F1 Madness

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  • 2018 Chinese GP: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    2018 Chinese GP: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    2 – Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari)

    3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

     

    TRACK INTERVIEWS

    (conducted by Davide Valsecchi)

    Q: Sebastian, what a lap, it was just amazing. And then the last sector, how good it was, it was something unbelievable.

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, I was happy with the whole lap, not just the last sector. The car was really amazing. It just kept getting better, so really happy. I knew that on the first lap I had some mistakes. I lost the rear at Turn 3 at the exit of the low-speed, and then 6 again, so I was a bit beaten up, but then I knew that if I got a tidy lap and I have a little bit of margin then I could push.

     

    Q: Do you ever check the reaction of the fans? They love it!

    SV: Yeah, really good. Also in the hairpin, in Turn 14, just under braking, outside, I see the people going crazy. It’s really nice.

     

    Q: Kimi, you were on pole just until the last sector of Sebastian Vettel. You have to be proud of your quali? I know it must be disappointing but your drive was excellent today.

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: It was OK, but not good enough. It’s not exactly what I wanted, so, yeah, we go tomorrow and see what we can do.

     

    Q: About tomorrow: what do you think you can do?

    KR: Well, we try to improve. Obviously it’s going to be a long race. We need to stay out of issues and go from there and see what it brings.

     

    Q: Valtteri, how was your quali? It seemed that you were struggling a bit but then just at the end you could improve. What do you think, how was your Mercedes today?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: I think for us it was quite straightforward honestly, as a qualifying, run by run understanding the tyres, getting them to work better. But we never could achieve similar grip levels to Ferrari today.

     

    Q: Let me check it out, tomorrow, first row, Turn 1, how is it going to be?

    SV: I don’t know. We find out tomorrow. Looks like on Kimi’s side there’s more rubber, so I need a good start!

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

     

    Sebastian, just talk us through that session and how you built up to that incredible time of 1:31.095?

    SV: Yeah, it was indeed a crazy session – the car was unbelievable and it just got better. I think right from the first lap in the first of part of qualifying, in Q1, I was really happy and in the end we didn’t have to do much on the car. I didn’t have to fight so much finding the last fine tunings. I was very happy with the settings I had from the beginning. Usually you change quite a lot, you change your mind… it was tricky, because also the wind was changing, sometimes more, sometimes less, and a bit gusty as well. Trying to look around the lap to see where the flags are, trying to get a reference. The last lap in Q3 I knew I could step it up. I knew I had a bit more in me, because on the first run I had two moments, out of Turn 3, accelerating I was probably a bit keen. The same out of Turn 6, I lost the rear twice, so I lost a bit of momentum in those places. So I knew that I had a little bit more and obviously in the last lap I got it all together and very happy that when I crossed the line I was looking up to see the screen and I saw something green, which is usually good, and little bit of purple. Really pleased; it was a tight session but I think again a great result for the team.

     

    Your car seems to be getting stronger by the race. Are you surprised by the gap to Mercedes this weekend?

    SV: Yes, we are. I think the first three races have been a bit different now. The tracks are quite different to each other and to have that much of a gap is a bit of a surprise. But I think it’s also a track where you just need to get in and find that sweet spot and if you are a little bit out then easily you drop a little bit of time, so I wouldn’t be surprised tomorrow if that gap disappears and it will be a very tight race. Obviously, I wouldn’t mind if it stays there but I think it will be a tight race amongst the top three teams, and a long, tough race, but obviously it’s good to start from the front.

     

    Q: Kimi, coming on to you, you’ve been hooked up all weekend. Very, very close to your team-mate. Just talk us through the session from your point of view.

    KR: I think it was pretty straightforward. Not much really happened. Obviously after the morning it was a bit unknown where I was going to be with the wind and everything. I was pretty OK. Not much to say that was wrong. For sure there are things that we can improve always – but that’s a never-ending story. It was close. How close I don’t even know but close enough to make a difference, a few corners here and there. So, yeah, not ideal but tomorrow is another day. We’ll see what happens.

     

    Q: You say tomorrow’s the day. You’re going to be starting the race on the soft tyre, as are the top four drivers. Was that a straightforward decision – or were you tempted to start on the ultrasoft?

    KR: It was quite an easy decision, at least in the minds. If you cannot be fast enough… that we only find out in qualifying always but I think it was quite straightforward decision. We’ll see how it plays out tomorrow. It’s a bit unknown tomorrow.

     

    Q: Valtteri, just talking about that gap to Ferrari. Sebastian has already told us that he’s surprised at the size of the gap. Are you?

    VB: Yeah, we are. We thought coming into today that we would be fighting for the pole position but it was definitely out of reach today, there was nothing in the lap that we could have gained that much. I think there’s a little bit in terms of getting the tyres absolutely perfect for the lap – but it’s not half a second. You could feel it if it would be that big. So, I think they have a really strong car. We can see it, especially in long corners, Turn One-Two, they make some good gains to us and obviously not without any speed difference on the straights, they can keep the gains they make in the corners – so we definitely have work to do but yeah, tomorrow is a different day. Again, a long race ahead and like we saw last weekend it probably will be close. Hopefully we can make it up tomorrow what we lost today.

     

    Q: Can we elaborate a bit more about tomorrow. Do you think you’re going to have a more competitive race car than you had today?

    VB: hmmm… it’s difficult to say. We expected to go into today, that we would be fighting for the pole. From our numbers, it’s going to be very close between us and Ferrari – but as they were quicker today, we don’t know. But we will for sure try with everything we can. Obviously, we start on similar tyres so there’s not going to be massive differences with the strategies but yeah, we need to try and take the opportunities.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

     

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Question for Kimi. Kimi, the first two sectors of your final lap were the fastest in the session so far, what happened in the final sector?

    KR: Nothing really. I lost some time but… I don’t know why. It wasn’t like I did some big mistake but yeah, need to see, I don’t know right now.

     

    Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport-Magazin.com) Question for the two Ferrari drivers. It’s always a balance between race pace and qualifying pace. Now, as you’ve seen the gap to the Mercedes, do you feel you’ve sacrificed race pace a bit too much for qualifying pace?

    SV: No. No, I think we try to look at both, obviously, and tomorrow the forecast is quite different so I think we kept that in mind. Obviously we see how it works tomorrow but the answer is still no.

     

    Kimi, anything to add?

    KR: I honestly don’t know how you could sacrifice something today to be better tomorrow. We have nothing that you could change like that. I never… as long as I remember, there has never been a case like that. You have somehow different setups for two days. It’s what you have. If it’s fast in qualifying it’s fast in the race, if it works.

     

    Q: (Yiyi Duan – Titan Sport) Kimi, very good qualifying lap but still not good enough so what details do you think can be improved if you want to overtake your teammate, if it’s possible, in tomorrow’s race?

    KR: Well, obviously first of all we need to make sure that we run a troublefree race. Obviously that’s the first point and then we have to see how it pans out, obviously, so it’s a long race. We know what we’re going to do between ourselves so there’s nothing… I think the start will be a big part of it and who knows? We will see how it pans out and what it brings but we need to make the best out of it.

     

    Q: (Keren Wang – Top Driver) Valtteri, you mentioned that you were struggling to find the grip level that you had yesterday. Was it because of the low temperature, does that mean that your car is less competitive under low temperature conditions?

    VB: Well, I think the grip levels came up, for sure, from yesterday so in a way it was better but I think I said, I just struggled to find as much grip as Kimi and Seb. I said maybe some part of it can be from the tyres but I think some of it must come from the car. I don’t know if yesterday… it’s (tomorrow) going to be quite different to today, definitely warmer, a few degrees warmer with the air and definitely on the track; with the sun it’s a question mark. But we don’t think we are less competitive on a cold track. I thought we struggled a bit in Bahrain with the heat! For sure, we always need to understand everything better but for sure we need to make the car better as well.

     

    Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport-Magazin.com) Seb, you had some problems yesterday; I don’t think the balance was alright and on the long run the lap times dropped a bit. Why did it go so much better today? Did you change something dramatic in the car or what happened?

    SV: We made some small changes but I think it was already pretty OK yesterday afternoon. I think in the long run I was catching traffic and (on) the other one it started to rain so I think for everyone it was a bit compromised, the amount of laps that you got. Yeah, I think overall I was happier today. Obviously it helps a little bit to focus on one lap as well, if you get the P3 session right you get the better feeling for the car so between practice and qualifying we didn’t do hardly anything. I think the overnight changes that we did, they were working and they made the car a little bit better. I was a little bit happier with the front end overall. I hope we can carry that momentum and feeling, obviously, into the race tomorrow.

     

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Valtteri, are we seeing a recurrence of Mercedes’s struggles on the softest compound Pirellis from last year? And in those scenarios why do you think you are able to get more out of the car than Lewis?

    VB: I think we saw in the races before that in general we’ve been a bit better with the harder compounds. That is something that we’re still working on, to get more out of the softer compounds and I think Ferrari is doing something better on that so yes, for that. I think the gap between me and Lewis was really small, it’s been quite small all weekend so it’s about fine details. I haven’t seen the lap so it’s difficult to say, really, why I was ahead but yeah, it’s been close between us all season so far so that’s how it is.

     

     

    Photo credit: Scuderia Ferrari Formula One

  • Vettel Fastest in Final Chinese GP Practice

    Vettel Fastest in Final Chinese GP Practice

    After a closely contested Free Practice 2, Sebastian Vettel pulled clear of the pack and set the fastest time in FP3 for the Chinese Grand Prix.

    Vettel’s quickest time of 1:33.018 put him 0.451s clear of team mate Kimi Raikkonen who was second fastest with a 1:33.469. Valtteri Bottas in the Mercedes was 3rd fastest 0.743s off the pace.

    Verstappen’s best time was a 1:33.969 nearly a second down on Vettel while Hamilton finished 5th fastest just over a second off the pace.

    Magnussen was best of the rest for the session in 6th for Haas ahead of Sergio Perez in the Force India. Esteban Ocon was 8th fastest.

    Carlos Sainz continues quietly with his good pace over the weekend by getting his car again into the top 10, this time 9th fasetest while Sergei Sirotkin in the Williams rounded out the top 10.

    Conditions this morning in Shanghai were quite cold but drivers were keen to get out and start setting times. After the rains last night the rubber on the track was washed away and the drivers were presented with a clean track this morning. The low track temperatures certainly affected some of the drivers’ runs on the harder compound tyres.

    Hamilton was struggling for grip on the soft tyres. He had a few wide moments at Turn 10 and a few lock-ups. It was capped by a spin at the exit of Turn 10. It was not just Hamilton, Bottas was struggling for pace as well and the Mercedes cars did not look comfortable in the cold conditions.

    If a speed differential was giving Red Bull headaches, Ricciardo’s engine problem compounded things further. The Australian’s car had thick white smoke billowing out of the back. The Red Bull mechanics were lucky enough to get the car back and could start with the engine change before qualifying.

    Ferrari look like they have the pace advantage over one lap if the times in FP3 are anything to go by, but Mercedes will come back and mount a challenge to the scarlet cars.

  • Chinese GP 2018: Friday Free Practice Round Up

    Chinese GP 2018: Friday Free Practice Round Up

    Lewis Hamilton, for the second time this season, finished both Free Practice 1 and Free Practice on top of the time sheets.

    Hamilton looked like he may run with it at the end of FP1 and it looked like Mercedes were on their way to stamp their dominance on the weekend but come FP2 it was a different story. The top 4 in FP2 were just separated by 0.108s setting up another exciting qualifying battle on Saturday.

    With rain threatening both sessions, the drivers were out on track early and got in some good mileage. Proper rain started falling with 10min remaining in FP2 which effectively ended the day of running.

    Free Practice 1

    Hamilton stamped his authority on FP1 by setting the fastest lap of the session on the soft compound tyres, 0.359s clear of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen who could only manage a 1:34.358 on the ultra soft tyres.

    Hamilton and Bottas did not run the ultra soft tyre in FP1 which made their times all the more impressive. Bottas managed 3rd fastest nearly half a second off Hamilton.

    The Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen finished 4th and 5th fastest respectively ahead of Sebastian Vettel in 6th in the other Ferrari who was a little under a second off the pace.

    Haas got both their cars in the top 10 with Kevin Magnussen getting 7th fastest with team mate Romain Grosjean 9th. The Haas’ were split by Carlos Sainz in the Renault in 8th and with Nico Hulkenberg rounding out the top 10.

    The threat of rain hung in the air and the session was off to a busy start. The rain, however, did not materialise with just a few spots of drizzle falling which did not cause any problems.

    Free Practice 2

    While everyone thought that Hamilton might run away with things this weekend, FP2 went the other way. The top 4 were all within 0.108s of each other. Hamilton finished the fastest in the session but only by 0.007s from Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari.

    Bottas was 3rd fastest 0.033s off the pace while Vettel placed 4th 0.108s off the pace.

    Max Verstappen was 5th fastest ahead of Hulkenberg in the Renault in 6th and Kevin Magnussen in the Haas in 7th. Carlos Sainz got his Renault again into the top 10 finishing 8th with Daniel Ricciardo in the other Red Bull in 9th.

    Rounding out the top 10 was Fernando Alonso.

    Hamilton and Raikkonen had a few off track excursions while Haas’ Romain Grosjean and Williams’ Lance Stroll both spun out on track. The wind and cool weather made things tricky for some.

    Stoffel Vandoorne’s session came to an early end after he left the pits with a loose wheel. McLaren were subsequently fined 5000 Euros.

    The long run pace between the Ferrari’s and Mercedes is very close and together with their one lap pace it is shaping up to be a good weekend for the fans. Red Bull are also in the mix with their race pace.

    With pace so close, who ever makes a mistake in qualifying will be punished quite severely.

  • 2018 Chinese GP: Friday Press Conference

    2018 Chinese GP: Friday Press Conference

    TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Maurizio ARRIVABENE (Ferrari), Robert FERNLEY (Force India), Franz TOST (Toro Rosso)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Franz, can we start by looking back at the Bahrain Grand Prix. How satisfying was Pierre’s fourth place and can you give us some idea of the emotion within the team and at Honda after the race?

    Franz TOST: Well, it was a very emotional race result of course, because the fourth place we didn’t expect. We expected to show quite a good performance and realistically I expected a place between eight and ten. At the end it was the fourth place. It was a big positive surprise and I’m very happy, especially for Honda after the difficulties they had in the past, and also for Toro Rosso of course, and for Pierre. Pierre drove a fantastic race, without any mistakes. He deserved this fourth position and I hope that we can continue in a similar way. Not always in the fourth position of course, because we must not forget that three cars in front of us did not finish. They were faster, like Kimi Räikkönen, then Verstappen and also Ricciardo. But nevertheless, it was a good performance.

     

    One of your most satisfying results in Formula 1? You, personally?

    FT: Of course one of the most satisfying results, especially thinking about Honda, because we last year, in December, we had many meetings in Tokyo and I promised the president that we would have a successful season and a successful future, and this was the first step. Therefore, I was quite satisfied to have this good result.

     

    You’ve already said that Pierre drove a fantastic race, but Brendon had a more difficult weekend. What can we expect from him this weekend and going forward as well?

    FT: Brendon was also quite good in the qualifying. He missed Q3 just by one tenth. The race went a little bit in another direction because he had a collision with Pérez and he got the 10-second penalty and after this penalty he was not anymore in a position to score points, although I think if the race had gone for another three to five laps maybe he could have finished in 10th position. He drove a good race. Brendon is doing a good job, because you must not forget that most of the tracks, he doesn’t know. Also here, he is the first time with a Formula 1 car, he was here in LMP1. It’s not so easy to get everything together with these real strong midfield competitors and I am quite convinced that Brendon is on a good way and he will quite soon be close to Gasly.

     

    Thank you. Bob, turning to you, a point for Esteban in Bahrain demonstrated progress for Force India, but it hasn’t been the easiest of starts. How do you assess the opening couple of races, and the winter as well? 

    Robert FERNLEY: Well, I think actually it’s probably misleading. As a team, we have actually improved race-on-race, both for Australia and for Bahrain, by quite a significant amount. In terms of the opposition, they have improved even more, and the reliability is there. Last year we probably flattered a little bit to deceive getting the points early in the season, while we were very strong towards the end of the season. And I think it’s probably the same now. We had a good baseline programme for Bahrain in FP1 and FP2, which paid off, and you could see the difference in qualifying. We didn’t have a particularly good race: Checo had his incident on lap one, which basically took him out, and Esteban had a bad re-start, and we got betwixt and between a strategy that really didn’t pay off for us. I think hopefully we’re getting back on track again and the team under Andrew Green will do a great job of bringing the car forward.

     

    You made a reference there to the midfield closing up. Can you give some feeling of how difficult the task ahead is? Not only for Force India but for everyone in that midfield? What’s the secret for your guys to finish fourth this year?

    RF: I think it’s, well, like all times it’s down to reliability and being able to maintain the pace all the time. If you look at Bahrain, and looking at two or three teams, if you look at the Haas programme, one was in Q3, one dropped out in Q1. If you look at the McLarens, they just got the set-up slightly wrong and didn’t have the pace to get to Q3. It’s literally a tenth or two and that’s the difference in making Q3 and not.

     

    Can you remember a time when the midfield was as tight as this?

    RF: Not in recent years, no. I think it’s tremendous. The battle for that fourth place in the championship is going to be extremely interesting through the year.

     

    Thank you. Maurizio, two races, two victories for the team, it’s been a tremendous start. But first, and most importantly, how is Francesco Cigarini, the mechanic who was injured in Bahrain last weekend?

    Maurizio ARRIVABENE: Francesco is fine. He went back to Italy yesterday, so it’s all under control.

     

    And how is he? Is he in good spirits? Have you had the chance to catch up with him?

    MA: Of course, as team principal I was talking with him every day. He’s at home, it’s all OK.

     

    Fantastic news. As I say, two victories so far and Sebastian is sitting pretty at the top of the championship. He seemed happier with his car in Bahrain last weekend than he was in Melbourne. Can we expect further progress on that front here in China as well.

    MA: We are at the early stage of the season. The performance of the car is changing and it is really related to the track. So track versus other track, they are changing the performance. They have different characteristics. So I think at this early stage we are happy for the results that we have. But in the meantime we know that the season will be long. Here, for example, in China we will see Mercedes and Red Bull quite strong, but we are not here to surrender.

     

    Maurizio, can we have a quick word from you about the performance of Kimi Räikkönen this year? He seems to have hit the ground running, he’s performing well.

    MA: Yeah, I’m quite happy about the performance of Kimi. He is in good physical form, which for him is very, very important, because, if you remember, a couple of years ago he has a problem with his back but now he is recovering well, he’s really fit, and focused on his job.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

     

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Maurizio, can you explain why Kimi was given the green light to leave in the pit stop in Bahrain and what has changed in the procedure for this weekend?

    MA: Just to make it clear, once, forever. First of all, the team was hurt. We have a person who was injured, so it was in our interest to review the overall procedure. We done our review, together with the FIA have to say, as they are caring about safety, as we are caring about safety. We went through all the procedure. We have a procedure to ensure that the pit stops during the race are done in the most safe mode. In this case we have three factor – one involves human control, the other involves mechanical, the other involves electronic device. What’s happening there is we have a mishandling of the rear left. It was not perfectly read by the electronic device that gives the green light. We went through all the procedure together with the FIA, making sure that this thing doesn’t happen again, and it’s in our interest, because we care about our people, before anything else.

     

    Q: (Michael Butterworth – Xinhua News Agency) This is to Franz. We talked just now about your fourth place last time out in Bahrain and we know that the McLaren-Honda partnership wasn’t that successful over the last three years or so. Do you think it’s a case that Honda is a better fit for a team like Toro Rosso than it was with a team like McLaren, for example?

    FT: I don’t know the circumstances which happened at McLaren and I do not want to comment on this because this is past tense and I was not involved – therefore I cannot come up with any conclusions. The fact is Toro Rosso has a fantastic relationship with Honda. We work very closely together, we worked quite hard during the winter months to sort out all the problems which maybe occurred in the past and Honda worked very hard to come up with a reliable and competitive engine. The last two races they proved that this is the case and I am really optimistic for the future.

     

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) To all three of you but particularly to Maurizio. Your comments please about the Liberty presentation last Friday and whether Maurizio, Ferrari is satisfied with what was proposed in terms of either bonus structure, financial structure etcetera. And the impact on your team of the necessary reduction in headcount.

    MA: First of all Dieter, I was not commenting on the meeting that we have. We were listening to the presentation and any kind of decision related to our further strategy or decision, they are related to our CEO. That is the one that has the responsibility to take this kind of decision.

     

    Bob, anything further to add?

    RF: Not really. I think we have to remember this is work in progress. It’s not something that really is for discussion at this point. It’s something that’s presented to us. It will go another few rounds yet before something becomes more concrete. I think it’s too presumptuous to start thinking that we’ve got the process in place yet. I think it’s too early.

     

    Franz, anything from you on that?

    FT: I support all the points which Liberty Media presented and I hope that they will realise it.

     

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) A question for Maurizio about the matter of the meeting. It’s difficult to comment but I would just like to know if Ferrari refuse totally the budget cap or if there is a door open to discuss something like this – maybe with different figures. And, about the new distribution of money, if it’s something that you don’t want to discuss at all with Liberty or there is some chance to speak about it.

    MA: I have to point out that it’s not difficult to make a comment. It’s simply not my job. It’s the responsibility of my chairman.

     

    Q: (Steve Wade – AP) Forgive me, I came in late. Can you explain again the condition of your mechanic and if you’ve been to see him, been in contact with him.

    MA: The first comment is that he’s back in Italy, he’s at home and he’s OK.

     

    Are you in contact with him?

    MA: Of course. As the team principal I’m in contact with him. His name is Francesco but he’s not St Francesco. Blessing the hurt who doesn’t need hero. This is Bertolt Brecht, it’s not Maurizio.

     

    Q: (Edd Straw – Autosport) Question for Maurizio. Although it’s not your job to discuss the proposals, it would be your role to implement any changes to Ferrari as a result of the proposals. Toto Wolff has said a budget cap of $150million is not achievable. Could such a thing be achievable for Ferrari?

    MA: I mean we are reading the overall document. We are discussing and, I mean, we will see in the future if it’s achievable or not.

     

    Q: (Gaëtan Vigneron – RTBF) Question for Franz. There is always a technical aspect in a relationship but there is a also a human one. What did you try to do to build a respectful relationship with Honda with the kind of harmony that was maybe a little bit missing in the past years with another team?

    FT: The Toro Rosso team from its nature is a very friendly team with Italian mentality. I must say that we never had any frictions from the very beginning onwards we had a good cooperation. In addition to this, we organised some workshops for our engineers and employees who are working together with the Honda people, to understand the culture, to understand the way of thinking, because the cultures between Europe and Japan are different. I must say that they found a really good way of working together without any problems and I am also convinced that this will continue in this way. From the technical side, as I mentioned before, we had a couple of technical meetings in December where we discussed different topics and where both sides started immediately to work on this and we are still quite close, cooperating together because we want to develop the car as well as the power unit also during the season. From this point of view I must say Toro Rosso is in the best situation we have ever been – because we are now much more involved in the complete design process, regarding the car and how to fit in the power unit, how to design the cooling system, the exhaust system, where to put the electric boxes and so on. I think, especially for next year, this will be a big advantage from the complete car design point of view.

     

    Franz, are there Honda engineers based in Faenza?

    FT: No, the Honda engineers are based… some of them are based in Milton Keynes, because Honda has there as well an R&D department, but most of them are in Sakura and our engineers are flying to Sakura, to Japan when there is a special programme on the dyno or wherever because we are now much more involved also in the dyno runnings. We started already in November/December with the gearbox, and engine and gearbox tests and gearshifts and all this kind of stuff and we also are currently running a programme in Sakura.

     

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, RaceFans.net) Bob, you said earlier on that this is a work in progress, this Liberty presentation. To all three of you, what is the deadline needed before it’s really firmed up and proposals are made and accepted and regulations, because we only have two and a half years left before the current agreements expire?

    BF: I am hoping that most of it will be done this year, perhaps the financials will take a bit longer but I would have thought that the engine regulations would have to be out reasonably quickly. It’s more to do with the engine manufacturers than it is us. We’re a customer team so we’re not really involved in that, Dieter, but I’m sure those would have to be done this year to give everybody the right opportunity and I would have thought that early next year – this time – we should be looking at chassis regs and anything else that’s surrounding that; cost controls or whatever, should be in place as well.

    MA: They give us a deadline for the end of May, I think. I hope that this deadline is going to be respected. It’s a bit early somehow but it’s far if you’re looking at the situation from another point of view, a technical point of view. Concerning the engine, we, Mercedes, Renault and Honda sent a letter a month ago explaining in detail our position. Now, it’s quite clear.

    FT: I think the power unit regulation has to be finalised soon, May, June, otherwise I don’t think it’s possible for new manufacturers to come into Formula One because time is running away, ’21 is tomorrow and I think that Liberty Media is aware of this and the rest we will see.

     

    Q: (Julien Billiotte – AutoHebdo) I’ll try my luck with a question to Maurizio: Maurizio how would Ferrari react if you were to lose your historic right to veto any regulation change under Liberty Media’s new governance plans?

    MA: We’ll let you know as soon as we go deeper into the conversations. You can see a smile on our face or not.

    BF: Veto the question.

     

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, RaceFans.net) Maurizio, Bob has said that he would like to see the engine regulations firmed up this year then the chassis in a year’s time and the money thereafter. From a Ferrari perspective, can one actually split it, given that to Ferrari all three are very very important elements which would be basically decide your way forward?

    MA: All the elements are important because they are somehow linked together so soon we will find an agreement if any, related to the various topics that are into the proposals and then we can go.

    BF: Just to clarify Dieter, it would be nice to have everything done in one go but I’m giving you the timelines that might be realistic rather than (those that) are absolutely necessary.

     

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Maurizio, about the sporting situation now, I would like to ask you what makes you more proud about this season?

    MA: As I said at the beginning, we have only had two races now. The season is very very long so as I said before, the car behaviour changes from one track to another. I can see here, for example, Mercedes and Red Bull are quite strong but we are not here, as I said before, to surrender. You came later, I suppose. You were not here.

     

    Q: (Yang Guang – China Radio International) My question is about the circuit; there were a few slides in the morning practice, so how would you assess the condition of the Shanghai Circuit and what are your strategies for the following sessions in terms of the weather conditions?

    MA: Talking about the strategy, can you ask this question to Horner and Toto and then you let me know? Talking about the track, yeah, it’s a fantastic track, it’s very different versus Australia and Bahrain where we competed. I think it’s great to be here because we feel that Chinese people really support Formula One and I think that in the future and I hope that in the near future they are supporting further because the infrastructure here is great.

     

    Q: And Bob, your strategy going forward for the rest of the sessions?

    BF: If you could control the wind, that would be the strategy! I think that it’s a wind related issue today, it’s very strong and gusting so it’s causing a few issues for the drivers but the track is fantastic and it’s a great facility. We just look forward to being able to optimise the set-ups.

    FT: There’s not much to add. Yeah, it’s a fantastic infrastructure here, it’s a really nice racetrack, we always like to come here. Unfortunately the weather is not as beautiful as it could be because it’s a little bit cold and the wind is blowing a lot which has a big impact on the behaviour and the balance of the car and the strategy is to do as many laps as possible because our drivers need to learn the track and they will do some long runs today in the afternoon and then we will see.

    MA: I would like to say something concerning Bahrain. I would like to thank our doctor, our team doctor, the medical staff of the FIA and also the authorities in Bahrain, they immediately granted to us the best doctors in Bahrain to do the surgery and they were assisting us 24 hours (a day) literally, so thanks to all of them.

  • Formula 1 2018: Roll on China

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

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

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

    Mercedes on the back foot?

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

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

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

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

    Best of the rest

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

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

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

    China 2018_Selected SetsPirelli Skips a Step

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

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

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

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

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

     

  • F1 2018: Bahrain Gp Review – Vettel Holds Nerve for 49th Career Win

    F1 2018: Bahrain Gp Review – Vettel Holds Nerve for 49th Career Win

    It may only be the second round of the 2018 season but the Bahrain grand prix delivered a race to be remembered. Packed with thrilling overtakes, drama in the pits, and intense on-track action it’s one to remember.

    Ferrari’s front row lock out on Saturday meant Sebastian Vettel was able to lead cleanly off the line while Valtteri Bottas, on the clean side of the grid, got the better of Kimi Raikkonen into turn one. Further down the field Hamilton, starting ninth due to a gearbox penalty, tangled slightly with Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver had started fifteenth after a crash in the first part of qualifying a day earlier. While Hamilton continued unscathed Verstappen suffered what initially looked only like a left-rear puncture. However, he retired soon after with damage to the diff. As if to add insult to injury Daniel Ricciardo, running a solid fourth, pulled over moments later with a suspected electrical issue prompting the deployment of the virtual safety car.

    As racing resumed Vettel was leading from Bottas and Raikkonen with 5th place starter Pierre Gasly and Kevin Magnussen running fourth and fifth respectively. In what was by far the boldest and most spectacular overtake of the day Hamilton passed all three of Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg simultaneously into turn one. The reigning champion then made short work of Gasly for fourth, fourteen seconds adrift of the race lead.

    0071The first round of pits stops saw Ferrari and Mercedes opt for different strategies as Vettel and Raikkonen fit the soft tyre that which seemed to indicate a two-stop strategy. Mercedes, in contrast, fitted the medium tyre and were set to run to the chequered flag. On lap 36 Raikkonen dived back into the pitlane for his second stop. Disaster struck as the Finn’s car was released without the left-rear being changed, hitting a mechanic in the process. Raikkonen was immediately told to stop his car in the pitlane due to an unsafe release. The Ferrari mechanic suffered a broken leg and the team were slapped with a, roughly, R735 000 fine (€50 000).

    The system used to release cars, a set of lights that turn from red to green, is clearly flawed. The fact that the pitcrew are unable to stop a car from being released if it is not in the correct condition is a serious issue that has now resulted in injury. Following on from Haas’ double retirement in Australia, in similar circumstances, to Ferrari’s pitlane incident this weekend it is clear that the FIA has to conduct a thorough investigation as to the best, and safest, procedure to use during pitstops.

    Whether it was planned or not Ferrari switched Vettel onto an ambitious one-stop strategy that required him to run the soft tyre for a 36-lap stint. By now Vettel had built a gap of seven odd seconds over Bottas with Hamilton a further nine seconds adrift. It became clear to Mercedes that Vettel would be going to the end and both Mercedes drivers were instructed to close down the race leader.

    2018 Bahrain_Sunday Press ConferenceBottas, on much better tyres, was able to cut the deficit by one second a lap and soon found himself on the gearbox of the Ferrari. By this stage Vettel’s tyres were falling off the performance cliff and he was sure that it would be a matter of time before the Merc came flying by. “I came on the radio with 10 laps to go and said I had everything under control – and that was a lie,” said Vettel. “There was nothing under control. When they told me the pace of Valtteri at that time, I said no way I can do that. But Bottas lacked the crucial bit of tenacity and resolve to pass the Ferrari into turn one.

    Hamilton crossed the line in third while Toro Rosso Honda launched into euphoric celebrations as Gasly finished a brilliant fourth. Kevin Magnussen scored Haas F1’s first points of the season in fifth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso in sixth and seventh. Marcus Ericcson delivered an excellent drive for Sauber in ninth while Esteban Ocon wrapped up tenth for Force India.

    Vettel took the 49th win of his career in his 200th race start and a 17-point lead in the driver’s standings over Hamilton. Formula 1 heads to China this weekend for the third round of the season.

    All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport

  • 2018 Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    2018 Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    2 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

    3 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

     

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by David Coulthard)

     

    Sebastian, you had to work for that one!

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, I think I came on the race with about 10 laps to go, “I have everything under control”. I don’t know if they broadcast that. That was a lie; there was nothing under control. When they told me the pace of Valtteri at that time, there was no way I could do that. I was making the maths inside the car with 10 laps togo, at that pace, he’s going to catch me! I tried to keep it as clean as possible. Both Mercedes at the end of their stints were very strong, already in the first one. I think by going onto the prime… obviously they saw what we did, but going onto to the medium tyre, I thought that’s check mate, because we had to come in again. That was the original plan, but then we diverted obviously, and the tyres, I tried to make them last, nursed them as much as I can, and it worked. But just! There wasn’t much… I guess at the end of the straight for Valtteri, he had a bit of a sniff, but fortunately he ran out of laps, so very happy.

     

    Well, it’s great – your 49th victory from your 200th start. I’ll just bring Valtteri in here: so give us the mind set inside the car? You’re hunting him down, so you’ve got the gap within DRS, what were you saying in your mind as you got up close to the Ferrari gearbox?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: I was seeing red.

     

    I get that! There was a lot of red. You just ran out of laps there, but the emotion in the cockpit?

    VB: Yeah, you know, I knew that because we were on the harder compound that he would struggle in the end, and he started to struggle, so I was just trying to get every corner perfect, every lap perfect, trying to catch him, but it was just not quite enough. But you are focusing on making everything perfect.

     

    So, Seb, you feel you had him completely under control, you were making a race of it?

    SV: Yeah, well, as I said, obviously coming out I knew we would have quite a gap because I pitted one or two laps sooner but then I wasn’t sure what they were on about. As I said, they were on the harder compound, meaning there is no stop necessary for them and it turned it out to be a greater strategy – it put us under a lot of stress and pressure. I think we had nothing to lose at that point, trying to stay out, trying to win, or I guess finish third. It worked – just. So, really pleased. If you manage to get the win under these conditions it tastes even better, so really happy.

     

    Quick message to Seb for next time. Are you going to get him? You can look him in the eye, you don’t need to look at his gearbox.

    VB: Well, you know, being second with such a close margin and having good pace at the end is extremely disappointing, so for sure I will try to get them next time.

     

    OK, well done. Lewis, congratulations on the podium, difficult weekend. We heard you frustrated in the car, there were some radio communication issues. We could hear what you were saying, but somehow your team couldn’t. Talk us through that. You should be happy with a third place, but you seem a bit disappointed?

    Lewis HAMILTON: No not at all, I’m happy! Firstly, congratulations to Sebastian and Valtteri did an exceptional job this weekend. I’m really happy to have… I started ninth, so third is not bad at all. It’s damage limitation. I think there were some frustrating points during the race where they couldn’t hear me, so I had to choose particular points during which I could speak to them.  So communication was really difficult. When you’re trying to catch Sebastian who was 25 seconds ahead, to know exactly what you need to do in order to not kill your tyres but make it so that you can catch him at the end, it’s difficult and if you’re not getting that feedback, it makes it kind of frustrating.

     

    Quick message to your fans here?

    LH: Big thank you to ebveryone in Bahrain, all the British flags here, thank you for coming out and supporting us, I appreciate it.

     

    Seb, coming back to you, leading the championship. I think we have to go back to something like 1982 since the guy that won the first two races of the season didn’t win the championship. You’re all about stats…

    SV: Well, they had less races in 1982, so probably… I don’t believe in all those things. Sometimes they work for you, sometimes against you. It doesn’t matter – we won and it’s a great feeling tonight. Bit sad, because I think in the pit stop with Kimi one of our mechanics got injured, so send him the best regards, I’m sure the guys are looking after him. Overall, a mixed day, knowing that, then one car retiring, but fortunately we managed to stay ahead of those two.

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE – QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

     

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Lewis, I believe, if my ears are correct, you used the word ‘dickhead’ after the race concerning Max Verstappen and the overtake and the contact. Is that correct? And more importantly, is there an opinion you have on the contact you had with Max in the beginning stages of the race? Who was wrong, or was it just a racing incident?

    SV: Can I answer that question?

    Yes.

    SV: I think it’s not fair… I mean, I don’t know what Lewis did. We’ve all been in that situation, we fight someone, we go sometimes wheel-to-wheel, it’s close and you have a lot of adrenalin going, do you think comparing to football, if you have a microphone on a football player’s mouth, that everything he says is something nice and is a nice message when the guy tackles him and maybe sometimes he fouls him or not. So I don’t think it’s justified to give us these kind of shit questions and making up a story out of nothing, if we are just racing and we are full of adrenalin and sometime we say these things. I mean if I hit you in your face, you’re not going to say “oh, Sebastian, that wasn’t nice”. It’s a human reaction. Sometimes I feel it’s all a bit blown up and artificial if we have these questions, trying to make a story out of nothing. So, it’s not personal, don’t take it personal. So I think we should cut it right there, so now if Lewis can answer.

     

    I’ll just apologise for any colourful language in Sebastian’s answer there. Now over to you, Lewis.

    LH: Honestly, I don’t really remember it. I think maybe it was when we were talking afterwards? Ultimately, I had a coming together with Max and it was an unnecessary collision. There needs to be a certain respect between drivers and ultimately… maybe I need to go and watch the manoeuvre again, but it didn’t feel like a respectful manoeuvre, but ultimately it was a silly manoeuvre for himself, because he didn’t finish the race. And obviously he’s tending to make quite a few mistakes recently, so it was just unnecessary for him to do that. I can’t really remember at what stage of the race it was or why we were even in that position, but yeah, I don’t really care to be honest.

     

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, after Australia, does this result put your championship fight in the balance or would you have needed that victory?

    VB: It’s difficult to say about the balance in terms of championship, title fight because it’s only race two out of 21 so obviously, I got some points today but Sebastian, who’s leading the Championship definitely got more points. It’s early days – but anyway a lot better than two weeks ago. And even today, the race pace we had was actually slightly better than we expected coming into today. So, that was positive. I think this weekend has really opened up our eyes in terms of how much we still have work to do with the car in certain conditions. It’s really fast – but like yesterday we could spot some weaknesses of the car and even today. It’s been an important weekend. We need to make sure we keep improving those negatives we have to Ferrari.

     

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) A question for Sebastian. Do you think that the performance for this weekend is… how much of it is down to improvements that you’ve made with Ferrari and how much is it maybe not quite being at the same level as in Australia.

    SV: It’s a difficult one. I can’t speak for them but I think it’s always a combination of things. You try to put so many things together and sometimes you succeed more than other times. I think probably the circuit came our way. I think mostly the fact I had a better feel with the car, we worked on the setup helped us to extract more. It was more consistent on one lap but also in the race. So, I felt just healthier and more in control. So, as I said, how much they struggled, I don’t know. I think they looked pretty handy at the end of the stints, at least, and in qualifying the gap wasn’t massive. So, I think overall it’s been close but obviously, it’s good to be just ahead.

     

    Q: (Arrackal Alexander – Gulf Auto Zone) Congratulations on the win. My first question to Vettel is: what have you to say about the car you won with and going into Shanghai are you confident with this car. The second question is to Bottas, it is you had a problem coming in where you almost caught up with him and there was a lot of smoke coming out through the front. What exactly was that? And did it have a problem. Did it have anything to do with being in second. And third one to Lewis Hamilton. Coming in from ninth and going all the way up to third congratulations – but what happened to the car and what one gathers from your conference earlier there was some problem with communication. What did that have to do with just coming in third, and what are your plans going into Shanghai?

    SV: You start, otherwise we won’t remember.

    LH: That was a long question. Communication, it was just the helmet radio so they could hear wind but they couldn’t hear my voice. Obviously, there’s turbulence in the car, that’s what they could hear rather than my voice. So, that’s an area we need to improve – but it’s not always the case. Just must have been something busted this weekend. Yeah, luckily we go from here with good points still and a good finish. I’m really, as I said, happy with third but going into Shanghai, it’s a good track for me in general. So, I’m hoping to turn the tables a little bit that weekend – but it’s going to be obviously hard. The Ferrari’s have shown incredible pace the last couple of races, so yeah…

     

    Seb, talking about going to Shanghai…

    SV: Yeah, I mean, as I’ve touched on many times this weekend, I had more confidence in the car, a better feel. I don’t know how to explain the best way but if you have more confidence and the car’s responding to your input then ultimately you go faster because you know what to expect and you can anticipate and overall you are happier. I think that’s the main step that we did for this weekend, working for the setup. Now Shanghai’s a completely different course, with different conditions. Usually it’s quite a bit cooler there. So, we’ll see when we get there – but yeah, it’s a tricky one to get everything right. The setup again will be crucial for us. It seems a bit more difficult to get into the window but if we do like this weekend, and we find the sweet spot, then I’m pretty confident that we can do well there as well.

     

    Valtteri?

    VB: When you’re closing up, the car ahead, it was obviously going to be very close with Sebastian in the end. I was trying everything I could to get to the distance to try and overtake. And in the braking zones, when you get close you lose some downforce because of the turbulent air. It affects mainly the front end, so that’s why it’s a little easier to lock the front wheels under braking. So, that’s the smoke. But didn’t really go wide in any corners, but it’s just when you’re pushing the limits, that can happen.

    Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) Valtteri, your second stint was not very linear. Initially you gained 3.5s in the first ten laps but then on the next ten laps you lost four seconds and only by lap 44 you really started catching up. Were you trying to save tyres or you only reacted when it was clear he was not going to stop again?

    VB: Initially I was trying to get a feel of the medium tyre which felt very good but suddenly it started to drop a little bit and knowing that I had to finish the race, at that middle part of the stint, I decided to take it a tiny bit easier, to kind of save for the end, but also I lost a lot of time with the backmarkers, I think more than Sebastian. I think for this track, the rule of blue flags seems like you need to get too close to get the blue flag switched on because you already lose a lot of time when you try to get there but I guess that’s the same for everyone. But yeah, in the end, tried to get everything out of the tyres and pretty much two laps to go I started to struggle with the tyres so yeah, long stint.

     

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Sebastian, at one moment in the race your lap times were very high, more than seven seconds slower than yesterday. Were you controlling the pace, knowing that you should be racing to the end and knowing also that both Mercedes drivers were on mediums and you were on soft?

    SV: Yes, funny you mentioned that. I was thinking the same thing, I was thinking somewhere mid-race that the lap times we were doing, if only now I could have one lap like qualifying the gap would be massive to Valtteri and I could have a breather, I could breathe again. But yeah, obviously when we’re racing we are on the same set of tyres, they’re not getting better. We were running down the fuel so you should get faster but obviously sliding more and more. You’re not able to push as hard as in qualifying, I think that’s where the gap is coming from plus I think everybody had to manage the race a little bit. We had a virtual safety car for two laps, two and a half, three laps, something like this, so you save a bit of fuel but we still had to do some fuel saving, so it slows you down again a little bit and you have to manage (it). Obviously our plan was a bit different when we started, I lost a little bit at the end of the first stint, Valtteri was closing in, and then, I think, I knew we didn’t have the freedom any more to react so that’s the advantage if you are behind, you can wait and obviously Valtteri did that and they decided to go on a different strategy, trying to win the race so you can’t blame them. But for us, the plan initially was a bit different but then our only chance really, as the tyres were holding on quite well, was to stay out and it just worked. I think we had nothing to lose. Obviously if we pitted again with five laps to go we finish third but equally I felt if we pitted 15 or 20 laps to go, it would be difficult to make progress because I guess the medium tyres were more consistent, then it would have been much harder to get past Lewis, initially, who was ahead, if we had a normal stop and then chase down Valtteri. So that’s what we did and obviously we responded well after it looked like they put us in checkmate. I’m obviously extremely happy that we could still come out on top.

     

    Q: (Sushma Athilat – Radio Mirchi) I just wanted to congratulate you. Do you know Bahrain really looks forward to Formula One every twelve months. I’m sure every country is especially excited to receive you all but do you have a message for the people of Bahrain?

    SV: Well, obviously now you’ve had the Grand Prix for many years and I think especially switching to a night race in 2014 I think it just looks cool. You have the sparks coming out, it’s great. Obviously if you’re on the podium or on the in-lap or the parade lap, after the chequered flag you have the fireworks. Obviously I was lucky the last two years to come in first. It’s a great race, people are enjoying… just outside the paddock, I think there’s quite a good vibe. There’s the go-kart track busy. Usually it’s a fun weekend and it’s great to see that there’s more people coming. I think it wouldn’t hurt if there were still more people, especially from outside, but for sure all the Bahraini people… you have the posters everywhere hanging and the people are really proud and happy to have the Grand Prix, so it’s nice to be part of that.

    VB: Yeah, I was lucky this weekend to meet some local fans who had got access to the paddock as guests of our team, just by being very supportive. Our team picked up a few of them and it was really nice to meet and speak a little bit about the local culture but for me it’s always been a good place to come for racing and even some years for testing so always enjoy it. The sun is shining, people are friendly. For me the track has been good in the past so it’s a bonus as well.

    LH: I think they’ve pretty much covered it. I said something on the podium. I love it here and the fans are amazing.

     

    Q: (Mario Salvini – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, I guess you know perfectly well when the last time a Ferrari driver won the first two events in a season and what happened at the end of that year…

    SV: No. Last year we went to Australia, China and then here, right? Well, I guess it was Michael then. Fernando, he won the first race, I remember, in 2010. That’s so long ago. Well, look, we have a very very long season ahead of us. It’s clear that we need to improve, we have to improve our car, our package. I guess everybody’s trying to do the same so the competition is very high. Needless to say that Valtteri and Lewis are pushing very hard. Obviously, Kimi, alongside, is pushing incredibly hard. The two Red Bull guys with Max and Daniel are pushing hard. Then there’s a bit more of a gap but I think those three teams and six drivers are very very close to each other. Even if now, for us, the first two races went amazingly, for others maybe not so much, there’s still a long long way and a long season, a lot of races, a lot of things that can happen so it’s a bit pointless to try and look forward as I said. It will be important to improve and be quick everywhere you go. That helps. The quicker you are, the quicker your package is, the more you are one unit with your car, the happier you feel, the more you’re able to extract when it really matters.

     

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Seb, when did you decide that you had to switch to a one stop. Were you effectively forced into it and at what point did you make the call? And also, where would you rate that win among your many?

    SV: Well, fortunately I have a lot to chose from. I’m not sure I remember all of them now but certainly it felt great. If you compare Australia and here it’s a different race, needless to say. Obviously the way Australia happened… it was quite intense the last stint in Australia with Lewis pushing from behind but I was a bit more comfortable there because I knew the track is more difficult to overtake (on) whereas here, I knew that if Valtteri gets close with the DRS he can really be a threat. My tyres were done, ten laps to go I think I went on the radio and said I have everything under control – I had nothing under control. I was hoping that they tell Valtteri that Sebastian’s controlling the pace and tell him to turn the engine so that I can relax a bit but obviously that wasn’t the case, he wasn’t told. I’m sure if I was on the radio saying that my tyres were done, then they would have told him ‘come on now, keep pushing.’ I think he was pushing, nevertheless, but yeah, overall obviously a great way to win. I think I mentioned before the sad part is that obviously one of our mechanics got injured. I will go straight away to find out what’s going on and hopefully he’s in good hands and in good care and makes a speedy recovery. If that happens, you celebrate as a team but at the same time you look after each other. Hopefully it’s not too bad. As I said, hopefully he’s in good hands and gets the best care he can right now and then has not too long of a break because I know the guy and he loves racing so let’s see.

    Ah, the strategy, sorry, I forgot. They have different plans and when they told me the plan I first had to think what was that again, when we talked about it. It wasn’t the first or second option. I had to think a little bit but then I got it and I looked up on the tower and I saw Gasly was in P4 so I thought the gap would be quite big and we have nothing to lose and go for the one stop and try to make the tyres last but it wasn’t our intended strategy at first. When did they tell me? I don’t know, probably something like twenty-something laps to go. With 15 laps to go I was still very comfortable and then there was a big step around ten laps to go where, the tyre just dropped off and the last five laps were really difficult.

  • F1 2018: Bahrain Gp Qualifying Report – Ferrari Supreme

    F1 2018: Bahrain Gp Qualifying Report – Ferrari Supreme

    The hotter temperatures and circuit layout in Bahrain played perfectly the Ferrari’s strengths as Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen easily locked out the front row of the grid for the second round of the 2018 season.

    The German’s 1:27:958 was one and half tenths quicker than Raikkonen’s best lap. However, the Finn cited traffic as an issue during his final run in Q3. Valtteri Bottas will line up third for Mercedes and share the second row with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.

    Lewis Hamilton had set the fourth quickest time overall but drops to ninth following an forced gearbox change. Elsewhere, Max Verstappen made an early exit from qualifying with a crash in the opening session. The Dutchman is slated to start the Bahrain grand prix from fourteenth on the grid.

    Pierre Gasly was the star of qualifying as he remarkably set the fifth quickest time in his Toro Rosso Honda. Kevin Magnussen, Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz round out the top ten on the grid. It was a dismal day for McLaren as Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne managed only the thirteenth and fourteenth quickest times. Similarly, Williams continues to struggle as Sergey Sirotkin and Lance Stroll are set to line up in eighteenth and twentieth, respectively.

    While qualifying is a vital part of any race weekend prizes are only handed out on race day. And with Hamilton having to fight his way through from ninth, on a contra strategy, it’s advantage Ferrari in Bahrain.

  • Raikkonen Fastest in Bahrain GP Final Practice

    Raikkonen Fastest in Bahrain GP Final Practice

    Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen picked up where he left off yesterday after setting the fastest time in the final practice session of the Bahrain Grand Prix.

    Raikkonen’s time of 1:29.868 on the super soft tyres was the fastest of the session. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was 2nd fastest 0.525s off the pace with a 1:30.393. Rounding out the top 3 was Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull with a 1:30.452.

    The session got off to a very slow start after driver waited for quite some time for the track temperatures to drop a bit. The session was relatively uneventful except for Sebastian Vettel who had a problem with a lose right barge board. He was back in the pits immediately and the team got to work on his car. Shortly after he was back out for a few laps and was back in the pits with an engine issue with 15mins before the end of the session. Ferrari are working on the problem but no word as to the cause of the issue.

    Finishing 4th fastest was Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton 0.823s off the pace. Mercedes have been struggling all weekend with grip on the super soft tyre and Hamilton could be seen lighting up his rear tyres on his flying lap. Bottas in the second Mercedes finished the session 6th fastest behind Vettel in 5th.

    The two Renaults seem to be hitting their stride with Nico Hulkenberg finishing 7th fastest ahead of team mate Carlos Sainz.

    Pierre Gasly continues his good run of form this weekend with a 9th fastest finish of the session while Alonso rounded out the top 10.

    With the Mercedes cars struggling for pace, qualifying will be difficult for them to set a good time and with Hamilton’s grid penalty adding to their concerns. But we’ve seen that Hamilton is able to dig deep and find pace and grip and put in a stunning lap where it counts.

    Ferrari look to have the advantage, but with cooling track temps it will get very close between the top 3 teams come qualifying.

     

  • Formula One 2021

    Formula One 2021

    Team Principals and Formula One management met at the Bahrain International Circuit where Liberty Media presented their vision for Formula One from 2021. The current concorde agreement between F1 and the teams expires in 2020, this was quite an important presentation for Liberty Media and the teams to decide whether they would continue in the sport after 2020.

    Speaking after the meeting F1 CEO Chase Carey said that it was important for them to preserve, protect and enhance the history of F1 by unleashing it’s potential.

    “Formula 1 is a sport with a rich history,” said Carey

    “We want to preserve, protect and enhance that history by unleashing F1s potential, by putting our fans at the heart of a more competitive and more exciting sport,” he added.

    “We are driven by one desire: to create the world’s leading sporting brand.

    “Fan- centred, commercially successful, profitable for our teams, and with technological innovation at its heart.”

    The key strategic objectives for the future of F1 centres on 5-key points. Power Units, costs, Revenues, Sporting and technical rules and regulations, and Governance.

    Power units (PU)

    • The PU must be cheaper, simpler, louder, have more power and reduce the necessity of grid penalties.
    • It must remain road relevant, hybrid and allow manufacturers to build unique and original PU.
    • New PU rules must be attractive for new entrants and Customer teams must have access to equivalent performance.

    Costs

    • We believe how you spend the money must be more decisive and important than how much money you spend.
    • While there will be some standardised elements, car differentiation must remain a core value
    • Implement a cost cap that maintains Formula 1’s position as the pinnacle of motorsport with a state-of-the-art technology.

    Revenues

    • The new revenue distribution criteria must be more balanced, based on meritocracy of the current performance and reward success for the teams and the Commercial Rights Holder.
    • F1s unique, historical franchise and value must and will still be recognised.
    • Revenue support to both cars and engine suppliers.

    Sporting and technical rules & regulations

    • We must make cars more raceable to increase overtaking opportunities.
    • Engineering technology must remain a cornerstone but driver’s skill must be the predominant factor in the performance of the car.
    • The cars must and will remain different from each other and maintain performance differentiators like aerodynamics, suspensions and PU performance. However, we believe areas not relevant to fans need to be standardised.

    Governance

    • A simple and streamline structure between the teams, the FIA and Formula 1.

     

    After the announcement, CEO of Aston Martin Andy Palmer alluded that Aston Martin are on track to join the sport after the new proposals that were put forward.