Tag: felipe massa

F1 2014: Singapore GP Preview – Stage set for Singapore Showdown

It wasn’t that long ago that the thought of Formula 1 cars under lights was just something the ringmasters were talking about for the future. Now, in 2014, Singapore marks its seventh year on the calendar. It’s no exaggeration to say that after nearly a decade of glittering floodlit F1 cars it still tickles the fancy.

Sebastian Vettel has won the last three Singapore Gp and it isn’t outside the realm of possibility that he could notch up number four. A complete domination, not a Mercedes victory is a given this weekend. Singapore’s Marina Bay circuit has the most corners of all the tracks on the 2014 calendar and its dependence on mechanical grip rather than pure engine power creates the potential for some rivalry. “The demands on the car are very high in terms of braking, steering and also the engine. It’s also a long race – often running to the full two hour limit and frequently characterised by safety cars,” says Paddy Lowe, Mercedes technical director.

The battle between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg will too recommence. In Italy, Hamilton got the better of Rosberg but the latter still holds a 22 point lead. As proven in Monaco, minus the dubious qualifying incident, Rosberg is no slouch around the street circuits. But the small mistake, that cost him victory at Monza, is the tiniest indication of a crack in the ever polished veneer. As a result Hamilton is in the ascendency where the psychological fight is concerned but it means little if you’re still trailing in the points. However, the Brit and not Rosberg, is the one under more pressure this weekend. Because, unlike Hamilton, never before has Rosberg been lauded as the fastest man in F1, never has he been called a championship contender before this year, and never has he been expected to win simply because of who he is. This all translates to the fact that Rosberg has very little to prove and has far less pressure than megastar Lewis Hamilton.

Change is abounding in the Ferrari camp as the ubiquitous Luca di Montezemolo has stepped down as President. Montzemolo must be praised for the terrific and tireless job he has done to maintain the team’s legacy. This is another in a long line of significant changes within the Italian team and while all the re-shuffling and re-working and hiring and ‘gardening leave’ is fine and dandy there is still a worry that all the moving and shaking may not pan out where it matters most – on the track.

Nevertheless, one of its two drivers, Kimi Raikkonen, is optimistic about a better performance around the Singapore streets. A disastrous home grand prix last time out again drew attention to its dismal power unit and Raikkonen has pointed out the ERS (energy recovery system) as the team’s biggest Achilles heel. However, the less power hungry and more twisty the circuit the better it will play to the Ferrari. “I think the next few circuits will suit us as they’re not so fast. We have to go there and see how the car is, but I expect to be in a stronger position,” says Raikkonen.

One of the things that have always been liked about Formula 1 is its excessive attention to detail. No element or point is too small to escape the hawk-like, near obsessive, meticulousness with which these teams go to work. Recently, this continuous aim towards perfectionism has spilled over to ‘driver coaching.’ We say recently because audiences have only been exposed to radio communications between car and pitwall over the last few seasons.

‘Driver coaching’ has been noted most frequently between the Mercedes drivers and their respective engineers this season. On numerous occasions Hamilton and/or Rosberg would be instructed as to where they could potentially gain time or where they were losing time in comparison to the teammate. No more says the FIA who have clamped down and outlawed all messages that aid driver or car performance. This includes informing a driver about how to manage his fuel consumption.

Long since some have been moaning that the drivers are simply puppets merely following instruction from the pitwall. Now driving will be instinctual rather than a reaction to reams of telemetry data. By golly, they’ll have to think for themselves and it could just improve F1’s image.

Invariably, because F1 employs some of the most brilliant minds in the world there is likely to be coded message passed to the drivers even if the FIA has said these are not allowed. Good news is that we will still here Bonno telling Hamilton that it’s “hammer time” and Kimi Raikkonen will be left alone as he so memorably requested at the 2012 Abu Dhabi grand prix.

September 18, 2014
Video: Singapore Memories: Felipe Massa Pit Stop Disaster Singapore GP 2008

Watch the drama unfold as Felipe Massa drives off with the fuel hose still attached to his car. This is one of the reasons why the FIA banned refueling during races.

September 16, 2014
F1 2014: Italian GP Review- Hamilton Rises To The Challenge

After all is said and done it is still on track where the real talking is done. Two weeks on from enormous disappointment Lewis Hamilton turned up in Italy ready to do the talking. A comfortable pole position started the ball rolling.

It wasn’t all picture perfect though as a poor start dropped Hamilton down to fourth at the start of the race. But there wasn’t very much that was going to douse the fiery determination of the Brit. He fought back first with an overtake on Kevin Magnussen and later a fearless move around the outside of Felipe Massa into the first chicane. Rosberg tried to maintain the four second gap he’d built up but a mistake caused him to straight-line the first chicane which halved the gap over Hamilton.

In the first laps after the one round of pit stops Hamilton unleashed his superior pace and reduced the gap to Rosberg to 1.2 seconds. A bit of pressure to the mix and Rosberg soon out-braked himself and missed the first chicane. This mistake was enough to hand Hamilton the lead of the race who went on to win his sixth race of the season.

The storm of controversy wouldn’t be nearly as juicy if someone wasn’t there continually stirring the pot. Some suggest that Rosberg’s mistake at turn one was actually not a mishap at all. The conspiracy theorists reckon that Rosberg was serving his punishment from the goings on at Spa. Since sanity does tend to dominate our consciousness for most of the day this theory is easily dismissed as utter rubbish. Ask yourself how weak a driver, a person for that matter, Rosberg would have to be to agree to something so blatantly spineless.

Elsewhere, newly re-signed Williams driver Felipe Massa recorded his first podium for the British team ahead of his recovering teammate Valtteri Bottas. The Finn had to fight his way back from tenth after a dreadful start to the race. He was able overtake several drivers, via slipstreaming, with the help of his super-slippery-in-a-straight-line Williams. Daniel Ricciardo yet again put on display his staggering race craft with several extravagant overtakes which ultimately netted him a fifth place finish ahead of teammate Sebastian Vettel.

McLaren carried over their improved pace from Belgium to Italy which enabled Kevin Magnussen to finish seventh on the road. However, the rookie was demoted to tenth after he’d been given a five second penalty for forcing Bottas off the track earlier in the race. Force India’s Sergio Perez inherited seventh as he held off former teammate Jenson Button in a tantalizing wheel-to-wheel battle.

Ferrari fans turned up in droves to cheer on their beloved team but the two prancing horses could never muster much more than a simple trot across the line. To add insult to a serious lack of pace Fernando Alonso suffered an ERS (Energy Recovery System) failure on his car. The Spaniard succumbed to his first mechanical retirement since 2009. Elsewhere, Kimi Raikkonen dragged the lacklustre Ferrari around the Monza circuit and eventually finished ninth overall.

The short cool down before the podium was rather telling of the relationship between the Merc drivers. There was no congratulatory handshake and in fact for most of the time Lewis Hamilton had his back to his teammate chatting away to Felipe Massa. The podium interview, conducted by Jean Alesi, was as awkward. The former Ferrari driver wanted to know if Hamilton and Rosberg were still friends to which the Brit reflexively answered: “yes, we’re teammates.” So that’s a no then.

Lewis Hamilton may only have pulled back seven points on the championship lead but the psychological victory was far greater. For one, Hamilton will be delighted with the knowledge that he could pressure Rosberg into a mistake. What’s more, Hamilton will savour the realization that he has exposed some cracks in the Rosberg armour.

September 8, 2014
2014 Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix: Sunday Press Conference

DRIVERS

1st Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

2nd Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

3rd Felipe MASSA (Williams)

PODIUM INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by Jean Alesi)

Lewis, so we would like to know, do you like to complicate your life?

Lewis HAMILTON: What a great crowd we have here. This is amazing to see. The whole finish line straight is completely filled with fans. You guys make this race, so thank you so much for the support.

Nico, I spoke with our friends from Monza, they said: “maybe for Nico we change Turn One.” Can you tell us what happened in Turn One?

Nico ROSBERG: It was a pity. It didn’t work out today but Lewis drove a great race and he deserves it. So it’s OK.

Lewis and Nico, I have to speak but I cannot speak very loud because it’s a secret. Are you friends again?

LH: Of course, we are team-mates and we always will be so…

That’s the best picture we can see is when you are friends, because all your life you race together and we like the way you drive, we like the way you fight, so we are happy to hear that.

Felipe, you have made you first podium [this season] but it’s a place you know very well, Monza, so you have to say something in English as well.

FM: Yeah, sure. I’m quite happy for the first podium of the season. I was not very lucky in some of the races, but the luck is on our side I’m sure now, from now to the last race we’re going to be there fighting, so I’m so happy to be on the podium here and there’s a lot more to come. So thank you very much and you are the best. Beautiful, you are the best.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Lewis, many congratulations, another victory here in Italy; the first time in your Formula One career, I believe, that you’ve won six races in a single season, so a positively good omen there for you I’m sure. In the second stint… obviously the start wasn’t great and I’m sure you’ll touch on that, but also at the beginning of the second stint your engineer suggested to you that you might like to drop back 2-2.5s behind Nico and maybe attack him at the end, but you didn’t do that. You put the pressure on him and obviously ultimately he went straight on at Turn One and you took the lead. Give us your mindset at winning the race, the start, and that phase there.

LH: Well, first of all, a big congratulations to the team. They said that they would want a one-two and they got it today. It was a difficult race. For whatever reason… at the start there’s a button that you press which engages the launch sequence and for the formation lap it didn’t work. I thought “no problem, I’ll just put it on for the race” and then when I got to the grid I put it on and again it didn’t work. It’s very, very strange, I’ve never really had that happen before. There was a different sequence of lights that were on, that were unusually… that weren’t on ever before. Anyway, I tried to pull away as fast as possible. The RPM was all over the place and fortunately I managed to not lose too many places. We never practice a start like that where you don’t have the launch sequence in; we always practice in a launch sequence to optimise it. So I had no idea really what I was supposed to do, so I just floored it and hoped for the best. Then after that I had a good battle with Felipe, obviously. That was very fair through the corner. Then the engineer said that I should stay back, but knowing from experiences and also particularly this year I knew that that wasn’t the way forward, so I chose another route.

Can you say a bit more about that?

LH: The car felt good and it was the closest I had been at that point and just really during the previous stint I knew when I was behind others, when I was behind Nico, when I got closer to him on the older tyres it was very hard to stay with him. So I knew that the only chance would be at the start and so I took it.

Nico, you got a perfect getaway, you were leading in the first stint, but obviously the talking point regarding you is the two straight on moments into Turn One. One I think on lap nine and then obviously the decisive one, which led to Lewis taking the lead. Was it your mistake? What can you tell us about it?

NR: No, it wasn’t my mistake, it was the other guys’ fault… I’m just kidding! It was just Lewis was quick, coming from behind. I needed to up my pace and then as a result just went into the mistake. That was very bad and that lost me the lead in the end. Definitely very disappointing from that point of view. But then at the end of the day, also, first of all it’s a great day for the team, because after the recent difficulties it’s the first one-two for the team in a long time, I believe, if I’m not mistaken. And so that’s back to where we need to be, so that’s awesome. And then for me: of course I’m disappointed now right afterwards but in the end of it, still second place, still a lot of points, so it’s not a complete disaster.

I think it’s the first one-two since Austria.

NR: Yeah, so that’s great. And the team deserves that, to put all the recent things behind us now and move forward.

Very well done. Felipe, congratulations on another podium here in Italy and an important one – your first one for Williams and more importantly it takes you ahead of Ferrari now. Williams are third in the Constructors’ Championship.

FM: Yeah, definitely. It’s a great day for us. It was a great race, a great start. Also the pace, I think, was very good. So, not enough to fight with Mercedes but I think we had a very good pace, a very good car. The team did a perfect job. I’m really, really happy to be on the podium today. We missed a little bit during the season to be on the podium but so it’s special to be on the podium here in front of these amazing people. Also, a very positive result for us that we passed Ferrari here as well, which is very important for us, very good for us, so I think it’s amazing to see how Williams were last year and we are fighting with big teams. Definitely it’s really good for the whole team and we will keep fighting until the last race and I hope really we can get this third place in the Constructors’ Championship. It would be fantastic for the whole team. I’m so happy to be on the podium here in this amazing place that I really love.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Question for Lewis and Nico. When you put Nico under pressure, were you expecting a mistake of Nico? Where you trying to get close and overtake him? Question to Nico, can you tell us more about the difficulty of braking at the first chicane?

LH: I was pushing to overtake him. That meant it opens up doors for everything. So, I mean… I don’t really know what to say.

Nico?

NR: Monza, yeah, it’s one of the most difficult tracks for braking because of low downforce and the highest speed of the year. That isn’t any excuse or anything, that’s just the way it is. It is one of the challenges, y’know, of this weekend here. Unfortunately I got it wrong. Two times in the race.

Q: (Péter Farkas – Autó-Motor) Nico, it’s maybe a bit surprising that you don’t look particularly downbeat despite coming second to Lewis. It’s almost as if you have expected that second place to him. Is it fair to say that you have not completely regained your balance from Spa? Or do you think it has nothing to do with it?

NR: Spa is behind me. I put it behind me before the weekend. No. In today’s race, just came to the mistake because Lewis was fast from behind. That’s it. There’s nothing unusual or anything. And me not being downbeat, I am very, very disappointed inside. But there’s no point now to go hanging mouth down and things like that. It’s still a one-two for the team and that’s a great day. And it’s not a disaster, that is a fact. I need to quickly look at the reality: second place, it’s OK. There’s a lot worse than that. I lost seven points to Lewis, so, y’know, that’s the frame of mind that I’m trying to take.

Q: (Ian Parkes – PA) Lewis, first of all, congratulations. When you had that incident at the start there, given the many incidents you’ve gone through in recent races, was there a thought in your mind of ‘oh no, not again’? And to Nico, unfortunately for you there were some more boos on the podium. Was that disappointing again to hear? And how do you try to move on from that?

LH: I think when you’re preparing for the race you generally do everything near enough the same but you have to be prepared for the unexpected. I’m quite grateful today that I didn’t lose it, I didn’t end up crashing in the first corner, I didn’t end up touching anyone, I didn’t end up locking or anything like that. So, managed to keep my composure even though this thing… what it is, is a button that engages a system which controls the RPM, helps you control the RPM, and when that doesn’t engage, the RPM just goes all over the place, so you’re not able to get normal starts, so a correct launch. I don’t know what the problem was, I guess the guys will investigate it and we’ll try to make sure it doesn’t happen again. I’m just grateful that I was able to not lose too many places and the also recover from that.

Nico?

NR: It’s obviously not nice but what can I say? I hope that with time they forgive and forget. That would be great. I have apologised, I can’t really do anything more than that. Yep, that’s it.

Q: (Vladimir Rogovets – Sb Belarus Segondnya) Felipe, 2007 you was second driver in Ferrari with Kimi champion. Last year you was second driver in Ferrari with Fernando, double champion. Today you are on the podium Monza, Italia, without Ferrari, without Kimi, without Alonso. Is it your message to Ferrari, first question? And second question: what do you feel in the podium here without Ferrari?

FM: First of all I think is not a message to anyone, I think it’s just… y’now… you saying that I was second driver, I was trying everything to be the first driver all the time in my career. So, whatever team I was, had difficult times but it is part of our lives. Sometimes you have times that are a little bit more difficult than you expected but you need to fight against it, you need to go forwards. I always fight. It’s not a message. We are fighting with Ferrari as well, that’s not a message. We need to do everything we can to be in front of them. I’m not driving to Ferrari any more. I have an incredibly heart for Ferrari, they are really inside my heart and they will always be because I had an incredible time there, a great time there. But now I am in another team and we need to fight with everybody, not just Ferrari but Red Bull, Mercedes, everybody. We need to try to be in front of everybody and, y’know, today we did a fantastic job so we were in the podium. I think it’s a message that we’re competitive. It’s a message that we are there, that we are fighting. It’s not something that I need to… I have nothing against anybody. I just want to be in front of these people, which they really like me. I had an incredibly time with them for many years. It’s not that I’m not in red anymore that I don’t have the same pleasure and happiness to be there in front of these incredible people.

Q: (Andrea Cremonese, La Gazzetta dello Sport) A question for Lewis and one for Nico. For Lewis, do you think recovering seven points is a bigger relief after what’s happened in the last few races, and if you feel yourself have plenty of confidence for the Championship? For Nico, if after the second mistake, if you was a little bit affected in the instruction that you received from the team because you lost in two laps two seconds from him, from 4.6 to 2.6 seconds in two laps.

LH: Well, I’ve generally felt like I’ve always been in good shape. But I came here with a positive attitude. Hoping just for no issues. I guess the cool thing about today is that I had another serious one and I managed to pull through it. Again, all those experiences I’ve had kind of have prepared me for it today and I’m still looking for one of those weekends where we don’t have any troubles. Clearly today I had the pace on everyone and on Nico and I felt that way all weekend. So, I’m going to make sure that’s the case moving forwards.

Nico?

NR: I don’t remember what happened. I think it was… traffic? Lapping somebody or something like that. That was the biggest problem but I’m not quite sure. But either way, Lewis in that phase was quick, so it didn’t really change that much but yes, maybe that shortened the process a little bit. But nothing in particular.

Q: (Sarah Holt – CNN) Lewis, we talked about Monza being about mental toughness as well as about what you can do on the track, and today we saw you fight your way through the field.You ignored the team’s advice about holding back a bit and then you had to listen to all the Italian in the weighing room, the podium and no one was speaking English to you. Do you feel like you showed today that you’re mentally tough enough to win the title? Is that important?

LH: Firstly, I didn’t ignore the team’s orders. I have a great relationship with my engineer and he’s constantly in touch with me throughout the race and really guiding me. If I’m losing a bit of time here or there, he’s telling me so that I know how to correct it. They want to win just as much as me so they’re just trying to guide me to what they think but at the end of the day, I was the one out there and they had to really decide: OK, I can back off here and keep the tyres but the calculation might be better the other way. I knew that if I applied the pressure, an opportunity would eventually come. I didn’t get the chance to say it really out there but the fans have been amazing here. Even I’ve gone through difficult times here – 2007 probably, when I was racing against Fernando and obviously we were racing with Kimi and the Ferraris but I’ve really felt a real growth of the support that I’ve had here over the years. It’s such a beautiful nation. When you come here, the weather’s always good, the track’s incredible and there’s nowhere you go and you see the whole straight, which is one of the longest straights in the whole season, completely full of fans, mostly with red caps and flags but they really create the atmosphere. In terms of me, I came here to do a job and I did it so I’m happy with that.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Nico, there are six races to go and you lead by 22 points. When do you think that it’s time to start to consider only the championship instead of winning races?

NR: I don’t know. For me the approach that works best at the moment is just trying to win the race that I’m at, that’s the way I feel most comfortable at the moment. We will see. Maybe I will tell you when I change my thinking.

Q: (Ted Kravitz – Sky Sports) Nico, the team told us at the end of the race that you were managing brake temperatures. Was that the problem at the first corner as well? Were the brakes the problem throughout the race?

NR: No, the brakes were no problem at all, up towards the end when you first heard it on the radio, that’s when it started to become… and it wasn’t a massive problem, just something that you have to manage a little bit. That’s always going to happen, because opening up the front brake ducts you lose quite a lot of aerodynamic performance. You always try to bring that to a certain limit and that may then put you slightly over in the race so it’s not the first time and last time that something like that is going to happen and I think it was just pretty much optimised for here.

Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto-Motor) To all three of you: all three of you had reasonably long first stints on the mediums. How marginal were the tyres to do a one-stop? Did any of you have any problems? Lewis mentioned that it was hard to follow Nico on used tyres at the end of the first stint.

FM: Well, I think a one stop was the strategy for everybody before the race. I think the tyres worked pretty well, maybe a little bit more degradation on the medium which I was suffering a little bit more at the end of the stint on the medium but no problem at all with the hard tyres. I think it was really pretty much OK to one-stop, at least for us.

Q: Lewis, we heard a message to Nico from his engineers saying that you’d reported that the tyres were beginning to go off before lap ten, I think it was. Did you have any issues? Did it clear itself?

LH: No, basically I was in traffic, I was behind a couple of cars. The grip didn’t feel good at the time. To be honest, the tyres have been really good this weekend. It was generally really easy in terms of doing a one-stop. There was only one risk and that’s really if you lock up, that’s generally why you’ll see drivers going (straight) on at the first corner, because they don’t want to try and make the corner, lock up because then they have to convert to a two-stop which is much slower, so the thought is that if you get a lock, you let off the brake and go straight and that’s what Nico would have done twice and that’s what other people would potentially have done today. But I think it’s such a cool track – I don’t know if it was fun to watch the race – but to give more racing, more pit stops would have been good here, bit of a softer tyre which was a bit more of a challenge because the tyre was really easy to generally look after. I didn’t have any problems really…. I was behind Nico, losing downforce through the high speed but then as soon as he pitted the car was quick again, so I think the tyre could have gone even further.

Q: Was it any way marginal for a one-stop for you, Nico?

NR: Not really, no. Of course there was quite a lot of degradation on the soft one but no, it was fine. And I agree, it would be better to have two stops for more exciting racing, but then again, for the fans and you watching on TV for sure the one-stop is much easier to understand because it’s very straightforward and simple, whereas as soon as you get into two-stop, it becomes different tyre strategies and this and that and it becomes near impossible to understand often in front of the TV, but also has some advantages.

Q: (Ottavio Davide – Tuttosport) Felipe, do you think that on a completely different track such as Singapore it’s possible to beat both Mercedes?

FM: Mercedes? Very difficult. In Singapore, especially, I think it will be very very difficult, but Singapore is a race at which many things happen so we need to believe that we can do a good job there as well so I would say maybe from now to the last race, Singapore is maybe the track that is going to be more negative than the others for us. But at Singapore, you never know, many things happen there so I hope we can do a good job there as well. If we can beat Mercedes it will be a surprise but we will try everything we can.

Q: (Leigh O’Gorman – Walker Watson) For all three: concerning how Monza is such a fast circuit, so much of it is full throttle, were there any issues with regards to fuel usage during the race?

LH: It’s not an issue. This track was very easy to…

NR: No problem.

FM: No.

NR: Mercedes engine, I suppose.

September 7, 2014
Hamilton takes comfortable pole for Italian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton comfortably secured pole position for the Italian Grand Prix during qualifying on Saturday at Monza.

Hamilton took the pole grid spot by two tenths of a second over warring Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg. Rosberg went into qualifying without being able to take part in the full final practice session – completing only three laps in FP3 due to a gearbox issue. However, the Mercedes team were able to sort out the problem without having to break any of the FIA seals on the gearbox and as such will not receive a grid penalty for Sunday’s race at Monza.

The Williams duo of Valterri Bottas and Felipe Massa will lock out the second row of the grid.McLaren suprised everyone with Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button lining up fifth and sixth, while Fernando Alonso could only manage seventh for Ferrari’s home Grand Prix.

Sebastian Vettel finished in eighth place ahead of his Red Bull team mate Daniel Ricciardo and Force India’s Sergio Perez to round out the top 10.

Daniil Kvyat only just missed out on making it through to Q3 but will drop to 21^st on the grid due to a 10 place grid penalty for using a sixth engine this season.

Kimi Raikkonen was the biggest casualty during qualifying, managing only 12th after a pretty scruffy lap.

Your full timesheets and results are below. Please join us tomorrow for live commentary and chat on @F1_Madness on Twitter as we bring you blow-by-blow action of the Italian Grand Prix.

September 6, 2014
F1 2014: Belgium GP Qualifying- Rosberg Rules Wet Spa

The Mercedes team dominated the field in a wet qualifying session ahead of the 2014 Belgium GP.

Nico Rosberg mastered slippery conditions to out-qualify teammate Lewis Hamilton by two tenths of a second. Sebastian Vettel secured third position for Red Bull Racing but his fastest time was some two seconds slower than the high flying Mercedes pair. Fernando Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top five grid positions.

The star of the first part of qualifying was Marussia’s Jules Bianchi as the young Frenchman brilliantly advanced to the second session of the one hour session. Andre Lotterer, who has taken over from Kamui Kobayashi, impressed in the Caterham by out-qualifying teammate Marcus Ericcson by a full second. Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India was the surprise casualty in the first session of qualifying. The German complained about losing brake temperature throughout the session.

Neither Toro Rosso driver was able to advance beyond the second session of qualifying. Lotus’ Romain Grosjean out-qualified his teammate, Pastor Maldonado, but failed to make any further impression and will start tomorrow’s grand prix in 15th position.

Despite a brief appearance by the sun in the final part of qualifying all drivers remained on the intermediate tyres for the fastest runs of the session. Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa were relegated to sixth and ninth respectively in the tricky condition. However, tomorrow’s potential forecast of fair weather is likely to reinstate the Martini sponsored team’s hopes.

August 23, 2014
2014 Formula 1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

DRIVERS :

Jules BIANCHI (Marussia)

Daniil KVYAT (Toro Rosso)

Romain GROSJEAN (Lotus)

Felipe MASSA (Williams)

Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

PRESS CONFERENCE

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

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

Nico, your thoughts?

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

Daniel, your thoughts on this?

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

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

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

Jules?

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

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

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

What’s not as complicated as it looks?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

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

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

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

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

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

Romain, similar story for you?

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

Daniil?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Your perspective, Daniil?

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

Romain, your view.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DK: There’s no luck, I think.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FM: You fight, after the race, with…?

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

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

August 21, 2014
F1 2014: Belgium GP Preview – Spa-tacular! Spa-tacular!

There is a legendary stretch of asphalt in the Belgian country-side that has sustained a fabled allure for decades. Spa-Francorchamps is the quintessential race track and the place of what Formula 1 dream are made of.

Eau Rouge and Blanchimont used to be some of the most fearsome corners anywhere in the world. But the evolution of Formula 1 has surpassed the challenge of these legendary tests of courage and has reduced them to slightly curvy pieces of tarmac taken at full speed without even a second’s worth of hesitation. Despite this, Spa will always be considered the driver’s circuit because though it may not require obscene amounts of bravery it still demands courage and enough pluck to fling a car around it at an unthinkably high speed.

After the mid-season break Formula 1 teams will show up in the paddock refreshed and renewed with a few bits and bobs for their 2014 steeds. These pricey and painstakingly developed new bits of carbon fibre have a bit of job to do. On them rests a few desperate and hopeful expectations of a few tenths of a second.

Ferrari, the team formerly known as champions, find themselves in a ding-dong battle with Martini sponsored foe Williams for third place in the constructor’s championship. Like a good Finn should Valtteri Bottas has taken up the responsibility and has preserved his nation’s reputation for delivering reserved but mega quick racing drivers. If Felipe Massa can survive the first corner/lap the Williams pairing are going to be a thorn in the side of most this weekend.

There is a hypothetical chance that Ferrari will bring an upgrade for its power unit to this race. In theory, they may have an upgrade ready but chances are that it may not improve much or anything at all for that matter or in true 2014 Ferrari fashion – make it worse. Even if Kimi Raikkonen is a Spa-specialist a Ferrari victory is highly improbable.

For Mercedes the second half of the season will not be a straightforward run to glory. The Silver Arrow may be the fastest thing out there by a country mile but reliability has caused more than its fair share of headaches. The inter-team battle between Hamilton and Rosberg is far from settled too. Rosberg hasn’t had to worry his pretty head too much this season as most of the unreliability has been confined to the Hamilton side of the garage. Which leaves a question mark that if Rosberg finds himself in a similarly dismal run of luck will he have the Hamilton-esque tenacity to fight back and recover?

Nevertheless, Spa’s demand for grunt and top-end speed will make the Mercedes sing to its Turbo-heart’s content. If it rains, which it often does in these parts, it won’t be too much of a bother for them either such is the performance advantage of this beast. With all things being equal and maybe even the possibility of a trouble-free quali session Hamilton should have the edge around here.

Daniel Ricciardo has snatched his own bit of spotlight this season. The Aussie and his toothy grin has impressed against his four-time world champion teammate. In fact, Dan has all but owned the fingered wonder, for now. Along with two stellar victories Ricciardo has thrilled with his boisterous racecraft. Alas, the labouring Renault power unit may restrict the Aussie’s progress but it doesn’t have a chance of curbing his enthusiasm to go racing.

This dynamic challenge Spa is as spectacular as it comes. Its sprawling stretches of tarmac in the middle of the Ardennes possess some of the greatest parts of Formula 1 history. For 2014 it awaits another chapter to be written into its illustrious annals.

August 20, 2014
F1 2014: Hungarian GP Preview – Tricky Hungarian Test Awaits

Less than seven days later the Formula 1 paddock descends on the city of Budapest for the Hungarian GP. Technical in nature the 4.381 km circuit will require high downforce, efficient cooling and most importantly a good qualifying performance.

The Hungaroring is often referred to as Monaco without the barriers because of its tricky layout which for the most part has only one racing line. Consequently, there won’t be much opportunity for overtaking nor will all mistakes go unpunished. The Hungaroring retains some of the old-school Formula 1 characteristics which means that gravel traps and barriers loom in close proximity. Contrastingly, there are several tarmac run-off areas which offer some reprieve for error-stricken drivers.

Given the lack of proper overtaking opportunities strategy will be particularly important. The extremely high track temperatures seen at Hockenheim has given the teams vital information as to how to Pirelli rubber will react when exposed to similar conditions in Hungary. The tyres we are bringing to Hungary are a step harder, to deal with the increased demands, so we would expect the usual two pit stops,” predicted Pirelli’s Paul Hembery.

The circuit’s layout is dominated by medium to high-speed corners with little time spent at full throttle. However, the average speed of the lap remains fairly high. “The Hungaroring is a great track,” says McLaren’s Jenson Button. “Everybody thinks of it as a slow circuit, but, out the back, it’s got some pretty decent corners – Turn Four requires some serious commitment, and it’s made harder because it has a blind apex. Equally, the sequence of S-bends that make up Turns Eight to 11 are really satisfying to drive.”

Lewis Hamilton has been dogged by issues in qualifying for the last several races as he trails fourteen points behind teammate and championship leader Nico Rosberg. However, Hamilton is prepared to come out fighting once more and resolutely said that enjoys having to fight for victories and the title.

The 2008 champion may have more to fight against this weekend than just his teammate. The Williams team has been on the cusp several times of mounting a serious battle for victory and if they can continue their stunning momentum Hungary may be their best chance yet.

Williams’ chance to win the Hungarian GP will come on Saturday. The Hungaroring, much like Monte Carlo, is notoriously difficult to overtake on. Despite the fact that race pace is always priority for Bottas, Massa and their engineers they may devote a bit more time and effort than usual to enhancing their one lap pace. But locking out the front row or securing pole position won’t be all that is required. The team will have to take an aggressive approach on strategy as they still lack on overall race pace when compared to the Silver Arrows.

By this stage of the season the duel between the Mercedes drivers is as intense as at any other point.

However, their attention may be required elsewhere this weekend. Can Williams steal the all mighty Mercedes’ thunder?

July 23, 2014
F1 2014: German GP – Relentless Rosberg Scores Home Victory

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

July 22, 2014