Tag: f1

“Today Was A Massive Step In the Wrong Direction” – Rosberg

Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg that his retirement from the race at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza was a massive step backward for the German.

Rosberg was forced to take an engine change after the new unit, which the team spent all its development tokens on, had a coolant leak which contaminated the engine. The German had to revert back to the engine which he used in Belgium, which had already run 6 races.

Rosberg was running in 3rd place and closing in on 2nd place man, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, when two laps from the end of the race the engine gave up in a cloud of smoke and flames on the run to Della Roggia.

It was a tough weekend all round for Rosberg who wants to put it behind him. He’s already looking forward to Singapore in two weeks time.

“This weekend was very tough for me,” commented Rosberg after the race.

“There were just too many problems with my car which made it impossible to fight for the win.

“It hurts a lot when you have to retire with just two or three laps to go. A few corners earlier, I felt already that I had lost some power but was still hoping I could make it.

“Today was a massive step in the wrong direction for me in the Championship – but to complain doesn’t help in these situations.

“I just need to keep pushing and come back even stronger. Giving up is not an option for me.

“I will push hard to turn things in the right direction – starting in Singapore, which is one of my favourite races. I’m looking forward to it already.”

September 6, 2015
Clutch Issues to Blame for Raikkonen’s Poor Start

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen put his poor start to the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday down to a clutch problem.

Raikkonen had a clean get away at the start at the formation lap and his practice start when leaving the pits was near perfect. But when the five lights went out, Raikkonen was bogged down and when he eventually got his car going again almost all the cars had passed him.

Replays of the start showed that Raikkonen dropped the first clutch to get off the line, but his car did not move. It was almost as if he had not selected first gear. He eventually got going but not before he was passed by nearly all the cars on the grid. When he got up to speed he was in 20th place.

Raikkonen fought through the field and drove a really good race to finish the in 5th. It was a really good recovery from the Finn but he still remained disappointed about the start.

“I don’t know exactly what happened at the start,” said Raikkonen after the race.

“As far as I know I did everything correctly, but the car went into the anti-stall and did not move at all.

“I still don’t have the right explanation about what happened, but it’s a really bad thing that cost us a lot today.

“If you start from second place and after a few seconds you’re in last position it’s not easy to see the positive side of the race: we wasted a big opportunity to fight at the front.”

Team Principal Maurizio Arrivabene suggested that Raikkonen had messed up at the start but then said that it was wrong of him to make an an accusation before he gets the data.

Ferrari are investigating the issue with Raikkonen’s clutch.

“This time I see the glass half full,” commented Arrivabene

“Sebastian’s race to second place was unbelievable. His contribution to the team so far has been outstanding.

“As for Kimi, he had a great qualifying yesterday, then maybe he messed up a bit at the start of the race, but making an accusation before I have the data is wrong”. But afterwards he was able to pass a lot of cars on the track with a fantastic race.

Despite the mishap with Raikkonen Arrivabene was happy with the teams performance at his first race in charge of the Scuderia on home turf and confirmed that they spent a few engine development tokens ahead of the race.

“Ideally, we would have hoped for two good starts, but we’re happy anyway with this weekend.

“We came here investing a few tokens on our Power Unit and we’re satisfied with our gain, also in terms of reliability.

Sebastian Vettel was overwhelmed on the podium as a Ferrari driver in Monza. Although finishing second, he dubbed it as “the best second place he’s ever had in Formula 1.”

“It’s an incredible day, it’s the best second place I ever had in Formula One,” said Vettel

“Thanks to all the tifosi for giving me those emotions today on the podium: it’s fantastic to see so many fans, feel the support we get as a team. It just makes our lives so much more worth living when you see all the fans coming underneath the podium.

“In terms of emotions it’s more than a victory. It’s nearly a perfect day: I’m saying nearly because I don’t know what happened to Kimi at the start.”

“It’s a shame because otherwise I believe we could have both cars on the podium today. The speed was there, unfortunately not enough to win, but we’ve tried everything.

September 6, 2015
F1 2015: Italian GP Review – Hamilton Strolls to Victory

The Italian GP wasn’t one that was ever going to set your heart aflutter but it delivered its fair share of drama.

The Saturday qualifying session delivered a dream result that elated Ferrari’s fanatical tifosi. Kimi Raikkonen delivered a stunning lap just two tenths shy of pole position to line up his scarlet Ferrari in second place while teammate Sebastian Vettel completed the top three.

It was Lewis Hamilton however who ran the show on Sunday much like he did on Saturday to secure a staggering seventh consecutive pole position. Most were drooling about a possible Italian GP battle between the Ferrari’s and Lewis Hamilton’s number 44 Mercedes. Alas, a disastrous start for Raikkonen and all-round lack of pace for Vettel meant Hamilton could stroll through the 53 laps to eventual victory.

As the red lights extinguished so did Raikkonen’s chances as he remained achingly motionless in his grid slot. As it were, Raikkonen reported that when he released the clutch nothing happened after which the car engaged the anti-stall function. It dropped the Finn to dead last but a dogged drive through the field netted the 2007 champ fifth place.

The simplicity of Hamilton’s task in the lead of the race was evident as he increased his pace at will. He built a substantial gap over Vettel which could’ve been considerably bigger if he had wished it so. Yet, the sister Mercedes wasn’t enjoying as easy a weekend. A failure in free practice three forced Rosberg to take an older engine onboard which landed him only fourth in qualifying. It looked to be going slightly better in the race as the championship runner-up was able to leapfrog Williams on strategy. The German was even able to take the fight to second-placed Vettel and was set to launch an attack on the Ferrari. However, a spectacular engine failure brought a fiery end to Rosberg’s ItalianGP and most probably his championship aspirations.

A spicy fight between Williams’ drivers Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas highlighted the closing stages of the race. Despite significant pressure from behind Massa was able to resist his Finnish teammate and secure third much to the delight of deputy team principal Claire Williams.

The Pirelli tyres seemed to be, mostly, out of the spotlight when compared to the aftermath of the Belgian grand prix. But a suspected breach in tyre pressure regulation, by Mercedes, was noted by the Italian tyre supplier. Both Hamilton and Rosberg’s cars were found to be below the specified tyre pressure and were subsequently referred to the stewards.

In hindsight the instruction given to Hamilton to increase the gap to Vettel makes sense. At the time however not even the driver was sure what to make of the message coming from the pitwall. It is clear now that Mercedes were trying to avoid losing the Italian GP victory should a time penalty be imposed. As it turns out the stewards, after meeting with Mercedes personnel chose to take no further action.

While some might term this a lucky escape for Mercedes the details as to how and when tyre pressures are measured remain a tad sketchy. If the pressure were measured at different times it could turn out that Mercedes could well have been within the regulations. There is likely to be clarification on the measuring of tyre pressures in the near future.

As the newly blonde Lewis Hamilton looked out at the fervent Monza crowd there seemed to be a moment of realisation for the Brit. A comprehension of the very special moment he is experiencing in his glittering career. Are we seeing a soon-to-be three-time world champion in the form of his life? A 53 point gap to second place seems to suggest it.

All photos by courtesy Pirelli

September 6, 2015
2015 Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix: Sunday Press Conference

DRIVERS

1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

3 – Felipe MASSA (Williams)

PODIUM INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by George Lucas)

This is amazing, simply amazing. Congratulations Lewis, you did a great job. You told me earlier when I was kidding you about these close call races of one or two seconds, I said ‘why don’t you win by 20 seconds?’ and you said ‘I could do that, I think’. Well, you did it in spades; I bow to you, you did a great job.

Lewis HAMILTON: Thank you. Today… look at this crowd, it’s incredible. Unbelievable fans here. I couldn’t have done it without my team. I couldn’t have done it without my team. I don’t know if anyone can hear us. This team is just remarkable and what we have achieved together is so special, so I’m incredibly grateful to them for really working so hard through the weekend, through the last weeks, through the whole year to give me the car I had today. These guys also did a great job.

Sebastian, I’ve been to the factory a few times and everybody has been talking about the new engine. Did the new engine live up to your expectations?

Sebastian VETTEL: Well look at this. I think this says it all. Grazie a voi! Grazie tifosi! Questo anno è incredible… Grazie, a tutta la squadra dico ancora grazie.

Felipe, how did it feel when you were coming up to the finish line there and your team-mate was only inches away from you?

Felipe MASSA: It feels very tough! I’m getting old for that! I even said to the team I’m getting old! The last three laps of the race I was fighting with my team-mate. It was very difficult but we managed to be here. Grazie mille a tutti. Sono molto contento di essere qui con voi. Questo podio é meraviglioso. Questo rettilineo è fantastico. Grazie davvero. Siete tutti nel mio cuore.

So Lewis, one last question: Do blonds have more fun?

LH: I hope so! Thank you everyone. Thank you to all the fans. You are the greatest fans here. Grazie a tutti.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Lewis, the technical delegate has referred the team to the stewards saying that “the minimum measured tyre starting pressure of the left-hand side rear tyre of car number 44 was 0.3 PSI below the specified minimum tyre starting pressure” and a representative of the team is asked to go to the stewards. Do you have any comment to make on that?

LH: Not really no.

You’re not aware of it?

LH: I wasn’t aware of it, so…

The team was asking you at the end of the grand prix to build a gap. You weren’t sure what that was for, presumably that was linked to this issue?

LH: Maybe.

They still haven’t told you?

LH: No.

Lewis, your 50^th grand prix start for Mercedes, your third win here in Monza, seventh of the season, 40^th of your career, now one short of Ayrton Senna, who I know was an idol of yours growing up. Really, obviously, the start was always going to be decisive. You took a defensive line, Sebastian had to go round the outside and from there on you seemed to be completely in control of the afternoon. Tell us about that and also the emotions of the afternoon from start to now?

LH: Yeah, this weekend has been just fantastic. It has been a perfect weekend for me. I don’t know if I have ever had a weekend like this. This circuit is such a special one for… I think it’s the same for all the drivers. When you stand on top of that podium you feel incredible pride and incredibly proud to be amongst the greats that have stood up there and when you see a sea of fans – a lot of them in red – but the sea of fans is just unlike anything I’ve seen. It’s very emotional when you are up there. The race was fantastic. I got a good start. I think we all probably got a difficult start and managed to hold ground. Sebastian was really fair into turn one and after that it was really just chipping away, looking after the tyres, trying to look after the tyres whilst chipping away… trying to take time away, increase the time, the gap behind. I was generally able to control it really after that. I felt comfortable. The car balance I really got perfect for the race. Perhaps not so much for qualifying but perfect for the race. It was actually one of my favourite balances I’ve had through the year, in the actual race. The last few laps I was told to push and I’m thinking I’ve got quite a big gap already, so, for me, I was a little taken aback by it, but nonetheless I still managed to pull it out and do what they asked me to do. Big congrats to Sebastian and Felipe. I know these two have been pushing hard for a long, long time, so I feel proud to be up here with them as well.

Q: And you were 29 points behind coming here last year. You’re 50 points ahead going away, over 50 points ahead going away this year.

LH: I don’t understand…

Rosberg retired

LH: I wasn’t aware of that. Oh. Wow. I think our performance, my performance today, I have to really take my hat off to my team: they’ve done a remarkable job the last two years and I can’t thank them enough. The constant attention to detail. Improvements they’ve been doing back at the factories in Brackley and Brixworth is just… I’ve never seen it before. Incredibly grateful for everything they’ve done.

Q: So Sebastian, you “were very fair in Turn One,” says Lewis. You gave it a go. Did you think it might be on?

SV: I had to! Obviously I was on the outside so it was going to be difficult. I was a bit deeper on the brakes but yeah, I mean I have to give way, he’s on the inside, the first corner goes to the right. It’s a tricky one. We’ve seen across the various years you can get it wrong so I was quite happy. Tried to focus on the exit. He got a magnificent exit out of Turn Two so I couldn’t really get a run on him. I was trying – but I couldn’t get a run on him into Turn Four. After that I though, after the first couple of laps, I think at some points we were similar in lap time, he was only a tenth quicker for one or two laps, I thought that maybe now we get a chance to close the gap but then he just seemed to… in football you call it the second lung. I don’t know – that’s a German saying, it makes no sense in English – but he just seemed to find an extra switch and he was pulling away. I think myself, Felipe and the cars behind, we seemed to struggle with tyres, so we’re losing pace whereas Lewis just kept doing what he was doing in the first couple of laps. So it was quite incredible to see and no chance to stay close to him. After that our race was pretty isolated but I knew I had to keep pushing. Seeing the pace that Lewis had, I knew that Nico eventually will have the same pace. He did in the end, he was closing the gap, it was getting quite tight but I think we could have managed and get the place even with Nico not retiring. So, in the end, to sum it up, it’s fairly simple, it’s the best second place I ever had. The emotions on the podium is incredible. If we take this away from the calendar for any shitty money reasons I think you are basically ripping our hearts out. We are here, we are racing and this makes it so much more worthwhile. It’s what we’re here for. You stand on the grid, you look to the left, you look to the right, people are just happy to be part of it and it makes our day. So, simple as that. It’s incredible. So, thanks for this emotion on behalf of all the Ferrari team. Thank you.

Q: Felipe, on the podium here in Monza, second year in a row. Start obviously decisive for you as well because Kimi just didn’t get away, you were very, very quick on to that and at the end you had a little bit of a tussle with your younger team mate once again, which you seem to be enjoying.

FM: Yeah, it’s really emotional to be here. It’s a fantastic race, very difficult from the beginning to the end, just trying to make the gap and then, the start was OK. It was not really that fantastic a start I had but it was really good to overtake cars and to manage to be in the position compared to the guys behind, so happy for that. But also, just the pace. Trying to open the gap against Valtteri. I went to the pitstop a little bit early and he stays on the track for a few other laps which helps a lot his tyres for the end of the race. Maybe I opened the gap anyway and we were doing good lap times to maintain the gap but at the end I started to lose performance on the rear tyres and he was catching me with better tyres as well. So, in the last three laps it was pretty difficult. He was catching me a lot, he was quicker than me. The only problem was the traction: he has better traction. So, I managed to fight, and getting to the podium was tough, three laps but I’m so happy for the position, so happy for the team. I think we managed to score great and fantastic points today. And also in this amazing place. Being on the podium here, with the whole straight of people so we cannot even see any asphalt, y’know. Even in Corner Three, from the podium. So it’s really, I mean, definitely the best podium and very human. A very hot, human feeling when you see all these people.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Sebastian, as you have said, there was a phase early in the race when you were just a couple of tenths slower than Lewis but then it has increased quite a bit. Why do you think this was? Was it just that your tyres didn’t hold up so well because it was the end of the stint or was it because you weren’t able to use the same engine modes as yesterday in qualifying?

SV: No, I think it’s pretty simple. I was falling asleep! No, I was pushing as hard as possible and Lewis, I think, to some extent, did the same and yeah, I think you could see on my lap times also Felipe’s – I got updated by radio that the lap times kept dropping so I guess we were struggling more with the tyres than Lewis was because he was able to do the same lap time on lap 22 as he did on lap four which is quite impressive. Obviously we had run down some fuel but tyres are 20 laps older. I think he said he felt well with the balance of the car which makes a huge difference so that’s that. They were quick on race pace, quicker than us but potentially they had a bit better tyre wear or tyre degradation, let’s put it this way, so I think that made the difference. On the first three laps I had a bit of hope and then, to be honest with you, I saw them going away, so yeah, that was that.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, have you already received an explanation, either before or after the podium, because you had to push, because there was a problem with the investigation of the tyres. Had they already explained to you or was it something else?

LH: As I just said, I don’t even know about it.

Q: What was the second question? There wasn’t one.

FM: He’s amazing, he never asks one question, always two! I think he has a fever.

Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Lewis and Sebastian, what kind of help could you get with lower tyres pressures?

LH: 0.3 lower? Not really a huge amount on one rear tyre.

SV: Well, it’s difficult to judge now because I don’t know what was going on. I think it’s not fair to hand that question to Lewis because he doesn’t know what’s going on, so that’s that. In principle, the tyres last a bit longer, but as I said, I don’t think… In a lot of respect and fairness he did a very good job today and you have to accept that.

Q: (Barna Zsoldos – Nemzeti Sport) To all of you, after such an emotional podium ceremony, what are your feelings when you hear that the future of Monza on the calendar is uncertain?

Q: Well, Sebastian has already made his feelings very clear on that one…

LH: I think we all have really. As I said on the podium, I said at the beginning here, this is one of the best tracks in the world. This has to stay here for moral reasons. As Felipe is saying, all those fans out there who come every single year. Are you going to take this Grand Prix away from us and put on another one, that would not have the same feeling, or would not have the special impact so we definitely have to keep this.

FM: I don’t think they can take it out. The history of Formula One, this is history here, here is part of what is Formula One… everything that Formula One grows is a lot thanks to these races as well, to these people. We race for the people and when you see the podium with a lot of people like that and they’re screaming and crying, I don’t think we can lose that. This is part of our blood and we cannot lose this type of races. I really like to go to new countries, we go to amazing countries, countries that I even didn’t know what they meant before and then I love to go there, many different countries and I’m really in favour to go there but you cannot lose something which is inside the blood as well.

Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Sebastian, I think it’s highly unlikely because Lewis finished more than 25 seconds ahead of you so even if he gets a penalty I don’t think it will change the order but if he would lose the victory and you would win the Italian Grand Prix with Ferrari like that, what would be your emotions?

SV: Well, it doesn’t change anything, emotions. I was second on the podium and that’s the emotions I got and I’m grateful for them. I had a great car today, not good enough to win but good enough to just finish second.

September 6, 2015
2015 Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix: Saturday Press Conference

DRIVERS

1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

2 – Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari)

3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

TV UNILATERAL

Lewis, seven in a row this season, not been done before by you and two laps good enough for pole in the end. So you felt you had everybody at arms length and was it good to spoil Ferrari’s party today?

Lewis HAMILTON: Firstly, the weather’s been good so. No, these guys did a very good job; they were very close. So it’s nice to see we have a good fight. But today, the car has been feeling good all weekend and the engineers and mechanics have done a fantastic job on both sides of the garage. Big thanks to the guys back at the factory who made improvements to the reliability of the engine and then to bring that here, that’s a good step for us there. Just really happy, obviously. I don’t really know what to say… my Spa lap was better!

OK. Coming to you Kimi, fantastic second in qualifying and quite a turnaround, it has to be said, from 12 months ago for you and Ferrari, very close to Mercedes, as Lewis said. You’ve got to be pleased with your own performance and that of your team?

Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Yeah, I think if we look now we probably surprised ourselves a little bit. We expected a strong weekend but we knew that this place is not our strongest probably, so in the end the car turned out to be pretty good in qualifying conditions; we had many good laps. It’s been a while, so it’s nice to be here, especially [at] the home race for us. It’s probably our best qualifying this year as a team. We try to give [it] another good go tomorrow and give a good result, not just for ourselves but for our fans and all the Ferrari people behind us.

Well, Sebastian, Kimi mentioned the fans there, a tremendous response from them whenever both of you went out on the race track, so maybe a word from you about that. And also, are you all surprised at the result, not only the team, but you and Kimi relative to each other and your thoughts on the race tomorrow?

Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, first of all, I think it’s a fantastic result – second and third – and very close to Lewis, I think that’s the main positive of the day, which makes us confident for tomorrow. As Kimi touched on, it’s our home race, so it’s really something special every time you drive past, it’s the first time for me obviously in red, and to get all the support, to see all the tifosi standing up, waving the flags and just jumping on the grandstands, up and down, yeah, it makes you definitely feel different to let’s say other races I’ve done before. So I’m trying to take it all in and enjoy the day as well tomorrow and hopefully we can both be on the podium tomorrow…. Sorry Lewis, but I wouldn’t mind if you are not on the podium; you can be but if we are both ahead of you that would obviously a dream coming true. I think dreaming is allowed but nevertheless you have to be realistic. I think it’s going to be a tough race tomorrow. These guys have got some serious pace in the race, as we’ve found out many times this year. Nevertheless we try to fight and do everything we can. We’ve got the people behind us; so let’s see what we can do.

Thank you. Coming back to you Lewis, one possible note of concern: before qualifying your team-mate Nico Rosberg having to change from the new-spec engine you’ve been using back to the old specification engine. Are there any concerns for yourself, with your engine, going into tomorrow’s grand prix?

LH: As far as I’m aware, no, but I don’t really know what was the issue. But the guys in the garage did an amazing job to change the engine in the short space of time that they had and hopefully we can still bag some points for the team tomorrow.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Lewis, it may surprise you to learn that pole position here, in this century, since the year 2000, is more statistically important than even in Monaco, 12 of the races so far this century have been won from pole here, only 10 in Monaco. Your thoughts on starting there and also, as Sebastian touched on there in the unilaterals, that you have got pretty prodigious race pace as we saw in free practice two?

LH: Well, I mean pole is… it’s always a great feeling getting pole, as Sebastian knows, and it’s the same with Kimi. I think I’ve had a couple of poles here, but not always… I think last year was not such an easy getaway but it didn’t t mean I could not win the race. There’s a long way down to turn one, these guys are good off the line, so we’ll try to do our best tomorrow but, yes, our race pace has tended to be quite strong. I hope we see that tomorrow. I don’t mean to take away Sebastian’s dreams but I have dreams also!

And you and Kimi both got through Q1 without using a set of soft tyres as well didn’t you. Kimi, just touching on what Lewis just said there. It is a long run down to turn one, this is the second grand prix with the new rules on starts, so presumably any loss off the line is going to be really amplified by the time you get to turn one, so you’re obviously eyeing that as a key opportunity to challenge for the lead straight away.

KR: Obviously, but I think in every circuit is more or less different length of straights to the first corner but any small issue you are always going to lose place, even if it’s long or short run. But I think it helps here. Hopefully we make let’s say a normal start and at least stay where we are but it’s going to help us at least during the first corners; it can easily be a mess when you are in the mid-pack and you almost have to stop sometimes. Hopefully we make a normal start and go from there and you know see what we can do. I expect it to not be an easy race but usually we’re more confident for the race than for qualifying, so hopefully it’s the same thing for tomorrow, so see what happens, to do our best and hopefully get a good result.

Coming back to you Sebastian, you talked a moment ago about the fans and the atmosphere here at the autodrome. But what about the atmosphere here in the garage? You’ve got Mr Marchionne here, you’ve got various members of the Ferrari family as well, how has the atmosphere been in the Ferrari garage, your first time at Monza as a Ferrari driver?

SV: When you start the session you more or less run through the motions, so that’s a good thing, obviously it’s a different race for us, it’s our home grand prix, there’s a lot of people watching, a lot of people cheering us on in the grandstands but also in the garage. Obviously that’s good for us, an extra support, and I think we saw a very, very controlled and professional qualifying from the team inside the garage. I don’t think there was any reason to panic. Also, we kept our head down and did our job. I think that’s the most impressive we can deliver inside the garage. It’s not a secret that we’re not yet where we want to be, but I think today we’re a bit closer, so we need to make sure we keep making those steps to please not just the people on the grandstand but also in the garage.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, as a Ferrari driver in Monza you are the first time in the front row. How much that means personally to you?

KR: I think it’s a while that I’ve been in the front row – eight, ten years probably! But I think, what does it mean, I’m very happy for it obviously, and I’m happy for all the people who are supporting us and our team but, you know, the biggest thing is that much less troubles in the first corner if you make, let’s say, a normal start. It gives us a good chance for the race and obvious we have to do a good job in the race but it gives us a better chance for having a good result. It’s nice to get it right once in a while. It’s been a while so, especially here in the home grand prix of Ferrari, so let’s hope it brings us also a good result tomorrow.

Q: (Joonas Partanen – Iltalheti) We say you talking after the qualifying session before you came here, from the TV. Can you tell us what you were talking about?

SV: Yeah, we were waiting for Lewis. I think he was trying to finish his hair.

LH: I was!

Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Again, Seb and Kimi. Did you expect to be so close to the quickest Mercedes today – especially after yesterday when the different was quite big? And could you please explain what you did since yesterday to turn the situation around? How confident were you that it would be possible?

KR: Like I said earlier, in a way is a bit surprised that we were this strong comparing to the Mercedes but, y’know, we made some small improvements and obviously people always talk so much about Fridays. It’s a Friday: you do whatever you want. It’s not about the laptimes. And worse, you don’t know what the others are doing. So, it’s pointless to say, ‘oh, we were bad yesterday’. We just did our stuff what we normally do. In the end, if you end up first or tenth, makes no difference if you know what you’ve been doing. So, we’ve been just… improve a bit the car and drove a bit better than yesterday. Yesterday I didn’t feel I was driving very well and then it turned out to be in qualifying it all worked out well for us. Obviously we’re still not happy, we’re second and third but I think it’s a place where we expected it to be a bit more difficult because the circuit layout. So it was a bit surprise but a nice one and I think things have been working well.

Anything to add, Sebastian?

SV: Nothing to add.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question for Lewis. Lewis, are you cautious tomorrow you can achieve a lot of points for the championship. It can be a crucial race and the other thing is that you are the only handicap between a Ferrari victory here – do you expect a difficult Sunday with the tifosi tomorrow?

LH: Going into any race you always want to get as many points as you can and you’re always hoping there’s an opportunity to gain more than the usual – but honestly I’m hoping that Nico pulls through and we both can do a good job and naturally we both want to finish ahead of the Ferraris here. That’s always good to do on their home turf if possible and obviously for the championship. I think I’ve generally had a lot of support here for the last couple of years. Naturally the majority of the fans are going to want the reds to win but as long as there in this position I’m sure they’ll still be happy.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte) To both Ferrari drivers, considering the analysis of the long runs you did yesterday with both kinds of tyres and also this morning, and comparing with what we saw from Mercedes, what is a realistic prediction for the race?

KR: Like I’ve said already, we will try to do our best and see where we end up. Obviously we want to at least keep the places that we have right now but the main aim is to try to win races and that’s why we are here. But it’s pointless to start guessing where we’re going to end up.

Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Seb and Kimi; what was the secret of this qualifying compared to the others this season and compared to yesterday’s performance; was it Marchionne boost or something else maybe?

SV: No, I think generally we obviously try to make steps forward every race so naturally you have some small bits and pieces, trying to help the performance overall so we did for here but nothing special, just for the race, here, just because it’s our home race. I think we learned a lot in Spa, Spa is similar conditions to here in terms of downforce. We were both probably not that happy with the balance of the car. I think we found a better balance and the car kept coming to us this weekend. I think that’s the biggest reason why the gap is smaller than usual, plus you never know what other people are doing. Maybe they were struggling or maybe Lewis was not as happy as he usually is. In the end, it doesn’t matter. We had a very very good session. We’ve qualified second and third because we were second and third quickest today and the rest we will see tomorrow.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, about the race pace on Friday and how is the situation with the medium? Do you feel the car better with the medium or with the soft tyres?

LH: Yeah, the medium tyres actually feel better for me on the long runs. On the long runs we did on them, they felt quite solid, no big issues. I would say that with the softer tyre it’s the same as it is everywhere: you get more degradation on the softer one but they both felt pretty good.

Q: (Nicolangelo Cioppi – Il Cittadino Canadase) Sebastian and Kimi, do you think it’s possible from third place and second place for Kimi to win the race tomorrow here in Monza like in 2008. I was here in 2008 and I enjoyed it with you, even if it was raining like crazy.

SV: Well, I think there’s always a chance. Obviously in 2008 I was on pole, didn’t manage that today but I think since it’s dry tomorrow, I think we have much better chances this year than I would have had in dry conditions in 2008. So the bottom line is I think it’s always possible, it’s always possible to have a surprise. I think we had some surprises this year so we like surprises and if we can surprise tomorrow then it would be a nice surprise.

KR: Who knows? Like I said, we try our best and hopefully achieve a great result and try to win if possible. It would be great to have a good result for the team.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, you managed to beat Sebastian by five hundredths of a second. Where did you take that?

KR: I don’t know. I haven’t seen the data so somewhere, doesn’t matter where it was. I gained on my previous best in the last corner. It doesn’t matter to me where it happens.

September 5, 2015
F1 2015: Italian GP – Hamilton On Pole, Ferrari Shines

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton secured his seventh consecutive pole position for Sunday’s Italian grand prix.

Bright sunshine bathed the famous Monza circuit as the one hour qualifying session got underway.

Both McLaren’s failed to get out of the first part of qualifying as Jenson Button lapped a fraction faster than teammate Fernando Alonso to set the sixteenth fastest time.

Toro Rosso driver Max Verstappen, who will serve a grid penalty, did not set a time and lost some bodywork in his short qualifying session.

The second part of qualifying saw Lotus driver Romain Grosjean advance into to the top ten shoot-out for the first time at the Italian circuit. Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson too made into the top ten battle but is under investigation for impeding Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg earlier in the session.

The final part of qualifying commenced with the expectation of a showdown between Lewis Hamilton and teammate Nico Rosberg. However, Rosberg’s subsequent change to the older spec engine, after a reliability issues in FP3, compromised his run. According to Rosberg the team had to revert to an engine that has completed six races. It showed in the laptimes too as the German was only able to set the fourth fastest time.

Lewis Hamilton secured his seventh consecutive pole of the season but it was Ferrari who gave the Tifosi reason to cheer. Kimi Raikkonen will line up his Ferrari in second place after setting a time a mere two tenths off Hamilton’s pole lap. Sebastian Vettel will start third in the sister Ferrari and share the second row with Nico Rosberg. Williams drivers’ Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas will start fifth and sixth respectively.

September 5, 2015
F1 2015: Free Practice Three – Hamilton Heads Vettel

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in his Mercedes for the final free practice session ahead of Sunday’s Italian grand prix.

The Mercedes driver set a time of 1:24:554 two and a half tenths clear of Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel. Nico Rosberg in the sister Mercedes was third quickest ahead of the two Williams drivers Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa.

The session got off to a quiet start as the teams opted to stay in their respective garages while the circuit dries. Overnight and early morning rain had cleared up by the start of the session by the famous Monza circuit was still sporting some wet patches in the early part of the session. After roughly half an hour drivers took the track to set for a final check before the qualifying session.

As the circuit and lap times improved lap by lap it was ultimately Lewis Hamilton who set the quickest time of the day. There was more woes for the Red Bull team as Daniel Ricciardo was ordered to stop and not shift gear at the exit of the Roggia chicane. Manor F1 driver Will Stevens set the fifteenth fastest time overall ahead of both the Red Bull and Toro Rosso teams.

The qualifying session is expected to be run in dry and sunny conditions. Lewis Hamilton’s seventh consecutive pole position looks to be under threat only from teammate Nico Rosberg at this stage.

September 5, 2015
Engine Penalties for Red Bull and Toro Rosso

Red Bull are set to make a double engine change on both their drivers’ cars ahead of the Italian Grand Prix race on Sunday while Toro Rosso will make a tactical engine change.

This double engine change comes after Renault, the engine supplier for Red Bull and Toro Rosso, revealed that their updated engine which was expected at the Russian Grand Prix will only make an appearance at the American Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.

Since the engine component penalty rule was changed after the Austrian Grand Prix, drivers will no longer have to carry remaining grid drops into a race. McLaren took full advantage of this in Belgium when they made a double engine change for both their drivers after Free Practice 1 and Free Practice 2. This was done to ensure that McLaren would not have to take any more penalties later in the season and that they have three relatively new power units available to them.

Following Renault’s news, Red Bull have decided to employ the same strategy. This move ensures the team will have enough healthy components to last them till the end of the season should the updated engine fail to materialize in Austin.

After Free Practice 1, Red Bull fitted Ricciardo’s car with its 6th engine(10-place drop), 5th turbo(5-place drop), 5th MGU-H(5-place drop) and 5th MGU-K(5-place drop) while Kvyat’s car was fitted with a 6th engine and 5th turbo. Red Bull are expected to fit their 7th engines to their cars before free practice 3. This brings Ricciardo’s total grid penalty to 35-places and Kvyat’s to 25-places.

Toro Rosso Rosso who had to make a change to Carloz Sainz’s engine after Free Practice 1 made a second tactical change after Free Practice 2. This will drop the Spaniard down 20 places while his team mate Max Verstappen will drop 10-places.

Photo credit: Inifini Red Bull Racing Formula One Team, Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula 1

September 4, 2015
2015 Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference

TEAM REPRESENTATIVES:

Robert FERNLEY (Force India)

Matthew CARTER (Lotus)

Paul HEMBERY (Pirelli)

Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing)

Maurizio ARRIVABENE (Ferrari)

Eric BOULLIER (McLaren)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Maurizio, if we could start with you. Obviously you’ve been here many times before as a partner of Ferrari. You’ve lived the moments of victory in front of the tifosi with Schumacher, Barrichello, Alonso etc. Tell me about the sense of responsibility you feel today as the boss of the Ferrari Formula One team at the Italian Grand Prix ?

Maurizio ARRIVABENE: You’re right, it’s a big story, because you feel Monza, Milan, all the region here on your shoulder. Yesterday, we were out of the track to meet the tifosi and you know looking at the enthusiasm of them, looking at the high of them, the way they were screaming, were thinking myself, Sebastian and also Kimi, we were thinking ‘OK, we have to do something for them’ and your pressure and your emotion is going up to the sky. You want to give them something and you want to see in their eye a big smile. But you are also conscious about what you can do here. So if I… I feel my responsibility here in Monza is huge, especially yesterday when we were nearby the tifosi and we were looking at them and their enthusiasm, I hope that the heart, the big heart that normally they took here after the race can be the equivalent of a token and it goes straight in our engine. What can I say more than that!

The Italian Grand Prix is the only race along with the British Grand Prix that has been on the F1 calendar every year since the start of F1. We hear all the time that the race is potentially under threat. Can Ferrari allow the possibility of there being no Italian Grand Prix? Are you playing any role in this process?

MA: Playing a role is a big word. I mean we are not negotiating with Bernie. It’s not our job, it’s not our responsibility. Having said so, I think the grand prix of Italy is Monza and I want to be very clear on that. The only picture that I saw in Maranello of Enzo Ferrari at a track actually was here at Monza and I said many, many times something very clear: there is a core of Formula One that in my opinion is represented by Monza, Spa Francorchamps, Hockenheim, Silverstone and Monaco. This is the core of Formula One and I think we have to preserve it. Because every person that is losing his own culture, he’s losing the roots, he’s not anymore a person – I mean if we are talking about human beings. But also for these kind of things. If we are losing the core in my opinion then we are losing the show, so I think we can do everything that is in our possibility to defend a grand prix and the clear statement is the following: the grand prix of Italy is Monza. The second sentence is that we need to preserve the core of Formula One. I have nothing against all the other grands prix, because it is an international show but even a show has a core and the core for Formula One is the number of grands prix that I mentioned before. This is my personal opinion and it’s also I think our opinion as Ferrari.

OK, thank you very much. Eric, coming to you: the performance curve is clearly upwards from a fairly low baseline at the start of the season but is the curve moving upwards fast enough for you?

Eric BOULLIER: No. Obviously we would like to be a little higher up in the hierarchy and maybe fighting for more points regularly. There is obviously the last… Spa and here would be difficult for us but we knew this coming here. We see some positives as well, because reliability is a bit better and we keep developing the car as fast as we can.

It’s no secret that you have quandary again over drivers for next season. What plans do you have for Jenson Button, Kevin Magnussen and Stoffel Vandoorne. How many of those three do you expect to be racing in Formula One next year and which one of those three will be in a McLaren?

EB: Obviously we expect the four of them to race. As far as we are concerned, at McLaren we have only two cars, so there will be only two race seats. We have two world champions today and we do intend to keep them, so far. Nevertheless it’s a luxury problem to have four good drivers and we will do obviously… Kevin and Stoffel are very good drivers, both of them we expect to race Formula One but if we can’t fit or accommodate them at home we will do our best to make sure they can race next year.

Matthew, what did the podium at Spa mean to the team last time out and how much were you able to celebrate given all the stuff that was going on after the race?

Matthew CARTER: The podium meant an awful lot to the team and it really is testament to the guys back at Enstone and the guys that work week in, week out and the quality that know we’ve got down at Lotus. It was obviously was bittersweet because of everything else that was going on and I don’t particularly want to talk about that at this stage but certainly for the team it was a real shot in the arm and it’s really helped us and hopefully it’s a stepping stone to go forward.

It’s no secret that the ownership situation at your team has moved on a little in recent weeks. What can you tell us today about the future ownership and direction of this team?

MC: It’s difficult for me to say too much. Obviously my job is to run the team and to look after the team as it stands. The ownership and the shareholding of that team are down to our current shareholders and our potential future shareholders. All I can tell you is that negotiations with a certain car manufacturer have been ongoing for a number of months and as far as I’m aware we’re just trying to run the team as best we can with the tools we’ve got.

Thank you. Coming to you Robert, obviously there’s a draft calendar at the moment for next year with 21 races on it and discussions are ongoing about various areas of that, but the summer shutdown appears to be a talking point amongst your peer group. Can you tell us your thoughts on how important that is and how it would be not to have it?

Robert FERNLEY: I think it’s also very important to support the commercial rights holder. We understand the challenges it faces to put a global sport on and we have to make efforts to accommodate races where we can. But I think also that has to be done around the teams. We run a very tight ship. Most of the teams run a tight ship. The travelling staff need to have that summer break and if we don’t do that we’re going to burn them out or we’re going to have to bring in a second crew. Either way it’s not good for Formula One or the costs of the independent teams. The other thing I think as well is that from a media point of view there is a certain amount of anticipation that comes after the summer break for the second half of the season and I think we shouldn’t forget the importance of that from the expectation of fans and the eagerness of fans to get into the second half. So I think the summer break ad a whole, from my point of view and from Force India’s point of view, should be retained at all cost.

It’s been a strong middle part of the season for Force India – strong points, good qualifying performances – and you’ve just re-signed Nico Hulkenberg. How important is that piece of the jigsaw for the future?

RF: I think it’s very important for us to try to keep stability and I expect we’ll do that. Vijay is working very hard now to finish off the second contract with Checo and hopefully we’ll get some news on that for Singapore. With the continuity and the stability of rules into 2016 hopefully we can carry the performance through.

Paul, we saw a lot of long run practice today, some pretty big mileages notched up in free practice two. Can you tell us about what was learned in terms of where race strategy is?

Paul HEMBERY: Well, it’s pretty much going to be a one-stop race; we’ve known that coming into the weekend. That I guess is what the teams have been focusing on and 1.2 difference between the two compounds and as I say one-stop race unless of course we get some rain.

Spa was the first time for a while that you’ve had some tyre failures. We saw yesterday’s report but what more can you tell us about recommendations to the teams and what went into that report?

PH: The first thing I’d like to underline is the outstanding collaboration we’ve had from particularly Ferrari, Maurizio’s team, Toto and the Mercedes team. We’ve had a good sharing of information. And that’s been very positive as well, the involvement of the FIA. I think that’s something that sometimes gets lost in the media that behind the scenes there is a lot of collaboration that goes on and we thank everybody for that. Going forward I think it’s important to underline that we feel we need to have a little bit more collaboration directly with the drivers and we’ve already discussed that with a number of the teams and we have an agreement that there should be a clearer exchange between us all so that we’re all aiming for the same things going forward and that opens up what we feel needs to be a very serious testing programme in the future. If we are going to carry on in 2017 there are very dramatic changes to the tyre sizes involved and that needs a proper testing programme. In years gone by tyre suppliers in Formula One have been able to test for 100,000km every season and we’re currently unable to use any Formula One car whatsoever to do testing. We are working with the teams behind the scenes and I believe that going forward we will find a solution that will allow us all to be a lot more comfortable going forward.

Q: Coming to you Christian, obviously not a straightforward afternoon for Red Bull Racing. Can you tell us what was going on, some of the problems you had?

Christian HORNER: Yeah, we’ve had a couple of issues. We had a hydraulic issue on Daniel Ricciardo’s car, which was caused by the DRS system, so that just was a wing change that sorted that out, and we had a gearbox issue on Dany Kvyat’s car that needed some attention after the first session – so it’s certainly been a busy time for the guys downstairs so far.

Q: Red Bull’s owner Dietrich Mateschitz has said he’ll quit Formula One if Red Bull doesn’t have a competitive engine. It’s no secret you’re pushing behind the scenes to get either a Ferrari or a Mercedes engine – what kind of relationship can you promise them if you succeed?

CH: Well. Sitting here today we still have a contract with Renault. To my knowledge I’ve not had any discussion with Ferrari – unless Maurizio can tell me differently. But we’ve got an agreement with Renault as I say, we’ve got conditions within that agreement that aren’t privy to this group here and time will tell in terms of what their future holds for them. So hopefully something will be forthcoming in the near future.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Question to Matthew. Matthew, it’s no secret there have been certain financial issues surrounding your team. A couple of days after Silverstone for example, winding up applications whatever, but from here on in you face enormous expenses in terms of running costs, freight to flyaway races etcetera. Can you guarantee us that you will in fact be at Singapore. Has, for example, your sea-freight container left for Singapore and when did it leave?

MC: I can guarantee you that we’ll be at Singapore. The sea-freight container… one of our sea-freight containers has left, our airfreight will leave next week. We will be in Singapore. As far as the first part of your question is concerned, yes, we’ve had… the financial issues are all over the press, everyone is aware of them. We’re working as hard as we can behind the scenes to get them sorted out. None of them have become terminal, obviously. We’re still here, we’re still racing and we will continue to do that. The negotiations that were referred to earlier on are going on behind the scenes. I’m hopeful that’s going to secure our future one way or the other going forward – and when I say one way or the other it just means we have more than one option going forward to secure the future of the team. As far as the race of the races this season, we have a budget in place and we will operate to that budget and will be at all the races.

Q: (Barna Zsoldos – Nemzeti Sport) Question for Maurizio, Christian and Eric. Sitting on the pitwall during the race, what was your best and worst decision, best and worst moments and most memorable and maybe most embarrassing moments so far?

CH: Christ! I’ve been sitting on there for ten years now so there’s been a few. Most memorable moments, probably 2010 when we managed to go into the last race in Abu Dhabi and there were obviously four drivers in contention for the Championship and we managed to call it right on that day – so that was certainly a memorable moment. There’s been quite a few over the years but difficult to hightlight too many today.

Maurizio?

MA: In eight months I don’t have a lot of stories to tell you…

What was your best decision?

MA: My best decision, or my best thought, it was in Malaysia when we won the race. The first thought was ‘oh my God, it’s too early.’ In terms of embarrassment, I have two choices: one was Austria, the other was Canada when we don’t have a very good race in front of Mr Marchionne. I mean, pick one of the two, it’s the same.

Eric?

EB: Best race would be Abu Dhabi with the Kimi win, obviously. The worst one would be Germany 2013 where Grosjean was on his way to win and couldn’t because of a safety car. Embarrassing moment… I have plenty now.

Q: (Miguel Sanz – Marca) Question for Eric. Which one of the seven remaining circuits, apart from Singapore suits well your car?

EB: Maybe Sochi. There is… it’s not as bad as Spa or here. It should be a bit better in every track. Singapore should suit us much better than the other ones, but more or less the other ones are fine.

Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) A question about the tyre situation today. Paul, could you confirm if the values that have been circulating in the press regarding pressures like 21 front and 19.5 rear have been correct. And have there been any other recommendations regarding cambers? And the same question to a couple of team bosses, especially Christian and Maurizio: are you satisfied with these values and how did it effect your performance today?

PH: Yeah, the values are based on information given to us by the various teams. Of course, not every team is the same so you have to take analysis based over the whole field. Based on what we’ve seen today, we haven’t seen any issues of blistering which might be one of the concerns if you raise the pressures. So, from what we’ve seen, it appears to be working for the vast majority of people.

Christian?

CH: I’m not actually sure what the pressures are: they seem to go up and down like a fiddler’s elbow. I think Pirelli have reacted well to the situation last weekend, Maurizio’s obviously far more informed than I am in that respect. Hopefully there won’t be any issues here this weekend. Certainly in the long runs we’ve had in practice, that we’ve mainly focussed on today, everything’s been 100 per cent normal.

Maurizio?

MA: For us, I said yesterday, we said everything. We have clear and constructive conversation and explanation from Pirelli. Today have another constructive meeting and we are going to meet each other even more often to better communicate between ourselves. I’m perfectly satisfied regarding the pressure. We’ve got that information very clearly from Pirelli and we are perfectly fine with that.

Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Paul, just to follow up that earlier question, could you actually give us the tyre pressures that have been recommended by you. As Christian says, they seem to have been going up and down like a fiddler’s elbow. And, are they just a recommendation is there any action to enforce a particular pressure?

PH: Well, from P1 they’ve been 21, 19.5 on the rear. So, that’s what they are, that’s what they’ll be for the weekend.

Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speedsport magazines) Christian, I realise your big engine upgrade is coming for Russia – but for the new units coming in this weekend, what has Renault told you? Do you have some tweaks in them?

CH: No, they’re pretty much the same specification we’ve had so far. At the moment no tokens have been used. When the upgraded engine will appear is TBC. There’s nothing actually confirmed yet. We’ll wait to here in due course, no doubt.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Maurizio, I heard that last night Kimi set a record for signing autographs with the tifosi for half an hour. Did you push him or where did that eagerness come from?

MA: No. I was simply talking with him in my way – no, I’m joking now. We had several conversations and I said I know that you are a very cool guy and most probably because you are cool, they like you but at least if we meet the guys – the tifosi – you have to sign and at least move your hand and say hallo and possibly to smile. And he stuck to these instructions and I was thinking, is there something wrong here? I was happy, of course, but then I was thinking that maybe he’s becoming superstitious and he’s doing this and tomorrow it’s raining and also on Sunday. And I was hoping about that. He’s becoming a good guy and I was pleased about that, even if I’m still thinking and when I’m thinking, I said it can’t be Kimi, it was a sosia (doppelganger) or somebody else.

Q: (Fernando Ramos – Racing Magazines) Paul, you talk about the need of proper track testing in the future. Is this a condition for Pirelli to stay in F1 or if teams and the Federation and everybody don’t see common sense, can Pirelli afford to stay in F1 for five years without proper testing in the future?

PH: With the proposed changes that have been more or less confirmed with all the teams now with the dimensions of the tyres – going to wider tyres – then yes, it has to be a condition for staying in. You can’t make such a dramatic change without testing.

Q: (Fabrizio Corgnati – Diario del Web) Maurizio, based on the data that you learned today in free practice, what are your realistic goals for the race?

MA: There needs to be an awful lot to look at Mercedes. I think – being serious – we saw, as expected, Mercedes are very very strong in shape but our pace was not bad. It’s too early to promise something but we try to do our best, especially because it’s our home Grand Prix, but again, we have a lot of competitors but Mercedes is still far away from us at the moment.

Q: (Graham Kill – Grand Prix Times) For everyone, apart from Paul: we heard the latest team, Williams, confirming an unchanged driver line-up for next season. There’s a bit of a perception out there that the drivers’ market has become a bit more conservative and teams are more reluctant these days to change drivers. Do you agree that that’s the case and if so, do you have reasons for it, perhaps the testing ban or something else?

RF: Yeah, I don’t think there’s any reason to assume that you’re not going to move drivers and change drivers. I think you’re always looking for stability and if you have drivers that are performing well, you want to retain them. And equally, if they move on and the opportunity comes to bring somebody new through, certainly in the independent teams, you’re going to take that opportunity.

MC: I think we’re probably in a slightly different position in that we have two drivers under contract. The only reason that we haven’t announced our driver line-up for next year is that we’re waiting to see what pans out in the next few weeks/month or so. So absolutely no reason to change, both drivers under contract but I think there’s probably wider issues to play at Lotus at the moment.

Q: Eric, you’ve kind of half answered it already.

EB: Yes, I did it.

MA: We confirmed Kimi after Hungary. Again, he’s a World Champion, he’s the last World Champion with Ferrari. We don’t have to forget that. And the second reason was for stability with the team, it’s quite a new team and we would like to keep the stability in the team and to have a clear goal for everybody. I have nothing to add. And you see also, yes, he is very very good in PR so he’s becoming another Kimi. Vettel, I don’t need to say a word about Seb.

CH: Well, changing drivers in any team is quite a big thing. The drivers are pretty fundamental components and I think that if ever you’re going to change, you want to change for the better. So in answer to your other question, our driver line-up… Ricciardo was on a long term contract as is Dany Kvyat who obviously, from our perspective, has options that we have to exercise at certain points in time. Now Red Bull has always invested in youth and brought in some really young talent and it’s great to see Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Junior doing such a wonderful job this year and again, through GP2 and other categories, Red Bull continues to be investing in young talent so we’ve got quite a large talent pool but of course you always want to put your best foot forward.

Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS.NL) Maurizio, I saw a lot of yellow T-shirts at Ascari with the text Lello and that’s an Italian driver in GP2, Marciello, so the question is who will be the next Formula One driver from Italy and when?

MA: There is no time. The yellow rumour at the moment in Italy is Valentino Rossi. The yellow. Lello is a driver and all the drivers in the Ferrari Academy have to prove their talent before (they get) a contract in Formula One. I’m pleased that Lello has a lot of fans or supporters. Supporters count a lot but at the end he needs to prove his talent. This is for everybody in life. You want to go there, deserve it. We are pleased with him but the season isn’t finished yet. Sorry people, I was hearing yellow and I was thinking Valentino.

Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Paul, obviously there’s an awful lot of PR fall-out after the incidents at Spa-Francorchamps and then this week we had some rather warm words coming out of the commercial rights holder. We can think of millions of reasons why but the fact of the matter is that it’s virtually unprecedented. We know that you’re locked in a battle with an opposition tyre company for the contract going forward. Were there any thoughts on the part of Pirelli’s management and board to withdraw from Formula One after the fall-out?

PH: No, I think the fall-out was rather exaggerated. As I said earlier, we’ve been working extremely well behind the scenes with Maurizio and his team and also with Toto and a number of the other Formula One teams and the FIA so I think a lot of it’s more in the media rather than a practical situation. We’re obviously discussing at the moment going forward and there are a number of areas that we need changing to enable that to happen. I’ve already mentioned testing, we also want to make sure that we’re all singing off the same hymn sheet so the teams, ourselves and the drivers all know what we’re aiming for and we’ll all agree with what we’re doing, that there’s a common sense of purpose, so that’s really where we’re at.

Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Maurizio, is there news on James Allison’s contract? Has he signed a new long term contract with Ferrari?

MA: I already said so, I already confirmed that in Belgium. Yeah. He’s got a long term contract with us.

Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Maurizio, could you please confirm that Ferrari has upgraded its engine for Monza and by how much?

MA: The super engine, the famous super engine. We’ve spent a couple of tokens here but we have a little improvement but we are far from this super engine that has been mentioned, a lot of time. I can confirm that we have spent a couple of tokens but I don’t confirm that we have a super engine here. We have a Ferrari engine, this is enough.

September 4, 2015
Monza Memories: The Fastest Lap in F1 History: Montoya at Monza

No DRS, no KERS. Just the sheer unadulterated power of the BWM V10 engine at full chat around Monza with Juan Pablo Montoya at the wheel. Turn it up to 11 and enjoy!

September 3, 2015