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  • 2017 Belgian Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    2017 Belgian Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

     

    GRID INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Will Buxton)

    Q: Lewis, Ross Brawn just wants to have a couple of words with you to congratulate you on this achievement.

    Ross BRAWN: I’m here to deliver a very special message from Corinna Schumacher and the Schumacher family, who want to congratulate you on equalling Michael’s record and as they said, Michael always said records are there to be beaten, so they want to send their very special thanks. Congratulations, Lewis, well done.

    Q: So, Lewis, that was some lap. It was mighty. Tell all the fans, tell everyone at home, how good does it feel to hook one up like that around here?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Well, first of all, I want to give a big shout out to all the fans here, they’re always amazing here every year we come here. There are a lot of Brits, a lot of people from the Netherlands, from all over, so thank you so much for coming out. I can’t believe it. First of all, a big thank you to my tea, Ross [Brawn] was a big part of me being here at this team, so the success we have had he is much a part of that as well. But the team have done an amazing job. Valtteri did a great job to be up here ahead of the Ferraris, an amazing feeling. This is one of my favourite circuits, so to come here and put a lap together like that, it’s a dream. I’ve got the best job in the world, so I’m just grateful to be here.

    Q: And to equal Michael Schumacher’s record on the track where he made his debut, the track where he took his first grand prix victory is something special too.

    LH: It is and to hear the message that Ross just gave, I just have to say a big thank you and pray for Michael and his family all the time. I’ve had the privilege of racing with him, from karting days in Kerpen to on the track and always admired him, and still do today, so I’m just honoured to be up there with him now in the poles, but he will still be one of the greatest of all time.

    Q: Congratulations. Seb, that was some lap at the end to get on the front row, you needed that didn’t you?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, it was the right time. I had a very good feeling in Q1, the get go was really go but then I lost that feeling a little bit, I had a bit light front end, especially then through sector two with the medium-, high-speed corners. I was lacking a little bit of response. But the last lap the car was a little bit more alive, immediately I could feel it turning into Turn 1. And then I have to also admit that I was a bit lucky with Kimi, he had to abort his lap but he gave me a very, very nice tow, which I think made it a bit more comfortable with Valtteri. Obviously it’s very important. Good position today, great job from the team, very happy, so looking forward to the race.

    Q: We know these guys are worries about your long-run pace. Are you confident in it?

    SV: They should be! So far it has been looking pretty good, so I hope we can keep it up. The car, on one lap, I thought all weekend it was a bit trickier to get it together. Consecutive laps with high fuel I felt really good, so let’s see what we can do with the strategy tomorrow as well, but for sure Mercedes will be quick. But, we don’t have to hide. We are on the front row for a reason. We have the speed and we should have it in the race.

    Q: Congratulations. Valtteri, are you annoyed that he just pipped you at the end there? As he said, he got a tow from Kimi coming up the back and without that it might have been an all-Mercedes front row.

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, of course it would have been nice to be one-two tomorrow, but it’s not a bad starting place. I was aiming for pole today, but to be honest Lewis has been doing and absolutely perfect job all weekend and for some reason I’ve been struggling and I just haven’t been able to get close enough, so we’ll need to investigate why. That’s something we’ll need to understand but already my thoughts are for tomorrow.

    Q: Everyone is focusing on those two guys for the title, bit you are in the hunt for the title as much as both of them. How much do you want the win tomorrow to prove to everybody, as much as to them, that you’re here, you’re fighting and it’s as much yours as it is theirs?

    VB: Getting my first couple of wins this year you just want more, so of course that is going to be the mission for me tomorrow and main thing as a team is that we get a strong result. But I’ll do everything I can and I don’t mind if they are being looked at more than me, I’ll just keep doing my job and trying to get better and better.

    Q: Can’t wait for tomorrow. Lewis, you’ve got the championship leader on the front row with you, you’ve got your team-mate inches behind you and he’s very much in the hunt for this title as well, really the second half of the season couldn’t be starting any better for Formula One could it?

    LH: Well, we had a great holiday and we’ve come back feeling fresh and this is the perfect way to start the weekend. The second half is going to be tough for all of us, the team, the people back at the factory, but we’re geared up for the second half, so I hope that we can bring it.

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Lewis, many congratulations, a day I’m sure you’ve been looking forward to for some time. The magic number – 68 – you’ve equalled the all-time record of Michael Schumacher. And what a place to do it – a track that is so synonymous with Schumacher, and with a record fastest ever lap of track. Your feelings?

    LH: Yeah, it’s a special day, definitely. To be honest, I knew it was on the horizon and I knew at some stage I’d be getting that 68th pole but I really hadn’t thought about it very much. I didn’t apply pressure, I was like “it could come soon, it could take a long time”, but now being there, it’s an unusual place to be. I remember coming here in 1996, my first grand prix, and watching Michael come by out of Turn 1 and the engine just shook my rib cage – it was incredible. And that was when my love for the sport took another step. And to think that God knows how long later I’m now equal to him on poles, it’s very surreal and very much a humbling experience, particularly knowing that Michael is such a legend. It’s an incredible feat that he achieved and I feel very proud to be up there with him.

    Q: It’s a special day generally in numbers – 4.2 seconds faster this year’s pole compared to last years. The average generally this year has been around 2-2.5s, can you break it down for us why this weekend is so far much faster around this track with these cars?

    LH: It’s a medium-high downforce circuit so it’s to do this engine being more powerful than it was last year, for all of us. We’ve got a lot more downforce, so the speed that we are going through the corners, it’s so much faster than it was last year. It’s a longer circuit, there’s more time at full throttle, so DRS counts for more than it perhaps has done at other places. A combination of those I would assume. Yeah, it feels amazing around this track. It always does, but to have a car as we have here and the set-up I was able to work with my engineers, to achieve the balance was great, and to really be able to lean on the car around this circuit, I’ve never had such a feeling. Pouhon, Turn 10, was nearly flat, which is insane, I’ve definitely never experienced that in my time whilst in Formula One. We’re just like Ricky Bobby – we want to go faster, and it is a great feeling when you do.

    Q: Congratulations, very special day. Sebastian, it was important for Mercedes today that they get two cars on the front row and it was very important for you that they didn’t. It took you a while to get there, so under the circumstances would you class that a very special lap on your behalf?

    SV: Not just on my behalf. I think I had a little bit of help from a friend. Kimi had to abort his lap and he was very generous in giving me a tow in the last sector and that got me about two tenths so that helped and it made it a bit more comfortable with Valtteri looking at the result. Q1 I was really happy, the car was amazing. Q2 the main job was to get through, and then Q3 first lap I was missing a little bit the feel for the front. The second run in Q3 was better in that regard. So I was very happy with the last lap and as I said obviously with a little bit of a help it was quite nice. It was then tricky getting into the last corner, because knowing that you arrive so much faster with the tow and braking is never easy, it’s easy to miss it for the last corner. But I managed to get it right and to get it across the line so that was useful. The pace has been good this weekend. I think less for one lap, more so for long runs, so let’s see what we can do tomorrow.

    Q: Your long-run pace yesterday looked very promising compared to the Mercedes so does that give you some hope for tomorrow. There is a strange start to this race as well, because you don’t necessarily always want to be the first car down the straight in the opening stages as there is an opportunity for P2 to get ahead?

    SV: Yeah that’s right. Well, we’ll see when we get to that. I think the start is still very important and you try to do your best there and try to take it from there. I think the long run pace looked good yesterday, also this morning. Obviously we didn’t do a lot of laps overall this weekend, it’s a long lap, so the amount of laps you get is not that much compared to other tracks. But, as I said, the car was really good, especially for the race, so now we hope to confirm that. Tomorrow will be a tough day though, I mean start, first laps, as you said big straights, tows and in general strategy around here so we will see what happens.

    Q: Coming to you Valtteri, you had second place, again it took you a while to get to that point, and then obviously Sebastian took it away from you. He’s explained that the tow had a part to play in it – but did you feel you were on your A-game today?

    VB: Yeah, first of all congrats to Lewis for the pole and for the 69th [68th] it’s a mega-achievement. I’ve only got two so some way to go. This whole weekend for some reason I’ve been not really close enough to be able to challenge for that pole. For sure Lewis has been really on it but I’m slightly confused why I’ve not been able to get quite close enough. Still need to find some answers for me. The balance of the car has been feeling really good. Been just really lacking overall grip and that way, losing a lot of time in the high-speed corners in Sector Two. So, yeah, was always going to be a bit tricky to challenge for the pole, unfortunately. Would have been nice to at least be second but Sebastian got ahead. But still, second row and I’m sure as a team we can do good tomorrow.

    Q: As we were just saying, the Ferrari, the long run pace on the ultrasoft yesterday and again the long run pace this morning looked pretty handy, but what was striking about you guys is that your soft tyre pace is pretty strong. Presumably, strategy-wise, you’re counting on that tomorrow to get in front of Sebastian before the chequered flag.

    VB: Yeah, it is going to be a long race and here we know always anything can happen and you never know with the weather as well. It’s going to be a day full of opportunities for me as well, starting third. Probably going to see different behaviour with the different cars, with the different tyre compounds. So, should be interesting.

    Q: (Angelique Belokopytov – Autodigest) First of all, congratulations Lewis for this special day, special record too, so question to all three of you, could you please share with us a special memorable moment shared with Michael please?

    SV: It’s not fair to pick one moment. I think the fact we’re both from the same country makes it easier to in a way get closer to him. I know him for a very, very long time, the age of six or seven I met him for the very first time, he was handing over the trophies to the kids at the go-kart track in Kerpen, his home track, not far away from here. Yeah, it was massive. We were more than a hundred kids and he took the time to shake all our hands, hand over the trophies, so as a child I think that was indescribable. Obviously he was my hero. I had his posters everywhere in my room and he was pretty much the only guy I followed when I was young. So, yeah, big inspiration and we then I think we had a lot of good moments, a lot of fun moments. As a child it’s different, you’re star-struck in a way. It’s my hero, what do I say? I don’t know. And then later on I got to know him and yeah, we really got a long. He’s a great guy, good fun and I think the admiration for his skills is the same as day one. We shared a lot of good moments at the Race of Champions together and even if you can argue about the format and so on, still you have to drive different cars, adapt and the way he drives a go-kart is… I don’t know… it’s just so different to everybody else I’ve ever seen. So, I don’t know how I look from the outside but I guess I don’t look that, so yeah, many moments. Sober and not sober. It’s hard to pick one.

    Lewis?

    LH: I think I already mentioned earlier on my find and probably favourite memory of seeing Michael come by but just like Sebastian, I grew up watching him and I would play him, I would always be… particularly when he was in a Ferrari, when I was racing in computer games I was Michael a lot, the majority of the time. Having the privilege, I raced with him in Kerpen many, many years ago and yeah, just trying to think of the best moment. I’ve always had good, fond memories of him. Another really good one was Abu Dhabi, just before he left. I plucked up the courage to go ask if he would swap helmets with me. He was welcoming and did, so yeah, that’s definitely one of the coolest things in my house.

    Valtteri?

    VB: I remember watching on TV all the battles he used to have in the 1990s with Häkkinen. That was really good to watch and remember how excited I was every Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon, waking up and knowing it’s going to be another proper battle on track. And I also remember, it’s not even so far ago, 2012, when I did Friday practice for Williams and, for the first time I was the same time on track with Michael. For me, that was quite special.

    Q: (Mike Doodson – Honorary) Sebastian, you mentioned Kimi’s generous gesture to you. We didn’t see it on TV and I was wondering if it happened spontaneously or if you had to position yourself on the track or did that just happen by good chance?

    SV: As far as I understand, he had a mistake on his last flying lap, his last attempt, so it wasn’t planned; he wanted obviously to finish that lap but when he, I guess when he did the mistake and just because of where we were positions, he obviously cruised back to the pits. I guess the team didn’t even tell him anything. I think he just saw a red car in the mirror and thought ‘I’ll hand him a tow,” which was quite nice. It was obviously quite useful for me – but it wasn’t planned. I saw some other teams playing around with tows previously in qualifying – but usually it’s one of those things you can’t really plan so we tend to stay away from it. To answer your question, I think it was very spontaneous.

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) First off, congratulations Lewis. You went into Beast Mode in Q3, you talked about that moment with Michael. How does it feel that now, you creating this moment and building this legacy of yours, that you’re inspiring that next generation, who will sit here say the same thing, that they were inspired by what you did here today?

    LH: Well, thank you. I think it’s a good question. I’ve not really sat and thought too much about it because obviously I’m here right now – but it is the case, y’know. Many, many years from now they’ll be some kid, some grown-up sitting here… maybe it’s not many, many years from now – Sebastian’s not far behind on the poles, could catch-up, but yeah, I think it’s amazing, it’s a real privilege for all of us to be up here, knowing that even currently that there are kids, even adults that are looking up to us for inspiration in their daily lives but also setting goals. For me, I always try to put out positive energy. I think success comes a lot with a real positive frame of mind. It’s very easy for all of us to be negative on occasions – but the most important thing is to wake-up in the morning and try to find that positive energy, wherever you get it from, and apply that to whatever it is that you’re trying to work or achieve. I think we’re all born as stars with the opportunity to do something special. It’s all about finding and using  that positive energy.

    Q: (Livio Orrichio – globoesporte.com) Lewis, in your last set of tyres, you didn’t get the best in the T1, the first part of the track, but you did a wonderful T2. Did you change the car in the final part of the qualifying, the Q3?

    LH: You mean the last lap? No. Well, you can’t change the car, the only thing I could do is wing but that doesn’t affect the first sector. I was up as far as I’m aware. My dashboard, it said I was up 0.8 of a tenth, or something like that, nearly a tenth in sector one, so I’m not really sure what you’re relating to. Maybe it was down but my delta said it was up. But I didn’t change anything. I did pretty much the same sector – but the second sector particularly and a little bit in the last sector was really where I made the gains. That middle sector, Turn Ten, it’s nearly flat, as I mentioned. That was pretty awesome.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, how crucial is it tomorrow to beat at least one of these guys behind… I mean in front of you, for your championship hopes?

    VB: Hopefully at least one behind, so I’m not last. Yeah, for sure we’re all fighting for the title. Obviously it is nine races to do so there are a massive amount of points still available. So this is only one race but every race counts. For sure try to gain any positions possible. For us as a team, we know that it is a strong circuit for us. So we really need to capitalise. We want, as a team, to be one-two. That’s going to be the mission.

    Q: (Bas Holtkamp – Raceexpress.com) Question to Lewis. Now you’ve achieved this goal for the most pole positions ever – almost, you’ve equalled Michael – what is your next goal. Do you have a magic number in mind? Like, are you going for the 80 or 100 or whatever?

    LH:  No, I haven’t… I generally take my days one days at a time so I haven’t planned for anything further than for what I already have – but I plan on being here for some time so I will work towards whatever number it could possibly be. When I came across the line on that slow-down lap, it was a real moment to reflect on my team, who did such a great job, who have worked so hard through the year to enable me, to give me the car of my dreams. That’s the car that we all… that’s the car that us three up here have dreamed of racing. There’s so many people back at the factory, and people watching TV just don’t even have the even the faintest idea. There’s so much work that goes on back home, there’s so many people. Every day I go to the factory I find a new little workshop that’s underneath the stairs, and I’ve been walking past that for five years and didn’t even know it was there – and five people come out of that little space and they’d have been there for 20 years. So, yeah, I’ve been really fortunate to work with some really great people and I’m just really just a small link in the chain but I’m proud of my link in the chain and I plan to continue to propel this car and this team forward. I believe that we can get many more – so that’s the goal. Sky’s the limit really.

    Q:(Flavio Vanetti – Corriera della Sera) Sebastian, we know that you signed a long term contract and I would like to know if in some way it’s the same trust that Michael had towards the team?  And secondly, if you had any moment in which you had doubts about Ferrari and maybe you thought to quit the team?

    SV: I don’t know what trust Michael had. I never actually spoke with him about that. Yeah, unfortunately, as you all know I didn’t have the opportunity. I think he would have been one of the first people to ask back in 2014 and probably have to consult also you know, now in terms of… I don’t know, through the course of this year for the future, whatever. I love this team, I love the people who are working for this brand. Obviously Lewis touched on the effort that is going into building a Formula One car. I think for most of the teams it’s probably the same but still I believe Ferrari has something unique, something that other teams don’t have. People talk about a legend, to me it appears that this legend is still alive because of the people who work for it, day in, day out. I’m sure you have been to Maranello, probably most of you haven’t but if you walk down the streets in Maranello, the presence of Ferrari is huge but if you see the people working at Ferrari and meet them, then it’s even bigger, what they carry inside them, the passion for the brand and that’s I think and I’m convinced, allowing every single one of them to go an extra step compared to other people, other teams. That’s my conviction and extremely grateful to be part of that family. In a way, it was a no-brainer to continue. We haven’t yet achieved what we what we wanted to achieve but things are looking pretty good and obviously we have a long road ahead of us.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Lewis, if you take pole position at Monza, you’ll break Michael’s record. Would that be the ultimate tribute to him, the ultimate place to do it in front of all the Ferrari fans to pay tribute to his greatness?

    LH: I’m not really sure whether that, how… my next step, how that applies to anyone else. If I dedicate it to him, yeah, could be the best tribute being that he had so much success at Ferrari and in Italy. Yeah, I’ve not really thought of it to be honest. Don’t have an answer for you there.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday, Motorsport Week.com) Sebastian, speculation before you signed was that you were going to possibly sign a one year deal with Ferrari. Now they’ve come out and announced that you’ve signed at least three years. Do you see yourself ending your career at Maranello?

    SV: Well, I don’t know, since we learned last year that these things can happen fairly quickly and spontaneously you never know. But yeah, obviously now I don’t need to think and spend time about thinking about the future so that’s clear and then I think we cross that bridge when we get to it. It’s a long time, a lot of things can happen so we will see. Also then you can never say never. You retire and then, I don’t I know, might get bored, come back. We may see Nico back in a couple of years, who knows? Michael obviously decided to come back at some point because he loved racing but that’s all far far away so not really a topic.

    Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Sebastian, yesterday you said that there would be no news on your contract for two weeks. I just wanted to know what changed in 24 hours for you?

    SV: Nothing personal, I don’t like the Sun. I saw a clip yesterday of a funny interview with Jurgen Klopp and he doesn’t like the Sun either so maybe I will jump on the bandwagon. Maybe I give you a last answer. Yeah, I didn’t think that it’s probably the right time so I didn’t rush or push but things were coming along together fairly quickly in the end and we decided to go for it and make the call. So yeah, I know it wasn’t the best in terms of one day and then the other but that’s how it was.

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Perhaps you will like the BBC, Sebastian. Did you actually sign it this weekend? How did you decide to sign for three years? And did you have any talks with or thoughts about joining Mercedes?

    SV: Well, I mean I have been around in the paddock for a while so I know people and it’s natural that you talk but it’s never been more than chatting, mostly about other stuff, to be honest but yeah, I’ve been talking for a while with Ferrari. As I said, my intention was to stay. We haven’t succeeded so the mission is still ongoing. I want to win in red. We talked about inspiration earlier about Michael, he was mostly dressed in red. He won most of his races in red and his championships. I don’t want to step in his footsteps. I think the whole generation of the Ferrari team today wants to leave their own footsteps but certainly there’s a huge inspiration so something for me is now the biggest challenge, the biggest dream that I have and what I want to achieve. I think, to answer your question at the beginning, since I like the BBC, is yes, I actually signed it this weekend.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Do you think tomorrow will be a Ferrari-Mercedes battle again or do you fear Red Bull might interfere?

    LH: Yeah, he just said where are they? I don’t… where did they qualify?

    SV: Five and six.

    LH: I’ve not seen their pace, so as far as I’m aware they’ve been a bit down on power, they’ve tried different… lower and higher range of wings. I think they’ve been a little bit off the pace as far as I’m aware but you never know. Whatever conditions we’re faced with tomorrow, I think the pace of us at the moment, both Ferrari and Mercedes, is pretty strong so…

    SV: Well, it wouldn’t be the first time that we see significant increase in race pace for Red Bull so obviously in qualifying, also round here, it might not be their strongest track but tomorrow, come race, lot of laps, looking after the tyres, I think they’ve proven in the past that they’re very strong so you should never under-estimate and forget about them.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Valtteri, is it frustrating seeing everybody else signing new contracts?

    VB: No. Good for them.

    LH: Who’s everybody else, anyways? This one dude here.

    Q: Kimi, Vandoorne.

    LH: Not everyone else.

    VB: No, I’m just really focusing on my own things. I know where we are with everything. I don’t need to worry if other people are doing contracts. I’m only interested in what I’m going to do and what the team is going to do and that’s what matters. Like I said, there’s no rush really because for this season I joined in January, so there’s still plenty of time.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To both Mercedes drivers: no problems with tyre temperatures considering the ultrasoft tyres on the flying laps and also long runs, and Sebastian, Lauda said today that he stopped talking to you two months ago. What went wrong that the conversations didn’t go ahead?

    LH: Can he answer first? I’m interested to hear his…

    SV: Nothing. Nothing went wrong. I think I’m very happy. I think Niki is generally a happy guy so… nothing went wrong.

    LH: For us, we didn’t have any problems with the tyres. I haven’t struggled with tyre temps so far this weekend and I think it wasn’t a problem throughout qualifying as well. It was very easy to get temperatures. The tyres have been giving quite a lot of grip. I think it feels like, particularly for qualifying, that the one step softer was a good direction but it will be interesting to see how it works out tomorrow.

    VB: Yeah, definitely, I think right choices from Pirelli for this weekend, to go with the softest compounds. Even with the ultrasofts no big problems, little bit of overheating during the lap but it’s not massive, it’s pretty normal so it was good.

     

    Photo by courtesy Pirelli

  • Ferrari confirm Sebastian Vettel until the end of 2020

    Ferrari confirm Sebastian Vettel until the end of 2020

    Ferrari has announced that Sebastian Vettel will remain with the team until the end of the 2020 F1 season.

    The news rules out a switch to Mercedes in the near future and this was also confirmed by Niki Lauda during the third practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix where Niki said, “He has no reason to move, they are competitive, he is winning. We stopped talks with him months ago.

    The statement issued by Ferrari confirms that Vettel has extended his technical and racing agreement with the team.

    It’s very likely that Ferrari, Mercedes, and Red Bull will retain the same driver line-ups for the 2018 F1 season. At the moment, we’re only waiting on an announcement from Mercedes around Valtteri Bottas’ future.

  • Williams Fined for Tyre Mix Up in Belgium Free Practice

    Williams Fined for Tyre Mix Up in Belgium Free Practice

    The Williams Formula One team were fined €10 000 for using the incorrect tyres on Lance Strolls car during Free Practice 1.

    The team was summoned to the stewards after free practice 2 to explain an alleged breach of Article 24.4 g) i) of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations.

    The regulation is that a driver must hand back a set of tyres from their allocation after the first 40 minutes of free practice 1. There are exceptions to the time limit in case there is a red flag.

    Felipe Massa’s crash in FP1 brought out the red flags which meant that drivers could use the set for an additional 9 minutes before handing back a set.

    The stewards found that Williams had fitted the set that was meant to be given back on to Stroll’s car two more times after the cut off time and were fined €10 000.

    “During P1 car number 18, driver Lance Stroll, used the set of tyres which the team has nominated prior to the start of P1 for only been used during the first 40 minutes (respectively 9 minutes added to these due to the red flag),” said the FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer in his technical report.

    “The set in question got re-used at 11:09hrs for 6 laps and again at 11:21hrs for 4 laps. As this is not in compliance with Article 24.4 g i) (3rd paragraph), I am referring this matter to the stewards for their consideration.”

    This is not the first time Williams had a mix up with the tyres in Spa-Francorchamps. During the Belgian Grand Prix race in 2015, in a pit stop, Williams fitted three soft compound tyres and one medium compound tyre to Bottas’ car. Williams was handed a suspended fine for that incident.

    “The Stewards heard from a team representative and the competitor admitted the infringement,” said the stewards in a statement.

    “Having considered the facts the Stewards accept that the infringement was inadvertent.

    “The stewards have taken due note of the repeated offenses concerning tyres by the team and a smilar infringement for which a suspended fine was imposed.”

  • Hamilton Tops Rain Affected Free Practice 2 For Belgian GP

    Hamilton Tops Rain Affected Free Practice 2 For Belgian GP

    Lewis Hamilton topped the time sheets at the end of a shortened Free Practice 2 after rain affected the final 20 minutes of the session.

    Hamilton set his time of 1:44.753 on the ultra soft tyres to go 0.262s faster than second fastest man, Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn cut the timing beam in 1:45.015 after Sebastian Vettel, who held the top spot for a short while, and Valtteri Bottas set their lap times.

    Third fastest of the session was Bottas almost half a second off the pace with a session best time of 1:45.180. Max Verstappen kept Red Bull in the mix with a 4th fastest time ahead of Sebastian Vettel who was 5th fastest. Vettel ultimately didn’t have a good session saying that he was not entirely happy with his afternoon. His long run pace should give Mercedes something to think about.

    Daniell Ricciardo was 6th fastest ahead of the Renault of Nico Hulkenberg. Both Renault’s were able to get into to the top 10 with Palmer in the other Renault ending the session 10th fastest behind Carlos Sainz in the Toro Rosso in 9th.

    Felipe Massa had to sit out the session following his crash in Free Practice 1. Williams confirmed that the safety cell on his car was punctured and a new chassis would need to be fitted. This requires the car to be scruitineered again by the stewards before the car is able to turn a wheel on the track. It is expected that the car will be checked tomorrow morning ahead of Free Practice 3.

    Drivers and teams took no chances as soon as the rain started falling and with 25 minutes still left in the session it was effectively over once the rain came down.

    It does seem like this weekend will belong to Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes come qualifying. The new power upgrade to the Mercedes power unit looks like it’s already paying off, although we’ll only know the extent of the upgrade in Q3.


    Photo credit: Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team

  • 2017 Belgian Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference – Part 1

    2017 Belgian Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference – Part 1

    PART ONE: TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Cyril ABITEBOUL (Renault), Guenther STEINER (Haas)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Cyril, it seems that in terms of patterns of performance, Nico generally qualifies well but finishes behind his qualifying position – couple of exceptions to that but in general that has been the picture – whereas for Jolyon the opposite is the case. Can you shed any light on that?

    Cyril ABITEBOUL: Well, I think indeed we started the season with generally a good pace on Saturday that we were not managing to convert on Sunday. So at this point in time and as we were waiting for some big developments that came further into the season we sort of trade some quali performance for some race performance by playing mainly with set-ups – by playing mainly with set-ups, stiffness and so on and so forth – which we did, which we achieved, which delivered some points. Then at some point, in Silverstone, we managed to bring that big development I was referring to. So that pattern that you are referring that you sort of underperform on Sunday compared to Saturday is not so true anymore. We will have to see here if that pattern, if that step that we made in performance both on Saturday and on Sunday in Silverstone and as confirmed in Budapest, which are two very different tracks, is confirmed here or not. When it comes to driver difference, no I can’t… I think that indeed, Jo doesn’t necessarily have the sort of pace as Nico on Saturday. Clearly, Nico is an amazing qualifier. Maybe he is one of the best of the grid. It doesn’t always… it’s not always visible because he didn’t maybe have the car to demonstrate that but it is really amazing what he’s capable of doing and Jo maybe doesn’t have that pace on Saturday but was managing to extract more from the car on Sunday. We’ll see. The short answer to your question is that the car is improving. The car is now fourth in terms of pace after the top three teams, which is clearly where we wanted to be at this point of the season. Obviously the championship position is slightly different so that’s what we need to focus on.

    Comprehensive answer; thanks very much for that. On Robert Kubica, everything was built up to the Hungary test. Things gained their own momentum; he did well. So what happens next?

    CA: What happens next: good question. That was a test. Frankly, we said that we wanted to be extremely methodical and analytic about the way we were approaching things with Robert. It’s not a PR exercise; it’s not a coup. It’s something we are taking very seriously and we are trying to leave the emotion on the side. We don’t have all the answers that we potentially wanted to get from that test, after his test. In relation to that, Formula One is very restrictive in terms of tests you can do, so in a perfect world we would want to do more of this type of test to see if he can race again at the level that he and we could have wanted. It may or may not be possible. We will see.

    Thank you. Christian, coming to you: performance today, it looked like you were in touch. Last year you were front-row qualifiers and got a podium. Do you think that’s possible again this year, and also could you explain why you went for such a radically different selection of tyres for your two drivers compared to Ferrari and Mercedes? It’s not usually such a radical difference among the frontrunners?

    Christian HORNER: Firstly, today: it’s been a relatively sensible day. We’ve been looking at different set-ups and configurations and fourth and sixth in the second session is reasonably encouraging, particularly at this type of circuit. I’m sure the others have still got a little bit up their sleeves for tomorrow, if it’s dry. But hopefully we can consolidate where we are and be competitive on Sunday afternoon. Regarding the tyre choice: you obviously don’t see what others are doing before you submit your choice so our engineering team felt that this is the best way to attack the weekend. As we often see, you start off with a different hand of tyres but by the time you’ve gone through the practice sessions it always seems to converge by the time you get to qualifying anyway. What on paper looks quite racy at the beginning of the weekend, by the time you’ve gone through the practice sessions tends to even itself out. I think by the time we end up in qualifying we won’t be too far out of kilter and obviously we quite like the ultrasoft tyre.

    Clearly. Can we explore what Red Bull’s attitude now is to the young driver programme. You’ve produced some great drivers over the last decade – world champions, race winners – but it’s not so easy to see where the next candidates for Formula One apprenticeship are coming from. In the meantime, your rivals such as Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari have stepped up on that side and all have exciting candidates on the doorstep ready to go. Is it still a priority for you and Red Bull?

    CH: Very much so. We still have Pierre Gasly, who won his first last weekend in Japan. We have Nico Kari in GP3, we have Dan Ticktum in Formula Renault and Verschoor and Verhagen. I think there are periods of stellar drivers that seem to come through the sport. For me if I look outside of Formula One at the moment, there seems to be a bit of a gap. There are a couple strong drivers in F2, there are a couple of strong drivers in GP3, but there seems to be a bit of a void. We’re going to grass roots, we’re looking at karting, we’re supporting some youngsters even in karting at the moment. But talents like Max Verstappen or Sebastian Vettel or Daniel Ricciardo don’t come along every season.

    OK. Guenther, a question to you on drivers as well: you have confirmed both of your current drivers for next year, not taking either of Ferrari’s development drivers, Giovinazzi or Leclerc. Can you give us the thinking on that?

    Guenther STEINER: Our drivers have got a contract when we signed them. Romain two years ago now, he had a three-year contract and Kevin last year has a two-year contract, so it’s quite clear what we are doing. There is no reasoning or nothing behind it. We, at the time, wanted the best drivers available on the market to get as much points as possible and that’s why we did it and there is no other reason behind it.

    OK, that’s the drivers sorted out. When you look ahead to season three, where else do you think you need to strengthen the team personnel in order to move forward?

    GS: I think everywhere a little bit. It’s not like there’s one void [to fill] to grow the team. We are still very small, I think the smallest one, we have got not more than 200 people at the moment. We need to strengthen it everywhere. That’s what we are doing. We are now already looking for people for next year because it takes quite a long time to get good people, but we will increase again by 10 or 15 per cent – nothing compared with the big teams, how they grow – but that is what we are doing and that is what we want to continue to do. But we keep on getting… I wouldn’t say bigger, we try to get better without getting bigger, which is very difficult, but at least we try to stay efficient because that is where we want to be.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Pierre Van Vliet – F1i.com) A question for Cyril about the Robert Kubica situation. You are telling is that you have some questions with no answers yet. What are they? And after the Budapest test – 142 laps in the heat and the lap times he did – he seems to be ready, no?

    CA: Well, obviously we have access to some information that the public, the media don’t have access to and I feel that is privy information to the team and Robert and I would not want to speak without his control. But no, you know, there are various things to do to come back into a racing car at this level, a car that is extremely different from the car that he’s been driving six or seven years ago, as well the car that he drove in the test that he has done in Le Castellet, which was a car from 2012, much lighter, less downforce. So without going into too much detail, you could see what it could involve to go one step further. The problem, as I said, is we are restricted in our ability to test and to reproduce this test. And addition to that, testing in isolation, private test, one car, in control on the amount, without rain, without the first-lap action you can always encounter. All of that needs to be factored into the decision of pursuing or not pursuing, so as I said I don’t want to go further than this, I don’t want to create speculation and I don’t want to put in the team that the team would have some obligation to go further because there is an interest, a willingness from the public to see Robert back. We would all like Robert to be back, but it has to make sense.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Guenther, I see from the internet that your sporting director, either former, ex-, present or whatever, Dave O’Neill, has started his own company, together with one of Christian’s former employers Kenny Handkammer. Could you confirm that? Is he still with you? Is he leaving? And what are you going to do about replacing him if that is the case?

    GS: He’s leaving. He’s not here but he is coming to a few more races. I don’t know about Kenny Handkammer, and Christian I think doesn’t know any more. But Dave is leaving because for family reasons he relocated to the United States. I don’t know any details about his company but he’s free to do that. We have got a good relationship. He helped a lot in bringing us to where we are. But for family reasons he had to relocate to the US and that doesn’t work for us. So he will be around for a few more races and then he will be gone.

    And a replacement?

    GS: Replacement: we have got plans in place and we will announce them when there are ready to be announced.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) A question for Cyril. Do you have a date in mind when you will take a decision with regard to Robert and can you say when that is?

    CA: Deciding on Robert is deciding our line-up the second part of our line-up for next year. It’s well reported that Nico has a multi-year contract when Jo has a one-year contract. So obviously we have one driver to decide for next year. So we have also the restrictions I was referring to on Robert and we’ll also need to consistent with the timing of deciding for a second driver and as the market is starting to sort of go, with the different announcements this week of Ferrari and McLaren, and I expect there will be some other announcements at some points, because usually these things do not go in isolation, so we cannot just be sitting on our work and making up our plans and our timing ourselves. It has to follow the timing of all the drivers.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) A question for Christian. The orange army will invade the country again like last year, especially on Sunday. Is it realistic to dream of a Max victory?

    CH: Everybody is free to dream, but realism and dreams are sometimes a little bit different. It’s fantastic to see the support for a driver that there is here in Spa. It’s a sellout crowd, everything is absolutely rammed and to see so much orange around the place for Max is quite phenomenal and obviously last year was quite disappointing for all those fans that turned up when his race was effectively over within 50 or 60 metres and we’re hoping that it will last a little bit longer this year. He’s had a lot of bad luck so far this season and where better place for it change but than here at what is effectively his home grand prix.

    Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) A question for Cyril about engines. There has been a lot of talk about McLaren talking to Renault about an engine supply, about Toro Rosso talking to Honda. Can you give an update, because it seems that neither of those two avenues have gone very far? And also, how many teams could Renault actually supply engine with next season, because I think Christian said three is the maximum?

    CA: Well, the situation is that we have multi-year contracts with Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso, so frankly we are open to discussions. I can confirm that there has been discussion with McLaren. But as you mentioned at the end, right now there is a restriction in the regulation, if we wanted to supply more than three teams first. And in addition to that, I don’t think it would be reasonable to believe that we could supply more than three without degrading the level of service, the quality of the service for the other teams, so we’ve had discussions. Frankly, again, we have contracts in place. We value the relationship with Red Bull. It’s a longstanding relationship and we would like to carry this relationship until it’s term in 2020 but if there is something to be done, why not, but right now understand that things are very quiet and certainly we are not necessarily proactively pushing for anything.

    Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) It’s a rather historical question for Guenther. Amongst all the anniversaries this weekend, it’s also the 50th anniversary of the only win in Formula One by an all-American team. I was wondering how much that historic win influenced your team and whether that is something Haas is aware of and pushing to become the next?

    CH: Were you aware of it?

    GS: No! Thank you for making me aware of it. I didn’t know that it was an anniversary but it’s good to know. I think it will be a few more years until we get down to that level. It’s a lot more difficult than it was 50 years ago. It’s different; it’s not more difficult. It was difficult at the time; I’m not trying to say it was not difficult. What we will try to do is get an American team on the podium as soon as possible but for a victory I think we are a few years out. But it’s always good to know these things and thanks for letting me know.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Question for Christian, the Toro Rosso-Honda negotiations that apparently happened during the shutdown. I know that you’re not directly responsible for Toro Rosso but how would such a deal fit into the overall Red Bull Racing scheme of things?

    CH: Well it doesn’t really affect Red Bull Racing so whatever engine Toro Rosso takes, the only affect it has is the synergies between the teams in terms of gearboxes and so on. We need to know pretty quickly, within the next couple of weeks, what the scenario is. I think the gentlemen in the next press conference, Zak and Hasegawa, they should be able answer all of your questions in extreme detail.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Have you got a predictable weather forecast for me for Sunday and, if not, what would you hope?

    CA: Forecast, I think the forecast for today was that it would be dry, so it says a lot about the quality and accuracy of forecast in Spa. So otherwise it will be about being capable of reacting and being on the right tyre at the right time.

    Christian, presumably you feel you could win in the wet?

    CH: Well, we’d love it to absolutely piss down with rain for the whole day but I don’t think that’s likely to happen. It’s going to be usual Spa weather: bring your suncream and an umbrella.

    GS: I was told two hours ago it will rain for about two minutes but it will dry out quite quickly. So, I’m a little bit with Cyril on that, y’know? Let’s see what is happening. Normally I don’t hope: we just deal with what is happening. Whatever comes we will deal with it as best we can.

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) We asked drivers what their preparations were during the holiday, and getting ready for the second half of the season. So what did you all do to prepare yourself for the second half of the season during the holiday?

    CH: Well, obviously training hard, like my drivers, dieting, all the usual stuff… no, in all seriousness, it was an important time to have a bit of time out with family, for them to remember who you are. I think it’s a good thing within the Formula One calendar to have that time out. Not so much for us but for the mechanics and all the people in the backroom that work such incredibly long and hard hours. So to have that period of time as a bit of downtime, to spend time with family and friends, is very important. The only exciting thing that happened to me was getting stung by a jellyfish.

    Cyril, any jellyfish in your summer?

    CA: No, no-no. Sleeping a lot. All that Christian said is absolutely accurate. Time with friends aand family. Sleeping, because I personally do not get enough of that and in addition to that I think it’s important to come back with this willingness of being back racing again. We’ve got a long calendar and sometimes you motivation is sort of fading away with what the sport is demanding in terms of energy. So it’s good to be back and being willing to go for it for that second half.

    Guenther?

    GS: Same for me. I stayed with my family and I can just say what Christian said. It’s good for all the mechanics which work far harder that we do, to be honest. So for them to have some time off, to spend some time with family, and just did some things that I don’t get to do during the season because I am sitting a lot in an aeroplanes. I stayed in Europe. Happy to be back.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Cyril, could you confirm that your team coordinator has resigned recently and is it coincidental that that position is resigned at the same time Haas has a new position in a similar capacity?

    CA: You’re talking about Geoff? Our racing coordinator. Yes, I can confirm that – and we may or may not be making some announcements in relation to him. Geoff was, and is, an important person at Enstone. Because not just Renault, Lotus, Enstone Benetton before if I go in reverse order. Geoff has been part of the Enstone family, so we have to prepare a big farewell party, even though he’s not going… he may or may not be going very far. But I can confirm the first part of the move at least.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) To all three of you, Chase Carey has recently said that he’s looking at increasing the number of races each year. Possibly up to as many as 25. Now, the number of weekends available between March and November is limited: would you be prepared a)to agree to that type of number and b)we’d be seeing a lot more back-to-backs and even triples – would it not be a better idea to perhaps lengthen the season, start earlier and perhaps end first week in December.

    CH: Look at next year’s calendar, we’ve got a triple header this time next year followed by a double-header with a weekend gap in between, so already the calendar is… my feeling, at saturation point. 21 races is, I think, the absolute limit. To go beyond that, I think we’re pushing teams, we are pushing engineers, we’re pushing travelling staff too far. So then you’re going to end up in rotational shifts. As soon as you do that then the costs will become exponential with it because you’ll end up with a much bigger workforce to accommodate that. And it will be expensive. Of course ultimately anything is possible but it comes at a price – and to increase to that amount would be significant. I’d far rather look at the venues we’ve got and pick… y’know if there are ones that aren’t coming up to scratch at the moment, replace them with better ones and have the competition to be in a tighter championship than going to 25 races. That’s pretty much every other weekend during the year. At some point you reach saturation.

    Guenther?

    GS: I think it’s a fine line here. If it makes economical sense for Chase how to do this, I think it can be done. To answer the question, should the season be longer or should there be more back-to-backs, I think it will be both of them because you cannot get it in otherwise. Otherwise you have just back-to-backs and that is almost not possible, and also there are other ways to accommodate 25 races. Maybe shorten the weekends, shorten the time we setup our garages and stuff like this. Control that a little bit more. Again, in the moment, Chase is saying it but there is not the fact that it is 25 races and he never came back to the Strategy Group proposing this in a way, as you just say it. He said he likes to do it – but I think Chase, before doing it, will come back to the Strategy Group and get real answers of actually what teams can do and cannot do. He’s not going to go ahead and organise something which we then cannot do – because then he hasn’t got a show. I think it’s a plan but I think there are more than one way to do it, and one way would be to not do it, one way would be to make a longer season, shorter race weekends, shorter events. But first of all he must come back. What happens if it costs money for us and there is no revenue coming back in. Why should we be willing to do it.

    Cyril?

    CA: It think all has been said by Christian and Guenther. I think it’s all about quality over quantity and I would focus on quality rather than quantity. I think we need races that are absolutely iconic, huge races, something that is really, really big and create the expectation of seeing those races. If you look back in the history of Formula One, you didn’t need to have that many races in order to have Formula One popular, and in not even more popular than it is today. So that will be my answer, in addition to the economic factor which should not be underestimated with the cost to Formula One and all the teams travelling.

    Q: (Joe Saward – Auto Week) On the subject of saturation, do you think that more races is something that the public actually want – or do you think they’re happy with what they’ve got now?

    GS: I think you will get different views on that but in general I think it’s a 50-50. Some people want more races, some are happy with it, some want less. I think it’s quite equally split, and the good thing with a lot of races is that you can decide not to watch them – if you don’t have them, you cannot decide to watch them because they are not there. So, in the end it’s a little bit like ‘what is saturation’? That’s my opinion about it.

    Christian, is there a risk that if people watching sometimes they might stop watching all together, do you think?

    CH: I can’t even remember what happened earlier in the season, let alone if we go up to 25 races. It’s like any good book. There’s so many chapters that make up a good book and not all the chapters are going to be exciting and riveting – but you do reach a point where you can overfill it and I think that, as Cyril was saying earlier. Pick the premium events, pick big events, promote them, make them fantastic and go for quality over quantity would certainly be our preference.

    CA: I would only add that we need to be careful. We will never reach the number of events like American sport, NASCAR, or even NBA. It’s hundreds of games, so we may move from 21 to 25 but it’s not going to hugely impact on the profile of Formula One. It’s still on a limited number of weekends. I don’t think we should work on quantity. We should focus on quality.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question for Guenther Steiner. We recently read in an interview to F1.com from Gene Haas that he will confirm your actual driver line-up for 2018. That means the Danish Magnussen and the French Romain Grosjean – but you recently also tested the Italian Antonio Giovinazzi of Ferrari and last year Charles Leclerc that is another young driver of Ferrari. Do you see a chance for them in the next future? In the short term, I mean.

    GS: Next year it was made pretty clear also from me that in ’18 we are set with our drivers. In ’19 we don’t know and we haven’t talked about it. Yes, we they tested for us both. Charles and Antonio. Charles last year and Antonio this year, and he will do more FP1’s this year, Antonio – but there is no decision taken for ’19. There is no plan. What we know is Antonio will do another six FP1s this year and that’s about it and then we need to see again what we do next year.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – AP) Just to follow up on the 25 races for all three of you. You spoke about costs and putting the quality before the quantity but what about the drivers? Do you think they could handle 25 races or would they not want to? It seems a lot.

    CA: I can’t see why not but like any sportsman there is a time for recover but it doesn’t look to me that they are particularly struggling when there is a back-to-back. 21 or 25 isn’t going to make a huge difference – but, as always, I think that every single individual working in Formula One needs to have some form of huge motivation in order to be racing and providing the best in terms of sporting performance or show and so on and so forth. I don’t think that if we wereto go too far in terms of figures, that motivation may be impacted. Physically, I don’t see any limitation, as far as I can see.

    CH: I think as far as the drivers are concerned, most of these guys are in their 20s, early 30s, most of them are paid several million pounds to drive the best cars in the world 21 weekends of the year. It doesn’t sound that bad a deal to me. They don’t have to go testing any more. So, if you look at the demands on a driver now, compared to where it was ten or 15 years ago, they’d have been leaving here on Sunday to go straight to Jerez to run around there for three days and then on to the next grand prix. So, life as a grand prix driver, compared to what it used to be, is far more focussed on racing, and they get a lot more free time than they would have done, as I say, ten or fifteen years ago.

    Anything to add Guenther?

    GS: No, I have nothing to add. I think physically it’s no problem for the drivers and, as Christian and Cyril said, life is pretty good for them. So, to do four Sundays more, it wouldn’t bother them.

  • F1 2017: Belgian Gp First Practice Report – Raikkonen On Top

    F1 2017: Belgian Gp First Practice Report – Raikkonen On Top

    Kimi Raikkonen topped the first free practice session in his Ferrari ahead of Sunday’s Belgian grand prix.

    Formula 1 resumed after a month long shut down with a 90 minute practice session around the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit. It was Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen who topped the session with a quickest lap time of 1:45:502 set on the Ultrasoft compound tyre. Meanwhile Hamilton was second quickest but set his fastest lap of the session on the yellow-walled soft tyre. Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen, and Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top five.

    The session was red-flagged early on when the Williams of Felipe Massa ended up in the barriers on the exit of Malmedy. So extensive was the damage to the Williams that the team are opting to change the chassis. Pascal Wehrlein in the Sauber had his own reliability issues which allowed him to complete only 13 laps in the session. Later Valtteri Bottas inflicted some damage on his Mercedes as he strangely drifted off the track and into the barrier.

    Fernando Alonso’s session was underscored with an underperforming engine. The Honda engine in Alonso’s McLaren is a new spec, specifically version 3.6. Meanwhile, local driver Stoffel Vandoorne, who was tenth quickest in the session, will drop 35 places on Sunday’s starting grid due to power unit element changes.

    Final Standings Free Practice One:

    Screen Shot 2017-08-25 at 11.54.30 AM

  • McLaren Retain Vandoorne for 2018

    McLaren Retain Vandoorne for 2018

    The McLaren Formula One Team confirmed that they will retain the services of Stoffel Vandoorne for the 2018 season.

    Vandoorne was signed by McLaren in 2013 into their Young driver program. In 2016 he subbed in for Fernando Alonso after his crash put him out for a few races at the beginning of the 2016 season. He went on to score McLaren’s first points for the 2016 season.

    There was no doubt about Vandoorne’s future at Woking, the news confirms that he is on a multi-year deal.

    “I’m delighted that the team has now formally announced that I will continue to race for them next year, because I’ll be able to approach the second half of my rookie season with total focus on the job in hand: namely getting the very most I can out of my car, my engineers, and everything and everyone around me,” said Vandoorne.

    “I’ve already learned such a huge amount in the first half of my first season in Formula 1 – from my engineers, from my mechanics, from Eric [Boullier], from Zak [Brown] and from Jonathan [Neale], and also from Fernando [Alonso], who is a brilliant driver and also an excellent team-mate.

    “Last but not least, I want to say thank you to McLaren’s partners and fans for their loyalty and enthusiasm – they are the best in the business – and also to McLaren’s Executive Committee Principals, [Shaikh] Mohammed and Mansour [Ojjeh], who continue to put their faith in me.”

    Racing Director Eric Boullier said:

    “When we announced at the end of 2016 that Stoffel would be a McLaren Honda race driver for 2017, we indicated that our plan was that he’d race for us for a number of years.

    “That plan hasn’t changed, and I’m very happy therefore to be able to confirm that he’ll continue to race for us next season.

    “Like all rookies, he’s had to learn a lot in the first half of his first Formula 1 season, but we have great confidence in him, and he’s getting better and better all the time.

    “His team-mate is a tough opponent – that’s an understatement in fact, because he’s arguably the best driver in the sport today – but Stoffel’s robust talent and fierce ambition make us sure that he’ll achieve great successes with us in the future.”

    There is still no word from McLaren on Alonso’s future at the team. All indications are that he is likely to remain at McLaren for 2018. A clearer picture will start to emerge as teams confirm their driver line-ups for 2018.

  • F1 2017: Belgium Gp Preview – Spa Kicks of Second Half of F1 2017

    F1 2017: Belgium Gp Preview – Spa Kicks of Second Half of F1 2017

    The 2017 Formula 1 season resumes this weekend at the celebrated Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium. As one of the most iconic and beloved circuits in the world the Belgian race weekend is eagerly recommended as one of the great races to attend in your lifetime.

    The reason for it isn’t only the grand circuit, which encompasses such memorably brave corners like Eau Rouge, Pouhon, or Blanchimont. Instead it’s the atmosphere created by the fervent supporters, being in the heart of the Ardennes forest, and watching the best driver in the word’s most elite racing series attempt to conquer the most classic circuit of them all.

    Often classified as the driver’s track at 7.5 kilometers Spa comprises of everything that makes a circuit great. Several elevation changes, off chamber corners, and a slew of overtaking opportunities should make the 44 laps a must watch.

    The high average speed of the circuit, and its layout, calls for a low downforce setup to be coupled with a good amount of power output. It sounds tailor-made for Mercedes and they will start the race weekend as favourites.

    Their most likely challengers are unlikely to be either Daniel Ricciardo or Max Verstappen. One of the most disappointing aspects of the 2017 season is the fact that Red Bull didn’t hit the ground running. With the major regulation change it was expected that the Austrian-based team would be challenging for the titles in 2017 but this aspiration is a bridge too far for them now with only nine races remaining in the season.

    Nevertheless, team principal Christian Horner believes that his team will “at least” be able to match Ferrari’s pace for the remainder of the season. Their rate of development has been impressive especially since the Spanish gran prix. But it’s a bold statement given that Ferrari will be throwing everything at the remaining races in order to secure the respective drivers and constructors championship titles.

    Großer Preis von Spanien 2017, Samstag - Wolfgang WilhelmThe championship battle between Ferrari and Mercedes is likely, and hopefully, one that will go down to the wire at the season-ending Abu Dhabi grand prix. However, a single misstep in any of the next nine races could put serious pains to gaining the coveted trophies.

    For Mercedes, the gains have to come from improving the downforce of their 2017 car especially for the races that follow after the Belgian and Italian grand prix. “We definitely do have work to do, they [Ferrari] are quick through the corners, and we need to work on that. We need to work on our maximum-downforce package, that’s the main thing,” Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas confirmed.

    kimi-the-king-of-spa-It’s not straightforward for Ferrari either. They’ve been lacking a bit of pace at certain races, most recently, Silverstone. However, the last race before the summer break was a momentum-building, and important, one-two victory.

    It means that Ferrari will arrive in Belgium with confidence and with two drivers who can run right at the sharp-end. What’s more, championship leader Sebastian Vettel firmly believes that the team has identified its areas of weakness and is now more able to set about improving the car.

    Arguably, Spa is one of the circuits where Kimi Raikkonen excels most. As a five-time winner and with impressive performances in the last two Raikkonen isn’t too bad a bet for victory this weekend, if Vettel isn’t in second.

  • Raikkonen Stays At Ferrari for 2018

    Raikkonen Stays At Ferrari for 2018

    The Ferrari Formula One team confirmed that they will retain Kimi Raikkonen for the 2018 season.

    Raikkonen had a contract with the Scuderia till the end of the 2017 and speculation of his future at Ferrari came into question. His relatively lukewarm performances at the beginning of the season got the rumors about his future at Ferrari started quite early in the season.

    “Ferrari N.V. (NYSE/MTA: RACE) announces that Scuderia Ferrari has renewed its technical and racing agreement with Kimi Raikkonen,” said the team in a statement.

    “The Finnish driver will therefore race for the Maranello team in the 2018 Formula One World Championship.”

    It is expected that Ferrari will announce a contract extension for Sebastian Vettel soon.

     

    Photo credit: Scuderia Ferrari Formula One

  • F1 2017: Mid-Season Report

    F1 2017: Mid-Season Report

    The 2017 Formula 1 season ushered in fundamental change both on and off the circuit.

    One of the biggest changes to F1 came in the form of the new aerodynamic regulations that drastically changed the aesthetics and the speed of the cars. Wider and faster the 2017 cars have, mostly, brought a refreshing change to F1. While cars have been cornering significantly quicker than they ever have before the issue of overtaking has still not been solved. The wider cars, and bigger tyres, have instead made the ability of following a competitor closely a lot tougher. However, the flip of side of this has been that, when presented with an overtaking opportunity, drivers have been more aggressive in making their moves, which has led to more entertaining racing.

    While the change to the cars has been a substantial change the biggest change has been, arguably, the resurgence of Ferrari. Less we forget, up until 2017, Mercedes has dominated the hybrid era with consummate ease. The fact that Ferrari is a bona fide championship challenger has been a refreshing change that the sport desperately needed. While the championship battle will likely, and hopefully, carry all the way to the final race of the season, the most impressive aspect of Ferrari’s resurrection has been how the team has achieved it. Though it may be paying off in this season it isn’t something that’s happened overnight. The first pieces of the puzzle were put in place years ago, as noted in this column back in 2014, and is testament to an inspired dedication by all involved at Maranello.

    Nevertheless, while Ferrari has been, mostly, impressive in 2017, Mercedes haven’t exactly been slouching. Lewis Hamilton, faced with consistent pressure from Sebastian Vettel, is probably driving as well as he ever has in his career. With due respect to the deserved 2016 Hamilton always believed that he had enough to beat Rosberg and he did so two times out of three. But with Vettel it’s different as he’s now up against a four-time champ who is relentless, ruthless, and ready for title number five.

    M81131One of the most impressive drivers this season has been Valtteri Bottas. The Finnish driver has quietly made his way into the championship fight with some impressive drives. It’s never beating a master of qualifying such as Hamilton and Bottas has finally begun to fulfill the potential he entered F1 with. Many wouldn’t have easily written off his chances of beating Hamilton, over a season, at the start of the year. But this question isn’t so comfortably answered after half a season of Bottas vs. Hamilton.

    Formula 1 is a baptism of fire for any driver but even more so for rookie drivers.Williams’ newly signed Canadian rookie Lance Stroll had one such rough start to his F1 career. While he wasn’t to blame for the three retirements in the first three races of the season it was evident that he was struggling and over-driving his car.

    But the turning point came in Canada with a fine ninth place finish on home soil. Since then, he’s matured and become more comfortable which he capped, so far, with a memorable third place in Baku. While circumstances conspired to elevate him to that position he still needed to do the job in the cockpit.

    Motor Racing - Formula One World Championship - Spanish Grand Prix - Race Day - Barcelona, SpainElsewhere, Esteban Ocon has quickly found his feet in Force India and F1. So much so that he’s been more than a nuisance to his highly rated teammate Sergio Perez. Yes, he’s made a few mistakes but overall Ocon has been a brilliant addition to the team who could easily be mistaken for a seasoned F1 driver.

    As it stands Vettel leads Hamilton by fourteen points in the driver’s championship but its not a comfortable lead by any stretch of the imagination.

    And the best thing of all about the 2017 Formula 1 season as that for the first time in quite a while we have no idea which way the championship will go. The season resumes at Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps circuit on August 27.