso)

Will STEVENS (Manor)

Pastor MALDONADO (Lotus)

Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Lewis, you’re coming off the back of three straight poles to a circuit where you’ve never been in on pole position before in your career. How do you see this weekend and the battleground that is qualifying on Saturday?

Lewis HAMILTON: The same as every race. Excited for it. The team have worked very hard to try to learn from the last race and improve. Naturally, for me, as you suggested, I’ve been on the front row but I’ve not been on pole here. So naturally that’s something I want to try to change.

Now throughout Formula One history the psychological battle between title rivals has always been intense. Can you tell us a bit about how you’ve evolved your attitude that and your thinking about that as you’ve matured as a driver?

LH: It’s not really changed much. I just do my talking on the track, that’s how it’s always been since I was eight years old. And naturally you juts try to learn from decisions you take and experiences you have and hope that you get better.

So, the approach is not to get involved then?

LH: That’s not what I said. You just do your talking on the track and try to do your best. All the stuff that comes out of the car I have no particular interest in it.

OK thank you for that. Coming to you Pastor, some good battles in China last time out and breakthrough points for the team, scored by your team-mate. How do see this Lotus team evolving in 2015?

Pastor MALDONADO: To be honest we’ve been a bit unlucky in the first two races, especially for me in the first corner I’ve been hit by Nasr in Australia and I was P6 already and the same in Malaysia, I was P8 or P9, I think it was P8, and I’ve been hit by Bottas in the first corner, so the first two races have been completely compromised by the first corner, you know. Last race was actually our first race where we’ve been able to compete against the other teams, or the other teams around us. We confirm what we’ve been expecting, the pace of the car. Actually in qualifying we still maybe are not at the top of our package. We’ve been working quite hard and hopefully this weekend it should be a bit better than it was in the past three races. But actually the race pace was quite good, encouraging and we are really looking to do our best and to finally be in the points this weekend.

There’s been a Lotus in the final part of qualifying at every round this year so far but you yourself have only managed it once. Can you tell us what areas you are focusing on in particular to make sure that you get yourself into Q3?

PM: Yeah, quali is maybe the main focus for the team. We just need to try to put everything together. I think the speed is there. But normally it has been like this, even in the past, we’ve been less competitive in quali than in the race. I really expect, and we will approach different ways the qualifying to try to get 100 per cent from the car and then trying to keep the same situation or the same pace for the race.

Thank you for that. Coming to you Max: the performance in China. No points but plenty of praise worldwide for your performance there. Do you feel it’s put you on the Formula One map and what was the highlight?

Max VERSTAPPEN: Well, first of all, I was really enjoying my race. We didn’t have a great qualifying, but still I was very confident that we could do a good race because I think the car and it’s race pace is really strong, especially high speed. I had some good overtakes, I was really enjoying that. It’s also every race I’m getting more and more confident in the car. Especially in the first two race you don’t want to take too many risks and I decided in China it was time to do some overtakes and take some more risk.

Toro Rosso, apparently, have never scored a point here in Bahrain, amazingly in their ten years. This weekend that, I’m sure, will be your target, but you do have some engine issues going into this weekend. Can you give us your thoughts on how that’s going to stack up?

MV: Yeah, for sure it’s very short notice for us after China, where we had the engine issues. But we will try to do our best to deliver a good race and try to score points, because I think at the moment the car is capable of it and I’m feeling much better every race in the car. So I’m really looking forward to this race.

Sergio, coming to you, obviously 12 months ago here a very strong weekend, qualified well, in fourth, got up on the podium. Presumably it’s one of your favourite tracks. What is it about this place and you?

Sergio PEREZ: Obviously it was great, no, to remember that day. It was a fantastic day, a fantastic race for me. It was really difficult to make it onto the podium, as it was a very intense race all the way through. Generally, I have been doing well [here]. The year before I did quite well at this track, so I think I get on with the track quite nicely. Unfortunately we are not in a similar position to dream about a podium for this weekend but I think, hopefully, we can score some points and make a great improvement. I think we managed to do a good step in China, we just finished out of the points, so I hope that here we can score some points.

You have a big update coming in Austria. From what you know of it what is the target of where it’s going to put you in the pecking order?

SP: It’s difficult to say, as everyone is improving all the time and everyone is bringing upgrades. We are not the only ones who are going to bring them but we really have identified our issues with the car, our weaknesses, so in that respect it should put us a lot better. I think if we can solve the general issue of the car, the main weakness of the car, then it can be a really good step that can put us in a really good position to be a constant points scorer.

Q: Will, obviously didn’t start in Australia or Malaysia but a 15^th place finish last time out in China. Tell us about the mindset in the team and how you set goals and objectives for each race – and what they are here.

Will STEVENS: As you said, China was the first race that I did personally this year – but as far as the weekend went, I think it was a big step forwards for the team. I think it was good to get both cars to the finish for the first time this year. As the weekend went, it ran pretty smoothly. I think, looking forward to this weekend, obviously we want to finish the race with both cars again. Every time I we back in the car, especially for me, missing Malaysia, I’m getting more and more comfortable. I think the pace that I showed in China was pretty strong. We just need to keep moving forward and see where we can get to.

Q: From what you’ve seen and experienced so far, what makes you believe in this project.

WS: From where we set out, we knew the first few races were going to be difficult. The team, where they finished last year in the Constructors’, they’re in a different position now to what they were before. So I think, moving forwards for the future, we can only get better. I think moving towards the end of this year, hopefully we’ll get the new car coming in and then we can really start to make some progress.

Q: Daniel, coming to you, you’ve scored in all three races so far but not the kind of scores I imagine you were hoping for when the season started. Can you give us a window in on the mindset with things like engine duty cycles and other challenges you’re facing, and how that’s changed your expectations?

Daniel RICCIARDO: It sounded pretty good, finishing the first three in the points – but obviously we hope for more at this stage. Look, we’re trying to do what we can, that’s for sure. There is progress being made. Still, obviously, we’re wanting more each race and I obviously felt we had a better… or rather we all expected a bit more from China. I thought the weekend was going to be better for us, especially after Friday. I think we’d made real good progress. Didn’t turn out that way but here we are a week later. Obviously there’s not much, updates-wise, that can happen in a week but from myself and the team as well, we still know there’s more potential in what we’ve got for now, and I think we can definitely try to grab that this weekend.

Q: Obviously your start in China was a bit of a talking point. I think I’m right in saying that, apart from your start in Malaysia, both you and Kvyat off the line have lost places every single time in the first three races this season. Can you tell us what that’s all about.

DR: Yeah. To be honest, Melbourne wasn’t as bad as it looked. As I guess most people are aware, we had a lot of driveability issues going on in Melbourne and it wasn’t until we got the gears, and where these problems were affecting us, that’s what really hindered our performance in Melbourne – otherwise the actual launch was decent. And yeah, Malaysia wasn’t bad. Obviously it wasn’t ideal, what happened in China, and obviously after looking through everything, yeah, it was my mistake in the end. Sometime I obviously won’t let happen again. The important thing is that I’m aware why it happened and what happened and will move on from there. Definitely last year the starts weren’t the strongest on the grid. In general it’s a point that we all want to improve. I think it’s got to be better this weekend.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Kate Walker – motorsport.com) I’ve got a question for Lewis. Your weekend in Shanghai has been rather overshadowed by coverage of the podium ceremony. I don’t know if you’ve heard the comments from the grid girl who was finally contacted and said she thought the entire thing was a bit of a fuss for something that lasted one or two seconds. What are your thoughts on the podium ceremony and the media furore that has surrounded something entirely normal in motorsport?

LH: Good question. I hadn’t really heard too much about it until today. Obviously when you come into the team you get a kind of debrief of what’s happened during the week. So fortunately for me it’s not overshadowed my week. Ultimately it was a great weekend. My actions are through excitement. This is Formula One, it’s the pinnacle of motorsport, I’d just won a grand prix for the team and… I usually see it as a fun thing. I would never intend to disrespect someone or try to embarrass someone like that. So, yeah, I guess… I don’t really know the reasons why people are starting to bring those kind of things up but this is a sport that so many people love and the more we show character and fun, perhaps it reflects just how great this sport is. That’s what I try to do. I don’t really know what to say about it. It hasn’t really affected me and it’s nice to know that the lady wrote in… if it had been the other way and she’d wrote in and she was really unhappy, then perhaps there would be more concern.

Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Daniel, you said China didn’t go quite the way you thought it would. Is there just maybe some fine-tuning in the setup that you can get the car much better to your liking?

DR: I think so. I mean, there’s definitely, I believe, within the car, there’s more to be unlocked, so to speak. In terms of setup, I don’t think myself or Dany have really found a balance or setting that we’re really comfortable with. I think China took a step forward, we did start to feel more comfortable but it still obviously didn’t give us a big chunk of lap time that we thought was still in there. So, there’s still a few balance things. If we keep ironing them out we will find… I don’t think it’s a second but we are going to find a fair few tenths that will put us in that group with Williams and hopefully get us onto the back of the Ferraris. Yeah. Good race here last year. I think we had good pace. Again just optimistic for a better weekend here. Everyone’s ready to go, and obviously after my start last week I’m hanging out to get back on the grid and redeem myself.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Two questions for Lewis: the first is about management of the rear tyres. This is a hot track like Malaysia, the race is in the night. How afraid are you about the performance of Ferrari with the rear tyres? And the second one is about what Toto Wolff said about team orders. What comment can you make? If a driver says ‘too close’ they can make some unpopular decisions. I would like to have a comment from you.

LH: Regarding the tyres, still as it was in Malaysia, very much a rear-limited circuit so you have to assume that Ferrari will be very strong again, but I think we’re going to try and take, from our experience with Malaysia, we’re going to try and take a slightly different approach and hope that that helps us combat that whatever you want to call it: weakness or area in which we can improve. I feel quite confident that as a team we can rectify that issue that we had in Malaysia, but it’s still going to be tough and Ferrari have been very very competitive in the last couple of races. So I anticipate they will be very strong this weekend and our race is definitely with them.

I’m not really aware of Toto’s comments so I don’t really know anything about it. Team orders is not something we generally talk much about. It’s not our approach but ultimately our job as two drivers is to try to help the team get the best result overall and regardless of whether you’re first or second, it’s your job to try and make sure you try and secure the most points as possible for the team.

Q: (Khodr Rawi – F1Zone.net) Sergio, how do you motivate yourself coming into this weekend, knowing that the maximum you could do is to score some points while last year you had a podium here?

SP: Yes, it’s already the position that we have at the moment and only 12 months ago it was a different story but now it’s time to give our best, the same as we did those months ago. The difference is now that a great result would be to finish in the points, whereas 12 months ago a great result would be to finish on the podium. But it doesn’t really change anything. As a driver you have to be committed all the time and give your 120 per cent to your team to try to maximise the package that you have. It doesn’t really change anything. Obviously I wish to have a more competitive car with which I can show the potential that I have as a driver but it’s what it is and we will try to do our best. It doesn’t really change anything.

Q: (Ralf Bach – Sport Bild) Lewis, did you really understand what Nico meant after the race that you drove too slowly? Did you truly understand what he meant?

LH: Well, it’s something we spoke about after the race so I don’t particularly see a reason to go back into it. Obviously you know what my comments were after the race and some people have spun those words in whichever way they wanted to spin them. Yeah, we’re moving forwards and we will re-unite as a team this weekend and try to do a great job. There’s no issue between me and Nico. We saw each other this morning and everything is good. They’re going to be times when people are unhappy about some things but we’re grown-ups and we move past it.

Q: (Ralf Bach – Sport Bild) The winner of the race is normally the quickest guy on the track, that’s what I mean.

LH: But I was.

Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Lewis, if I can go even further back, to last year’s race when you and Nico had a real battle here, given the comments that have been made over the last few days, do you think he’ll be even more fired up to try and get past you this time?

LH: Well again, I don’t know what comments have been made over the last few days, I don’t read it, simply just not of interest to me, but last year we had an amazing race here, it was really fantastic, great fun, huge huge challenge both for Nico and for me and hopefully… that was the first night race here. It was honestly the best race, visibly, that I had seen here in Bahrain so it was great and I’m looking forward to that. I think with these tyres and with Ferrari in the mix, I think we could see a real special race here. On my part, I’m just going to keep doing what I do and try to… ultimately I want to improve. Last year I didn’t qualify on pole here, I’ve never been on pole here so that’s the challenge but as long as it doesn’t get in the way of the challenge of trying to win the race.

Q: (Nahed Sayouh – Autosport Middle East) Max, after this race you will go to the European season where there are tracks which you have previously raced on. Do you believe that this will help you to show more speed?

MV: To be honest I think so. You always try to do your best on every track and that’s how we are going to continue.

Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speed Sport magazines) Will, you did your first race distance in China; these guys all did race distances in testing. Do you foresee that you have a much better baseline now, starting out the weekend as far as the car is concerned?

WS: Yeah, the longest stint I did before the race was six laps. So I had to learn the race as I was going. I think the race ran pretty smoothly so for sure starting here this weekend, we’re starting off from a much better position so I think as a team we can only progress and keep moving forward.

April 16, 2015
F1 2015 Bahrain GP Drivers Press Conference Part 2

Part 2 of the F1 2015 Bahrain GP Drivers Press Conference held on Thursday before this weekend’s Bahrain GP. Drivers attending the Bahrain GP drivers press conference were: Lewis Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo, Pastor Maldonado, Max Verstappen, Will Stevens and Sergio Perez.

April 16, 2015