F1 Madness

Tag: daniil kvyat

  • F1 2015: New rules, new looks, new faces

    F1 2015: New rules, new looks, new faces

    In less than two months Melbourne will become the epicentre for start of the 2015 Formula 1 season. As with its predecessors there is much to be excited about for the new season.

    If you found the 2014 aesthetics unpleasing and plain awkward you weren’t alone. Mercifully a tweak to the aero rules for the nose section means that the hideous duckbills and anteaters have been consigned to the scrap heap. Visually the majority of the field will have a relatively uniform look for the nose section of the car and it does constrict some of the eccentric individuality seen last year. Nevertheless, there is little doubt that most will be happy to have far better looking cars to ogle.

    For the sites that Formula 1 will visit the FIA has announced a twenty race calendar with a highly anticipated visit to Mexico City in late October. As predicted the Korean grand prix loses its spot on the calendar while the German grand prix will again be hosted at the Hockenheimring for 2015. Even though the deal struck with Bernie Ecclestone back in 2006 specifies an annual rotation between Hockenheim and the Nurburgring the latter’s change of ownership has left it in financial difficulty and without a deal in place for the coming season.

    scWhile safety is paramount in F1 the Safety Car periods have, on occasion, been far too long. It has been mainly lapped cars which has been the culprit in these long-winded intermissions. The FIA has shown some common sense by announcing that the Safety Car will no longer wait for lapped cars to catch the rear of the field before resuming the race.

    Along with a far more visually pleasing sport there will also be three rookies on the grid. Sauber has confirmed that Brazilian Felipe Nasr will be partnering with Marcus Ericsson for 2015. Nasr gained valuable seat time in F1 last year as the official test driver for the Williams team and he graduates to Formula 1 with a pretty solid CV. Nasr has won both the Formula BMW and British Formula Three championships before finishing third overall in last year’s GP2 campaign. It’s no secret that he comes with substantial financial backing from Banco do Brasil which is much needed by a struggling Sauber team. Neverthless, Nasr is a real talent and it’s more than worth it to keep an eye on his progress.

    At one stage it appeared as if Carlos Sainz Jnr’s introduction to Formula 1 would have to wait a few more years. The son of former double rally world champion Carlos Sainz was on course to be fast-tracked to F1 but he lost out to Russian driver Daniil Kvyat. It proved to be a momentary delay as Sebastian Vettel’s departure to Ferrari meant a promotion to the Red Bull team for Kvyat. This in turn opens the door for Sainz Jnr to slot into the vacant Toro Rosso seat.

    Max_VertappenHowever, it will be his Toro Rosso teammate who will undoubtedly carry the biggest weight of expectation of all the rookies in the field. Max Verstappen is the son of the not-so-successful former F1 driver Jos Verstappen. But that isn’t what makes his debut so spectacular. Instead, it’s the fact that when Max Verstappen takes to the starting grid in Australia he will be seventeen years old. He will be the youngest driver ever to compete in the sport and probably the first, should he score a podium, who cannot legally have a sip of the celebratory champagne. Verstappen’s racing biography is rather limited given his age but he nevertheless boasts some impressive wins including third place in last year’s European Formula Three championship.

    There are many who believe that if you’re fast enough you are old enough. To a degree this plays true but handling the pressure of Formula 1 is a big ask for someone so young. It is clear that Red Bull’s motorsport director Helmut Marko has no qualms about piling on the pressure and has already compared the youngster to the great Ayrton Senna. As grand and fiery as the Verstappen PR has been he is a bit of an anomaly. Either Max Verstappen is going to be the greatest thing since Lewis Hamilton, read sliced bread, or he’s going to be something else which time will inevitably tell.

  • Kvyat to Drop 10-Places Down the Grid

    Kvyat to Drop 10-Places Down the Grid

    Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat will drop 10-places down the grid because of an engine change.

    Toro Rosso fitted a 7th engine to Kvayt’s car before the start of qualifying for the United States Grand Prix. Kvyat’s team mate, Jean-Eric Vergne had his engine replaced on his Toro Rosso as well, but did not incur any penalty because the engine was an old unit.

    Kvyat who qualified in P14 will drop 4 places to the back of the grid and will drop a further 6 places down the grid in Sao Paulo.

    McLaren’s Jenson Button, after qualifying in P7 will start tomorrows race in P12 after changing his gearbox.

    Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel will start from the pit-lane tomorrow after taking his 6th power unit for the season.

  • Hamilton Leads Mercedes 1-2 at First Free Practice in America

    Hamilton Leads Mercedes 1-2 at First Free Practice in America

    Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton finished on top of the time sheets in the first practice session for the United States Grand Prix.

    Hamilton finished on top with a time of 1:39.941. His team mate Nico Rosberg finished the session 0.292s slower than his team mate in P2 with a 1:40.233. McLaren’s Jenson Button was the little surprise of the session finishing in P3 with a 1:40.319, just 0.378s off Hamilton’s pace.

    Daniil Kvyat in his Toro Rosso ended his session in P4 with a 1:40.887 while Kevin Magnussen in the other McLaren finished off the session in P5 with a 1:40.987.

    The session was rather quiet with a few spins and some drivers getting caught out at turn 19 by running wide or getting too late on the brakes and locking up.

    It was a rather anonymous session for Red Bull and Ferrari. Daniel Ricciardo had to cut his session short after the team found and issue with his engine. Sebastian Vettel had a fair amount of running out on track but struggled with the rear grip on his RB10. Vettel ended the session in P7 while Ricciardo could only manage P17 after 5 laps.

    The two Ferrari drivers trailed new wings and evaluated new parts for the first part of the session. Fernando Alonso seemed to struggle with the rear of the car while Kimi Raikkonen just seemed out of sorts on track.

    McLaren’s pace does look very promising for now. If they can keep up the pace we could be in for a very exciting qualifying session.

    At the end of the session, a virtual safety car was trailed. Cars are given a delta time to stick to. This delta time has to be followed. At the end of the session/race two cars will be chosen at random and the data from their ECU’s analysed to determine if the driver did, in fact, adhere to the delta time.

    CoTA 2014 FP1

  • 2014 Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    2014 Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    Drivers:

    Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari)

    Jenson BUTTON (McLaren)

    Daniil KVYAT (Toro Rosso)

    Felipe MASSA (Williams)

    Adrian SUTIL (Sauber)

    Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: It’s just five days since we were in Suzuka, I would just like to hear your views on the events of last weekend – starting with Fernando.

    Fernando ALONSO: I think it was a very tough race. Obviously all of our thoughts are with Jules. All of our minds are there because we have huge respect for our work but when there are big accidents there are no words to describe – but you can feel. As I said, it was a tough weekend and right now we are here, a difficult weekend again. Emotionally very difficult. Ready to race, to race for him, being as professional as we can but definitely our minds, or my mind, is with him in this moment, praying for him.

    Adrian.

    Adrian SUTIL: So hard to say in words. Of course, very shocking moment for everyone, for myself. Nothing really to say about anything. Probably everyone has seen it. It’s just… we have to pray right now. This is all we can do. We can hope that we get some better news. It’s just that we are now here in Sochi, a grey cloud over us but try to be professional enough, more professional and focus on the race weekend again and also good to get rid a little bit of this mood but still it affects everyone. My thoughts are the same. Pray for the best and race for him.

    Felipe.

    Felipe MASSA: For me I think it was the worst race of my life. It’s a really bad race, worse than the race of my accident – because I didn’t remember. It was the worst race of my life. Yeah. It’s so difficult to be everyday because I can just be thinking about him, thinking about Jules. It’s a very difficult weekend for all of us. Maybe tomorrow it will get a little bit better because at least you are working, at least you have something to think about, some issue put inside your brain. Try to race and do the best we can for him, for his family. But anyway, it was the worse race of my life.

    Daniil.

    Daniil KVYAT: Obviously it is a shock for me as well. Wouldn’t expect to hear quite negative news after the race finished. All I can wish now is that we can hear better news, positive news about Jules. I really wish him to recover, it’s the only thing that matters. Nothing like this has happened for a long time and we all hope, here in Formula One that the health to Jules. I’m thinking of him very often, like all of us. We’re all united to support him. I run out of words so I stop here.

    Jenson.

    Jenson BUTTON: I think, listening to everyone, I think we all echo the opinions of the guys sat here so far. It’s a very horrible feeling knowing what one of your fellow drivers went through and is going through. I think the only thing to say, and the most important thing is that we wish him well and our thoughts are with him. I think we all feel the same in the Formula One world.

    You’re a council member on the GPDA and so are you Sebastian. What lessons can be learned, do you think?

    Sebastian VETTEL: I think first of all you need to see that it was an extremely difficult race for all of us. I think I join on what the other drivers said, in terms of how difficult, it is probably the most difficult race to digest so far. But I think difficult conditions, leaving a very, very small margin for error. Obviously for Jules at that time it was too small. On top of that, very unlucky circumstances led to a catastrophe really. I think at this stage, for of all, all of our thoughts are will Jules, with his family, and we wish him all the strength that we can send. About the accident, I think it is very difficult. Obviously there is a lot of stuff going on now but surely if something happens there is always the chance to learn something for next time and avoid these things happening. Also, you need to understand that the cars we race, the speeds we travel, yeah, accidents can happen. But obviously, as I said, extremely unlucky circumstances led to much more than the usual type of crash that you see when you lose control of the car.

    Q: Daniil, we move on to this weekend. I suspect a very proud moment for you. Tell us your feelings when you come into your first home grand prix and our first Russian Grand Prix.

    DK: Quite mixed feelings as you see here the atmosphere and all our thoughts are still about Japan. So, I think it will be like this for a while. Another side of course, it’s my home grand prix. I’m pleased to see what I see here. Big structures, big track and I think around ten years ago, when I was starting my career, we couldn’t have even dreamed about this. And not this thing becoming reality. So, obviously it’s a special moment for me and the first time racing in Russia. In the end it’s our work and we carry on doing  what we’ve been doing for such a long time.

    Q: For the rest of you, can I just have your general impressions of the country, if you wish to, and the circuit as well.

    AS: It was a positive surprise, or a positive experience when I got here. Flew over Moscow but already went in there without problem. They really welcomed us into the country. I haven’t seen so much – straight into the hotel, the hotel is very big but incredible what they’ve built around there. The infrastructure is really good, the track looks very modern and interesting to drive. I haven’t even walked the circuit yet, I will do it after. Of course there is not so much information about the circuit for me and for our team because we have no simulator – so it will be the first time for us, driving on Friday morning. Exciting to have a new circuit, a new country on the calendar. Hopefully it will be a nice weekend with a lot of fans coming and making a good atmosphere. So yeah, pretty good so far. Looking forward to it.

    Felipe?

    Felipe Massa_Press ConferenceFM: I agree totally with Adrian. It was nice to be here, I think it is a nice circuit, the infrastructure is pretty good so yeah, I think what I’ve seen until now is pretty positive. I hope we can have a nice race for these guys, these fans. So yeah, tomorrow we’ll have a better idea how is the track but it looks pretty OK, pretty interesting. Hope we can have a good weekend, good first weekend and first impression for all these Russian people and fans. Hope they enjoy the first race of Formula One here.

    Sebastian, what are your thoughts on the major factors needed around the circuit. I assume you’ve been around the circuit.

    SV: Yeah, I have. Also I’ve been here a couple of weeks ago for promotional activity with Infiniti. I had the opportunity to take a car around and have a look at the track. I think it’s a difficult one to find the right compromise. Obviously you have a lot of corners but also you do have a lot of long straights. Especially the start-finish straight is very long. You definitely need some speed down the straights but overall it looks like an interesting track. A lot of 90° corners, especially I think two and three will be an interesting challenge. Generally obviously it’s a unique feeling to drive around in an Olympic Park. So, obviously as has been touched on before, a bit of a shadow going into the weekend due to the events last weekend but for sure it is very exciting to have the first Russian Grand Prix and great to be part of that very first grand prix here.

    Fernando?

    FA: I share all the comments. I think it’s always a nice feeling when you arrive into a new circuit because it’s a new challenge. For everyone: for engineers, for drivers, for teams, etcetera. The other side, the feelings are there, especially for our team, which has been very close to Jules all the career, it’s an especially tough weekend. We have to be professional, we have to be working in the best way, just to race for him because we need to show we are a strong team – but it’s going to be tough.

    Jenson, your feelings about the circuit. Presumably you’ve driven it on the simulator, have you been around and had a look at it?

    JB: Yeah, I’ve done a few laps on the simulator. I haven’t walked around circuit yet, I’m going to do that in a couple of hours. I think we all look forward to a new challenge and this is definitely a new challenge. I think the most important thing this weekend in terms of the grand prix is that we put on a good show. It always is. The first year of a new circuit, hopefully we’ll have full grandstands and a good fight out on the circuit. So that’s what we’re hoping for.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Gentlemen, you’re obviously all aware of the inherent risks of motor racing but partly that’s why you love Formula One. Is there any part of you, going into this weekend, that makes you reconsider taking part in this sport after what happened on Sunday? That’s for all drivers. Felipe, I can see that you’re the most cut up about this. After your accident maybe you could start with this as well please?

    FM: Well, for sure you think about it, but it doesn’t mean that’s the right thing to do. What I love to do is to race. What I love to do is to be competing. That’s where I feel happiness. That’s where I feel pleasure. We know that in what we’re doing we have a risk in this sport, but I think it’s what I like to do. It’s where I really feel happy, it gives me motivations and give me some, yeah, happiness. Sometimes you think about it but then you’re thinking more and you understand that this is my world, this is what I like to do.

    Sebastian?

    SV: I think Felipe expressed it very well. We all share a common passion for racing; we all share a passion for competing. Obviously we are all very fortunate to find ourselves in Formula One racing the best and quickest cars in the world, which give the best excitement and probably the best satisfaction. But there is always some risk involved, which is, I think, always a part, or a great part, of the feeling why you feel so alive. I think if you have to make the decision, I’m fairly confident for us you’d always prefer to go racing.

    Fernando:GP RUSSIA F1/2014

    FA: Same.

    Jenson? Daniil?

    DK: I agree with all the comments before mentioned. In my case I just started my career as well. Every sport is risky. You never wish anyone to get hurt, but these things happen. I completely share all the comments of the other guys.

    Adrian?

    AS: Nothing to add.

    Q: (Luis Fernando Ramos – Racing Magazine) A question to all drivers: just to clarify whether you are a GPDA member or not. But regardless of whether you are a member or not, how do you think the drivers can contribute to help F1 to learn the lessons of what happened last Sunday?

    FM: Well, I’m not a member but I’m for sure trying to do everything I can trying to help on the safety because for me safety is the most important thing. I think this is not the right place to comment about any point, just comment about safety. Safety is what I care about.

    Sebastian?

    SV: Well I think it’s very difficult right now to give you the golden answer. As I said there were a lot of circumstances that probably led him to that type of accident. For sure, though, there is always something you can learn. I think for now we need to first of all digest what happened and then make the right conclusions. I think it would be wrong only a couple of days after, with all the events going on, with all the happenings we’ve had since Sunday, to come out with something that hasn’t been though through.

    Fernando?

    FA: I don’t really have anything to add. There is an investigation going on. We don’t have all the details. We don’t have all the information necessary to suggest any change. So we let the people work and whatever idea, whatever things come from the drivers’ point of view we will share it.

    And are you a member of the GPDA?

    FA: Yes.

    Jenson, your thoughts on this?

    JB: I think everything’s been said already. Obviously we work as hard as we can to help our… to help the GPDA and to help the safety of the drivers, as the FIA does as well. Obviously it will be talked about a lot over the next few weeks and months and we can always learn. There’s always more to learn better ways to help our sport.

    Adrian?

    AS: Yes, very similar opinion about it. I’m not a member yet but that might change. We have a new director now and some good ideas. Whatever we can do, I think all the drivers, we’re together and we have the same thoughts: to make things better, especially for safety. It’s something you can never learn enough. Development goes always on and research has to go on. We are living in a very modern world and improvement is done every day. The most important thing is to learn out of mistakes and make it better.

    Daniil?

    DK: Yeah, I think of course in the next GPDA meetings we will have a talk about all that has happened. I think there can’t be any rash decisions right now. They have to be progressive and calculated decisions to improve. But of course, like Sebastian mentioned, there was many different circumstances that are yet to be considered but we will be still talking about this for sure.

    Q: (Haoran Zhou – F1 Express) A question to Adrian Sutil. Obviously being a witness you know, probably more than anyone else, what happened. I want to ask were you consulted, did the FIA ask you to consult your opinion or what you saw of the accident after the Japanese Grand Prix?

    AS: Yes, just how much I could see. Of course I was standing there but I think the pictures and the video which was on the internet it was very clear what happened, so there’s not really more I can say. I think we have to wait for the investigation there and there’s nothing more I can right now to be honest.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sorry Adrian if I continue on this matter because I think that for you it’s quite hard and painful but we can see of course the beginning of the accident. What happened before he went off? Maybe you can give some more details if you are watching him? And for Sebastian, changing the matter, we know you split from Red Bull and we would like to know when you can announce the new team and why you wait for the announcement please?

    AS: I was standing there and of course I was not expecting anyone to go off and when I realised that there was a car coming it was in the gravel already. I just saw the last seconds. I don’t know what happened before. I can’t really say. I was just a witness until when the fatal crash really happened. But I haven’t seen what happened before. That’s it.

    SV: No update really. I hope I will be able to make an announcement soon and once the announcement is out I think you are probably clever enough to draw the conclusion why I had to wait.

    Jenson Button_Press Conference 2014Q: (John Burns – New York Times) One of you has spoken about there being a shadow, obviously as a result of last weekend’s accident. A few weeks ago Ari Vatanen raised another shadow over this race over events occurring 300 miles to the north and northwest of here. I wonder whether any of you would like to comment on the question of politics and sport. Is it realistic to draw a wall between the two and say they shall never intersect or do you as individuals think about this, worry about it, wrestle with it and come to the conclusion, as you seem to have done in every case, to race notwithstanding?

    JB: I think you know it’s a very difficult question for any of us sat here to give you an answer to. I think the correct people to speak to would be the governing body and if you have to, speak to our team principals but us as drivers I don’t think it’s the correct question for us.

    Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Fernando, just to change tack completely to cycling. I believe the UCI have announced that your team won’t be competing next year. Can you offer any explanation behind that? What’s the situation going on with your team there?

    FA: Well, I think two weeks ago we announced a partnership with Novo Investment from Qatar and they are in control of our next projects, which we are very excited [about]. For them it was not the right moment to create the team. We will have another, as I said, exciting project that will be announced maybe next week or maybe in 10 days’ time and, yeah, follow their wishes and try to enjoy that part of cycling that I love so much.

    Q: (Sylvia Arias – Parabrisas Argentina) Daniil, next year you are going to be in Red Bull. I would love to know your feeling about that. It’s such a very important step forward for you.

    DK: Obviously I’ve been told about it in Japan. I was very happy about it, very honoured. Joining Red Bull Racing next year means a lot. Obviously the name of the team says it all and we will do our best to fight for the highest position possible. So I think that’s all.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) We are talking about closed cockpits; I would like to know your feelings about this option?

    FA: I probably tend to agree to at least check and try or test the idea. I think we are in 2014, we have the technology, we have aeroplanes, we have had many other samples that they use in a successful way so why not think about it? All the biggest accidents in motor sport over the last couple of years have been head injuries so it’s probably one part where we are not at the top of safety. Even in my case, in 2012 at Spa, I could probably have died there in corner one if it had been 10 cms closer to my head. If the technology is there and available,  and there is the possibility, I would not exclude it, for sure.

    SV: Sort of a mixed feelings to be honest. If you look at Formula One cars since the beginning of Formula One and open-wheeled racing, I think it’s one of the things that are very special about Formula One. On the other hand, as Fernando touched on, there’s a lot of reasons why we should look into closed cockpits for the future. As I said, at this stage, after what happened, I don’t think it’s right to… I don’t really have an opinion to be honest.

    FM: I totally agree with what Fernando said, so I think it would be interesting to try, it would be interesting to work on that possibility. Definitely, for my accident it would have been perfect. Maybe for Jules, I don’t know. But I think maybe it could have been interesting for so many different types of accident, including the one I had, but I totally agree with Fernando. I think it could be an option and we will see when we could try something or see something to understand if it’s positive or not, but I totally agree with him.

    AS: I think definitely it would be worth a try to test it out. We don’t know how it would be but I think these cars have been open for a long time in this category but maybe it has a future also with closing them. I think this is the category where things are tried to make it better and more modern and going in the right direction, so I think it’s definitely worth a try and maybe it works. For sure, we have seen airplanes where it looks quite similar from the cockpit and there it’s closed. If we can minimise a risk without losing anything, of course it’s very interesting.

    JB: It’s a difficult one. As Seb said, there are positives obviously, in terms of the safety point of view but this is Formula One that’s been open cockpit since the start of time so it’s a very big change for the sport to make. Safety is something that, as I said, we can always improve on so I’m sure it will be looked at whether it is possible to change or not for the future.

    DK: There are many sides to this decision if it will be taken. Like I said, I think now, when these kind of things happen, you have to take a little break and calculate everything, try everything and calculate what would be the best solution. Like everyone else said, why not but it has to be tried and has to be very well calculated.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Obviously race driving consists of managing risk to be the best of your ability, be it drivers’ risks, sporting risk, mechanical and technical risk. Is there are such a thing as acceptable risk and where does that level lie? When would you decide something is unacceptable and when is it acceptable?

    SV: I think our passports say that we are all old enough to make our own decisions in life and I think generally we all have a brain that we are allowed to use, so it’s our conscious decision if we want to go racing or not. I think we expressed the love that we share for racing, for the thrill, managing the car on the limit etc. Obviously there’s always the risk that something can go wrong. I think it lies in the nature of the sport, if you look at the speeds involved etc. I think we’ve come a long way in terms of safety if you look back and a lot of improvements have been made but I think if anyone is not happy, he’s old enough to say no. Surely, I think we’ve been very fortunate that in our generation there have been crashes with limited outcome. Obviously last week reminded us all of how apparent the risk is and how quickly things can change but surely if you look at the type of accidents that we had in the last couple of years, how violent they looked and fortunately nearly nothing happened,  shows that improvement has been made. Obviously that’s a great feeling but you should never lose the respect, I think, for what you do.

    FM: Well, I think over the last years, all these improvements that we had in Formula One was good, it was impressive. To be honest, we saw so many accidents when drivers just jumped from the car and nothing happened which was pretty impressive. I think that’s what we need to fight for. We need to fight to have everything the most safe way around, so what happened last weekend was not exactly like that – it was a tractor on the track – and we cannot do anything when it’s like that. I think it’s two different things. I think we have  good working to make the car safer all the time and this is going in the very good direction  but in the normal situation around the track.

    AS: I think it’s clear for everyone that racing can be dangerous but I’m here because I’m aware of it and I like it. I’m here because I want to race and I know and I’m aware of the danger but that doesn’t mean that I just accept it. Of course, we all try to make it better and make it more safe because we don’t want to see this happening frequently. We’ve done – GPDA, Formula One – have done a great job in safety over the last years so it has been improved unbelievably but we can always make it better but yeah, still I’m sitting here and I will race because this is my passion and I want to do it and as soon as I feel different and I don’t feel like that any more, I will stay at home, this is for sure.

    DK: I agree with Adrian. We are here, we are racing and we know that the risks are still high, as we had the confirmation, unfortunately. The speeds are very high, over 300kph but we don’t want to race at 100kph because it’s not racing any more so on any circuit you cannot exaggerate but we always want to have maximum safety and this is what the GPDA, for example, is doing. And I think we have seen that the improvement has been huge but these kind of things, unfortunately, remind us that there is always something that can be improved.

    JB: I think enough has already been said on this matter.

    Q: (Carlos Miguel – La Gaceta) Fernando, in the last races you have had some problems in the car. Are you expecting to finish on the podium in the last races of this year?

    FA: Well, I think it’s our wish. We have some races to go now and the car is picking up the pace. We are becoming more and more competitive in the last events. We lost some opportunities but we will try our best in the remaining races, especially, as I said, now I think the team is quite in shock with Jules and we are all worrying for him but it’s time to be united and to deliver a good result and that will also show him great respect so let’s try this weekend.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Fernando, this is the last Grand Prix with Mr Montezemolo as president. I would like to ask you your feeling about it. Everything is overshadowed by Jules but this is also the fact.

    FA: I think that president Monzemolo has been very successful in his career and has helped Ferrari in a big way, on the track, outside, as an industrial power. He’s done many things for Ferrari so huge respect for his career there. I have a very close and good relationship with him so I’m wishing him the best for the future.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) For everybody, Felipe said before that we have also to improve the environment around us. I think that more safety cars in circumstances like Sunday should be alright.

    FA: As I said, there is an investigation going on at the moment. Once I was not on the track at that moment, so I cannot judge the conditions very precisely so I don’t have an opinion.

    SV: I think with hindsight I think it’s always easy to say ‘this could have been avoided, this should have been done.’ I think there are definitely some lessons. I think everyone is obviously thinking about what we can improve and improve within a week’s time. I think here we have a completely different circuit, completely different conditions so I think – as I said earlier and Felipe touched on – it was a very special accident with unique circumstances leading into a very bad outcome. But surely, if the answer is as easy as bring in the safety car then I don’t think that’s a big thing for people to do in the future. On the other hand, I don’t believe the answer is as easy as that either.

    Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) I would like to know if you’ve found the pit lane is wide enough here or do you think you’re going to be very careful coming into the pits to change tyres during the race?

    SV: It’s quite narrow, especially the pit entry looks very narrow. I don’t know, I think in the first place they had a lot of space to build the track so sometimes you wonder why some areas like the pit lane didn’t get a bit bigger.

    JB: It fits a car, so that’s a start. We’ll go from there.

    FM: Looks a bit tight but we will see tomorrow.

  • 2014 Formula 1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    2014 Formula 1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    DRIVERS :

    Jules BIANCHI (Marussia)

    Daniil KVYAT (Toro Rosso)

    Romain GROSJEAN (Lotus)

    Felipe MASSA (Williams)

    Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Can I start with a question to all of you? We had news this week that next season there will be a 17-year-old driver on the grid. Can I have your reaction from a driver’s point of view? And maybe we’ll start with Felipe.

    Felipe MASSA: Definitely, he’s a very quick driver. He shows talent in a go-kart, in Formula 3, winning many races; I think he’s second in the championship. It’s his opportunity. First of all, I think it’s great that teams are still interested in the talent of the driver and not the money and I think that’s really positive, it’s good for the sport in general. I’m happy for that. Seventeen is a little bit young! For sure, we need to wait and see how he’s going to perform in his first year. I think the most important thing is that he has the talent; I mean he’s quick. I hope he can be clever as well, to learn everything from Formula One. There’s a lot that be will learn and I hope he’s quick enough to learn and to be consistent in Formula One and that he can stay, not just staying for one or two years and not doing what he’s supposed to do. Until now he shows great talent and I hope he can show the same in Formula One, so I’m happy.

    Nico, your thoughts?

    Nico Rosberg Press ConferenceNico ROSBERG: The same as Felipe said. All the journalists are always asking ‘is it only with money that you can get to the sport?’ and things like that. It’s great to see that if you have the talent and you really deserve it… there have been many examples recently that have made it into F1. That’s important, that’s good. Of course, it’s very young but I think we’ll be OK.

    Daniel, your thoughts on this?

    Daniel RICCIARDO: Not much more to add. It makes me feel a bit old! Definitely the Red Bull Junior Team and the programme for me worked a treat; helped me get to where I am. Obviously it’s good they’re now helping out Max. Obviously the age is the question mark but the talent, as Felipe said, is there. It’s going to be interesting but, yeah, it’s good.

     

    Romain, what about you? Like the three guys before you, you all started in your 20s, what about starting so young in Formula One?

    Romain GROSJEAN: It’s a wonderful opportunity that he has and it’s something quite special to come to Formula One. As everyone says, he has shown great talent early in his career but he will have a lot of homework to do to learn everything about racing in higher categories – tyre deg, speed, a lot of things. But it’s good to see fresh blood, but a bit sad for JEV.

    Jules?

    Jules BIANCHI: Obviously as everyone says it’s a great opportunity for him and it’s great that some teams still invest in young drivers like that. I’m sure he will be doing well. He’s really quick; we saw that in Formula 3. He won everything in go-karts. I’m also sad for JEV, I hope he will find something else but this is how it is now.

    And Daniil, you’ll be driving alongside him next year, you started at 19 this year, what are your thoughts?

    Daniil KVYAT: Yeah well, I think we will see how it is going to be. I think we’re going to be team-mates. I think it’s not as complicated as it looks to all of you. For the rest you just come and see what you can achieve. For every driver it’s the same. It’s not my job to analyse all the things deeply and so we will just wait and see.

     

    What’s not as complicated as it looks?

    DK: I think any driver can come to Formula One, can adapt, can get up to speed. I think everybody is coming to Formula One for some reason – because he has talent, because he has been successful somewhere; there is always a reason why someone comes to Formula One but then there are many different things that make the difference, so it’s as simple as that.

     

    Jules coming to you. Two classic tracks coming up: Spa and Monza the next two races. One of your relatives is in a photograph over here, driving a Ferrari from the past. But what are your feelings on racing here and the prospects for you and the team and are they pushing hard do you feel?

    JB: It’s special for me to be in Belgium and here in Spa because of my family; my great uncle won here in GT cars and I feel a bit like being at home again, so I’m good here, I’m happy. We’re trying to push hard with the team, trying to stay ahead of Caterham. This is still our target, so we’ll try to achieve that. For sure, it won’t be easy because they are pushing hard as well. They are not giving up. That’s why we will keep fighting. We will have to see how it will be in Spa. Monza will be another challenge but at the moment I’m focused on this race.

     

    Romain, you said you’re reviewing you options for 2015. Obviously Lotus have secured Mercedes engines for next year. What are the next steps forRomain Grosjean Press Conferece you and the team? 

    RG: I think we still have to understand and analyse a bit more this difficult season. There were many reasons why we started on the back foot but I’m sure we can still learn a lot. The idea is to prepare the future as good as it can be for Lotus. They have been designing wonderful cars in the last two to four years and I don’t see reason that it’s not the case again in the future. Hopefully things get better but so far we still need to do our job, understand things and what we can learn from that difficult season.

     

    Daniil, coming to you. As this Daniel was saying, just picking up on his points from earlier on, you know with the Toro Rosso programme you’ve got around about two years to prove yourself and obviously in Jean-Eric’s he moves on. Tell us, when you’re in that situation, does it feel reassuring to know that you’ve got those two years, you’ve got that time to prove yourself or does it add to the pressure?

    DK: It all depends on how you take it. Obviously you can take it from two sides. Obviously you have to think that you’ve been given the chance and you just try to use it as good as you can. You cannot really be thinking too much about there is some limited time about it, but yeah, so I’ve been given a chance and I’m just doing my best all of the time, trying to make the best out of it. There’s no special trick.

     

    Felipe, on paper this race and the next one should be two of your strongest tracks this season. What are you and Williams hoping to take out of these two races, particularly coming off the back of the strong result you had last time out? What’s your minimum expectation?

    FM: Well, I hope it can be more than just on the paper. I hope we can show good performance on the track in this race and in Monza. But I would say maybe most of the races we can be competitive. Maybe Singapore will be the most difficult one but I would say that at most of the tracks we can be there, we can be competitive. I hope that we can show that and I hope that we can be… still growing, still improving, like we did from the first race until now. It would be great to have a very competitive car and very good race here and Monza but also in the second part of the season. We’re still fighting. We know how important is the points. We’re going to fight; we’re going to do everything we can to be competitive.

     

    Daniel coming to you. The first win obviously is always special. The second one, four races later, suggests it’s becoming something of a habit. Tell us about your confidence level at the moment and how you see the second half of the season for yourself and Red Bull in terms of opportunities and objectives?

     

    DR: Yeah, just keep building on the first half of the year we had. It was really nice to get a couple of wins in the first 11 races, so yeah, for confidence, for motivation, for myself and the team it’s obviously really high. Spa and Monza are circuits which on paper aren’t circuits that are going to suit us the most but we’re coming in with a bit of momentum so we’ll try to pull off a good result here and in Monza and then we’ve got a few tracks that will really come to us after that. So not much changes, just to keep building as always, keep learning and keep enjoying it. That’s important: that’s what I’m doing this year, I really am loving it, and just let that continue.

     

    Q: Nico, a number of talking points coming after the Hungary race, going into this one, one of them the team saying they’re not going to bother giving calls to either driver to let the other one through, even if there are strategy considerations. What were your own learnings from Hungary and what were you taking on from here?

    NR: I gather it was a bit of a mess afterwards, after Hungary, so it’s best I don’t add too much I think and I continue to not give too many details. In general of course we discussed it after the race – just because it’s important to review a situation like that and know how to move forward. Now we’re moving forward but of course, I have also learned various things from that race which I will try to adapt for the future.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Mike Doodson – GPWeek) To follow up the first question you were asked today. All six of you were racing as teenagers – one of you actually in Formula One – but a couple of you had to take a holiday from Formula One for a while. My question is, to all six of you, do you think each of you would have been ready for Formula One at the age of 17?

     

    Nico – didn’t you test an F1 car at 17 or 18?

    NR: Yeah, I tested an F1 car at 17. Driving-wise I would have been ready, I feel, but the limitation at the time was physically. That was a big limitation because at the time it was still V10, big downforce – I’m not sure if more downforce than now but the tyre grip was higher, y’know? That was the big limitation at the time for me as, a 17-year-old. But nowadays it is a little bit easier physically, definitely, so that will help.

     

    Dan, I think you were 21 when you came in – would you have been ready at 17?

    Daniel_Ricciardo_Press_ConferenceDR: Let’s say… no. I think I was still racing karts at 16 and then, yeah, I hadn’t driven many formula cars when I was 17, I think it was maybe my first season, so then I didn’t feel ready, no. Obviously my path was probably a bit different as well. I grew up a bit later.

     

    Romain, similar story for you?

    RG: 17 I was competing in my first races in single-seater. It was a Formula Renault 1.6l and no, I wasn’t ready.

     

    Daniil?

    DK: It’s an interesting question. I think I was racing in [FR] 2.0 at 17 and, if I have to come back again and do some pole laps that I did that year, maybe I couldn’t even do them again. In terms of pure performance, pure driving it’s a very similar driver: me now and me back at 17. But, many factors, of course form mental side and physical side. But, like I said, everybody’s different, so we just have to wait and see.

     

    Jules, you have a similar kart background to Max but you put a few years in, in the junior categories. What do you think, where would you have been at 17?

    JB: I was not ready at 17. It was my first year in Formula Renault 2.0, so I cannot say I was ready, for sure. I was doing mistakes there. So, if you still do mistakes in the previous categories, you cannot be ready for Formula One.

     

    Felipe, you were 20, I think, when you made your Formula One debut.

    FM: Yeah, I think when I started, when I drove first time the race car, I was 15. It was a Formula Chevrolet in Brazil. I think it was never a problem to be quick, it was a problem to understand – especially in Formula One. I was 20, I think it was a little bit too early for me. I really agree with what Nico says. Physically, at that time, it was a lot more difficult than now. Now I would say the race if very easy from the physical point of view, which is easier for a young driver to learn and understand – but at that time it was a lot more difficult from the physical point of view.

     

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Coming to what Felipe and Nico just said, also Lewis said in last few days that he feels this F1 is too easy for him, he would like to come out of the car exhausted, pushed to the limits. With these new cars it’s not the same any more. Would you also like it to be more difficult, more challenging, this Formula One?

    NR: In the first instance we’re here for the fans, yeah? So we need to do great racing. At the moment we’re seeing great racing, so that’s a big positive. That’s the first and most important thing – and then we need to work on the sound, which seems to be quite important to the fans, which I can understand. So those are the sort of things that are important. Then, from a driver’s point of view, yes, in an ideal world… I mean it’s great as it is, that’s a fact, but maybe it was a little bit better if I could do quali laps every lap with the tyres lasting forever, just proper qualifying every single lap in the race and harder physically. All of that would make it slightly better, yes, but I don’t really think about that because it is the way it is now, and that’s great, the way it is now.

     

    Daniel, do you agree with Lewis’ point of view?

    DR: Yeah, I think not much more to say. The racing is the first thing that needs to be good and it is. And maybe we should sweat a little bit more than we are. We’ll see.

     

    Felipe, you come from an era when you did sweat quite a lot. What are your thoughts?

    FM: I agree 100 per cent with what Nico said but the physical, to be harder or easier is related first of all to the refuelling. This is the first point. And on that time we had a loFelipe Massa_Press Conference more grip on the tyres as well. I think that’s the two things that make it more difficult to drive the car. To have more grip, and when we had the refuelling to have maximum 60kg in the car, 55kg all the time. It was a lot quicker, most of the laps. That’s why it was a lot more difficult from a physical point of view.

     

    Jules, this is the only F1 you’ve known. What are your thoughts? Would you like it to be a little bit more physically challenging?

    JB: Yeah, it would be good. I have no problem with that, for sure we are not like completely dead at the end of a race. We still have energy. So maybe it would be better for the people outside to see that when we get out of the car, we fall down, I don’t know what they like but, for sure, it’s not like this at the moment, so if we can improve this, yeah, let’s do it.

     

    Your perspective, Daniil?

    DK: Well, I testing last year’s car so I can rely on that a little bit. For me it wouldn’t be a problem, to be honest, to drive last year’s car in terms of the physical point and speed-wise as well. But in the end I don’t think the cars of this year are easier to drive than last year’s cars in terms of just driving because we lost some downforce, we have to fight. I’m pretty sure this Eau Rouge corner here is going to be quite interesting and challenging again. It’s been so easy flat the last few years. I don’t think it’s going to be so easy now. It’s always some negative and some positive sides everywhere. Everybody has a different opinion in the end, so it’s hard to make everyone happy.

     

    Romain, your view.

    RG: Yeah, well I think the first point is that the last few races have been really cool. I could watch, unfortunately, a bit of these grands prix. But on the other hand, don’t get us wrong, the cars are not easy to drive. They’re still performing very well. And yes, physically they are easy, but there are other challenges. I think it’s still a tough job. I remember my time in 2009, and already then the cars were physically harder to drive. I would like more: the quicker it goes the more we enjoy it. We are racing drivers. If you give us 200 more horsepower and more grip, we will take it – but what we want is to really have good races.

     

    Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Nico, you mentioned earlier about the talks that followed the Hungarian Grand Prix regarding the team orders situation. First of all, were those talks resolved to your satisfaction? Secondly, you also mentioned about learning things but you didn’t really expand. Are you able to expand at all on what you did learn, going forward now for the rest of the season in your battle with Lewis?

    NR: Yeah, sorry, I don’t really want to go into much more detail than that. As I said, we sat down, discussed it all. That is important after such an occasion, such a situation, and then review, if we need to change something for the future and that’s what we’ve done.

     

    Q: (Thomas Bastin – La Derniere Heure) To the most experienced – probably Felipe and Nico – we are now in the second part of the season with the new cars. Do you think that for the fans they are more spectacular to see and are they also more difficult to drive?

    FM: Well, I think it is definitely very nice for the fans. They see a lot of overtaking but maybe it’s the noise. The noise is really something that makes it more spectacular, like we had in the past. But the fights, they can see. Every race there are always big fights between the cars. I think it’s really interesting for the people. The noise is definitely something that we’re missing.

    Q: And your thoughts, Nico, particularly picking up on the point that Daniil made a moment ago, that with much less rear end downforce this year, corners like Eau Rouge can be much more of a challenge, right?

    NR: No, it’s that we have a little bit less grip in some places, but it’s not really… It depends on which car, of course. I think to watch from the outside it’s still awesome to watch these cars. They’re still the fastest cars that there are in terms of corner speed and things like that and just the sound… I understand that we need to keep on working on that and hopefully we can find a solution. Maybe we just put some big loudspeakers on the car. That’s the direction of electric cars in the future anyways.

     

    Q: (Paulo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Nico, I’ve see that you’ve been pretty active the last few weeks, hunting for pizza in Napoli, having parties in Ischia or Capri. How badly did you need this break for you in such a hard and tense season, fighting every second weekend for victory?

    NR: Needed, not really. After Hungary I wanted the next race to be the next day and just continue like that so it’s not like I needed a holiday but of course it was there and it was great. We had a great time with friends and family. I find it quite good that there’s the two weeks where everything is shut down because otherwise, even on a day off, there’s still e-mails with the team and this and that coming through and like that there is nothing. In those two weeks there’s really nothing happening and it’s quite a good thing for everybody.

     

    Q: (Angelique Belokopytov  – AutoDigest) To all of you: you know every driver has his beliefs to have luck during a race, someone wears white shirts, another doesn’t shave, so what about you? What will you do or not do before a race?

    JB: Well, there’s one that I won’t tell you, there’s one that I can tell you: that I always get into the car from the right side. That’s it.

    DK: There’s no luck, I think.

    RG: I used to have superstitions when I was younger and once I forgot things that I used as superstitions and I won the race, so I thought that was useless but there are certainly routines: I always put on my suit the same way, I always jump in the car from the right hand side and with the seatbelts always the same way. It’s just the fact that you get ready to race.

    DR: It’s an excuse for something to go wrong! It’s nonsense.

    NR: I keep my underwear from qualifying if I’m on pole for the race! And they’re not allowed to be washed either.

    FM: Yeah, me too! Not to be on pole, you know, because otherwise I have just one this time. If I start the weekend in a good way and I use the same on Saturday and Sunday. I also go inside the car from the left side, to put my right foot first in the car. So many things that don’t change anything but you just feel well.

     

    Q: (Oana Popoiu – F1 Zone) Daniil, your team will have the youngest line-up next season; could that be a bit of a disadvantage when it comes to developing the car?

    DK: To be honest, this season is still going on for me and there are eight races to go and I’m still not thinking about that. I think, as I said, getting up to speed is not such a big problem so then there are many many different details and factors that decide what’s going to happen for the future of the driver, whoever he is, so I think obviously it’s good, getting as young as possible to Formula One because then you have plenty of time but it’s all up to how you can develop. At the moment, I really don’t know how to say. I don’t think it’s going to be a big problem. We will develop OK.

     

    Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Daily Telegraph) Nico, you said at the beginning, when James asked you, that there was a bit of a mess after the last race, given what happened with the team orders. Is that why you seem fairly reluctant to elaborate – which is fair enough – but is that why you’re reluctant to explain more about it?

    NR: No, sorry, let me make that more precise. I gathered that there was a bit of a mess in the media and so it wouldn’t be useful for me to give another extra bit to that at the moment, it’s better to let it all calm down. That’s what I meant.

    FM: You fight, after the race, with…?

     

    Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) For Jules Bianchi: there are a lot of people saying that you deserve a better car than the Marussia. What are your expectations for next year? Do you feel the same?

    JB: Well, I’m trying to do my best now while I’m with Marussia because it’s the same I’m with at the moment and I’m happy to be with Marussia, for sure. They gave me the chance to get a Formula One drive so I can’t complain. Obviously my manager and Ferrari has to work out what I will do next year, it’s still not sure yet so we’ll have to wait and see but for me, at the moment, I just want to finish the championship well. I will try to do as we started, stay in front of Caterham and then we will see.

  • Max Verstappen to Drive for Toro Rosso in 2015

    Max Verstappen to Drive for Toro Rosso in 2015

    Scuderia Toro Rosso announced on 18 August 2014 that young rookie Max Verstappen will drive for the team in 2015.

    Verstappen (16), will drive alongside fellow rookie Daniil Kvyat. Which means long standing Toro Rosso driver Jean-Eric Vergne will be without a racing seat in 2015.

    The young dutchman is currently competing in the Formula 3 European Championship where he has won 8 out of the 27 races to date, which has also put him in contention for the F3 title. Verstappen will become the youngest F1 driver on the grid next year at the Australian Grand Prix at 17 years of age. The previous record holder was Jaime Alguersuari who made his debut for Toro Rosso as well at 19 years of age.

    “First of all, I would like to thank Dr. Helmut Marko and Red Bull for all their trust and giving me the chance to make my Formula debut in 2015 with Scuderia Toro Rosso. Ever since I was seven years old, Formula 1 has been my career goal, so this opportunity is truly a dream come true,” said Verstappen

    “We are happy to welcome Max into the Toro Rosso family,” said Team Principal Franz Tost.

    “It’s great to see how the Red Bull Junior Programme continues to find talented young drivers and gives them the opportunity to come into Formula 1. We consider Max to be as one of the most skilled young drivers of the new generation and we believe he has the necessary maturity and mental strength to take on this challenge successfully,” he added.

    “I would also like to thank Jean-Eric Vergne for all his hard work. He has produced strong performances, but unfortunately he was also hindered by some reliability problems.”

    “We hope that we have resolved these problems and that he will be able to end the second half of this season on a high note and thereby show that he still deserves another opportunity in Formula 1.”

  • F1 2014: German GP – Relentless Rosberg Scores Home Victory

    F1 2014: German GP – Relentless Rosberg Scores Home Victory

    Life happens to be pretty good if you’re name is Nico Rosberg. Not only has he extended his Mercedes contract but he’s gotten married in-between races, secured a comfortable pole position on Saturday and wrapped up a dominant home grand prix victory to boot.

    The battle for supremacy between the Mercedes teammates was dealt a severe blow as Hamilton was exiled to 20th place on the grid following a brake disc failure in qualifying and a subsequent gearbox change.

    Nico Rosberg was completely in control of the 67 lap German GP as he led fellow front-row starter, Valtteri Bottas, to the chequered flag for his first victory on home soil. The Finn delivered yet another stunning drive to hold off a recovering Lewis Hamilton for his third consecutive podium. Even though Williams’ biggest target is to finish ahead of Ferrari in the constructor’s championship their ability to keep one Mercedes at bay is, on merit, is a tremendous result.

    massa-reutersMcLaren’s Kevin Magnussen’s inexperience was telling as he collided with the Williams of Felipe Massa into turn one. Massa’s car was flipped onto its roll-bar before coming to rest on the tarmac run-off area of turn one. The Brazilian was uninjured but suffered his second retirement in three races.

    In fairness, Magnussen should have yielded the corner to Massa as he was out of the Williams driver’s sight. The incident was mopped after a short safety car period and the race re-started with Rosberg in the lead.

    Lewis Hamilton unleashed a determined drive from the back of the field but it wasn’t without a few risky moments. There was slight contact with Kimi Raikkonen at the hairpin as he passed both the Ferrari driver and Daniel Ricciardo. Later on a rather dicey attempt at overtaking Jenson Button into the same hairpin resulted in a damaged front-wing endplate. A three-stop strategy meant that Hamilton ran the last two stints of the race on the quicker supersoft tyre. However, despite his clear pace advantage he was unable to overtake Bottas for second place. Hamilton’s rather glum face after the race showed his disappointment with the third step of the podium. Some may take exception to Hamilton’s body language but it tells of a driver for whom winning is the only acceptable result.

    A spin by Sauber’s Adrian Sutil on the main straight gave rise to a contentious moment in the race. The stricken Sauber was parked sutil-marshalshorizontally on the straight which would ordinarily prompt an appearance from the safety car. Surprisingly, the race director chose to forego the safety car and opted for marshals to recover the car under double-waved yellow flags. Any situation in which marshals are required to venture onto the circuit is a safety risk which makes this decision controversial.

    Behind the podium finishers the rest of the field put on an exhilarating show of wheel-to-wheel racing at its finest. Sebastian Vettel got the better of Fernando Alonso in a fabulous fight for fourth before Daniel Ricciardo continued a thrilling battle with the Spaniard. Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg finished seventh ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button. Kevin Magnussen recovered to ninth after his collision with Felipe Massa while Sergio Perez rounded out the top ten positions.

    While all twenty-two Formula 1 drivers have by and large respected the rules and each other there have been too many instances in the past where the fear of a penalty curbed their eagerness to take the fight to each other. As a result the exhilarating fights throughout the field at Silverstone and in Germany are a direct result of the steward’s announcement that they would take a more lenient stance on dishing out penalties.

    Germany 2014 PodiumDaniil Kvyat’s race came to a fiery end as the rear-end of his Toro Rosso was engulfed by flames. Lotus Romain Grosjean’s difficult season continued as the Frenchman was forced into retirement with a suspected power unit issue.

    If Lewis Hamilton was unsure about the prowess of his teammate before it is definitely not in doubt any longer. An unrelenting Nico Rosberg has extended his championship lead to fourteen points and what is particularly threatening is that he appears to have done it with disturbing ease.

  • Spanish Grand Prix: Thursday Drivers Press Conference

    Spanish Grand Prix: Thursday Drivers Press Conference

    DRIVERS:

    Max CHILTON (Marussia)

    Kevin MAGNUSSEN (McLaren)

    Daniil KVYAT (Toro Rosso)

    Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)

    Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari)

    Pastor MALDONADO (Lotus)

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Daniil, can I start with you? Three points finishes, one 11th place, you must be quite pleased with the way things have started in the first four races?

    Daniil KVYAT: Yeah, it’s going quite OK now. A bit of a shame not finishing in the points in Bahrain as well, but anyway you have to learn from something. So far we’ve been a bit on the limit of the points zone, but I hope that we can make some good steps and become even a bit more competitive, so we can take points a bit more easily. It would be a really good step but we are working hard together and soon it will be reachable.

    So the story so far is that Jean-Eric Vergne your team-mate is three-one up on you in qualifying but you’re ahead of him in races. He’s had a few reliability issues in races but how do you see the balance between you, and your own progress?

    DK: I’m not really looking too deeply into these scores and so on. We’ve been quite close. Don’t forget that Jean-Eric is a very fast driver and he’s in the peak of his shape probably now. Also very experienced. In the wet I have to admit he was very fast so far and in Bahrain it was a dry quali. Of course, he’s also been having a bit of issues. But in China it was a very good balance. I was quite happy in the race. I was quicker than him at that point but in the end we have to see in the future races.

    Max, coming to you. The run continues: 23 consecutive finishes in your Formula One career, two 13th places so far this season, are you proud of what’s been achieved so far?

    Max CHILTON: Yeah, I am. Last year it wasn’t a perfect season but lots to take away from it. I remember someone asking me in me in Monza, I think, saying: ‘you’re 10 races in, that’s a good little record you’ve got going there’. And then I broke Tiago [Monteiro’s] record, which was 16 from a rookie start, and we though it would be nice to get to the end of the year, which we did. Credit to the team; that’s pretty good for a small team reliability-wise. And we’re four races in now and we’ve carried that on. It’s not our main goal, but where we are it’s absolutely crucial to finish the race as I’ve shown this year with the two 13ths. We did have good speed but we had to be there at the finish to make sure those results counted. So we will try to keep it going but our main focus is to try to get a bit more speed out of the car and myself.

    Apart from Malaysia, in the races where you and Caterham have both finished Marussia has tended to be in front of them. Can you say a little bit about how you see that battle and also about how close you feel you are now to the teams in front of you?

    MC: We’ve always had a good battle with Caterham. They kind of hold back sometimes, I think, in practice and qualifying and surprise us in the race. But I think this year, to me, our car is definitely better. We’re developing well. We’ve brought some good updates to here. I’m not sure if they have or not. It would be nice if we could push forward. Sauber hasn’t been too far ahead of us and we’ve been battling with them in at least the first few stints of the race and so… yeah, I guess you’ve got to focus on the cars in front, there’s no point in focusing on your mirrors, so we’ll try to improve our results this weekend.

    Thanks for that. Coming to you Pastor. Obviously you’re a former winner here in Barcelona. Lotus in Q3 in qualifying in China, running in the top 10 obviously. How would you describe progress within the team?

    Pastor MALDONADO: It’s clear that we have been progressing quite a lot in the last couple of races. Still maybe we were not at 100 per cent but we’ve been working really hard. Hopefully here with a bit more time, putting everything together we can be much more competitive and we can fight for good places. This is our main focus at the moment and I think we can. We have a good car, a good team. We have been not good enough with all the new engine system at the beginning but now it seems to be more clear in terms of technology, you know, controlling all the systems in the car and hopefully from this race to the end of the season it will be much better for us.

    We’ve heard about a lot of new parts on the car this weekend and also power unit upgrades from Renault. What are you expecting and what are you expecting from yourself this weekend?

    PM: I’m expecting to have no problems, a competitive car, and do my best. I the past I’ve been quite good here, so I think as soon as we manage to solve all the problems we will be back to fight for good places.

    Sebastian, Red Bull have announced that you have a new chassis this weekend, so I wonder if you could share with us what’s in it, why do you need it? Obviously, we’ve heard you saying that you don’t feel that the car was talking to you; maybe you’d like to elaborate on that. So, what are you looking for from this car and how close do you think you’re getting to finding it?

    Vettel_Press_ConferenceSebastian VETTEL: I think we concluded after China, where we were quite a little bit behind to change the chassis, so actually it’s not a new chassis, it’s an old one that we used in testing in the winter, and we have some experience with it. It’s more a sanity check rather than a real problem with the other chassis. So it’s just to try everything we can and basically reset and start again. Obviously there is still a lot of work ahead of us, as I mentioned after the first couple of races, maybe I’m not as happy as I want to be but it’s a long process, a lot of things have changed and I think we need to be patient.

    Kevin, two-all versus Jenson, you personally have been three times in Q3, so Saturdays are going OK, but it’s been a rough couple of grands prix, the last two for you. Tell us about that?

    Kevin MAGNUSSEN: Well, I think I’ve learned a lot. It’s been good in many ways as well. Obviously we’re not where we want to be and we need to keep working really hard to get there. But I think I have learned a lot and there have been many positive points to take away from the last two races. It’s no secret that we are not where we want to be; it’s not that we’re happy or that I’m happy. We just need to work hard, keep working hard. The team is doing a great job. They are staying positive, although they are not happy with the position. They are staying strong and keeping the fighting spirit up. So, yeah, I’m pretty happy with how things are going in terms of the progress we’re making.

    It’s unusual for McLaren to have two races where you score no points with either car. How has the team reacted to that internally?

    KM: Well, in Bahrain I think we would have scored points. China was not good for us. It was a bit of a shock how far off the pace we were but again I think we learned a lot. We know China is probably the worst circuit for us at the moment, but we’ll just see how it goes here.

    Fernando, a two-time winner here, winner last year in a Ferrari. Tough start to the season clearly but third place last time out in China. How much encouragement has that given you and the team, and how big a step have you brought with you here this weekend in terms if updates?

    Fernando ALONSO: The China result is a boost for all the team – extra motivation to keep working hard. As you said we are not in a position we are happy with. We start with some deficit to the top teams, especially Mercedes who won the first four races and is dominating now with good margins, so we try to decrease that gap and we try to get closer and closer. To do that we need to make bigger steps than what the other teams will do. For here, to be honest, we need to wait and see. I think the characteristics of the circuit will help us a little bit, with not too big straights – only one here on the finish line. About the new parts, we bring some new parts but nothing out of this world. I don’t think we will be different compared to any other top team in terms on what we bring here, or even less. We need to see. As I said, track characteristics are the biggest help we have here.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: (Mathias Brunner – Speedweek.com) Sebastian, not to use the same chassis again, how much of a ‘black cat’ decision was that?

    SV: Not really. I think it’s not unusual to change chassis, generally. Obviously if you change, you change to a new one, but we decided, as I said before, to change back to an older chassis just to make sure nothing is wrong. Just to see, or basically change the things that you can, to have a reset and try again. We don’t think that there was anything wrong with the old chassis but nevertheless we decided to change, so if so we should get an answer this weekend.

    Q: (Jackob Melgaaro – Metro express Denmark) For Kevin, how do compare the car after the break to the car you drove at the last grand prix and how do feel about this track in Barcelona?

    KM: We don’t know how the car feels, we haven’t driven it yet since the last race, so we’ll have to wait and see. I don’t expect it to feel a lot different. We are bringing a few new parts but nothing that is going to change the world. This track is the first track on the calendar this year that I’ve been to before, so that’s nice. It’s nice to be in Europe again, so feeling a bit more at home. So I’m looking forward to it.

    Q: (Manuel Franco Peral – Diario AS) Fernando, podium is a real goal for you here in Spain?Vettel_Alonso_Press_Conference

    FA: No, I don’t think so. We cannot start the weekend thinking to be on the podium. Or thinking to win the race. That will be creating… y’know, false targets to everyone who will come here. We finished ninth and tenth in Bahrain, we did podium in China because we had some things putting together on that Sunday but it’s not that we are in a position now to say we will fight for the podium here. We will do our best but we know it is going to be a tough weekend and it’s not going to be easy. But, you never know, this is sport and anything can happen but today, sitting here, if I tell you that I will fight for the podium, probably I will lie to you and I don’t want to do so for all the people coming.

    Q: (Renan Do Couto – Warm Up) Question for Fernando. Fernando, after four races this season Kimi has only 11 points. At the same point last season Felipe Massa had 30 points. Does it show that Ferrari need much more than a driver-change to get back on the title fight?

    FA: I don’t know really. We are not in a position at the moment that we expect. We thought to be more competitive and we struggle, as everyone sees, at the start of the season. I think it is the same for all the teams that we are facing some problems, apart from Mercedes, they had an easy four races, four wins. But, you know, we will work hard. We will work hard to come back in a better position and the start of Felipe or the start of Kimi was not the best in terms of points but I think hopefully soon they will be close to the podium or to the victories and we, both Ferraris, can score many points for the team.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Sport-Bild) Question to Fernando. When I listen to your, let me say, remembrance from China, between the lines I could hear that maybe the driver was better than the car in this weekend – or on the Sunday?

    FA: I think the car is always what it is. The car never changes. The driver, also, sometimes you have better luck, sometimes you have worse luck. In China, for example, I have a crash at the start and nothing happened to my car and I could finish the race. I think the Red Bulls, they were fighting a little bit, they lost a little bit of time and I could be there. My pitstops were very quick. In the first stop I overtook Sebastian in that lap, so there were many factors together that put us on the podium. But, y’know, we need to do very special weekends to be on the podium and China was one of those. Lucky. And some other factors. So arriving here, sitting on Thursday on the next press conference. To repeat that podium will be unbelievable. But it’s not, at the moment, our main target.

    Q: (Vladimir Rogovets – Sb Belarus) My question is for Sebastian and Fernando. You are the champions. How long can you work without first place in the podium?

    SV: Well, I think – and Fernando will probably say the same – we’re here to win. I’m not coming here to finish second or fifth – but you have to be realistic and the target is always to get the maximum out of yourself, out of the car, out of the package that you have. And you can get a lot of satisfaction if you achieve that. So, it means basically if a podium is in reach or P5 is the best you can do then you need to ensure to become fifth. If you then become seventh it is not satisfying. But surely, ultimately we are here to win. That’s the target but obviously you know much better what’s going on inside your team and how competitive you are. So yeah, there’s a lot of things that need to come together. Right now, obviously, we have Mercedes in a very, very strong position. Difficult to beat but never impossible.

    FA: Unfortunately I have a lot more experience! So, yeah, there is nothing really you can do apart from try to do the best job you can and try to find different goals. Obviously we are here all to win. My last win was last year, here. So it’s one year without victories. I would like not to have that long period. On the other hand, we are 22 drivers on the grid and maybe 20 are in a worse position than me. So, I cannot also be… y’know, blaming my luck for that. I’m extremely lucky and a very privileged guy, so, you need to keep working and if your boss is happy with you, that’s something very important.

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Sebastian, Christian said in Autosport today that you are extremely sensitive to rear stability on corner entry. But that was… last year you were using the rear instability to turn the car into the corners. Can you explain what it is about this year’s car that you don’t like and why you’ve not been able to adapt to it so far?

    SV: Well, I think generally we all have our own style to how we like to drive the car, how to set up the car. I think in general I don’t mind when the rear’s moving so I don’t mind suffering or having oversteer in the car. But if it is too much obviously if it starts to bother you when the car slides too much, then you find yourself correcting more than actually being able to push or get the maximum out of the car. And, yeah, it slows you down. I think that has been part of the problem so far. There’s lots of reasons behind it so it would be nice to have just one problem and one fix for that but obviously it got a lot more complex this year. There’s a lot more factors than just the car setup. So yeah, we’re still learning a lot. We did already a lot of improvement but there’s still obviously a lot to do. But I think generally you never change your… the way you like to drive a car or your style I think doesn’t change.

    Q: (Cristobal Rosaleny – Car and Driver) Question for Sebastian. You’re changing now chassis. You have spent four races with problems behind Daniel Ricciardo. Do you feel this time you have lost is a bad thing for you for your own progress during the season and could affect the rest of the season for you?

    SV: Surely if I had won the first four races it would be better for my season that what I did! Yeah, it is what it is. There’s two ways. You can always look back and try to find something to complain about – or you can look forward. And I think in general we are trying to look forward to the next race. There’s a lot more races this year to come and for sure we didn’t score as many points as we hoped. But then again after winter testing I think we were in a very bad position. I think right from the first race it was probably better than what we initially expected.  Lots of positives with Daniel’s podium in Australia – which obviously got taken away – but then the podium in Malaysia showed that we are on the right track but knew, just reading the feeling inside the car that it’s not yet where we want to be. And you also see that in the results. As I said, there is a lot of work but I think we are generally quite good in getting the maximum out of the car. At the moment there’s a couple of things that we need to get on top of and then it should be a different story.

    Q: (Daniel Johnson – Daily Telegraph): Seb, looking forward it’s no secret that your car’s good in the corners but not so good at the straight bits in between. How much are you and the team – particularly considering it’s the start of the European season – relying on Renault to make a big step forward for you to mount some kind of a championship challenge?

    SV: As you mentioned, it’s not a big secret. If you look at the sector times or comparisons that we have available, we currently lose out too much on the straights – but there’s always hope, obviously. Again, you have to look at it from the start. Where we started in winter testing was unfortunately way, way off compared to where we wanted to, in all means. Talking about the car, we set fire to the car nearly every run. Talking about the engine, obviously we were not on the same page that we expected to be, both in terms of reliability and performance. So, since that, I think we had a very, very strong comeback but obviously you miss that time of development. But I think there’s always hope. Just look at Ferrari, for example, the last race, the step that they did was mostly in straight line. I think they got a better fuel and picked up around 7kph on the straights. So… we know that our disadvantage is more than 7kph to the Mercedes which are currently the benchmark down the straights but things can change quickly. We need to make sure we push 100 per cent on the car and also on the engine side. In the end we are a team: Renault and Red Bull Racing, so both parties know that we need to push very hard to make sure that we beat these guys and also the currently strongest team with Mercedes.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) Sebastian, you’re changing chassis at this race, why not a new chassis? And the second part: does the chassis have a name?

    SV: Same as before. It’s not that much of a black cat, I hope.

    Q: (Carlos Miguel – La Gaceta) Fernando, this morning Toto Wolff said that you are a real race monster. He said that Ferrari is the biggest enemy in the championship; what do you think of these words?

    FA: About the monster, it depends how you take it. At least he’s a man. If it was a woman who said that I was a monster it would be even worse. We need to do it step by step. As I said, we need to be realistic with the position that we have. We will not give up, there’s a big gap and a big gap in points and in performance with Mercedes but there’s still a long way to go in the championship so we will try to do our best. As a team, and with the potential that Ferrari has, we must do anything we can to close that gap and to become competitive. That will not happen between one race to the next one, that will be a slow recovery and hopefully not too late when we become competitive in terms of points to fight for the championship but let’s do it race by race. China, as I said, was a combination of things and very good luck to get that podium. Here in Barcelona, it’s a good point to check how competitive we are, because it’s a circuit with different characteristics again and a circuit that will give us an answer in some of the parameters and some of the areas that we need to find some answers. Monaco is the next one, then Canada – again a completely different circuit so we are in a moment of the championship that will tell us many many things  in terms of how competitive we can be and how much of a threat we can be for Mercedes. If they count on us for the championship fight, it’s good news because they respect us but we need to deliver if we want to really become a threat, so we are on that, that work.

    Q: (Silvia Reneé Arias – Parabrisas) Fernando, I want to know if you find any change in the Ferrari team after Stefano Domenicali left?

    FA: Not really. At the moment, everything is more or less the same. I have been in Maranello last week. Everything is calm and no big changes, nothing really that you’re going to spot that is different at the moment. As I said in China, Marco (Mattiaci) arrived – as we said – with little experience in motor racing, a lot of experience on the managerial side but he’s listening, he’s learning as quickly as he can in everything. I don’t think Marco wants to become an engineer because that’s not his priority at the moment but he will need some time to settle down and to make some changes, some decisions if he thinks they are needed. As I said, in the two or three weeks that he’s in the job, nothing has really changed at the moment. He needs more time.

    Q: How much are you guiding him; how much are you contributing to that?

    FA: We had some meetings, obviously, to try to help him in all the areas. He’s quite interested to listen to everyone. He called all the engineers and all the engine side,  electronics, the drivers, we are going to his office and try to explain all our points of view and all our requirements. As I said, he’s taking note of everything and he will make the necessary changes, what he thinks is best for the team. Hopefully that’s a good thing for Ferrari to move forward and to improve some things, some historical mistakes that we’ve made in the past and we will see if this fresh approach… and not influence about any technical things because, as I said, he’s not an engineer. Hopefully that will help Ferrari.

    Q: (Valenti Fradera – L’Esportiu) To all of you: the circuit Barcelona Catalunya used to be the venue of choice for pre-season testing but this year you haven’t run here yet. Will that change how you approach the weekend, and will we get to see more laps than usual tomorrow during free practice?

    PM: Even without any tests, it will be same approach as the other tracks, for sure. I was quite interested to run before this season, because it’s a good track, a good combination of corners, good weather but it’s what we have so it will be the same.

    MC: Yeah, it will be pretty similar. Obviously when we’ve come here in the past we’d pretty much know the ideal set-up for the circuit. Obviously the cars have changed drastically since last year so there will be a lot more to find out now we haven’t done any pre-season (testing) here. And we’ve now got the extra set(of tyres) in the first thirty minutes of free practice which we can use so there will definitely be more laps completed but if you compare it to China, for example, it won’t be any different.

    Q: Kevin and Dan are obviously rookies (in F1) but you’ve got personal experience of this circuit, even if it’s not necessarily in Formula One.

    Magnussen_Press_ConferenceKM: I don’t think it’s going to be a lot different – the approach to this weekend than the other weekends. Personally, I like this track, I think it’s a good track, the mix of corners. As I’ve said before, it’s a track that I’ve been to a lot of times, so it’s nice to feel at home here but other than that, it’s just a normal weekend.

    DK: For me as a driver I don’t think it’s going to change a lot compared to other years we’ve been coming here. It’s my first time here in Formula One as well so let’s see how it will start going tomorrow.

    SV: I don’t think it makes a difference. We didn’t run in Bahrain. I think that even if we had had the test here in the winter it would make a difference. But usually it’s quite cold in winter time, so when you come here in May it’s quite a big difference, so you need to use the time that you have available in free practice, but I don’t think we can run as much as we’d like to because we’ve all got the safety… the engines. We will see, but for sure the running tomorrow will be important.

    FA: Nothing to add, really.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Universo On Line) To all of you: when you have one driver from a team that has a car that is winning everything – like Mercedes – and your team needs to win three times in a row (to catch them up), how does it work for teammates? For example, the guy who is behind, does it stimulate him to try to win or does it work in the opposite direction?

    FA: Yeah, I said waiting for Rosberg. I don’t know really. For this, when it happens, it was a question for Mark last year, when Sebastian won nine times. For Rosberg now. It’s not so difficult to know what you’re experiencing. Probably I will answer because I will have the experience, but now… of course, I think Rosberg would like to win, that’s for sure.

    SV: I would hate Lewis now, if I was Nico.

    PM: I would hate Lewis as well. It’s a difficult answer. For sure, you always want to beat your teammate, you always want to do your best and to be ahead of your most close contender. For sure, it’s not ideal to always be at the back but in my opinion, they are both competitive, sometimes one is quicker than the other and sometimes it’s vice versa. It’s a difficult answer because it depends about any driver.

    MC: It would be nice to be in that position, obviously. It’s hard to beat someone who never gives up and Rosberg, I’m sure, will never give up. I’m sure he will get his fair share of wins back. Sometimes if you’re constantly winning you sometimes let things slip so if you just make sure you just keep giving 100 percent, he will definitely get other race wins.

    KM: I don’t have anything to add.

    DK: I don’t want to talk for others but if I have to talk for myself there’s never a huge friendship between teammates so I think you always want to be in front of everyone and there are some circumstances, sometimes if you’re teammate is in front of you, it means that there is something that you can maybe do better but once again, there are different circumstances.

     

  • 2014 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    2014 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    DRIVERS:

    Kamui KOBAYASHI (Caterham)

    Pastor MALDONADO (Lotus)

    Daniil KVYAT (Toro Rosso)

    Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams)

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari)

    Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Valtteri, we’ll start with you. Quite a race in Australia, 15th to sixth, hit the wall, back down to 15th, back up to sixth again, very eventful. But what do you think was possible that day?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, really eventful. If we look at it as a whole race we need to be happy. With the result we have more points, double the points than last year. So it’s a good beginning for us but it could have been better. We could have definitely, without my mistake, been fighting for the podium.

    Tell us a little bit about what these cars are like to drive. Obviously less rear end stability, more of a handful into and out of the corners. How are you finding it so far?

    VB: Yeah, the cars have quite a bit less downforce than last year so you’re sliding a bit more, with more engine power also it makes it a bit more tricky, but I like it. I really think the cars are good fun to drive. I hope it looked good from outside I think we made an exciting race with the new cars, new engines, so I think it’s good.

    Coming to you Daniil. Obviously the youngest ever points scorer with that result in Australia at the age of 19. How do you feel about that and the start you’ve made?

    Daniil KVYAT: It was a good race, also eventful for us. It was everything new for me, so obviously many things to learn during the qualifying, the race, so it was good. P10 is an OK result but we always want some more. In the end, we would always like to get some more points in the future and the more we get the better it is.

    I wonder if you could talk about the step up [to Formula One]. Prior to this the longest race you’ve ever done is 35 or 40 minutes, before you raced in Australia and then of course, the challenge of this weekend in particular so soon [into your F1 career]?

    DK: Yeah, you’re right, it was a very long race but I found a good rhythm and it wasn’t looking so long anymore. Here it’s going to be a bit different because it’s much, much warmer. Let’s see how this challenge will be done. It’s hard for me to say now but for the moment it’s looking pretty hot but it shouldn’t be a big problem in the end.

    Coming to Kamui. Welcome back to Formula One. How does it feel to be back?

    Kamui KOBAYASHI: Hi, first of all I think I have to say it’s great to be back in Formula One. I think after one break doing like GT… I think definitely I enjoyed GT but Formula One is one of the top categories and I also think I was missing the development and of course racing with the top drivers, which I think is one of the most exciting times, so I’m very happy to be back.

    Obviously, quite a tough opening weekend for you in Australia. What has the team learned, first of all about what happened at the start and also about the general problems you suffered at the weekend, and how much have you been able to put right?

    KK: Well, first of all, unfortunately I think that in 2014 the first crash is myself is not really good! But it’s not really fault, it’s coming from the system. I do anything without the rear brake and that was the first proper braking. I mean, at this point I felt straight away, I felt panic, I was a little bit crazy because my car doesn’t stop and I can’t avoid… I feel very sorry for Felipe, just… I don’t want to crash of course like that and I don’t want to end up like that. That’s what happened, a racing accident, so I think we have to find what is really the problem, but we have to find out that it never happens the next time. I think through the week, I’d say it was a very difficult week for us because we missed the complete Friday and we went to FP3. Unfortunately we had not much time to change any settings between practice and qualifying. So, I think we went to Q2, which is very happy but I think we have to look at more potential from what we have. Still we didn’t bring any potential from the car. S I’m quite excited, looking forwards to this weekend. This week is our home race, so it’s very important to having a great result and of course I think a lot of Malaysian fans are excited about Formula One, so hopefully we can achieve something.

    Q: Pastor, obviously, like Kamui, it was a tough weekend for you in Australia. Not too many laps on the board. How much has the team been able to do in the time since then?

    Pastor MALDONADO: The pre-season, it was quite tough for us. We’ve been working very hard and trying to push to solve all of the problems. These kind of problems, when you get at the bottom of the problem, you see that they are not huge problems: easy to fix but it took so much time from the test. In the first race again. So I think we miss free practice, even on Saturday, quali, so we’ve not been able to do proper long runs and to see our real potential of the car because of this kind of issues we’ve had. And now I hope to have a better weekend. We’ve been working hard again to try to improve. We improve quite a lot for the race. We had never been able to run for more than 10 laps together and during the race we did more than 30 laps with both cars – which is a step forward. Now we are fully focussed on finishing the race and I think if we finish the race we will be in a good position to fight for good places.

    Q: From the running that you have done, what’s the car telling you? What does it feel like? Are you optimistic about the potential of this car?

    PM: It is very difficult to say, just because everything is new for us. We will need some more time in the car, especially to explore the potential of the car. It’s very difficult to say. The feeling is not bad but against the other teams we need some more time in the track and try to do our best to catch them. I think it’s going to be a very tough beginning of the season but again things are changing quickly in Formula One. We’ve been working very hard, the team is quite good on reacting and hopefully this race will be much better for us.

    Q: Kimi, seventh in Australia and a bulletin from the Ferrari team since then with some quotes from you saying that one of the problems was the brake-by-wire system in particular. Would you give us a bit more detail on that?

    KimiRaikkonen_PressConferenceKimi RÄIKKÖNEN: ah, I don’t know where that came from. It’s not the issue. There is nothing wrong with the system. Somebody asked me after the race and I said ‘it’s not that’ – because they kind of said ‘is there some issue?’ It’s not true. But just mainly setup to get the car as I like it, as I wanted to have it and I’m sure once… we’re making some stuff for me, so hopefully once we get those it will get a bit more easy to get a bit more feeling in the front end. But it will take a little while. Obviously not the ideal start for the year, for the team, not what we obviously want to achieve. We want to do much better results but after all the difficulties over the weekend and how difficult it was, how many areas, just the small things. At least we got something out and it’s going to be a long year, so hopefully we can now build on it. We have plenty of good people and they’re working flat out as a group to improve things. So, we still have things to do but I’m sure we can keep progressing.

    Q: With the nature of this particular circuit, do you think that you and we will be able to see more of what this Ferrari car is capable of this weekend, perhaps than we did in Australia?

    KR: I don’t know. Every circuit is different. Obviously it is very hot, humid here, slightly different tyres here I think, so I have no idea. Even from the past years it was very difficult to say from race to race and especially with this new year with new rules. It will be hard but hopefully we get a bit better feeling and overall have a bit more experience and all the things run the weekend through a little bit more cleanly and hopefully get the better results.

    Q: Nico, obviously the winner in Australia, your fourth career win. What’s the reaction been like? What’s the feedback been like? How have you spent the last ten days or so? Has it been more special than the other wins?

    Nico ROSBERG: Well it’s been a fantastic start to the season, definitely, yes. I think the whole team has done a great job with these new regulations, with the car and engine and powertrain that they’ve built and yes, it’s been great to win the first race, for sure, fantastic. But now… went on holiday after that, so obviously the holiday was a little bit better, thanks to the win but now back to just fully focussed on getting the most out of this race.

    Q: Obviously it’s well-chronically that it was an eventful race for you here last year, particularly towards the end. Do you expect it to be another tight, close in-house battle this weekend?

    NR: That would be a great thing. The chances are… yes, that we will be right at the front because it seems that we have a bit of an advantage over the other people. Of course Melbourne is not a benchmark, as a race, so we need to be a bit cautious with that but I think we’re looking good, so for sure it will be possible to do a great result again here.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Kate Walker – crash.net) For all of you: we’ve heard quite a lot of negative headlines, negative news reports about the new formula. I’d like to get some positive feedback from you on what these new cars are like to drive and how much fun they are to race.

    DK: Well, it’s quite popular to criticise Formula One nowadays, I think, and there is always some new technology coming and it has happened for me to debut in a new Formula One, let’s say.  It’s quite interesting, I would say. The standard, with the new technology, has to change at some point and I think it’s quite interesting. It’s still fast, it’s going to be faster all the time and we will see at the end of the year how much better it is or not, so it’s early days.

    KK: I think I definitely enjoy driving them because of course it’s definitely not easy at the beginning but I remember there were quite similar headlines before, but after a few years or a few months everybody forgot, so I don’t think it’s a big problem. But for us we’re still enjoying driving. It’s more challenging to drive in dry races, so I’m pretty happy.

    NR: I think it’s been all good for F1. It’s changed around the pecking order which is definitely good for everybody because the same guy winning last year… we needed a bit of a change to that, so that’s been good. The cars are great to drive, that’s fine, so I think it’s all good.

    KR: I don’t think it’s awfully different as a driver, to compare last year’s cars to this year’s. Obviously there are some small detailed issues but it’s the bigger issues that make a difference for me, just to be in a different team. Every team feels a bit different, different cars. It doesn’t really change an awful lot as a driver.

    PM: To be honest, I don’t have much to say, because I’ve not spent a lot of time in the car at the moment. It’s quite early, but it doesn’t feel a lot different to what we had in the past. For sure, it’s a more complicated car, especially for the technicians, for the engineers in the paddock. For us, it’s a bit easier on the steering wheel. It’s a bit more complicated but it’s what we have at the moment. It’s the same for everyone.

    Q: (Elmar Dreher – DPA) Nico, with a win here, you can equalise the five wins by your father. What does that mean Rosberg_PressConferencefor you, and how confident are you to win here?

    NR: I understand that it’s interesting to make comparisons and that, and even I find it interesting. After Australia, I read that he also won the first time… at the first Australian GP, 29 years ago. It’s fun to read those things but I really don’t think about that. I don’t compare. I’m proud of what my father achieved but I’m just focused on my job and getting the most out of it and definitely, yes, I’m optimistic for the weekend and there is a possibility to win.

    Q: (Adrian Rodriguez Huber – Agencia EFE) Kimi, how has your relationship with Fernando Alonso developed  if it has, in any direction, since you guys have become teammates?

    KR: It’s good, it always been good. Now, obviously, it’s early days but there was a lot of talk in the media from you guys, different people saying different things, but it’s been good. But the team has been trying to improve things and get the team to where we want to be.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, did you have any temptation to go to drive the simulator to get better settings for you?

    KR: No.

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere della Sera) Kimi, can we say that Ferrari will be more able to attack Mercedes and the other teams here?

    KR: Like I said before, we don’t know how it’s going to be here. I would say it’s a different circuit, it will be very hard for the cars, the heat. We have to wait and see how we can do. Obviously we learned quite a bit on things from the last race but then it’s the same for every team. Hopefully we can be a bit more happy and see where we end up.

    Q: (Abhishek Takle – Midday) To all of you: now that the first race is out of the way, do you have a fair idea of who stands where in the pecking order? Or given that Albert Park is a unique circuit, is it still very much a step into the unknown?

    VB: I think we have some kind of idea where every team is. Of course, like Nico said before, Melbourne is maybe not the best benchmark, a little bit different track than most of the others. We will see here, and of course, all the teams are going to improve so much race by race, especially when we get to Europe. Some kind of idea but it can change.

    Q: So where do you think you are? Second? Third fastest car?

    VB: Somewhere there, hopefully. It’s been a good start for us, hopefully we can maintain it because everyone is going to improve a lot, so I would definitely see no reason why we couldn’t find four top six positions.

    KR: I think we are more or less where we finished.

    NR: I think we look to be the quickest at the moment which is fantastic but we need to be careful with that and the opposition is not asleep, they’re pushing like crazy.

    Q: Daniil, Toro Rosso got two cars into the top ten in qualifying and the race in Australia which they didn’t do the whole of last year, so where does that put you in the pecking order at the moment?

    DK: Well, I hope in the points quite consistently. It would be good for us. If then we can use the conditions to our best, then hopefully we can go as high as possible, it’s always what we are fighting for and the higher the better.

    Q: Pastor, hard to say?

    PM: Yeah. No.

    KK: Same. Sorry.

  • F1 2014: Australia GP Review – Rosberg Romps To Melbourne Victory

    F1 2014: Australia GP Review – Rosberg Romps To Melbourne Victory

    It was at the completion of the 2013 Abu Dhabi grand prix when Sebastian Vettel, on his way to a nine race winning streak, reminded his team to savour their victorious memories. How spot-on he was.

    The free practice session made it quite clear that Mercedes’ favourites tag was no gaffe. For the 35th time Lewis Hamilton ensured that he would start in the best position possible on Sunday while Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo split the Silver Arrows for his first front row start.

    It was somewhat surprising that Hamilton didn’t appear more enthused by his pole position. Somewhere in the back of his mind the fear about reliability must still have been lingering.  It wasn’t unfounded as the 2008 champion was forced to retire on lap three after dropping a cylinder.

    It was apparent that Red Bull Racing had made tremendous strides in Australia as Daniel Ricciardo easily maintained second place throughout the race. However, disaster struck the Milton Keyes based team with the retirement of Sebastian Vettel. The four time champion struggled throughout the weekend with software issues which proved his ultimate demise in the race. After three laps the German reported a lack of power which spelled the end of his Australian Grand Prix.

    Daniel Ricciardo became the first Australian driver to occupy a step on the podium of an Australian GP. However his joy was short lived as the Red Bull team were called into the stewards’ office as celebrations were no doubt in full swing.  The outcome was exclusion from the final standings for Daniel Ricciardo as a result of the fuel flow rate on his car being too high during the race. The fuel flow rate for 2014 is set at 100 kgs per hour. What’s more, during the race, a technical representative from the FIA warned the team that the flow rate was too high. However, Red Bull elected not to change the flow rate. The team has stated their intention to appeal the disqualification. It seems unlikely that the decision will be overturned given that Red Bull chose to ignore the FIA’s helping hand during the race.

    Bad news for Red Bull meant an even better day at the office for McLaren.  Kevin Magnussen’s drive belied the fact that the Danish youngster was in his first grand prix. It serves as the perfect example of a 21st century rookie – light years removed from being thrown in the deep-end of a cutthroat motor racing series and having to fend for yourself. ‘Young drivers’ who form part of a team’s driving program are groomed to the hilt with exposure to the team long before they become, officially, a part of it. Just like Kevin Magnussen. But mixing it in the deep-end still requires great composure and skill both of which K-Mag seems to have in abundance.

    McLaren will leave Australian shores as the happiest team in the paddock. After suffering their worst season ever in 2013, the Woking based team has delivered immediate results. Not only does Magnussen become the first Dane on the podium but the ever-smooth Jenson Button’s third place secures McLaren the lead of the constructors’ championship after round one.

    A total of fourteen cars crossed the finish line in Australia implying that reliability didn’t appear to be as catastrophic as initially predicted. However, several teams will have been working quite hard to mask or manage a range of issues.

    Ferrari was such a team. It was a far from spectacular day at the office but both cars saw the chequered flag. It was confirmed that neither of the two Ferrari were able to run at ultimate power due to electrical problem believed to be related to the energy recovery system. Both drivers suffered with graining on their Pirelli tyres and spent most of the afternoon tucked up in traffic. A combination of these issues had a significant impact on their pace. Fernando Alonso finished in his qualifying position of fifth, which later became fourth, while Raikkonen finished seventh overall. However, both drivers appeared frustrated with their F14T Ferrari.  A short clip has been making the rounds online in which the usually unemotional Kimi Raikkonen can be heard informing his engineer to tell the team that “it doesn’t work, so ask them to change it.”

    Nico Rosberg wins the Australian Grand Prix for MercedesAs the red lights extinguished, Nico Rosberg grabbed the lead of the race and was never challenged on his way to victory. Rosberg cleared off from the head of pack at the blistering pace that Mercedes had promised throughout the winter testing season. Despite it only being the first round of the season Mercedes has proven to be the team to beat in terms of pace. Where reliability is concerned the Brackley based team are still facing the same questions as most other throughout the field.

    It was a memorable day for Russian rookie Daniil Kvyat too. Many doubted his readiness for Formula 1 and questioned whether he deserved a place in the sport. It wasn’t very long ago that the Russian driver obtained his superlicence either and with it he has already broken a record. By finishing ninth overall Kvyat becomes the youngest points scorer in Formula 1 history. He snatches the record from SebastianVettel by a mere 27 days.

    In reality, the first race of the 2014 season was far more intriguing than exciting. It is hardly surprising that neither Lotus made the end of the race nor that teams are still striving to understand exactly how their cars work. It will take some time to get on top of this new era of fully hybrid Formula 1. But already the status quo seems to have been thrown out the window.