Tag: f1

F1 2016: Monaco GP Preview – Can Merc Be Toppled in Monaco?

In one way or another the famous streets of Monte Carlo have featured in every one of Formula 1’s 66-year history. The scale and prestige of the Monaco grand prix is no less as it hosts the 6^th round of the 2016 season.

Several street tracks have come and gone in Formula 1 and some, like Singapore, has come to be well liked by drivers and fans. But there’s nothing quite as unique as the race on the sun-kissed streets of Monte Carlo.

In truth racing cars having been threading themselves through the tight Monaco streets since 1929. In 1950 the Monaco grand prix became part of the newly formed F1 world championship. Argentine driver Juan Manuel Fangio won his first championship race in an Alfa Romeo and would later become a five-time world champion.

It comes as no surprise that the most prolific winners around the famous streets are also the drivers who brilliantly conquered and defined their eras in the sport. Ayrton Senna leads the pack with seven wins while Michael Schumacher and Graham Hill have each taken five Monaco Gp victories.

Across its 78 laps the 3.337 kilometer Anthony Noghes circuit presents the most extreme challenge of concentration and skill seen at any time during a Formula 1 season. The blind rise up the hill after Ste Devote, Casino Square, Portier and the tunnel. The ultra quick left-right chicane just after Tabac at the entry to the swimming pool – all of it lined by barriers which leaves zero margin for error,” says Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo. “I believe street circuits like Monaco bring out the best in a driver. It’s visible to the spectators who is running the fine line between risk and reward.”

Pirelli’s purple side-walled ultrasoft tyre compound will make its debut this weekend. Mercedes and Red Bull have chosen an aggressive strategy by selecting ten sets of the ultrasoft compound for the weekend. Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel have chosen nine sets each of the purple side-walled tyre.

But even the most shrewd tyre strategy could mean nothing as the tight, barrier-lined streets means that overtaking is at an absolute premium. Thus it makes qualifying more critical than at any other race. A mistake or problem in Saturday qualifying carries severe penalty and an unlikely chance of recovery on Sunday.

It is here, in qualifying, that Mercedes still holds a sizeable advantage. However, following the two days of testing at Catalunya, after the Spanish Gp, Sebastian Vettel is convinced that he fight for victory in Monaco where Ferrari last claimed victory in 2001. “I think Monaco should be a strong track for us, last year we were very competitive there,” he said. “Now we have improved the car in the areas you need for that Grand Prix so I think it should help.

But there is more than one team ready to challenge the Ferrari’s. McLaren’s racing director Eric Boullier believes his team has a chance at out-pacing Ferrari around the twisty circuit. While the Honda power unit still lacks power the characteristics of Monaco means it will not be as big a deficit.

A more realistic threat is likely to come from Red Bull. The team ran an ungraded Renault power unit at the two-day Spanish test and the result was positive enough to fast track the introduction of it. Originally scheduled for the Canadian grand prix the power unit will be introduced in Monaco. However, Renault is able to provide only one engine for Red Bull and one for Renault.

Will Ferrari, Red Bull or even McLaren be able to end Mercedes’ domination?

May 25, 2016
F1 2016: Spanish Gp Tyre Strategy

For the 2016 Spanish grand prix Pirelli nominated the hard (orange), medium (white), and soft (yellow) compound tyres.

The circuit de Catalunya in Spain has always dictated that track position is king. It was no different in 2016 as the two stop strategy of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen beat the the three-stopping Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo.

On the face of it, a three-stop strategy appears the quicker option as it allows a driver to keep his pace high without having to be too worried about tyre life. But the off-set of this wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit of having to make an extra stop.

Verstappen and Raikkonen mirrored each other’s strategies and made their final stop, for medium tyres, on lap 34 and 35 respectively. Though there was some concern over the tyre’s ability to last for the duration of the stint both Verstappen and Raikkonen were easily able to reach the chequered flag. Though Raikkonen spent most of the closing laps just half a second behind Verstappen he was unable to overtake the Red Bull.

It was here in 2012 that then Williams driver Pastor Maldonado held of Fernando Alonso to secure his only F1 win. Though Alonso was in the faster car in 2012 as Raikkonen was in 2016 neither were able to overtake.

Sebastian Vettel’s short middle stint on the soft tyre, and subsequent early stop, allowed him to jump Daniel Ricciardo for third. Although Ricciardo pitted later and challenged Vettel for third on fresher tyres he was unable to make it stick. Riccardo was forced into a fourth stop as his left-rear tyre let go with one lap remaining. But such was the pace of the front four that the Australian was able to limp back to the pits, make a stop, and still rejoin ahead of fifth-placed Valtteri Bottas.

Renault’s Jolyon Palmer and Kevin Magnussen were the only two drivers to run the orange-walled hard tyre in the hopes of gaining position while others around them made more stops. Palmer ultimately finished thirteenth while Magnussen followed in fourteenth.

Here is a look at all the driver’s tyre strategies:

May 16, 2016
F1 2014: Spanish GP Review – To The Max!

It’s old and outdated but never has it been more true – to finish first, first you must finish.

The two front-row starting Mercedes’ of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg know this saying well but putting it into practice became entirely too difficult. The teammates dramatic collision in turn four put them both out of the race on lap one.

Rosberg snatched the lead from pole starting Hamilton but had started the race in the wrong engine mode. While he fiddled with his steering wheel Hamilton saw his opportunity to regain the lead of the race and attempted to pass the German going into turn four. Rosberg, down roughly 17kph in his setting, saw the move and moved over crowding Hamilton. The reigning champion took the grass, lost control of his car and slammed into Rosberg.

The incident was investigated after the race but no penalties were forthcoming.

From the camera shots you could say that Rosberg’s move was a tad over-aggressive. But because Hamilton only had his front-wing alongside the rear-wheel of Rosberg’s car the number 6 Merc was within his right to make the defensive move. But come what may this is one of those incidents that will divide opinion and having each driver’s fans blaming the other as the guilty party.

Although this incident was dramatic it blew the race wide open. Between Red Bull and Ferrari it delivered a Spanish Gp that will be remembered for decades. Daniel Ricciardo now led the way from newly promoted teammate Max Verstappen and the fast-starting Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz.

The Ferrari’s of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen made relatively quick work of Sainz and were now turning a quicker pace that the two Red Bulls ahead. Ricciardo pitted first on lap 11, Verstappen and Raikkonen a lap later and Vettel on lap 15.

Though Ricciardo and Vettel still led on the road after the first round of pitstops they strangely opted for a three-stop strategy. The Red Bull and Ferrari stopped again on 28 and 29 respectively relegating Ricciardo and Vettel to third and fourth. After their third visit to the pitlane Vettel was able to jump Ricciardo’s Red Bull setting up a great duel between the two for the final step of the podium. The Aussie tried a couple of bold moves to snatch third from Vettel but his left-rear tyre gave up with one lap to go. Such was the frontrunners pace advantage that Ricciardo was able to pit and still finish fourth.

Up ahead Verstappen and Raikkonen successfully ran a two-stop strategy. By now Max Verstappen had already become the youngest driver to lead a race and was now facing severe pressure from Raikkonen for the win. For twenty laps Raikkonen hounded the back of the Red Bull, half a second away from victory. But the 18-year-old soaked up the pressure, never put a wheel wrong and delivered a superbly controlled drive.

Sebastian Vettel made it a double podium for Ferrari in third ahead of Ricciardo. Much further down the road Valtteri Bottas brought his Williams home in fifth ahead of am impressive performance from Carlos Sainz in sixth. Sergio Perez finished seventh in his Force India ahead of Felipe Massa’s Williams in eighth. Jenson Button scored two points for McLaren in ninth while teammate Fernando Alonso was forced into retirement. Dannil Kvyat scored the final point on offer in the Toro Rosso.

The 15^th of May 2016 could’ve been just another day that hosted just another Spanish grand prix. Instead it’s been etched into the history of Formula 1 to be forever remembered as the day that 18-year-old Max Verstappen came of age.

May 16, 2016
Ferrari 2016 Spanish Grand Prix Quotes

Ferrari finished the Spanish Grand Prix 2nd and 3rd with Kimi Raikkonen ahead of Sebastian Vettel. Although it was a double podium finish for the team, they ruing the missed opportunity at a race win.

Sebastian Vettel

“Today there was a big chance to win the race, so definitely I was attacking to win, that was what I was hoping for. But that lasted up to the point where I came out after the last stop and I realized the advantage I had, with a set of tires that were a couple of laps fresher, over the guys ahead was practically not there.

We struggled on the Medium tires, where Red Bull was strong, and this is the reason why Kimi and I couldn’t attack, but we were very strong on the Soft tires.

We decided to split the strategies between the two cars: I went for the three stop strategy, then I tried to attack the leader and I succeeded, but in the end both Daniel and myself came out behind the two stoppers.

So all in all we were lacking pace, which is something we need to understand.

There is nothing wrong with our car, it’s good, it works well, and the stuff we brought here seems to work. My congratulations to Verstappen. The first win is one of the best moments you can have, it’s something really special. So ‘chapeau’, Max managed to stay ahead, even if he had a lot of pressure from Kimi”

Kimi Raikkonen

“I had a poor start, with massive wheel spin when I released the clutch. I managed to recover some places in the first few corners and then I caught up with Max pretty easily.

The car was ok and the speed was good, but once you are following another car for many laps this doesn’t help the tires and I was missing a bit of grip and downforce.

It was a struggle to follow him close, I never really had a good run on him out of the last corner because he was really fast there.

It’s a bit disappointing when you get that close and you don’t win, but after a difficult weekend we have to be somehow happy for this result.

As a team we keep working as hard as we can and try to get the wins, we keep fighting and when we have difficult weekends likes this one, we have to keep the fight alive and be up there to score points.

Max really deserves this win, for me he’s not a surprise. He was doing a very good job already last year and today in a better car he was able to win”.

Maurizio Arrivabene – Team Principal

“We must be realistic and accept the fact that, if both Mercedes had been in the race, the result would have been different.

Today we had an opportunity and we failed to take advantage.

Even if on track we had a fast car we had to pay a hefty price for the problems we experienced in qualifying and which, on some parts of the circuit, re-surfaced during the course of the race.

Now we must address these issues and move on from there. Congratulations to Max Verstappen for his maiden Formula One win”.

May 15, 2016
2016 Spanish Grand Prix:Mercedes F1 Team and Driver Quotes

Both Mercedes drivers failed to finish Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix following their opening lap crash. The stewards have decided that no further action will be taken on either of their drivers and have deemed it a racing incident.

Lewis Hamilton

“I had a decent start from pole but got slipstreamed on the way to the first corner and lost the lead. Coming out of turn three, I was catching Nico really quickly and went for the gap on the right – I had part of my car alongside but then had to take to the grass.

The gap was there and, if you’re a racing driver, you go for that gap.

We saw what happened after that.

I’m hurt and disappointed for the team most of all because we lost 43 points today. We’re all here working together towards the same result and the team give me the opportunity to race with the work they do.

When I came to a stop in the gravel trap, all I could think about was how gutted I was for the team – that’s where I feel the pain. But we will move on together and come back stronger in Monaco.”

Nico Rosberg

“I had a great start and I was ecstatic after passing Lewis around the outside of turn one. At that point, it was my race to win.

I came out of turn three and realised I was down on power with the wrong mode selected due to the engine mode switch being in the incorrect position.

Lewis was closing in, so I decided to make a clear move to the right hand side as soon as possible, to close the door and show him that wasn’t an option. I was very surprised that Lewis went for the inside anyway. The next thing I knew, we were in the gravel trap.

I’m gutted, not just for myself but for the whole team, it’s the worst feeling as a driver.”

Toto Wolff – Head of Mercedes Benz Motorsport

“After all the hard work we’ve put in over the past two weeks it’s deeply disappointing to come away with no points, but in my opinion this was a racing incident, with the drivers racing for position, and I don’t want to start blaming one or the other.

Both Lewis and Nico are upset and we talked with them, looking at the pictures and the data, to determine exactly what happened.

By letting the drivers race as we do, this kind of eventuality can happen but we won’t change our approach – we owe it to Formula One and the fans to let them race.

But today, it was the work of the whole team that finished in the gravel trap, and this isn’t what we want to see happen – both of the boys know how much hard work goes into each race weekend and that they have the responsibility to bring that home.

We have matured as a team over the past years, so we will be able to move on from this and, hopefully, fight back in a positive way in Monaco. I want to add a word for Max, too; on a bad day for us, he sprinkled a bit of magic on the sport, so big congratulations to him on what I’m sure is only the first of his Grand Prix wins.”

Paddy Lowe – Executive Director Technical

“First of all, congratulations to Max Verstappen. It’s a tremendous story for Formula One.

It was a very short race for us today and it was a huge disappointment for the team, especially to lose both cars in such dramatic fashion.

It’s hard to take, especially given the amount of hard work prior to this weekend to solve a number of reliability risks and to bring the level of performance to the car that was witnessed in qualifying.

It was a dominant front-row lockout and we were looking forward to a great race.

We pride ourselves on allowing both our drivers to race, and race to the limit and that involves some tough manoeuvres from both Lewis and Nico and they sometimes won’t work out as we saw today.

The stewards have ruled for no further action against either of our drivers. Most importantly we head to Monaco stronger and in better shape to continue in our quest for the 2016 Championships.”

Photo credit: Mercedes AMG Petronas F1

May 15, 2016
Williams F1 2016 Spanish Grand Prix Quotes

Williams struggled for pace for most of the weekend. Felipe Massa’s Q1 exit was put down to bad timing. But with a good strategy the team were able to finish 5th with Valtteri Bottas and 8th with Felipe Massa. Massa’s 8th place finish came courtesy of a strategy change to a three stop strategy which he executed perfectly.

Felipe Massa

“It was definitely a very good race for us with some good points, finishing eighth positon from starting 18^th. It was a difficult race, and not on our best track to finish in the points, so I’m happy. I know we’ve lost points compared to Red Bull, but that’s the way it is. I am really happy for Max. I know what it means to win for the first time, and he is only 18-years-old at a top team. Looking forward to Monaco, I hope we can show that we have a better car for that type of track, as we have struggled there over the last two years. Monaco is Monaco though and anything can happen.”

Valtteri Bottas

“I think we got the maximum today and I’m pleased to get decent points. We know our car wasn’t quick enough this weekend, but we had a good result, so that’s positive. Of course we would like to battle for the podiums and wins, but it wasn’t possible this weekend. We need to keep pushing on the development and we need more pace on these type of tracks. We knew that if something happened we could gain a couple of places, otherwise it was always going to be tricky, but this is racing. A lot of things can happen and this time we took a small advantage from it.”

Rob Smedley – Head of Performance Engineering

I think Valtteri did a really good job. At the end of the first stint we asked him to push to overcut Sainz and Perez. We were about to call him in but we kept him on track so he could get the overcut, which worked well as Valtteri was very quick and pushing hard. After that, it was a straightforward race for him. Felipe’s race was much more complex. It was a much harder job to get those four points. I think we did a really good job in terms of strategy, which we switched around a little bit. We had planned a three-stop strategy, but we changed our tyre plan in the middle of the race to ensure Felipe had good pace to overtake and make progress when he needed to. We got him past the McLarens and onto the back of Perez, but he was unfortunately not able to pass at the end. That’s what we expected him to do in the race, and Felipe delivered. It was unfortunate he had to start from 18^th, but we’ve all made mistakes and we’ve got to learn from them and do better next time. The pitwall worked well today and the pitstops were fantastic again; the team seems to be building in confidence as our stops continue to improve. Unfortunately, the car’s pace isn’t quick enough at the moment. Red Bull may have won today, but we won’t stop challenging them. We’ll keep pushing them as hard as we can, and in order to do that, we need more pace from the car.

Photo credit: Williams Martini Racing Formula One Team

May 15, 2016
Penalty for Magnussen Following His Contact with Team Mate

Renault’s Kevin Magnussen was given a 10-second time penalty and two penalty points on his license after his Turn 13 incident with team-mate Jolyon Palmer.

Magnussen made contact with Palmer on the final lap of the race while attempting a pass at Turn 13 for 13th position. While Magnussen was on the soft tyres and had more grip the stewards deemed that Magnussen would have not made the corner and resulted in forcing Palmer wide.

“Car 20(Magnussen) was on a new set of soft tyres, and Car 30(Palmer) was on an older set of hard tyres leading the driver of Car 20 to have significantly better grip and speed,” said the stewards in a statement

“However, the Stewards determined that Car 20 could not have reasonably expected to make the corner of Turn 13 without colliding with Car 30, which was subsequently forced off the track.

“The Stewards imposed the penalty referred to, which was converted to a time penalty after the race as the cars were on the last lap.”

Photo credit: Renault Sport Formula 1 Team

May 15, 2016
Renault Sport F1 2016 Spanish Grand Prix Quotes

Renault Sport Formula One Team finished a close-packed thirteenth and fourteenth in today’s Pirelli Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. A different strategy was employed across the two cars, with Kevin Magnussen changing to a three-stop race and Jolyon Palmer running to two stops. Both drivers were right together for the final laps, with Jolyon finishing just 2.7secs ahead of Kevin.

Kevin Magnussen

“We had decent pace on the soft tyre but on the hard and the medium – especially the medium – we were weak. It wasn’t a good day for me and I’ll be working closely with the team to understand why we weren’t able to deliver. I’m definitely looking forward to the test and getting some new bits on the car as today certainly wasn’t representative of what we’re capable of achieving.”

Jolyon Palmer

“I think that was probably the best race I’ve done in terms of pace and performance. The car was feeling okay, we were battling tyre degradation a bit but it was manageable. It’s a bit disappointing not to finish in the points but for myself, I’m happy. More performance should be coming from the upgrades we have in store so I’m looking forward to Monaco.”

Fred Vasseur – Racing Director

“That was a tough race for us but both our drivers pushed hard, right until the chequered flag. Kevin struggled on the hard tyre so we switched strategy for him whereas Jolyon was able to make the most of a two-stop strategy and gave us his best performance to date. It was an great race for Formula 1 today. Congratulations to Max Verstappen on his first Grand Prix victory; it is good for the sport to see Red Bull back on the top step of the podium, especially in such an exciting manner.”

-Renault Sport F1 Team

May 15, 2016
Force India 2016 Spanish Grand Prix Quotes

Force India scored six points in today’s Spanish Grand Prix with Sergio Perez racing to seventh place. Teammate Nico Hulkenberg was an early retirement following an oil leak and fire.

Sergio Perez

“It was a very good race and I think we managed to get the maximum result we could hope to achieve today. We were able to keep some very fast cars behind us and we capitalised on the accident on the first lap [between Hamilton and Rosberg] to bring home a good amount of points. I had to fend off Felipe [Massa] in the last three laps: I was on very old tyres and he was closing in on me, but I managed to defend my position. This was pretty much the only action I had all afternoon; the rest of my race was quite lonely, which helped me look after the tyres and allowed me to defend in the final few laps. We had a good strategy that helped us leapfrog the Haas and brought us this good result on a track that has never been our strongest.”

Nico Hulkenberg

“It’s frustrating not to finish another race. I saw some smoke coming from the back of my car and then it developed into a fire so I had to park quickly at the side of the track. It’s a shame because I missed the chance to fight for points and we also missed out on learning more about the car in race conditions. Sometimes in racing you have periods when things don’t go your way, but you have to keep the faith and believe that sooner or later your luck will change. There are also some positives to take away from this weekend because we’ve made progress with the car and I think the performance will continue to improve. So we will keep working hard and come back stronger at the next one.”

Robert Fernley – Deputy Team Principal

“It’s been quite an eventful weekend for us, so it’s fairly satisfying to be leaving Barcelona with six points in our pocket. We made a good step with the car, allowing Sergio to run solidly inside the top ten all afternoon. It’s a track with limited strategy options and few overtaking opportunities so it was quite a lonely and straightforward race for him. On the other side of the garage, Nico was out of luck with an oil leak causing a fire and forcing an early retirement. Thankfully Nico was able to park up and helped the marshals extinguish the fire. So it’s been another mixed weekend, but I think our improved performance bodes well for the remainder of the season. As we learn more about this car we have the potential to continue scoring good points at the upcoming races.”

-Sahara Force India Formula 1 Team

May 15, 2016
Haas F1 2016 Spanish Grand Prix Reaction

Gutiérrez’s 11th-place effort was his best of the season. Utilizing a two-stop strategy, Gutiérrez began the 66-lap race around the 4.655-kilometer (2.892-mile), 16-turn circuit on the Pirelli P Zero Yellow soft tire. He pitted on lap 15 for another set of softs and after pit stops had cycled through, was up to 15th.

A spirited drive and the attrition of others allowed Gutiérrez to climb to 10th by the time of his final pit stop on lap 31, where he took on Pirelli P Zero white medium tires.

As others pitted, Gutiérrez climbed to eighth with 20 laps remaining, but those on fresher tires began to reel him in. Still, Gutiérrez remained eighth with 10 laps to go, and the prospect of a point-paying finish was very much in sight. Unfortunately, the Williams of Felipe Massa caught Gutiérrez with eight laps to go, then the McLaren of Jensen Button dropped Gutiérrez to 10th with six laps to go, and on the penultimate lap, the Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat took the final point-paying spot, leaving Gutiérrez 11th.

Grosjean, meanwhile, sustained a broken front wing that needed to be replaced on lap 38, which jettisoned him from 12th to 18th, one lap down. Then on lap 57, Grosjean keyed the radio saying he had no more brakes. This being a safety issue, Grosjean brought the car to the garage. It was his first retirement of 2016 and his first since the United States Grand Prix last October, a span of eight races.

The collective finish dropped Haas F1 Team to sixth in the constructor standings, as Toro Rosso leapfrogged the team via Carlos Sainz Jr.’s sixth-place effort and Kvyat’s 10th-place result. Haas F1 Team is now four points behind fifth-place Toro Rosso and eight points ahead of seventh-place Force India.

Winning the Spanish Grand Prix was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. It was his first Formula One victory, and at age 18 he becomes the series’ youngest race winner, as well as the youngest race leader, youngest points scorer and youngest to be on the podium. Verstappen earned the accolades, starting fourth and beating 2007 Formula One champion Kimi Raikkonen to the stripe by .616 of a second.

Romain Grosjean

“I had a very good start, a very good first lap. I managed to get into the top-10 and was fighting there. Then my front wing decided to go, for some reason. We came back to the pits, fitted a new nose, got some tires, but then the brakes went. The car wasn’t having a good day. We really need to find out what’s going on because we reverted back on most of the setup, and we’re still very much struggling with the balance. Testing this week is going to be very important for us.”

Esteban Gutierrez

“It was a very tricky weekend for us, which started with a few problems in FP2 (Free Practice 2) on Friday. However, the team did a great job in recovering. In the race, I was doing my best from the beginning to the end. I think we could have done a bit better with the tires – maybe taken a bit of a longer stint with the softs as toward the end of the race I just ran out of tires. However, it was really enjoyable out there and I had some great battles throughout. Today wasn’t straightforward for us to finish in the points, but we’re finding more consistency in the car, which will give us more opportunity to go forward.”

Gunther Steiner Team Principal

“It was a very eventful race for us with both our drivers. We had a problem with the front wing for Romain. We changed it, obviously, but then we had to retire him as he had a brake issue. Esteban did a good job. I think in the end he ran out of tires. There was no grip anymore – they’d gone off the cliff. He fought the whole race. We got him to 11th – almost a point – but we just didn’t get it. It shows we are there when we need to be there. All in all, it was our most difficult race and our most eventful race of the year. It’s part of the game. It doesn’t always go perfectly.”

-Haas F1 Team

May 15, 2016