Part 1 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.
Tag: daniel ricciardo
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Daniel Ricciardo Wins Laureus Breakthrough Award
Australian Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo has won the Laureus breakthrough of the year award.
The 25 year-old Ricciardo joined the Red Bull Racing team in 2014 and racked up three impressive victories and five podium finishes in a season otherwise dominated by Mercedes. Despite not being able to attend the prestigious awards ceremony in Shanghai Ricciardo graciously accepted the award via a pre-recorded video message.
“2014 is a year I’ll remember for a long time – it was definitely a breakthrough in my mind as well,” he said. Standing on the top step of the podium a few times was icing on the cake.”
Ricciardo is the first Australian in five years to win a Laureus Sports award.
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Hamilton holds the lead in second practice
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton continued to set the pace during Friday’s practice sessions for the Chinese Grand Prix as he ended the second practice session almost half a second faster than Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
Hamilton posted a time of 1:37.219 during the low-fuel runs on Option tyres finishing 0.443s ahead of Raikkonen. The Finn’s performance on the soft tyres was very impressive and long run pace on the Prime tyres was also right up there with Mercedes. The stage certainly seems set for an epic battle this weekend.
Red Bull’s struggles continued with Daniel Ricciardo only making it out of the garage at the 45 minute mark, but the Australian driver managed to post the third fastest time of the session – just over a second down on Hamilton’s time.
His team mate, Daniil Kvyat posted the sixth fastest time but his session came to an early end in the barriers after he suffered a brake failure. He had left the pits with a brake problem and Red Bull called him back to the garage informing him to slowly make his way back, but he headed into the gravel at the hairpin, into the barrier and damaged his front wing.
Sebastian Vettel spun off early in on in the session but recovered to finish fourth fastest, with Nico Rosberg managing fifth after running wide at the final corner on his hot lap.
Valtteri Bottas finished seventh for Williams and Sauber’s Felipe Nasr was eighth.
After sitting out the first practice session, Romain Grosjean headed out to finish ninth and Jenson Button rounded out the Top 10 in his McLaren. The McLaren team have made some definite improvements with Button only about 0.4 seconds off Grosjean’s pace on the soft tyres.
Pastor Maldonado was fastest through the speed trap but finished only 11th fastest, ahead of Fernando Alonso, Marcus Ericsson and the Toro Rosso youngsters Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jr.
Nico Hulkenberg placed his Force India in 16th, ahead of Felipe Massa.The Brazilian driver’s session also ended early when he locked his rear tyres under braking at the hairpin and spinning off into the barriers – also damaging his front wing. His spin brought out a brief red flag while his Williams was recovered from the track.
Sergio Perez was 18th quickest, ahead of Robert Merhi and Will Stevens for the Manor Marussia team.
Stevens spent most of the session in the garage with a power unit problem but was able to head out onto track in the final few minutes of the session.
The session was punctuated by a spectator who ran across the pit straight between the flying cars of Ericsson and Hulkenberg.The idiotic fan was arrested and taken into police custody.
You can watch the madness here.
And is if that didn’t make the session interesting enough, a couple was spotted in the stands having their wedding photos taken.Talk about a High Speed Wedding and all. Let’s hope their marriage is a little slower paced and longer lasting.
If today’s practice sessions are anything to go by, Sunday’s race is going to be very interesting! A lot will depend on who can make their soft tyres last longest – with Ferrari already proving at the Malaysian Grand Prix that their cars are very easy on the rubber. Today too, the Ferraris showed their ability to make their tyres last. Lewis Hamilton completed 11 laps on the soft tyre before seeing a significant drop-off. Sebastian Vettel on the other hand, was still setting decent times after 14 laps on the softer rubber.
There’s still plenty to play for though – Hamilton’s pace advantage is a lot bigger than in Malaysia so Ferrari will need to work hard to catch him if he races off into a lead.
Please join us on Twitter @F1_Madness tomorrow for live coverage and chat throughout the third practice and qualifying sessions.
Here is your timesheet for the second practice session:
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F1 2015: Malaysia GP Review – Vettel Takes Poignant Ferrari Win
Ferrari has won the Malaysian grand prix and no this is not a very long typo and neither is it something that the Mercedes F1 team ever saw coming.
Sebastian Vettel has fulfilled a long held dream by becoming a race winner with the famed Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 team. For the majority of last year Vettel readily admits that he was well below par in the 2014 Red Bull. But the now Ferrari driver definitely showed up on Sunday. The former champ’s worked a two-stop strategy to perfection to win the Malaysian grand prix from Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
From the first laps that were turned in the first Friday practice session Ferrari’s SF15-T showed an extremely good pace that was comparable to the mighty Mercedes. But surely, it was just a bit of showiness by Ferrari and they were running light on fuel. Surely it was too incredulous to even suggest that any team could match the beast of a Mercedes. Yes, Ferrari had made strides but a full blown resurgence was a long-off goal that they hope to reach in the future. But one of the reasons why we love this, and many other sports, is for the spectacular and the astonishing comeback.
Ferrari’s comeback from the doldrums has been nothing short of majestic. Yes it is only one race victory but consider that they have come all the way from the proper mess of 2014 to a fair and square victory in Malaysia then it’s exceptionally clear that it has been a monumentally impressive effort from all involved.
While Seb Vettel delivered an astonishing drive to claim victory the eye-catching pace wasn’t restricted to only his Ferrari. Kimi Raikkonen suffered a left-rear puncture early in the piece, dropped down to eighteenth, finished comfortably in fourth place but still rued what he termed a “poor” weekend. “Obviously for the team it’s a pretty good result. It could have been better but I think we did the maximum with what we had today,” said Raikkonen.
The Williams pairing of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa were surprisingly absent from proceedings. The team that ended last season closest to Mercedes were involved a couple of dices in the lower half of the top ten initially but made no impression on Mercedes or Ferrari. A distant fifth and sixth place all they have to show for an otherwise disappointing afternoon.Amid the Ferrari euphoria 17-year-old Max Verstappen crossed the line in seventh to become the youngest ever points scorer in the 65 year history of the sport. The Dutchmen didn’t luck into his impressive position either he pulled off a few scintillating overtakes and finished ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz in eighth. The 2015 season is only two races old but it is rather difficult not to be excited by Verstappen’s unmistakable talent.
A poor day for Red Bull Racing resulted in ninth and tenth for Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo. The 20-year-old Russian can hold his head high after surviving a clash with Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and beating highly-rated teammate Ricciardo. McLaren showed progress but still failed to reach the chequered flag with either Jenson Button or Fernando Alonso. The Manor F1 team is a worthy mention who after crippling software issues in Australia managed to get Spanish rookie Roberto Merhi to the end of the race.
What makes Ferrari’s victory so much more impressive is that it was achieved, on track, through sheer pace. There was no mistake from Hamilton or Rosberg, or a technical issue with the Mercedes. Some will point to a strategic error by Mercedes but that didn’t have as much of an impact as many want to believe. The simple, but astounding, fact is that Mercedes were out-paced. Kudos to Toto Wolff for admitting that Mercedes were justly beaten.The extraordinarily high track temperature was in Ferrari’s favour whose tyre conservation is a thing of beauty. But the SF15-T is a quick car and this highly emotional victory will do their morale a world of good. More than that, this win by Ferrari marks a good day for Formula 1. Mercedes’ dominance has been staggeringly impressive but not exactly helpful in the entertainment stakes. Now there is a possibility of a real fight for victories if not the big championship prize at the end of it.
As the German and Italian anthems once again rung out for a victorious Ferrari driver there will have been more than a few teary eyes. The moment was filled with nostalgic memories of the greatly revered Michael Schumacher with whom the combination of these two anthems was so synonymous. Vettel reflected on his early days of peeking over the Maranello fence to watch the great man put the scarlet Ferrari through its paces. Now Sebastian Vettel has emulated his childhood idol with a terrific victory that he will remember for the rest of his life. Grandé Seb!
Ferrari images courtesy of @ScuderiaFerrari
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F1 2015: Malaysia GP Preview – Sepang First True Test
The first race of the season around Australia’s Albert Park circuit is a highly anticipated one. It’s the keenness to kick off a new F1 season which gives the streets of Melbourne that distinctive feeling of excitement. Its twenty-five points awarded to the winner are no less important than some of the more iconic races on the calendar but it can often disguise the teams’ true form and potential.
The second round of the season, around Malaysia’s Sepang International circuit, will highlight those who have taken a genuine step forward. Equally, the dazzlingly high-speed corners and tantalising long straights of Sepang is also going to emphasize any shortcomings a car might have.
Not much has changed at the sharp-end of the grid which Mercedes still, comfortably, dominate. But behind the silver arrows’ Williams and Ferrari appear to have traded places in the competitive order. Much of the Ferrari turnaround is down to the notorious power unit. Not long ago the Ferrari power unit more closely resembled a slow trotting donkey than its famed emblem of the prancing horse. But the Maranello team has produced a unit worthy of its heritage with a rumoured initial 80 horsepower gain since last year. It even has Williams raising a few eyebrows and admitting that the Ferrari unit may be “a bit quicker” than their Mercedes. This has made such a big change at Ferrari that it’s even spurred to normally tacit Kimi Raikkonen into a notably bullish state. “I believe in the race, we are not far from Mercedes. I’m sure we can be up there and fight at the front,” said Raikkonen.
At this stage no there has been no news on Valtteri Bottas’ readiness after suffering a partial muscle tear in the Oz quali session. If Bottas is not Finn he will undoubtedly be missed by Williams who will likely find themselves in a spicy fight for the podium with Ferrari. The lofty predictions for an all-out fight could not happen thanks to the temperamental weather system in the area.Of the things that will happen this weekend Red Bull whinging and finding fault with Renault is a given. If their problems were evident Down Under then they will be glaring in Malaysia because Sepang is a power hungry circuit and Red Bull has nothing to feed it. So unhappy is Red Bull with the competitive order that Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s motorsport advisor, has threatened that Red Bull will quit the sport because of its current regulations. Team boss Christian Horner suggests that the FIA should look into an equalising engine performance to close up the field. It’s quite ironic, and perhaps even a bit hypocritical, given Red Bull plethora of victories during Vettel’s four consecutive championship seasons.
Let’s be clear Red Bull may have won four consecutive drivers and constructors championships but it doesn’t have the legacy of a Ferrari or Williams or McLaren so its threat to quit the sport doesn’t elicit the same fear. In the meantime, they’ll do their PR image a huge favour by taking it on the chin and focusing on the track. The form suggest that their fight will be for the lower points paying positions with Lotus and Toro Rosso and perhaps on a good day they may even challenge for a top five place.Malaysia will provide a more realistic pecking order which will unquestionably be headed by Mercedes. It is ridiculous to suggest that the mighty Silver Arrows will face any form of pressure but it will be fascinating to see Sepang reveal Ferrari’s true progress.
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Hamilton charges to Australian Grand Prix pole
Lewis Hamilton started his title defence in glorious fashion to claim his first pole position of the season ahead of the Australian Grand Prix.
Hamilton set a time of 1:26.327, over half a second clear of his team mate Nico Rosberg with both drivers enjoying a good lead over their rivals.
Rosberg may have done better had he not needed to abort his provisional lap after running off onto the grass at the penultimate corner. Hamilton’s provisional time was at 1:26.419.
Rosberg then set his only lap time of the session to finish in second place while Hamilton stormed to a time 0.594 seconds clear of his team mate.
Felipe Massa brought his Williams home in third place ahead of the two Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen.
Valtteri Bottas struggled a little through Q3 and needed to abort his first lap. He went on to run wide at the end of his second lap and finished in sixth place. Bottas emerged from his Williams with an apparent injury of some sort to his back. Rob Smedley confirmed that he may have jarred his back a little and the Finn was seen limping off to the medical centre. There has been no further confirmation of the situation.
Australian home favourite, Daniel Ricciardo, has had a tough weekend all round but managed to get his Red Bull qualified in seventh place ahead of Toro Rosso rookie driver Carlos Sainz Jr.
The Lotus team managed to get both of their drivers through to Q3 and French driver Romain Grosjean finished ahead of Pastor Maldonado to round out the Top 10.
Felipe Nasr narrowly missed out on a slot in Q3 and will start ahead of F1’s youngest ever driver, Max Verstappen. Verstappen put in an impressive performance in Q1 but had a “big moment” in Turn 5 during Q2.
Daniil Kvyat faced a massive upward struggle during FP3 and despite seeming unlikely that he would even start his qualifying, he managed to post the 13th fastest time.
The Force India duo Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez came in next followed by the Q1 drop outs Marcus Ericsson, and the McLaren drivers Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen.
The McLarens were excrutiatingly slow with Button finishing almost 3 seconds off the pace. The big expectations for the McLaren Honda partnership have left many fans very disappointed and desperately worried about what is going on with the MP4-30.
The Manor Marussia team will not be allowed to take part in the race after failing to get their cars onto the track this weekend.
Photo Credit: Mercedes AMG Petronas
Lap Time sheets below:
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Hamilton fastest in final Australian GP practice
Lewis Hamilton finished on top of the timesheets for the final practice session ahead of qualifying for the for the Australian Grand Prix, almost a second ahead of team mate Nico Rosberg. Hamilton posted a 1.27.867 which is more than a tenth of a second off the best time posted by Rosberg yesterday. He did have more pace left in hand though, posting fastest first and second sector times before aborting his lap.
Rosberg, who was fastest in both Friday practice sessions, did report a gearshift problem with his car during his final soft tyre run. The two were split by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel who managed to get within 7 tenths of Hamilton’s time.
Valtteri Bottas went fourth fastest for Williams, a second off Hamilton’s time and team mate Felipe Massa finished in fifth place. Raikkonen placed his Ferrari sixth with the Lotus duo of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado behind him.
Carlos Sainz Jnr and Felipe Nasr put in impressive sessions to round out the top 10 with F1 youngster Max Verstappen completing his session in 11th place. Marcus Ericsson finished in 12th despite a spin at the exit of Turn 12.
Red Bull had another dismal session with Ricciardo in 15th and Kvyat slowest of everyone who set times. Ricciardo, who compained about the driveability of his Red Bull on his first timed lap already, had his car stop at the exit of he pitlane and was pushed back by the marshals. He did manage to rejoin the session albeit a most unimpressive show. The two were split by the dismally struggling McLarens.
Manor’s chances of qualifying remain slim as neither of their drivers were able to participage in the session, after also missing all of yesterday’s running.
Here are the full results for FP3
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Video: F1 2015 Australian GP Thursday Drivers Press Conference
A very interesting press conference ahead of this weekend’s Australian GP in Melbourne. Drivers attending the conference were Max Verstappen (Toro Rosso), Kevin Magnussen (McLaren), Valtteri Bottas (Williams), Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull Racing). Great to hear insights from the drivers ahead of the season opening Australian GP.
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F1 2015: Australian GP Preview – All-set for Australia
The pre-season testing sessions are complete and the Australian grand prix waits to either shatter the delusions or fulfil the promises made in Jerez and Barcelona.
The Albert Park circuit in Melbourne, Australia is the first step in what can potentially be an enthralling season of Formula 1 racing.
In a show of dogged determination and resolve the nearly defunct Marussia Formula 1 team has fought its way out of the abyss. After months of hard work behind the scenes energy boss Stephen Fitzpatrick has been revealed as the investor behind the team which will now be known as Manor F1. While the team was unable to attend any of the pre-season testing sessions the car has passed the mandatory FIA crash tests. The governing body signed off on a revised 2014 chassis which will race in Australia.
There is no doubt that McLaren will show up in Australia seriously underdone. The MP4-30 had a nightmarish amount of issues which ranged from oil pressure leaks to sensor problems to significant struggles with the MGU-K component. The Honda engine, in its first year of development, is rough around the edges and unable of being run at full-tilt by the team. At this stage it appears that Ron Dennis’ expectation of winning races will remain as nothing more than a wishful reverie.
To add to McLaren’s gloom Fernando Alonso has been advised by doctor’s not to race in Australia. The lack of details surrounding the Spaniard’s crash and subsequent “concussion” in Barcelona, while testing, has been the source for much confusion. Nevertheless, the team and driver have rightly opted to put safety above all. Reserve driver Kevin Magnussen will partner Jenson Button for the opening round of the season.By contract things could hardly have gone much better for Mercedes. The reigning world champs maintained quite a low profile during the first few days of testing. However, there is not an inkling of doubt that team has, at least, maintained its advantage at the head of the pack. The more than 6000 km in testing is the most of any team and the pace so nonchalantly put on display in the final two days in Barcelona sent an ominous message to the chasing pack.
Ferrari’s 2014 driver pairing of Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso was a highly anticipated partnership which never reached the forecasted levels of grandstand finishes and epic duels. This time around the Finn is partnered by quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel and team has committed to major changes in all departments.
The 2015 Ferrari surprised more than a few onlookers at the first test in Jerez with its inherent pace. In Barcelona the bigger picture revealed that although definitive strides were made the scarlet Ferrari still remains some way off the Mercedes pace. Along with a dramatically improved power unit both Raikkonen and Vettel are satisfied with the predictable front-end of the car.Ferrari is touted as having taken the biggest step forward of all the teams on the grid. Which isn’t too shabby a start for a team in turmoil just a couple of months ago. While Mercedes is still out of reach the Italian team could very well be sitting with the second fastest package on the grid.
Of the new drivers on the grid Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen will be scrutinized the most. The Dutchman has been talked up by his team for months. Since the team think it worthy to compare the 17-year-old to Ayrton Senna it will make watching his progress all the more fascinating.
An average Formula 1 team employs an average of 300 people who are tasked with the job of ensuring that two grand prix cars are able to race. However, there is nothing average about the level of anticipation and expectation that millions of fanatics have ahead of the first race of a new F1 season.
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Hamilton Fastest For Mercedes on Penultimate Day of Barcelona Test
Lewis Hamilton made it two for two for Mercedes on the penultimate day of the Barcelona pre-season test.
Hamilton set his fastest time of 1:23.022 for the day on Pirelli’s yellow soft compound tyre in the afternoon session after spending most of the afternoon in the garage. Felipe Massa in the Williams was second fastest on the day with a 1:23.262, 0.240s slower than Hamilton. Massa completed his lap on the super softs compared to Hamilton on the soft. This is quite an incredible show of pace from Mercedes although we are not sure if Massa was pushing to the absolute limit.
Long runs and a race simulation was the order of the day at Ferrari. Kimi Raikkonen finished the day 3rd fastest 0.254s slower than Hamilton. Raikkonen completed his fastest lap on the super softs in what looks like a qualifying type simulation.
Carlos Sainz Jr. and Romain Grosjean finished 4th and 5th fastest respectively both with lap counts over 100 laps. Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber ended his day 6th fastest with 123 laps to his name.
Nico Hulkenberg completed a solid day for Force India. This was the first full day of running after launching the VJM08 yesterday afternoon. Hulkenberg finished 7th fastest but completed a 158 laps on the day. “It was a very positive day in terms of reliability and getting a lot of mileage under our belts,” commented Hulkenberg. “It was our first full day of testing so our main focus remained on getting to know the car, the way we set it up and its characteristics.”
After a good day of running yesterday, it seemed to go the other way for McLaren on Saturday. Kevin Magnussen, filling in for Fernando Alonso, only completed 39 laps for the day and was forced to end the day almost three hours early due to on oil leak.
Daniel Ricciardo completed his day 9th fastest with 128 laps on the board. Red Bull focused on long run pace and race simulations after fitting new parts on the car. Daniel Ricciardo was happy with the updates and he feels the team have addressed their weaknesses from last year.
“It looks more promising,” he said. “I don’t think we have shown our true pace on low fuel yet. “High fuel stuff seems like we are a bit happier than where we feel like we should be.”
“We will see in Melbourne when everyone is on the right fuel loads but I think we do look more competitive on high fuel for now.”
Below is the unofficial time sheet for Day 3 of the final pre-season test
